Torment (718)
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Torment temporarily summons a demonic force to do battle with the caster's target. The demon is quite vicious and will turn upon its caster if proper attention is not paid. Training in Sorcerous Lore, Demonology can enhance this spell.
Each round that this spell is active, the demon will lash out at the target in the form of a warding attack using the sorcerer's CS. These attacks will often result in unbalance, slash, or puncture critical injuries. If the demonic force does not succeed at warding the target on a given round, the target becomes the aggressor, and turns the demonic force against the caster, who must also pass a warding check.
If the caster is a player, the demon will continue to attack until the target (or caster) is dead. If the caster is a creature, the demon will continue to attack until the target wards a round, at which point the spell will strike back at the caster once, then end.
If a caster fails to ward the target on the initial cast, the demonic force is never summoned, and no attack upon the caster will occur. The target's TD is not modified in any way for initial warding check to begin the spell.
The maximum damage that a single round of Torment can do is capped at 120, regardless of endroll. Torment is often called a "threshold" spell in that low endrolls can still have devastating results.
Target TD Modifiers
Torment rounds modify the TD of the current target and are reconsidered on each strike by the demonic force. These modifiers are many, and the following conditions will have an impact:
- The target's TD is decreased by 50 if the target is stunned or unconscious. The penalty can stack with multiple status conditions (see below).
- The target's TD is increased by 50 if the caster is stunned or unconscious. The bonus can stack with multiple status conditions.
- The target's TD is increased if the target is above the level of the caster. For each level the target is above the caster, the target receives +3 to its TD.
- The target's TD is decreased if the target is below the level of the caster. For each level the caster is above the target, the target receives -3 to its TD.
- The target's TD is increased by 50 if the caster has a spell prepared when a Torment round strikes the target (see below for how to negate this effect).
- The target's TD is increased if the caster is controlling multiple instances of Torment, each instance active beyond the first will cause every target to receive +10 to its TD.
- The target's TD is increased by 25 if the caster is not in the same room as the target.
- The target's TD is increased by 75 if the caster is not in the same area ("area" does not mean "realm") as the target. This stacks with the affect above, so it is actually +100.
Status conditions that do not affect the target's TD include if the target or caster are bound, webbed, silenced, or otherwise incapacitated. Torment rounds do not modify the caster's CS in any way.
Stance also modifies target TD, and is the most relevant factor for opponents of similar level. It works off the following chart, where the stance listed is the caster's. The target's stance is ignored. The more offensive the caster's stance is, the higher the TD penalty, the more defensive the caster is, the higher the TD bonus. Thus, casters will want to be in a more offensive stance after a successful initial warding.
| Stance | Target TD Effect |
|---|---|
| Offensive | -50 |
| Advance | -30 |
| Forward | -10 |
| Neutral | +10 |
| Guarded | +30 |
| Defensive | +50 |
Lore Benefits
Training in Sorcerous Lore, Demonology has several positive impacts on Torment. Most notably, it will decrease the benefit that the target receives for the caster having a spell prepared. If the caster has a spell prepared when a Torment round hits the target, the target receives a TD boost of +50. For every 2 ranks of Demonology Lore, that boost will decrease by 1 point, with the maximum reduction of 50 points (target TD boost of 0) achieved at 100 ranks. If the caster has no spell prepared, Demonology ranks instead may cause the demon to inflict more damage. Finally, increased training in Demonology will allow the caster to control more individual demonic forces of this type at a time.
For the damage bonus, 25 ranks of Demonology lore adds less than half a critical rank, 50 ranks is almost a full critical rank, 100 ranks is almost 1.5 critical ranks, and 200 ranks is +2 critical ranks. Again, the damage bonus only applies if the lore benefit isn't being used to negate the spell preparation penalty.
Messaging
An ancient ghoul master gestures at you! CS: +127 - TD: +XXX + CvA: +12 + d100: +80 - -5 == +XXX Warding failed! An ancient ghoul master glares malevolently at you. You feel a threatening dark force very close to you. > A dark force tears at your body! CS: +127 - TD: +XXX + CvA: +12 + d100: +15 - -5 == +XXX Warding failed! Person is engulfed in an eerie, dark haze! He flinches in pain! You are engulfed in an eerie, dark haze! ... 50 points of damage! Gruesome, slashing blow to the side of your head! Skull split open! Brain (and life) vanishes in a fine mist.
Resources
- Sorcerer Base Spell Circle: Torment, on Play.net