Fantasy: sorcery from demon heritage

[Devil_Dante]

Hi! Wish to ask you for some ideas to develop something different for my setting

In my fantasy world, sorcerers take their power from their demon heritage. Their strenght comes from their inner power, a sort of gate they open every time they cast a spell. In this way, sorcery is more powerfull than ordinary magic (wizard) but more dangerous (that's why during the past there was a very bloody "witch" hunter).
In the past, some sorcerers used their powers without controlling them, ending opening up their inner gate, becoming a living portal to the hell itself or transforming themself into a demon.
Or acquiring some minor demon aspect (from the black aura to a couple of horns)
Now, what i'm looking to do, is to use sorcery rules for them because it 's a very suiting kind of magic, but i'd wish to do not use the threshold limitation from thaumatology. What i want to achieve is something like a drawback like a cataclism, resisting with a Will roll. But i have no idea how to balance it.

My purpose is to create a system where the more a sorcerer uses his power, the more are the chances to not close their portal in time to avoid the cataclism. I was thinking about a disadvantage. I want to make things easy, and not too punishing, but, at the same time, they have to remember the power they can unleash.

have you got any idea? Thank you

[Anaraxes]

• Add a Nuisance Effect (or, since a cataclysm is, well, cataclysmic, call it "Backlash" -- see Powers p104). Rather than a single ability, feel free to make this a variety of bad things. Make up a table, build a bunch of suitable point value Backlashes to choose from, or improvise.
• Since the Backlash isn't guaranteed, give it a resistance roll (which halves the value of the Limitation). You might want to make this one Will-based instead of HT -- whatever suits the flavor text.
• You might also want to use the Self-Control rolls (and discounts on the Limitation) instead of a resistance roll (see B120).
• To reflect amount of use, penalize the resistance roll by the amount of demonic spellcasting done. That means you have to have a way to measure it, so
  • Have all sorcery require Costs FP, so all spells have a cost (like standard magic). I'd also give sorcerors an Energy Reserve, Special Recharge, so they have some small (and tunable) amount of magic they can use without risking cataclysm. They can spend all the EP on magic they want (the size of the ER isn't really a limit), but the risk of cataclysm goes up -- just like Threshold Magic.
  • Or, borrow the Corruption mechanic from Horror. Uses of sorcery build up corruption points, but rather than buying mental disads, use them to buy cataclysm resistance penalties.

[Devil_Dante]

that's a lot of materials, thank you

i was thinking, then, about the backlash:
1)every spell will cost 1 FP, as normal, but it has a Power Level (PL), based on the Sorcery level needed to cast (e.g.: 20 points spell has PL 1; 40 points spell has PL 3)
2)the character has a energy reserve that can be used to "pay off" the power level (no more than half of total FP??)
3)The character will record the new PL pool acquired
4)roll on will (seems to suit better than a self control, for now) with a penalty equal to the PL of the spell cast (and like for fright check, the maximum value of will will be 13). If the character successes, nothing happens. Otherwise, the sorcerer will roll on the cataclysm table, tailored ad hoc. (Was thinking to roll 3d and add the total PL, like the threshold magic, or simply to create a table strictly based on total PL, avoiding 3d roll +PL. In any case, more PL he has, more serious the effect of backlash will be)
5)at the end of the day, he will "heal" some PL
6)profit??

I'll fix the numerical values later, for now, how it sounds?

[RedMattis]

The important question is really making sure it is balanced as far as point-cost goes, otherwise you could use whatever rules you make up.

Generally a 10% limitation is something which will occasionally be a major problem. F.ex. Magic stops working due to low mana levels, anti-magic, etc. Earth powers only working while on solid ground, and so on.

'May spontaneously develop troublesome traits or take damage' sounds like a 10% disadvantage. Taking damage is obviously not nice, and ending up with unplanned demonic taint/traits is troublesome even if they may be a double-edged sword in themselves (talons letting you tear at people, scarred red skin giving a level of DR, etc.).

If the trait will just outright lower your point value by giving disadvantages I'd compare it to character-point fueled abilities. A 1CP-costing ability is cost divided by 5, I believe. If the ability has a 10% risk to give you 10 points of disadvantages I'd figure that works out about the same. I think a 2.5% risk (crit fail) of losing character points would work out at about cost [x0.85] based on the previous value; that is, if you want something a bit less punishing.

For some extra fun you could write up tables with effects the violent feedback. "17 on the fail table, major physical change such as a long tail or large mostly vestigial wings. I guess we'll give you some scary wings then..."

Make sure you plan for the PC:s getting demonically tainted though. Some Players may not like it if they didn't know it could happen; It could also derail your plot if a goody-two-shoes party working for the king just ended up with a demon-looking sorcerer, f.ex. :)

[AlexanderHowl]

I think that the standard Backlash works for demonic powers. A power with Agony as a potential Backlash would cause most people to hesitate, even if they possessed High Pain Threshold. A power with Ecstasy as a potential Backlash would addict its user over time, making them more likely to use the ability. If combined with Corrupting (Horror, pp. 146-148), it becomes even more dangerous, as every spell cast with sorcery gains the sorcerer corruption.

Another possibility is to allow sorcerers to gain access to sorcery spells by accepting 1/5 of the spell's CP cost in Corruption per use. A sorcerer with a 100 CP reserve would spend 20 CP on a spell for a 100 point ability (because they spend 1/5 the point cost in CP). Using the Corruption rules from Horror (pp. 146-148), they could just make it up on the fly by accepting 4 Corruption per use. It would be very tempting to accept 4 Corruption in order to gain one use of a 10d corrosive attack during an emergency.

[Devil_Dante]

Thank you for answer.

I m writing an "effect" table. I divided it into minor and major effect. The first one Is pretty much esthetical (role playing purpose) with some quirk(scaled skin with DR1, sharp nails, red eye, strange shadow ecc...) . The second one is focused on disadvantage and physical mutation, ending with a true cataclysmic effect like opening an hell gate or transforming into a demon.

I wish to fix duration of each effect something like number of hours per margin of failure.
I ll post a table, if you can help me fix it. My purpose is to add some cool effect.. Don t want to punish the player but I want to add some thickness to the game (because lore wise, sorcerers are very dangerous because of their heritage) .

For the limitation value, I think too add it to sorcery advantage, maybe - 10%,-15%

Edit: I m using home rules where sorcery advantage is count for spell purpose before applying limitation ( for ex: one college is - 40%, so 3 levels in sorcery costs 40 - 40%= 26, but the pc can buy spells that cost up to 40 points). Or at least it is my thought. Need to see if it is balanced

[Devil_Dante]

So, this is what the backlash should look like (it's just a starting idea, but i wish to do something like this. I need tips to balance the table and maybe make it better):

Every spell cast will require a Will+talent- Power level of the spell roll (Max value of will is 13). If the roll is failed, the character will increase his Power Level (PL) pool.

• Reaching a certain Power Level with one cast, will grant all the effect of the lower levels. Every effect lasts for amount of time equal to one day per margine of failure (min 1 day).
• If a character would acquire another time the same minor effect, he will earn the effect in next Power Level, as he had that level instead and add 1d/2 days to the duration. Doing so, can make him earn a Major effect.
• The PL will heal with a rate of 1 per day, 1d/2 when the character critical successes the willing roll or 2 when one effect ends.

Minor effect table
Total Power Level Effects
1-2 The caster’s magical aura becomes black, can be seen from other “wizard” with per-3 roll

3-4 The caster’s shadow acquires a demonic shape. People who can see his shadow are -2 to reaction

5-6 The caster acquires some minor demonic aspect, like cat eyes, black veins, phosphorus smell, ecc. He will lose 1 level in appearance.

7-9 A couple of small horns will grow up from his head

10-13 The caster’s hands will change in more demonic shape (+1 damage with punches). He will lose 1 level in appearance too.

14-17 The caster’s skin will be slighly cover with scales, acquiring a natural DR 1

18-21 The casters acquire “frightens animals” disadvantage and his shadow will be larger and completely unnatural


Once fixed the minor effect, i will post the major effect table. What do you think for this one?

[scc]

Have you looked at page 156 of Magic or the Assisting Spirits section that starts on page 90 Thaumatology which expands it?

[Devil_Dante]

Originally Posted by scc

Have you looked at page 156 of Magic or the Assisting Spirits section that starts on page 90 Thaumatology which expands it?

sure!! what i wrote after Anaraxes's answer is something like that. I need to create a tailored table. But i have to build a good table for that. I think could work that i posted.. but need some opinions :D

[Devil_Dante]

finish the preliminary job.

http://docdro.id/GWUVerx

What do you think?