 Missing Something?, Re: Stats of Certain Illusion Spells |
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 Jul 23 2007, 02:43 AM
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#1
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Immortal Elf  Group: Validating Posts: 7,999 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,890  |
I've only recently upgraded to the 4th Edition (mostly because my girlfriend has shown an interest in trying it out), so I'm casually pouring over all the new rules and trying to get them to sink in.
That said, while I was working on my first character I noticed something really peculiar about a few spells that was most noticably apparent in the Illusion category. Several of them have identical effects with the only changes being flavor text; these spells include Agony, Foreboding and Orgasm. The really odd thing is that of those three, the one that is arguably the best to use (since it has less roleplaying consequences for its use on a run, as stated in the description) is the one with the lower Drain Value. My question is: Am I missing something in regards to these spells? Why would spells that are all but identical in every way except for a minor flavor difference have different stats? Is there something more to these spells that I'm not noticing? Thanks in advance. |
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Jul 23 2007, 02:56 AM
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#2
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panda! Group: Members Posts: 10,331 Joined: 8-March 02 From: north of central europe Member No.: 2,242 |
i take it these are from street magic?
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Jul 23 2007, 03:13 AM
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#3
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Prime Runner Group: Banned Posts: 3,732 Joined: 1-September 05 From: Prague, Czech Republic Member No.: 7,665 |
Agony incapacitates people who are already injured.
Orgasm incapacitates people with low Willpower. Foreboding incapacitats people with a low Willpower, but it also acts as a "mine field", incapacitating foes who later walk into the area. Honestly, I think that Agony sucks. One box per net hit is just a very very small amount of effective damage. It's seriously like hitting people with a Force Zero manabolt. It ouldn't be a lethal weapon even if it was real damage! But Orgasm and Foreboding are both made of liquid awesome. -Frank |
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Jul 23 2007, 03:16 AM
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#4
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Great Dragon Group: Members Posts: 7,089 Joined: 4-October 05 Member No.: 7,813 |
yes. agony is completely different... it inflicts virtual damage, and requires you to score (8 + 1/2 body) hits to incapacitate instead of (willpower) hits. foreboding and orgasm are identical except in one thing: foreboding is multi-sense (for some reason) and orgasm is single sense (i'll go with 'touch' i suppose). i suppose i can see 3 things that would make you use foreboding: 1) it can drive people away, as opposed to incapacitating them. 2) foreboding can simply be mistaken for fear. it isn't necessarily immediately obvious that someone is casting a spell on you. not quite so much with orgasm... 3) some critters (i dunno precisely which ones, this is GM's call) may not have an appropriate sense. (in particular, if something reproduces asexually, i suppose orgasm would have no effect... so for those single-celled critters, you'll want foreboding, i guess :P ) incidentally, bugs and stink are also mechanically very similar to foreboding and orgasm. again, bugs is multi-sense, stink is single sense. |
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Jul 23 2007, 03:33 AM
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#5
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Immortal Elf Group: Validating Posts: 7,999 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 1,890 |
Oops, I did in fact mean Bugs rather than Agony. My mistake! Foreboding was also a bad one to throw into the mix. Chalk one up to my wretched memory for making such a lousy list!
Thank you for the clarifications nonetheless. I appreciate it. :) |
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