| From: | "S.F. Eley" <gt6877c@*****.GATECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: 'nother Question |
| Date: | Sun, 25 Jun 1995 11:46:06 -0400 |
> > non-paranormal animal is fair game, but where do all of you draw the line?
> > How about mass considerations? (I have heard some fairly silly siggestions
> > for the spell, such as Tyranosaurus Rex). Does this also hold for water?
>
> I generally rule that only "real" (existing) animals can be copied by
> such spells. This eliminates the Tyranosaurus Rex problem. If you want to
> get tougher on the players you can always demand that they transform into
> animals they have witnesed (ascenced maybe) first hand.
Or, as an alternative, you could require the spellcaster to have a sample
of the animal as a material component for the spell. To me this makes
sense, as the spell would use the DNA from the sample to figure out the
physical structure of the transformation. If you fear your players pulling
a Jurassic Park and digging up dinosaur DNA, you could require them to have
sizable samples, or throw in modifiers for the age or discreteness of their
sample. (I.e., if they come up with T.Rex blood from a mosquito trapped in
amber, they may end up becoming the mosquito, or the tree that created the
amber..) >8-> Whether or not the animal sample needs to be enchanted as a
fetish is at the discretion of the GM, and how difficult he wants it to be
for the players to use this spell. I personally am in favor of making 'em
work for it.
To further prevent illogic and abuse of this spell, I'd add a +1 TN modifier
for every 50% body weight change, added cumulatively. (E.g., a mage
turning into a dog that was 25% his body weight would have a +2 penalty.)
This is simply conservation of magical energy.. To create mass differences
you're creating mass from mana and turning mass back into mana, and that
takes effort. Turning someone into a frog would be very difficult; turning
someone into a T.Rex would be ludicrous. The one exception to this rule
would be shamans taking their totem form.. In a case like that I'd give
it a normal roll regardless of mass, and say that the Totem herself provides
the energy.
> > Could he turn himself into a Blue Whale (I wouldn't, I'm just throwing out
> > an extreme)?
>
> Believe it or not, I have done this once :) It was however the suggestion of
> the GM and It got us out of a very tight spot. We were on an island with no
> means of escape and some sort of explosion/katastrophe/really bad thing was
> going to happen :)
And so you transformed the whole team into blue whales? I don't believe it.
If you're telling the truth (and I doubt it), then your GM wasn't following
any sort of rules about spellcasting.
Blessings,
_TNX._
--
Stephen F. Eley (-) gt6877c@*****.gatech.edu )-( Student Pagan Community
http://wc62.residence.gatech.edu| "Heathen: A benighted creature who has the
My opinions are my opinions. | ignorance to worship something that he can
Please don't blame anyone else. | see and feel." _The Devil's Dictionary_
