[Thaumatology] Powers as (Path/Book) Magic

[Prince Charon]

Instinctive Rituals

Thinking about Marvel's mutants, and similar characters, such as the supers in the GURPS I.S.T. setting, I considered the Charm perk, and then Meta-Traits, which lead to this: Humans and other beings in such a worldline might be born with a Latent Magic perk. At puberty, or after some other form of trauma occurs (e.g. mainlining a connection to the Spider Totem after being bitten by a magical spider), their inner power is awakened, which is where the Meta-Trait comes in. You have Limited Path/Book Adept and possibly Limited Magery (generally One Path or Book Only, or One Ritual Only, but possibly other modifiers), and if your instinctive style is Energy Accumulating then most likely you've got an Energy Reserve. You may or may not have some perks, disadvantages, or quirks in the Meta-Trait, but certainly have skills and techniques, hence the name - you have one ritual (or perhaps a few) that you are instinctively good at, probably based on a Path or Book with a separate core skill (or your instinctive style only has one Book, so the Book skill is the core skill); you instinctively know these, as well, but might have a disadvantage or quirk that limits your understanding of them (so perhaps you're Incompetent with any use that isn't covered by your ritual). Alternatively, perhaps you have a perk that causes your Instinctive Ritual to default off of IQ, Will, or another characteristic. Depending on your abilities, personality, and setting, you may buy down or buy off some limitations or disadvantages, and expand your range of rituals, or you might not.


Examples

Imagine, if you will, a boy named Charlie, about age twelve, has learned that he can read the minds of those around him:
Instinctive Ritual (Magery 0 (Path of the Mind Only, -40%) [3]; Magery (Path of the Mind Only, -40%) 3 [18]; Path/Book Adept (Path of the Mind Only, -40%) 3 [18]; Path of the Mind [8] IQ+3; Read Thoughts (H) Path of the Mind-6 [7] Path of the Mind-0) [54]

As Charlie grows older (and starts preferring to be called Charles), he learns other rituals in the Path of the Mind (or perhaps the Book of Xavier, or something like that), and seeks to teach other mutants, but also tragically loses the use of his legs.

Similar ideas work for Bobby Drake ('Path of Ice,' perhaps) and Jean Grey (Path of Motion), with the caveat that early Jean had telepathic abilities that were locked away for her sanity, so her Path of Motion-limited advantages later became Two-Path advantages.

When Warren Worthington III was introduced, his wings were depicted as so compressible that a set of belts were enough to completely conceal them beneath his longjohns and tailored suit. In a setting like this, it makes more sense for his winged form to be the result of a ritual, at least at first:
Instinctive Ritual (Magery 0 (One Ritual Only: Skinchange (Winged Human), -80%) [1]; Magery (One Ritual Only: Skinchange (Winged Human), -80%) 2 [4]; Path/Book Adept (One Ritual Only: Skinchange (Winged Human), -80%) 3 [6]; Perk: Skinchange (Winged Human) defaults from HT [1]; Skinchange (Winged Human) (H) HT-6 [7] HT+2) [19]

Possibly, a critical failure later leaves him permanently changed; it makes sense for that to be a possible, or even likely, result of a crit-fail on a Skinchange ritual. This may be common among mutants, and could explain Hank McCoy's issues - every time he tries to fix it, though, something goes wrong, perhaps due to subconsciously sabotaging himself. Another plausible effect of a Skinchange crit-fail is that you get the Alternate Form advantage, but it's cyclic (e.g. changing at the full moon, or sunset), or otherwise not under the caster's control ('Now, whenever Dr. Banner grows angry or outraged, a startling metamorphosis occurs...'), at least at first ('That's my secret, Captain: I'm always angry.').

Scott Summers is an interesting case, as is Anne-Marie (Rogue). One way to deal with their abilities is to just give them the advantages with the Always On, -50% limitation, but since I'm already fudging things to fit, I prefer to go with the idea that Scott, at least, has the Uncontrollable limitation on his One Ritual Magery, and add his glasses or visor as a Mitigator on the limitation (this won't change the price at all, unless I can find an appropriate enhancement or two for Magery - something that not every GM agrees is acceptable); his optic blasts going off whenever he's under stress would be dangerous enough that he'd wear a Mitigator all the time anyway. Rogue would likewise have Uncontrollable, but without the Mitigator, and might also have Unconscious Only when she started out. The big problem with Rogue is really designing her ritual, more than the advantages in her meta-trait.


Thoughts?