Spark of WinterOb 3^5 Actions Cup your hand, breathe into it and let the coolness of your breath ignite it. Let it fly, where the spark lands you enemies’ blood will freeze in their veins.
The caster creates a small spark of purest winter in the cup of his hand and lets it fly. He directs it with his mind (keep your focus, boy!) and where it lands it flash-freezes the surroundings.
Damaging effect spell: Power = ½ Will +1, VA: 3. Die of Fate to determine IMS. Weapon Length: as Missile; Range: As Heavy Crossbow +1D. Origin: Sight Area of Effect: 10s of Paces Element: Water/Air Impetus: Destroy Duration: Instantaneous Resource Points: 12
Is this spell balanced and/or sensible?
I wanted a spell that was as good in Range and Cover as White Fire or Rain of Fire, but did not inflict as much collateral damage or was as instantly lethal.
The normal distillation process led me to the obstacle and actions. Then I applied the Minoris Sigil to make it cheaper, easier to cast, and less deadly.
For setting reasons, fiery spells and spell with a lof of collateral damage are out.
It seems to be in the right spot. It’s a lot less lethal than Rain of Fire, which will kill you where you stand. It’s better for positioning in Range and Cover than White Fire, but again, a lot less deadly.
Distillation Process: First Distillation: Destroy (Ob 2, 2 actions) + Sight (Ob 4, 4 actions) = Destroy-Sight (Ob 3, 3 actions) Second Distillation: 10s of Paces (Ob 4, 6 actions) + Instantaneous (Ob 0, 1 action) = 10s of Paces-Instantaneous (Ob 2, 3.5 actions) Finalization: Destroy-Sight (Ob 3, 3 actions) + 10s of Paces-Instantaneous (Ob 2, 3.5 actions) + Water (Ob 2, 3 actions) = Ob 4, 5 actions. Sigils: Minoris Sigil to reduce Ob from 4^ to 3^ and reduce damage from Will+1 to ½Will+1.
Thinking about upping the damage from ½Will +1 to ½Will +2. Assuming a Will of B4 or B5, a Sorcerer casting this will not even do a Light Wound on a superp hit. That might be a little weak. In return I think the VA could go down to 2 or even 1. It should either do less damage than shards or have a harder time getting through armor. It is a little silly that a Sorcerer needs Will B6 to have a chance of doing a Light Wound.
I think I’ll keep the spell description though, I kinda like how it oversells the damage of this spell… “Freeze the blood in their veins” indeed.
Spark of Winter Ob 3^ 5 Actions Cup your hand, breathe into it and let the coolness of your breath ignite the spark. Let it fly, where it lands you enemies’ blood will freeze in their veins.
The caster creates a small spark of purest winter in the cup of his hand and lets it fly. He directs it with his mind (keep your focus, boy!) and where it lands it flash-freezes the surroundings.
Damaging effect spell: Power = ½Will +2, VA: 1. Die of Fate to determine IMS. Weapon Length: as Missile; Range: As Heavy Crossbow +1D. Origin: Sight Area of Effect: 10s of Paces Element: Water/Air Impetus: Destroy Duration: Instantaneous Resource Points: 12
Note the slightly increased damage and the lowered VA. Armor actually works fairly vs this spell.
I thought the same as well. However… armor or heavy clothing will protect you against intense heat or cold. It basically works by causing you frost burns… If I stick my hand into liquid nitrogen and quickly pull it up again, my hand will be less ruined if I am wearing a really heavy glove.
Heavy armor and padding should protect against heat and cold I think, what you say does make sense - especially against these kinds of very rapid temperature changes - but with one exception; metal. Conductivity is bad news in these cases, just as against lightning.
Perhaps only allow 2D worth of armor (or, to better adapt to possible other armor variants than the ones in the basic rules, half armor dice rounded up for metal-base armors)? Or would that be overcomplicating things?
Well, this really applies to all the spells and a handful of other abilities. The armor rules are an abstraction. Included in any decent set of plate or mail, there are layers of padding and boiled leathers. We don’t really have rules for all that, nor how Lightning affects armor (Lightning Spells just have insanely high VA).
So yeah, I think it would be overcomplicating things a bit. The armor rules are an abstraction. I was tempted to add a note about winter-appropriate clothes giving +1D armor, but I’m leaving towards giving it VA 1 and leaving it at that.
As a GM however, if a player asked for a +1D advantage to his armor check vs a cold spell, because he was wearing heavy furs… I would give him the advantage
