Core DREAD

From Bean Me! Pedia

1 DREAD
- 1.1 DREADing
- 1.2 Creating a Spell

DREAD

DREAD stands for Damage, Range, Effect, Area, and Duration. Every Spell and some Abilities will involve this method of easily using modifiable Spells and Abilities. While not every Spell or Ability will involve every part of DREAD (i.e. will not deal Damage), they will use some part of it.

DREADing

DREAD is a very simple concept to understand. You put more of the ‘activator’ (i.e. EP) into one of the five aspects of DREAD beyond its Base Cost to increase that part of the Spell. Spells and Abilities will list what is required to activate/cast and what effects you gain for putting more into one of the five aspects. For example, casting the Spell ‘Incinerator’, it creates a stationary orb of fire that deals massive damage to anything within. Here is how it would be set up:

Incinerator

Cast Time: 4NAR CT

D: Major, 1d12 Fire per EP

R: Short, 7.5m/25ft per EP

E: Creates a stationary orb of fire that deals massive damage to anything within. Incinerator rolls to ignite everything within every second

A: Small, 1.5m/5ft radius per EP

D: Short, 1round per EP

Base Cast Cost: 7EP

As the Spell description entails it deals a base 1d12 Fire damage, at a maximum of 7.5m/25ft away from the caster, in an orb at least 1.5m/5ft in radius, and will remain for a minimum of 1round, it takes 4NAR CT to cast, and costs 7EP base. If someone had enough Major Skill Ranks to modify or ‘DREAD’ this Spell, they could increase any of the five aspects by spending more EP into just it. For example, someone with 6Ranks into a ‘Spell Caster’ Skill could spend 3EP into Damage and 2EP into Range and 1EP into Area, causing the Spell to deal 4d12 Fire damage at a Range of 22.5m/75ft in a 3m/10ft radius that lasts 1round. This ‘new’ Spell has varied greatly from the original, something an opponent may not expect when seeing the same Spell twice.

Creating a Spell

Creating Spells is easy. However, like Abilities, the exact style and ‘balance’ of a Spell is dependent on the Template and if a Template allows for the creation of new Spells it will be based on the individual Template’s rules. Regardless of the Template creating a Spell should start with a ‘Spell Shell’. A Spell Shell is just:

<Name>

Cast Time: NAR/Rounds/Minutes/Hours/Days/etc and CT or CD, if unspecified is assumed as CT

DREAD: dependent on Spell which are and are not part of a Spell

Base Cast Cost: determined by the increments of each part of DREAD (note the ‘Major’, ‘Short’, ‘Small’ of each DREAD aspect)

Book-wise, most Spells will be represented by a table such as the following and if it is not in this format it is considered an Ability and not a Spell even if the Major Skill also provides Spells (unless the Template specifies otherwise). Note that ‘Pool’ is based on the idea of where the Spell and its Damage Types and Effects derive from (i.e. Acid = Water, Electricity = Air, Blindness = Dark/Light, Healing = Life). The table use and ‘Pool’ are based on Template.