[RPM] Post your rituals here

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

wouldn't this be a greater transform body? "Lesser effects allow localized, believable, and subtle changes. Greater effects allow blatant and complete ones." Changing someone's gender is a pretty blatant and dramatic change right? even if not so from a mechanics point of view...

Actually changing someone's gender should be a Greater Transform Body. This is purely a cosmetic change, however, so I felt it could get away with Lesser.

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

I'm reasonably sure, based on everything I've read about how closely related the human race is, that if you cast this on someone with European descent you'd probably end up forcing just about everyone in the world of European descent to make a HT-5 vs. death. 800 years is about 32 generations (4 generations per 100 years, but that's only the average for the last 100 years) and most American's of European descent are related within an average of 5 generations (we're pretty much all related within 7.) This spell might be better titled "Genocide". =p

Point. Ignoring inbreeding, one generation back is 2 people, two back is 4, then 8, and so on. 32 generations is 4,294,967,296 people, nearly 10x the highest estimate I can find for human population at the time, meaning this would end up probably wiping out the entire human race. Oops. It might be more appropriate to have it trace the target's maternal and/or paternal lines back and then kill off everyone descended from them.

[oneofmanynameless]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Point. Ignoring inbreeding, one generation back is 2 people, two back is 4, then 8, and so on. 32 generations is 4,294,967,296 people, nearly 10x the highest estimate I can find for human population at the time, meaning this would end up probably wiping out the entire human race. Oops. It might be more appropriate to have it trace the target's maternal and/or paternal lines back and then kill off everyone descended from them.

that would reduce the number of people killed dramatically... but I'd take a different route: don't go so far back in time. I've extremely aware of my family genealogy and very much in touch with most of my father's side of the family, including cousins and second cousins and so on. While I can technically trace my family back easily a hundred and fifty years, I'm really only in contact with the family stemming back one generation or so. By the time you get back to my parents cousins I'm aware of many of them but I've never met them. Further back than that I'm aware that there COULD be family in certain places. My point is: if the purpose of the spell is to torture the subject, why bother killing people he had no idea were related to him? Go back four generations, or about a hundred years. That'll still probably kill hundreds of people, with the majority of them being people the subject has at least heard of.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by oneofmanynameless

Go back four generations, or about a hundred years. That'll still probably kill hundreds of people, with the majority of them being people the subject has at least heard of.

That looks about right, actually. Oddly enough, the way Time-Spanning works in RPM, going back a full 100 years requires only 1 less energy than going back 800 (or, rather, 11 energy is sufficient for only 82 years; 12 gets you up to 273 or so, and 13 gets you over 800). Rather than doing it by years, I'll just go with 12 energy and 4 generations. 4 generations is 16 ancestors, and if we assume that each pairing produced 2 reproducing offspring, and each of those produced 2 reproducing offspring, that's 16 in Gen -3, 32 in Gen -2, 64 in Gen -1, and 128 (including the subject) in the current generation. Note 2 reproducing offspring per couple is historically low, although probably isn't too far off if the subject were, say, a modern American.

[Aigol]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

Note: Non-resistable -2 IQ damage backlash to the caster (-10%), required materials of a katana bathed in human blood for 24 hours (-5%) and a non-resistable Fright Check (-30%) backlash for both the caster and the subjects makes for a total energy reduction of -45%, to 705 energy.

I didn't know you could add limitations to a ritual like this. Is it written up somewhere or is it a houserule? I'm just asking cause I am still getting used to things

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Actually changing someone's gender should be a Greater Transform Body. This is purely a cosmetic change, however, so I felt it could get away with Lesser.
...].

Well sex changes are cosmetic surgeries, despite how incredibly life changing most people may consider them.
Innie/outie + hormones is rather minor when all of modern surgical techniques are considered sans cultural prioritization.
That does raise the question of whether cultural priorities should dictate whether a spell is greater or lesser.
Writing it out, I just convinced myself it should. Though what if different setting cultures have radically different salient beliefs?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Well sex changes are cosmetic surgeries, despite how incredibly life changing most people may consider them.
Innie/outie + hormones is rather minor when all of modern surgical techniques are considered sans cultural prioritization.
That does raise the question of whether cultural priorities should dictate whether a spell is greater or lesser.
Writing it out, I just convinced myself it should. Though what if different setting cultures have radically different salient beliefs?

I was thinking more along the lines of "A Greater Transform Body would be sufficient to make a woman into a fertile man, or a man into a fertile woman, with all the hormonal changes involved therein. This spell just makes the character look like the opposite sex (including extra/missing bits), so a Lesser Transform Body seems appropriate." I could certainly see justification for considering the "purely cosmetic change" as being simply on the low end of Greater Transform Body, of course.

[oneofmanynameless]

I'm taking a crack at this. Honestly very new to RPM.

Journeyman's Blessing
Spell Effects: Lesser Strengthen Luck (Control? Transform?)
Inherent Modifiers: Bestows a Bonus to Single Skill, Duration.

This spell grants the subject a bonus to their Job roll (basic set page 516). If the subject's Job requires numerous skill rolls to fulfill, as in the case of adventuring, this spell isn't powerful enough to aid them.

Typical Casting: Lesser Strengthen Luck (3) + +5 to Job rolls (16) + 1 month Duration (11). 30 energy.

Notes: While a Job roll could be any number of different skills it's always going to be the same skill roll for a given character. I could see it being a moderate class range instead of a single skill, but considering how specific the instance of the spell is I thought a single skill might work better.

[Langy]

That'd be Control Luck; Strengthen Luck can give a bonus, but only when you've already got a 10+; otherwise it gives a penalty, with no change in the caster's intent or the ritual.

[oneofmanynameless]

Originally Posted by Langy

That'd be Control Luck; Strengthen Luck can give a bonus, but only when you've already got a 10+; otherwise it gives a penalty, with no change in the caster's intent or the ritual.

Was wondering about that! Thanks!

[oneofmanynameless]

Folk Magic
I'm making an attempt at creating a list of rituals that a fairly standard witch or village wise-(woman/man) might be able to work. The sort of stuff that is called for extensively in the day to day to life, especially in a low-tech society!
I'm aiming for spells that the Magician template from Monster Hunters: Sidekicks could comfortably work assuming they specialized in Path of Body, Path of Luck, and Path of Spirit. Traditionally, these characters would supplement their magic with skills like Esoteric Medicine, Weather Sense, Fortune Telling, Poisons, and Pharmacy (Herbal) (or Herb Lore). So here is what I've got:

This includes the following spells from GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic

- Cleanse Disease (7) (Page 40)
- Cure Disease (7) (Page 41)
- Diagnose (2) (Page 41)
- Minor Healing (7) (Page 47)
- Verdant Fecundity (39) (Page 51)

Journeyman's Blessing
Spell Effects: Lesser Control Luck
Inherent Modifiers: Bestows a Bonus to Single Skill, Duration.

This spell grants the subject a bonus to their Job Roll (basic set page 516). If the subject's Job requires numerous skill rolls to fulfill, as in the case of adventuring, this spell isn't powerful enough to aid them.

Typical Casting: Lesser Control Luck (5) + +5 to Job Rolls (16) + 1 month Duration (11). 32 Energy.

Matchmaker's Blessing
Spell Effects: Lesser Control Luck
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits, Duration.

This spell arranges for it's subject to have a series of fortunate encounters with potential romantic partners over the course of the next week. It will only arrange for one such encounter per day and it grants no aid other than to arrange for the encounter.

Typical Casting: Lesser Control Luck (5) + Added trait: Serendipity (only for fortunate romantic encounters, -20%; feature: per day instead of per session.) (12) + 1 week duration (9). 26 Energy.

Fertility
Spell Effects:Lesser Strengthen Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits, Grants bonus to Single Skill, Duration.

This spell makes an otherwise infertile living subject fertile and grants them a +3 bonus to all HT checks made to conceive offspring.

Typical Casting: Lesser Strengthen Body (3) + Subject Weight (300 lbs) (3) + Grants +3 to HT checks made to conceive (4) + Altered Trait (Subject gains the "Fertile" trait) (0) + 1 week duration (9). 19 energy.

Relieve Pain
Spell Effects:Lesser Strengthen Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits, Duration.

This spell grants the subject High Pain Tolerance for the duration of it's effect.

Typical Casting: Lesser Strengthen Body (3) + Subject Weight (300 lbs) (3) + Altered Trait (High Pain Tolerance) (10) +1 Day Duration (7). 23 energy.