Homemade Path/Book Rituals

[nanoboy]

I'm prepping a game for an upcoming post-modern urban fantasy setting I've created called Veils. One of the magic systems used is the Books system with the Effects Shaping option. The books primarily use spells from Thaumatology, but I have written some new ones that I thought I would share.

Good Night’s Rest (Book-2; 5 minutes)
This redirected version of the Slumber ritual is often used to help people sleep. The target of the spell must be a willing individual, so it cannot be used to cause harm. However, while under the influence of this ritual, the target will not suffer from cold sweats, night terrors, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or any other sleeping disorders, though they may be awoken by another individual or an important disturbance. Individuals who sleep at least six hours under the effects of Good Night’s Rest receive +2 to all HT-related rolls, such as recovery.

Cure Simple Disease (Book-2; 30 minutes)
With Cure Simple Disease, the caster can cure any minor ailment. The scope is limited to diseases that can be expected to be non-lethal and clear up on their own within a month without lingering side effects. Once successfully cast, the subject will feel better in 1d hours. A critical failure of the casting causes the caster to contract the disease and for the duration of the disease to double for the subject.

Detect Magical Cause (Book-2; 30 minutes)
This ritual allows the caster to detect and identify any magical cause of someone’s ailment. If cast over an area, the ritual will detect and identify any diseased persons and any magical hazards that would cause disease-like symptoms.

Metaphysical Map (Book-6; 1 hour)
This ritual generates requires a map of some sort. The caster must use the Area Effect Modifiers (Th242) to define the spell’s parameters. Once cast, the spell paints all magical features onto the map provided at the level of detail of the original map. These features include mana levels, aspect of mana, magical items, interdimensional gates, commonly used ritual spaces, etc. The features remain on the map for duration of the spell.

Ride the Beast (Book-5; 30 minutes)
With this ritual, the caster can enter the mind of a non-sapient animal and see things from the animal’s perspective. He must know of the individual animal that he is going to possess. After successfully performing the ritual, roll a Quick Contest of between the ritual roll and the Will of the target. Success indicates that the caster’s consciousness is now in the head of the beast. From there, he can see, hear, taste, smell, and feel everything that the beast can using the beast’s statistics. Failure indicates that the caster must retry the ritual.
The caster may also take some control of the target. He may instruct the animal to perform some general task and engage in a Quick Contest between his Will and the target’s Will. Such tasks are instructions like, “Go to that building,” “Watch that man,” or “Attack that guard.” However, tasks that are absolutely contrary to the nature of the animal or that put the animal at risk apply a penalty to the caster’s Will roll in the Quick Contest. Such penalties are up to the GM, but they can range from -1 to -5, depending on the degree of risk to the animal.

Empathize with the Beast (Book-2; 20 minutes)
When a caster uses this ritual, he must choose some species of non-sapient animal. Once he successfully casts the ritual, he can understand the motivations of any individual of that species that he sees for the duration of the spell. Any time that he observes an animal doing something, he knows why it has done it. He may also anticipate the next action of an animal. This spell grants +5 to any Animal Handling, Ride, Naturalist, Survival, or Biology roll regarding interactions with the species.

Slip the Veil (Book-8; 1 hour)
This ritual creates a gateway to another plane of existence. If the magician knows the true name of a plane of existence, then he can create a gateway to that place. If he lacks this information but knows of the plane, then he is at -5 to cast the ritual. A magician may also create a gateway to a random world that he does not know of at -8 to cast the ritual. In general, the gateway will be the size of a normal door—about 4 feet by 7 feet, but the area can be increased by adding a -1 penalty per doubling. The gateway remains there for the duration of the spell.

Style Hair (Book; 10 minutes)
This ritual changes the style of the target’s hair (including body hair) for its duration. It can grow or cut, dye, curl or straighten, weave, braid, stiffen, and soften hair. The spell lasts for the chosen duration.

Weird Fashion (Book-5; 10 minutes)
This ritual modifies the target’s body in some way that is chosen by the caster for its duration. Unwilling subjects can resist with Will, and if he does, then the caster is at -8 to cast. Body parts may be reshaped, resized, removed, or added. These parts can be similar to the species or not (i.e., adding a horse’s tail.) They can act as temporary Distinctive Features (B165), Unnatural Features (B22), or even Appearance Perks.

Rapid Cleansing (Book-1; 10 minutes)
This ritual cleans one subject, be it a person or an item. If cast over an area, then all objects in that area are cleaned. All dust and grime will be removed, and things that need polishing or waxing will receive an appropriate shine. Duration modifiers are unnecessary. The items and persons will be cleaned, and they will get dirty again naturally.

Patch (Book-1; 10 minutes)
This ritual repairs holes, tears, runs, etc. in fabric. The effect is permanent, and the item can be damaged again as normal.

Rune-Working (Book-8; 1 hour)
This ritual enchants an item in creation. When cast on the raw component materials gathered for some new item, the caster can construct the item with his relevant technical skills. The ritual’s duration must cover the total time required to make the item. Making the item is done in the same way as usual, but the caster will require twice the usual time to build the item and will also need to use the Symbol Drawing (IQ/VH) skill as he constructs it.
The item will be treated as a Gadget (B116-B117), though the owner of it does not necessarily need to pay the points for it (GM’s option). Build the magical effects as you would any Gadget using the powers system. However, subtract the total number character points required for the item from the ritual roll as a penalty. For every 10 CP’s that the item costs, subtract 1 from the Symbol Drawing roll as well. The item is now permanently enchanted with the effects.

Artificium Nomen (Book-6; 1 hour)
This ritual imbues an item with a powerful name. The item must be present for the ritual, and a client must be present (the client may be the magician). That item is given a true name and becomes magical. Over time, it will grow in power.
As the client uses it, it gains character points that may be spent as if it were a Gadget power. For every 3 character points its owner learns, the owner may choose to put one of those points into the named item. When desired, the player of the owner character and the GM may agree on how those points are spent. They should be relevant to the theme of the item.
Ownership of the item must remain with the original client, unless a special ritual (see Artificium Successionum) is used to transfer that ownership. The item never loses its earned magical powers. Magic that detects other magic can be used to identify the item as magic, learn the true name of the item, and analyze what the item does.

Artificium Successionum (Book-4; 1 hour)
This ritual transfers the ownership of a named magical item as created by Artificium Nomen to a client which may never be the magician casting the spell. Once complete, the item is connected to the new owner, and it will be useable by him and gain power through his experiences. The item will remain as his until it is transferred.
The following penalties to casting may apply:
• The old owner is still alive but not present for the ritual: -3
• The old owner is unwilling for it to be transferred (a non-coerced written will is good proof that a deceased owner intended for the new owner to have the item): -8
• The new owner has no relationship with the old owner (by blood, close friendship, etc.): -3 to -8

[Figleaf23]

I like the feel of many of these. Did you have principles or criteria you used to define the scope/scale of what could be done vs. difficulty?

One suggestion: Rapid Cleansing might be better renamed to Cleaning, since 'Cleansing' in the Path/Book context has a magical meaning.