[MH] Spells for Ritual Mastery?

[Luke Bunyip]

My Excell Fu is not as good as it used to be, so I am making up a static template for calculating Ritual Path Magic costs in Word. Which has got me thinking about locking in some rituals using Ritual Mastery.

My first choices would be Healing, Banishing Undead, and some form of illusion based combat benefits ( Dodge, Feint, etc). But I am curious as to any first choices any of you may have.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

My Excell Fu is not as good as it used to be, so I am making up a static template for calculating Ritual Path Magic costs in Word. Which has got me thinking about locking in some rituals using Ritual Mastery.

My first choices would be Healing, Banishing Undead, and some form of illusion based combat benefits ( Dodge, Feint, etc). But I am curious as to any first choices any of you may have.

Wards. Wards. More Wards. Defensive magics, bulletproofs, etc. A Restore Mind to undo insanity and imposed mental conditions in others. Healing. Resurrection. Weather Control. Summoning. Gates. "I owe thee pain!" Shapeshifting. Curses.

And then we get into the fun stuff. :)

[PK]

Gotta agree with the wards. Also, Ritual Master (Divination) isn't a bad investment, as long as you can trust yourself not to tick off your GM. In addition, anyone who's found themselves unexpectedly facing lycanthropes may want to learn Ritual Mastery (Silver Weapons), a Greater Transform Matter effect to temporarily turn bullets or melee weapons into silver; Christopher Rice passed that one on to me when he forced his group to fight a bunch of weres with only knives and screwdrivers (evil!).

Above and beyond that, mages are best when they focus on information-gathering and support. Get some spells with Sense effects to locate nearby enemies. And some healing spells -- Greater Restore Body may be expensive, but it can be a literal lifesaver. Use Lesser Control Chance to boost your Guns skill (and your teammates') or to give everyone an active defense bonus. All very, very useful.

(And hell, invest in RM for at least one big, flashy energy-missile spell . . . no, it's not an efficient use of your energy, but you know you want to show off sometimes.)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Gotta agree with the wards. Also, Ritual Master (Divination) isn't a bad investment, as long as you can trust yourself not to tick off your GM.

Ditto on the Divination, when running my Haunted Paris adventure, my girlfriend took that and crited it often enough that I eventually let her take Psychometry as a 'innate magic'

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

In addition, anyone who's found themselves unexpectedly facing lycanthropes may want to learn Ritual Mastery (Silver Weapons), a Greater Transform Matter effect to temporarily turn bullets or melee weapons into silver; Christopher Rice passed that one on to me when he forced his group to fight a bunch of weres with only knives and screwdrivers (evil!).

While I was the *evil* one to make the PC's fight were's with nothing but what they could scrounge in the back of a broke down van; my girlfriend was the one who decided to totally negate the scenario by making the improvised weapons silver, a few rounds later the Commando and the Inhuman had it covered.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Above and beyond that, mages are best when they focus on information-gathering and support. Get some spells with Sense effects to locate nearby enemies. And some healing spells -- Greater Restore Body may be expensive, but it can be a literal lifesaver. Use Lesser Control Chance to boost your Guns skill (and your teammates') or to give everyone an active defense bonus. All very, very useful.

Yes, everything you just said a zillion times over. Healing effects are by far the best use of a Witch's time outside of combat and charms.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

(And hell, invest in RM for at least one big, flashy energy-missile spell . . . no, it's not an efficient use of your energy, but you know you want to show off sometimes.)

I've found that a spell that emulates Sunbolt from GURPS Magic works quite well, burning = sunlight = lots of win.


Also I can't emphasize warding enough; it was the *only* thing that saved my PCs when they fought a Master Vampire in his nest plus some regular vampires.

I want to say it again. THE ONLY THING. Master Vampires are death on wheels and by rights the characters should have died but for that and some lucky well-timed rolls.

Also, if you do finish up this excel file Luke, I would dearly like to see it. My excel skillz well...they suck, so when you're down email me (you got my address) or toss it on google docs and share with the rest o the world.

^_^

Great idea btw

Ghostdancer

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Also, if you do finish up this excel file Luke, I would dearly like to see it.

I used to play with Excel quite a bit. However, it would appear I have forgotten some of the formula tricks that I used to use. For instance I can make a drop down menu, I just cannot remember how to use the result to place the appropriate value in a target cell.

I am actually working on a dumb static proforma in Word. I want to get it down to one page. I'll piff ya one once I've got it finished.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

I used to play with Excel quite a bit. However, it would appear I have forgotten some of the formula tricks that I used to use. For instance I can make a drop down menu, I just cannot remember how to use the result to place the appropriate value in a target cell.

I am actually working on a dumb static proforma in Word. I want to get it down to one page. I'll piff ya one once I've got it finished.

Spiffy ^_^

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

I used to play with Excel quite a bit. However, it would appear I have forgotten some of the formula tricks that I used to use. For instance I can make a drop down menu, I just cannot remember how to use the result to place the appropriate value in a target cell.

I am actually working on a dumb static proforma in Word. I want to get it down to one page. I'll piff ya one once I've got it finished.

I guess that you need vlookup or hlookup...

[Luke Bunyip]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

I guess that you need vlookup or hlookup...

Ta. I'll check them out and see if they work for me.

[Kuroshima]

Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip

Ta. I'll check them out and see if they work for me.

No problem. Use the built in help to understand those functions! They're pretty cryptic if you don't, but damn handy and easy to use once you grok them.