Ye Olde Inn

Although monster spellcasters are not that common in the main Quests, they become more prevalent at the later Quests and the Quest Packs. While tweaking with the rules, I was hit with an idea. Since there are potions to buff normal combat, why then not for magic. While I establish this for the Main US Game System, I keep this card open-ended, as the approach to mentally resisting spell effects varies with different editions and Quest Packs*, as well as the additional mind-effecting spells introduced in the Quest Packs.

You can have this as a Treasure Card, as inventory at the Alchemist's Shop, or both.

Potion of Willpower Found among a pile of useless treasure and copper coins that are not worth the effort, you discover a bottle of liquid determination! You make drink this caffeinated concoction at any time, enabling you to add 2 temporary Mind Points to resist the next spell cast on you, like Command, Fear or Sleep. This will not be effective on all spells. This may only be used once. Do not return to deck.

What do you guys think?



*All the ways to roll this could be its own topic!

The way the rules are written, it seems like you have to just drink it immediately and hope a rare spellcaster will turn up AND pick you as a target. Which may or may not happen.
If you save it instead, and a spellcaster do in fact turn up and do pick you, it doesn't seem like you can drink it as a reaction to being targeted. The instant you are targeted, the potion would affect the *next* spell.
It also seems a bit like maybe you have +2 MP until you get hit by a spell.
How about making it a talisman you can choose to use as a reaction to being targeted. It immediately grants you the 2 MP while the spell resolves, and then it breaks.

I have a small issue with the flavor text. I'm not a fan of finding "useless" treasure and copper coins - and NOT having an option to pick that garbage up. I want my 5 copper god dammit! You don't get to tell me what treasure is useful and useless!
Make it a box of empty bottles or a pile of bones or something like that.

The wording is a little strange and it should be 'may drink this' instead of 'make drink this'.

I'd word it as something like: 'You may treat your MP as if it were two higher the next time your MP is used.'

Goblin-King wrote:I have a small issue with the flavor text. I'm not a fan of finding "useless" treasure and copper coins - and NOT having an option to pick that garbage up. I want my 5 copper god dammit! You don't get to tell me what treasure is useful and useless!
Make it a box of empty bottles or a pile of bones or something like that.

Agreed, useless treasure is an oxymoron.

Goblin-King wrote:The way the rules are written, it seems like you have to just drink it immediately and hope a rare spellcaster will turn up AND pick you as a target. Which may or may not happen.
If you save it instead, and a spellcaster do in fact turn up and do pick you, it doesn't seem like you can drink it as a reaction to being targeted. The instant you are targeted, the potion would affect the *next* spell.
It also seems a bit like maybe you have +2 MP until you get hit by a spell.
How about making it a talisman you can choose to use as a reaction to being targeted. It immediately grants you the 2 MP while the spell resolves, and then it breaks.

For constancy, I made the rules written as the Potion of Strength and Defense, were you can take it at any time and ends soon after ones attacks or gets attacked.

A Talisman of Lore-like Artifact could be useful, granting a +2 MP vs mind-effecting spells instead of an all out +1 MP. Although I'm not a fan of common and consumable Artifacts like the ones from Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witch Lord, unless its something powerful like the Elixir of Life -- a unique item that grants resurrection and full restoration. To me, items like the Anti-poison Quill, Dust of Disappearance, Fire Ring, etc. should be common Treasure Cards, with Spell Scroll! (draw one random one-use Spell Card) being its own Treasure Card. (Along with more Wandering Monster!, Hazard! and Nothing... cards to balance then out. Although I am getting a little off-topic right here.)

Goblin-King wrote:I have a small issue with the flavor text. I'm not a fan of finding "useless" treasure and copper coins - and NOT having an option to pick that garbage up. I want my 5 copper god dammit! You don't get to tell me what treasure is useful and useless!

Disregard the flavor text. More than once I fart-out a random idea that end up proving so useful in retrospect, folks not just swoop it up, it gets published verbatim with dyslexic errors, half-formed ideas and all. Trust me, I usually put really raunchy stuff in such flavor text to keep people from blowing their load too soon with my ideas.

The flippant flavor text is more a jab at D&D treasure, with how one's prized +1 sword at low-level quickly gets sold or discarded with something better at mid-level. And with copper coins being the way they get discarded in favor of gold coins and jewels due to encumbrance rules at lower levels, and outright ignored at higher levels.

Also, my original idea for place-holder images were: A can of Red Bull; and an E-Tank can from MegaMan (basically Red Bull with a big "E" on it). Then I remembered that Dan Aykroyd gave the world the greatest vodka bottle ever!

For constancy, I made the rules written as the Potion of Strength and Defense, were you can take it at any time and ends soon after ones attacks or gets attacked.

I think it is interesting. But I will make its effects end with the currnt quest. Because I like the balanced things. Too easy to drink a potion when it is required. You must drink it BEFORE the event could happen and if it never happen you have wasted it. It is like an insurance: you pay something every month to get a protection against something that could hapen but if it will not happen you'e wasted your money.
So you may drink it and hope a Chaos Sorcerer appears while you still under the effects of this potions. Anyway I think the Sorcerer knows you drunk it and will opt to cast his spells against other heroes.
So at the end it will be some kind of generic protection from that kind of spells.

lestodante wrote:

For constancy, I made the rules written as the Potion of Strength and Defense, were you can take it at any time and ends soon after ones attacks or gets attacked.

I think it is interesting. But I will make its effects end with the currnt quest. Because I like the balanced things. Too easy to drink a potion when it is required. You must drink it BEFORE the event could happen and if it never happen you have wasted it. It is like an insurance: you pay something every month to get a protection against something that could hapen but if it will not happen you'e wasted your money.
So you may drink it and hope a Chaos Sorcerer appears while you still under the effects of this potions. Anyway I think the Sorcerer knows you drunk it and will opt to cast his spells against other heroes.
So at the end it will be some kind of generic protection from that kind of spells.

This is exactly why I would personally change this item around a bit.
If you don't drink it in advance, it's too late once a spell is being cast - If you drink it in advance, Morcar will just choose another target for the spell.
Unless you play the game like a roleplaying game, the effect will literally never trigger

Goblin-King wrote:If you don't drink it in advance, it's too late once a spell is being cast - If you drink it in advance, Morcar will just choose another target for the spell.
Unless you play the game like a roleplaying game, the effect will literally never trigger

It will indirectly. Play it on the 2MP barbarian and the EWP will be better off going for the 3MP dwarf so you effectively get a 1MP boost.

It's only really worth it if one of the heroes has less MP than the others so it works better with the +2MP proper version of the talisman of lore than it does with the +1MP US version.

Gold Bearer wrote:

Goblin-King wrote:It's only really worth it if one of the heroes has less MP than the others so it works better with the +2MP proper version of the talisman of lore than it does with the +1MP US version.

Oh I never notice that. (such a small difference) Thank!