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Old 12-25-2009, 02:19 PM   #21
Peter Knutsen
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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In Buddhism?

Anyway, I thought it was considered a long-awaited realization that all rituals are focusing aids to be discarded later (at best) or a waste (at worst). Of course, I'm no big expert.
It is true in GURPS. You can start out with Limitations on your Advantages, representing the need for various rituals (Gestures and Incantations, even material compnnents; it's right there in GURPS Powers), then outgrow the need for those with experience points.

I know almost nothing about Buddhism, but it feels right to me in a general way. That's how many mystical abilities ought to work. It's the right shape.
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Old 12-25-2009, 02:21 PM   #22
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Consider Tibetan sand paintings. Are they pointless rituals? Not so much, became they teach detachment and emphasize the ephemeral nature of beauty and creation. Knowing that beauty fades with times intellectually is one thing, experiences your own hard work, watching your gorgeous creation be blown away - is a deep learning experience, a dharmic lesson.
I don't think the ephemerality is the cause of me thinking that sand paintings are freakin' awesome. The sand paintings in the movie "Kundun" were by far the best part.

(That may be another reason to have rituals: To impress people.)
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Old 12-25-2009, 02:36 PM   #23
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Yes, I'm big on the Resistance to Illusion thing (often near-Immunity), as a Buddhist (and Christian) concept, both in Modern Action RPG, and in the historical fantasy Ärth setting.

I'm not sure exactly how Resistance to Illusion should be costed in GURPS. Maybe a PR bonus with a Limitation? And ISTR there's a See Invisibility Advantage too, uncomfortably binary for my taste (you either have it or you don't, there's no middle ground) - I prefer to handle the concept of invisibility as a kind of illusion, so that illusion resistance is a gradual phenomenon - but it works (assuming it is there, and I'm not misremembering).

And yes, psychic powers might work too, as in taking the Martial Artist template and giving it some psionic powering-up options.

I'm also not sure how the "vs Squid" thing would work. Probably some kind of Resistance.
Resistance to Illusions requires See Invisible with the True Sight (IIRC) enhancement. Getting rid of the binarity is doable by adding Unreliable, working with tiers of powers, or using Resistant for those illusions that provide a resistance roll. Mind Shield could help against direct illusions too, and is wholly appropriate for Buddhists.

Now, I wonder what the really-really atheistic (antitheistic?) Buddhists would get? (For instance, I still don't believe Gautama didn't eat for a year etc. So I guess I can't get any 'supernatural' powers, only resistances to them. Or am I wrong?)
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Old 12-25-2009, 02:40 PM   #24
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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I don't think the ephemerality is the cause of me thinking that sand paintings are freakin' awesome. The sand paintings in the movie "Kundun" were by far the best part.

(That may be another reason to have rituals: To impress people.)
An art form or any ritual looks different to "outsiders" then to "insiders". It is hard for many moderns to identify with the central point of "The Battle of Maldon" for instance(doomed loyalty to a flawed yet magnificient leader) and a lot of people will just think, "Cool! Swords! Blood! Unpronouncible Names! Heroic chanting!"

Rituals are also there to habituate people into being part of a society. They are kind of a symbol of a given group.
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Old 12-25-2009, 04:40 PM   #25
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Now, I wonder what the really-really atheistic (antitheistic?) Buddhists would get? (For instance, I still don't believe Gautama didn't eat for a year etc. So I guess I can't get any 'supernatural' powers, only resistances to them. Or am I wrong?)
Atheism has nothing to do with superpowers. The Buddha described several powers and confirmed that practitioners on their way to Nirvana would encounter them. He then stated that most of them were simple temptations and distractions. Yes, you can literally stare a hole in a wall, but how does that work to end human suffering?

This page has a checklist of superpowers that will likely make you cackle with DF glee.

I'm saying 'superpowers' rather than 'supernatural' because part of the point is that these are natural, comprehensible abilities. Just because modern science isn't up to explaining doesn't mean it can't be.
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Old 12-25-2009, 04:44 PM   #26
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Atheism has nothing to do with superpowers. The Buddha described several powers and confirmed that practitioners on their way to Nirvana would encounter them. He then stated that most of them were simple temptations and distractions. Yes, you can literally stare a hole in a wall, but how does that work to end human suffering?
Stare at someone until he's dead. Thus you end his suffering.
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Old 12-25-2009, 04:59 PM   #27
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Stare at someone until he's dead. Thus you end his suffering.
I think that's Gibbsianism, not Buddhism.
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Old 12-26-2009, 08:44 PM   #28
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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Now, I wonder what the really-really atheistic (antitheistic?) Buddhists would get? (For instance, I still don't believe Gautama didn't eat for a year etc. So I guess I can't get any 'supernatural' powers, only resistances to them. Or am I wrong?)
IIRC claiming to have supernatural powers is one of the five offences that can get you thrown out of the Sangha (Buddhist monkhood).
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Old 12-26-2009, 10:27 PM   #29
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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IIRC claiming to have supernatural powers is one of the five offences that can get you thrown out of the Sangha (Buddhist monkhood).
Few gods approve of their followers looting the dead, either. This is DF Buddhism, meaning that the Greater Vehicle needs to have room to carry all the loot. After DF9 or whatever it is that has summoners, I'll write up a Temple for DF Monks and Priests.
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Old 12-26-2009, 10:50 PM   #30
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Default Re: [DF] Help with creating a Buddhist cleric and holy warrior

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I think that's Gibbsianism, not Buddhism.
Nah, Gibbs would swat you on the back of the head till you were dead. Or save time and just shoot you. ;)
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