GimmeYerGold's [revised] Custom Cards Preview: Chaos Spells

[GimmeYerGold]

Chaos Spells! KABLOOIE!

Notes:
1) The original 12 included in the Base NA System are here, some slightly modified
2) Instead of adding all of the ones from the expansions, I chose the most "useful," modified them, or created new ones to fit the "feel" of those original 12, which I feel, are all pretty well rounded and don't have super specific uses. (Chaos spellcasters get fewer chances to cast their spells after all)
3) Like I did with the Hero spells, I neutralized the pronouns, not just for the sake of inclusion, but for if any reason, a player character gets a chance to cast a chaos spell, the instructions would still be straight forward.

More card sets I'm working on:
[revised] Encounter Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2828
[revised] Artifact Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2826
[revised] Combat Skill Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2823
[revised] Hero Spell Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2821
[revised] Monster Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2820
[revised] Equipment Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2818
[revised] Lone Monster Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2816
[revised] Settlement Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2813
[revised] Treasure Cards here: viewtopic.php?f=34&t=2812

[cynthialee]

I like the wording of the cards.
I have a Hero called the Wizards Apprentice who can learn spells from other casters. When a spell card is played in sight of the Apprentice he rolls his Mind in combat dice (7) and if he nets a black shield in the roll he learns the spell and the card is given to the player of the Apprentice. The apprentice may learn chaos spells as he sees them cast by chaos casters just as he can player character spell casters.
No spell is off limits to this caster. He starts play with one random spell from the school the Wizard does not choose.

I haven't seen any real issues with these cards. I like them. Well I do have one issue....I do not like the limitation on sharpen blades to not being cast in a hallway. What happens here? Does he somehow forget how to cast this spell? Unlikely. As there are never more than a few monsters in a hallway compared to a room I do not think this limitation makes sense nor does it address a game balance issue.

[GimmeYerGold]

I like the wording of the cards.
I have a Hero called the Wizards Apprentice who can learn spells from other casters. When a spell card is played in sight of the Apprentice he rolls his Mind in combat dice (7) and if he nets a black shield in the roll he learns the spell and the card is given to the player of the Apprentice. The apprentice may learn chaos spells as he sees them cast by chaos casters just as he can player character spell casters.
No spell is off limits to this caster. He starts play with one random spell from the school the Wizard does not choose.

I haven't seen any real issues with these cards. I like them. Well I do have one issue....I do not like the limitation on sharpen blades to not being cast in a hallway. What happens here? Does he somehow forget how to cast this spell? Unlikely. As there are never more than a few monsters in a hallway compared to a room I do not think this limitation makes sense nor does it address a game balance issue.

Thanks for taking a look! For Sharpen Blades, the hallway ruling is an area-of-effect limitation copy-pasted from original card in Wizards of Morcar--it's pretty arbitrary, but I can see it being exploited by a spellcaster who chooses to stand at the intersection of two corridors, effectively casting it simultaneously in two corridors. (This could happen with any "room or corridor" spell I imagine.) However, it could just as easily not have the limitation, since it's not like an instant damage effect, it only increases the odds of the monster hitting, using it to bolster more monsters would tip the balance back toward the monsters, who are often outclassed by the heroes anyway. Good catch!

So how do you feel about the "May not be cast in corridors" limitation for other area-of-effect spells, like firestorm? Using the standard board, the largest room is 30 square, while a spellcaster standing at the intersection of the two longest unobstructed corridors could affect 45 squares, effectively 1.5 times as many squares as the largest room. The visual is quite impressive, but I consider the limitation has its purpose since it was put in place by the original game designers (I put more stock in the core systems than I do the expansions, as I feel those had less play testing than the original system) Firestorm is guaranteed to inflict at least 1 body point of damage on all figures not carrying a fire ring, so that's quite a beefy spell, especially if the corridor cap is removed.

[cynthialee]

Limit these spells to a single hallway. If the hallway turns it ends there, if it junctures, the spell power goes in a straight line until it terminates in a wall. (or say a maximum of 12 squares if one needs a terminal limit)

As for the dude standing in a juncture of a couple halls and casting Sharpen Blades and there are multiple monsters in his line of sight....
How many times will this scenario actually be played out? Without the ability to have monsters open doors and move (until seen), the only way this would happen is in a case where it is set up as part of the dungeon. I could see a situation where the heroes may have left doors open and ran away from monsters who will certainly give chase and ending in this scenario some how, but those heroes are weak-sauce and need to perish...
As it would be a very rare scenario I have no issue with this potential mini-max. It is the rare mini maxing situations that add flavor and danger to higher level dungeons.

[GimmeYerGold]

Cool!

Think I'll fix my Sharpen Blades spell to not have that corridor limit. It's only for the next attack anyhoo

Thanks again for lending your magnificent spell brain, cynthialee!

[Anderas]

I like them too!
Especially the neutral wording so that they're useable for everybody.

[GimmeYerGold]

Thanks Andreas! I'm also thinking of using the wording "spellcaster" in place of "you" on the Hero spell cards, so it is truly universal across all player characters.

For instance, if the Chaos spellcasters wanted to use the hero spells they could too! (I feel like the wording of "you" is difficult to apply when you're playing the Evil Wizard character, because the Evil wizard represented by many figures on the board, not just one.

[Daedalus]

I have some feedback about your impressive collection:

Cloud of Chaos

I'd change "By rolling a 6, the enemy figure frees themselves." > By rolling a 6, enemy figures free themselves.

Death Mist

Monsters defend with black shields while Heroes defend with white shields. This makes the spell more potent when cast by a Hero. Is that your intent? If not, I'd use a red die instead. Here's an alternate:


Death Mist

This spell sends out a deadly Breath of
Chaos to attack any one figure on the
gameboard. The mist attacks with 4
combat dice, which aren't defended
normally. Instead, the victim rolls one
red die for each of their Mind Points.
For each 5 or 6 rolled, the damage is
reduced by 1 point. May not be used
against Skeletons, Zombies, Ghosts,
Mummies, Banshees, or Vampires.

Dispell

I felt some shortened rewording might help with flow. Ignore if you disagree.


Dispel

This special spell may be cast during
another spellcaster's turn to try to
cancel their spell. The Dispel is cast
immediately after that figure casts a
spell. Both the dispeller and the caster
of the target spell roll 1 red die and
add their own result to their Mind
Points. If the dispeller's total is
higher, the target spell has no effect.

Earthquake

This spell works great, but a bit of shortening might help legibility. Also, I can see casting the spell defensively on an open square to disadvatage the opposition. An alternative text:


Earthquake

This spell creates an earthquake at any
one square in the same room or corridor
as the spellcaster. The ground there
collapses, and any figure caught on the
square suffers 1 Body Point of damage
from the fall. Put a pit trap tile on the
square (under any figure.) A victim may
move out of the pit on their next turn.
The tile remains on the gameboard as a
pit trap for the rest of the Quest.

Escape

Spellcasters have a history of escaping in the published expansions. Every case was detailed in the Quest Notes. If Quest notes support this spell in a similar way, this spell is fine as is. If you wanted to fullproof things and make special notes unnecessary, you could add this to the end: "From there, the caster may exit the Quest."

Fear

If you wanted to bother, you could change the order of undead to increasing power: May not be used against Skeletons, Zombies, Ghosts, Mummies, Banshees, or Vampires.

Mirror Magic

You changed this spell from reflecting spells to reflecting attacks. Do you feel a Chaos Sorcerer won't need to turn back spells, or are you trying to make this universally useful by a Hero spellcaster against all monsters? Or none of the above?

Reanimation

"This spell reanimates all dead figures...." Does this not include defeated Skeletons and the like, since they were undead? I'm assuming they can't be reanimated...again. Surely Ghosts and Banshees can't be so transformed.

Rust

I like the d6 save. How is the equipment determined? May the caster decide or should it be random? Whatever the method, I think it's best to include it in the spell description.

Sharpen Blades

I'd change "This spell allows each friendly figure in the same room as the spellcaster, and the spellcaster to roll..." > This spell allows the spellcaster and all friendly figures in the same room to roll...

Touch of Darkness

I'd modify "...It will inflict 1 Body Point of damage, and restore 1 of the spellcaster's lost Body Points, but does not give a figure more than their starting number...." > ...It inflicts 1 Body Point of damage and restores 1 of the spellcaster's lost Body Points, but it does not give a figure more than their starting number....