Introduction

Neutral	Striker	Defender	Controller	Supporter
Base Spells	Burst Spells	Counter Spells	Debuff Spells	Healing Spells
Focused Spells	Lingering Spells	Intercept Spells	Ailment Spells	Buff Spells
Utility Spells	Enchant Spells	Shield Spells	Geomancy Spells	Cleansing Spells
[Cannon Spell Conversion] (https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldenSun/comments/6ncewm/an_adept_is_you_neutral_spells_omake/)	Ailments Primer	Fundaments Primer	The Break Problem	Omake

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Ailments Omake

While there is a whole section for ailments, it's more about how the spells work than what the ailments are. It's also two weeks away, and there were questions raised by the Enchant Spells. Well, what are those new ailments, you ask? Well, I can't just tell you that. You see... I also modified how many of the old ones work as well.

In the original games, some of the mechanics around certain ailments gave them a certain impression. Delusion was pointless for instance, because psynergy alway hit, and monsters rarely just used "attack", so most of their attacks ignored evasion too. Reaper (aka Countdown) took seven freaking turns to take their target out - even boss fights rarely last that long. Why have both Sleep and Stun when they do the same thing? And what even is Haunt? Well... I'mma answer those today.

Accuracy

Let's start with a discussion on accuracy! No, accuracy is not an ailment, but it's necessary to understand the first ailment, and the way it worked in vanilla was dumb. Normal attacks had a small chance to miss, everything else autohit. That's just not going to fly - you can't bring your character into an RP or something and get upset when a person takes cover to dodge your spell because "but spells NEVER miss!" As such, the... changes in how evasion works will be explained here.

First thing's first. Level now factors into accuracy/evasion. Why? Because if that level 2 vermin dodges your level 60 character's attack, I'm calling bullshit. Sure, we use relative terms here, but it should be relatively understood that an experienced fighter is going to be better able to land and deflect blows than a novice. As such, just work with the understanding that accuracy is basically "Base Value + Character Level - Enemy Level". Gross oversimplification, sure, but it gets the job done.

Second, it's no longer just a standard attack that has a chance to miss like that - all single target offensive abilities, period, have that chance to miss. No amount of "but I cast Ragnarok!" will change the fact that the enemy can see it flying at them and move five feet to the side to dodge. Because of course they can.

Finally, area spells have a "chance" to miss too, but missing works differently. You see, when you're basically dropping a whole thunderstorm's output of lightning across an area with a 35 foot diameter, it's kind of hard to get out of the way when you're at the epicenter. As such, the "miss" chance is half that of a single target attack, and a successful miss results in... "Check for accuracy as if you were one tile further from the center". So if you were in the center, taking the full 100%, you now act as though the center was next to you, and check for 80%. This continues on until you reach the edge of the spell's range. In this case, a range 7 spell's edge deals 40% damage due to the diminishing range. Dodge that, and it could be 20% (grazed by the spell's edge)... dodge that, and instead of going to the next step down, you take no damage at all. Basically, it's super hard to just be missed by a huge spell - you're far more likely to just take less damage.

Or, and this is a big one - a character takes shelter. Spells have shapes. If someone casts Cycle Beam at a group, and one member of that group hides behind a large boulder, that one member doesn't take damage. It has to make sense for the spell, though. You can't say "I hide behind a rock!" and expect to evade a Gaia spell, for instance. Personally, I'd probably make the rock attack you too out of spite. It is a Gaia spell, after all.

Okay, you understand that? Great! We can start with our first ailment then, because accuracy is the only thing this cares about!

Delusion

A character's vision gets fuzzy, they might see things that aren't there. They've been... deluded! This one's simple. You take the accuracy formula, and drop it by 30%. It's harder to see straight when you're seeing double. Or ribbons. Or... is that an Arwing? I thought this was a fantasy game... Well, you get the idea. No being cheeky with this either - if you're playing a blind monk type character, it still affects them. Basically, any primary sensory input they use is affected. Keep in mind, this is applied to the formula after area is taken into consideration. It makes it significantly easier to reduce damage now.

Blind

It's exactly what it says on the tin! It's hard to aim when you can't see. This effectively acts as a more severe form of Delusion - take the accuracy formula, and drop it by 70%. Just as before, this applies after area is taken into consideration. You shouldn't be surprised if enemies start dodging super wide area attacks if cast by a blind person - I mean, it's probably just not that hard.

Seal

Anything that costs PP cannot be used - your psynergy has been sealed! Since monster abilities (i.e.: Fire Breath) aren't free anymore in my system, this affects them too. Seal was painful on adepts that liked to cast spells, and more or less useless against monsters. By letting it affect monsters now, it's far more attractive of an option for your adepts. Important to note - Seal does not stop someone from using Djinn or Summons.

High Seal

Stops you from using Djinn or Summons. A stronger version of Seal, this shuts down basically everything but "I hit the enemy with my sword". This also affects unleashes - you can still score a critical hit sure, but your Arctic Blade isn't going to be able to send out it's Blizzard while you're under the effects of this ailment. Also, this doesn't just prevent you from summoning - if you had a summon out on the field, it immediately ends the summon.

Sleep

Not just any sleep, but specifically sleep induced by psynergy or psynergetic effects. In the original games, you just didn't get to act. Here however, it works a bit differently. If you get hit by anything using Attack as its base of power, you wake up! Just like that. If it uses Casting, however... well, you stay asleep. Also worth pointing out that physical sources of inflicting sleep have a much lower chance of working (after all, it does tend to "cure" it...)

Daze

Like sleep, but for being beat over the head with blunt force trauma. Daze is sleep's physical counterpart. You've been knocked senseless, it's hard to really think straight - you're in a Daze. Far more commonly inflicted by weapons than by spells, blows that use the Attack stat won't knock you out of it. However, attacks that use Casting as a basis will snap you to attention when hit by them - like getting a splash of cold water when fatigued. Also worth pointing out that non-physical sources of inflicting daze have a much lower chance of working (again, they tend to "cure" it...).

Paralyze/Stun

Two names for effectively the same ailment. I've a bad habit of using them interchangeably, as noted by my calling it Stun in v0.4, and paralyze in the current v0.5 of my system. This is basically exactly the same as in the games - for a period of about 4 turns (~30 seconds) you're unable to act.

Poison

Works like in the games. You take ~10% of your health in damage every turn (~7.5 seconds)

Venom

Works like in the games. You take ~20% of your health in damage every turn (~7.5 seconds)

Sap

Essentially, poison but for PP. PP is basically your body's energy reserves (to the point it was straight up called EP, or Energy Points, in Japan). Sap basically... well, saps your energy reserves. You take ~10% of your PP in damage every turn (~7.5 seconds)

Blight

Essentially, venom but for PP. You take ~20% of your PP in damage every turn (~7.5 seconds)

Disease

This one is nasty~ A psynergetic disease manifests, and does a whole lot of bad stuff. You take an amount of damage equal to a 10% of your average of HP and PP to both stats (ex: If you have 100 HP and 40 PP, you take 7 damage to both) every turn (~7.5 seconds), and your Attack, Defense, Casting, Warding, and Agility are dropped by 10%. Yes, this stacks with Poison, Sap, and debuffs.

Plague

An upgraded Disease. You take an amount of damage equal to a 20% of your averaged HP and PP to both stats (ex: If you have 100 HP and 40 PP, you take 14 damage to both) every turn (~7.5 seconds), and your Attack, Defense, Casting, Warding, and Agility are dropped by 20%. Yes, this stacks with Venom, Blight, and debuffs.

Haunt

Vengeful spirits surround an adept and inflict damage in retribution for aggression. Each time an adept does damage, Haunt has a 25% chance to make the adept take 25% of the damage they dealt. Note that this is not each time they make an attack - it's each time they do damage. A wide area attack hitting many enemies isn't going to check the total damage and base it on that, but rather will check for each individual foe that got hurt to see if recoil damage is inflicted. This is how it works in the games, and I felt it worked fine.

Poltergeist

More powerful spirits surround an adept, inflicting recoil to an adept's aggression far more frequently than it's less powerful counterpart. Each time an adept does damage, Poltergeist has a 50% chance to inflict 33% of the damage they dealt as recoil.

Reaper (aka Countdown)

In the original games, this was a 7 turn (~52.5 seconds) timer that would inflict KO when the time was up. It also went away after battle. Needless to say, very very rarely did this ever go into effect, either against the adepts or against monsters. So I took a page from Final Fantasy and dropped that countdown to 3 (~22.5 seconds). Now it's an actual threat in game terms. In roleplay terms, this is a whole different kind of terrifying, as there wouldn't be a distinction between in and out of battle. If in an RP, ending a battle quickly won't save you from this, you'd need to get it cleansed before you suddenly find yourself with wounds erupting all over your body.

KO

If successful, wounds spontaneously open up all over an adept's body and they are knocked out. This is not death. Gonna stress that again: 0 HP is not death. KO is basically being taken to the point that you can't fight back anymore - you're wounded beyond your ability to fight through the pain and damage. KO you can recover from. Death? Not so much. No amount of Arise spells or Phoenix Downs can save you from a compensation sword to the heart.

Trouble Spirit

Like Reaper, but for PP! This would be a 3 turn (~22.5 seconds) countdown before a bunch of mischievous spirits go and rob you of all your energy. As before, if in a game this disappears after battle, but if in an RP there isn't going to be such a distinguishing factor. You're just going along when suddenly EXHAUSTED, GASPING FOR AIR, STAGGERING AND CAN BARELY MOVE. Kinda like being hit squarely in the solar plexus.

Sprites

Mischievous Fae harass an adept, draining an adept as they attack a foe. Each time an adept does damage, Sprites have a 25% chance to make the adept take 12.5% of the damage they dealt as recoil to their PP. Again, this not for every attack, but for every time they do damage.

Pixies

More powerful fae surround an adept, harassing them and draining them in response to the adept's aggression far more frequently than it's less powerful counterpart. Each time an adept does damage, the Pixies have a 50% chance to drain 20% of the damage the adept dealt as from the adept's energy reserves.

Nymph

Like Reaper, but for PP. This would be a 3 turn (~22.5 seconds) countdown before a powerful fae goes in and robs an adept of all their energy. As before, if in a game this disappears after battle, but if in an RP there isn't going to be such a distinguishing factor. You're just going along when suddenly EXHAUSTED, GASPING FOR AIR, STAGGERING AND CAN BARELY MOVE. Kinda like being hit squarely in the solar plexus.~~

Energy Purge

Kinda like being hit squarely in the solar plexus. Your PP is instantly dropped to 0, and you're gonna be in some rough shape narratively. An adept can still perform action that don't cost PP when hit by this, such as attacking physically, but any spells they may have been planning to cast might suddenly find that the adept just doesn't have the energy to pull them off anymore.

Durations and a Body's Resilience.

The body knows what it's supposed to be like. That is to say, if it detects something wrong, it will try to fix that. In most cases, it can. These "Temporary" ailments the body can be rid of in 4 turns, tops (~30 seconds). Faster if the body has high resilience - known as the Luck stat. Yes, that's right - that's what Luck does. Luck, the stat in gaming with the ever annoying "shrug" in terms of what it does, works as ailment/debuff/effect resistance in Golden Sun. No effect on criticals, or unleashes, or accuracy, or anything like that. It's only used in determining if you get hit by an effect, and if you shake off a temporary one. Every turn (~7.5 seconds), there's a check to see if you shrug it off - else, the "countdown" for that effect goes down by one.

This of course only applies to temporary effects - some effects have a nasty habit of lingering. All and all, four are three types of durations:

• Lingering: Lasts until cured. Requires either a spell, item, or sanctum to do. These include: Poison, Venom, Sap, Blight, Disease, Plague, Haunt, Poltergeist, and KO.
• Temporary: Lasts up to 4 turns, can be shaken off earlier. Goes away after battle, can be cured with spell or item. These include: Delusion, Seal, Sleep, Daze, Paralyze.
• Degrading: Lasts up to 4 turns, can be reduced to lesser effect. Goes away after battle, can be cured with spell or item. These include: Blind (degrades to Delusion), High Seal (degrades to Seal)
• Expending: Lasts set duration, after which an effect is triggered. Goes away after battle if game, once triggered if not, can be cured with spell or item. These include: Reaper (triggers KO), Trouble Spirit (triggers Energy Purge)

So, how do you cure these? Find out when we get to Cleansing Spells!

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Common Q&A:

Don't just leave like that! Cleansing spells is the literal last spell type to be covered!

Nonsense! There'll likely be an Omake afterwards. :3c

So why's it called "Trouble Spirit" and not something simpler like the others

*shrugs* I liked the idea of a mischievous spirit draining you of energy, and it seemed close enough. Willing to change it if a better name pops up.

Why do Reaper and Trouble Spirit Nymph end after battle in games, but not an RP?

Can you think of a narrative reason why they would just stop counting down? I certainly can't.

Was the accuracy lesson at the top literally just to explain Delusion and Blind?

Yes.

So if this Omake explains what they are, what will the Ailment Spells post cover?

Stuff like range, availability, and which ailments can work with which aspects.

Do all the Poison-based stuff really stack with each other?

Yes. Poison can't stack with Venom, since Venom counts as an "upgrade" of sorts for poison - but Poison, Sap, and Disease, as well as their stronger counterparts, can stack. So if an adept is inflicted with Venom, Sap, and Plague, they'll 20% to HP, 10% to PP, the damage from Plague, and will suffer those lowered stats.

Do ailments like Blind effect summons?

Good question! No they do not~ Summons act as a 4 turn (~30 seconds) AI character, and can't be targeted and have no defensive stats (HP, Def, Wrd, Res, etc). They last until their effect ends, or until the summoner is KO'd. The only ailment that can affect them is High Seal - if placed upon the Summoner (in which case the summon will be dispelled as if it were a KO). Even an Energy Purge on the summoner won't affect the summon.

Do Haunt, Sprites, and related ailments have to be about ghosts and fae?

Not necessarily - if the function of an ailment matches the themes of a character or class, you can simply have it use the ailment as an effect but imply a different aesthetic. For instance, Evelyn would make good use of Sprites, Pixies, and Nymph ailments, but it's kinda awkward for a character based on a church aesthetic to call upon fae, so having a more divine themed description works just fine. If you want it to be an archangel smiting the magic from the target's veins, then by all means, smite away. What matters here is the mechanical function, not the aesthetic description.

 

If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions please leave them down below! The discussion keeps me going, and I've got a lot to cover~ Plus, the sooner I can clear things up, the less confusing things will get as we go on. :D