The Value of a Spectator in Ceremonial Magic

[hal]

Just out of curiosity, is there a point cost value along the lines of "ally" for a mage who can consistently utilize a person within a community as a "powerstone"?

How much would it cost to have a group of allies willing to work as "Ceremonial assistants"

Example:
Suppose you have a community of peasants all willing to join into ceremonial castings. Said allies are such that you can consistently count on 30 to ALWAYS provide 1 fatigue per ceremonial casting. Some 30 more always respond with a +4 reaction to requests for aid (ie working in ceremonial magic) and the rest of the village couldn't care less one way or another (ie, no bonus to reaction rolls for requests for aid). Out of 100 people, the mage always has 30 fatigue to use, may get up to around 9 to 20 more from the second group, and zero or less from the last group?

[hal]

One set of rules I've worked on is as follows:

When a Mage desires to cast a ceremonial spell, he is in effect, asking for aid in the casting of his spell. The Reaction table has rules for this - roll 3d6 and look to the table with any attending modifiers changing the roll upwards or downwards. Read across the the resulting category to determine if the NPC will give aid.

As a result of this - those spectators who would be willing to help the mage and sincerely desire for the spell the mage is casting to succeed, the GM may assign a bonus reaction modifier to the reaction roll.

Any reaction that is 12+ results in 1 fatigue granted to the spell caster for his ceremonial spell cast.

Any reaction of 10 or 11 results in zero fatigue granted. The spectator emotionally doesn't care one way or another.

Any reaction of 9 or less results in -5 fatigue granted, as this spectator actively and emotionally desires for the spell to fail.

If I were free to ignore the listing above? I would make it thus:

Reaction rolls of 15+ grant +2 fatigue to the caster
Reaction rolls of 12+ grant 1 fatigue to the caster
Reaction rolls of 10+ grant 0 fatigue to the caster
Reaction rolls of 7+ grant -1 fatigue to the caster
Reaction rolls of under 7 grant -5 fatigue to the caster

A community that wants bless plants to be cast on its fields for example, might result in having a +4 bonus to the reaction roll. That same community who want their Lord's field to be blessed might only be worth a +2 reaction roll.

A community who has lost a revered leader might be worth +5 reaction as a mage attempts to cast "Ressurrection" with the aid of the community. A community that actively HATES the person being ressurrected or perhaps actively HATES the mage doing the casting might get a -2 reaction roll to their "reaction roll for aid".

This way, GM's can keep the element of surprise or mystery for magic. Imagine if you will, having 120 spectators present when you need to cast a spell requiring 100 fatigue. With a crowd that has a +4 reaction roll, the GM can tell the mage "Ok, you find yourself filling with power as the chanting of the crowd fills your ears. You begin your chanting of the spell and towards the end of the ceremony, you begin to channel the energy of the crowd towards your desired goal. Unfortunately, you feel your efforts failing to reach your needed goal - do you desire to expend personal energy and even your health to insure this spell has the energy required, or do you let it fizzle out?" The player decides to use his own reserves... "Ok, you've spent all of your physical energy, and still it is not enough, but you sense that you are perhaps close to having enough. Do you let it tear out some of your lifeforce as well?" What the player might not know is that he only got 81 fatigue from the crowd and needs 19 more fatigue to cast his spell successfully. After allowing 9 of his 10 fatigue go into the spell, he now needs another 10 fatigue. By the GM not saying how many more points he needs, he has to decide whether to let the spell abort, or expend his life energy. At 10 hitpoints of damage to complete the spell, the mage had best hope that it was worth it to spend the next ten days recovering from his ordeal.

For anyone interested - I've created an Excel spreadsheet that randomly rolls reaction rolls for up to 200 participants (you can set the number from 1 to 200 people). You can set the reaction modifier to any number you desire - be it negative or positive or even just plain zero. It will then let you know just how many fatigue was gathered for the ceremonial casting. Email me directly if you want the Excel spreadsheet. If you want one based on the optional chart I listed above (points between 2 to -5 depending on specific reaction rolls) please so indicate in your email.

[cccwebs]

Originally Posted by hal

Just out of curiosity, is there a point cost value along the lines of "ally" for a mage who can consistently utilize a person within a community as a "powerstone"?

How much would it cost to have a group of allies willing to work as "Ceremonial assistants"

Example:
Suppose you have a community of peasants all willing to join into ceremonial castings. Said allies are such that you can consistently count on 30 to ALWAYS provide 1 fatigue per ceremonial casting. Some 30 more always respond with a +4 reaction to requests for aid (ie working in ceremonial magic) and the rest of the village couldn't care less one way or another (ie, no bonus to reaction rolls for requests for aid). Out of 100 people, the mage always has 30 fatigue to use, may get up to around 9 to 20 more from the second group, and zero or less from the last group?

OK, if your wanting to do this as Allies, then for the consistant 30 that will always help out it could cost 40 points {25% point total: base 1 pt, group of 21-50: x10, Constantly: x4}. Of course, you may just want to say that it is a group of 50 available. For the rest of the town, decide how frequently they can help and adjust accordingly {92% of the time: 15 or less, 71% of the time: 12 or less, 39% of the time: 9 or less, 12% of the time: 6 or less} As for reaction rolls, they aren't needed if the Mage is willing to pay the points for the Ally, especially since ceremonial magic takes very little fatigue from the 'participants'.

I'm using the idea of a 'generic' townsfolk built of 25% or less of the campaigns starting total. You could always have a smaller Ally group of mages who know the spell at 15+ to be able to provide more mana. {50% point total: 2 pts, group of 6-10: x6, Constantly x4} for 48 points and a possibility of 100 extra mana, or more, for casting, but you'd be limited in which spells you could cast ceremonially as the allies are 'built' and the spell list will not change much.

[ChupaThingy]

Originally Posted by hal

Just out of curiosity, is there a point cost value along the lines of "ally" for a mage who can consistently utilize a person within a community as a "powerstone"?

Familiar p. 38 (basically an Ally or Ally Group with -40%: Granted by Familiar)

[NorthSaber]

I don't think there's a reason to buy them as an Ally Group unless they follow you around for adventures.

[hal]

The thing to consider is that these "spectators" do not generally follow you in an adventure. But then again, if you are at home and you need them, you can use them for the "strategic" level spells during an adventure. They act exactly like powerstones in that respect. Thing is, they're not exactly like familiars either. Even more important - chances are good that when the "bullets" (so to speak) start flying, they are unlikely to really stay the course and act as powerstones. Another thing that comes to mind is the question of what happens to them after they've suffered a spell backfire? Myself? I'd rule that unless the spell backfire directly affects them negatively, they are still likely to be willing to back their favorite Magic users ;)

Then again, after a single incident of a really BAD backfire, one could rule that these people are highly unlikely to be willing to help as spectators.

[ChupaThingy]

Originally Posted by hal

The thing to consider is that these "spectators" do not generally follow you in an adventure. But then again, if you are at home and you need them, you can use them for the "strategic" level spells during an adventure.

Frequency of Appearance. If you expect to be home while adventuring Quite Often, double the cost for example.

Originally Posted by hal

They act exactly like powerstones in that respect. Thing is, they're not exactly like familiars either.

I generally interpret Familiars as "allies that grant you powers." Powerstones that may not be able to show up to help or may run screaming and break the ritual if shot at. Buy it as Extra Fatigue (-40% granted by "friendly neighborhood spectators" plus whatever enhancements/limitations you feel are fitting) and justify it however you like :) I'd personally use Familiars as the base. Of course, I use Allies, Ally Groups and Contacts extensively (my heavy ShadowRun background).

Originally Posted by hal

Even more important - chances are good that when the "bullets" (so to speak) start flying, they are unlikely to really stay the course and act as powerstones. Another thing that comes to mind is the question of what happens to them after they've suffered a spell backfire? Myself? I'd rule that unless the spell backfire directly affects them negatively, they are still likely to be willing to back their favorite Magic users ;)

The Reaction Table (mixing results of Requests for Aid and Loyalty) would cover this for me.

Originally Posted by hal

Then again, after a single incident of a really BAD backfire, one could rule that these people are highly unlikely to be willing to help as spectators.

But then someone else would take their place (you did pay points after all. . . You can't just get rid of an Enemy by pulling a trigger, neither can your enemy).

[cccwebs]

Originally Posted by hal

The thing to consider is that these "spectators" do not generally follow you in an adventure. But then again, if you are at home and you need them, you can use them for the "strategic" level spells during an adventure. They act exactly like powerstones in that respect. Thing is, they're not exactly like familiars either. Even more important - chances are good that when the "bullets" (so to speak) start flying, they are unlikely to really stay the course and act as powerstones. Another thing that comes to mind is the question of what happens to them after they've suffered a spell backfire? Myself? I'd rule that unless the spell backfire directly affects them negatively, they are still likely to be willing to back their favorite Magic users ;)

Then again, after a single incident of a really BAD backfire, one could rule that these people are highly unlikely to be willing to help as spectators.

Then throw in an Accessibility limitation of 'only in my home town'. Adjust the value accordingly. (I'd probably say -50% as the character will not be able to benefit much while on the road, but unless the campaign has lots of long distance travel he'll still be able to get home enough to 'use' them)

As for the BAD backfire, the rules already state you have to treat your allies well as it is. If you treat them bad and they 'leave' you, you lose the points you spent for them.

[ChupaThingy]

Originally Posted by cccwebs

As for the BAD backfire, the rules already state you have to treat your allies well as it is. If you treat them bad and they 'leave' you, you lose the points you spent for them.

I did forget that bit didn't I? Bad GM, no cookie.

[hal]

One thing I've wrestled with is the concept of "availability" of allies. Take a Traveller Campaign for example. A characters leaves one planet to head out to another. The character has an Ally he paid the cost for, and even though he's off the planet where his "friend" might be found, if the GM rolls for availability on another planet that is light years away from where the friend is - he shows up when the player needs him? Lets look at it another way. If the "adventuring" Character has an ally that appears on a 10 or less, might it not be better to say "He's available 50% of the time"? Then, if the mage is home 50% of the time, his ally is always available - but if the Mage is away, then the Ally is NOT available at all.

Thoughts?

Oh, before I forget...

The reason for this thread is not just for Player characters, it is also for describing NPC's. What is good for the goose should be good for the Gander. If a group of adventuring player characters wander into a village, and the village mage has access to 80 fatigue due to the ability to tap 100 villagers for spell casting ceremonies - that should be part of the equation... <g>