Bolt spell/saved posts

Posts relating to bolt and ball spells. Ball spells are a subset of bolt spells and so bolt spell information will also apply to them.

Bolt Spells

Category: Magic Spells and Systems
Topic: Magic Systems
Message #: 1167
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 01/15/2016 02:56 PM EST
Subject: CHANNELed Bolts

Bolts may now be CHANNELed. Doing so imposes a 3 second hard roundtime in exchange for a higher chance of hitting a vital area and subjects the attack to less crit randomization. The RT imposed by CHANNELing cannot be mitigated by any haste effect.

GameMaster Estild

Category: Magic Spells and Systems
Topic: Magic Systems
Message #: 1167
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 01/15/2016 02:56 PM EST
Subject: Re: CHANNELed Bolts

OBSERVER

Could we please be given some hard info on the benefit of channeling bolts? Seeing the benefit in real numbers may help lessen the blow to some of the other changes being made. Any additional information would be appreciated.

When a bolt is CHANNELed, the chance to hit every location is the same at 7% and the crit randomization floor is decreased by 1-2 ranks (depending on the actual crit). For the sake of comparison, the previous chance to hit something like the eye was significantly lower than that.

GameMaster Estild

Category: Magic Spells and Systems
Topic: Magic Systems
Message #: 1204
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 01/21/2016 11:35 AM EST
Subject: Re: CHANNELed Bolts

To provide some additional details to illustrate the strength of a channeled bolt:

When you CAST/EVOKE a bolt, it has a little over 16% chance to hit the eyes, head, or neck. A channeled bolt has over a 30% chance. Most of those locations will also result in a crit kill for ranks as low as 5 or 6. While it will take 7+ against the chest, abdomen, or back.

In addition, when you CAST/EVOKE a bolt, if it's determined to be a rank 9 critical wound, crit randomization can lower that all the way down to a rank 5 (typically non-lethal against vital spots). If you CHANNEL the same bolt (for the same rank 9 crit), crit randomization won't lower it less than a rank 7 (typically lethal against vital spots).

GameMaster Estild

Ball Spells

2009 Posts

Category: Magic Spells and Systems
Topic: Minor Spiritual Circle
Message #: 4009
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 11/25/2009 1:49:46 PM
Subject: Re: Fire Spirit question

>If your "possible" roll is a 1--even if you have +19 targets added because of Lore, so your range is 1-27 targets [rather than the base of 1-8]--then you can have six hundred ranks of MOC, and you're still going to hit one target. -Krakii

Correct.

GameMaster Estild

Category: Magic Spells and Systems
Topic: Minor Spiritual Circle
Message #: 4013
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 11/25/2009 1:49:46 PM
Subject: Re: Fire Spirit question

>Estild, could you (or one of the other GMs) go over to the Krakiipedia page [link is earlier in this thread] and give it the imprimatur of veracity? :) -Krakii

Bolt_spell

I only see 3 needed corrections:

"The normal--no additional training ranks in either Lore or MOC--base range of results is eight (8) for splash damage, so imagine rolling an eight-sided die (d8)."

It's actually 0 - 8 and a weighted roll in favor of the lower end numbers.

"With twenty creatures in the room, your first roll can be between one and thirteen (base of 1-8 plus 5 for Lore skill, or 1-13); you cannot possibly hit creatures numbered fourteen through twenty."

"The next roll can be anything between one and ten."

Both of these rolls are 0 to X.

>I hate to argue with Estild.
>But... I've never not hit targets with splashes from crystal and metal wands, and I've got no such lore for either. But I do have 5-10 MoC ranks depending on the enhancives I'm wearing. -Virilneus

With 0 lore ranks and 101 ranks of MoC:

Your hands glow with power as you invoke the phrase for Major Fire...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a hobgoblin.
You hurl a roaring ball of fire at a hobgoblin!
   AS: +208 vs DS: -62 with AvD: +70 + d100 roll: +6 = +346
   ... and hit for 138 points of damage!
   Left leg burned off at the knee. Ouch.
The roaring ball of fire strikes a hobgoblin, blossoming into a much larger sphere of flame upon impact.
   ... 15 points of damage!
   Burst of flames to back fries shoulder blades. Youch!
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.

>look
[Estild's Underwater Dome]
Various aquatic life forms can be seen swimming in every direction from within the confines of this dome. All that separates the vast amounts of water and the inner environment is a translucent sphere. Numerous multihued cushions cover the floor, offering rest to weary travelers visiting this tranquil habitat. You also see a rolton that appears stunned, a rolton that is lying down, a giant ant, a giant ant, a hobgoblin that appears dead, a hobgoblin that appears stunned, a goblin that appears stunned, a goblin that appears stunned, a giant rat, a giant rat, Mestys's murmaider list and a crystalline scrying pool.
Obvious paths: none

GameMaster Estild

2015 Posts

Category: Sorcerers
Topic: Sorcerer Spells
Message #: 2605
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 04/09/2015 07:07 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Balefire lore/MOC training question

VANKRASN39

Balefire: How does demonology increase maximum number of targets on splash effect? How does MOC training increase the ability to hit multiple targets?

The information I've provided in the past (ball spell) is correct. But here are some additional numbers that all ball explosion spells follow:

Unfortunately, it doesn't follow our standard summation chart, so to calculate the number of increased potential targets you can hit due to lore, you can use the following formula: (1 + sqrt(1 - 8(1 - lore ranks)))/2. To start you out, the thresholds are 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 16, 22, 29, 37, 46...

Each rank of Multi-Opponent Combat increases the number of targets affected (the second roll) by 1, up to the maximum (the first roll, which can be 0).

GameMaster Estild

Category: Sorcerers
Topic: Sorcerer Spells
Message #: 2614
Author: GS4-ESTILD
Date: 04/10/2015 01:28 PM EDT
Subject: Re: Balefire lore/MOC training question

KARDIOS

If I understand correctly, MoC increases the minimum number of targets. For example, if you have 50 lore ranks, you can splash a maximum of 10 targets and a minimum of zero targets. If you have two ranks of MoC, then your range is 2 to 10, instead of 0 to 10.

Here's the non-elaborate breakdown:

1. Random 0 to 8 (weighted toward the low end)
2. Add lore bonus to # from step 1
3. Random 0 to # from step 2
4. Add MoC ranks to # from step 3
5. Limit maximum value of # from step 4 to # from step 2

I believe I had previously stated in the past that you could potentially hit 0 targets even with MoC, but now that I'm looking at the code again, I don't believe that's the case. I had even tested it, but due to how the test was done and how the code works, it had given me a result that a player wouldn't be able to reproduce.

GameMaster Estild