In the 80s there was this Get Smart reunion movie called Nude Bomb. The plot was that KAOS developed a WMD that only destroyed clothes (the titular nude bomb). The terrorist organization planned to use the weapon to destroy all clothing in the world except for their own and gain a monopoly hold over the international clothing market.

While the plot is rather difficult to duplicate a smaller scale version of the titular weapon can be treated using magic. Basicly, it would be a version of Powerball with the very restricted target of clothing. For the sake of convenience, this spell can be called Nudeball. It is perfect for lechers, pranksters, and paranoid security guards alike as it allows the magician to forcibly disrobe anyone without causing any damage to the person. Since clothing doesn't get a resistance test any deadly wound will render it useless.

This does bring some other questions to light, though. For one, if you cast a deadly nudeball against armored clothing would it destroy the armor? For that matter, if a nudeball can destroy worn clothing and armor wouldn't a standard powerball do the same?

Why do you need to affect thief clothes? hit'em with a manaball. You don't have to worry about armour with a combat spell.

This would be a clothing version of wreck I guess, which would be able to be countered by a special version of urban renewal. (which gives me the idea that you can use magic to repair damaged armour)

A spell like Wreak (Armour/Clothing) Should do the trick.

I just watched Mystery Men, and they had the gun that shrunk clothing... of course they used it on the female villains

I think if you want to be serious with this spell, you could force a willpower roll to avoid covering yourself and thus either being penalized or forced to do nothing else in the situation.

I don't see a precedent for this type of effect in the 4th edition rules. Turn to Goo, for instance, only affects living tissue. However, I'm sure you could make a new version that would disintegrate clothing. I would go with a physical resistance test based on the composition of the clothing/armor. I would also make the drain higher than you'd initially think, since it targets clothing only, and that's a little tricky.

Dread Polack

in case of a targeted spell, i dont think you should be doing more than dropping armor by 1 point per hit with the spell. that way my armor jacket+helmet dont go bye-bye on the first hit.

I suspect that a number of 'worn' items would be immune to the effect. these would include backpacks, purses, and probably some types of tactical harnesses. definetly wont hit an armslide, but it will reveal it.

the REAL advanatge of a nudeball is everything in your pockets falls out... which includes concealed weapons and ammo. *poof* your naked, and *clang clatter bang* all your toys dropped. what part is worse for a runner?

agree the target gets a will roll of some kind to resist.

How about 1 point per net success? That sounds reasonable.

The arm slide itself might not get affected, but what about the straps holding it to your arm?

How does willpower come into this? The spell doesn't even target the wearer. Object Resistance would seem more appropriate...

There is the fact that you can target someone in fully covering armor but not in a tinted car that distinguishes the issue. It's like saying that you target the person's clothing with Acid Stream and then forbidding the person from dodging because he's not the target.

If someone wanted to play that card, I would let them target the armour. Sure it disintegrates, but the person wearing it would not take damage, since they are not the target.

So, Force 4 Powerballs make everybody naked, eh? Again, that's a way to read it. I don't run it like that, personally. Worn clothing and items are considered part of a target/subject. Things like Detect Clothing, Levititate and so on, are unbalanced otherwise.

Detect Clothing is of limited use. Detect Worn Clothing on the other hand is just too absurd to allow.

Force 4 powerballs at Deadly damage cause an awful lot of damage, including destroying walls, equipment, surrounding scenery AND clothing. Generally it's not worth calculating out the details, but in a realistic game it should be done. After all, don't you account for damaged equipment and blown off clothing when the PC is near a massive explosion?

You'd probably want 'detect vertebrate' so that you get a ping on guard dogs and stuff too.

There's plenty of critters (and other) that can kill you without spinal cords.

This sounds like something from bad anime porn.

Well, since I am perpetually annoyed by FFBA this sounds like the perfect spell.

Wouldn't the mage would have to obtain LOS to the FFBA, or even underware?

Wether or not the mage can see London and France is likely determined by concealability and perception. Nevertheless, multiple castings may be necessary. The ball spell has the advantage of taken out all layers within LOS on everyone within the radius. A bolt version would only damage one garment at a time.

Of course, even with multiple castings it can be preferable to directly targeting a high-stat character. With cyberware it is possible to build a rules legal starting Gnome who is all but immune to direct combat spells. With GM fiat it is possible to build the aforementioned Willpower 11 troll, who is also practically immune to direct combat spells.