[Thaum] Rituals for Books?

[Phantasm]

In my Ranoc setting, one of the options is Path/Book magic. I'm using most of the Paths in Thaumatology, with an additional Path of Planar Travels, the latter replacing the Summon/Create (Elemental) spells and most of the Gate College.

I'm also planning on having a number of Books in the setting as well. Here are the two I've come up with. My biggest problem is that I'm unsure of what rituals to throw into them!

The Deepest Mysteries of the One True God
This Book is a secret held by the Bishops of the Redwater Church (think the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisition, only lacking a Messiah figure in the past). Physically, it is a tome of rituals written in archaic Corcoranese (think Latin), bound in thick leather, and often used to empower someone for various effects. In addition, it contains rituals for summoning angels, banishing demons, and communicating with spirits, including elementals and fae.

The fact that this Book is a tome of arcane sorcery rather than powered directly by the One True God is a secret that the Church in Redwater does not wish to be revealed! Many Bishops in the Church have actually deluded themselves into thinking that the Book is powered by the One True God.

The Ebony Tome of a Thousand Wasted Lives
This Book is said to have been penned by Vy the Corruptor (goddess of darkness, knowledge, chaos, and corruption) herself as a repository of her black knowledge. The pages of the Ebony Tome are said to be indestructible, and only one copy exists. At present, the Tome's pages are spread across Ranoc, but from time to time the pages have been collected and bound by those who would seek such power.

The majority of rituals in the Ebony Tome deal with demonic forces, destructive elemental effects, altering bodies, and enthrallment and enslavement of wills. However, use of any ritual studied from the Tome has a corrupting influence on the caster; use of the Ebony Tome is considered Black Magic (see Magic, p. M156), with the Demonic Contract being with Vy herself. (In general, the rituals in the Ebony Tome should be played in such a manner that they use the Energy Accumulation model, rather than the Effect Shaping model.)


Also, if you have any other Paths or Books for me to consider, please let me know!

(I do not have Monster Hunters, so I don't know or use Ritual Path Magic.)

[dataweaver]

A general approach: start by deciding which Paths most closely resemble what the Book is about; go through those Paths filtering out any Rituals that are wholly inappropriate, and restricting the scope of the ones that are partly appropriate and partly inappropriate.

The Deepest Mysteries of the One True God: Most of this sounds like various Path of Spirits spells, specialized to particular types of spirits (specialize Summon for angels, Banish for demons, etc.). I'd also look at Lay to Rest, and I'd expand the repertoire beyond spirit stuff to include a selection of Protection and Luck rituals ("may the blessings of the One True God be upon you"/"I shall call down the Lord's divine judgment").

The Ebony Tome: Spirits, Health, Nature, and Cunning. You might have some issues with combining Black Magic and energy-accumulating magic, since the point of the former is to negate the need for the accumulation process of the latter.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

The Ebony Tome: Spirits, Health, Nature, and Cunning. You might have some issues with combining Black Magic and energy-accumulating magic, since the point of the former is to negate the need for the accumulation process of the latter.

I actually think Black Magic and Energy Accumulating go together just fine. With Energy Accumulating, the magnitude of ritual that can be cast is determined by how much energy can be gathered, as opposed to how many skill bonuses can be gained (Effect Shaping). Black Magic lets a caster "borrow" energy up to triple his Occultism / Thaumatology, at the risk of spiritual corruption. Combined, a demonologist can sell his soul for truly epic spells with little risk of failure and almost no time required.

[aesir23]

Another approach to combining Black Magic like affects with Path/Book Magic is to allow Adept with the Corrupting Limitation from Horror.

You can even make it a feature of your setting that anyone can take advantage of reduced casting times, etc... by accumulating Corruption.

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I actually think Black Magic and Energy Accumulating go together just fine. With Energy Accumulating, the magnitude of ritual that can be cast is determined by how much energy can be gathered, as opposed to how many skill bonuses can be gained (Effect Shaping). Black Magic lets a caster "borrow" energy up to triple his Occultism / Thaumatology, at the risk of spiritual corruption. Combined, a demonologist can sell his soul for truly epic spells with little risk of failure and almost no time required.

…which is part of my point: if you want the Ebony Tome magic to take time, applying Black Magic short-circuits that part of things.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

…which is part of my point: if you want the Ebony Tome magic to take time, applying Black Magic short-circuits that part of things.

I suppose. The GM could always institute restrictions on how Black Energy is borrowed. Maybe the caster can only cover at most 2/3 or 1/2 the ritual's cost that way, and must accumulate the rest. Or maybe he rolls to accumulate the energy from the demonic forces, with a +5 effective skill for the entity's willing participation. Or maybe the demon contributes X energy at each accumulation cycle.

But really, IMO the inherent cost of Black Magic is price enough. A character who consistently uses Black Energy to fuel his rituals may cast fast, but he's also going to burn out fast. As soon as he fails one of those daily Will+Magery rolls (practically guaranteed if he casts even a single ritual using the full allotment of Occultism/Thaumatology x3 Black Energy) he'll be tainted by it, and suffer a penalty to every non-demon-fueled spell he casts. After accumulating 10 Black Penalty he'll be utterly twisted by it, losing heroic disadvantages and becoming addicted to black magic. And of course, further black magic use quickly piles on the disadvantages.

PCs who resort to Black Magic will be trying to minimize the number of points they're borrowing. They'll use it if there's no other way to complete the ritual, either because the energy cost is prohibitively high for their skill level, or because it has to be done now. The fact that it lets insane self-destructive NPCs cast major spells at the drop of the hat is, IMO, a feature, not a bug.

[dataweaver]

So, bringing this back to the OP's intentions, the impression I got was that he wants use of the Ebony Tome to automatically qualify as Black Magic. Your post just now does a good job of indicating pitfalls that he'd face if doing so; and if this is his intention, I'd recommend toning down the severity of Black Magic a bit.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by dataweaver

So, bringing this back to the OP's intentions, the impression I got was that he wants use of the Ebony Tome to automatically qualify as Black Magic. Your post just now does a good job of indicating pitfalls that he'd face if doing so; and if this is his intention, I'd recommend toning down the severity of Black Magic a bit.

Well, yes, it was my intention that use of the Tome was meant to be automatic corruption. In play, what I was thinking of was this: when using the Tome itself as an aid for casting, at least one piece of energy comes from the goddess of corruption.

Of course, if the PCs wish to learn a ritual from it but cast it without the page(s) of the Tome, then the Black Magic would be optional.


Getting back to my original questions, though: any rituals in particular you would place in these Books? Any original rituals that come to mind?

[dataweaver]

For the Deepest Mysteries: if you own GURPS Powers: Divine Favor, consider using its list of miracles as inspiration. For example:

Final Rest: this is conceptually the same thing as Lay to Rest.

Holy Touch: a ritual that lets you transform water into Holy Water that acts like an acid when applied against creatures of supernatural evil (vampires, demon's, etc.)

Confidence: a ritual blessing that gives you an edge on your next task. Think "Journeyman's Blessing".

Protection from Evil: a bit like Charm Against Dark Beasts, and a bit like Ward. Lets you wield a holy symbol that keeps the forces of darkness at bay.

Feed the Masses: a ritual cast on a container of food or drink, such that taking food or drink out of it doesn't diminish the amount that remains for the duration of the ritual's effect.

…and so on.