MSF High Errata

[Purple Eyes]

Hello. I've been working with Wraith on the rules set for a while now and the errata, after being checked over, is finally ready. There may be a more official/pretty PDF type form at some point, but for now, the errata will be posted here.

MSF High Core Rulebook Errata

The following rules are to supercede, be added to, and replace those found in the book. Some of these updated rules, and more, will also be available in Mahou Galaxy: Golden Alliance book.

Rules Chapter Addendum

Added to Spells:
Spell Criticals: Anytime a casting roll comes up as double the resistance roll (for resisted spells) or double the spell difficulty if unresisted, it is considered a spell critical. If the spell does damage, double the damage rolled before soaking. If it doesn’t do damage, double the spells duration. If the spell does not have duration or damage, the spell costs half MP to cast, minimum casting cost of 1.

Streamlined Movement Rules:
Moving
· Running: A character may use their move action to move up to 5 feet times their agility. For example, a character with 8 Agility would be able to move 40 feet in their turn. Dodging reduces the amount of feet of move you have. In the case of dodging with increased running speed, feet are removed from their unmodified speed, with the remainder being multiplied. Other modes of movement, such as flying, swimming, or burrowing, are still considered to be move actions.

· Swimming: Most characters are less speedy in water. A character without special aquatic adaptations divides their Agility by four before calculating their move in the water. This leaves dodging characters in a sticky situation in many cases. Characters may also move up or down in water, but submersion may lead to drowning.

· Climbing: In the case of 60 degree and steeper inclines, a character must climb. Character’s Agility are once again considered one fourth, rounded up, for the purposes of determining movement without some form of advantage or spell to help them. Falling causes a +d8 of damage for every 20 feet fallen, maxing out at 5+d8 for a 100 foot fall. Landing on a soft object will halve the damage, while things like spikes double it.

· Jumping: Characters may leap one fourth their Strength score in feet from a standing jump, vertically or horizontally. By taking a run, a character may add one fourth of their movement to their horizontal jump. By using all of ones Movement and making an 11 Martial Arts or Gym roll on Agility, a character may leap their full Strength score in feet vertically. Making a jump takes up five feet of ones movement for most hurdles.

· Other Movement (Flying, Teleportation, etc.): Other modes of movement are described in the spells, advantages, and other abilities that represent them.



Advanced Combat Modifiers: Terrain, Hazards, Lifting, and Size

· Terrain: Terrain can have a number of effects in combat. The most common is that rough terrain may take up extra feet of move to get through. For instance, rocky uneven terrain may be considered rough terrain and eat up half of a characters movement.

· Quicksand: Perhaps the worst hazardous terrain one can encounter, quick sand takes an Accuracy roll to spot. It cuts movement down to half speed and if an Agility roll of difficulty 7 is not made, the character sinks a third of their height down. If the character falls under the muck they are considered drowning. A successful Agility roll can bring a character back up three feet. Note that for exceptionally large characters, there is a good chance they will sink only partially before hitting solid ground. While they will still have the motion penalty, they stand no risk of drowning.

· Cover: By getting behind something, the GM may give you a cover bonus to defense rolls (-1 to –5). If behind a thick enough wall, the GM may rule that a character has to move around to re-establish line of sight before shooting.

· Hiding: Getting behind cover can also allow one to hide if nobody knows you’re there. Characters hide with a non-skilled Agility roll, while opponents make a non-skilled Accuracy roll to spot you. Good hiding spots provide a cover bonus to the hide roll.

· Sneaking: Sometimes, its useful to be stealthy but you still need to move. Sneaking rolls are made just like hiding rolls, but get a –1 penalty for every 5 feet moved. The Hover ability cuts this penalty in half due to reducing the noise of the movement.

· Drowning: If a character is stuck underwater or otherwise deprived of air and can’t breath, they are assumed to have three minutes of air. After three minutes, a character must make an unskilled defense roll at difficulty of 5 or take 1d8 damage. The difficulty goes up by one for every round past 3 minutes, though the damage remains the same. This happens until the character is able to breath again or they go unconscious and begin to die.

· Fire: Being in a fire causes 2+d10 damage every round. There is also a chance that your clothes will catch on fire if a 4 is rolled on a 1d4. The damage from a clothing fire is the same as a normal fire (though not cumulative) and it takes a non-skilled agility roll of 7, plus the use of all your actions but speak, to put the flames out by stopping, dropping, and rolling. The fire can also be put out by a large source of water, enough to douse the character.

· Poison/Disease: Poisons can vary as widely in damage as most spells, but the most common form is green poison, perhaps the most widely available poison in the galaxy. Green poison that gets in a wound will deal 1 damage every round. A character may make an unskilled defense roll of difficulty 10 to shake off the effects of green poison. Most poisons can be resisted by defense rolls, though the damage and effects can vary greatly.

· Slippery Ground: Most commonly ice, a character must make a non-skilled agility roll every turn to stay upright. Usually the difficulty is 5, though some hazards may be more or less slippery. If one falls, they may spend all there move actions and a hand action to get back up, but must still make the roll. A thoroughly defeated character may slide on their belly at 5 feet a turn with no chance of falling down, but will look very silly in the process. The character may act while lying prone.

· Lying Prone: Lying down (or falling into said position) gives a –2 to any melee attacks, but gives a +2 to not get hit by ranged attacks due to a smaller profile.

· Obscuring Sights: Being unable to see can make things difficult. Sight difficulties apply to all rolls, ranging from –1 for light fog to –10 for complete blindness/darkness. For characters with alternative targeting senses, such as smell or hearing, penalties work the same. For non-targetting senses, the penalties only apply to using the sense to analyze or locate something.

· Odd Sized: Despite what people in the galaxy might think, size matters, but usually only in the case of what it’s compared to. For every size category over their target, a character receives a +1 damage bonus and a –1 attack penalty. For every size category under an opponent, a character receives a –1 damage penalty and +1 attack bonus. It’s worth noting that size is relative. A pixie does not receive any penalties or bonuses while fighting another pixie. Conversely, a pixie receives an even larger bonus and penalty when attacking a giant. Odd sized is not only applied to characters, but can also be applied to devices, such as in the case of the Scientists devices.

Odd size characters also add their damage bonus/penalty as compared to a medium target to their strength for the purposes of carrying, pushing, dragging, and throwing.

· Carrying: A character can carry their Strength squared in pounds while moving at full speed. A character may carry double this amount if they move at half speed.

· Pushing/Dragging: A character can push or drag an object four times as heavy as they can lift. Pushing an object moves it at a quarter of the characters speed.

· Throwing: Characters can throw objects up to twice their Strength in pounds. The damage for a thrown object is one dice per 4 points of Strength with a die type decided by the size of the object: d4 for small and smaller objects, d6 for medium and large objects, d8 for large 2 objects, d10 for large 2, and d12 for large 4 and larger. A thrown object has a range of 15 feet. This range can be thrown past, but the object loses a dice of damage for every 15 feet further it travels. To throw accurately, an Fast, Strong, or Precise attack roll using Gymnastics/Math/Martial Art is made and is defended against normally. Falling objects are treated the same way, but instead of strength gain a dice of damage every 20 feet fallen, maxing out at 25 dice.

New Recovery Rules
· A character regains 1 HP and a number of MP equal to their racial level every hour.

Facet Chapter Changes

Change to Idol Facet:
Concert: Must roll a Music and Personality roll, difficulty equal to concert level + 5. Only once a week. Money can be increased by recruiting other members for your band. These members do not have to be as talented as the main Idol but must have one level in Idol or another Music based facet. Members following the main Idol only make the base $500 without having concert multipliers themselves. Each band member must make the roll to get the full bonus- each failure takes one away from the multiplier, minimum base $500. It’s easy to see why bands break up so much when all that money is on the line.
Concert 1 ($500)
Concert x2 ($1000)
Concert x3 ($1500)
Concert x4 ($2000)
Concert x5 ($2500)

Example: Jenette Infernus is a level 6 Idol and has Concert x3 and wants to make more money. She recruits Bobby Malador for the Drums, a skeletal level 1 Idol with Concert x1 and Lilly Spark, a pixie Performer, a Music based facet taught in the Golden Alliance. Making their music rolls and succeeding, Jenette receives $1500, while Bobby and Lilly receive the base $500.

Bobby levels up before the next concert and now has Concert x2. The rolls go off without a hitch- Jenette makes $1500, Bobby makes $1000 for his increased Concert level, with Lilly only able to make the base $500 as she does not have the concert ability.

In their third show, they all make their rolls except Jenette. Jenette’s failure bring the multiplier down by one. Jenette only makes $1000, Bobby and Lilly make the base $500 again. This causes an argument which leads to the band breaking up.
Next week, Jenette and Bobby both give a successful solo performance for $500 each. Lilly, not having the concert ability, goes to find other work.

Addition to Mystic Facet:
Ritual Magic: Ritual materials cost $5 per spell, regardless of level. A ritual takes far longer than a scroll, but is far less costly. For every MP a spell costs a minute of time is used up, during which the mystic may meditate, pray, scry runes, dance, sing, or any other numbers of things to activate the spell. The intense concentration takes up all their actions for the round, making it impossible for them to defend or attack while performing. When the time is up, the Mystic makes their casting roll as normal. The mystic may delay the effect, but may not move from the spot where he is casting until the spell is released.

Change to Priest Facet
Priests may use one Karma point to cast a spell free of cost, though not of MP. Karma are gained for doing good deeds. Priests spend an amount of money equal to the MP of the spell in donations or sacrificial items if they do not use karma.


Change/Clarification to Scientist Facet:
Build: Scientist’s may build devices larger or smaller, giving them relative bonuses of said size. For instance, a Giant Monster cannon may be considered Large 4, getting a +4 damage versus a normal target at a –4 to the casting/attack roll. A scientist may also modify normal equipment to be larger or smaller as if he were buying weapons or armor enhancements to an item, though they are considered separate from normal enchantments. If this is done to armor, the scientist is considered the size of the armor, allowing for micronization belts and giant mecha battle armor. Size from the Advantage and size from devices do stack. This means that a Large 4 Scientist with a Large 4 Labcoat and a Large 4 weapon is does +12 damage to a medium target with a –12 attack penalty. The weapon does not count for the purposes of defense, meaning the medium target is at a +8 to attack and a –8 to damage.


Items Chapter Addendum

Paying for Things
While the best things in life are free, there sure are a lot of things you’re forced to buy. A student starts off with $500 dollars, but its likely to run out quick, especially once she starts wanting that next spell or a nice enchantment on her armor. There are a few different ways to make money at MSF High, but few of them are easy.

Allowance: Every student gets $5 for every race level they get, but this barely buys a decent meal, let alone an ancient artifact with which to slay ones enemies and gym partners. This bit of cash is nice for the little things, but only the laziest of students get by on this supplemental income.

Jobs: Getting a job is very competitive in MSF City. So many things are done by magic, labor is often as much for looks as it is for function. Still, there will always be a need for advertising, clerks, fancy foods, fast foods, deliveries, and the odd job. When a job is discovered, most interviews will consist of an unskilled personality roll versus a difficulty based on how good the job is. Most jobs pay about the same, but some are a little less taxing then others.

For every hour worked, a character receives $5. Most jobs will only hire for twenty hours a week at the school (up to $100 extra a week). A student can try to work overtime (more than 8 hours in a day or more than twenty a week) and will get their allowance in cash for every hour they do, BUT they may exhaust themselves. For every hour of overtime, the player makes a Defense roll against a difficulty of 8. The Defense roll is considered unskilled unless the player has an appropriate skill to the job (History in a library, Math for cashier, Home Ec for restaurant work, etc.). The difficulty is raised by 2 for every additional hour of overtime in the week. If a student fails a roll, they lose all MP for the rest of the day and are sent stumbling home. For the rest of the week, they are at –2 to all actions until they get a full day off from both work and classes.

Priests, and other karma based facets, can take up charity work. This work pays nothing, but the priest receives one karma point for every hour of charity work she does. I the case of overtime, she is considered to gain karma points equal to her threat level and is subject to the same rolls. For non-karma based facets, charity work may not pay anything, but there are other rewards.

Adventuring: Adventuring in the wild can have many rewards, one of which is occasional monetary rewards. More often than finding cash, players find items of various usefulness. As a rule, adventures are unpredictable, especially when looking for treasure. Sometimes a rumor is just that, other times you accidentally stumble upon a powerful relic while going fishing. In either case, one can expect for treasure in the wild to be about as valuable as working overtime, though the risks can make it overwhelming and less predictable. While death means waking back up at the school, nothing stops ambitious intelligent monsters from reclaiming their lost loot.

Arena Matches: Arena fighting is all about spectacle. Proceeds go up due to gambling and entertainment value. While a one shot fight between two low level students may win the winner a paltry $10 dollars, a long duel between long time rivals can potentially pay into the hundreds. It’s all about making it look good- and being the winner. The loser gets nothing more than the agony of defeat and some quick medical care.

While there are no definites, as interest will wax and wane, a winning fighter will receive about $25 per threat level, double that for a good fight, triple if against a superior opponent, half if a weaker opponent.




Spell Chapter Changes/Clarifications

Change to Spell Costs: Spells monetary costs are equal to the MP of the spell times 3.

Water Element

Slippery Ground
MP: 30
Cost: $90
Difficulty: 11
Oppose: Agi 8
Range: 30
Targets: Caster’s choice of 5’x5’ squares in a 35’x35’ area
Damage: N/A
Duration: 1d8 rounds

Footwork is part of any good fighter’s arsenal, using balance and precise motion to maximize the effectiveness of their blows as well as avoiding attacks. It was obvious to many caster’s that taking that away could leave an opponent helpless. This spell creates 5’x5’ sheets of ice within the area of effect of the spell. The caster of the spell chooses how many patches of ice appear and where they appear within the area, allowing him to keep himself and allies on solid ground while leaving foes to slip. This ice functions as the slippery ground hazard, but the difficulty to balance and stand is increased to an 8. Because this spell creates a sheet of ice, it can be used to create a slippery platform over water, quicksand, and other liquid surfaces.

Air Element

Hurl
MP: 35
Cost: $105
Difficulty: 10
Oppose: Def 12
Range: 60
Targets: 1
Damage: N/A
Duration: N/A

Hurl uses the invisible force of gravity to cause an object to plummet through the air as if falling towards a target of choosing. This spells requires an object to fling, though the object could be a person. The basic spell works on small objects, but larger objects may be thrown for a +5 difficulty for every level of size over small. The projectile, if alive, may make an oppose roll to not be flung, while the target also makes an oppose roll to dodge. If the object hits, it works as if it had been falling, meaning 1 dice of damage per 20 feet flung with a dice type determined by object size (d4 for small, d6 for medium and large). Both the projectile and the target must be within range. While not the best offensive spell, it can be useful when clearing rubble, flinging enemies off cliffs, or trying to block doors.

Purity Spells

Group Heal
MP: 80
Cost: $240
Difficulty: 14
Oppose: Agi 17
Range: 0
Targets: 25’x25’
Damage: -4+d20
Duration: N/A

When things get hectic, there are times when everyone is bleeding and there is little time to choose favorites. Group heal is for when everyone just lived through a large area effect, are left half dead from a battle with a superior foe, or too many allies are just plain hurt. Group heal allows one to heal damage within the area of effect, though it does not discriminate against friend or foe. On the upside, this healing includes the caster. This spell is sometimes called ‘Turning’ by some casters as the area of effect deals double damage to all undead within it, with criticals still applicable.

Entropy Spells

Ground Stew
MP: 30
Cost: $90
Difficulty: 12
Oppose: Agi 13
Range: 30
Targets: 15’x15’
Damage: N/A
Duration: 1d8 rounds

At it’s most potent, entropy magic can speed up the decay of molecules and atoms into useless energies. This can lead to utter disintegration of most forms of matter. Luckily, such magic is too powerful for most casters and they have to settle for doing this to the molecules beneath an opponent’s feet. Ground stew turns most surface into a quicksand like sludge. This functions as quicksand, meaning a character moves at half speed through this terrain and must make Agility rolls to not get sucked under. Worse, if a character is partially submerged when the duration ends, the ground hardens around them. This takes about six hand actions to dig out, though extremely strong characters may manage to burst out of the ground impressively with a 10 Strength roll using all their move actions, and other creative measures may work as well.

Light Spells

Addition/Change to the Light Beam suite of spells:
The penalty for light beam’s flash blindness is –3 to all actions, but this penalty can be stacked with multiple castings. Sunglasses reduce the total penalty by one, while vulnerability to light spells doubles the penalty.

Blinding Flash
MP: 35
Cost: $105
Difficulty: 11
Oppose: Acc13
Range: 40
Targets: 35’x35’ area
Damage: N/A
Duration: N/A

From flashbang grenades, to pepper spray, to plain old smoke bombs, blinding ones opponents has always been a viable tactic in any combat situation. Blinding flash fills the area of effect with light traveling in almost every direction, making a head turn less than useful. Anyone who can see is blinded at a –3 for 1d8 rounds- sunglasses still negate 1 from this penalty while light vulnerability doubles it. If a character knows the flash is coming, they get a +4 to their oppose roll to avoid being blinded. A pre-warned group of soldiers with shades on can be absolutely devastating to an opposing force when this spell is used tactically.


Sound Spells

Sonic Stun as described in Sonic Boom and Sonic Blast 4: Sonic stun is a –4 penalty to all actions that lasts 2 rounds in the case of Sonic Blast 4. Sonic Boom’s sonic stun lasts 1d8 rounds and is a –6 penalty to all actions.

Record & Playback
MP: 10
Cost: $30
Difficulty: 10
Oppose: N/A
Range: 0
Targets: 55’x55’
Damage: N/A
Duration: N/A

A complex spell in some ways, a cheap trick in others, record and playback allows a caster to record an hours worth of audio in the area to be played back later. Once recorded, the recording will last until the end of the day. A recording can be kept indefinitely stored by paying 10 MP everyday. To listen to the recording, the caster must spend 10 MP. It’s a rare caster that uses this skill, but it’s often appreciated in spy work for its ability to record without a device. There is thought to be a light version of this spell for camera work as well.

Mind Spells

Telekinesis
MP: 50
Cost: $150
Difficulty: 13
Oppose: Agility 9
Range: 50
Targets: 1
Damage: N/A
Duration: 1d12 rounds

Mind over matter is a metaphor to some, and a reality to those with this spell. Telekinesis allows the user to move the targeted object/person within range as if a person with a Strength of 10 and Agility of 6 were carrying/grappling it or them(100 lbs. Carry, moving object 30 feet a round or 200 lbs.at 15 feet a round). Every three added to the difficulty doubles the weight allowed (100, 200, 400, etc.), but this must be decided before the spell is cast. If using the object to attack, this costs a hand action and uses the casting stat and the 6 agility, but may counts as any stance the user takes up for the round for the purpose of criticals. The damage is based on weapon damage with telekinetic strength or counts as a thrown object. This spell may be used to fly, but movement is limited by the spells strength and agility (ex: 200 lb. person 15 feet a round).

[Mitchell]

W00T!

Now to print this out, put it in my book, and show Nick!

[Mitchell]

I remember seeing this. Ah, brings back memories of my old tabletop game...