| From: | Steve Kenson <TalonMail@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | [SR3] Spell Rituals |
| Date: | Tue, 8 Jul 1997 15:02:30 -0400 |
wanted to mention the fact that none of the ideas I'm putting out for
discussion are necessarily the way things are going to be in SR3. They're
just ideas I'm playing around with. I have no idea if any of them will
actually fly with FASA and won't know until after GEN-CON at least. When I
have something that is in the proposal or first-draft stage, I'll let you
know. This is just brainstorming for the moment.
That said... here's another idea for the list to chew on. How about setting
the Drain for spellcasting at Force, but offering options spellcasters can
use to reduce the Force for Drain purposes. This way, spell-slingers who are
prepared under ideal conditions have less Drain while characters throwing
spells under more difficult conditions, where they can't use the various
magical rituals, tend to take more Drain.
RITUALS
Normally, spellcasting requires the caster do nothing more than concentrate
on the desired effect to manipulate the astral forces and cast the spell. A
sorcerer can simply stare at a target and cause him to burst into flames or
turn into a toad. This sort of spellcasting is very tiring, however, causing
a great deal of Drain when casting high Force spells, so magical characters
have rituals, things they do to help focus their concentration and channel
magical forces more easily. They help reduce the wear and tear on the
spellcaster caused by Drain, allowing a character to cast more powerful
spells more often for less Drain.
When casting a spell, the caster chooses whether or not to apply any rituals
to it. Each ritual used in the spellcasting reduces the Force of the spell by
one for the purpose of determining the Drain Code and for determining if the
Drain of the spell is Physical (wound) or Mental (fatigue) damage. The caster
can still only cast the spell up to the maximum Force known and the rituals
do not affect the Spell Success Test in any way, only the Drain Resistance
Test.
Rituals cannot reduce the effective Force of a spell for Drain purposes below
1. Ritual modifiers are applied before Drain Code modifiers. If the final
result is less than 2, the Drain Target Number is considered to be 2. For
example, a Powerbolt spell has a Drain of +1S. If the spell is cast at Force
5 with two rituals, the effective Force for Drain is reduced to 3. The final
Drain Code for the spell is (3+1) = 4S.
Rituals can only be used while the spellcaster is in physical form (including
while using astral perception) because they rely on physical things and
actions. Astrally projecting characters are made up of nothing more than
Magic and Willpower and must use only those to resist Drain for any spells
cast in astral form.
The following rituals can be used for spellcasting. Shadowrun players are
free to come up with new rituals for their magical characters but, as always,
the gamemaster has final say on whether or not any ritual is appropriate for
the campaign.
Exclusive
The spell with this ritual applied cannot be cast in combination with any
other spell and the caster cannot maintain other spells or use other magical
skills while casting or sustaining this spell.
Fetish
The caster needs a material component which is consumed in the casting of the
spell. In effect, the spell uses "ammo." Items must be magically prepared for
use as fetishes. Pre-prepared fetishes are available from talismongers. A
fetish is specific to a certain Category of spells and may be used for any
spell of that Category, but not spells of another Category.
Gesture
The caster must gesture, dance or make similar movements while casting the
spell. This requires the caster to be free to move. Such movements are easily
noticed and preclude the use of Stealth.
Incantation
The caster must speak, sing or chant in a loud, firm voice while casting the
spell. This requires the caster to be free to speak. Such incantations are
easily noticed and preclude the use of Stealth.
Talisman
The caster must have a material component, which is not consumed in the
spellcasting. A talisman must be worn or carried to be useful. Talismans must
be magically prepared for use like fetishes. Pre-made talismans are available
from talismongers. Like fetishes, talismans are specific to a certain
Category of spell and may be used for any spell of that Category.
Example 1: Sammy the Burned-Out Mage has a Magic attribute of 2. He wants to
toss a killer manaball spell to take out a bunch of gangers bearing down on
him, but he doesn't want the Drain to damage him too badly, so he decides to
toss in some rituals. Since stealth is already out, Sammy decides to use
Incantation and Gesture. He also has a Combat Spell talisman with him, a
glove stitched with magical designs, so he throws that in, too. He doesn't go
for Exclusive, because he suspects the gangers have an adept of their own and
he might need some Spell Defense.
He tosses the spell at Force 5. The rituals bring the effective Force of the
spell down to 2 for Drain purposes. Since that is equal to Sammy's Magic
attribute, he doesn't have to worry about Physical Drain damage. He rolls his
Willpower against a Drain Code of 2S for the spell. Sammy could have cast the
spell at Force 6 (the highest Force he knows), but that would have made the
effective Force with the rituals Force 3, so Sammy would have to resist 3S
Physical Drain instead.
Example 2: The manaball doesn't take out all of the gangers and they kick
Sammy's ass. They tie him up, gag him and leave him in the basement of their
doss while they go looking for Sammy's chummers. One guard stays and keeps an
eye on the mage. Sammy wants to cast a Stunbolt spell on the guard to knock
him out so he can try to escape. Since he is tied up and gagged he can't use
the Gesture or Incantation rituals. The gangers also took all of his fetishes
and talismans, so that's out, too. He can use the Exclusive ritual, however.
So Sammy focuses his concentration and casts his Stunbolt spell at Force 5.
The ritual reduces the effective Force to 4 for Drain. This is over Sammy's
Magic attribute, so it is Physical Drain. Stunbolt has a Drain Code of -1S,
so Sammy must resist 3S Physical Drain.
GEASA
Geasa are like Rituals, only moreso. Where a Ritual is an optional thing a
spellcaster can do to reduce the Drain of a spell, a Geas is required for all
of the magical skills of the character with the geas. If the character does
not fulfill the geas, he can still use magic but suffers a +2 TN modifier for
all magical Tests while the geas is broken.
The fulfilling of a geas can also count as a Ritual for spellcasting, so a
character with an Incantation geas can also use it as an Incantation ritual
to reduce the Drain of casting spells. Burned-out spellcasters can be pretty
tough when the have a chance to get all of their chants, gestures and
talismans going. When they can't, they're very limited in what they can do.
CENTERING
Centering is the initiated version of rituals; a metamagical ability using an
artistic Special Skill to focus the user's concentration and provide
additional dice to reduce Drain. Centering requires a Simple Action to
perform the required skill. Some Centering Skills can also fulfill geasa or
act as a ritual (see above). For example, an initiate who centers by chanting
the medicine songs of his people could also fulfill an Incantation geas and
perform an Incantation ritual while centering. No more than one Centering
Skill can be used at a time.
