No, I’m not done talking about Faith just because it’s on break.
My explicit goal going into Faith was to make it feel like an anime. This means arcs needed a certain pacing, enemies needed a certain charisma, battles needed certain stakes, and so on. I haven’t quite nailed it yet, but it’s a work in progress. Where Pathfinder conflicts with the rules of anime, we’re generally giving deference to the latter, and we’re probably doing that ever more as the campaign goes on. Usually this means just means making a rule tweak here or getting an unexpected success there, but sometimes we have to invent rules wholesale. Signature items were an example of this. Signature spells are another.
I’m hard-pressed to come up with a fighting anime that doesn’t have characters who charge up their attacks. Even if “charging up” is just “yelling a signature phrase that only sort of makes sense in English”, dramatic attacks almost always come with some sort of lag period. Pathfinder, and D&D in general, doesn’t do that. Most actions take one action. To create attacks that get stronger as characters put more time and energy into them, we had to go a bit outside what the game expects. Specifically, we had to go to a previous edition of the game and crib a mechanic everybody forgot about.
These use the rules for channeled spells, which I laid out the last time I talked about them. Each character has one custom spell, and boy were some of them a pain to write. Liam’s healing spell? Simple. Sarai’s touch-range-maybe blast? That had to work within the ridiculously, unnecessarily complicated mechanics for the magus and also within Sarai’s atypical build for it, but not be so specific that it wasn’t useful for any other character in any other situation. Sildroag’s spell also went through several revisions before we came up with something worthwhile, acceptable as a swift action but also worth giving up two rounds of attacks for the full-power version. I’m still not completely sold on all of them, but that’s why we have play testing.
| CHANNELED MERCIFUL REMEDY |
| School conjuration [healing]; Level bard 2 Casting Time See text Components V Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Targets One or more creatures; see text Duration Instantaneous Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance Yes You soothe your allies’ ills, cleansing them of minor problems. When you cast this spell, you channel energy into it. You can choose how long to spend casting this spell. If you cast this spell as a swift action, select one of the following conditions: dazed, fatigued, shaken, sickened. One ally within range can ignore the condition you choose for 1d4 rounds. If you cast this spell as a standard action, you end the chosen condition for one ally. If you cast this spell as a full-round action, you may either end one chosen condition on two allies or end two chosen conditions on one ally within range. If you spend 2 full rounds casting this spell, you may either end one chosen condition on three allies, end two chosen conditions on two allies, or end all conditions from the above list on a single ally. You do not need to declare ahead of time how long you want to spend casting the spell. When you begin casting this spell, you decide that you are finished casting after the appropriate time has passed. |
| CHANNELED MIGHTY STRIKE |
| School transmutation; Level bloodrager 1 Casting Time See text Components V, S Range Personal Target you Duration see text Magic coalesces in your fist, enhancing your next attack. When you cast this spell, you channel energy into it. You can choose how long to spend casting this spell. If you cast this spell as a swift action, your next attack (if it is made before the end of the next round) gains a +5 bonus to the attack roll. If you cast this spell as a standard action, you gain a +5 bonus to weapon attack rolls until the end of your next turn, and any attacks you make with this bonus ignore damage reduction. If you cast this spell as a full-round action, you gain a +10 bonus to weapon attack rolls until the end of your next turn. If you spend 2 full rounds casting this spell, you gain a +10 bonus to weapon attack rolls and a reach of 30 feet, and any attacks you make ignore damage reduction. You may make one additional attack of opportunity per round, plus one additional attack for every five caster levels above 4th. All benefits last until the end of your next turn. You do not need to declare ahead of time how long you want to spend casting the spell. When you begin casting this spell, you decide that you are finished casting after the appropriate time has passed. |
| CHANNELED MYSTIC BLAST |
| School evocation; Level magus 2 Casting Time See text Components V, S Effect force energy around your hand Range Touch or close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Duration 1 round / 2 caster levels Saving Throw None or Fortitude partial; see text; Spell Resistance Yes You concentrate your aura into a powerful burst of force. When you cast this spell, you channel energy into it. You can choose how long to spend casting this spell. If you cast this spell as a swift action, once during the duration of the spell you may make an attack that deals 2d4 points of force damage. If you cast this spell as a standard action, you may make one attack that deals 4d4 points of force damage. The attack also knocks the touched creature prone unless it makes a successful Fortitude saving throw. If you cast this spell as a full-round action, you may make two attacks that each deal 4d4 points of force damage and may knock the target prone. If you spend 2 full rounds casting this spell, you may make three attacks that each deal 6d4 points of force damage and may knock the target prone. You may deliver each attack as a melee touch attack or a ray. If multiple attacks hit the same target in the same round, the target only makes one saving throw, but the Difficulty Class of the spell increases by 2 for each attack that hits the target beyond the first. You do not need to declare ahead of time how long you want to spend casting the spell. When you begin casting this spell, you decide that you are finished casting after the appropriate time has passed. |
| CHANNELED SHINING BEACON |
| School evocation [light]; Level sorcerer/wizard 2 Casting Time See text Components V, S Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Area See text Duration See text Saving Throw None; Spell Resistance Yes Your conjure a beacon of light that damages nearby creatures. When you cast this spell, you channel energy into it. You can choose how long to spend casting this spell. If you cast this spell as a swift action, you select a 5-foot radius within range. Any creature who starts its turn within the area takes 2d4 radiant damage. The beacon persists for 1d4 rounds. If you cast this spell as a standard action, the beacon deals 2d6 radiant damage and the duration increases to one round per caster level. If you cast this spell as a full-round action, the beacon deals 3d6 radiant damage and the area increases to a 10-foot radius. The duration remains one round per caster level. If you spend 2 full rounds casting this spell, the beacon either deals 4d6 radiant damage or deals 2d6 radiant damage but does not affect your allies (your choice). The area remains a 10-ft. radius and the duration remains one round per caster level. In all cases, the beacon is 30 feet tall and sheds light as a torch. You do not need to declare ahead of time how long you want to spend casting the spell. When you begin casting this spell, you decide that you are finished casting after the appropriate time has passed. |
| CHANNELED TYRANNICAL INSPIRATION |
| School enchantment [compulsion]; Level oracle 2 Casting Time See text Components V, S Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Targets One creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart Duration See text Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance Yes You push your allies to great heights at the expense of their well-being. When you cast this spell, you channel energy into it. You can choose how long to spend casting this spell. If you cast this spell as a swift action, each target loses 1 hit point per 2 caster levels and gains a +2 morale bonus to one ability score for one round. You select the ability score with you finish casting the spell, and you must select the same ability score for all targets. A successful Will saving throw negates both the damage and the bonus. If you cast this spell as a standard action, the bonus increases to +4. If you cast this spell as a full-round action, each target may gain a +2 bonus to two ability scores, and the target may choose to extend the duration of their bonuses for an additional round by taking the damage again on your turn. The target may repeat this indefinitely. If you spend 2 full rounds casting this spell, each target may gain a +4 bonus to two ability scores, and the target may choose to extend the duration as above. You may decide whether or not to target yourself with this spell. You do not need to declare ahead of time how long you want to spend casting the spell. When you begin casting this spell, you decide that you are finished casting after the appropriate time has passed. |
My pie-in-the-sky goal is to give the players further signature spells as they level. Following through is mostly a matter of forgetting how hard it was to do this set.