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RE: (TFT) Suggested house rules: Tool Elementals
So in building readable "serial numbers" for large scale, fixed grid hexes I'm thinking that Latitude and altitude will go a long way toward "encoding" a WHOLE lot of information.
Like so.
Climate bands (lat.)
Polar -
Taiga -
Mountain -
Temperate -
Mediterranean -
Dry Grassland -
Hot Desert -
Subtropical -
Tropical -
Altitudes
Atmosphere
Mountain snowline
Lichen belt
Willow belt
Hardwood forest
Coniferous forest
Shoreline
Water surface
Light zone (400ft max)
Pond vegetation zone
Bottom mud (pond)
Twilight zone (3000ft max)
Upper bathypelagic (3000 to 6000ft)
Lower bathypelagic (6000 to 9000ft)
Deep sea benthos (beyond 9000ft)
Deep sea floor
With the two values I can define the animals in my systematic index via climate and altitude ranges.
Add my timeline and I've got literally dynamic critters.
"Whenever a certain situation or set of stimuli is present, the animal seems to switch on a response and act out a COMPLEATE SET OF MOVEMENTS." (My emphasis)
And I'm back to Talents.
This stuff is SOOOOO interconnected...
Anyhoo, my GMing style is growing more theatrical in my old age.
As a result I've gathered a certain degree of "props" and it's set me to wondering about the functional use of the stuff.
For example, I have a leather bandoleer that I have filled with shot bottles and cigar tubes to represent various potions and/or thrown or splashed, etc. items a Wizard may want at hand.
For the purposes of encumbrance I describe the bandoleer as a wearable container that allows the player to order the stack and draw from the same order (an appropriate Stat check may be required in pressure or similar situations.)
This reconciles 6 turns to pull an item and 1 turn to ready, light and throw a molotail.
I can also step out the movements required to reach a front item as opposed to a back row item (18 total).
Also, if a Figure falls, I know which equipment may possibly break.
Sit in your own universal solvent so to speak.
But back to counting motions.
I've got a staff and I've been thinking about a few of the features I added, as well as its overall use.
I have a kind of pseudo-dragon carved into the top, would that give me a bonus if I cast Illusion of her coming to life so to speak?
In other words, if there was already a "golum" in the room would an Illusion of animation get a bonus for using a physical object?
I've got a wrist strap and a shoulder strap, so now the thing is wearable.
I put a silver shepherds hook on top.
Actually it's stainless steal, but it's not magnetic..., I'll just say it's whatever that Cidri stuff is supposed to be as he mentions steal (refined Iron) and Nickel and Cobalt which says industrial magnet too me so I use stainless as the "silver alloy that doesn't interfere with the working of magic.
Oh yes, I put a palm sized lead crystal tiffany cut 'diamond' in the thing (ST battery) and I've put a 3 position "eyelid" cover on it, closed (off), half-closed (continuing spell maintenance), or open (on).
I match a ST battery's holding capacity to its carat weight.
Hello crown jewels.
That got me to thinking about how to tie gestures to the thing and that gave me the idea for a unit of martial wizards that use their staffs as the focus for their spells, pointing them like a rifle for a Magic Fist say.
To keep a measure of control over the Unit, I'd not give them the Staff spell, they'd get theirs off a scroll.
That led me to consider how fine a movement is "required" for a gesture, are they large and theatrical, do they use kinetic linking, or are they fine motor skills like playing a piano?
If the later, it seems to me that my little injury would have a large effect on my spell casting.
And if I say that the "gestures" involve a material component or two...
Now a whole lot of this is just my ideas on how "I" see some of this stuff working, but the deeper part of my point is that the gestures and words required to cast a spell are REALLY important in putting the player and the GM on the same visual page.
Speaking of the words.
One thou-sand.
Two thou-sand.
That's how I normally count seconds.
Three syllables per second.
This sentence is just about fifteen syllables in length.
Of course I can talk faster that that.
60 turns to read a spell outta a book.
Maybe not, but is it a DX roll or an IQ roll, or both to speak faster?
I use Dr. Seuse's "Oh My Brothers, Oh My Sisters, These Are Some Terrible Tongue Twisters" as an example of how I think the verbal stuff works.
First the wizard learns the whole thing.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.
Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.
As they master the spell, they can reduce the syllables required.
Err Bee Gee Pur.
And so on.
The gives players a clearer idea of rather or not to drop a gesture or a syllable or two.
Oh yeah fST comes back WAY quicker than 1pt per 15 minuets unless someone is WAY outta shape.
Now if I allot one hour of training per day to physical training, my martial wizards should be physically fit and recovering fST more on the order of an athlete.
.
I'm not positive of what to use as a baseline here, but I'll note that an amateur boxing championship mach is listed in the World Book as three 24 turn rounds with 12 turn rest periods between rounds.
Pros go 36 turns for 12 rounds with a 12 turn rest between rounds.
As with most other sporting events, I'd guess this is a good indicator of human performance levels.
Did I already babble about sympathetic components?
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