Enchantment: Wraith vs Low Mana or Suspend Enchantment or Drain Mana

[Plane]

Firstly:

M17 (Power of a Magic Item)

An item’s Power must be 15 or more for the item to work.
Apply a temporary -5 to Power in a low-mana area; thus, an item with less than Power 20 will not work at all in a low-mana zone.

Assuming we have a necromancer-enchanter who meets the bare-bones requirements here (enchants a ring or amulet with Power 15)

then...

M160 (Wraith (VH) Enchantment; Resisted by HT)

attempts to affect the wearer every time it is put on.
The spell is Resisted normally by HT.

Obviously the "resisted by HT" refers to a Quick Contest between the item and the person. I am assuming that a Power 15 Wraith Amulet at -5 due to Low Mana could not attempt to affect the wearer at all since being below Power 15 makes it unactive...

- - -

My question is moreso what happens if someone does fail (say in a Normal Mana zone) and then dies/rises as a wraith.

Does the "Power" of the Wraith Amulet still play a role past that point? IE does it count like "Wraith Amulet in No Mana" if "Wraith Amulet in Low Mana" -5 penalty brings the power below 15?

If so: what are the effects on a Wraith if they enter a No Mana zone or a Low Mana zone that causes an identical effect (enchanted item does not work) by reducing the Power of the Enchanted Item to less than 15?

Further from M160:

If the subject ever fails to resist (or chooses not to), he “dies” and rises as a wraith 24 hours later.
..
shrivels and dies if it is removed or destroyed
..
Only Remove Enchantment can reverse the Wraith spell without harm.

Acronyming for simplicity of communication: The SAD effect ("shrivels and dies") occurs during the ROD status ("removed or destroys")

RE (remove enchantment) causes ROSWOH ("reversal of spell with-out harm") so I would like to know opinions on whether some other approaches might also cause ROSWOH, or if all other anti-Wraith approaches are doomed to being classified as ROD resulting in SAD.

The first is the aforementioned idea of bringing the wraith (and thus his amulet/ring) into a mana zone which suspends the enchantment: No Mana does this to ALL enchantments, while Low Mana only suspends enchantments if the -5 penalty to Power reduces it to 15 or less.

Two other spells cause a similar effect:

M58 (Suspend Enchantment) "As Remove Enchantment"
M127 (Drain Mana) "magical items do not function until they are removed"

The 2nd case (Drain Mana, and probably also "Suspend Mana"?) is basically similar to dragging them into a No Mana zone, except you're CREATING a No Mana zone instead.

In all cases though, these do NOT permanently "remove" an enchantment. The item is still technically enchanted and resumes it's magical powers when either (1) the duration of Suspend Enchantment expires / (2) the wraith manages to get himself out of the No Mana zone.

Dependency: Constantly (B130) is a loss of 1 HP per minute, so it seems slow enough that a Wraith could actually briefly be deprived of an amulet/ring and manage to get it back without dying.

With the spell (an enchantment itself) Remove Enchantment being the only 100% known/confirmed harmless-reversal means (ROSWOH) a question arises: is it cast on the amulet/ring or is it cast on the Wraith? That would be important for knowing stuff like range penalties. Initially it's the ring/amulet which is the subject of enchantment, but it seems like this in turn enchants the Wraith itself, so I'm not entirely sure.

To me, "Suspend Enchantment" and throwing an enchanted item into "No Mana" have similar effects: there is still an enchantment present but it has gone dormant until the interfering spell (or lack of mana) condition is removed and it can re-assert itself.

"Remove Enchantment" at first seems like permanent-duration version of "Suspend Enchantment" except I think it's POSSIBLY more than that: you can in theory cast Remove/Suspend on Suspend Enchantment (removing or suspending a suspension to restore previously enchanted abilities) but I don't know if that's an option for Remove Enchantment: it may instead mean they're permanently gone and to put them back would require re-enchanting the original enchantments.

This is part of why I'm thinking perhaps you're actually casting Remove Enchantment on the Wraith itself rather than the Wraith's amulet... the enchantment effect of the amulet (which presumably is denied when it is stolen from him, or perhaps when the Wraith wanders into a No Mana zone) seems to be "fulfills Dependency when worn" so dis-enchanting the amulet should be like making it impossible to keep the Wraith alive, dooming him to die...

But casting it on the wraith (removing the secondary enchantment) could be like removing the "I am a wraith" enchantment present on the wraith. So even if you couldn't find the amulet (it got tossed into the ocean, let's say) maybe if you managed to finish a "Remove Enchantment" ritual on the Wraith before it died of low HP, you could save him?

This makes me wonder though: what happens if you throw a Wraith into a No Mana zone or cast Suspend Enchantment on the Wraith INSTEAD of the Wraith Amulet? Would this temporarily turn the wraith into a non-wraith, but then the subject would become a wraith again as soon as the Suspend Enchantment ended or they entered Normal Mana zone?

[Anders]

I would say that if a wraith is brought into a No-Mana zone it suffers the same effect as if the amulet was removed. I would actually give the wraith a Dependency (Constantly) on the amulet and inflict that on the poor wraith if it entered the no-mana zone.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anders

I would say that if a wraith is brought into a No-Mana zone it suffers the same effect as if the amulet was removed.

Same if it was hit with Suspend Enchantment, or brought into a Low Mana zone where the -5 dropped Power to under 15?

Originally Posted by Anders

I would actually give the wraith a Dependency (Constantly) on the amulet and inflict that on the poor wraith if it entered the no-mana zone.

They already have that.

What they don't have is Dependency: Mana like a Lich...

B130's "Rare" covers "cannot be bought; must be found or made" which would already cover "some one of a kind amulet linked only to me". But if that amulet only fulfills it's Wraith-sustaining purpose when in a mana-zone then it feels like a Wraith ought to also have Dependency: Mana?

Given that a character lying down can occupy 2 hexes you could have an obscure situation where a wraith is lying with his bottom hex (feet) in a "Normal Mana" zone while his upper hex (neck or hands) is in a "No Mana" zone, meaning that the amulet (or ring) is temporarily disenchanted (until removed) but the Wraith is still getting sustenance from the mana...

Which brings it back to "is it just the ring who is enchanted, or also the wraith"? If we were merely removing the enchantment from a amulet/ring, then reverting it to a normal amulet/ring would remove the Dependency subject and should doom the Wraith to SAD instead of curing him...

I like that as ONE approach, but the other (curing him) should be feasible, but perhaps by targeting the wraith to cure him instead of the amulet.

The idea you could save a wraith who lost his amulet by targeting just him seems off though, so I think if you were targeting the wraith, you shouldn't just use distance penalties based on how far the Wraith is from the enchanter, but also add one of these:

1) distance from enchanter to Wraith Item
2) distance from Wraith to Wraith Item

If doing that, which would seem more appropriate?

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Plane

Same if it was hit with Suspend Enchantment, or brought into a Low Mana zone where the -5 dropped Power to under 15?

Yep.

Originally Posted by Plane

What they don't have is Dependency: Mana like a Lich...

B130's "Rare" covers "cannot be bought; must be found or made" which would already cover "some one of a kind amulet linked only to me". But if that amulet only fulfills it's Wraith-sustaining purpose when in a mana-zone then it feels like a Wraith ought to also have Dependency: Mana?

I think that would be double-dipping.

Originally Posted by Plane

Given that a character lying down can occupy 2 hexes you could have an obscure situation where a wraith is lying with his bottom hex (feet) in a "Normal Mana" zone while his upper hex (neck or hands) is in a "No Mana" zone, meaning that the amulet (or ring) is temporarily disenchanted (until removed) but the Wraith is still getting sustenance from the mana...

If the amulet goes, the wraith goes.

Originally Posted by Plane

Which brings it back to "is it just the ring who is enchanted, or also the wraith"? If we were merely removing the enchantment from a amulet/ring, then reverting it to a normal amulet/ring would remove the Dependency subject and should doom the Wraith to SAD instead of curing him...

Oh yes. Wraiths need their rings. Just ask the Nazgûl.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anders

I think that would be double-dipping.

To be fair, a character who is dependent on an item that is itself dependent on some other condition is worse off than a character who is just dependent on an item. Grabbing a whole new Dependency is arguably double-dipping, as you say, yet there is no category beyond Rare. One option could be to allow the "double-dip," but the lesser Dependency (or even Dependencies) is at 1/5th value. So, the Wraith has Dependency (Ring of Power, Rare; Constantly x5) [-150], as well as Dependency (Normal Mana or higher; Common*; Constantly x5; secondary x1/5) [-10]. The secondary dependency doesn't add a lot of points, but at least gives the character some benefit for being more restricted than a character who is dependent on a more mundane object and ignores the local mana level.

* Adjust this based on how common Mana is in your setting, and on what level of Mana the wraith's ring is actually dependent upon. Roughly speaking, if Normal+ Mana is Common, you probably have something like this:

Very Low+ Mana: Super Common (nearly ubiquitous); base cost [-1] (not a RAW category, but makes sense)
Low+ Mana: Very Common; base cost [-5]
Normal+ Mana: Common; base cost [-10]
High+ Mana: Occasional; base cost [-20]
Very High Mana: Rare; base cost [-30].

So, assuming Very Low is -10 Power, High is +5 Power, and Very High is +10 Power, a theoretical wraith with a Power 5-9 ring (which I don't think is possible by RAW, but houserules could cause such a thing) would have Dependency (Very High Mana; Rare; Constantly x5; Secondary x1/5) [-30], one with a Power 10-14 ring would have Dependency (High Mana or higher; Occasional; Constantly x5; Secondary x1/5) [-20], one with a Power 15-19 ring would have Dependency (Normal Mana or higher; Common; Constantly x5; Secondary x1/5) [-10], one with a Power 20-24 ring would have Dependency (Low Mana or higher; Very Common; Constantly x5; Secondary x1/5) [-5], and one with a Power 25+ ring would have Dependency (Very Low Mana or higher; Super Common; Constantly x5; Secondary x1/5) [-1].

[Plane]

I just noticed something that seems SUPER important...

M146
"His clothes become ethereal, but not his equipment."
"Ethereal individuals can use magic, but at a -5 to skill; the ethereal plane appears to be a low-mana area."

How this affects the amulet/ring a Wraith requires is a pretty good question. Are rings/amulets "clothes" or "equipment"?

Furthermore, if this means traveling in low-mana, then wouldn't it mean the -5 to Power would affect the Wraith Item if it was brought along?

This could cause serious problems for beginner-made Wraiths since it seems like using their "Ethereal Body" spell would temporarily depower their amulet/ring and cause HP damage?

This would make a high skill in the Wraith spell (and Enchantment spell too I think, since Power is calculated by the lower of both?) very important to avoid that, by getting a power 20+ to begin with. That or giving a wraith some kind of "Mana Enhancer" equipment to boost the Low Mana of the Ethereal Plane to Normal Mana to avoid the -5.

Another possibility is when choosing a Wraith candidate is to look for people with Intuitive Cantrip: Boost Enchantment (Magical Styles 25)

It's a costly spell (8 to activate (skill 15 only reduces that to 7) for 10 seconds, 4 per additional 10 seconds... which I don't think would be reduced to 3 because of the -5 penalty for low mana) so you're not really looking at a lot of HP lost compared to the FP demands, but a Wraith can get his FP back more easily than he can get his HP back...

The greatest concern is still probably whether the Wraith Item is able to come along at all (as clothes) or if it has to stay behind (like "equipment").

Originally Posted by Anders

I think that would be double-dipping.

I don't see anything saying you can't have 2 kinds of Dependency.

Nor anything saying that an item would need to be mana-sensitive to qualify as 'Rare'.

Dependency is basically "I need to touch this thing" not "I need to touch this thing while it's turned on", after all.

Originally Posted by Anders

Wraiths need their rings. Just ask the Nazgûl.

I don't recall if LOTR has any examples of them being cured though.

Plus I don't know that the LOTR wraiths actually WEAR their rings at all:
"Sauron ... still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control of their wills." (J.R.R. Tolkien - Letter 246)

Maybe this would explain why we don't often see the Wraiths applied in the field for a long period of time? If they were losing 1 HP/minute they would have to return to Mordor to touch Sauron's ring (on HIS hand, he wouldn't let them wear them!) to avoid the HP loss.

So the majority of the time, the Ring Wraiths are basically stuck in Mordor constantly kissing Sauron's hand to avoid dying, and only occasionally deployed abroad for brief periods (as their HP allows)

Wraiths have Unhealing, so they need to use their Racially Innate Spell "Steal Health" (pretty sure this means Steal Vitality on M150) to recover HP lost while out of contact with their rings. This isn't really useful in the field (it steals 3 HP per minute, meaning a Wraith can only heal 1 HP/minute while using it) so a Ring Wraith would most likely be using it on a low-ranking orc/goblin soldier (or a human/dwarf/hobbit prisoner) brought to them.

We should also keep in mind the 3e>4e changes for wraiths. Page 86 of GURPS Undead had stuff like "Doesn't Eat or Drink" and "Doesn't Sleep" which M160 lacks, so the home-time w/ Sauron would be a good time to eat lunch and have a nap.

High Pain Threshold was also removed. To restore that capacity, Thaumatology 162's "Spirit Slave" would probably make sense (also representing the will dominance sauron would have over his wraiths)

It's a LONG road to Mordor so it's hard to imagine the wraiths riding their horses all the way back home in time to survive the 1HP/minute loss, which makes me wonder if they can just be summoned back.

If we assume that he also used Spirit Slave and that the Wraiths actually DIED (a second death) then they probably gained an additional Spirit Template (B263) and the "Summon" ritual (also T162) could probably be used to pull them back at the last possible minute...

The greater problem I think is how the wraiths can get from Mordor to where they're needed (ie local goblin spies spotted that hobbit and his posse) since Sauron can't leave Mordor and the Summon ritual presumably only can send a spirit into your direct proximity ("in the general area, in sight of the magician")

Of course "in sight" may not be much of a limitation at all for Sauron... "the Lord of Mordor sees all — his gaze pierces cloud, shadow, earth and flesh" so maybe his godly-tier vision abilities lets him use this ritual to teleport his wraith-spirits wherever he wants?

This is the most logical explanation to me, because I don't think that Ethereal Body would really justify the combat abilities of the Wraiths, who seem to rapidly flicker between substantial/insubstantial during battle. Keep in mind that this spell takes 30 seconds to cast... skill 15 only halves that to 15 seconds. Plus constantly turning it on and off would drain FP ridiculously.

"Cannot wield weapons" is also a key part of Ethereal Body, and we clearly see they can still keep ahold of their weapons and bring them along for the ride while insubstantial, which is why I don't think the Wraith Enchantment is meant to be a conversion for the LOTR Ring Wraiths.

They would clearly have a more classic version of insubstantiality which could be switched on and off more quickly, and if it had FP costs they would be much lower. B263 covers that since it is "usually on" insubstantiality.

As for the invisibility aspect of the spirit template...

"And they became forever invisible save to him that wore the Ruling Ring, and they entered into the realm of shadows" - The Silmarillion.

This basically explains why you only ever see the Wraith's clothing but never the wraiths themselves. B63 Spirit Template does not include the "Can Carry Objects" enhancement, so a spirit who turns briefly substantial (FP costs) would normally have any weapons/armor wielded/worn during that time be 100% visible.

You might even give them the "Usually On" enhancement because I've never seen a Ring Wraith actually become visible aside from their clothing, so it's "Always On" invisibility.

It kind of makes me wonder why Ring Wraiths don't sometimes remove their clothes (get complete invisibility) so as to better assassinate foes. Apparently they DO remove them for 100% stealth sometimes, per Unfinished Tales - The Hunt for the Ring:

The Lord of Morgul therefore led his companions over Anduin, unclad and unmounted, and invisible to eyes, and yet a terror to all living things that they passed near. It was, maybe, on the first day of July that they went forth. They passed slowly and in stealth, through Anórien, and over the Entwade, and so into the Wold, and rumour of darkness and a dread of men knew not what went before them. They reached the west-shores of Anduin a little north of Sarn Gebir, as they had trysted; and there received horses and raiment that were secretly ferried over the River.

..

so great was the terror that went with them (even invisible and unclad)...

What I can figure is they'd rather be wearing the extra DR of clothes (even if it's merely a cloak) in case they accidentally got hit. Certainly not for warmth (Wraiths have Temperature Tolerance)

Plus maybe modesty. Even though Wraiths are sexless (not sure if that applies to the LOTR ones though) perhaps they are still embarassed at seeing each other nude? Appearance: Horrific can't be pleasant to look at, even if you're usual companions to each other. You might not even want to look at yourself.

Another is of course to communicate with people (ask them questions) or to frighten people visually.

Perhaps another aspect (though this never happened in LOTR) was that a worn cloak could be taken off and used via the Cloak skill to Block : VERY useful if there is some fireball-lobbing mage or an arrow-shooting elf around.

Armor would also be important if they did not have complete insubstantiality. Maybe they had something like "Shadow Form" (or F128 "Illusory Form") where they could always be hurt to SOME degree, so armor would be more important than being invisible.

Obviously just the Wraith Enchantment in GURPS Magic does NOT represent the LOTR Ring Wraiths since they are invisible and Ethereal Body doesn't make you invisible.

[Plane]

Of course... all this "Sauron keeps the rings" (Letter 246 "which he held") could be outdated and only refer to a specific point in time. In Fellowship, Gandalf mentions "The Nine the Nazgûl keep" implying that probably Sauron eventually let the Wraiths carry the rings around themselves (allowing them more mobility without HP loss) perhaps after he assured he had some other means of dominating them (such as the Spirit Slave spell).

For any who think Gandalf might be mistaken/lying (interpreting Letter 246 as to mean Sauron ALWAYS held the rings to enthrall them) the truth seems to fall somewhere in between: Sauron would LEND the rings out to them, per The History of Middle-earth VI The Return of the Shadow Chapter III: "Of Gollum and the Ring":

if the Ring overcomes you, you yourself become permanently invisible
..
You have no power however like a Ring of making other things invisible: you are a ringwraith; and your clothes are visible, unless the Lord lends you a ring.
But you are under the command of the Lord of the Rings.

It makes it makes it pretty clear Sauron HELD the 9 rings of men whilst the wraiths sought out Frodo a second time. It was how Sauron retained PRIMARY control over their will.

Even with the 9 rings, Frodo's wielding the One Ring could have given him some protection from them, if he had known how to use it:

Originally Posted by Tolkien

Sauron sent at once the Ringwraiths.
They were naturally fully instructed,
and in no way deceived as to the real lordship of the Ring...
But the situation was now different to that under Weathertop,
where Frodo acted merely in fear
and wished only to use (in vain) the Ring's subsidiary power of conferring invisibility.
He had grown since then.
Would they have been immune from its power if he claimed it as an instrument of command and domination?
Not wholly.
I do not think they could have attacked him with violence,
nor laid hold upon him or taken him captive;
they would have obeyed or feigned to obey any minor command of his that did not interfere with their errand
- laid upon them by Sauron,
who still through their nine rings
(which he held)
had primary control of their wills...

Frodo never actually claimed it as an instrument of command/domination (which was why it didn't protect him from getting stabbed by a Ring Wraith, albeit saved by his Mithril Armor) but there was possibility that if he did so, he could've prevented them from attacking him, even with Sauron wielding the 9 rings.

This explains why, even if Sauron had lent out the rings early on (when he thought the One Ring was just sitting at the bottom of a river somewhere), once he knew that the One Ring was in someone's possession, especially someone strong-willed (where it might be used to command the Ring Wraiths) that Sauron would keep ahold of the appropriate Ring of Man linked to a particular wraith, to make sure Frodo wouldn't be able to turn that Wraith to his own service.

In that sense I could see that maybe BOTH the One Ring and Ring of Man might serve a "Spirit Slave" like role: Frodo could use his -10 Will to dominate a Wraith, so Sauron would need a Ring of Man to get his own -10 Will to counteract that.

Not to mention if there were a "you better let me summon you back to touch your Ring of Man before your HP runs out or you will die" even if the Wraith did somehow resist.

Sauron wouldn't need to worry about that early on (Frodo was a weak-willed starter adventurer, so even with a 10-point advantage, Sauron could beat him) but he would as Frodo leveled-up adventuring and used his earned Character Points to buy up his Will attribute, making him a potential threat.

Sauron's ceasing the ring-lending program also helps to explain why Wraiths would wear cloaks: we know Wraiths like to use weapons, but perhaps they also like to HIDE the weapons, so if they wear a cloak, they could use the Concealment skill to hide their weapons under their cloaks.

Sauron's "errand" was probably vaguely-worded "retrieve the ring" and "don't kill me" doesn't interfere with that: a Wraith could simply KIDNAP him (thus bringing the ring to Sauron that way)

If the 9 rings were actually subsequently lent out to the Wraiths' persons (as Gandalf implies) this would require modifying the Insubstantiality of the Spirit Template somewhat though: per B63 you would need "Can Carry Objects". Probably just the lowest ("No Encumbrance") level to allow them to carry the rings.

I'd expect they would need something like that anyway. If Wraiths had to constantly expect FP to turn substantial, they'd need to be doing that ALL THE TIME to be transporting their cloaks/swords around, unless they had some goblin lackies who could transport their cloaks/swords for them while they reverted to their insubstantial forms to regain their lost FP.

1FP/second is a LOT for turning substantial for combat, so I don't think Ring Wraiths would have as serious a limitation as "Usually On" anyway. F128's "Difficult Materialization" (1FP/minute) would probably make more sense. That or just do "Costs Fatigue -5%" (1/minute) on either Insubstantiality or Shadow Form and have them normally be substantial.

I don't know if the books support insubstantiality for wraiths at all, I might be getting that idea from the movie adaptations of battles with them.