From: Tim Leask (tsl@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU)
Date: Tue 12 Nov 1991 - 09:56:33 EET
Hi Guys,
I just thought I'd try and stimulate some discussion on Shamans and spirits.
In my current campaign two PC's have just become Shamans and it's only now that
I realise that not much useful info is given about the Spirit Plane, the
Spirit Plane/Mundane Plane interface, Shamans and their fetchs etc. etc.
So I've turned to sources other than the RQ3 rules, namely RQ2, a rune-rites
article on spirits and spirit binding from an issue of Wyrms Footnotes and
the Spirit Cults description from Borderlands. The rest I've made up.
I've introduced two new skills Spirit Sense and Spirit Movement.
Spirit Sense begins at 5% plus perception bonus and there is no limit on this
skill for Shamans. Spirit Sense is a scan analogue for dis-embodied
spirits, the higher the skill the better one is at identifying spirits,
noticing spirits approaching, judging distances, determining POW acurately.
Spirit Movement determines how well one moves when discorporate. The
better the skill the faster one is able to move and manoeuvre, but speed
is also a fuction of POW. I'm still not sure on how fast I should
allow spirits to move. Currently I'm in favour of two modes of spirit movement:
invisible spirit (i.e. totally on Spirit Plane) 10xPOW metres per second(SR)
visible spirit (i.e. on both mundane and Spirit Plane) POW metres per
second(SR) I'm open to suggestions/criticisms.
The next problem I'm trying to deal with is Spirit Combat between dis-embodied
spirits. I've come up with the following rule. Once spirit combat is initiated
a spirit can only break-off in one of two ways: If the spirit forgoes its
attack and it's opponent fails in it's attack then the spirit may flee ( of
course the opposing spirit can still elect to pursue it's foe) OR if a
spirit destroys more MP's than its opponent in a round of combat it may
likewise flee.
A discorporate Shaman may not return to his body while engaged in spirit
combat. Pursuing a dis-embodied spirit involves using both the skill of Spirit
Sense and Spirit Movement. When a dis-corporate Shaman returns to his body
I currently consider it almost instantaneous movement, however a spiritual
"vapour" trail will persist long enough for a nearby spirit to follow it
the Shaman's body. My ideas on this whole process are still somewhat
nebulous. What do you guys think ? Have you encountered these problems
before ?
If a shaman is reduced to 0 MP in spirit combat while discorporate then
he is captured by the attacking spirit (this is my interpretation) but
I have yet to determine what would them happen to the PC. I'm sort of
inclined to let the fetch animate the Shamans body at this point so the
PC has a chance to do something about his plight, but I could just be
opening a whole new can of worms.
The nature of the fetch isn't fully explained in RQ3 - is it a dis-embodied
spirit ? If it isn't then where is it ? I'm currently of the opinion that
the fetch resides in the body of the Shaman and that the Shaman's spirit
sits on top of the fetch as it were. If the Shaman - Fetch connection
was temporarily broken then there would no longer be anything holding the
fetch back as it were. This is why I'm considering letting the fetch
animate a Shaman's body under certain circumstances. Comments ?
Anyway, enough rambling for now.
Cheers,
Tim
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