[RPM] Your Grimoires

[ajardoor]

Grimoires for Ritual Path Magic, stat them up and post the details here. Description of contents, background, cost, weight, rituals, language, etc.

Some examples from me of Cthulhu Mythos grimoires;
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The Pnakotic Manuscripts
Dead-language (Yithian if not translated into Classical Greek or English) Artefact
18-point energy source for rituals
Weight 5 lbs.

Glimpse Through Time (Scry the Past or Future) +7
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Unaussprechlichen Kulten
German
Weight 4 lbs.

Approach Brother (Contact Ghoul) +3
Contact Friend on the Other Side (Speak with Dead) +5
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De Vermis Mysteriis
Dead-language (Latin) Artefact
6-point energy source for rituals
Weight 4.6 lbs.

Summon Shambler from the Stars (Summon Star Vampire) +4
Voorish Sign (See Spirits) +3
Prinn's Crux Ansata (Ankh Charm that Disrupts Summoned Creatures and Spirits) +5
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Necronomicon
Dead-language (Classical Arabic) Artefact
24-point energy source for rituals
Weight 6.5 lbs.

Create Undead Servant (Bag of Bones) +6
Create Wight (Create Greater Undead Creature) +5
Ward Against the Undead +5
Speak with Dead +7
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The Book of Eibon
Dead-language (Latin) Artefact
12-point energy source for rituals
Weight 5.2 lbs.

Create Barrier of Naach-Tith (Ward against Magic and Spirits) +4
Create Mist of Releh (Area Attack against Spirits) +4
Eibon's Wheel of Mist (Hide from Spirits) +5
Voorish Sign (See Spirits) +3
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The Witch-Cult in Western Europe
Encrypted English
Weight 4 lbs.
$2800/$10400

Bear Witness to Greatness (Identify Mage) +6
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The Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Dead-language (Classical Chinese) Artefact
21-point energy source for rituals
Weight 8 lbs.

Restore Life (Revivify) +9
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Over to you guys.

[Dwarf99]

Just out of curiosity, what are your thoughts about one path Magery for Path of Undead on the Necronomicon?

[quarkstomper]

Some of the books I've used in past games:

Ye Abominations Almanac
Dog-eared book with illustrations of monsters. A catalog of monsters, describing habits, habitats, diets and other helpful information. Much of it is accurate. Some editions have marginal notes from previous owners and related spells.

Ars Metamorphosis
(Art of Metamorphosis) Book of poetry written in the Archaic tongue with erotic
illustrations. Ancient tales of love and enchantments; includes exotic techniques and sex spells. (Some of the poems are spells, so reading aloud from the book can be dangerous!)

The Craft of Venus
A locked book with the emblem of the Gilded Violet on the cover. A collection of sex spells and erotic lore compiled by an infamous courtesan-mage.
(I came up with a lengthy list of spells to go in this book, some taken from GURPS 3e and many custom-made, such as the Zone of Privacy. Sadly, I think the list got lost in one of our moves)

The Green Man
Bark-bound book stitched with thin vines. Spells of Plant Control, tapping magic energies of swamps & related eco-systems; raising Swamp Elementals. Also contains wood-lore and study grants the reader plusses in Wilderness Survival, Swamps and related skills.

The Helpful Guide to Sorcery
A large leather book, bearing no title but the image of a smiling mouth on the cover. The book is a sentient spellbook, and can be used by anyone to cast any spell they can think of. And if they can't think of anything, the book will be more than happy to make suggestions. You can call it Eddie if it will help you relax. No, don't worry; just let the book take care of everything. It will also offer suggestions about your wardrobe, diet and how you really should be keeping an eye on those friends of yours; not that they're untrustworthy, but let me recommend a spell…

Yes, it is cursed. Besides being annoyingly chatty, the book drains one level of the user's WILL for every spell it casts. And it will never perform any magic to harm its actual creator, who probably left the book where you could find it just to ensnare you.

The Invysible Web
Plain book with brown leather binding. Title is written on the cover in magical ink, visible only to caster of a successful See Invisible or Detect Magic spell. A treatise on magical energy lines in the earth, auras and how to manipulate them.

On the Slaying of Dragons
Well-worn book, perhaps a trifle scorched. Memoirs of a famous dragon slayer. Personal anecdotes mixed with hearsay dragon lore. Semi-reliable. Occasionally one can be found in a dragon hoard, the property of a foolish knight who fell victim to one of the book's inaccuracies, which the dragon has annotated with corrections, glosses and ironic commentary.

The Tale of Tails
Thin volume with bits of fur on the binding. Describes how to make Magic Tails which give their wearers animal abilities as well as the spell to attach them.

[ajardoor]

Hey, let me pitch an idea;

Grimoires can, instead of requiring all its spells collected within a work share a Path, have skill requirements that an caster must meet before she can benefit from it. For instance, a conversion of the Azure Dragon book from Pyramid 3/66 would still have requirements of Mathematics-12+ and Astronomy-12+, and its spells can be using different Paths.

The drawback, then, to having a grimoire of diverse rituals would be a need for mundane expertise.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by ajardoor

Hey, let me pitch an idea;

Grimoires can, instead of requiring all its spells collected within a work share a Path, have skill requirements that an caster must meet before she can benefit from it. For instance, a conversion of the Azure Dragon book from Pyramid 3/66 would still have requirements of Mathematics-12+ and Astronomy-12+, and its spells can be using different Paths.

The drawback, then, to having a grimoire of diverse rituals would be a need for mundane expertise.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Could you explain it a bit more please?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. Could you explain it a bit more please?

I think he's using an idea analogous to the way that some Books in Path/Book magic have skill prerequisites. See Books, Hidden in Plain Sight on p122 of Thaumatology and The Deeper Principia, Annotated on p164.

[ajardoor]

A similar idea is that only casters with certain disadvantages can use a certain grimoire (I.e. a grimoire containing rituals for both causing pain (a Body spell) and mentally torturing someone (a Mind spell) can not be used by anyone without Sadism).

This (and my previous idea of skill requirements) is an alternative to restrictions of sharing a Path on collection grimoires (see RPM page 31). All other qualities of collection grimoires apply.

[Christopher R. Rice]

If your idea is that a grimoire gives its bonus to a entire Path than that is a +29 CF modifier, maybe even +49 CF since +29 CF covers a Book skill which encompasses rituals that are about as big as a Normal Tradition for Higher Purpose. Anything less is going to be overpowered.

Edit: typed one thing when I should have typed another.

[Kalzazz]

Would say +19 CF and +9 CF be proper for normal and narrow tradition grimoires?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

Would say +19 CF and +9 CF be proper for normal and narrow tradition grimoires?

If I were pricing such a thing I might go with...

All Path skills: +149 CF
Entire Path: +49 CF
Book skill or Broad Tradition: +29 CF
Normal Tradition: +19 CF
Narrow Tradition: +9 CF

That might be a bit harsh, but hell it SHOULD be. You're getting a bonus to a entire Path or Tradition making them akin to a Place of Power you can carry with you. I probably wouldn't allow a bonus greater than +5 for All Path skills and I'd give the side-eye to any player wanting one higher than +2.