Wonder Workers Wednesday 07/23/14

Pentagarchy Sorcerer Creates a Wind Node
by Me.

Welcome back to Dungeon Mastering by Candlelight.  Today is Wonder Worker Wednesday, the day of the week that I share ideas about spell casters, spells and magic from my home campaign.

Most recently I have been running a group every other Monday night using 2nd Edition AD&D and so this colors to some degree my perspective on how spell mechanics jive with the rules.

I will say that in my home campaign we do not use the spell point system from the 2nd Edition optional rules but I do like a number of the ideas that are shared about Channeling and Summoning and different expansions on magical effects.

Magic in my campaign as I suspect it is written in many fantasy campaigns is on the decline.  Rare artifacts are almost non-existent.  Powerful magical items with sustained magic which do not operate off of a charge system are also rare.  Enchanting items no longer "holds" the power in the way that it once did and sorcerers for the past three to four hundred years have worked around this by tagging a charge system onto magical items which otherwise might be of a fairly minor nature (+1 to +2 magical weapons or armor for example).

The Falcon Blade
by Me

Take the Falcon Blade pictures to the left.  This blue steel dagger with the silver head of a falcon is generally a +1 magical dagger.  The ruby eyes of the falcon head have been enchanted to function as a horcrux.  In this instance a horcrux is not an object where an evil wizard hides a piece of his soul.  In this instance a horcrux is a magical battery tuned to a specific type of magical energy.  The energy is always elemental in nature although negative energy or positive energy in this instance also count as a sort of elemental power.

When the Falcon Blade holds the power of a wind node the blade will throw and return and will also strike a target with a +1d6 of cold energy.  For all practical purposes the weapon is still a +1 dagger when determining if it hits a target and base damage bonus.  The cold energy attack stacks with the daggers usual 1d4+1 damage.  The target of the dagger is granted a saving throw versus spell and if successful only takes half of the bonus cold damage from the blade.  The Falcon Blade can sail and return blasting foes for additional cold damage so long as it contains the power (charge) from an elemental wind node.  Each ruby eye of the Falcon Blade is of such quality that it can contain up to a maximum of five charges each.

So what are elemental nodes and how does a character get them to recharge or charge a horcrux weapon, armor or item.  When sorcerers are active in a particular location for a period of weeks or months there is a chance that small bubbles of elemental power or nodes will begin to appear.  My own players encountered a tomb where the frequent casting of necromantic spells to keep the undead in the area slumbering so the bad guys could pass without triggering them is an example from my own game.  This floating bubbles of dark amber count as one node of negative (necromantic) energy.  Physical contact with a node can be dangerous.  A negative energy node can inflict a point of damage to a character or it can heal a zombie, skeleton or other animated undead for 1d4 hit points should the zombie wander into the node during a fight.

A horcrux weapon tuned to negative energy will absorb a node when it comes in contact with it and if it has open charge spots available will replenish one charge.

Creating an elemental node, a floating bubble of raw elemental energy to use to charge a horcrux weapon or item is a 1st level spell.  Once created different types of nodes have different shelf lives and must be handled in different ways if they are not to be lost or to create minor destruction.  The sorcerer who creates an elemental node maintains a form of telekinetic control over the small orb (about the size of a baseball when complete) and may direct it slowly in one direction or another.  The ability to create a node of elemental fire, for example, can be used to light torches or a fire or flare against a target as a minor magical attack.  The direct damage inflicted by a node is always small.  Never more than 1d4 damage and the caster must make a to hit roll when manipulating the sphere.  Failure means the caster not only misses but impacts something nearby like the wall or floor, causing them to lose the node in the process as if they had missed with a thrown weapon.  Nodes do have the advantage of strike for magical damage.

When a horcrux weapon runs out of charges it continues to function as its base type.  The Falcon Blade in the example above would continue to strike as a +1 magical dagger but it would no longer return when thrown and would not strike a target for any cold damage until it was recharged.

Well that is it for tonight's posting.  Hope your week is going well.  Thanks for reading and hope to see you next time!  Happy Gaming!!!

-Ed