From: Jane Williams (janewill@mail.nildram.co.uk)
Date: Mon 29 Sep 1997 - 22:31:26 EEST
I suggested that spirit magic Heal only heals a maimed location up to 1
hp, and Thomas asked:
> Doesn't help very much. What's the reason spirit magic heals only to 1
> HP ? And how does this look like ?
Fair question, which I'm afraid has an enormously long answer. Take a
look on my web page in the house rules section under healing, and be
prepared for a lot of discussion of auras.
As for what it looks like: the wound closes: just. It stops bleeding. But
it still looks awful, and still hurts a lot.
I do like the idea that spirit Heal spells don't cure any possible
infection! (Well, no-one ever suggested they do: but most games forget
about infection unless you've been hit by a Broo. After getting a septic
hand from a tiny cut caused by sharp metal in a workshop, I should know
better).
I suppose we now need to look for natural antiseptics for our characters
to carry around. Well, there's one that everyone's got (unless very
dehydrated), but I don't have enough medical knowledge to know how good it
is. And Vingans have an advantage here: henna's meant to be quite
effective according to my herb book. Just rub your hair on the wound!
(Well, maybe fresh would be better. But it's a nice thought.)
Back on to herbalism systems: it looks as if assigning herbs to elements
would parallel RW ancient herbalism. And I'm sure assigning parts of the
body to elements would help, too, and be easy enough. So, if you've gto a
headache, find a herb that's been assigned to the same element as your
head (yes, this is vastly oversimplified!). But most diseases already in
the Roolz affect a specific stat, not a specific location. Can we assign
stats to elements? Should we?
Simon Bray recommended "Way of the Wyrd" By Brian Bates, and having read
it I can see his point. Combining this with some of Gaylin's points, I
think we can agree that each and every plant has a spirit. If the plant
is to be used to combat disease spirits, the treatment of the plant's
spirit is at least as important as the physical picking. I doubt if many
plants would fight back as much as spearwort, but each would have its own
personality depending on the mythology behind it. So how do you bargain
with a plant? Agree to water it? Fertilise it? Spread its seeds?
Jane Williams jane@williams.nildram.co.uk
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml
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