The Melee

 

The Melee- by The Beastie Boys

 

 

 The VaM-style spell today is The Melee- the title coming from this song by The Beastie Boys.

 It is instrumental - from their wonderful instrumental album, The Mix-Up - The whole thing is great, give it a listen.

RIP Adam Yauch - Playing bass somewhere I hope!

I absolutely love The Beastie boys, and there will be several other spells from their music!

 Anyways, here it the spell!

 

The Melee

Duration: Combat

Range: Combat participants

This spell may only be cast during combat.

It grants each side 4 additional actions each round of combat, which may be split up among each side any way they see fit.

These actions are special – they may be taken out of initiative order.

These are the actions that may be taken.

1 – Move 10 feet, this makes noise.

2 – Trip someone nearby, make an attack roll – if it succeeds they fall over.

3 – Shout.

4 – Any normal, non-combat action at double speed – frantically.

5 – Make an attack as normal.

The spell manifests as an overwhelming sense of panic and mimics perfectly the effects of adrenaline and chaotic synapse firing that occurs in only the tensest of battles.

The spell itself affects the air, it is like a gas that envelops all participants in the combat – so if any of combatants do not breathe, the spell will not affect them.

Miscast Table

1 – Each side gets 1d6 additional actions to split, instead of 4 for each side.

2 – Only the side opposing the PCs get additional actions.

3 – Initiative reverses direction anytime the person taking their action fails a roll.

4 – Everyone must close their eyes when it is not their action.

5 – Everyone must plug their ears when it is not their action.

6 – Only the caster gains additional actions – but they are just 4 additional attacks – and they must be taken against other players.

7 – All players must prewrite their actions down on a piece of paper – then these are revealed in initiative order, these actions can also include any amount of the extra 4 – but if attempted out of initiative order, they have to say before or during what persons turn, or specify a time they will take the action, like a contingency spell. These 4 actions are also first come, first serve for each side.

8 – If a PC uses one of the four allotted actions, their AC goes down one for the rest of that round.

9 – Moving 10 feet allows attacks of opportunity.

If someone fails the trip attack roll they fall over instead.

If someone shouts they automatically are targeted by the next enemy attack – if possible.

In doing something so frantically, there is a 4/6 chance they drop, break, or otherwise fumble what they are doing in a catastrophic way.

If the attack fails, it hits someone else that is nearby – chosen at random.

10 – Any fails are considered critical fails.

11 – All rolls of dice are 50% to succeed – all actions success is determined by the flip of a coin.

12 – The amount of additional actions starts at 1 instead of 4 – but goes up by one each round of combat, so 1^st round is 1 extra, 2^nd round is 2 extra...