From: Kirsten K. Niemann (eco0kkn@cabell.vcu.edu)
Date: Tue 05 Oct 1993 - 20:33:18 EET
Mike Dawson again, following up Protective Circle.
Somebody replied to my solicitation for comment on Protective
Circle. Sorry, I failed to copy your name.
Your comments appear in quotes. Can you tell I don't understand
JOVE?
"Radius=intensity seems fair to me. I'd add the option that the
radius can
be smaller than the intensity if desired. "
Why would the caster want to make the intensity of the Prot
Circle *larger* than the radius of the inscribed circle, if the
effect
cannot extend beyond the circle? There is nothing in the spell
description that says the intensity of the Circle must equal the
intensity of the Resist spells Multispelled with it.
"I agree that the circle can't be bigger than the object that it's
cast
upon (gods help any GM who rules otherwise). "
One fellow e-mailed me of his campaign's use of the spell with
just this interpretation. He has guys using force-fields in his
campaign. Far beyond what I would tolerate in mine, but that's
why I asked for comments. He also suggested that the chair (in my
example) would sink to the ground because the earth has a 1%
chance (per round or something) of getting through the 10 pt
Resist Damage. I disagree, because the earth is doing NO damage
to the circle.
(Along the same line, someone else added their interpretation of Protective Circle as rather like the "Dune" novel personal shields: you must move slowly through them to overcome them. This is explicitly untrue in the current rules. Note that you CANNOT enter a circle until you overcome the Damage resistance of the circle. Going slowly just makes you do LESS damage. I have no intention of changing this in the errata.)
"If you're going to make the inscription of the circle separate from
the casting of the spell, then I'd add a note about how long it takes
to scribe the circle (say DEX SR + 2 SR per m radius)." Hmmm....this doesn't quite work as a formula. The result is that the larger the circle, the faster the sorcerer can move while inscribing it! Dex SR + 2SR per M of DIAMETER is what we need.
"You listed a cloak as an example of the kind of object it might be
cast on:
I assume this means a sorcerer can pre-cast a long duration
Protective Circle
on his cloak and, when the moment arrives, he can roll his cloak
out on the
ground and stand inside it. "
No, this is not what I meant. That is an example of abuse, I think. However, if the sorcerer's cloak (or rug, whatever) is inscribed along the base, and the base is one piece (a strange, but possible cloak, I'll admit) then he can toss it down, smoooth it out, and *then* cast the spell on it, without having to worry about inscribing a circle.
"What about the belt-&-braces approach: the sorcerer has a
personal Spell
Resistance up, and then steps inside his protective circle of Spell
Resistance.
Does he get to resist incoming spells thrice (once with the circle;
with his
personal spell; and with his MP vs MP) ? I'd say yes..."
I'd say yes too. This is clear.
Many of the advantages of doing the spell as I suggest come from
the necessary and colorful pre-planning that sorcerers must do to
make the spell useful. Western castles will be built with inscribed
circles built into tower bases, floors of Sanctums will have them
carved in, etc. This plays a part in Strangers in Prax, where the
presence of just such an inscribed circle in the Rubble is the
reason a Magus "assumes ownership" of an aerial defense tower
called the Arm of Pavis.
I'm of two minds about allowing the actual shape of the area to
vary from a circle. Maybe different schools have different shaped
protections? Or maybe there are different spells for the different
shapes. On one hand, I am generally for things being flexible, but
on the other hand, I am also for certain magical "facts" affecting
how cultures can do certain things: Protective *Circle* = round
defensive works, for example. And finally, the idea that sorcerers
must be exacting does appeal.
From a practical standpoint, what sort of a limit do you put on the
shape of the area, if you are not going to limit it to a circular
form? What if someone wanted an area of protection shaped like
a starfish? Sure, you use radius= intensity, but how detailed
within the diameter can it be?
I don't seem to have made it clear before, but I certainly intended
the bottom of the hemisphere to be part of the protected area.
If I wanted to be really rune-wacky about the form of the circle, I
could define the hemisphere as a geodesic dome, made up of
thousands of triangular Law Runes, of course.
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