Spellthieving, what does it look like?

[G.Cube]

Forgive me if it give a descprition in the Spellthief section, (CoScoundrel, I believe?) but I have temporarily lost my entire collection of books.

What do you believe spellthieving, both by melee and ranged sneak attack, to look like? Do you plunge your weapon into the target, draw energie, and then remove the weapon only for there to be no psyiological wound? Is it simply. a force-of-will spell look-a-like that manifests as an arc of energy transferring from the targets body to your own, or do you imagine it as something else completely?

[G.Cube]

Dumb question? :/

[Lightlawbliss]

to me, it looks like a knife in the back

[G.Cube]

to me, it looks like a knife in the back

And when said knife is removed, revealing no damage dealt to the target?

[mattie_p]

And when said knife is removed, revealing no damage dealt to the target?

What makes you think it does no damage?


A spellthief who hits an opponent with a successful sneak attack can choose to forgo dealing 1d6 points of sneak attack damage and instead steal a spell, or the potential to cast a specific known spell, from his target.

The attack would still do the base damage of the weapon, plus all relevant modifiers, as well as any additional sneak attack that the spellthief has.

I like to imagine a little spark of electricity would seem to follow the blade as it leaves the skin, entering the blade, causing just a shimmer before dissipating.

[Xervous]

Spellthieving only reduces the sneak attack damage, the guy is still getting hit. Depending on fluff, flavor, and whatnot, it's going to look different depending on who's saying what.

Firstly, is hp meat or stamina? This determines whether players routinely suffer serious wounds or are hard pressed to avoid deadly attacks that come within a hair of (or a few layers of skin deep) of harming them.

That aside, the actual spellthieving may vary based on who you are stealing spells from. Sorcerer? Maybe some magics are siphoned out of his blood as the dagger kisses his flesh. Wizard? Perhaps some arcane mutterings/gibberish whisper softly from his labored breaths in the form of mist, drawn towards your weapon of choice/empty hand. Cleric... etc

[Chronos]

Personally, I think that to almost all observers, it would look just like any other knife in the back. Someone highly skilled in combat, anatomy, or both, might notice that the spellthief struck in a very precise but peculiar way, and could have done more damage. Someone with Arcane Sight or similar up, or possibly a great deal of Knowledge: Arcana and Spellcraft, might notice the spark mattie_p mentions. But no obvious outward manifestation.