RPM Rituals: Official, Semi-, Quasi- and Un-official

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I'm glad you were the first to spot it. I was actually working towards necromantic composite bodies for brains whose own body was dead, but prosthetics come out of that.

It's completely in character for the long-dead Zahid al-Talib. He was a scholar, yes, but first and foremost, he was a healer, in a harsh time and place, where endemic raiding leaves many people wounded and crippled for life. Yes, Zahid was meddling with Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, but even his creepiest spells should ultimately have been developed for benign purposes.

The temptation and the tragedy is, of course, that many 'good' people might consider it acceptable to render a stranger crippled in order to give a loved one who lost a hand or leg back the ability to function again, to weave, cook, paint, cherish or stroke, to walk and run again. Especially if the stranger is someone doomed to die anyway or perhaps a criminal whose sentence is amputation.

The fact that the ritual which attaches the limb or extremity to the person receiving the prosthetic and restores it to full life and function, now connected to the new owner's nerves, muscles and ligaments, also includes a Path of Crossroads component and is much easier to cast than it should be... is surely not indicative of anything horrific in any way, shape or form.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

That's a good idea - I'd probably use that instead for the flavor you are attempting to achieve.

What about the fact that you need a still-living, or at least ultra-fresh, limb or extremity to perform the ritual at all?

Is that a substantial Traditional Trappings discount?

Or does it just make the ritual more expensive than a pure Greater Create Body effect, by adding a Lesser Transform Matter to the Greater Restore Body effect?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

What about the fact that you need a still-living, or at least ultra-fresh, limb or extremity to perform the ritual at all?

Is that a substantial Traditional Trappings discount?

Yeah, at least -15% - maybe -20%

Originally Posted by Icelander

Or does it just make the ritual more expensive than a pure Greater Create Body effect, by adding a Lesser Transform Matter to the Greater Restore Body effect?

You wouldn't need to do that I'd think. I've have to see a write-up of what you have in mind to be certain.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

Yeah, at least -15% - maybe -20%



You wouldn't need to do that I'd think. I've have to see a write-up of what you have in mind to be certain.

Well, what I want is for the caster to be able to heal One Arm, One Eye, One Hand, One Leg, etc., but only if he has a living limb, extremity or eye to graft to the patient.

Ideally, the energy cost and/or skill penalty of simply creating a new body part should be prohibitive enough so that this ritual is substantially easier, enough so that this is likely the only way a mortal magician of attainable skill levels has to fix permanent crippling of that kind.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Well, what I want is for the caster to be able to heal One Arm, One Eye, One Hand, One Leg, etc., but only if he has a living limb, extremity or eye to graft to the patient.

Ideally, the energy cost and/or skill penalty of simply creating a new body part should be prohibitive enough so that this ritual is substantially easier, enough so that this is likely the only way a mortal magician of attainable skill levels has to fix permanent crippling of that kind.

For something like this, I'd use the rules for a Trigger and then halve the cost. That's how much it should give for an energy discount.

[Icelander]

For a caster who can only make charms and elixirs, not cast spells on the fly, I thought I'd define a few of his most common investigative rituals.

I'm looking for guidelines on how much I can legally fit under one Lesser Sense effect and when I need to add Altered Trait and/or at least another Lesser Sense effect to the ritual.

Touch the Weave

Spell Effects: Lesser Sense Magic (x3).
Inherent Modifiers:
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

This information spell affects a 200 yard radius around the caster. It tells the caster the local mana level, whether it is aspected in any way and what modifiers this gives to spellcasting. It also picks up whether any spell effects are ongoing within its range and locates the nearest one, yielding some information on the general type of magic according to margin of success. Finally, it detects the location of all places of power within 200 yards, where they connect to (if relevant), and how powerful they are. In all cases, the caster can exclude any source he’s already aware of.

Typical Casting: Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 6 energy (6×1).

or for my charm-based caster:

Lesser Control Magic (5) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 11 energy (11×1).

Is this right? Do I need all the three Lesser Sense Magic effects (not that it breaks the bank to include them, just want to get this right)?

Sense Threshold

Spell Effects: Lesser Sense Magic (x3).
Inherent Modifiers:
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

This spell tells the caster the power of any threshold he touches (he can stop short of physical contact if this would negatively affect him), any special effects the threshold might have and whether there are any wards or spell effects anchored in the threshold. If the threshold extends more than 200 yards away from the caster, the caster will not be able to determine anything beyond its base power, but he will be aware that the threshold extends further than he can detect.

Typical Casting: Lesser Sense Crossroads (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 4 energy (4×1).

or for my charm-based caster:

Lesser Control Magic (5) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Crossroads (2). 9 energy (9×1).

How about this? Need fine tuning, better description, some changes?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

For a caster who can only make charms and elixirs, not cast spells on the fly, I thought I'd define a few of his most common investigative rituals.

I'm looking for guidelines on how much I can legally fit under one Lesser Sense effect and when I need to add Altered Trait and/or at least another Lesser Sense effect to the ritual.

I think I discussed this upthread already - A lesser sense effect can effectively find the presence or absence of a substance, force, etc. covered by the Path skill - it works as Detect with Vague. Greater sense effects work as Detect without vague allowing you to analyze it with a follow-up roll.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Touch the Weave

Spell Effects: Lesser Sense Magic (x3).
Inherent Modifiers:
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

This information spell affects a 200 yard radius around the caster. It tells the caster the local mana level, whether it is aspected in any way and what modifiers this gives to spellcasting. It also picks up whether any spell effects are ongoing within its range and locates the nearest one, yielding some information on the general type of magic according to margin of success. Finally, it detects the location of all places of power within 200 yards, where they connect to (if relevant), and how powerful they are. In all cases, the caster can exclude any source he’s already aware of.

Typical Casting: Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 6 energy (6×1).

or for my charm-based caster:

Lesser Control Magic (5) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 11 energy (11×1).

Is this right? Do I need all the three Lesser Sense Magic effects (not that it breaks the bank to include them, just want to get this right)?

This should be a single Greater Sense Magic effect, not three Lesser ones.

Originally Posted by Icelander

Sense Threshold

Spell Effects: Lesser Sense Magic (x3).
Inherent Modifiers:
Greater Effects: 0 (x1).

This spell tells the caster the power of any threshold he touches (he can stop short of physical contact if this would negatively affect him), any special effects the threshold might have and whether there are any wards or spell effects anchored in the threshold. If the threshold extends more than 200 yards away from the caster, the caster will not be able to determine anything beyond its base power, but he will be aware that the threshold extends further than he can detect.

Typical Casting: Lesser Sense Crossroads (2) + Lesser Sense Magic (2). 4 energy (4×1).

or for my charm-based caster:

Lesser Control Magic (5) + Lesser Sense Magic (2) + Lesser Sense Crossroads (2). 9 energy (9×1).

How about this? Need fine tuning, better description, some changes?

Ditto. This is a Greater Sense effect. Also, as I noted elsewhere the Path of Crossroads covers mundane doors and thus should also cover Thresholds.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

I think I discussed this upthread already - A lesser sense effect can effectively find the presence or absence of a substance, force, etc. covered by the Path skill - it works as Detect with Vague. Greater sense effects work as Detect without vague allowing you to analyze it with a follow-up roll.

This should be a single Greater Sense Magic effect, not three Lesser ones.

Ditto. This is a Greater Sense effect. Also, as I noted elsewhere the Path of Crossroads covers mundane doors and thus should also cover Thresholds.

You did mention upthread, but I suspected I was still failing to properly distinguish between the numbers of necessary effects and their status as Greater and Lesser.

I was particularily struggling with whether detecting mana levels, whether they are aspected, Places of Power, any possible aspects of those places and any ley lines connecting areas of high mana and/or Places of Power, should count as one, two, three or four effects, because is it all 'presence or absence of magic' or should each rule count as a separate substance for the purposes of sensing?

One Greater effect is simple and elegant.

As for the Sense Threshold effect, what other information than the level of the Threshold is available from a typical Threshold?

Ward spells or other magic woven into the threshold sound pretty far removed from Path of Crossroads, which is why my writeup added Sense Magic to handle that, but, of course, you are right, a Lesser effect is far too vague to be of any use for that.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Icelander

You did mention upthread, but I suspected I was still failing to properly distinguish between the numbers of necessary effects and their status as Greater and Lesser.

I was particularily struggling with whether detecting mana levels, whether they are aspected, Places of Power, any possible aspects of those places and any ley lines connecting areas of high mana and/or Places of Power, should count as one, two, three or four effects, because is it all 'presence or absence of magic' or should each rule count as a separate substance for the purposes of sensing?

One Greater effect is simple and elegant.

For the most part, RPM does complicated easily. It's the simple stuff magic does in fiction that sometimes has problems.

Also, if you want the spell to give you everything Detect with Analyzing would give, add another Greater Sense effect. Basically, as long as you succeed on the skill roll to cast the spell you learn everything about your target that those traits would tell you.

Originally Posted by Icelander

As for the Sense Threshold effect, what other information than the level of the Threshold is available from a typical Threshold?

Ward spells or other magic woven into the threshold sound pretty far removed from Path of Crossroads, which is why my writeup added Sense Magic to handle that, but, of course, you are right, a Lesser effect is far too vague to be of any use for that.

A Lesser Sense Crossroads effect would allow you to know if a threshold protected the dwelling/area/etc. at all. For this purpose, anything of TR 6 or less is basically "no threshold."

A Greater Sense Crossroads effect with a successful follow-up roll would tell you the above as well as. . .

. . . The strength of the threshold and its rating.
. . . If the dwelling was haunted or the site of demonic forces.
. . . if the dwelling was blasphemed or blessed.
. . . if it contained a genius loci spirit.
. . . if it contained a devil's gate or dimensionally weakened area.
. . . The general past of the place (if it was a happy home or the site of murder or any other number of things).
. . . If the dwelling's threshold was recently violated by mundane or supernatural forces (I'd allow a separate roll against Occultism or Hidden Lore to tell you what it was for the latter).
. . . If the dwelling is enhanced by various apotropaic items and what they are.

Add a second Greater Sense Crossroads effect to remove the IQ roll. Add a Lesser Sense Crossroads with Bestows a Bonus if you want to roll IQ, but want to do it with a bonus.

Clear as mud?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

For the most part, RPM does complicated easily. It's the simple stuff magic does in fiction that sometimes has problems.

Also, if you want the spell to give you everything Detect with Analyzing would give, add another Greater Sense effect. Basically, as long as you succeed on the skill roll to cast the spell you learn everything about your target that those traits would tell you.



A Lesser Sense Crossroads effect would allow you to know if a threshold protected the dwelling/area/etc. at all. For this purpose, anything of TR 6 or less is basically "no threshold."

A Greater Sense Crossroads effect with a successful follow-up roll would tell you the above as well as. . .

. . . The strength of the threshold and its rating.
. . . If the dwelling was haunted or the site of demonic forces.
. . . if the dwelling was blasphemed or blessed.
. . . if it contained a genius loci spirit.
. . . if it contained a devil's gate or dimensionally weakened area.
. . . The general past of the place (if it was a happy home or the site of murder or any other number of things).
. . . If the dwelling's threshold was recently violated by mundane or supernatural forces (I'd allow a separate roll against Occultism or Hidden Lore to tell you what it was for the latter).
. . . If the dwelling is enhanced by various apotropaic items and what they are.

Add a second Greater Sense Crossroads effect to remove the IQ roll. Add a Lesser Sense Crossroads with Bestows a Bonus if you want to roll IQ, but want to do it with a bonus.

Clear as mud?

Teh awesome!

This is just what I was looking for and these spells are now cool and well-defined.

Incidentally, I know activating Charms requires no rolls and is therefore not dependent on local Mana or consecrated space.

If I want to have the local Mana modifier (if worse than where the ritual was originally cast, this never gives a bonus) and lack of consecrated space apply to the success roll of a Charm or other Condtional Spell when it is activated, how much of a Limitation or Disadvantage is this and should I apply the theoretical Limitation to Magery?

This is how it works for all casters in setting, but it does clearly make Conditional Spells, the primary combat and adventuring utility of spellcasting, less versatile and powerful. Well, essentially, it makes the distinction between using magic in a relatively high Mana area which counts as consencrated space for you and trying to work any magic at all elsewhere, even more important.