[RPM] Post your rituals here

[X the Unknown]

Happy New Year All!

I have a player who wants a ritual to shrink himself or others down to ½" height. Below is the ritual we came up with, and while it seems right, it also seems expensive. I know RPM allows you to do things in multiple ways, and I'm not just trying to reduce the cost of the ritual, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. Are there other ways people would do this, and why is it OK to do it your way?

I've already read through the following thread and got inspiration when designing the ritual:

[RPM] Shrinking a Planet?

Shrink
Spell Effects: Greater Transform Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits: Shrinking
Greater Effects: 1 (x3)

This ritual cause any living thing weighing 300 lbs. or less, within 2 yards, to shrink 13 Size Modifiers (SM). A normal human would shrink down to a ½”. It takes 13 seconds for this to occur, and when the ritual is over, it takes 13 seconds to return to its original size.

Typical Casting: Greater Transform Body [8] + Altered Traits: Shrinking [65] + Subject Weight: 300 lbs. [3] + Duration: 1 hour [3]
Cost: 237 energy (79x3)

[johndallman]

Looks plausible to me.

[AlexanderHowl]

One of my favorites is Diabolic Lover

Spell Effects: Greater Transform Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits (Leech)
Greater Effects: 1 (×3)

The target gains the ability to feed on the FP of others through kissing, intimacy, or other contact with mucous membranes or open wounds.

Typical Casting: Greater Transform Body [8] + Altered Trait: Leech (Accelerated Healing, +25%; Blood Agent, -40%; No Signature, +20%; Steals FP, -25%) [20] + Subject Weight (300 lbs) [3] + Duration (1 month) [11]. Cost: 126 energy (42×3)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by X the Unknown

Happy New Year All!

I have a player who wants a ritual to shrink himself or others down to ½" height. Below is the ritual we came up with, and while it seems right, it also seems expensive. I know RPM allows you to do things in multiple ways, and I'm not just trying to reduce the cost of the ritual, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right. Are there other ways people would do this, and why is it OK to do it your way?

I've already read through the following thread and got inspiration when designing the ritual:

[RPM] Shrinking a Planet?

Shrink
Spell Effects: Greater Transform Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits: Shrinking
Greater Effects: 1 (x3)

This ritual cause any living thing weighing 300 lbs. or less, within 2 yards, to shrink 13 Size Modifiers (SM). A normal human would shrink down to a ½”. It takes 13 seconds for this to occur, and when the ritual is over, it takes 13 seconds to return to its original size.

Typical Casting: Greater Transform Body [8] + Altered Traits: Shrinking [65] + Subject Weight: 300 lbs. [3] + Duration: 1 hour [3]
Cost: 237 energy (79x3)

I wouldn't do it this way, you could of course. But adding Altered Traits like this means the subject is in control of their ability to change sizes - that's probably not something you want. Instead, use Bestows a Penalty (Narrow) to reduce the subject's SM to whatever you want. It would require a Greater Transform effect as you note.

[X the Unknown]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Looks plausible to me.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

One of my favorites is Diabolic Lover

Uhm... wow! Temporary Vampire. That opens up avenues of play that I'm not sure I ever wanted to know about. Thanks for that. :-)

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

I wouldn't do it this way... Instead, use Bestows a Penalty (Narrow) to reduce the subject's SM to whatever you want.

Ok, if following the guidelines in Shrinking (Basic, p. 85), shrinking down 13 SM to ½" using Bestows a Penalty (Narrow) would cost 4,096 energy, making the whole ritual after Greater Effect Multiplier 12,330 energy. Seems a bit high. Are you not using the guidelines in Shrinking to determine the cost? Did I do something wrong... again?

If I let my player throw around 12,330 energy, I'm sure he'd come up with something a lot more interesting than shrinking someone.

[AlexanderHowl]

Another favorite is Total Suffering:

Spell Effects: Lesser Destroy Body
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Traits (Blindness, Chronic Pain (Agonizing, 8 hours, 15-), Quadraplegic).
Greater Effects: 0 (×1)

The target experienced total suffering, chronic agonizing pain while going blind and quadruplegic. They retain their other senses though, so they can taste their bile, smell their urine, feel their excrement, and hear their own screams. They cannot even find solace in suicide and must beg someone else to end their suffering. The last part is key to their suffering, as they must spend a year hearing the refusals of their loved ones to help them end their suffering.

Typical Casting: Lesser Destroy Body [5] + Altered Trait: Disadvantages (Blindness [10] + Chronic Pain (Agonizing, 8 hours, 15-) [18] + Qudraplegic [16]) [44] + Subject Weight (300 lbs) [3] + Duration (1 year) [22]. Cost: 64 energy (64×1)

[Shostak]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Instead, use Bestows a Penalty (Narrow) to reduce the subject's SM to whatever you want.

Why is Bestows a Penalty even necessary? What's the die roll modifier this spell imposes on its subject, and what rolls does it impose them on?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by X the Unknown

Ok, if following the guidelines in Shrinking (Basic, p. 85), shrinking down 13 SM to ½" using Bestows a Penalty (Narrow) would cost 4,096 energy, making the whole ritual after Greater Effect Multiplier 12,330 energy. Seems a bit high. Are you not using the guidelines in Shrinking to determine the cost? Did I do something wrong... again?

If I let my player throw around 12,330 energy, I'm sure he'd come up with something a lot more interesting than shrinking someone.

Originally Posted by Shostak

Why is Bestows a Penalty even necessary? What's the die roll modifier this spell imposes on its subject, and what rolls does it impose them on?

That's a good question and one I've been asking myself today while mulling this over. The answer is: it probably isn't. Just like turning someone into a frog doesn't require afflicting an alternate form, shrinking someone down likely shouldn't require a spell modifier. Just decide on how small you're putting them and then use the rules for Shrinking to reduce stats. Boom. Done.

[AlexanderHowl]

Well, squish, done. A character shrank down to SM-13 would have 0.07 HP, meaning that 1 HP of damage would obliterate them.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Well, squish, done. A character shrank down to SM-13 would have 0.07 HP, meaning that 1 HP of damage would obliterate them.

Sure, they'd have 1 HP, but you'd have -13 to hit them (and they'd get to Dodge). So I mean...good luck with that. This isn't a "death spell" it's a "I'm annoyed and will deal with you later spell."