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Author Topic: Quest only spells  (Read 250 times)

LoganGrimnar

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Quest only spells
« on: August 25, 2005, 02:59:00 am »
okay i was thanking about some spells that have not ben put into NWN im not talking about offencive of defecive spells, or buffs and such im talking bout spells that would really only be good for RP. the best one i can thank of with the little i know of DnD is bigbys floating disk... pritty much a table, its like level 1 spells or so.  Now if i wanted to use such a spell id just RP it of course sence there is no option to cast it. Is it better to assume that spells that dident make it into NWN dont exist in this world?
 Id also like to point to the fly and levitate spells, as well as D door. These spells cant be used without a DM supervision, or they would likly be to much. Now what im looking fo here is spells that can only be used on quests. Like lets say we are going up somwhere that you need to clmb, but the wizard cant climb up the rocks... if he "knew" levtate of fly or any spell i listed he could get up easy. Now this would take work with the DM running the quest like telling them that id like to cast D door and land there next to the dwarf. This would have to first take a spell from that level out of you prepared spells for that day, so as your not getting a free spell. But really what id like to know is if there is any way to add such a thing? i dont thak we can jsut RP it becouse then every wizard will know these odd ball spells. So if you could add somthing in that would be like the gather info skill, that is only used on quests, now if you add in a D door spell, and say that it can only be used in quests then i can memorize it when were on that quest.  I dont know Anyone have anything to run past this, i thank its a great idea.
 

Talan Va'lash

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #1 on: August 25, 2005, 08:24:00 am »
A lot of spells from DnD dont exist or are much more difficult in layonara.
ex.

Fly is either a very rare 9th level spel or an epic spell (more likely the latter)

Magical communication spells are rare and higher level than the DnD ones.

i started a thread about spells that could be used on quests a while ago, but then i forgot about it and I'm not sure where it got to.  Might want to see whats there, and maybe bring it back up.  There were some use rules suggestions and such if I recall.

-TV
 

EdTheKet

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #2 on: August 25, 2005, 10:22:00 am »
I've allowed things like this on occasion. I recall one time where Rufus was allowed to cast a spell called "Speak with Dead" .  
You grant the semblance of life and intellect to a corpse, allowing it to answer several questions that you put to it. You may ask one question per two caster levels. Unasked questions are wasted if the duration expires. The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any). Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive. If the creature’s alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive.  
If the corpse has been subject to speak with dead within the past week, the new spell fails. You can cast this spell on a corpse that has been deceased for any amount of time, but the body must be mostly intact to be able to respond. A damaged corpse may be able to give partial answers or partially correct answers, but it must at least have a mouth in order to speak at all.  
This spell does not let you actually speak to the person (whose soul has departed). It instead draws on the imprinted knowledge stored in the corpse. The partially animated body retains the imprint of the soul that once inhabited it, and thus it can speak with all the knowledge that the creature had while alive. The corpse, however, cannot learn new information.  
Indeed, it can’t even remember being questioned.  
This spell does not affect a corpse that has been turned into an undead creature.  
 Came up with some rolls he had to pass to determine if he could cast it and how long its duration would be, but he more or less saved the series with it. Things like that could happen, but things like Dimension Door or Fly wouldn't be allowed, levitation sometimes maybe, but never without rolls.  
   
 

LoganGrimnar

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RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #3 on: August 25, 2005, 10:41:00 am »
oh.. i like that one.. speal with the dead. Now could one not just cast animate dead and talk to the creature when it is animadted? And what dose one have to do to qulify for such a spell?
 

Rayenoir

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RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #4 on: August 25, 2005, 12:18:00 pm »
I believe the spell Speak with the Dead is a lower-level spell.  That, and Animate Dead creates mindless undead, not useful for answering questions.
 

EdTheKet

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #5 on: August 25, 2005, 01:56:00 pm »
Quote
LoganGrimnar - 8/25/2005 7:41 PM oh.. i like that one.. speal with the dead. Now could one not just cast animate dead and talk to the creature when it is animadted?
No, because the key word is that it is animated, mindless.
 
Quote
And what dose one have to do to qulify for such a spell?
Ask the DM during a quest if he can use it. In the example I gave above, Rufus was allowed to as he is a necromancer (with all the spell focuses and all that) so I kinda took the low level spell Rayenoir mentions (it is level 3) but tweaked it. I think I turned it into a more ritual like thing. He had to draw a pentagram, place candles and such and rolling several spellcrafts to succeed.
  It was by no means just 'Oh it's a level 3 spell in PnP, so I should know it and be able to use it'.
 

LoganGrimnar

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RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #6 on: August 25, 2005, 04:34:00 pm »
well what about other such spells, like Ghost sound, mage hand, open/close,detect magic, hold portal, obscuring mist,detect undead, Tenser floating disk, change self,silent image, Ventriloquism, animate robe, jump, message, spider climb. Well thats just a few spells that are run for level 0-3, Now i know that these are not going to be added into he spell book, but for the sake of being fair, i dont want to declare that i want to animate a rope, and cast hold portal when i might not even know these spells. Though i guess i can talk to the DM running the quest about it. pritty much i dont want to just know all these spells of the top of my head, i want to have to find and buy and learn and seek them all out. it would be unfair and unrealistic if we could all(mages) just cast these spells, id like to be able to learn them somehow, and then have something saying i know how to do such and such a spell, so when there is a quest i can say im casting animate rope, and show a reference to the fact that i know the spell and am not just namming of spells that will make life eayser out of the PH.

 I hope i dont sound demanding, im just tring to have the idea known, hoping someone that knows more about.. stuff can see what can be done with this.
 

LoganGrimnar

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RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2005, 09:46:00 am »
oh and Talan, i dident see your thread about the spells, if you find it drop me a line and ill have a look
 

Talan Va'lash

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2005, 02:09:00 pm »
I cant find my thread either!  Which makes me sad...

I was probably a moron and stuck it in someone elses thread because it made me think of it.. so, no idea where it is now.
 

LoganGrimnar

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RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2005, 05:49:00 pm »
lol
 

Talan Va'lash

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2005, 06:32:00 pm »
I found it!

Contents of my post:

"It came up once on a quest i was on with L, where I wanted to use a message spell (which is a fairly low level spell in PnP) so I asked if such magic was available in layo (just to RP it.)

The response was that if it was, I would not know it being a level 5 wizard.

Magic is different in layo than in FR or Greyhawk. For example the spell "Fly" would be the prized achievement of an epic wizard on layo, independantly researched and such (like an Epic spell) rather than a standard 3rd level spell. (think its 3rd...)

Anyway, it would be cool if someone in the know (probably L) could state a few purely RP spells and their level requirements.

Kindof like the teleport tomes, but with no acctual functionality (mechanics wise.)

These would be used in the context of DMed quests, or just to give some basis for random non DMed rp.

Ex:

Detect Magic - 1st level cleric, wizard, Druid, Sorcerer. Shows number of magical auras within 30 feet and allows a DC 15 spellcraft check to determine the school and relative strength of the aura.

Silent Message - 12th level Wizard, Cleric. Use is self explanatory. Cannot send a message to someone you have never seen (in person or through scrying or seeing an image) and you must know the persons location within 1 mile/level.

Dont really want to get into scrying and counter scrying here... trying to keep it simple.

Oh, and I think a Create Water cantrip could be added to Druids and Clerics that creates a canteen of water in your inventory. Could be cool RP for long quests away from civilization and fresh water *looks at the descriptions of some of the upcoming plot quests* ... *cough cough*

Yeah yeah I know, should have thought of that idea before orth left... hehe

*looks for orth soaring above the trees*

-TV"

It was Here for some reason...

-TV
 

EdTheKet

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2005, 03:36:00 am »
Quote
Though i guess i can talk to the DM running the quest about it.

  That'd be the way to do it. In general, I think you're stuck with the spells in NWN and I think there will not be an extensive list with all kinds of PnP spells which people can use. If I may refer to my earlier example about the Speak with Dead, it's more like I used that PnP spell as inspiration and made it a ritual, it was not in Rufus' spellbook.
  Also, in my about 2-2.5 years of GMing, that was the only time I did that (but of course if people ask me for something during a quest, I will consider it). Does that help?
 

Talan Va'lash

RE: Quest only spells
« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2005, 04:02:00 am »
My logic was, if theres some rough idea of whats possible, then it would allow for players to initiate trying to do something not in the game engine.

Of course all uses would be at DM discretion, but DMs are busy during quests thusly most requests come from players (i.e. the player says *looks around* then rolls a spot more often than having a DM mandated spot.)

Also, a DM suggesting that X spell/ritual/technique could be used might be giving too much of a hint at times.

If some rough guidelines of whats possible and how difficult it is (required level) within the framework of the setting (since layo magic is significantly different in many aspects than other settings) then players would be able to tell the DM "I'd like to try X."

The DM can at that point rule that it wouldnt work under the particular circumstances, set a really high DC etc. or allow it.

Player asks DM, DM responds, is pretty much how things work on quests (the majority of the time, not all I've witnessed many exceptions) and players cant (or are much less likely) to ask if they dont know what they can ask.

Its basically to give players an idea of what would be possible for their character to try to attempt.  And also what is not possible (I've seen a 8th level wizard try to RP polymorphing an epic drow NPC into a chicken, I kid you not.)

Anyway, thats my reasoning on this topic.  Work with the DM first and foremost, and none of this would be set in stone, but it would be a good framework to work with.

-TV