Magical Storms?

[Hanuman]

I was thinking of adding magical storms to my campaign, like the emissions you experienced in STALKER CoP.

Is there any existing content/fluff in source or homebrew?

[drew2u]

Could you rework living spells from Eberron?

I feel like one of the Monster Manuals has something to this effect but I can't remember which one (out of the dozen or so published books...)

Otherwise you could roll on wild/primal magic tables every round or so to have that effect manifest until it dissipates or a new one displaces it.

[TopCheese]

No clue about anything above but.. I had some magical storms in my game that I made...

Duration: 1d8 Days, off and on showers and winds or complete downpour.

Size: 1d20 X 10 Miles

Effects: Random Element (my favorite was force/acid)

Effects: To living creatures: 1d4 acid damage and 1d4 force damage/round while in the storm.

Magic Storm: Magic storms come and go, no one really knows exactly where they come from. Many different thoughts but no proof. During storm season, there is a 45% chance for a storm to form. During normal times there is a 20% chance for a magical storm.

During a magic storm, magic users are a sort of "lightning rod" and anyone wearing magic armor or able to cast spells are targeted by a bolt of energy dealing 1d6 dmg. Each round a bolt targets the PC... Reflex save for half.

Note: People tend to stay in doors without protective cloathing... Though once you made it to a certain level this became less hazardous...Though people didn't like high level mages due to being blamed for the storms... Casters aren't rare really.. They just stay the hell away from people.

Just so you know.. This came from a pretty brutal darksun ish type of world.... People didn't travel much but when they did so with caution... People tended to die on long trips....

I once rolled 8 days for a 200 mille radius storm...

[Admiral Squish]

There was one creature I made that created a magical storm effect. Basically it constantly rained over a little patch of land with a few villages. Everybody took 1d4 points of charisma damage every day, 1d2 if you stayed inside or were mostly-protected from the touch of the rainwater. As you took more and more damage, you started to be less colorful. At first, your colors and all the colors you saw would just seem less intense than usual and you'd feel kinda down. As the damage increased, you'd get more and more depressed as the color washed out of you, eventually leaving you black-and-white and almost completely despondent, with no color vision at all. After a few days of that, you'd eventually loose all contrast, becoming a smooth gray blob. The color was actually being washed out of you by the rain, which would actually gain a rainbow sheen to it after dripping off someone, like motor oil on the surface of a puddle.

Eventually it was revealed the rain was being caused by a prismatic underground monster that was harvesting emotion and color into a subterranean pool where it was laying it's eggs. Kill it, and the rainclouds departed. To cure the victims, you simply dipped them in the pool or had them drink from it until they were back to normal.

[TopCheese]

Eventually it was revealed the rain was being caused by a prismatic underground monster that was harvesting emotion and color into a subterranean pool where it was laying it's eggs. Kill it, and the rainclouds departed. To cure the victims, you simply dipped them in the pool or had them drink from it until they were back to normal.

Ewwwwwww

What sort of diseases come from that alone????
:smalleek:

[Admiral Squish]

Ewwwwwww

What sort of diseases come from that alone????
:smalleek:

Probably the same diseases you'd get drinking from any pond, lake, or stream. Where do you think fish poop goes? :P

[Lord Vukodlak]

I think magical storms should first be more wierd then devastating any they should perhaps be different based on school.

Abjuration Abjuration storms are very rare, the school tends to be more stable then most so they don't lend themselves to storms. But when it does occur the effects tend to be benefical, such as granting those caught in the rain a +1 Deflection bonus to ac and a +1 resistance bonus on saving throws.
Conjuration The effects of conjuration storm are varied but common sights are frogs or other small animals raining down from the sky on occasion these animals may gather into hostile swarms. Other effects can include disruptions in teleportation spells. On rare occasions a creature summoned in a conjuration storm will stick around for the duration but free from the control of the caster.
Divination I've got nothing
Enchantment Some people get sad when it rains, during an enchantment storm people might get angry, happy, or simply confused. The village of Hamelin experienced a huge baby boom after one enchantmet storm that induced love.
Evocation Thankfully these storms are rare but when they occur they are the most devastating, as the literal elements may come raining down.
Illusion A most unusual type of magical storm illusion storms are prone to cause hallucination to those caught in it for to long
Necromancy Some of the worst magical storms imaginable are based in necromancy known effects include blighting the land and temporarily animating the dead. Though on rare occasion a necromancy storm has the opposite damaging undead and preserving life as it seems to wash death away.
Transmutation Predicting the effects of a transmutation storm is incredibly difficult, those caught in the storm may simply have there hair or skin color temporarally changed, others may find their gender swapped or be turned into an animal. Thankfully the effects of the storm are temporary and things return to normal once its passed.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Probably the same diseases you'd get drinking from any pond, lake, or stream. Where do you think fish poop goes? :P

Fish don't poop, they recycle their waste and turn it into fairies.

[Eurus]

I think magical storms should first be more wierd then devastating any they should perhaps be different based on school.

Abjuration Abjuration storms are very rare, the school tends to be more stable then most so they don't lend themselves to storms. But when it does occur the effects tend to be benefical, such as granting those caught in the rain a +1 Deflection bonus to ac and a +1 resistance bonus on saving throws.
Conjuration The effects of conjuration storm are varied but common sights are frogs or other small animals raining down from the sky on occasion these animals may gather into hostile swarms. Other effects can include disruptions in teleportation spells. On rare occasions a creature summoned in a conjuration storm will stick around for the duration but free from the control of the caster.
Divination I've got nothing
Enchantment Some people get sad when it rains, during an enchantment storm people might get angry, happy, or simply confused. The village of Hamelin experienced a huge baby boom after one enchantmet storm that induced love.
Evocation Thankfully these storms are rare but when they occur they are the most devastating, as the literal elements may come raining down.
Illusion A most unusual type of magical storm illusion storms are prone to cause hallucination to those caught in it for to long
Necromancy Some of the worst magical storms imaginable are based in necromancy known effects include blighting the land and temporarily animating the dead. Though on rare occasion a necromancy storm has the opposite damaging undead and preserving life as it seems to wash death away.
Transmutation Predicting the effects of a transmutation storm is incredibly difficult, those caught in the storm may simply have there hair or skin color temporarally changed, others may find their gender swapped or be turned into an animal. Thankfully the effects of the storm are temporary and things return to normal once its passed.

I like that. Maybe Divination storms give people dreams and visions of prophecy. Abjuration storms might also tend to dispel existing magical effects, making them dangerous for mages.

Oh dear, I'm imagining an Illusion blizzard that creates the sensation of being warm and dry. Could be very dangerous.

[Admiral Squish]

I suppose an important question to ask is, are magical storms normal weather patterns infused with magic, or are they wholly new phenomena? What would new phenomena look like? I propose we begin work immediately. We will have to come up with pseudo-meteorological descriptions of how magic interacts with the atmosphere, firstly, then we throw the systems out of balance and let it rock.

For example: Instead of having a protective magnetosphere and ionosphere, similar effects are created by high-altitude natural abjuration effects. An abjuration storm occurs when a portion of this ambient magic is pushed closer to the surface by a solar flare, or a meteor, or some other outside force pushing on the barrier. It can also be pulled down by an epic abjuration spell or many, many abjuration castings at once.

[TopCheese]

Probably the same diseases you'd get drinking from any pond, lake, or stream. Where do you think fish poop goes? :P

Environmental Scientist here :), I filter alllll water before use (specially city water...). Well unless I'm half dead or something *shrug*.

I was thinking more of the afterbirth...

Anyways...

I've always liked using weather in my games, I'm going to have to take some ideas from here and my old notes and put them in the 4e game I'm running... >:D

[Slipperychicken]

Divination I've got nothing

You look into the sky and see another world. If you get too wet, some of your senses are "displaced" (you feel, see, hear as though you were far away. Still in the same general area, out of a sense of fairness. If DM has had enough of this "fairness" nonsense, you perceive as though you were in a totally random location, yet still maintain control of your body, which is right where it always was. You are effectively blind). If you fail enough Will saves, this effect may last for 1d10 days, removable by Break Enchantment or Remove Curse.

Mirrors, lakes, ponds, and other reflective surfaces display random locations when wet, as though by Scrying. You do not want to get this stuff in your eyes or ears (can only see/hear bizarre kaleidoscopic prophecies of what was and could have been for 1d4 minutes).

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Have you read A Roadside Picnic? It's the sci-fi story that STALKER was based on, and probably the go-to source for this kind of research.

[Hanuman]

@Divination
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCXEO1N5ijQ

@Enviro Scientist
If you've studied virology you probably own a kitchen water boiler machine.

@RoadsidePicnic
That might work actually, I've never read it but it could very well have emissions or emission storms in written detail.


This is the emission in STALKER CoP (With Complete mod, including ATMOSFEAR)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlStBrLRoQ0

Unfortunately a fair bit of the effects look like bad video quality even on HD, it's a mixture of psionic, radioactive and a bunch of other stuff all meshed together into really powerful storms. They hit randomly and take about 1.5 to 2 mins to really get going, if your ears are really sharp you can tell when they start by subtle things.

Only way to really avoid them is to find thick stone or steel and get really snug in it, and it's not always easy as maximum 2 mins to find shelter from a massive death-storm that will fry your brainstem is really not that short, especially if you are in a fresh incursion.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

@RoadsidePicnic
That might work actually, I've never read it but it could very well have emissions or emission storms in written detail.

There are no emission storms in Roadside Picnic. What they do have is much stranger. A good two-thirds of the phenomena described are not described in any detail because the main character, as an experienced stalker, simply avoids them. The phenomena which are described are so alien that they almost defy understanding.

In fact, most of the phenomena in Roadside Picnic are location-based. Most of them are unique and follow no known laws. Here's a quick list off the top of my head:


"The Meat Grinder": An invisible entity that will select one creature in the vicinity and grind him into a pulp, then go dormant for a few minutes.
"Witches Jelly": A gray goo that feeds on organic material. Fairly common, and found in low ditches.
Spots of localized gravity that will crush a human into a pancake. This is why stalkers carry bags of metal bolts around.
Strange fuzz that grows off of any exposed piece of metal.
Anyone who dies in town turns into a zombie that mimics the actions of people around it. Severed limbs continue to mimic the actions of people around them.
Decades of statistical analysis on people who were near The Zone finds that they have horrifyingly bad luck no matter where they go.

[Hanuman]

There are no emission storms in Roadside Picnic. What they do have is much stranger. A good two-thirds of the phenomena described are not described in any detail because the main character, as an experienced stalker, simply avoids them. The phenomena which are described are so alien that they almost defy understanding.

In fact, most of the phenomena in Roadside Picnic are location-based. Most of them are unique and follow no known laws. Here's a quick list off the top of my head:


"The Meat Grinder": An invisible entity that will select one creature in the vicinity and grind him into a pulp, then go dormant for a few minutes.
"Witches Jelly": A gray goo that feeds on organic material. Fairly common, and found in low ditches.
Spots of localized gravity that will crush a human into a pancake. This is why stalkers carry bags of metal bolts around.
Strange fuzz that grows off of any exposed piece of metal.
Anyone who dies in town turns into a zombie that mimics the actions of people around it. Severed limbs continue to mimic the actions of people around them.
Decades of statistical analysis on people who were near The Zone finds that they have horrifyingly bad luck no matter where they go.


Good to know.
Meat grinder is gravity, probably a vortex. SoC had pulses that would flatten you and big cyclones that would suck you up then shred you, CoP has small shredders.
Grey ooze sounds between biological and chem, acid is pretty common but some areas just radiate biological hazard as if it were energy. Nasty stuff.