Ward Help

[Hell Hound]

Had an idea and looking for a bit of help with it.
Think of Escape from New York. Snake Plissken gets that injection that will kill him in 24 hrs if it’s not neutralized.
Is it possible to have a ward do the same thing? Could a tattoo or something else be applied that will kill (or attempt to) the recipient in a certain time period if it’s not deactivated by the diabolist who made it?
Please write out the ward if you can to help me get familiar how they are done.
Thanks in advance.

[Kraynic]

I think you are within the realms of "make up a ward symbol" or at least "make up a variant of an existing ward" at that point.

I'm not aware of a ward that has any sort of time delay, so if you want the time delay, you would need to come up with a ward to do that. I thought about using the trigger (alarm) ward, but it is supposed to be within 60 ft. of the ward that is triggered when the trigger ward gets messed with. Using a trigger would allow the person making the threat to trigger the ward whenever would be convenient, but you would need to create one that didn't have the range limitation. So, we are back to making up something. At least that option already has something similar in the book.

Another challenge would be keeping the target from being able to remove the ward. Perhaps this would be something like: "We had a healer help us place the ward phrase next to your liver while you slept". But I don't know if that would work in whatever setting you are using.

As far as the actual ward effect being threatened, I would think a fairly direct threat could be something simple like: inflict - power - death.

[Hell Hound]

I think you are within the realms of "make up a ward symbol" or at least "make up a variant of an existing ward" at that point.

I'm not aware of a ward that has any sort of time delay, so if you want the time delay, you would need to come up with a ward to do that. I thought about using the trigger (alarm) ward, but it is supposed to be within 60 ft. of the ward that is triggered when the trigger ward gets messed with. Using a trigger would allow the person making the threat to trigger the ward whenever would be convenient, but you would need to create one that didn't have the range limitation. So, we are back to making up something. At least that option already has something similar in the book.

Another challenge would be keeping the target from being able to remove the ward. Perhaps this would be something like: "We had a healer help us place the ward phrase next to your liver while you slept". But I don't know if that would work in whatever setting you are using.

As far as the actual ward effect being threatened, I would think a fairly direct threat could be something simple like: inflict - power - death.

So if I made up a unique ward for time it could be:
Trigger, 24hrs, inflict - power- death
Is that right?

In D&D there is a Geas spell which would work for these purposes but there doesn’t seem to be one in Palladium.
Or, a mind mage could do something but the whole idea of having a count down to death would be gone.

[Kraynic]

If you create a 24hr thing, you could skip the trigger. If you do the trigger with extended range, then you don't need the time delay because the person giving the threat can manually set off the trigger after 24 hours.

If you skip the trigger, then I expect the delay would go on one side or the other of the power. My understanding at this point is that you have the purpose ward first (inflict, protection, protection by infliction), then all the modifiers (power, area effect, your delay, etc.), and then you end with the conditions it is applying or whatever (death, agony, fear, etc.). You can have multiple conditions if you incorporate numbers to indicate the order in which the conditions get used each time the phrase is set off.

It isn't really clear to me in the books how the trigger is set up, but my guess would be that the trigger would be activated separate from, and after, the main ward phrase is activated. That is how I run it in my games anyway. Otherwise, you wouldn't have the finished and active product at which to point the trigger. I don't think I have ever seen an example in a book with that sort of thing being set up, so there may not be a set "correct" way to do this.

So, my guess is that with the delay, it would be something like: inflict - delay - power - death.
With the trigger, it would be something like: inflict - power - death, (and a totally separate) trigger

Edit: I forgot to add that the Palladium Fantasy game used to include the spell Geas. It was a level 7 spell in the Revised Edition (pg. 72).

[Hell Hound]

Cool. Thanks for your help!
I think giving an extended range trigger or having a delay ward on the liver is the way to go instead of a Geas spell.

[drewkitty ~..~]

It is a game. You only have to come up with the idea for the ward and then (convince the GM it can be done) roll for the ward creation.