Chaotic Command

[Guest Notasophsit]

Why isn't Chaotic Command part of the "Thought Sphere"?

 

It is reasonable that it belongs in the Chaos sphere, but shouldn't a spell that protects you from mental influences be part of the sphere that deals with mental influence?

[NiGHTMARE]

The spheres are taken directly from the pnp sourcebook Player's Option - Spells & Magic. The reason they didn't place the spell in the sphere of thought is because it supposedly protects against spells which affect another's actions via verbal commands, rather than spells which make use of telepathy. However, one of the spells which Chaotic Commands protects against *does* make use of telepathy, namely Domination. Personally, I'd remove Domination from the list of spells Chaotic Commands protects against, and then go through and see if there are any other "verbal command" type spells that it could be replaced with.

 

Incidentally, there's a 7th level pnp spell called Impervious Sanctity of Mind which protects against all but the most powerful magical commands, mind affecting spells and psionic abilities; you may remember it from Icewind Dale, and yes, it *is* in the sphere of thought . This spell should be pretty simple to create, so expect to see it in Divine Remix in the future .

 

EDIT: there's also a 5th level sphere of thought spell called Impregnable Mind, which protects against spells which use telepathic commands, such as Domination, Feeblemind and Hold Person. Needless to say, this could be added to DR as well.

[NiGHTMARE]

Upon doing further research into Chaotic Commands, it seems the BG2 version of the spell actually protects against far more spells than the description lists. In fact, it pretty much seems to be a combination of the pnp Chaotic Commands and Impregnable Mind, with a few more protections thrown in for good measure. It definiately warrants being split up into two seperate spells, though engine limitations mean it might not be possible to precisely emulate the original versions.

[NiGHTMARE]

Okay, here's what I've come up with for the three spells (note that they don't neccessary protect against *all* affects of the listed spells):

 

The old:

 

Chaotic Commands (Enchantment/Charm)

Level: 5

Sphere: Chaos

Range: Visual sight of caster

Duration: 1 turn/level

Casting Time: 3

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: None

 

Protects against Charm Person, Chromatic Orb, Color Spray, Command, Sleep, Stinking Cloud, Hold Person, Horror, Power Word Sleep, Dire Charm, Hold Animal, Rigid Thinking, Confusion, Emotion, Mental Domination, Chaos, Domination, Feeblemind, Greater Command, Hold Monster, Earthquake, Sphere of Chaos, Symbol Stun, Bigby's Clenched Fist, Maze, Bigby's Crushing Hand, Implosion, Psionic Blast, and various innate abilities.

 

 

The new:

 

Chaotic Commands (Enchantment/Charm)

Level: 5

Sphere: Chaos

Range: Touch

Duration: 1 turn/level

Casting Time: 3

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: None

 

Protects against Charm Person, Command, Sleep, Power Word Sleep, Dire Charm, Greater Command, and any offensive innate abilities which make use of verbal commands.

 

 

Impregnable Mind (Enchantment/Charm)

Level: 5

Sphere: Protection, Thought

Range: Touch

Duration: 1 turn + 1 round/level

Casting Time: 1

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: None

 

Protects against Hold Person, Hold Animal, Rigid Thinking, Confusion, Emotion, Mental Domination, Chaos, Domination, Feeblemind, Hold Monster, Psionic Blast, and any offensive innate abilities which make use of mental commands.

 

 

Impervious Sanctity of Mind (Abjuration)

Level: 7

Sphere: Protection, Thought

Range: 0

Duration: 1 turn/level

Casting Time: 1

Area of Effect: The caster

Saving Throw: None

 

Protects against all those from Chaotic Commands and Impregnable Mind, plus Doom, Spook, Horror, Cloak of Fear, Symbol Fear, and any offensive innate abilities which affect the mind or alter emotional states (e.g. mind flayers' intelligence drain and dragons' aura of fear).

[Guest Notasophist]

They look good. I look forward to their implementation in future versions. Hopefully the next one?

[CamDawg]

Sure, why not? The thought sphere is really light at the moment.

[NiGHTMARE]

I've finished the code for the new Chaotic Commands, and the other two should be more-or-less a matter of copy'n'paste .

 

Incidentally, I know I could have created the spells in DLTCEP or whatever, but the fact that they have a tonne of effects which almost all increase in duration at every level mean it's actually quicker to create them via WeiDU .

[Guest Notasophist]

This just occured to me. What would be the roleplaying consequence for fortifying the pc (or even the entire party) with Impregnable Mind or Improved Sanctity when they enter the mindflayer lair in the underdark? Would they escape capture?

[Guest Notasophist]

btw, great to hear that the spells are so easily implemented.

[NiGHTMARE]

The pnp spell descriptions note that extremely powerful creatures and artifacts can still counter the protections, and I'd say a city of Mind Flayers would count as that .

 

Incidentally, Impervious Sanctity can only be applied to the caster .