Monitors: side-effects of magic

So, next on the list is magical side-effects! As I've already discussed this, let's review my earlier thoughts.

Sticking with the whole d20 thing, I think I'm going to go for rolling on a d20 chart for effects. The rough breakdown will be 1-10 No Effect, 11-17 Trivial Effect, and 18-20 Substantial Effect. These aren't formal categories or anything, I just think that's about the right sort of balance. Depending what kinds of trivial effects I come up with, I might increase the range of those later. Depending how I implement things, I might have specific types of spell modify die rolls to try and get flavoursome effects. For example, if I have a sub-table of "Manifestations" then Call the Ashen Beast might well add to the result roll on that if a side-effect does occur.

What sorts of effects do I want? Let's try some examples, in some rough order of severity.

• A chorus of voices whisper to the wizard.
• Visions of a strange landscape flash before the wizard's eyes.
• The acrid taste of bile fills the wizard's throat as the strange syllables of the spell are spoken.
• Frost forms on nearby surfaces and a skin of ice over liquids.
• Strange lines etch themselves into the wizard's skin, fading slowly over the coming days. They may carry some meaning or be simply disturbing.
• The wizard feels watched, as though ancient and inscrutable eyes were drawn to them in the casting. (the GM might make a side-plot out of this)
• A sinister and unearthly laugh echoes around the room.
• A heady and somehow dangerous scent fills the air, sending senses reeling and leaving a lingering clue to the wizard's presence.
• Metal objects resonate eerily to some unheard harmonic of the spell. Determine the volume of the resonance randomly.
• Something seems to squirm and boil into life in the shadows, darting out of sight before you can focus on it. (the GM might use this minor entity or ignore it)
• In their mind, the wizard can feel the heartbeat of every nearby creature. This ability is both useful and distracting; apply a +2/-2 modifier as appropriate. The ability fades after a short while.
• Winds from some alien gulf wash over the wizard, sending dust dancing uncannily into strange and near-intelligible patterns.
• Leaves wither and crackle, or burst into new and unexpected life.
• A flash of witchfire traces wild patterns across the floor, leaving behind scorched trails.
• A swarm of insects gathers around the focus of the spell, whirling and humming.
• Intangible glittering motes twinkle into existence and float through the air, casting a faint and unearthly light. (these might give away the wizard's presence, provide light in a dark room, distract or alarm NPCs)
• Ghostly figures and structures fade into view, intangible but haunting. (these might provide a distraction or cover)
• Skirling spirits whirl and dance through the air around the wizard. (the GM might have these interact with nearby objects, distract creatures, attract attention or even pose a mild threat)
• The spell does not fade away, but lingers on regardless of the wizard's wishes. Its effects continue for an additional 1d3 rounds, but otherwise remains in the wizard's control. (The GM determines whether this effect makes any sense in context).
• The spell breaks free of the wizard's control. It fulfils the wizard's initial purpose, but has additional effects as determined by the GM. A summoned creature may be more self-willed than usual, but retains an amiable attitude to the wizard unless provoked; it cannot be dismissed. A concentration spell may linger for 1d3 additional rounds. The effects may be beneficial, problematic or neutral but should not be actively harmful, and should make sense in terms of the original spell.

Broadly speaking I've got effects that creep out the wizard; effects that are noticeable to other characters; effects that might have minor consequences for the wizard; effects that leave evidence and may distract characters; effects that might have notable consequences; and effects that twist the original purpose of the spell.

It's fairly easy to come up with the lower-tier ones (nosebleeds, smells, cosmetic changes, thoughts, emotions) but the more significant the effect, the more thought is required. I may need to brainstorm this one. Suggestions are welcome!

I am tempted to have one where the wizard is locked into the spell and unable to do anything until they break free, but not quite sure if that's still on the fun side of the line. What are your thoughts on this?

Most of the time, the effect should be fluff, albeit portentous fluff. I want a small proportion of mechanically-interesting effects, and a very small proportion of significant effects.

I also want to generally avoid effects that tend to make the spell effectively fail. Magic is intended to be unreliable, but I'm thinking more of a sense that it has peculiar side-effects or distorts your intentions, rather than that it might be a dud. If you're trying to summon a needle-soul to pin down the minds of potential observers, and instead you don't summon a needle-soul, this strikes me as not very interesting.

Also, having moved over to a dicepool system, and thought about this more, I think sticking with a dicepool for the magic roll makes sense too. This will be a very basic 2d6 unless I change my mind. It just allows for weighting in the effects, which I'm keen on here.

The idea that's creeping into my mind is to have side-effects work on an axis from what I'll call Influence to Manifestation. Let's see if it makes any sense.

Magical Axis

So you roll your 2d6. The idea I have is that if you roll very low, this (arbitrarily) corresponds to a strong Influence. If you roll very high, that corresponds to a strong Manifestation. If you roll a 7 nothing noteworthy happens. More moderate (more common) rolls produce lesser effects.

Influence

Influence would correspond to side-effects focused on the wizard. Some might be noticeable to others, many would be sensory or emotional effects. It would include such things as hallucinations, memory effects, and minor temporary transformations.

Manifestation

Manifestation would indicate side-effects that bleed into the external world, as the spell's energies leak through or the spell itself goes awry. They would include classic "haunted house" effects like writing or cold, as well as accidental minor summonings, or a spell that lingers longer than intended.

Does that work better than just a sliding scale of severity? Worse? About the same? Not sure. The second thing I'd like to do is to have thematic effects, so that certain types of spell are more likely to produce certain types of effect. It makes sense for a summoning problem to result in the summoned creature acting outside your intentions, or summoning the wrong creature. It makes sense for a telepathic spell to produce unwanted kinds of mental after-effect.

Suggested effects

Many of these side-effects have no specific mechanical consequence. Hopefully, players and GMs will take them as roleplaying cues and act on them, rather than shrugging them off as "nothing happens".

I say this partly because it's exactly what we often do with Deathwatch, which is probably a mistake - reacting to the horrors of the Warp is pretty good for establishing the setting, so when things start floating or dripping blood we should be invoking the Emperor and shuddering in brave, manly xenophobia. Especially now that Erec has an upgrade that turns most minor psychic phenomena into "weeping blood", we basically tend to go "just weeping blood, then" rather than reacting to the fact that hell-spawned blood is oozing from the walls.

1. A chorus of voices whisper to the wizard.
2. The wizard feels a great sense of loss, as though some poignant dream has slipped from their grasp forever.
3. Visions of a strange landscape flash before the wizard's eyes.
4. Fierce hatred or resentment courses through the wizard's mind.
5. The acrid taste of bile fills the wizard's throat as the strange syllables of the spell are spoken.
6. The wizard senses a hostile presence behind them or lurking in some nearby cover.
7. The wizard feels watched, as though ancient and inscrutable eyes were drawn to them in the casting. (the GM might make a side-plot out of this)
8. Coruscating clouds form across the wizard's eyes, casting everything they see in strange and opulent colours.
9. Strange lines etch themselves into the wizard's skin, fading slowly over the coming days. They may carry some meaning or be simply disturbing.
10. The wizard's hands harden into mineral for several seconds, slowly reverting to normal.
11. As energy leeches from their body, the wizard appears haggard, even skeletal.
12. A surge of magic lifts the wizard several inches into the air.
13. A sinister and unearthly laugh echoes around the room.
14. Frost forms on nearby surfaces and a skin of ice over liquids.
15. A heady and somehow dangerous scent fills the air, sending senses reeling and leaving a lingering clue to the wizard's presence.
16. Metal objects resonate eerily to some unheard harmonic of the spell. Determine the volume of the resonance randomly.
17. In their mind, the wizard can feel the heartbeat of every nearby creature. This ability is both useful and distracting; apply a +2/-2 modifier as appropriate. The ability fades after one Tick.
18. Something seems to squirm and boil into life in the shadows, darting out of sight before you can focus on it. The GM might use this minor entity or ignore it.
19. Nearby electrical devices flicker and groan as their energies are disrupted. Very sensitive devices may malfunction or their programs reboot.
20. Winds from some alien gulf wash over the wizard, sending dust dancing uncannily into strange and near-intelligible patterns.
21. Leaves wither and crackle, or burst into new and unexpected life.
22. The wizard is granted a moment's glimpse of the future. They may reroll once during the next game hour to represent this prescience.
23. A flash of witchfire traces wild patterns across the floor, leaving behind scorched trails.
24. All creatures within 30 feet receive a haunting vision. They gain a 1d3 Distracted die and will sleep badly for several nights, whispering as they stir and shift.
25. A swarm of insects gathers around the focus of the spell, whirling and humming.
26. Intangible glittering motes twinkle into existence and float through the air, casting a faint and unearthly light. These might give away the wizard's presence, provide light in a dark room, distract or alarm NPCs.
27. Someone else within 30 feet receives a glimpse of the wizard's mind. They may learn intentions, emotions or the wizard's current preoccupations.
28. Ghostly figures and structures fade into view, intangible but haunting. These might provide a distraction or cover.
29. Unearthly calm spills through the minds of all nearby, stilling thoughts of hostility or strong emotions.
30. Giddiness spreads from the wizard like a wave, leaving all creatures within 50 feet Pinned.
31. A pulse of gravity threatens to knock everyone to their knees (Might 2 to resist). Small objects go flying.
32. Skirling spirits whirl and dance through the air around the wizard. (the GM might have these interact with nearby objects, distract creatures, attract attention or even pose a mild threat)
33. Time seems to slow down, as though the world were moving through treacle. Everyone can roll an extra die until the wizard's next turn, as they have extra time to think and prepare.
34. The wizard flickers out of existence, only to rematerialise the following round unaware of their disappearance. They might travel a short distance or be facing the opposite direction, but should not generally teleport out of cells or into furnaces, chasms or hungry mouths.
35. The spell does not fade away, but lingers on regardless of the wizard's wishes. Its effects continue for an additional 1d3 rounds, but otherwise remains in the wizard's control. (The GM determines whether this effect makes any sense in context).
36. The spell breaks free of the wizard's control. It fulfils the wizard's initial purpose, but has additional effects as determined by the GM. A summoned creature may be more self-willed than usual, but retains an amiable attitude to the wizard unless provoked; it cannot be dismissed. A concentration spell may linger for 1d3 additional rounds. The effects may be beneficial, problematic or neutral but should not be actively harmful, and should make sense in terms of the original spell.

Possible severe effects when tracing runes:

• The rune is weak and ineffectual, reducing its Difficulty by one step.
• The rune is crooked, warping its effects. The GM should determine some alternative (and roughly equivalent) effect.
• The rune is incomplete, and its power uncontained. The wizard gains a 1d3 Pain die.

Possible severe effects when tracing summoning:

• The summoning was flawed, and the creature's bond to its maker remains unsevered. On each subsequent round, the wizard must roll Mind 3. On a failure, it will drain one additional heat point from the wizard and convert it to an additional Wound, point of Might or point of Speed.
• A falter during the summoning distorted the intention and called forth the wrong creature. The wrong entity is summoned, although the substitute must be of a similar or lesser potency and remains loyal to the wizard.
• Stumbling over the invocation, the wizard leaves her summons unbound. An unbound summons behaves as it wishes, though it is not initially hostile to the wizard.

As you know, I quite like self-generating systems. I'm wondering about a Side-Effect system that might preclude the need for charts like this, or at least help in generating a wide range of effects where these could be turned into examples. One the plus side, a procedural table could be less restrictive and not get samey; on the minus side, it puts the onus on the GM to generate the details, and might therefore end up being samey after all.