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So consider the following spell:
Target: Small line
Effect: Stone (Barrier)
Effect: Terror (Fear)
First some things of note here: Stone (barrier) requires the barrier to be placed in such a way that it can form a smooth uninterrupted area (i.e. cannot be placed on top of someone/something)
With that in mind what is the effect of the Terror on the barrier spell?
A)With other intangible barriers such as wind and fire the results might seem obvious, the terror is applied and so is the wall. They run out of the wall screaming for X rounds and that’s the end of the Terror effect, even on subsequent passes through the wall. Therefore since stone barrier cannot be placed on someone the terror is wasted.
B)The Terror effect becomes a consequence of interacting with the barrier in the same respect that passing through a fire barrier causes damage. Therefore interacting with the stone barrier by say, attacking it would cause the attacker to flee in terror.
If the spell functions in the manner that A does, then from my (so far limited) testing barrier words do not synergize well with other words. That being said I think they should be re-evaluated (give em some love!). I feel that the wordcasting mechanic gives a powerful and fun boost to sorcerers in particular and hope that the system does well and is a big hit. But I feel like barriers are a bit of a weak spot at the moment. This could easily be remedied by adding in a plethora of other would-be barriers starting with lower level ones with smaller word costs. If I may be so bold as to give examples:
Perhaps an entangle barrier? Just a line of difficult terrain, nothing too fancy.
Or how about a fog-cloud-esque barrier? (maybe even solid fog?)
Maybe even a web barrier?
And perhaps for a higher level one: A barrier that functions similar to cloak of dreams? A sleep barrier!
I had actually planned to make a barrier-centric wordcasting-sorcerer for a future home game so if any of you found neat barrier word combos I’d love to see them. If nothing else they serve as more playtest data. Or if you too are bold: post barriers you think should be added?