From: T.J.Minas (T.J.Minas@soton.ac.uk)
Date: Wed 26 Oct 1994 - 19:15:22 EET
We have had a number of discussions relating to spirits of late and I'd like to
comment on a few points raised therein.
AWAKENED ANIMALS AS ALLIED SPIRITS
I do not believe that there need be a special spell to do this in most cases
(Waha is an exception, because of the ancient Compact about Men and Beasts).
Remember, Priests/Rune Lords do not automatically get an allied spirit. It is
only a POWx3 chance, if I recall. Presumbably, if the chance is fulfilled, then
the deity in question awakens the animal chosen to full intelligence, and this
becomes the allied spirit.
Allied spirits in objects are rather different. The deity merely sends the appropriate spirit to inhabit the object.
CULT SPIRITS First of all, I believe that "Command Cult Spirit" _WILL_ work on _ALL_ cult spirits (ie spirits owing allegiance to that cult). The spell is a 2 (Go on, count 'em, TWO) point Rune magic, as opposed to standard "Command <Species>" spells which are only one point. Also, it only works on cult spirits. I believe that that is enough limitation in itself.
Incidentally, Humakti don't consider ghosts to be undead as far as I know. Remember, back in RQ2, Humakt temples used to have Guardian Ghosts? They still have them, summoned via "Summon Temple Spirit" spells, and commandable via "Command Cult Spirit".
Cult POW spirits, I am pretty sure, do not count as initiates. They have no INT, so I sincerely doubt if they can manage to attain the equivalent of initiate status. Lay members, sure, no probs.
SPIRIT POSSESSION/BINDING On the subject of binding spirits into animals (now very hard to do, by the way), such binding (I am told by Sandy) kills the animal. IE it drives out the animals own spirit, and replaces it with whichever spirit you have just bound. This probably leads to some very strange acting animals on occasion! See also the sidebar discussion in "Borderlands" about kidnapping an enemy, making him into a herdman, then possessing him with a spirit under your control!
THE SECRET OF SPIRITS
An interesting question: why can't you teach spirit magic to someone else that
you know? Well, potentially, maybe you could, but the requirement would be a
long time spent Mindlinked whilst you passed over the knowledge, and it almost
certainly wouldn't be worth it. Look at how you learn spirit magic in the first
place: You defeat the spirit in spirit combat, by reducing it to 0 MPs
(remember, a human would be unconscious at this point) and wrest the knowledge
from the spirit.
The only other time that spell knowledge is transmitted, as far as I know, is when someone transfers knowledge of a spell to one of their bound or familiar spirits, eg their allied spirit. But in this case they are in permanent Mindlink anyway, so its not a problem.
You could try learning spirit magic spells from someone if you could discorporate and attack them in spirit combat, I guess....!
Also, on small temples having problems, I am inclined to shout "Hear, hear" for the suggestion re lay mambers. Perhaps their MP's are only 1/5 as effective or something, but that could still be useful. And also therefore we ought to redefine temple sizes based upon the number of effective MP's donated at the last HHD, maybe 500 Mp's for a shrine etc. Thoughts?
Enough for now,
Tim
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