Special Spells You are probably wondering what a "special spell" is. A "special spell" is a type of special (symbolizing a spell cast by monsters) that acts like a spell. Confused? Probably! If you had played through my scenario, Spy's Quest, you will probably know what I am talking about. Basically, it involves some basic nodes; a Play Sound (for effect), a Display Small Message (2 lines, gives appearance of a spell being cast), and 1 or more Affect Party/PC nodes (the effect of the spell). This allows the designer to do things to the party in a unique and subtle way. So, an example of one I use quite commonly. It is a spell called "Excommunicate." It is like a Slow Group and Curse All in one. Let us say I want to give a High Priest the ability to curse and slow the party using a "spell". Here is how it works: Play Sound, 24 Priest spell Display Small Message, Mess1 "High Priest Casts:", Mess2 " Excommunicate". (The two spaces makes it look similar to a regular spell) Affect Party Curse/Bless, amount 8, 1 Curse Affect Party Slow/Haste, amount 8, 1 Slow If you follow this chain, you will have a very nice looking special with the appearance of a spell. Why use this? Two reasons: Esthetics (looks nice; no annoying pop up text messages) and when you get to a complex series of "special spells" it is nicer than having 5 text messages a round. Still confused? Play Spy's Quest (hopefully Spiderweb will have it on their site by the time you are reading this; if not go to http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Lair/4694/spyq.html By the time you pass the third mission, you will know what I am talking about. If you do, and want to learn how to implement them into your scenario, read on!! The variety of possible "special spells" are great. Mainly there are two types: damaging (using the Do Damage node) and hindering (like "Excommunicate"; see above). However, these can mix (some can have damage and effects). How and when should I use them? Ok, first of all. Pick a good spell caster - Wizard, High Priest, Order Mage, Lich, Vahnatai Lord, Dragons, powerful NPCs (like Erika, Rentar-Ihrno etc.), or even objects. Only have good ones do this (Apprentice Mages blasting away the party is not nice)!! Then, when you near the magic user, call a one-time special. There are three types of casts that you may do; one-time, cycle, or random. These are explained below. One-Time - This is basically where the scenario will do the "special spell" one time and be done with it. This is effective for weaker spell users as they would not have a large supply of SP to get such spells off. These are commonly done when you enter a room where a one-time text message or display dialog is put. You can have the "special spell" chain called immediately or have it attached to a short timer called after the one-shot. If you use a timer, give it a short increment so that the caster will not be killed before pulling off the spell. Or attach an if-then to the node and a flag to the caster. Say a Crystal Soul is building up energy to obliterate you; call a timer with 20 moves. If the Crystal Soul is killed, then nothing happens when the timer runs out! If not well, you decide... You can also make multiple spells using a timer (say you want only two Excommunicates 5 moves apart use flags or a timer). This type is effective to cause damage or weaken the party at the beginning of an encounter to make it more difficult. An example of this would be the Order Mage in the Rebel Fort in Mission Two. Cycle - This is one or more "special spells" called in a timer sequence. This is the same as before except a timer is called at the end of the "special spell" chain. For one spell this is easy: One-shot special (to activate cycle) Stuff Done Equal? (checks the SDF assigned to the "caster," alive is 0, dead is 1). End chain if SDF = 1, if 0 call the next node Special spell (see above) Start General Timer (set to call the Stuff Done Equal node above) For more than one, for example 3 Special spells, do as follow: One-shot special (to activate cycle) #1 Stuff Done Equal? ->SD Equal? ->SD Equal? Special spell (nodes) / Spell nodes / Spell nodes Start General Timer - Timer - Timer (calls #1 SD Equal?) For lots of Special Spells, just insert a SD Equal?/Spell nodes/Timer sequence. Basically, a preplanned cycle of "spells" will be called at the end of each timer until the caster is killed or the party escapes, etc.) Note: Using 1 for the Timer is not advisable as sometimes the BOE engine calls the special twice a turn! If slowed, 4 times!! Be careful. Example is the Lich in the Twisting Temple. Random - The most complex but most effective in giving an array of "spells". This is done by inserting random numbers inside the chain to decide which set of nodes is called. Now to keep this as easy as possible, I will keep it at 50% for each spell and only have four possibilities. One-shot special 0 Stuff Done Equal? Play Sound Random Number?, < 50 jump to 1, otherwise 4 1 Random Number?, < 50 jump to 2, otherwise 3 2 Special spell 1 sequence, jump to 6 3 Special spell 2 sequence, jump to 6 4 Random Number?, < 50 jump to 6, otherwise 6 5 Special spell 3 sequence, jump to 6 6 Start General Timer, set to call 0 (This has a 25% chance for each of 3 spells, and 25% chance for a do-nothing. Generally, it is good to have one of these; gives time for recovery). Of course, percentages need to be adjusted to have more powerful spells called less often and lesser ones called more often to balance things out. This kind of creates an "artificial intelligence" to the nodes. The advantage of this type is it adds a little unpredictability to game play. Takes away anticipation. However, it has two major drawbacks. 1. They take up a lot of special nodes (careful planning is important thus have town specials Call Global Specials and use scenario nodes for commonly used Special spells). 2. The other is its unpredictability. It is quite conceivable that spells can be cast in a certain order that would totally devastate the party. So you must be careful where you have the percentages. Even then, there is no guarantee. Sometimes a cycle is better if you need space or the spells are too powerful to be cast in a certain order. Often this is done with four possibilities, although you can use eight. If you want the effects of the spells hardwired into the scenario specials, you could have 16! Example is fight at the Vahnatai Boathouse. When to use each one and setting of timers. The one-shot is good for weaker spell casters or shorter battles. Cycles and random are used for larger battles against major casters like a Lich. Also, you may wish to cancel the timer via a SDF setting special if the party decides to flee or make it impossible to escape. Timers generally should be about 2 or 3. If slowed, this will devastate the party. If you decide to go with one, make sure that the party will be strong enough (four spells which do 100-200 points of damage in a row is not good). Here is a list of some spells that I use: Arctic Fury - Ice Damage, Slow Arachne's Scourge - Webs, Poison, Poison Damage, and 2 move Paralysis Plague - Dangerous; when cast diseases and activates a cycle that diseases every 50 moves fifteen times! Excommunicate - Heavily slows/curses Lightning Strike - Unblockable damage Dumbfound All - Dumbfounding. Careful with this; dumbfounding is cumulative!! Incinerate - Fire Damage Major Poison All - Major Poison Mass Paralysis - Like PC spell; I do three passes of this paralysis Drain - Drains HP and SP Unholy Blast - Poison, slows, curses, and unblockable damage Absorb Soul - VERY DANGEROUS AND RARE; has slight 10% chance of working. If it does, takes some strength, dexterity, and intelligence (possible 1 point 50% chance affect) from party. Use these stat draining spells sparingly and always make sure not to have it always work!! These twelve spells are examples of what can be done. You can vary this (Mr. Vogel, can we have an affect acid node please?!) There are three other types of "special spells" that I use. They are field spells, summoning spells, and blocking spells. In a field spell, you place a field of some type in a certain area to hinder or damage a PC or party, for example Fire/Force/Ice or Blade Walls, Stinking Cloud, or Sleep Field. To block a PC's or Party's advance, Place Force Barriers. In effect, the caster will be more difficult to reach and kill. The best is to use force barriers. Make a party leave combat, do the D. Barrier routine, and regroup. Antimagic would be nice, Mr. Vogel. Summoning spells use "Place Monster" nodes. This is a great way to duplicate the "Vahnatai uses Soul Crystal" in Exile III. Just every so often (via a general timer), have a monster placed on a space. This is best done in a cycle or random placement to vary where and what monster appears. Note: Do not force! If you try to add too many monsters the game sometimes crashes!!! Remember, a maximum of 60 monsters per town/dungeon level. Blocking spells are done one of two ways. Way one is to use change terrain nodes. When a party approaches a spell caster. Call a special that goes like this: One-shot (preferably one-time text) Change Terrain (rectangle if necessary) Start General Timer (set to call a restore special) Restore special - Change Terrain to what it was) Another way is to change terrain to crumbling or impassable terrain and not use the timer. Just make sure that there is a way around it!! The other way is by a Can't Enter. This is good to accompany by a Do Damage special. Here is how to do this (you need a wall of these specials between the party and the spell caster): Stuff Done Flag? (if SDF is < 1 jump to 1, if SDF > 9 jump to -1, otherwise jump to 3) 1 Set Flag (set SDF to 2 with message "The Lich places an invisible barrier of energy throwing you back. Fortunately, the barrier is quickly dissipating") Can't Enter, 1 (thus party cannot enter) Start General Timer (when it ends jump to 2) 3 Do Damage Can't Enter, 1 (thus party cannot enter) 2 Set Flag (set SDF to 10 with a message that the barrier is gone) If the party tries to enter the space again while the SDF is 1 (barrier is still up) they will suffer the Do Damage and Can't Enter specials. After the timer is up the SDF will be 10. If the party enters the space now, nothing will happen (unless you program something else via the SDF? jump). Blocking spells lengthen the battle against a good spell caster. This prevents the party from going in and slashing the spell caster until the timer runs out and impatient parties will suffer damage by trying to reach him/her/it. Also, you can make this battle even more grueling by implementing special spells. In conclusion, you must use these carefully! Do not make spells too strong or too often for the difficulty and use only where it makes sense.Also, be sure to attach a SDF to each of these! Too many timers, too many spells, too many deaths. If a party leaves the spell caster's sight, the spells should end. Lastly, test these!! These are complex and you never know where you could have mistyped a field. 100 extra damage could easily turn to 1000 extra points of damage if you are not careful!! Most of all make sure a reasonable party will be able to win this encounter; too hard, too easy, or just right? Hope you find a use for this new tool. Additional help can be gained via e-mail at bkiedrow@coredcs.com - Brian "Stareye" Kiedrowski