Tether of the Stars:
Level Required: 15
Class required: Magi
Race required: Magi
Casting method: ranmagatk
Defending method: ranmagdef
Description: Class Restrictions: Magi ::
Level: Magi X4 ::
There have been many who have stared up in awe as one of the ships of the Magi's navy floated silently overhead, floating on air as if it were water. The secret behind this phenomenon is a rigorously practiced spell known at the Tether of the Stars, that holds the ship up against gravity, tugging it along like some over-sized marionette. It takes teams of magi working in shifts to pilot their naval vessels, but a single magi can still use this spell to their advantage when the need strikes. It works by creating an invisible, magical anchor point that then links itself to a target of the magi's choosing, tugging it towards the anchor as if gravity itself has suddenly shifted directions.
MECHANICS:: This is a one turn cast spell, needing two free hands. A typical !ranmagatk vs. !ranmagdef is rolled costing the magi 1 stamina per slot used. If the Magi wins the roll, his opponent finds one of their limbs abruptly seized by an invisible force and dragged towards the magi's anchor. This deals no damage to the opponent, but effectively renders that appendage immobile for the purposes of spellcasting or combat, causing them to suffer appropriate penalties. The magi may cast a number anchor points equal to the number of times they have taken the magi class, each being able to target a single limb, but the neck is not a viable target. The captured target may attack or !evade as normal during their turn (though likely will be limited to ranged attacks) but are safe from the magi who cannot attack a bound opponent without breaking the concentration needed to maintain the spell. The captured may also elect to use their attack turn to try and rip free of the bonds, able to 'wager' up to 15 stamina in an attempt. Each stamina spent adds +1 to their strength for the purpose a Magi INT vs their STR roll. (So a person with 50 strength who spends 15 stamina would roll a 1d65 against the magi's 1dINT) Should they win they manage to wrestle free of the bonds, if not they have vainly wasted energy in the attempt. If a second limb is captured then their strength roll suffers a -10 penalty to the -result- of the roll. If three limbs are captured they suffer a -30 to the result of the roll and if all four limbs are able to be seized then they are completely at the Magi's mercy and no longer able to attempt escape or any other action.
vs.
Lightning Bind:
Level required: 10
Class required: Air Mage
Casting method: ranmagatk
Defending method: ranmagdef
Description: A potent spell often used to discipline a slave or to make a point without charring one's enemy, the Air Mage conjures bindings of energy that leap forward from his hands toward his enemy. Should the bindings successfully strike, a contest of wills begins. Even as the bindings take hold of his opponent, the Air Mage is unable to do anything more than concentrate on maintaining his grip on the trapped opponent. Any successful attack on the Air Mage dispels the Lightning Bind and will disorientate the Air mage so much at his opponent will find himself able to flee or attack whether the Air Mage wishes it or not. Continuing to hold the opponent in Lightning Bind is a draining thing for both the Air Mage and his opponent, though the Air Mage loses his strength so much slower than his opponent, obviously. It is possible to render someone unconscious from this spell, but no damage to their flesh is possible from overuse.
:MECHANICS: A standard Ranged Magical Attack and Defense is required, and should the opponent fail his roll, he is immediately caught and immediately begins to lose 1 point of Stamina for every slot of Lightning Bind that was expended in the Air Mage's attack. Each round thereafter, the opponent is allowed to roll another Ranged Magical Defense against the original Ranged Magical Attack, and should he succeed, he is immediately given the initiative in combat for whatever he chooses to do. The Air Mage himself loses 1 point of Stamina for every 3 slots of Lightning Bind expended in his original Attack roll, every round that he holds his opponent. Neither Air Mage nor opponent may roll to regain Stamina while this spell is in effect.
First off I'll say that when I originally looked at the spell I thought that Lightning bind had been moved to OOB use only, and.. was happy with that decision, but after peeking on the site see that it never took. IMHO Lightning bind is a bit cheap and overpowering in a fight, and I also feel that Tether of the stars is rather cheap as well if not more powerful then Lightning bind.
Here's why:
Effectively Lightning bind can take someone out of the fight with a single cast with a high enough roll. That's pretty cheap. Yes there are chances to resist it each round, but it doesn't give the person 'caught' in it any ability to fight back while they're imprisoned. That's just not fun for both parties. Leads to frustration, and any tactics either in ff or in dice play are really barred from the victom who can only just stand there.
Tether of the stars can effectively do the very same in two rounds to someone, but it's much.. much worse, and much more subtle.
On the first hit with it, the Magi had taken away 3/4 of their opponents attack options, their opponents can really only do MAGICAL ranged attacks. Why only magical? Well, how many people do you know that can notch an arrow and fire a bow with one arm?
So, Tether of the stars is a single hit KO to physical classes. The magi can just keep out of range and casting it again and again until all the stacks land that are needed for full incapacitation because unlike (the overpowered) Lightning bind, Magi can actually !evade while using Tether of the stars, meaning the stam upkeep associated with it (that's still less then Lightning bind) doesn't really matter. They can stay out of range, rest, have a coffe, then continue pew pewing while their opponent has no other option then just trying to escape.
Why the escape mechanic is flawed:
Even with Lightning bind (again let me stress that LB is in itself overpowered and should be restricted to OOB) the victim has the opportunity to roll using their magical resistance. Characters spend a lot of MHL getting magic resists and learning spells that would give bonus to defensive rolls.. but this trickily worded mechanic circumvents all of that. Tether of the stars doesn't care if you have 15 def enchants, it doesn't care that you have 15 ranks of magical armor up either.. it's just your str stat that you can roll to randomly save you. In short, once you're caught, it's HARDER to get out of it then any other spell in the game. Not to mention that you're using a class's primary stat (int) against a secondary stat to any other class in the game (str) Even warlords are going to likely have more AGI then STR because AGI helps with hitting and dodging.
In addition to this, once a second limb is bound the defender takes penalties to their STR roll making it even harder for them to escape, while the Magi has limitless chances to keep trying to stack the rest of tether of the stars. It doesn't matter that the magi can't cast any other spell without breaking tether of the stars.. they don't need to do that to win.
TLDR: to be fair, the escape mechanics need to be redone to something more fair that allows for a victom's defensive stats to be taken into account.
Synergy:
So, Tether of the stars can effectively shut all but mage's down with a single cast, turn anyone into target practice with just 2 applications and allow the magi casting it to just sit back and !evade at their leisure once their opponents arm's are bound. On top of that they are proposed to have access to a spell that will increase Tether of the stars attack rolls by 30% for 3 rounds...... ... one extra round put in there to make sure that they get that second hit in.
This is my first look over on the spell. I'm not on Dev, but do know that dev does take a lot of time to discuss these things. I hope that this gets a good look over and the concerns by players are addressed.
Also.. please push Lightning bind to oob only! that spell and shammys spirit armor and spirit barrier spells are far stronger then any LI in play.
Thank you for your time reading this, know it's a bit of a long post, and have a good weekend everyone.