Topic: Sudden Light and Calm questions

[Finwe]

Hi. I have some doubts about the spells of Sudden Light and Calm:
The effect of these spells can be canceled with the Dispel spell?
And in case you use the rule that a character in Frenzy state is not stunned, would the effects of these spells affect him?

[jdale]

I read Sudden Light as creating a very brief flash of light which stuns and disorients. You couldn't Dispel it because the light itself is not ongoing, just like if you hit someone with a water bolt that causes stun you couldn't dispel that stun. You could use anything that removes stun, though.

Calm on the other hand is an ongoing magical effect so you could dispel it.

Frenzy doesn't give any protection against Stun, so Sudden Light should work. It would be reasonable to give a person in Frenzy an RR bonus against Calm, because Frenzy is pretty much the opposite of being Calm, but if it works it might break also them out of Frenzy (or at least give them a significant bonus on a roll to leave that state if they so wish). That's a GM judgment call though.

[Finwe]

We use an optional rule, I do not remember if it is from some old Companion, with which the one that is in the frenzy state is not stunned. in this case (or, for example, creatures that are not affected by stunning), would the sudden light affect them?

[jdale]

The effect of Sudden Light is stun. If you are immune to stun for any reason, you should be immune to it.

RMU notes that if you are using nightvision (you have it and you are currently operating in dark conditions), you are more sensitive to blinding flashes of light. It would not be unreasonable to rule that a nightvision-using person/creature suffers some visual impairment even if immune to stun. Maybe for half the normal number of rounds you suffer -25 but no other effects of stun? Again, a GM judgment call, but it should be a much reduced effect, and should not stack with the normal effect if you are not immune to stun (in that case RMU gives a -25 penalty on the RR against Sudden Light as the only effect, which would result in a longer duration).

Creatures that are immune to stun and also don't use normal vision (e.g. skeletons) would be immune to both effects.

[Majyk]

One ingenious way a character(Ugnan, the Healer) - in one of the online campaigns I’m in - counseled our Frenzying Barbarian was that when he yells, “Veracitor!”, the BABA should clamp down his eyes to avoid the ill effects of his Sudden Light spells being flung about in combat.


It is hilarious to randomly hear the exclamation every 2-3 rounds...


Stun Lock/Calm is a serious thing that slaps Frenzying folk out of their frothiness for sure!
Watch out for that house/optional rule, as a good GM will use it against the PCs if they likewise abuse it.

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

We use an optional rule, I do not remember if it is from some old Companion, with which the one that is in the frenzy state is not stunned.

RoCo. IV, section 5.5, p29, "Modified frenzy".
"The rationale here is that the nature of Frenzy allows the character to shake off a "stun" result and press on, but..."

I'd say a Sudden light would affect a frenzied character the way a normal stun does: he would still able to fight, but at 0.5 x (OB + 30).