Home Security; Animate Wall

Replicating versatile spellcasting with the Mutants and Masterminds engine can quickly become overwhelming. Spell levels and slots do not fit how M&M handles power effects. I’m going to take a crack at Magic the Gathering’s first spell in this M&M conversion. I don’t envision a character centered around this application of magic, but instead, some fun interactions between characters and the environment.

Animate Wall 12 Power Points

White

Magic

By channeling their life-giving magic into the walls of a structure, White mages are able to call on the aid of the very structure they are in.

Mechanics

Animate wall is a 4th-degree Summon effect; The construct the spell awakens has over 45 Power points. The effect has the General type because only being able two awaken one specific wall is lame.

(Summon- Animated Wall 4 Variable Type)

The Constructs at Call

Stone Wall Construct 4

The stone wall represents the most common wall a mage would encounter. Masonry and concrete walls share the traits of the stone wall. Constructs assume the devotion traits of the magic that awakened them. So, a construct animated with White mana has white devotion, Blue mana produces blue, and likewise with each form of magic.

Str 0 (8), Sta 0, Agl 0, Dex -2, Fgt 0, Int -4, Awe 0, Pre 01 Powers: Growth 8 (Permanent, Innate), Immunity (Critical Hits, Fortitude Effects, Life Support), Protection 5 (Stone). Skills: Athletics 0 (+8). Offense: Init -3, Unarmed +0 (Damage 8). Defenses: Dodge -4, Parry -4, Fortitude 0, Toughness 13, Will 0. Totals: Abilities -12 + Powers 63 + Skills 0 + Defenses 0= 51 points

Heightening and Lightening

There are a few ways to reduce or increase the power of this spell. The first scaling variable of this spell is to determine the material the wall is made of the animated wall’s protection level is equal to the hardness of the material it is constructed from. Wooden walls require less power to animate than reinforced concrete. The next scaling variable is the size of the animated section of the wall. The wall depicted above is 10ft tall, 30ft wide, and 1 to 2ft thick. The level of growth is the easiest place to pump additional power points into. The last scaling variable for this spell is to apply the multiple minions' extra 2 degrees of this extra will animate four walls.

Off Book Effects

Granting vital essence to a solid wall can trigger interesting game effects not captured in the Animated Wall stat block. These effects deal with the consequences of about 6 tons of structure being able to move around a battle space. This chunk of structure is probably necessary to maintain the strength and integrity of the building it’s part of. Moving it out of place will make the lower floors an environmental hazard with falling debris or even collapsing levels. Applications of Architecture expertise could inform the caster of loadbearing sections of wall and allow them to avoid or target those sections to achieve their desired effect. Repositioning wall sections can confine characters into claustrophobic cells. This spell may also allow a mage to bypass a locked door by animating the wall to form a gap.