Breaking things

General ACKS Forums House Rules
1

I've always enjoyed creating things, and making classes and spells is no different. That said, I've been working on entirely breaking the spell system; obviously, the Judge of the game I'm currently involved in would never allow these spells; for that matter, neither would I!

Take, for instance, this transmogrification spell:

Transform to the form of a living creature. Form limited to particular type of creature. HD limited to caster level and 2x target level. Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s. 1 living corporeal creature. 30'. 1 turn. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

It bends the spirit of the rules a little, but you end up with a level one, no-save, turn-a-dragon-into-a-newt spell. You can be the guy that killed a dragon by stepping on it.

Wall spells are fun to break, too; this one is a level two spell:

Attacks creatures within 5' as 8 HD monster. Not affected by physical & magical effects. Wall must be bonded to surrounding material. Wall must always be a flat, vertical plane. Wall must always be in contact with ground. Range 0'. Indefinite (until dispelled/destroyed). 100 square feet. 1” thick. May not be evoked where objects/creatures are. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

An invisible wall that attacks anything that comes near with the ferocity of a huge monster. And did I mention that it's level two? But my absolute favorites are illusions. Breaking things aside, they're just so fun to use (and abuse) in the game. Try this for size:

Create illusion, multi-sensory. Target becomes completely inaudible. Target becomes complete invisible. Illusion limited to 1 obviously fake, harmless category. Illusion dynamic (animated/moving). 1-100 creatures within 120' radius. Self. Concentration. No saving throw permitted (e.g. cannot disbelieve). Arcane.

That is: the caster casts the spell on himself; up to 100 creatures within 120' of him suddenly become invisible and inaudible. However, in their place stands a cartoonish blob; it performs the same actions and speaks the same words as they do, but completely masks who they actually are. This spell not only removes invisibility on multiple targets, but it's also confusing enough to cause targets (say, a pack of wolves) to attack each other!

Finally, to completely and utterly break wall spells for good and always, we have the mime's favorite tool: the invisible, indestructable, and magic-proof shield.

Impermeable to creatures. Impermeable to magic. Not affected by physical & magical effects. Wall may be readily shaped by reducing area. 0'. 2 turns. 100 square feet. 1”. May not be evoked where objects/creatures are. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

The mime simply creates a wall, 10' x 10' x 1" thick, then shapes it into a portable shield, complete with handle. The shield is invisible, but completely impermeable to creatures, magic (except Dispel and Disintegrate), and weapons. Oh, and it's a level one spell. Shields for everyone!

What are some truly broken spells you've created?

2

Transform to the form of a living creature. Form limited to particular type of creature. HD limited to caster level and 2x target level. Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s. 1 living corporeal creature. 30'. 1 turn. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

Fun build. Definitely broken. I wouldn't allow this spell. I think it's unreasonable to allow "form limited to particular creature" "HD limited" AND "mental characteristics" collectively as it's hard to imagine a circumstance where all three are actually penalties - in any given use of the spell, one is going to be beneficial. E.g. you *want* to transform the target into a weak, dumb creature, so "mental characteristics" and "HD limit" are not limits at all. And since you have to pick the particular type of creature in advance when the spell is made, the HD limit isn't a limit at all either.

I likely would allow this spell if it permitted a saving throw, though. One way to interpret the spell in a more playable manner would be to rule that the HD limit applies to the target creature's starting HD.  

Attacks creatures within 5' as 8 HD monster. Not affected by physical & magical effects. Wall must be bonded to surrounding material. Wall must always be a flat, vertical plane. Wall must always be in contact with ground. Range 0'. Indefinite (until dispelled/destroyed). 100 square feet. 1” thick. May not be evoked where objects/creatures are. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

One thing to note is that you didn't make the wall impermeable. So while it attacks creatures, it doesn't stop creatures (or anything else) from moving through it.

I think you've actually invented an awesome magic ward! It would only cover a tiny area (10' x 10') and would function as a sort of trap. I'd use this in my game.

Create illusion, multi-sensory. Target becomes completely inaudible. Target becomes complete invisible. Illusion limited to 1 obviously fake, harmless category. Illusion dynamic (animated/moving). 1-100 creatures within 120' radius. Self. Concentration. No saving throw permitted (e.g. cannot disbelieve). Arcane.

What makes this broken is that you are applying the "Illusion limited" factor to inaudibility and invisibility. But that's not technically correct. When building a spell that has two different types of effects, the effect modifiers have to be applied separately. So:

  • create illusion, multi-sensory 15 (limited to 1 obviously fake, harmless category) = 15 x .2 = 3
  • target becomes invisible, target becomes inaudible = 46
  • Total effect base cost 49

Then modified by other factors:

  • 1-100 creatures in 120' radius x 4.5
  • Self x 0.33
  • Concentration, No disbelief x1

This is a 72-point spell - e.g. ritual magic.

 

3

Oh! And as for this one.

Impermeable to creatures. Impermeable to magic. Not affected by physical & magical effects. Wall may be readily shaped by reducing area. 0'. 2 turns. 100 square feet. 1”. May not be evoked where objects/creatures are. No saving throw permitted. Arcane.

The mime simply creates a wall, 10' x 10' x 1" thick, then shapes it into a portable shield, complete with handle. The shield is invisible, but completely impermeable to creatures, magic (except Dispel and Disintegrate), and weapons. Oh, and it's a level one spell. Shields for everyone!

No where does the spell building system tell you how *heavy* a wall is. But the various wall spells make it clear they do have weight because they can topple on you. Just because the wall does not block vision and light doesn't mean its weightless. It could be magical glass with a density of 370 lbs per cubic feet. Since 370lbs/cubic feet x 10 x 10 x 1/12 = 3,083lbs, the spell is hardly useful for creating mobile shields. It does make for a cool temporary defensive force field, and as such seems fine.

 

 

4

For walls especially, since there is a choice of "treat this like iron/stone/wood/etc.", I usually treat walls as the material selected. A wall that acts like smoke weighs almost nothing; a wall that acts like wood is probably heavy, but not heavy enough to smash someone if it fell on them. A wall that acts like iron would splat someone unlucky enough to be underneath. With that in mind, I consider other materials to be up to the spell designer, within reason; I can reasonably consider an invisible object that is impermeable to magic, creatures, and weapons to be purely magical, a near-weightless object. Great for shields, terrible for weapons (no, or at least very low, inertia).

I agree with the "mental characteristics"; the trouble is, it's just too easy to break transmogrification spells. I could easily go the other way:

Transform to the form of a living creature. Gain new form’s physical characteristics. Gain new form’s physical attacks. Gain new form’s special abilities. Form limited to particular type of creature. Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s. 1 living corporeal creature. Self. Indefinite (permanent until dispelled). Beneficial effect. Arcane.

...and choose the "particular" creature to be an elder dragon. It's still a level 2 spell, too; if I made it last for 6 turns + 1 per caster level, it would still be a level 1 spell. Nasty.

You're right about the invisible/inaudible not being able to be reduced. Though, I could pretty easily remove those, and just have the illusions completely cover the creatures, quacking loud enough to cover sounds (and smelling strange too, to mask any scent-sensing creatures). Which actually removes the ability to break out of the spell with see-invisible, since they, well, aren't. Illusions, especially illusions without saves, can be hugely game-breaking. Which of course makes them all the more fun to create! With a little rules-lawyering, you can make an awesome magical block:

Create illusion, visual mono-sensory. Illusion limited to 1 category (e.g. terrain). Illusion dynamic (animated/moving). 10' x 10' x 10' cube. 30'. 2 turns. No saving throw permitted (e.g. cannot disbelieve). Arcane.

The illusion is of a fighter; it looks, feels, smells, and sounds like a fighter. In fact, it even attacks like a fighter, though it only does illusory damage. However, it's intent is to lock someone in combat, protecting the caster; it can't be killed, and the caster can attack with impunity. Since it lasts 2 turns and can wander up to 30' from the caster, it can make an effective road block, too; stick some heavy hitters with long reach weapons behind it, and they've got a walking shield. A walking shield that may actually be able to knock someone out with illusory damage. Heh.

5

For walls especially, since there is a choice of "treat this like iron/stone/wood/etc.", I usually treat walls as the material selected. A wall that acts like smoke weighs almost nothing; a wall that acts like wood is probably heavy, but not heavy enough to smash someone if it fell on them. A wall that acts like iron would splat someone unlucky enough to be underneath. With that in mind, I consider other materials to be up to the spell designer, within reason; I can reasonably consider an invisible object that is impermeable to magic, creatures, and weapons to be purely magical, a near-weightless object. Great for shields, terrible for weapons (no, or at least very low, inertia).

I'm not sure what to say. If you interpret ambiguities in the rules to give the maximum latitude to the spell designer then the system will break. That's why I said to interpret the rules to achieve balance. But it's your campaign so do what you enjoy!

Transform to the form of a living creature. Gain new form’s physical characteristics. Gain new form’s physical attacks. Gain new form’s special abilities. Form limited to particular type of creature. Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s. 1 living corporeal creature. Self. Indefinite (permanent until dispelled). Beneficial effect. Arcane.

...and choose the "particular" creature to be an elder dragon. It's still a level 2 spell, too; if I made it last for 6 turns + 1 per caster level, it would still be a level 1 spell. Nasty.

Any spell that gives you the mentality of another beign is a spell that hands your character over to the GM to control. The victim of the spell is losing his own identity. That's why it's a 0.2 modifier - it's not something you want. It's very bad. The spell you've described above is akin to committing psychological suicide. Sure, there is now a dragon where you stood, but it's not a being that's you in any sense of sharing mentality, values, etc.

If you interpret "Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s" in a less negative way, then it should be higher than x0.2. 

Create illusion, visual mono-sensory. Illusion limited to 1 category (e.g. terrain). Illusion dynamic (animated/moving). 10' x 10' x 10' cube. 30'. 2 turns. No saving throw permitted (e.g. cannot disbelieve). Arcane.

The illusion is of a fighter; it looks, feels, smells, and sounds like a fighter. In fact, it even attacks like a fighter, though it only does illusory damage. However, it's intent is to lock someone in combat, protecting the caster; it can't be killed, and the caster can attack with impunity. Since it lasts 2 turns and can wander up to 30' from the caster, it can make an effective road block, too; stick some heavy hitters with long reach weapons behind it, and they've got a walking shield. A walking shield that may actually be able to knock someone out with illusory damage. Heh.

In all instances of ACKS, dynamic illusions that are not controlled by the caster's concentration are not interactive in any way; they are just repeating animation cycles. See both Permanent Illlusion and Programmed Illusion for examples of this. "If dynamic, the illusion will not be interactive in any way, and will repeat itself every round (10 seconds)."

So the efficacy of this spell is vastly less than you are expecting. You're not creating anything remotely resembling a summoned, invulnerable, illusory-damage dealing fighter. You're summoning a hologram that does the same thing every round for 20 minutes.

This is not to say that one cannot come up with game-breaking illusions, but it's harder than you're suggesting.

6

That's a good point, I forgot to add "caster controlled" to that. That does make it a much higher level spell. When I'm not trying to break the system, I much prefer making illusions that are hugely annoying; mirror images under control of the caster, for instance, or a triggered jump-scare. Or, reverse ESP; everyone within 120' of the caster can hear everything he thinks. Fun times!

A lot of the "broken" spells I come up with may technically be within the rules, but as you've pointed out, don't stand up to scrutiny. That's a lot of the reason I make the spells; throw some spells together, see if they make sense. A level one illusion shouldn't be able to turn crowds invisible, and a level one transmogrification spell shouldn't instakill high-level monsters.

Sometimes, I allow "broken" spells, because they're a one-trick pony, or it has a pretty obvious flaw, but for the most part, I try to stick with both the letter and the spirit of the rules. (Which is why I'll never let anyone use my Battle Clown class. It's just... wrong.)