| From: | scotthiller2002@*****.com (Scott Hiller) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Shamans and Totems |
| Date: | Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:00:09 -0700 (PDT) |
What's it called when a shaman first communicates with
their Totem and they lapse into some kind of dream
state?
Also, what would be some Totem-shaman examples of
"shamans" who follow Idol Totems like Dragonslayer,
Wise Warrior, Creator, etc.
What about other non-animal Totems like Oak, Sun,
Moon, Mountain, etc.?
By the same token, how about mythic Totems like
Unicorn, Pegasus, Griffin, or Fenrir?
Also, if you had a Chaos Magician who may be following
more than one Totem ... how would THAT interaction
play out? Would it be like some kind of Astral Round
Table? Or, would the Shaman have to go to each Totem's
plane seperately? Does the GM have the freedom to
decide on his own? I imagine that if the Totems had
similar ideals (Dove and Elk, or Great Mother and
Dog), they would get along fairly well; however, if
they had very different ideals (like Dove and Fenrir,
or Sun and Moon), they'd be fighting all the time ...
but how would you role-play that? Not that I need it
to be covered in any book, just curious ... but what
if a Chaos Magician had the following Hermetic and
Shamanic Traditions:
Gwobeag (Dog): Environment: Urban
Eagle: Environment: Mountains
Sun: Environment: Anywhere under the open sky
English Hermetic Magic
Creator: Environment: Urban or Forest
Unicorn: Environment: Forest
Qabbalistic Magic
Cernunnos (Dragonslayer): Environment: Anywhere on
land
Oak: Environment: Forest
For the sake of Totem Modifiers, I am using the
Pantheism rules in Magic in the Shadows and have
decided to have the Characters receive a new advantage
each lunar cycle.
Here's what I've chosen so far for one PC:
Advantages: +2 Dice for Combat Spells, +2 Dice for
Hearth Spirits
Disadvantages: Must make a Willpower (6) Test to
change a declared course of action. The test requires
a Complex Action as Dog struggles to change his mind.
A sun shaman must have a Charisma minimum of 4.
For the other PC:
+2 Dice for Detection Spells; +2 Dice for Spirits of
Man
How would all these totems interact? How would the
shamanic Totems interact with the Hermeitc aspects of
this Chaos Magician's magic? I know the Totem chooses
the shaman and acts as a guide to the inner mysteries
of magic, but what if something like this happened and
the Chaos Magician had to espouse the ideals of all
these Totems?
Moreover, how on earth would this Chaos Magician build
their Shamanic Lodge? By the same token, would they
need a Hermeic Circle, too? I assume they would...if
so, then could the Shamanic Lodge and the Hermetic
Circle be built as one thing? Or, since the
environments for the Toems are so different, would
they have to be in different locations? Maybe the
Character could have a Lodge/Circle in a HUGE city
park that could satisfy all the Environment
requirements ... except there's the Eagle Totem with
Mountains ... how could that problem be solved?
And how would that differ from a Chaos Magician who
had the following?:
English Hermetic Druidic Magic
Sun Druid: Anywhere under the open sky
Oak Druid: Forest
Dragonslayer: Anywhere on land
Dog Shaman: Urban
Wise Warrior: Urban
Qabbalistic Hermetic Magic
Falcon (Oyoko) Shaman: Mountains
I guess I have the same problem here ... How could
this be solved? I definately want these characters to
be Chaos Magicians and to have these Totems and
Hermetic Traditions ... I was also wondering if I
could, since they are Chaos Magicians, have them be
Adepts of the Artist's Way? What do you guys think?
How would all this sum up these PCs?
And how would this translate to SR4?
Thanks for bearing with me with all these questions...
Sincerley,
Scott
