From: paul@phyast.pitt.edu
Date: Thu 10 Jun 1993 - 01:44:51 EEST
Spirit Magic:
A couple of variants we have played with:
1. Range = POW x 5 meters instead of 50. No more staying 51 meters away
while shooting with a bow! The RQ4 draft also has this mod, I bet half
the people on this list have made it also. In all cases we adopt this
rule.
The rest of these are options, not necessarily intended to be used together:
2. Go back to RQ3 for Focussed on self, Unfocussed on others. Add in
Now invent a Focussing skill to cast magic. This is a standard Magic
This works great in low-magic campaigns. Interpret things like Fanaticism
things like "Unfocussed on weapon in hand" for Bladesharp.
skill and can improve through experience.
as just willing yourself to fight fanatically: spend a point of willpower
(MP) and hack away! Strength is berserk strength, Coordination is paying
extra attention (at the cost of willpower = MP) to what you're doing, etc.
Spells like Bladesharp can be interpreted as "extra effort": you can only
do it for a while and then you get mentally tired - fighting really does
work like this! (Spending mental effort for peak ability in the most
important fight of the day.)
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I'd probably use this model in a Hsunchen campaign, it fits much better
3. When RQ3 first added spell spirits we thought they were a dopey
mechanic. After reading THE WAY OF THE SHAMAN and some other such
books, I don't think they went far enough. Primitive peoples pick up
"helper spirits" all the time.
So another model is instead of saying "I beat up the spirit and force it
to teach me its spell that it can't even cast itself," say instead:
"I acquire a new spirit buddy who'll do his trick for me." Thus you get
a Bladesharp spirit - it doesn't cast a spell, it IS the spell. It can
sit on a sword and help it fight. You have to feed it some mana, of
course, or it won't do it's trick. You can acquire several spirits of the
same type. If you acquire spirits of opposing types (Fireblade and
Darkwall) you may have to break up catfights once in a while and one
or both of them may run off and sulk. The shaman makes you a little
house for the spirit (Focus, like an oppossum rib cage) or you find it
on a visionquest.
with an animistic view of the world.
4. Another model is to say that you don't cast spells: instead you've
learned to talk to a certain type of spirit. In this case your culture
says practically everything has a spirit. If you've learned how to talk
to sword spirits you can bribe your sword (with mana) to fight a
bit harder for you (Bladesharp). You could also figure out how to
bribe an enemy's sword into not trying very hard when he hits you. (Dullblade).
You could use the same old mechanics for spells but change the interpretation,
and the whole concept of learning spells might change. Thus someone who
learned how to talk to Fire spirits could logically learn how to wake them
up (Ignite) or lull them back to sleep (Extinguish). These spells,
considered 'opposite' in many cultures, would go together in the
animistic culture I've outlined.
5. This applies to shamans only. Shamans may release a spirit held by
their fetch to perform a single task, but what are the time limits? Also,
how is a mindless spirit (Law, disease, elemental, etc.) supposed to
be able to know to keep its deal with the shaman? We play that the fetch
must divert part of its attention to supervising the spirit, setting
aside one magic point (or one magic point per ten points of the spirit's
POW) for that purpose. Thus the fetch doesn't recover the magic point until
the task is done. This puts a nice limit on how long a task the
shaman may demand, but allows the shaman to give an offensive spirit
an order like "Go into the Wastes and approach not the habitations of
men" to permanently get rid of it if he is willing to effectively
sacrifice a point of POW to do so.
Also, when combined with rule #3 above this can let the shaman make
a medicine bundle, good for one spell. The shaman, using his Enchant skill,
makes a medicine bundle (costing MP but no POW) that the spirit can recognize
and follow. (Without Second Sight it needs something special as a marker.)
The shaman pays off the spell
spirit in advance (maybe with double the usual MPs) and its task is to
stay with the medicine bundle until a condition is met, e.g. the bundle
is thrown at someone.
Then the spirit does its thing, and goes free. Note the shamans' fetch
doesn't get it's MP back until the bundle is used, thus the shaman
can only make a limited number and every one that he has 'out'
reduces his fetch's possible MP by one.
Oh, you could also make these for healing spirits,etc.
These make a good GM tool if you want the PC's to have a spirit spell or
spirit for one use without giving it to them permanently.
_____________________
I may send this to the RQ Daily as well, now that I've written it. But
first I'll give y'all a chance to stop me by telling me that it's a waste of
bandwidth!
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