Angel

 

Angel by Massive Attack

 

 The VaM-style spell today is Angel- the title coming from this song by Massive Attack.

I also recommend watching the music video - it was part of my design decisions.

Mezzanine is fantastic album, and all of Massive Attack's music is worth listening to - there are some other good contenders for spells, such as Teardrop, Risingson, Inertia Creeps...

Here are some definitions that inspired the spell -

 

a spiritual being believed to act as an attendant, agent, or messenger of God, conventionally represented in human form with wings and a long robe.

 

an attendant spirit, especially a benevolent one.

 

a person of exemplary conduct or virtue.

 

an unexplained radar echo.

 

 

A huge part of this spells effect is just the effect from this card, for the most part, this spell is just a port of this Magic the Gathering card.

Other similar effects are like the hazard suit from HL:2 and  Ice Block from Hearthstone, and the Tears of Denial spell from dark souls three.

It also influenced the visual design of the two-page spread.

 

Here are the lyrics!

You are my angel
Come from way above
To bring me love (To bring me love)

Her eyes
She's on the dark side
Neutralize
Every man in sight

Love you, love you, love you

Love you, love you, love you
Love you, love you, love you...

You are my angel
Come from way above
Love you, love you, love you
Love you, love you, love you
Love you, love you, love you...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, here is the spell's effects

 

Angel

Duration: Instantaneous

Range: Caster or target in Line of Sight

This spell may be cast in response to an action during combat.

The next time the caster or target would take damage that would reduce their HP total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.

This damage prevention manifests as a flash of light, and a sound of air moving – and angel lands like a thunderbolt behind the caster or target and holds them, anchoring their life to this mortal coil.

Then the angel flies off – all this happening in the split second the damage is prevented.

Miscast Table

1 – The angel just flies off with the affected, they are never to return.

2 – The angel sticks around – And Are Terrifying – they look like the sun, and are extremely hard to look like – they have a wide variety of powers, and will use them to control the situation – Stats and powers are up to the referee.

3 – Ominous music creeps like fog over grass – the angel of death has been summoned instead of a guardian angel – the affected is instantly killed instead of having damage prevented.

4 – The sight of an angel terrifies all present – This works as Cause Fear to all who see the angel instead of a single touched target – and the amount of rounds of running away are equal to the amount of people present.

5 – The sight of an angel is equivalent to the spell Power Word Kill cast as if the angel is the caster, and is a 17^th level Magic-User.

6 – The angel takes and redirects all damage that is prevented – all present take that much damage.

7 – The affected has changed – people perceive them as if they are an angel, terrifying and powerful.

8 – God is perturbed, as this angel was doing something important – instead God visits instead of the angel – and any odd roll for the rest of the combat results in lightning striking the roller for 3D8 damage – if it is non-combat, this persists for the next real-time hour.

9 – The angel’s gravity is more than our normal – and so its’ presence makes the ground’s pull stronger – all present are knocked prone.

10 – The angel’s aura is so righteous that their light heats the air with great waves of distortion – anything in 100’ of the affected that is inflammable is set alight, including the affected.

11 – The angel’s form is so alien and otherworldly that all retainers and creatures must check morale to not flee.

12 – The angel blesses the weapon used to harm the affected, if there was a weapon used. It will never fail to hit, and whoever uses it does not need to make an attack roll.