This is an old revision of the document!
Table of Contents
Dice Mob Home > Dice Mob Rules > Skills
Standard Effects of Degrees
As we’ve mentioned before, skill degrees are calculated from the number of dice spent on a particular skill. We’ve also mentioned that sometimes a higher degree can have a different effect. These aren't always standard, especially when it comes to Special Abilities, but all Attack Skills, Defense Skills, and Attributes (as well as Special Abilities, where appropriate), follow the following standards:
First Degree
| Area of Effect | Mana to Initiate | Mana per Round of Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Self, Touch | 1 | 1((where allowed) |
The skill-user must use the skill on themselves or someone they touch or are touching them. The mana required per round of duration only requires additional mana if it's a skill that continues to do additional damage or something that reasonably might require it. Someone healed from this affect, for example, would stay healed but would not continue to heal additionally each round thereafter without additional mana.
Second Degree
| Area of Effect | Mana Required per Round of Duration |
|---|---|
| Point to point | 2 |
| Imbue weapon for one attack | 2 |
| One-dimensional object at any distance within range | 2 |
| Two first degree effects in one action | 2 |
The skill-user can affect someone or something at a distance within range (see range below). This could be created at a distance or fired from the caster in the direction of something at a distance. It can also imbue the skill upon a weapon for the duration of one attack (though its duration will require additional mana to maintain if the weapon is not used immediately. Skills created at a distance must be visible to the skill-user (though this could be augmented by other skills such as clairvoyance or x-ray vision). This includes creating something INSIDE of another creature.
Third Degree
- Fan (hits multiple opponents within the width of fan)
- Two-dimensional object at any distance within range
- Wall
- Plane
- Three degrees of effects in one action (e.g. one point to point and one touch or three touches)
- Fourth Degree:
- Area of Effect or three-dimensional object at any distance within range
- Storm
- Cloud
- Cube
- Sphere
- Prism
- Four degrees of effects in one action (e.g. two point to point attacks, one wall and one touch, etc)
- Fifth Degree (Master):
- Imbue a weapon for more than one attack (based on the duration, shown below)
- Point to Point is counted as a First Degree Skill when calculating how many can be performed in a single action (e.g. A fifth degree magician could shoot five fireballs, five lightning sparks, five rays of cold, heal five characters at a distance, etc)
- Five degrees of effects in one action
- Sixth Degree and above:
- No additional effects
- Six+ degrees of effects in one action
Standard Effects of Levels
In these next sections, we are referring not do the degree of the skill but to the level of the character, non-player character, or monster, which we will collectively refer to as the skill-user. See Experience Levels to refresh your memory if you don't remember what we are talking about.
Distance
The distance away something can be affected, thrown, or shot (as applicable) are measured at 1 meter per level of the skill-user.
Example: A magician with first degree fire defense magic can make himself or the character touched immune to fire. A second degree magician can make a person at a distance equal to one meter per level of the magician immune to fire. A fourth degree magician could surround a group up to one meter per level away with a sphere or other three dimensional object to protect them.
Size
One dimensional objects aren’t really one dimensional in the actual sense, but they are generally considered as something which is only large enough to affect one opponent at the end of it. A character with the second degree fire attack skill could conceivably shoot/hurl a grenade, arrow, bullet, or even spear-sized object at an opponent as long as they weren’t trying to use it in a way as to affect more than one opponent.
Two-dimensional objects are 1 sq meter per level of the caster. Two dimensional objects are generally walls or floors, but they could be circles, squares, hexagons, or whatever other shape a character wants them to be as long as they are of a level sufficiently high to make them as large as they need to be.
Three dimensional objects are 1 cubic meter per level of the caster. Three dimensional objects can be cubes, spheres, half spheres, elaborately shaped prisms, or any other three dimensional objects that make sense.
Example: A magician with first degree fire attack magic can cause things to start on fire by touch, including candle wicks, swords, arrows, or clothing. A second degree can hurl the fire in the form of fireballs or light things like campfires or candles from a distance or weapons. A third degree could use it to create walls of fire or two fireballs. A fourth degree could use it to create firestorms.
Does that mean a fourth-degree skilled character could make a key of a substance they are skilled in? Yes, theoretically, provided they know exactly how that key should be shaped. They couldn’t just say that a key is shaped right to fit the door lock they are looking at. They’d have to have some knowledge of how the inside mechanism of that lock functioned. And the substance they used would have to be something that could affect a lock without destroying it.
Duration
The length of time a skill can last is one round per level of the caster (but it drains an equal amount of mana each round as it did when it was initially cast).