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Yora
2010-09-22, 09:34 AM
As nice as BESM 3rd Edition looks and I really want to give it a try, it has only about 8 sample magical powers and no guidelines to create creatures at all.

Does anybody know about some good resources that could help a beginning BESM gm to create magical powers for a campaign, and how to make a couple of creatures to fight against?
Given the nature of the system, six or eight spells would be more than enough for any mage, but the book doesn't give any good hints how to create any of them.

The Rose Dragon
2010-09-22, 10:55 AM
It's a point-buy system. You create spells like you create any other power. The same for monsters - you create it just like you create any other character.

It may sound unhelpful, but really, it's important to keep in mind if you want to play point-buy systems such as GURPS, BESM or M&M - there is only one system for everything. If you need a spell, just take a power, add some appropriate modifiers and cosmetic changes and say it's a spell. If you need a monster, create a character with all the powers of the monster you want and say it looks like a monster.

ninja_penguin
2010-09-22, 11:27 AM
also, depending on what you're looking for, make sure you don't overspecialize monsters in a point buy system. If your players have spread themselves out to be something other than combat monsters, a lower point enemy who has splurged all his points into being an unkillable monstrosity may be more of a challenge than expected. I suggest using some of the tier guidelines in BESM 3rd.

TheThan
2010-09-22, 12:50 PM
Seems like the thing to do is set a maximum point limit, say 300 for a fairly standard fantasy monster. From there you spend points on attributes and abilities. At least that’s the method I use (by the way, I follow the tier limitations given in chapter 2).
What I do for attack spells (like the two I’ve listed below) is to take the melee or ranged attack attribute and stack customized variables and restrictions. I take custom weapon variables from the weapon attribute and the rest from the customization chapter. So a basic attack spell, like a fireball or magic missile would look something like this:


Fireball
Ranged attack (spell)
Level 3
Area: 4 (30 meters)
Duration: 2 (5 rounds)
Range: 3 (100 meters)
Continuing (fire)
Deplete 3 (-30 energy each shot)
Total cost: 11


Magic missile
Ranged attack (spell)
Level 1
Range 1 (10 meters)
Autofire (3 points )
Homing: 3
Deplete: 1 (-10 energy per use)
Total cost 9