Low-Tech: Magic?

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

I believe he means just the beliefs, the way people act on those beliefs, and what actually happens when those beliefs hit reality.

As an example, we might say that a particular Norse pagan belief in "battle frenzy" meant that the disciples of this magical thinking could will themselves into a GURPS Berserker state.

One could then say that Norse shamans knew how to trigger that state and could use it to affect dying warriors and temporarily pull them out of a coma, or similar death spiral, which would then necessitate new HT rolls which might keep the wounded warriors from spiraling down into death.

In this situation we'd give the Shaman a Herb Lore roll at skill -4 to trigger Berserk in a dying warrior in a coma, the warrior would then get a roll at HT+4 to snap out of his coma for success seconds, and then have to make a normal HT roll to see if he remains conscious and alive.

By my estimation, even that is really stretching the "power" of spiritual beliefs. A more likely occurrence would be a warrior, believing himself to be a berserker, charges naked into the fray, to be promptly skewered by his opponents' spear and dying in cold agony.