Free Article: Totem Spirits

[Humabout]

With the end of Pyramid vol 3 approaching, I don't see the point in witholding the articles I have still laying around, so today, I am releasing Totem Spirits.

This article expands the similarly named section from GURPS Thaumatology to provide extensive information on integrating it into you game. Totem Spirits also ties in an expanded approach to Divine Favor and GURPS Powers, and explains how to handle multiple totems, if thats possible in your setting. It culminates in a series of worked examples for a variety of genres.

So if you want to expand your shapeshifting options, integrate spiritual possession, add shamanistic divine magic, or just incorporate more options for powering up, Totem Spirits is for you.

URL: http://abovetheflatline.blogspot.com...irits.html?m=1

[lvalero]

I love the idea! Thank you very much for sharing. Probably I will take some of it for my DF campaign.

[Humabout]

Thanks! I'm glad you're getting use out of it. I'd love to hear what you do with it and how it works at your table, if you care to share.

[EDIT] Also, I think I have a Flame Lord written up as a totem. If I find it, I'll post that too.

[evileeyore]

Nicely done! Would have made an excellent article.

[Refplace]

Looks pretty good, you covered the Spirit Vessel ideas and added a variation for Divine Favor which is interesting.
Costs FP on Shapechange wont work as described by RAW since its more a instant transitional ability from my understanding.
Though frankly I like it here, its not saving many points and certainly fits the material. I'd be comfortable if it worked that way.

[The Colonel]

Nicely done. Thank you.
For the old RQ Grognards amongst us, shamanism will always have a special spot ... only the work involved in scaring up so many spirits is off putting.

[rkbrown419]

Very cool. Similar to an article I submitted a while back. I think I may follow your example once I find a host and reformat it for a web page.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by rkbrown419

Very cool. Similar to an article I submitted a while back. I think I may follow your example once I find a host and reformat it for a web page.

I'm doing the same once I know they cant be used for a book.

[Humabout]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

Nicely done! Would have made an excellent article.

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Looks pretty good, you covered the Spirit Vessel ideas and added a variation for Divine Favor which is interesting.

Thanks! I always tried to add new content with articles.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Costs FP on Shapechange wont work as described by RAW since its more a instant transitional ability from my understanding.

"If an advantage that produces continuing effects only lasts one second, and you must pay the cost to maintain it every second"
-Costs Fatigue, p. B111

Alternate Form takes 10 seconds to activate, not 1, and in this usage, as per Thaumatology, p. 213, there is no associated FP cost for maintaining its use. Based on the only two criteria from Basic Set for justifying the -10% / FP cost, this use of Alternate Form should use standard limitation costs.

That said, writing with the intention of being published presents an interesting opportunity to deviate from RAW. Because you are being published in an official supplement, your variation will become and supersedes previous RAW, so really the "that's not quite RAW" argument never applies to in these situations. Because this didn't get published, people can try to make that argument, but it's good to consider the medium it was written for.

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Nicely done. Thank you.
For the old RQ Grognards amongst us, shamanism will always have a special spot ... only the work involved in scaring up so many spirits is off putting.

Thank you! The work involved in acquiring a totem spirit is pretty setting-specific and can be altered to your liking without affecting anything. I just presented some rules so people had something to follow that was along the lines of previously published GURPS material. Bu GURPS is a Rule Zero game, and blah blah blah standard thing about make it what you want it to be. :)

Originally Posted by rkbrown419

Very cool. Similar to an article I submitted a while back. I think I may follow your example once I find a host and reformat it for a web page.

Make sure to advertise it in the Discord so we can find your stuff! I look forward to reading!

[lvalero]

What I love most of the article is the "spirit vessel" template of the Badger. I was planning exactly the same idea for my DF campaign and I needed some different possession templates to offer to the "shaman". (Adam and Mammon are cool but they dont fit in my game).

I you have more please share! :)

However 125 points is quite a lot! I will probably add some more limitations to lower the cost to 40-50 points. Maybe only X times a day, fickle or cost 1 PF per second.

However I am not sure if it could work. Maybe the above limitations can only be applied to the "15" points cost of AF. AF has tricky pricing rules.

Another alternative could be to price a much lower version of the spirit vessel AF and allow a "packed advantage" called "blessing of the badger" wich comprises the most expensive advantages of your template and adding following limitations: "only while being possessed by the badger", and x times a day and cost energy.

There could be a "minor blessing" for novice shamans and a major blessing for more experimented ones.