well a thought crossed my mind last night i know when i was playing a a sorc in my old groups 3.5 campaign 1/2 the fun for me (and 1/2 my rping) was chanting and casting my spells rather then just saying i cast so and so
and i was wondering how common / rare is that to show up in play ?
edit happy turkey day
I don't quite follow what you mean. Can you give us an example?
well im a little rusty but here gos
"hark by the might of the heavens let this crashing light tear and destroy lightning bolt"
not my best work but it might help as a caster i used to chant my spells in character iv never heard of any one else doing such but id never asked so i figured i would ask
edit to try to add clarity
so rather then just saying i cast fire bolt at the orc chanting the spell in character
The arrows turn. The swords rebel. Let nothing pierce this moral shell!
By natures hand. By craft. By art. What once was one. Now fly apart!
O're mist filled pits, dark, dank, unclear. Fill all fore me with frost fingered fear!
By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not. Let all that grows recede and rot!
"You are not surprised by, and have surprised, five wights."
"Drink the potion of undead control and tell them to go fuck themselves."
* mimes drinking potion *
"By the magnetic storms
Of the north and south pole
I order you to form
A circle and cornhole."
True story.
I've never done such a thing but it seems like a cool little flourish.
Never seen it in actual play. It seems like something I'd quickly tire of in play.
I confess I've done the "Zot" thing for Magic Missile a time or two...
Quote from: Doom;866090I confess I've done the "Zot" thing for Magic Missile a time or two...
zot?????
Quote from: kosmos1214;866091zot?????
Well, it (was a 1 segment) spell that zaps things for a little damage. "Zot" seems as good a word as any...never had someone look at me crosswise for using it.
Nope, never run into it myself.
And I can't help thinking of the 80s Satanic Panic, with all the moralists running around claiming that D&D was evil because it "taught you to cast magic spells". If players routinely chanted incantations for their spells, those sorts would have had a field day with it.
Quote from: Omega;866072The arrows turn. The swords rebel. Let nothing pierce this moral shell!
By natures hand. By craft. By art. What once was one. Now fly apart!
O're mist filled pits, dark, dank, unclear. Fill all fore me with frost fingered fear!
By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not. Let all that grows recede and rot!
A whim, a thought, and more is sought; awake, my mind, thy will be wrought!
Three suns align, pour forth thy light, and fill the archer's bow with might!
Sheathe these feet in the driving gale; make swift these legs, o'er land I sail!
Whispered secrets of a shattered age, I summon you: renew this sage!
This was mandatory for the first edition of the German "Das Schwarze Auge".
"Flimm flamm flunkel, bring Licht ins Dunkel!"
I only played three sessions, but this stuck.
"Blow, wind, and crack thy cheeks!"
Quote from: Bren;866088Never seen it in actual play. It seems like something I'd quickly tire of in play.
It does. Also at least with all the hundreds of people I've played with over 43 years it quickly degenerates into bad jokes.
Usually of the "use a line and see who can guess where it's from." Like pointing a Wand of Paralysis and saying "bee's knees I order you to freeze."
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;866152"Blow, wind, and crack thy cheeks!"
Wind. It's why trousers replaced kilts and togas.
I encourage my players to add flourish to their actions and I try to lead by example in play. I haven't done elaborate chants, but certainly short phrases to weave the name/concept of the spell into the gameplay.
Oddly, I've had more luck with mage players getting into spellcasting with T&T than with D&D. Maybe it's the evocative / silly names? There is something awesome about tossing Take That You Fiend! instead of Magic Missile.
If you enjoy spellcasting with flourish, I highly recommend checking out the RPG Eldritch Ass Kicking.
Here's 2 reviews
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10764.phtml
http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12335.phtml
Quote from: Doom;866100Well, it (was a 1 segment) spell that zaps things for a little damage. "Zot" seems as good a word as any...never had someone look at me crosswise for using it.
Zotz: Material component: one coin.
Abracadavy- United States Navy!
For when you absolutely, positively MUST have an aircraft carrier right fucking now.
Quote from: Omega;866217Zotz: Material component: one coin.
In the words of Master Yoda, "What you did there, I see!"
A lot easier in LARP than tabletop; both the fantasy LARPs I was in used chants, although the purpose they served was to establish casting times. A basic healing spell was a 10-word chant; the Raise Dead spell was 40.
Quote from: Doom;866100Well, it (was a 1 segment) spell that zaps things for a little damage. "Zot" seems as good a word as any...never had someone look at me crosswise for using it.
ah 1st time iv heard it my self
Quote from: nDervish;866119Nope, never run into it myself.
And I can't help thinking of the 80s Satanic Panic, with all the moralists running around claiming that D&D was evil because it "taught you to cast magic spells". If players routinely chanted incantations for their spells, those sorts would have had a field day with it.
yah i grew up it the late 90s and early 2000 (im 22 in a month) so i missed out on all that wonderful hoopla that and i live in southern Wisconsin witch i also think helped
I kinda figured that for D&D style magic (fire and forget) that the chanting/ritual/component use takes place when the spell is entered into the mind of the spell-caster... and that its later release happens with a simple word/motion.
I agree it would get old pretty quickly if said every time... but referencing them occasionally or in special circumstances seems like it would add some atmosphere.
In Earthdawn our GM had us all design morning karma rituals (that gave a class specific buff) that we would perform each day. We'd usually gloss over them but occasionally he'd have one of us describe them anew, say the oath, whatever went with them... and would keep in mind when there was some situation that would interfere with them or require alteration.
I only ever had this once in any of my games. One particular player who was quite the 'diva' and desperate attention-getter would always describe every last detail of how he cast his spell (including "my armor glitters in the sunlight as I wave my hands with a serious look" and shit like that).
Let's just say that the rest of the party didn't take it very well.
I don't know where that guy is, these days.
"Marvelous, Cupcake. While you're singing and dancing a dozen crossbowmen fill you with quarrels."
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;866740"Marvelous, Cupcake. While you're singing and dancing a dozen crossbowmen fill you with quarrels."
Now I want to run a character named "Marvelous Cupcake" in one of Brendan's Wuxia campaigns. Anyone know how to translate Marvelous Cupcake into Chinese?
I had a friend do faux-latin incantations Dresden-style. It wasn't quite as tedious as the books because he tried to do a new one every time. It didn't last very long.
I recently taught my son one of the sample magic item activation phrases from ... the 1e DMG maybe?
"Ampere, watt, volt, and ohm; Let this discharge find its home!"
I won't regret that, I'm sure.
Quote from: Bren;866841Now I want to run a character named "Marvelous Cupcake" in one of Brendan's Wuxia campaigns. Anyone know how to translate Marvelous Cupcake into Chinese?
I would pay money to be a fly on the wall for that game.
I don't know anything about the Chinese language, but according to google translate, it's something like this. (https://translate.google.com/#en/zh-TW/marvelous%20cupcake)
I can't imagine this is not 100% accurate, so if you want to go ahead and get that tattoo done before any further research, I'll chip in 20 china-bucks.
to be honest i never did it every spell but there are times where it just felt right
Quote from: Natty Bodak;866948I would pay money to be a fly on the wall for that game.
I don't know anything about the Chinese language, but according to google translate, it's something like this. (https://translate.google.com/#en/zh-TW/marvelous%20cupcake)
I can't imagine this is not 100% accurate, so if you want to go ahead and get that tattoo done before any further research, I'll chip in 20 china-bucks.
Well that gave me a chuckle. :D
I think Marvelous Cupcake would fit in very well with Brendan's BLOOD OF THE DEMON MOON CULT (http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/) group.
Now I'll need the Pinyin or something to know how to pronounce those characters in Mandarin.
Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;866740"Marvelous, Cupcake. While you're singing and dancing a dozen crossbowmen fill you with quarrels."
This reminds me of one time in the Dark Albion campaign, when one of the player characters ended up in command of a small force of men during the Rose War (something he was exceedingly proud of). He was determined to make an impression, to do something to make him gain some renown, more than just for competent leadership, apparently.
So he goes and gets himself a whole troupe of Morris Dancers, and at the start of the battle has them line up in front of the line when the enemy is already arrayed for battle but before the trumpet sounds, and has them all dance at the enemy.
I think he was under the impression he was going to be intimidating or something; or maybe just seeming so confident of his abilities. But the enemy commander was not impressed. He just got the longbowmen lined up and fired hell on the poor bastards. In the end, every last one of his morris dancers was dead, in what could only amount to a mercy killing.
I see this sort of thing now and then but it's always silly stuff like "A la peanut butter sandwiches!"
Quote from: yosemitemike;867461I see this sort of thing now and then but it's always silly stuff like "A la peanut butter sandwiches!"
yah gronan said the same thing and in find that interesting and in a year and a 1/2 campaign we think i only did 2 or 3 joke chants total each time they where just to good to pass up but they only ended up jokes because they where that good a joke to make the every one and the dm fall over laughing level