Creating a Special Spell that Simulates An Anti-Magic Cloud Spell A BoE Programming Sequence by Chris Risberg PURPOSE The purpose of this sequence is to simulate an Anti-Magic Cloud cast by a monster. Special Spells are of course widely used and well known, but this sequence, first used in my scenario Shadow Of The Stranger, creates a new challenge for the party. The walls that block a party via a Can't Enter Special Node were first used (to my knowledge) by Alcritas in his scenario Lamentations, and documented in the Designer's Forum article "Some More Innovations". NOTES As there is no Special Node for placing an Anti-Magic Cloud, this is faked by placing a creature in the walls around the party that radiates Anti-Magic fields. These creatures are invisible, have no attacks, and set to radiate 100% of the time. As it is not intended that the party be able to kill these creatures, they should be immune to everything and given maximum health and armor. They need to be Hostile and able to move, otherwise they won't radiate any fields. In order to allow these creatures to move, the walls around the party (a narrow hallway is by far the best application for this) need to be Walk Through, Opaque, but call a Can't Enter Local Special Node. In this way the creatures can walk through the walls and radiate freely, but the party is blocked. To prevent these creatures from leaving the walls, the terrain around them must be either Blocked or have the Special Property Blocked To Monsters. This means that the hallway that the party is in must also be Blocked to Monsters, and that "normal" monsters should also be blocked from the squares next to these special walls, otherwise they too will be able to roam through these walls as well. In the example included, there are monsters in the hallway with the party, but they are given the Can't Move property to avoid this problem. LIMITATIONS As mentioned above, a narrow hallway is probably the best implementation for this special spell, otherwise the party can easily move away from the Anti-Magic cloud. A two-square wide hallway could also be used, with the monsters on either side. Caution should also be used with monsters nearby that can summon other creatures, something I carelessly overlooked in my scenario. These summoned monsters could be placed next to the special walls, creating "magical" Shades or Sliths or whatever that can seemingly walk through walls. TOWN AND SPECIAL NODES Monsters of type 215 (see below) are sprinkled in the walls around the party where the effect is desired, and given the property Special Encounter Group #2. The rest of the hostile monsters are Special Encounter Group #1. Hallway is Blocked To Monsters, and any monsters that appear in the hallway (to block the party's progress), must be set to Can't Move. Any open terrain on the other side of the walls must also be Blocked To Monsters. Wall Properties: Terrain number: 249 Terrain Type Name: Basalt wall Terrain Blockage: Walk through, Opaque Special Properties: Call local special Number of special to call: 50 Monster Properties: Monster number: 215 Monster type name: Basalt wall level: 40 health: 2500 speed: 1 type: Important attacks: all 0 attitude: Hostile A Special Ability: Invisible Create Monster/fields: Radiate antimagic fields 100% Resistances: immune all 37 LOOKING BLOCK GOTO 52 // Called when party steps on space in hallway (24,10) 52 Destroy All Monsters (Friendly) GOTO 38 // Not important for Special Spell sequence 38 One-Time Town Enc [22,6] 1, "You are attacked!" GOTO 42 // Place hostile monsters 42 Change Terrain 24,8 to 'Closed Portcullis' GOTO 33 // Party is trapped in hallway 33 Set SDF (22,5) = 0 GOTO 39 39 Display Sm Msg "Empire Wizard Casts: Anti-Magic Cloud" GOTO 40 40 Play Sound 25 GOTO 41 // Cast Mage Spell sound 41 One-Time Town Enc [-1,-1] 2, GOTO 44 // Places wall monsters 44 . . . // Nodes continue, but not relevant for AM Cloud special spell 50 Can't Enter (no enter) // Called whenever party moves into a wall around the hallway EXAMPLE Enter the fort (town 0) just to the west of the starting town, and pass through the portcullis to start the battle! Do not play in Debug Mode, otherwise the wall monsters will not radiate Anti-Magic clouds. In this example the monsters have been significantly weakened, but in my scenario the Empire Centurion and the others in the hallway are rather tough, meaning the party must spend several turns hacking, without the benefit of Major Blessing or Haste spells. Once you are finished, the exit is through the southern passage.