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Steve said: "Of the new spells, I think the only one not included in FRUA was Monster Poison, and I take it that is generally unavailable except to monsters with the special ability "deadly poison" or similar. I like the way the poison spell works (not instant death but loss of hitpoints per round) better than the Gold Box games."
In the infinite wisdom that TSR had (thats right had, as in used to have, as in past tense, as in before rehashing the ENTIRE system for a third edition...) They had different types of poison, ones that killed, ones that only inflicted a set amount of damage, ones that caused weakness, loss of hp, ect. I think that the idea of losing HP per round until dead or cured is another option, which to me more options means better game and better designs possible.
As for the original post question, what spells should be included, well the one that was included in FRUA but didn't work would pose one of the best choices, the summon (or gate in ally) monster would be my choice.
certain spells will prove to be difficult or even impossible to use (examples would be like certain illusion spells, or wish), while other "spell-effects" will have to be created to use certain monsters and/or items (example for both would be "displacer-beast" effect). Eventually there may even be a massive spell-base and even groups who argue over "more spells than sane, the better" versus "purists" who use DnD spells only. Just because this is an ADnD game doesn't mean people won't pull spell ideas from other games and even other themed games (Star Wars, anyone?). So, with this in mind, Cocoaspud might even feel the need (if he hasn't already) to enter a design lock (like FRUA) that would keep someone from entering the design stage and entering their own spells database.
I have one question for the almighty 'spud, while I'm babbling about this, is it possible to create a field in the monster stats that would allow a custom label for designing a spell that targets this said creature. For example, a "spell-effect" known as Turn Undead would target the monsters that have the undead flag set. This way you wouldn't have to code in "True giant" or "mammal" or "snake" or if you make the famous dragonlance, or a silver weapon damages lycanthropes, ect, ect. The design designer would be able to set a flag that would enable special effects without you (the game programmer) coding EVERY type of effect
The rambling of...
SilenThief
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