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Old 04-30-2015, 07:49 AM   #11
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

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Originally Posted by aesir23 View Post
Exorcism has always seemed odd to me: Fortune Telling doesn't actually tell the future without a spell or an advantage, why should Exorcism be different?

It simply doesn't belong with any other GURPS mechanics for supernatural effects.
Indeed. In fact it sits rather uncomfortably next to the Enthrallment skills.
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Old 04-30-2015, 03:54 PM   #12
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

Why not reform the skill to inflict physical damage on a spirit or demon? It seem like in DF if a demon was possessing a PC or an evil altar it could be fun to use exorcism to send damage to the demon until he lets go of the PC or evil altar. Of course the demon in a DF world would materialize and attack the party.
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Old 04-30-2015, 04:02 PM   #13
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

I once made a character with it. It was a one shot game and it never got used though.
We weren't told what kind of game we were going to be thrown into, only the setup and basic rules of the world.
His tools used for exorcism were useful at some point during it though, just for other purposes.
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Old 04-30-2015, 04:07 PM   #14
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

I think I've made one or two characters with Exorcism, but I'm pretty sure the need for it never came up in-game. Still, it's a reasonable thing to have in a Horror or Dark Fantasy game.
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Old 05-01-2015, 01:29 AM   #15
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

That reminds me, I did once have a Wealthy Wereferret Mage (specialized in Shapeshifting, Light/Darkness, and Enchantment spells) in a Gaslight campaign that had Exorcism.


It only came up twice and neither time was it really useful (the first was faking the possession, the second was a were-cursed person, so not actually possessed as we thought).
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Old 05-03-2015, 05:24 PM   #16
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

That skill seems like a Catholic version of exorcism.

There is also the shamanistic method found in GURPS Ice Age.

There are real-world exorcists, though they tend not to be Catholic-oriented. There's even a documentary TV series about them from some years ago.

There are also modern shamanistic exorcists and depossessors. In my experience, they prefer to do a compassionate depossession, where they arrange for the possessing spirit to go get what it really wants somehow other than possessing the subject.

In games, I don't know that I've never seen the Catholic exorcism method used.
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Old 05-03-2015, 06:54 PM   #17
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

Quote:
Originally Posted by aesir23 View Post
Exorcism has always seemed odd to me: Fortune Telling doesn't actually tell the future without a spell or an advantage, why should Exorcism be different?

It simply doesn't belong with any other GURPS mechanics for supernatural effects.
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Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
Indeed. In fact it sits rather uncomfortably next to the Enthrallment skills.
And the original form of Blessed (from Horseclans). And to a degree the rules for Knacks. Allowing you to use a spell-like effect without calling it a spell (and ignoring some or all of the standard Magic rules) is something GURPS struggled with a lot in the early years. Honestly I don't think it ever found a terrific solution, though these days in most cases you'd dodge the issue by building the thing as a power rather than a modified spell.

It's another one of those things that probably should've been rethought for 4e, either as a power build (hey, if it was OK for psi skills to become advantages...) or a modification of Blessed, rather than been left a skill.
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Old 05-04-2015, 12:59 AM   #18
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

As an advantage, hmm... Mind Control (Spirits only, to end possession only) for a net of 10 points? Seem fair?
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Old 05-04-2015, 04:53 AM   #19
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

I think that the main point of this skill is that there could be game worlds more or less like the real world, complete with the sort of exorcists who some churches apparently have on the payroll and other priests who can have a legitimate stab at exorcism according to doctrine, but where there definitely are, objectively, by the world definition, spirits which go around possessing people and which can be driven out by effective exorcism.

In those worlds, the guy from the local bishop's office will be, essentially, another priest, with a bit of specialist knowledge and a lot of practice with the rite of exorcism. Obliging his GURPS character build to buy into a full-scale magic system (or worse, to buy some kind of advantage) is clunky and over-complex. So you have the skill. Whether it belongs in other settings where priests regularly do buy into a full magic system is an open question and maybe a matter of taste.
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Old 05-04-2015, 05:11 AM   #20
RogerBW
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Exorcism

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Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
That skill seems like a Catholic version of exorcism.
And a fairly cinematic treatment of it at that (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Skarg View Post
There are real-world exorcists, though they tend not to be Catholic-oriented. There's even a documentary TV series about them from some years ago.
Yeah, which is a bit depressing as it often seems to be used in place of mental health treatment.

I see Phil's point, but I still think that this would fit better as a custom-built power than as a skill. Or if it's going to be a skill, it can just be a specialisation of Religious Ritual.
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