[Tome of Virtue] Miracle fix

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:49 am

Okay, here’s a draft for a (hopefully) not-broken miracle. I’ve tried to run with the idea of “Intercession Points” Frank mentioned in the Tome of Fiends thread.

Intercession Points
Usually, when you do someone a favor, they are expected to give you a personal favor or some sort of physical (or physical-like) reward. Or they try to kill you, or you try to kill them. But if they’re a powerful supernatural being, they can also give you Intercession Points with the reasonable expectation that you won’t stab them for not paying up. This is a magically binding contract that, at some point in the future, you can use a portion of their power. These Points are treatable as Wish Economy currency (equal in value to a CR 17 soul), and can be used to create magic items or empower the secondary effects of miracle.

If you’re using Intercession Points to make magic items, you can also use the abilities of the creature who gave them to you as though they were there assisting you in the item creation.

Powerful as they are, Intercession Points are costly to generate – a creature which wishes to grant one must sacrifice Wish Economy currency/magic items worth an amount equal to that of a CR 17 soul. A creature needs to be at least CR 17 itself to grant an Intercession Point, and it cannot grant one to itself. Usually, these are only paid to people you expect to continue working for you.

Miracle
Components: V, S (see text)
Casting time: Standard action
Range: See text
Target, Effect, or Area: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: See text
Spell Resistance: As emulated spell or effect
I tap all my White and Red mana, and everything takes infinity damage.
Everything?
Everything.

The caster requests a favor from their deity, or philosophy, or some other supernatural superbeing. This lets them do some pretty amazing stuff.
When cast, a miracle can accomplish one of the following:

[*]Duplicate any cleric spell of up to 8th level, or spells to which the caster personally has access (i.e., from Domains, Attune Sphere, or something like that). This includes spells which might otherwise be disallowed due to alignment constraints.
[*]Duplicate any other spell of up to 7th level.
[*]Undo the harmful effects of any spell of up to 8th level. This only applies to direct effects of the spell.
[*]Any effect which is in line with an 8th level spell.

In addition, by spending an Intercession Point owed by a particular creature or philosophy, the caster may cause a large-scale effect which is associated in some way with that creature or philosophy. IP from a Balor, for example, might drive everyone within the area of effect insane, and IP from the concept of Death might hit everyone in the area with several negative levels (as per enervation).
Upon choosing to spend IP on this effect, the caster chooses a spell of 7th level or lower to emulate which is thematically linked to the creature which granted the IP. This spell’s effect is then extended to an area centered on the caster, out to a 10-mile radius (which can be reduced if desired).
If the spell has an Area field, the Area becomes a sphere centered on the caster within the chosen radius (the caster may exclude his own space if desired). If it has a Target(s) field, this encompasses all valid targets (with specific exceptions if desired) in that area. If it has an Effect which fills a particular area, the Effect is expanded to fill the new area. Spells without any of these qualities are not affected in any way.

For example: if the creature in question were a Balor, the area could be a raging inferno (like a fireball which was a 10-mile sphere), or drive everyone within the radius insane (as an insanity targeted at each creature in the area), or something else that has to do with Balors.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 5:53 am

A monster suddenly gets a lot more powerful if it gives intercession points to something else and has it cast Miracle -- like, Balors don't have any abilities in their stat block that lets them create an effect with a radius of 200 miles, so what gives?

Maybe that's what Balors should be doing, and if that's what everyone thinks so that's okay I guess, but otherwise I don't really understand it.

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:09 am

Surgo wrote:A monster suddenly gets a lot more powerful if it gives intercession points to something else and has it cast Miracle -- like, Balors don't have any abilities in their stat block that lets them create an effect with a radius of 200 miles, so what gives?

Maybe that's what Balors should be doing, and if that's what everyone thinks so that's okay I guess, but otherwise I don't really understand it.

The idea was that the hugeness costs the Balor a CR 17 soul, or something else of equivalent value, in order to get that IP to give to the miracle-caster. So it can't hand them out like candy, but if it really needs to cause everyone in a metropolis to riot against everything, it can do that... for a price.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:11 am

"You see an Imp."
"Cool, I run up and stab it."
"The Imp was the personal boytoy of a Balor. EVERYONE IN 200 MILES TAKES A FLUPTILLION FIRE DAMAGE."
"nyoro~n {:3c"

Then again, that's basically a case of the DM being a dick, and there really isn't a magic shield against dickery.

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:19 am

Heh. Yes, if the imps are casting miracle, you have bigger problems.

...and I just realized that the radius calculates out to 20 times that large. Argh. Then again, I actually don't have a sense of scale that big, so it might have needed adjusting anyway.

Note to self: check map site on the internets for distances. After bed.

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 5:10 pm

Okay, I've altered the radius on the IP'd up Miracle effect. It shouldn't be *quite* so scaling-go-nuts; if centered on the middle of Seattle, it would probably roast most of Redmond and vaporize a few whales. As opposed to taking out the entire state (Corresponding areas to the latter would be: all of England, all of Victoria, Australia, or everything from San Fransisco to the Mexican border).

...The previous region might have been a bit overkill. Although 17th level demonologists literally torching an entire nation to the ground (and turning them into zombies) would be pretty awesome...

Thoughts?

Akula · Post by **Akula** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 8:19 pm

I don't see the actual cost of Intercession Points; I could just be an idiot, or the wording needs to be clearer. The effect of spending them also needs to be clearer. If a Efreet hands me a point, can I then give the effect of three Limited Wishes to everyone within a few thousand feet?

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:56 am

I've cleaned up the first three paragraphs, hopefully the creation/use parts are clearer. The part which uses the Points in miracle is also changed, it should have more well-defined effects now.

JonSetanta · Post by **JonSetanta** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:02 am

Koumei wrote:"You see an Imp."
"Cool, I run up and stab it."
"The Imp was the personal boytoy of a Balor. EVERYONE IN 200 MILES TAKES A FLUPTILLION FIRE DAMAGE."
"nyoro~n {:3c"

Then again, that's basically a case of the DM being a dick, and there really isn't a magic shield against dickery.

Player: "Hey can I pray for an Intercession Point?"
DM: "Sure. Here, have one."
Player: "Oh really? This is so unlike y-"
*DM crushes Intercession in hand*

IGTN · Post by **IGTN** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:27 pm

Really, things that aren't bigger than the people casting Miracle shouldn't be interceding in the first place. Intercession points should have a minimum size that reflects this. The ninth-level spell for calling on the services of a CR 10 creature is called Summon Monster IX, and costs nothing to cast.

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:43 pm

IGTN wrote:Really, things that aren't bigger than the people casting Miracle shouldn't be interceding in the first place. Intercession points should have a minimum size that reflects this. The ninth-level spell for calling on the services of a CR 10 creature is called Summon Monster IX, and costs nothing to cast.

Good point... I may as well just make it a static cost to create or whatever as well.

Quantumboost · Post by **Quantumboost** » Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:49 pm

Okay, I've made the cost for granting a point static, and they're only granted by things of CR 17 or higher.