[DF] Path/Book mages in DF?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Really, I think it all hinges on the rituals. Being able to hit the monster with a dead rat with a knotted string tied to it and have the monster cursed to -1 or worse on all dice rolls, or snapping a twig and unleashing a devastating blast of spirit energy, would be entirely cool. Don't think purely in terms of love charms and the like.

Yeah should work fine with more dungeon oriented rituals, and charms are a good approach. More or less off the top of my head, so probably in need of some balancing, but how about:

The Book of Planetary Amulets
This book consists of a set of rituals united by enchantment of a Planetary Amulet - a sigil engraved metal disc set with a gemstone. When successfully enchanted the gem glows faintly. Each talisman costs at least [adjust to taste, separately for lesser and greater talismans] and can hold only a single enchantment at a time. The caster (or other recipient of the amulet designated in the enchantment ritual) may at any time command it to release its effect by touching it and speaking a single command word, this requires an action.
All rituals have a standard 1 hour casting time. Duration modifiers are set for the duration of the released effect; amulets themselves store the effect until the next time their governing planet enters the first decade of Aquarius (approximately monthly for the moon, annually for the inner planets and sun, every orbital period for the outer planets).

Lesser Amulet of the Sun Book -2. Amber set in gold. The amulet gem glows, illuminating a 20 yard radius. The light has special effects equivalent to sunlight.

Greater Amulet of the Sun Book -8. Diamond set in platium. True Seeing. For the duration of the effect the diamond goes transparent. Anyone looking through it sees the scene as though under the spells Aura, Magesight, Astral Vision, Know Illusion and See Invisible.

Lesser Amulet of Mercury Book -0. Invoker flips the amulet. Which side lands up answers a single yes/no question truthfully.

Greater Amulet of Mercury Book -6. Untiring nourishmeht. The bearer of the amulet does not need food, water or air for the duration, as long as he remains in possession of the amulet.

Lesser Venus. Book -3. Seek treasure. The amulet is slightly attracted to the nearest object or collection the invoker would consider a treasure. Suspend it by a cord and use it as a dowsing pendulum.

Greater Venus. Book -5. Translation. For the duration the bearer has native comprehension of any spoken language he can hear.

Lesser Moon. Book -3. Vitality. Identical to the Path of Health ritual.

Greater Moon. Book -8 Invisibility. The bearer is invisible for the duration, as long as he remains in possession of the amulet and avoids touching anything made of iron.

Lesser Mars. Book -0 Ruby in iron. Ignition. For the duration anything flammable touching the ruby ignites as if in contact with a torch. The ruby is not actually hot - if a torch will not light it, objects touching it don't warm up.

Alternate Lesser Mars Book -2. Courage. Adds margin of success to Fright Checks, and requires any magical effect causing fear or similar reactions to win a quick contest with the amulet to attempt to affect the bearer

Greater Mars. Book -8. Invulnerability. Provides the bearer DR 15 against any object considered a weapon by the person attacking you with it. This does [not] stack with any armor you are actually wearing, use the better of DR 15 or your actual armor in that case.

Lesser Jupiter. Book -3. Victory. Provides a single use of the Luck advantage, usable in anything which can be defined as a contest. As with Luck, you must decide to activate this prior to actually making the first die roll, and it *does* require the activation word, so it's only useful for contests you are anticipating. You don't necessarily have to activate it right at the moment of the roll though - you may activate it at the start of a fight with a particular foe and pick a die roll during the battle to apply it to.

Greater Jupiter. Book -8. Lightning. A bolt of lightning leaps from the amulet to strike a designated target you can see. Inflicts 1d electrical burning damage per point of success margin. Normally worked with a lot of bonuses to ensure a big success margin, which since you roll the dice when completing the *ritual* you pretty well know when it comes time to actually activate the amulet.

Lesser Saturn. Book -2 Repel Undead. Use the effect of True Faith for the duration.

Greater Saturn. Book -4 Slow. Resisted by HT, a selected target you can see is at -1 to Move and Dodge per point of success.