Words of command!

[Infinitum]

From the bad ideas thread:

Gimli took his arm and helped him down to a seat on the step. `What happened away up there at the door? ' he asked. `Did you meet the beater of the drums?' 'I do not know,' answered Gandalf. `But I found myself suddenly faced by something that I have not met before. I could think of nothing to do but to try and put a shutting-spell on the door. I know many; but to do things of that kind rightly requires time, and even then the door can be broken by strength. `As I stood there I could hear orc-voices on the other side: at any moment I thought they would burst it open. I could not hear what was said; they seemed to be talking in their own hideous language. All I caught was _ghâsh;_ that is "fire". Then something came into the chamber – I felt it through the door, and the orcs themselves were afraid and fell silent. It laid hold of the iron ring, and then it perceived me and my spell.

'What it was I cannot guess, but I have never felt such a challenge. The counter-spell was terrible. It nearly broke me. For an instant the door left my control and began to open! I had to speak a word of Command. That proved too great a strain. The door burst in pieces. Something dark as a cloud was blocking out all the light inside, and I was thrown backwards down the stairs. All the wall gave way, and the roof of the chamber as well, I think.

So long story short, this is the best thing since sliced bread and would it be possible to replace all existing staves with words of command? Same effects, except that the player finds runestones with a word of power inscribed upon it and can speak it to release the power within a limited number of times. Maybe even have the player use voice to do so?

Optional: Allow characters with Channeling to Craft Words of Command/Horns using forges (and sufficient will)? Would make the ability much less useless than it currently is, and would allow for "enchanter" characters to be played without changing the game around too much.

[Arseface]

I don't see how this is any different from the current horn/staff system.

[HallucinationMushroom]

This is actually one of my favorite scenes in the trilogy.

Instead of devices you have to carry around, it would be cool if it were actually just words that you spoke. So, my 2 cents would be to have a command ability tree, that pulled it's pre-requisites from your song and will scores in some kind of hybrid way.

[bagori nd]

What if words of power had other costs? e.g. hunger, health points, grace damage?

Edit: but I don't know of any evidence from the books that even the Noldor can speak Words of Command? This strikes me as a good thing to be conservative about.

[debo]

Morgoth, Lord of Darkness shouts "Stop, collaborate and listen."

Something grabs a hold of you tightly!

[Infinitum]

What if words of power had other costs? e.g. hunger, health points, grace damage?

Edit: but I don't know of any evidence from the books that even the Noldor can speak Words of Command? This strikes me as a good thing to be conservative about.

But Eol, though stooped by his smithwork, was no Dwarf, but a tall Elf of a high kin of the Teleri, noble though grim of face; and his eyes could see deep into shadows and dark places. And it came to pass that he saw Aredhel Ar-Feiniel as she strayed among the tall trees near the borders of Nan Elmoth, a gleam of white in the dim land. Very fair she seemed to him, and he desired her; and he set his enchantments about her so that she could not find the ways out, but drew ever nearer to his dwelling in the depths of the wood.

Doesn't exactly mention WoC, but at least gives credence to the notion that even the Sindar picked up a thing or two from the Maiar. There are of course plenty of passages where various elven lords take a stern tone of voice and Morgoth covers in fear, albeit that is probably more about him being a big wuss about it.

Of course, if one accepts that there is power in song, power in singular words isn't a big leap to make. I do agree that they should be more limited in use to mortals though, hence the rune setup (also an Odin throwback so there's some precedence in Tolkien's sources of inspiration).

Instead of devices you have to carry around, it would be cool if it were actually just words that you spoke. So, my 2 cents would be to have a command ability tree, that pulled it's pre-requisites from your song and will scores in some kind of hybrid way.

This is a thought as well, but between Songs and Staves I'm not sure there's enough design space left for such a tree? Also, I like the thought of WoC being a finite resource - maybe remnants of the great song of making lingering on Arda. Makes Gandalf being loathe to speak one make sense in context, and fits Tolkiens theme of everything magical in the world slowly regressing to make way for modern times.

[Nick]

Also, I like the thought of WoC being a finite resource - maybe remnants of the great song of making lingering on Arda. Makes Gandalf being loathe to speak one make sense in context, and fits Tolkiens theme of everything magical in the world slowly regressing to make way for modern times.

This is the best comment ever.

[wobbly]

Another way to make them finite would be to make them drain grace, perhaps even have your choices of WoC dependent on Grace, so you could only use the more powerful words by buff-ing grace with a potion first.