[RPM] Post your rituals here

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I must be blind, because I can't find this rule in T:RPM. What's the energy cost for giving the target a penalty to resist the ritual you are casting, but nothing else and no ongoing penalty?

Bestows a Penalty with no duration seems to fit to me.
Oh and on the prior note it says you can specify an ongoing spell ending that way. I think the doubling under conditional Termination is to reflect odd things because as it says conditions may vary wildly. Yours for this spell are pretty predictable though so normal duration should suffice.

Thought I had seen it in there but Sorcerous Mark is a close example. Adds penalty with a duration for limited circumstances. Might be forum post where PK said Bestows Penalty could be used rather then buying up levels of Affliction.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Fast-Casting from Pyramid #3/66 might be worth it.

Speed Casting technique, good idea if I can get the cost low enough.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Seems to me Euphoria is a great fit, gives a penalty and "Time Flies when your having fun", at the least I would penalize Will to quit.

Removing Absolute Timing/Chronolocation, adding Absent-Minded and Compulsive Gambling (SC 12) and Quirk-level Non-Iconographic (Only for reading the time) and a weaker version of Attensive (without a +1 bonus to the primary task, only extra -2 to notice distractions) actually comes to only 6 energy. Add Afflict Euphoria and we've got 12 energy for an effect that includes all of the things I wanted.

No need for Bestows a Penalty, as Euphoria already does that cheaper. If the player really needs a higher than -3 penalty to IQ for his targets, he can add Bestows a Penalty to the effect. Since it's all covered under Lesser Destroy Mind*, that would only add the cost for the level of Broad category penalty he wanted.

*None of these effects are blatant and an uninvolved observer is unlikely to find anything suspicious in the fact that everyone at the table appears really engrossed in their game, ignoring minor distractions and not registering how long they've been playing.

Originally Posted by Refplace

I would go with conditional termination as Ghostdancer suggests and it should not add anything.
Buy expected duration (10 minutes or an hour unless you want all nighters.
Then add the clause it ends as you describe, no Sense effect needed as those are all obvious things the caster and hence spell can notice.
You don't want to actually continue the Ritual as in recasting it every turn though so need a duration. Then you can do other spells while playing.

Yeah, I decided to go with an hour's duration. The caster can always extend it every hour if he desires.

The fact that this ritual cannot be cast without the caster remaining part of the game and ends immediately when he stops playing should probably be a modifier to the final cost. It's part of Traditional Trappings or similar enough to it to use the same rules, I should say. As is the fact that before the caster can affect a target, he must win from him an item of at least minor personal significance, which then becomes one of the focus items for the casting.

Winning something relevant to the theme of the ritual, such as a time-piece, a compass or a lucky coin, would then reduce the final cost even further.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

By RAW...you can't really do that. How do you resist the spell badly if you have not been affected by the spell to resist it? I posited long ago that you can use Bestows a Penalty to give a penalty to just that spell's resistance and I've used it since the playtesting of MH1.

Originally Posted by Refplace

Bestows a Penalty with no duration seems to fit to me.
Oh and on the prior note it says you can specify an ongoing spell ending that way. I think the doubling under conditional Termination is to reflect odd things because as it says conditions may vary wildly. Yours for this spell are pretty predictable though so normal duration should suffice.

Thought I had seen it in there but Sorcerous Mark is a close example. Adds penalty with a duration for limited circumstances. Might be forum post where PK said Bestows Penalty could be used rather then buying up levels of Affliction.

Ok, that could work. Is resistance to one spell Narrow?

Actually, I think I'd like to make it possible to cast harder-to-resist rituals, but tie the cost increase to the power of the ritual.

How about a percentile increase in final cost for having targets resist the ritual at a certain penalty? One could use Reliable for that effect, which would result in a +5% to final energy cost for every +1 to the caster's margin of success only for the purposes of resistance, but I think that might be too cheap.

Wouldn't treating the spell as an Affliction and buying more levels of it work well? Both Kromm and RPK have stated that levels beyond the first of an Affliction should really cost +20%, instead of +100%, and I think that's a fair price for -1 to resist a ritual too.

Add +20% to final energy cost for every -1 that targets have to resist it. How does that sound?

Edit: Ah, p. B238 and Thaumatology p. 39 are there before me. Guess that means it's balanced.

[Icelander]

Gamblers' Bane
Spell Effects: Lesser Strengthen Mind+ Lesser Destroy Mind (x2).
Inherent Modifiers: Affliction, Euphoria; Altered Trait, increase Compulsive Gambling by two levels; Altered Trait, Remove Absolute Timing/Chronolocation and add Absent-Minded.
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

This ritual is cast through the medium of playing cards or other game of skill and chance where there is gambling for some sort of stakes. The caster must take part in a game with the targets (5 DP) and if he stops playing at any point, the spell effect immediately ends (5 DP).

Furthermore, the caster must win one object that is somehow connected with one of the decans invoked by the ritual (Akhouiy, Alath, Buldumêch, Kumeatêl, Nefthada and Ruax) from each potential target and use them as part of the spell, but it is not necessary for such objects to be destroyed. The caster must not repeat symbolic objects, and thus must find correspondances for as many decans as there are targets (5+ DP).

The effects are that the subject becomes so engrossed in his gambling that he forgets everything else and is unlikely to desire to do anything but continue gambling while the ritual is in effect. Targets suffer Compulsive Gambling (SC 12) or increase any Compulsive Gambling they may already have by two levels. They are also afflicted with Euphoria, which has its usual effects. Finally, they suffer Absent-Mindedness and lose any Absolute Timing/Chronolocation trait they may have had, which will tend to cause them to lose track of time entirely.

The penalties for being Euphoric apply to IQ, DX and Self-Control rolls, which means that the targets are at -3 to skill use in the game and at -3 for all IQ-based (inc. Per- and Will-based) rolls to notice cheating or resist Influence skills.

The Absent-Minded penalty does not affect Gambling or Games skill checks, nor does it affect IQ or Per to notice anyone cheating at cards in the game the targets are participating, but the Absent-Minded penalty absolutely applies to attempts to notice that the caster is using the game of chance as the focus and medium for ritual magic. Rolls to notice that or anything else not directly connected with the engrossing game of chance that they are participating in are therefore at a total of -8.

This ritual is resisted. Furthermore, it cannot be cast on hostile targets, anyone busy with more important duties or anyone who refuses to play for stakes that are significant to him. In fact, any potential target who is not already deeply invested in gambling with the caster will automatically resist the ritual (10 DP).

Just taking part in a game of chance is not enough, the target must be focused on the game and seriously invested in whether he wins or loses. Such investment can be achieved through social engineering on the part of the caster (assume that a Very Good reaction or a victory by 5+ in the Quick Contest for an Influence skill check to convince them to play provides a temporary Quirk-level investment in the game) or it can arise naturally due to a trait of the target.

Appropriate traits are up to the GM, but any level of Compulsive Gambling, even Quirk-level, would obviously fit. The GM may also rule that other Disadvantages can also produce sufficient focus on the game in individual cases, whether that might be by making him unusually desirous to defeat other players (Bully, Jealous, Overconfidence, etc.), invested in the stakes (Greedy, Miserliness) or the feeling that the risk-taking (On The Edge, Trickster, etc.) or social (Chummy, Compulsive Carousing, etc.) element of gambling appeals to something in his psychological make-up.

Typical Casting: Lesser Strengthen Mind (3) + Lesser Destroy Mind (5) + Lesser Destroy Mind (5) + Affliction, Euphoria (6) + Altered Trait, increase Compulsive Gambling by two levels (1) + Altered Trait, Remove Absolute Timing/Chronolocation and add Absent-Minded (4) + Area of Effect, 3 yds (2) + Duration, 1 hour (3). 29 energy (29x1).

[Kalzazz]

What are DP and where are they from?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

What are DP and where are they from?

Decan Points, GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic p. 36.

I plan to be fairly liberal with their use and allow odd ritual conditions or restrictions to count as well as physical objects. This produces a much more occult and interesting feel.

[ajardoor]

Requiring materials like that for the spell should come with energy reductions, I feel.

I did that with the Enchant Army of Hell ritual I posted in this thread, previously.

[Antumbra]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Gamblers' Bane
Spell Effects: Lesser Strengthen Mind+ Lesser Destroy Mind (x2).
Inherent Modifiers: Affliction, Euphoria; Altered Trait, increase Compulsive Gambling by two levels; Altered Trait, Remove Absolute Timing/Chronolocation and add Absent-Minded.
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

The subjects who fail to resist become so engrossed in their gambling that they forget everything else and are unlikely to desire to do anything but continue gambling for the duration. Targets suffer Compulsive Gambling (SC 12) or increase any Compulsive Gambling they may already have by two levels. They are also afflicted with Euphoria, Absent-Mindedness and lose any Absolute Timing/Chronolocation trait they may have had, which will tend to cause them to lose track of time entirely.

Typical Casting: Lesser Strengthen Mind (3) + Lesser Destroy Mind (5) + Lesser Destroy Mind (5) + Affliction, Euphoria (6) + Altered Trait, increase Compulsive Gambling by two levels (1) + Altered Trait, Remove Absolute Timing/Chronolocation and add Absent-Minded (4) + Area of Effect, 3 yds (2) + Duration, 1 hour (3). 29 energy (29x1).

Holy wall of text Batman. It's an incredibly niche spell, so it doesn't really deserve such exhaustive explanation - and earning DP towards a spell is already detailed, as is "appropriate trappings".

It's also never likely to be used outside of gambling, so it doesn't matter that it can only be used while gambling, on gamblers.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Antumbra

Holy wall of text Batman. It's an incredibly niche spell, so it doesn't really deserve such exhaustive explanation - and earning DP towards a spell is already detailed, as is "appropriate trappings".

The casting of this spell was the high-point of the last gaming session. This spell is also the primary spell of one of the PCs, who learned his magic under circumstances where he was most unlikely to be able to affect anyone with any kind of magic unless he opened with a ritual designed to allow him to interact with them in a way that allowed him to call upon the appropriate decans, represent them in symbolic ways and fiddle with objects of sympathetic significance without arousing suspicions.

Originally Posted by Antumbra

It's also never likely to be used outside of gambling, so it doesn't matter that it can only be used while gambling, on gamblers.

Certainly that matters. If it only required the caster to converse with his target, it could be used to convince the Duke, his court wizard, two Barons and three of the Duke's richest household knights to gamble with you, even if they would never do such a thing without mind control.

It would also be useful for distracting guards before fellow adventurers sneak past them or even, if no restrictions were writtten into it, to waltz into a guarded area and quickly cast it to force guards to gamble with you instead of responding to intruders in an appropriate manner.

It would require one or even two Greater effects if it could be used against anyone, under any circumstances, to make them feebleminded and inattentive to their surroundings.

The limited scope and subtle effects help keep it within the Lesser effects, but the specific restrictions and requirements of the ritual are also meant to give it character and make it interesting to use. As this is desirable in a game, it makes sense to mechanically reward rituals which evoke the kind of feel I'm going for.

Sitting down to play a game of chance against the targets and wagering objects of real or symbolic value are actions of decanic corrospondance for the ritual. They therefore count for DP point. Having to convince the targets to really engage in a game of chance and wagering in a similar way is a way to make him accessible to the powers that are being invoked, so ditto.

I note that the player's and PC's purpose by casting this spell was not to win things at cards, it was to put him in a position where he could perform a more complex ritual requiring certain personal items of the subjects, coins, dice and playing cards, without the subjects realising that he was using magic.