Earth Magic Brainstorming

[Vars]

Hey guys,before you go and try to answer my questions in this post please don't go into the other elements. I intend to do a new thread for each but I have the most trouble with this element so its where I wanted to start. Everyone has their favorite spell flavor and hopefully this will help anyone out who casts spells.

I don't know how many of you have the same troubles I do but when I use magic I don't want to use it the same way over and over again. I have rotes for getting reliable results and not being inventive. I keep thinking about parts of the books where Harry obviously hasn't got the spell he is doing as a rote and he still gets some kind of amazing, flashy result. In an effort to help myself and all my other spell slinger buddies I want to spitball ideas for ways to use each of the elements in evocation.

EARTH MAGIC is where I want to start. It is the magic that taps into the ground beneath your feet, the subtle, slow course the continents follow, and gravity itself.  If you are going to respond please fill out each of the questions below and try not to repeat yourself (while throwing a rock with a density of a billion is nice, using it for every entry defeats the purpose of the excercise).

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?

By any means if you come up with a field I missed or you just have a great idea on some way to improve the game please post it. I'll respond to this so you guys see what I mean.

[Vars]

1.I was thinking that a non-combat way to use earth magic would be to rip a huge piece of rock/earth out of the ground and then adjust the magnetics on it so you could fly it around. Would be a good way for groups to get around without really having to worry about ground obstacles, kind of like a wizard plane.

2.For a single target use of earth magic the best I can come up with is using the iron in the blood kind of like dark age horses and quarter someone. Basically you pull the iron in five different directions, each arm and leg goes a seperate way and you can yank the head off as well, not a whole lot would live through that and if it did it would be slowed down considerably.

3.For an area effect spell, the one that I think is the most dramatic is to open up a fissure in the ground under an enemy group and let them fall into it, after they are in you smush the ground back together and you get either a hard trap to get out of or the crushing wieght of the earth that kills them.

4.The best block I can come up with for earth is simple rock walls shooting up out of the ground to block incoming danger. Not very dramatic but pretty effective.

5.A movement impeding use of earth magic would be to let the earth around the enemies feet go semi-liquid basically making quicksand.

6.I'm not sure if this is considered earth magic but opening a miniature black hole would be neat, assuming of course you could get rid of it or contain it so that it doesn't swallow the earth.

[ways and means]

1. Instant Shelter (House made of rocks)

2. Have the earth become like a mouth of stone and attempt to cut someone in half like a guillotine from the bottom up.

3. Mass Impalement Field otherwise known as 'ground spike death'

4. Magnetic Barrier for bullets

5. Change the texture of the earth so it is super-slippery like glass

6. Earth Tremor Location (finding out enemies numbers and sizes via footstep vibrations on the earth)

[UmbraLux]

One caveat - actions, particularly spell uses, are situational.  Picking something 'interesting' at random is fraught with implied 'what ifs'.

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?  - Maneuvers:  Add an "Easy Crevices" aspect to a cliff for climbing.  Give yourself a "Tunnel Delver" aspect under ground.  Apply "Shaky Ground" to a zone for interfering with a performance.
 - Blocks:  Wards are obvious...can use them to lock people in place with gravity, make them unable to move forward due to a slick surface, or sink them in mud.

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic? - Attacks:  reverse gravity, cause stalagmites to thrust up from the ground, grip and shear with tumbling rocks, or bury and compress in earth.
 - Blocks:  sticky mud, rock barriers, gravity locks, and slippery surfaces.
 - Maneuvers:  Unstable Ground, Rolling Rocks Underfoot, Stuck in Mud, Knee-deep in Soft Earth, etc.

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic? - Attacks:  sprays of rock, zones of extreme gravity, shearing crevices throughout a zone, etc.
 - Blocks:  walls of rock or ditches of mud around a zone, unsteady earth or sticky mud making movement difficult, etc.
 - Maneuvers:  Quaking Earth, Unexpected Quicksand, Tripping Roots, etc.

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic? - See above.  

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic? - Mud as zone wide armor (persistent half strength block), slick pea gravel rolling out from underfoot, tiny stalagmites as caltrops, etc.

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic? - Enhance the strength or edge of a basalt dagger or arrowhead.  Draw strength through the earth to give yourself A Boulder's Strength.  

I find it easier to think of these in game...you have a situation to spark creativity and scenery to utilize!  

[sinker]

I've been thinking about some sort of gravity based mage lately so I thought I'd focus entirely on that aspect.

1. Reducing one's personal gravity (via aspects) making tasks like climbing and enduring long distance travel much easier. Drawing an object toward you (or someone/thing else) to grab it without having to travel the intravening space. Pushing things away from you to create a path or clear an area.

2. This is the one I'm really excited about. Personal Rail Gun. A gravity mage could throw all sorts of things around in combat or even cause someone or thing to implode or be crushed. One could mess with one person's personal gravity to disorient or hinder them.

3. As above but with bigger forces.

4/5. Imagine this. A wall of incredibly intense gravity in front of someone. All attacks are drawn downward and strike the ground before they can hit their target. Otherwise one could move objects to intercept people and attacks or prevent others from moving by increasing their weight or even increasing the gravity of a nearby object to pull them in a specific direction. Most of those could work as a block, as a zone barrier or as a maneuver.

No other thoughts right now, but I'll keep thinking.

[noclue]

I'll just add as an area attack I once sent a giant wave rippling down an asphalt street. A for a block, I stopped a bunch of sand that had been whipped up around us forming a cloud of unmoving particles they had to get through to attack us.

[Team8Mum]

Non combat ideas
Instant window - change an area of concrete or brick in a building to transparent quartz so you can spy on people without them knowing
Drawing from the 'life as a credenza' thread - covering your self with a thin lay of stone so you can lerk as a statue - or in a combat arena use the same concept as armour or 'knuckle dusters'
Changing the earth beneath the feet of your opponent so it's like walking on a bouncy castle - good for slowing people down as they run away, distracting them in combat, or indeed making a bit of cash out of childrens parties.
Stopping a group of people- trick them into a small area and create a wall behind them, or replace the door with a rock wall.
I have beasties in Liverpool china town that gapple people then sink into the ground taking them with them. If their prisoners put up too much of a fight they just leave them in the rock.

[Ezra]

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?
Ride a wave of earth to get somewhere quickly. This could really tear up a city street, so if you're feeling less destructive, just make the asphalt more springy.

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?
Throw a little gravity at your target's ears. It's a cheap maneuver, and it makes it nearly impossible for your target to keep on their feet.

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?
Get somebody between two walls -- perhaps they're in an alley, or perhaps you've been throwing up earth-wall blocks and barriers. Now pull all the electrons to one side. This sets up lightning strikes sideways across the zone for as long as you keep up the current.

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?
In White Night, Harry describes earth magic as having an affinity for long-lasting effects. Building on your original suggestion, I'd go for a longer-lasting rock wall, giving you a chance to prepare a counterattack.

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?
Tilt a zone-sized chunk of the ground, either up or down. Instant border, and a movement-impeding maneuver on the zone.

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?
Find, and tap into, ley lines. They can even provide temporary Sponsored Magic ("Temporary Powers", YS92) for when you really, really need to win, and your earth magic could let you reach out and grab them any time you need them.

[JediDresden]

My earth mage used earth magic, magnetism, to unlock a safe one time.

He also has a gravity spell like Harry which he likes to smash things with.

[jadecourtflunky]

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?
I think that one could make a living out of molding crystals for use in jewelry using magic.

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?
Diamond bullets.

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?
Wave of mud.

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?
A huge sandstorm blocking visual things.

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?
Have a golem form out of the rock and grab them, or instant quicksand.

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic.
Triggering a fault line to create a city-wide panic. Good for evildoers.

[mostlyawake]

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?

By any means if you come up with a field I missed or you just have a great idea on some way to improve the game please post it. I'll respond to this so you guys see what I mean.

Non-Combat Earth Magic
 a) Use as a maneuver to accomplish any terrain shifting.  Earth magic can get you out of a mudslide just as quick as it can put you in one.  Ride a pile of dirt and stone up to the 10th floor of a building. Create a fault line for later use. Remove your neighbor's annoying satellite dish that blocks the sun to your rose bushes. Seal over the entrance to a ghoul cave.
 b) B&E - use earth magic to walk through a cement wall. Cover your tracks (physically) by having the dirt in an area not carry your prints. Excavate a grave for connections to dead people. Burrow into/under something.
 c) Launch a full-on campaign to drive someone crazy.  Use earth magic to roll their car into a different parking spot. make the ground under their feet move ever so slightly so that they always experience a sensation of falling, or an earthquake.  Spell out words on their bathroom floor using the available dirt; time the spell to scatter in a few hours. Pants them publicly using gravity spells. Reverse gravity on all the water in their bathtub, but not them. Then drop the water on them, splashing everywhere.
d) Find and collect rare earth metals, for improvements to your golems or wards.  Plus, rare earth metals are hard to extract and expensive, so there's your resource justification.

single target attacks
a) Magnetism: throw signs, cars, steel girders, or "all available metals" at someone (create an impossibly strong magnetic field near them; targeting roll indicates how closely you were able to place the field to the target). Think magneto.
b) gravity:

(click to show/hide)

dresden has increased the gravity around someone, causing everything to implode towards that point. He did some other fun stuff with gravity in the same short story, incl. just squishing a vampire by increasing gravity under their feet.

c) Grate someone by having the earth become like sandpaper and then shake it back and forth.


aoe attacks as above, with 2 shifts put into area?

blocks
a) Vs alertness: dustcloud, pile dirt onto windows, loud rumbling sounds, remove scents, make everything smell and taste like dirt
b) impede movement this is same as block vs athletics, driving, or other movement: pretty much anything ppl have listed: turning the road into sludge, increasing gravity, ect. I like the idea of increasing the weight of the items on them.  You could use a spell that lasts for a few rounds and get a result of ppl taking off armor, weapons, clothes, backpacks, to move forwards,  but not knowing the duration ends soon they leave their stuff there to get away.
c) vs magic: disturb or tie up ley-lines as a form of magic block (you've tied up the available magic)
d) vs a physical attack: gravity, magnetism, block with  rock, cover your flesh in rock for a second
e) vs a mental attack: assume the mentality of stone.
f) vs a social attack: embody the poker face, emotionally become stone and unavailable for influence.
g) vs a maneuver to, well, out-maneuver you (flank, surround, ect): alter the ground to make surrounding you harder
h) vs a contacts check (you're trying to keep someone from getting info): take out the 4g network, man.
i) vs a stealth check: make the ground ring like a gong when someone steps.

[Sanctaphrax]

Have any of you fine fellows considered adding these ideas to the Custom Spell Compilation?

[mostlyawake]

Have any of you fine fellows considered adding these ideas to the Custom Spell Compilation?

Once I actually stat some of them up as spells, yes

[ironpoet]

1. What is a non-combat interesting way to use earth magic?
- Wall-crawling: Temporarily increase the friction on your hands, allowing you to climb sheer surfaces.
- Conjure highly adhesive, incredibly strong threads of ectoplasm.  Use it for travel, trapping enemies, etc.

2. What is a single target interesting way to use earth magic?
- Use ectoplasmic thread to launch heavy objects at the target
- Use ectoplasmic thread to launch yourself at the target

3. What is an area of effect interesting way to use earth magic?
- Cover a zone in ectoplasmic thread, adding the Aspect "Ectoplasmic Weave" to zone, impeding movement (Block or Maneuver)

4. What is an interesting way to block using earth magic?
- Use earth magic to increase Awareness skill of everything touching the earth.  Use "Earth Sense" as a subtle defensive block.
- Use ectoplasmic thread to pull an object into the path of the attack
- Use ectoplasmic thread to pull yourself out of the way of the attack

5. What would be an interesting way to impede someones movement with earth magic?
- Use ectoplasmic threads to Grapple the target

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?
- Earth magic could probably justify making you super strong, tough, and athletic, although those might need to be bought as separate Powers.

[Tedronai]

6.Can you think of anything else that would fit the Dresdenverse and be really neat in a game for earth magic?
- Earth magic could probably justify making you super strong, tough, and athletic, although those might need to be bought as separate Powers.

Just use maneuvers to give yourself temporary aspects (strength of the earth, resilience of stone, etc) with multiple free tags