Saturday, October 8, 2016

Sorcery: (Inspired by) Caterpie and Butterfree

Are those its real eyes?
Well, I'd include Metapod too, but mechanically speaking Harden is not especially different from withdraw, so just look at that move on the inspired by Squirtle post and change it if you like.


String Shot

In the source material, this ability lowers an opponent's speed. Since there are several abilities that do that, let's go for a more interesting effect, and model a cumulative binding instead.

String Shot

Keywords: Obvious, missile

Full Cost: 3 points/Level
Casting Roll: Innate Attack to land, Talent adds in contest of strength to break out.
Range: 10 yards
Duration: Permanent
The "caster" shoots sticky webbing at the target, who must win a quick contest of the target's ST versus double the level of the binding (plus talent.) If another target touches the binding, they are also ensnared. A typical low level is 5 for 15 points, which grants 10 ST (plus talent) in quick contests.
Statistics: Binding 2 (Sorcery, -15%; Reduced Range, -30%; Sticky, +20%) [3]

Confusion

A low level "psionic" attack that has the potential to put an enemy into a confusion, which I'll interpret as mental stun.

Confusion

Keywords: Missile

Full Cost: 13.6 points/Level
Casting Roll: Innate Attack. Will for Quick Contest.
Range: 10 yards
Duration: Instant
The "caster" causes the opponent to feel sudden internal pain. If they fail a quick contest of wills (caster may add talent), the target is dealt damage equal to the level of the attack, ignoring DR. The target must then roll against will or suffer mental stun, -1 to will for each HP of damage done by the original attack. Each level does an additional 1d damage. Typical level is two.
Statistics: Toxic Attack 1 (Sorcery, -15%; Based on Will, For The Side Effect, +20%; Increased 1/2d, +15%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Side Effect, Mental Stun, +50%) [14]

Is that nose real?

Stun Spore

You spray a cloud of stunning spores that can paralyze enemies. Paralysis in GURPS is more severe than in Pokemon, so a more mechanically similar affliction is Terrible Pain which is a -6 penalty to most rolls, making it very likely to lose a lot of turns at low skill level.

Stun Spore

Keywords: Obvious, missile

Full Cost: 42 points for first level, 2 points for each additional level.
Casting Roll: None, use Innate Attack to aim.
Range: 10 yards
Duration: 10 seconds for the cloud, 3 minutes of pain
Spray a painful spore cloud that stays around for 10 seconds, while in it, everyone rolls against HT (unless sealed). Failure means penalized rolls for skill. Additional levels subtract an additional point of IQ and DX.
Statistics: Affliction (HT; Sorcery, -15%; Cone, 5 yards wide, +100%; Contact Agent, +150%; Fixed Duration, 3 minutes, +0%; Irritant, Terrible Pain, +60%; Increased 1/2d, 10x, +15%; Persistent, +40%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%) [42]

Supersonic

You emit disorienting soundwaves. Confusion is a difficult (not impossible) affliction in pokemon to model, so I'll just go with hallucinating for now.

Supersonic

Keywords: ObviousMissile

Full Cost: 37 points/level
Casting Roll: None, use Innate Attack to aim.
Range: 10 yards
Duration: 3 minutes of confusion
Creates a cone of irritating sound, 10 yards long, 5 yards wide at the max. Anyone who can hear within the cone rolls against HT, or hallucinates for 3 minutes. Additional levels penalize the HT roll.
Statistics: Affliction (HT; Sorcery, -15%; Cone, 5 yards wide, +100%; Fixed Duration, 3 minutes, +0%; Incapacitation, Hallucinating, +50%; Increased 1/2d, 10x, +15%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Sense Based, Hearing, +150%;) [37]

Whirlwind

This is a really weird effect for GURPS. In pokemon, this attack would cause the enemy to flee instantly, or force a trainer to change immediately. Instead I'll modify this as an obsession to flee, which is probably a short term goal. Combined with Pacifism (Total Nonviolence) they will hopefully run away as fast as they can.

Whirlwind

Keywords: Missile

Full Cost: 38 points/Level
Casting Roll: Innate Attack, quick contest of will.
Range: 10 yards
Duration: 3 minutes
The "caster" creates a whirlwind that terrifies it's opponents inside a cone 10 yards long and 5 yards wide. Anyone caught in the wind must now have a quick contest of your will versus the target's will. Failure means an overriding goal to escape from the conflict as soon and as fast as possible.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (Will; Sorcery, -15%; Based on will, +20%; Cone, 5 yards wide, +100%; Disadvantage, Obsession (Flee From Battle)(CR 6), +10%; Disadvantage, Pacifism (Total Nonviolence), +30%; Fixed Duration Increased 1/2d, +15%; Malediction 2, +150%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%;) [38]

Psybeam

A mid-tier "psionic" attack that has the potential to put an enemy into a confusion, which I'll interpret as mental stun.

Psybeam

Keywords: ObviousMissile

Full Cost: 5.4 points/Level
Casting Roll: Innate Attack. 
Range: 10/100 yards
Duration: Instant
The "caster" attacks with a beam of psionic pain that can stun its target. Typical minimum level is 3
Statistics: Toxic Attack 1 (Sorcery, -15%; Side Effect, Mental Stun, +50%) [6]

Other Thoughts and Conclusion

The sorcery spell Air Jet might be a fine substitute for whirlwind, but I decided to try something a bit different that would be semantically similar to whirlwind, but not quite the same. I guess you could use Affliction (Warp) too, but that would be super expensive. Probably the best would actually be Air Jet with the ability to stun, and like super duper ultra knockback to make fleeing a battle easier.

2 comments:

  1. You've been busy on me!

    String Shot as a Binding makes a lot of sense. Though it makes me wonder if there's a way to do a binding effect that doesn't just go away when you break out of it. i.e., some after effects of having a bunch of sticky strands on you after you're mobile again.

    Confusion is a difficult status to emulate, but Halucinating should work well. I was contemplating Afflicting Blindness and compulsive walking so the target walks around in a daze, and occasionally into objects.

    If you were doing duels (aka poke-battles), Whirlwind could be done as an all-knockback attack (to force a 'ring-out'; I see you come to pretty much the same conclusion). That said, your Obsession idea could also be a good fit for a lot of 'fear' effects in other games too.

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    Replies
    1. I agree that a huge knockback effect for whirlwind would probably be the best. Some kinda utility spell that uses Innate attack with the wall enhancement (a wall of tornados?) might be used to help retreats as well keeping with the two important thematic elements: Using wind to escape from danger safely.

      For residual binding... probably area effect with triggered delay, touch... oh you mean something else. It's kinda like a linked or follow-up affliction, also with a triggered delay?

      Confusion... would probably be something like a mental stun, maybe, with... probably the easiest way to do it might be a cyclic attack with an accessibility (must fail roll to snap out of stun.) Which would probably come out real expensive.

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