[Rq-rules] Re: Distemper

[Simon Phipp]

Clive Wickens:

> I'll openly admit I'm crap at writing spells, the following is a sorcery
> idea I've been mulling over recently.

Not that crap after all.

> DISTEMPER
> 
> Ranged, passive.
> 
>  
> 
> This spell is cast on objects forged of rune metals. Intensity must equal
> the ENC of the object to be affected. For the duration of the spell any
> special properties that the forged rune metal status bestows are negated,
> and the object is considered to be in it's raw state

Nikk Effingham:
> Good stuff. Do you think that it requires a magic points veruss magic
> points? A
> resistance roll if cast on, say, a weapon someone is wielding? I'd suggest
> not
> (mainly because the effect of the spell isn't that powerful).

It is probably as powerful as, say, Dullblade which requires a Magic
Resistance roll.

Leon Kirshtein:

> I have a problem with this spell and I do consider it
> very powerful. Imagine someone casting it on an
> attuned alluminium shield. 
> 
> For a few magic points, the shield is now not only
> useless for the combat, but easily destroyed since its
> armor points are negligable. Cast on iron it has an
> effect of lowering the chance of any spell being cast
> by the target. And, what happens to a lead scimitar?
> 
> It took POW to enchant these things, there should
> definently be some sort of a resistance roll involved
> and I would consider making this spell substance
> specific such as Distemper Silver, Distemper Iron, and
> so on.

Since the spell's effects are not permanent, and presumably can be dispelled
anyway, I don't think this is too powerful at all. 

In the examples, an aluminium shield would have reduced APs and its ENC would
count underwater, but apart from that the shield is still usable.

Unenchanted Iron does reduce the chance of casting spells, but not by much,
so I wouldn't think this is too much of a game-breaker. It would also
increase the ENC of the Iron (if you use the RQ2-ish interpretation).

I like the idea of having metal-specific versions of the spell. It makes it
slightly less powerful and slightly more Gloranthan.

Clive Wickens:

> This was why I asked for help. For some metals eg gold
> the effects are minor, ie: no 'glow', no double bonus
> for light spells. Others are more drastic - iron I don't
> have a problem with, it's precisely what I had in mind
> when thinking about it, but as Leon points out the 
> problem comes when you're dealing with possible
> permanent effects. A silver or aluminium object
> would be rendered soft as putty, and thus easily
> breakable with the result the enchantment would
> be broken. Unfortunately the Genertala secrets
> book isn't very forthcoming about the strength or
> durability of metals in their raw state.

I wouldn't say as soft as putty, they would probably only have half the APs
of bronze.

> Does the fact something gains as many armour
> points as Bronze mean that it can take an edge
> like bronze ? Just because it's as strong as Bronze
> does it mean it's as sharp as Bronze ?

I would say so, yes.

> With regards to Lead the implication in the book
> is that it already has the same AP as Bronze, but
> that enchantment gets rid of the ENC penalty,
> so could it be used to forge a scimitar anyway? 

Yes, I don't see the problem with lead scimitars. Maybe in the rules, it says
that lead edged weapons don't get the +1, so a scimitar would do 1D8 rather
than 1D8+1, sounds vaguely familiar. But, there again, most leaden weapons
are blunt and still get the +2 for being very heavy.

> I don't have a problem with a resistance roll, I'd considered
> something like " the intensity of the spell must overcome
> the ENC of the target in a resistance roll in order to take
> effect " I'd also considered substance specific spells
> as I like the idea of different schools of sorcery
> having access to different spells eg trollish sorcerers
> might have Distemper Gold,Distemper Copper
> and so on

MPs vs MPs would be better, keeping it in line with Dullblade etc.

If trollish or Aldryami sorcerers used Distemper Iron, would it stop the
Ironburn (double damage)? I can't remember whether untempered iron burns them
or not. If it does, then there would be a trollish school in the Holy Country
teaching this, probably from The Only Old One.

> I've got a similiar spell with almost the reverse effect
> which I'll post if anyone is interested. 

It's always good to see new spells, so please post away.