This section covers changes and extensions introduced in the JoelWorld™ system.
Per Joel, the combat phases are:
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Soliloquy ("Charge!", "Cheese!", etc.)
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Choose Round Special Actions (Charge (+2 attack, -3 defense), Eyes Closed (-5 all))
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Disengage (3d6 + engage plus with current weapon)
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Move (more than half move requires charge or loss of attack and some defense)
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Engage (3d6 + engage plus with current weapon)
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Soliloquy ("Be Defensive!")
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Decide on shifting pluses from offense to defense (up to 2, or fully offensive or defensive)
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Combat
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Soliloquy ("One round with a Warrior Demon!" [1]
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Missile Weapons (Ignore Parry unless using a shield)
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Special Actions (Switching weapon, drinking a potion, disarming a trap)
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Magic (3d6 against the universe, miss by 1 is a fumble)
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Soliloquy
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Remind the GM he forgot the Missile phase
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Psionics (if Applicable)
[1] This rarely happens.
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(Jon) New section, new content - except for Combat - Whirling Dervish skill which was already present. Many JoelWorld skills lack explicit descriptions and tables, and are summarized in the following list. There are similar lists for undescribed General Skills as well as Magic, Psi, Tech, etc. in the main document - these are just skills currently found only in JoelWorlds. |
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(Jon) - skill defined by me, filled in by GM. General househand management tasks, running a small staff, trip and event planning, dealing with bureaucrats, officials and support staff, etc. Similar to Military Command, but a different focus. Reginald Jeeves in canon is a +6 Butler. +7 if Saving Bertie from Unintended Marriage. |
The Whirling Dervish is a defensive combat maneuver. A person trained in Whirling Dervish must declare Whirling Dervish at the beginning of the movement round to start or continue the maneuver. If they successfully make their Combat - Whirling Dervish roll In place of movement the combatant gains three advantages:
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Engages / Disengages occur at +3 (same as a charge attack)
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Only 1 minus per attacker to defense (max -2)
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High DCV cannot be targeted by missile weapons
Wise opponents may simply avoid the megahex but the tactic can be successful in holding an area such as a doorway since opponents would all need to engage past the person performing the Whirling Dervish. The Whirling Dervish can make normal combat attacks, but not missiles or magic.
At the end of the round, in the special actions phase, the Whirling Dervish can move one square.
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(Jon) - skill defined by me, filled in by GM. Ability to lead, manage, and control a large Symphony Orchestra, while simultaneously impressing audiences. Leonard Bernstein, Sir Colin Davis, and Herbert von Karajan were all +6 Conductors. Leopold Stokowski was at least +7, due to -1 Penalty when Conducting without a baton. Otto Klemperer appeared to combine +6 Conductor with at least +5 Intimidation and Torture. |
Ability to Fly and take actions when sprinkled with Fairy Dust from e.g. Tinkerbell. Move up to 20 hexes/round while Flying. Duration 24 hours. Must think Happy Thoughts while Flying, as defined by GM, or Dust fails.
N.b. "I can fly", "They fly through the air with the greatest of ease, those daring young women on the flying trapeze", and "Flying gloriously with my Battle Sheep to confront Arien" are Happy Thoughts.
Destruction, Death, etc. are by definition not Happy Thoughts, even if the character is Norman Bates.
Ability to be One with the Universe. Guidance and/or puzzling aphorisms may be given at GM discretion on a good roll. Easy to attain high Pluses, but it’s never clear how accurate or meaningful the results are. Sometimes Meditation can be combined with a physical skill, such as "Balancing" on an ancient ruin to locate secret entrances.
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(Jon) - skill defined by me, filled in by GM. Ability to perform Classical Opera (Verdi, Wagner, Mozart, etc.). The GM has defined conditions where Opera - Heavy is a Combat skill, e.g. Duelling Duettos with Master Vampires and Liches. |
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(Jon) - skill defined by me, filled in by GM. Ability to perform Comic Opera (Gilbert and Sullivan, Marriage of Figaro, etc.). The GM has defined conditions where Opera - Light is a Military Command or Combat skill, e.g. weakening enemy leaders by performing Impromptu Light Operas making fun of their leadership abilities and personal attributes. Can work well when combined with Magic - Major Illusion to show the Opera to an entire enemy city. |
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(Jon) - skill defined by me, filled in by GM. Ability to Surf (water, rocky mountain slopes, lava, etc.) and to take actions while Surfing. Considerable Minuses for not having a Surfboard appropriate to the substance being Surfed on. Minuses at GM discretion for ocean conditions, lava temperature and consistency, etc. |
Gimli: Oh come on, we can take 'em.
Aragorn: It’s a long way.
Gimli: Toss me.
Aragorn: What?
Gimli: I cannot jump the distance, you’ll have to toss me.
Gimli: (pauses, looks up at Aragorn)
Gimli: Don’t tell the Elf.
Aragorn: Not a word.
Maximum Distance Thrown: [Thrown persons move in current armor] + [STR Plus of Thrower]
Base Chance of Success: [Throwers Acrobatics] + [SIZ Minus of Thrower] * 1 / hex thrown
Effects of Failure: Throwee is 1 hex off intended landing hex / missed point (randomly determined). Needs to make Acrobatics roll to avoid Base d6 damage per missed point. Base damage can be modified for soft (water) or hard (pointy rocks).
There are a small set of Fixed Casting times: It always takes at least 4 rounds to cast a spell.
4 rounds are at +0, 10 minutes +4, two months +8. You can precast and then hold for a "reasonable" time before casting, but you cannot keep something on hold semi-permanently.
Magical Pow Recovery is MAG / minute.
Direct Spells: Attack at MG+ plus against the target’s low DCV.
Detecting Pow: Active or stored Pow may be detected at a range of sqrt(Pow) in hexes.
Countering: Countering requires a roll at MG+ against the caster’s MG+. Each 1 difference leads to a halving or doubling of required Pow to counter. So missing by three requires 8 times, making by three requires one eighth. Countering has time bonuses. Two hours ⇒ +7.
Vigors: You cannot combine different magical vigors from different colleges : the last cast vigor wins.
To avoid excessive dice rolling, vigors can be cast on multiple targets using a single roll, with a -1 for each doubling. I.e, 2 people at -1, 4 at -2, 8 at -3, etc. But there is no reduction in casting time: vigoring 6 people still takes six times as long as vigoring one.
In JoelWorld, magical spells are divided into different Colleges: Ice, Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life, Death, Alchemy, Enchantment.
As usual in Hack and Slay, investing EP in spells makes it easier to learn other spells. But this effect is particularly marked within a Magical College. Investing EP in Fire spells will make it easier to learn all kinds of spells, but it will especially help with learning other Fire spells. As usual, you need to put enough direct EP in a spell to reach "Minimum EP" before this indirect effect has much impact.
Each Magical College has alignment or opposition to certain stats such as size, dexterity, etc. If a mage’s personal stats are aligned with a College, it will be easier to learn spells in that College. But if a mage has stats that are opposed to a College they will find it harder. For example, a mage with a strong Constitution will find it easier to learn Life spells, but harder to learn Death spells.
These stat effects typically make a difference of at most +1 or +2 to the casting plus. It is always possible for a mage to learn a spell in a non-aligned or even an opposing College, just at a somewhat lower plus.
Just as learning certain spells may be boosted (or hindered) by the right stats, investing EP in those spells will slightly boost (or slightly reduce) the corresponding stats. These effects are slight, but they will build up if large amounts of EP are invested. So a Death Mage will find that his PSI becomes stronger and his CON weaker as he invests in more Death magic. (If a mage has a lot of EP in one college, then a little EP in an opposing college is unlikely to affect their stats noticeably.)
The colleges are:
| College | Aligned With Stat | Opposed To Stat |
|---|---|---|
Air |
DEX |
SIZ |
Alchemy |
DEX |
APP |
Death |
PSI |
CON |
Earth |
SIZ |
DEX |
Enchantment |
APP |
SIZ |
Fire |
REA |
SEN |
Ice |
AGI |
STR |
Life |
CON |
PSI |
Water |
SEN |
REA |
In addition, all spells are helped by the INT and MAG stats. Investing in spells will boost Magic - General, and investing in Magic - General will (somewhat) help all spells (subject to Minimum EPs.)
JoelWorld adds the following spells in addition to those listed in the main rules.
The effect of the spell is to cause a statue of any size to spring to life and begin acting like a body of stone creature of its own type. The spell costs 100 Pow / hex of the creature to create and 20 Pow / hex of the creature / round to maintain.
Causes grass (or similar ground cover) to grow and grasp the ankles of anyone within the affected area. The grapple only prevents movement - the victims can still fight normally. The victim can’t disengage or force an engage while grasped.
Grass has DC = 3, HP = 200. The grass fights at grapple +3. Victim cannot shift pluses.
In the first round the grass may have surprise or combat surprise. (Grass is naturally stealthy.)
Pow 2 / hex, duration one minute.
Casts Body of Stone on a large number of people or creatures. The maximum number ensorcelled matches the magic stat of the mage. Once the spell is cast the mage needs to pay for the area covered each minute at 1 Pow / hex. In each magic phase he decides which creatures on a single piece of stone will be body of stoned that turn at a cost of 10 Pow / creature / round.
Befriend permanently binds a target creature to the casting mage. The Mage has a permanent Animal Empathy with their familiar and a limited ability to communicate and see through its senses at a distance (blurry pictures, scents, and sounds, but not words). The familiar, if treated well, may be persuaded to perform tasks, such as exploring a target area or transporting small objects. The connection will start weak, but will grow over months and years.
Any damage done to the familiar also damages the Mage, up to a max of creature’s HP plus Dead At.
Casting pluses or minuses (at GM discretion) for how the animal already feels about the caster. A spoiled house pet is much easier, a recently captured wild animal is much tougher.
Connects a living object with the spirit of a Saint. The saint can then directly guide that creature. Requires sacrifice of 1GP worth of suitable material.
Pow 100.
Create a giant bonfire which lights up an area to normal dawn levels and provides an endless source of burning torches and coals.
If an individual has Earth Vigor cast on them, they can fight to 2X normal Dead At, without any minuses. In addition, after someone’s HP drop below zero, their blood coagulates into a stone like substance and adds 10 extra armor points.
Pow 1 / minute to maintain.
Used to create greater magical items. Must have an exceptional base material to work from - at least +10, an additional plus is gained for +15 base materials.
Pow 10,000,000 (10M).
This spell causes any existing flames to continue burning for 24 hours. They will consume materials as normal but do not require them to continue at their current level of heat.
If an individual has Fire Vigor cast on them, they can fight to 2X normal Dead At, without normal minuses, but must shift Pluses to offense for each minus they would normally be at. Additionally they do flame damage of a point for each minus they would normally be at.
Pow 10, Pow 1 / minute to maintain.
Creates a crack in the earth.
The mage controls the shape of the crack and it extends 1 hex / 5 Pow.
Creates new life in an area appropriate to that environment. The life will initially be respectful towards its creator.
Causes a horde of birds, bats or other appropriate wildlife to rain guano down on an area.
The area covered is 1 Pow / hex / minute, maintainable. Effects: -4 to movement / Climbing, no missile weapon use, -2 to spell casting.
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(Graham) A nice cup of Fragrant Herbal Tea helps put the world in perspective. - Aland |
The result of this spell is a small packet of enchanted tea, which may at some later point be ceremonially brewed, in freshly boiled water, to produce a delicate herbal tea. This fragrant concoction relaxes the mind of the imbiber.
A nice hot cup of herbal tea allows all Psychology and resist Psi - Madness rolls to be made at plus 2.
The tea must always be drunk freshly brewed, preferably in a china mug. Bottles of cold tea are ineffectual, as is (shudder) chewing the leaves.
This spell causes a beam of water with all of the effects of a high powered hose to emit from the caster’s hand. Damage is 1 base (no armor or parry). After casting, the spell can be maintained at 20 Pow / round. Range is 20 hexes.
Pow 100, Pow 10 / round to maintain.
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(Jon) So is it 10 or 20 Pow / minute to maintain? |
Creates a castle of ice. 100 Pow yields a house, 1000 creates a small castle suitable for 20 men, 10000 creates an epic castle. The spell may be maintained at original cost above freezing or at 1% of cost below freezing each day.
Turns a smooth surface to ice. Moving across the ice without proper footwear is slowed to 1 hex / round and requires a flat Acrobatics roll.
Pow 1 / hex affected, duration 1 minute. Pow 1 / hex / minute to continue above freezing, or 0.01 / hex / minute below freezing.
The Pinocchio spell. Brings an inanimate 3D representation of a creature or plant to life.
Effect: Creature (or plant) is brought to life. It will have the personality and behavior associated with the object brought to life. It will not necessary follow the directions of its creator but rather follow the behavior of its own nature. The capabilities of the creature will depend on the materials used to construct and the plus rolled in its creation. For example, a crudely made stone cat will limp around slowly but an exquisitely carved ruby bird will fly and sing wondrously.
The spell difficulty is flat with the size of the creature but the Pow scales with size of the creature. 100 Pow is invested for a man-sized creature. Pow invested in this way is permanently subtracted from the mage’s maximum Pow unless a diamond or other Pow storing symbol is created. If the Pow is withdrawn by the mage, the creature dies. A creature powered by a symbol will live as long as the symbol remains intact.
Any offspring will be non-magical but to be able to successfully procreate newly made creatures would have to be made out of exceptional materials before given life. Two pieces of origami won’t create a new race unless they are created over months by a master craftsman with golden paper blessed by the Monks of the inescapable mountains.
Causes an object to acquire a specific smell. Requires the actual scent the person wishes to imbue. The spell can be made permanent with the sacrifice of a gem, one carat / hex3 of the object. Otherwise lasts one hour.
Causes fights to break out in an area. Minuses are not suffered due to damage.
Creates an area of lava out of volcanic rock suitable for enchantment. The cost to create/maintain is 1 Pow / hex / round. The lava pool takes a minute to form or disappear after Pow is applied or removed.
If an individual has Life Vigor cast on them, they can fight to 2X normal Dead At, without any minuses.
In addition, in each round in which they are wounded they receive automatic d6 recovery in the magic phase without having to be still for 3 rounds.
Pow 10, Pow 1 / minute to maintain.
The recipient becomes made of steel for the duration of the spell. Direct Spell.
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Movement is reduced to 1 hex.
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All physical actions are taken at -5.
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Mages may counter but not cast spells.
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HP are multiplied by 1000.
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Damage done is multiplied by 10X.
Pow ???
Migration causes all the animals (including sapients) in a given area to become restless and to acquire a desire to migrate into new lands in a target direction selected by the spell caster. During the migration the animals will need to eat normally, but they will otherwise be unusually tolerant of one another and willing to move together through narrow spaces or even to cooperate, e.g. at river crossings.
The animals will travel for a season, 3 months typically. They’ll wander back after the spell ends if life isn’t good where they’ve gone. You can’t send creatures to their demise with this spell. There needs to be sustenance and safety along the way.
The range is Pow in hexes, so 1K would get you every creature in a mile.
Mob causes small local animals, such as mice, rats, or small birds, etc, to appear and "mob" a target victim. They will do no damage, but will severely distract the victim, cutting their engage and move in half. Mages and archers will be put at -2.
The victim can disperse the mob either:
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Batting at them for 3 rounds.
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Hitting the victim’s own hex with an area-of-effect weapon (flame breath, gas, etc.).
Indirect Single Target against low DCV.
Pow depends on target’s size - 10 Pow for human size, 20 for a troll, 100 for a dragon. Duration 6 rounds.
Creates an oasis area even if there is no water geographically possible. Will last for months.
Changes sex and rerolls stats 4d6 (choose 3).
Note: When rolling more than three dice if there are any 5’s or 6’s left over after the initial selection +2 is added for each additional 6 and +1 is added for each additional 5. This prevents having to roll multiple times and makes an awesome initial roll meaningful.
Examples:
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6 6 6 5 4 2 = 19
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6 6 6 6 = 20
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5 5 5 5 5 = 17
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6 6 6 6 5 5 = 22
Turns one type of rock into another. One foot^3 / Pow can be transformed. A fumble destroys the rock entirely. A roll at MG+ must be made at -5 to make the rock suitable for artwork.
Creates an area of stone post piles over an area over the next hour. Disrupting buildings and providing a source of stone for spells.
Pow 5 / hex.
Creates an area in which cursed things burn at 2X the normal rate, and favored things do not burn at all. Area must already be burning.
Pow 10 / hex radius of circular area affected.
Creates an area of quicksand, flat Acrobatics roll each hex to cross, limits movement to 1 hex / round.
Failed roll results in immobility until the spell is cancelled.
Pow 10 / hex / minute to maintain.
(A JoelWorld variant on the traditional Sanctuary spell.)
The effect is permanent. The caster can freely enter the circle, but not other sapients, unless they are in some way aligned with the purpose of the sanctuary.
Pow 500 / mi.2. Also requires a 1 carat gem / mi.2.
This spell allows the caster to temporarily understand and speak the native language of a target sapient.
Pow 20, duration one hour. Pow 10 / hour to maintain.
Removes the enchantment from a single object and transfers it to a new object.
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(Jon) The JoelWorld "school" system has resulted in renaming all the spells in skill.dbs to include the school name. I don’t know if the details of the spells differ, or just the college, but it makes it difficult to correlate the spell list in the main document with the spells in JoelWorld skill.dbs not explicitly listed above. If it’s as simple as removing the college name, this entire section may go away. Here are the suspect spells, for tracking purposes.
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