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Changes To Demon Summoning., posted on Thu Jun 30 19:18:26 2011
Posted by: Aristophanes
Category: General
Greetings everyone!

There have been a number of important changes made to two wizard spells: Doctor Kelleflump's Deadly Demon (DKDD) and Kelleflump's Irritating Demon (KID).[0]

Those of you who have used these/know things about them will be aware that a few years ago amulets (created by the spell Professor Flambardie's Grim Amulet, PFGA) were introduced. They, at this time, became compulsory components, required to cast either DKDD or KID at all.

This has now been changed.

These amulets are no longer compulsory components for the spells KID and DKDD, but do perform a protective role, which is as follows:

/* The role of amulets */

The grim amulets (created by PFGA) have a certain amount of protective power associated with them. The amount of power which each amulet possesses is determined by the skills of the caster. The amount of power which an amulet has left is indicated by its octarine message - the brighter the octarine message, the more power remains.

An amulet will, when worn, protect a caster of KID and DKDD from random backfire damage of the spell until its protective power is used up - each time it protects the caster from damage the power remaining in the amulet will be reduced. If the amulet a player is wearing runs out of power then it will break and pass the damage on to the player.

It is possible to wear two amulets at a time. Both will protect the caster from random backfire damage - if one runs out of power while protecting the caster, it will break - but the damage remaining will be buffered b the caster's other worn grim amulet. If this amulet runs out of power as well then the damage will, as per usual, be passed on to the player.

/* What damage is protected from by the amulets now? */

DKDD has always had a random element associated with it, in that there was a small chance that, even upon a successful cast of the spell, the demon will damage your target, turn around, and damage you as well. It is THIS kind of backfire damage which the amulets protect from. They will not protect from the "tears into your mind" damage which occurs when you fail the spell. They will also not protect from any possession-related damage you may incur as a result of spell failure.

To bring KID into line with DKDD, this spell (KID) also now has a random backfire element, even upon success. There is a small chance that, on a whim, the little demon you have just caused to attack a victim will turn around and attack you as well. Just as in the case of DKDD, the amulets will protect from this to the best of their ability.

/* Converting old amulets to the new system */

Finally, a brief word about old amulets. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the old system the conversion of old amulets to the new system will be somewhat haphazard. Old amulets should, on the whole, convert to the new system - but with varying degrees of success. I apologise for this, but it really couldn't be helped! If you are unfortunate enough to discover that your amulets are broken, there may be nothing that can be done for them. If they were originally created with a really low power, then they won't be very useful now, and even if they can be fixed will not provide much protection.

/* Feedback */

Broadly the same message has been posted to the Wizards guild board - and I would ask that if anybody has any issues with, comments on, or questions about the changes, please submit a report on one of the spells (an eye will be kept on them for the next couple of weeks) or the amulets themselves. It would also be helpful to try to catch me online/mail me if you could :)

Aristophanes.

[0] From here on the two spells will be referred to by their acronyms.

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