- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Just so we can acknowledge it @Accelerator - you are not in the best position with most of us in these threads, due to how you demonstrate a great deal of behaviors we just can't just accept anymore. I'm fine with helping you as long as you match my good faith with your own.
Now as you say, Disguise of the New Face exists, and it makes sense that there ought be a Sorcerous Blessing of Charisma (in general, not the Trait), but Kaiya is correct in that a spell that just grants Dots is mechanically boring. This sort of falls under the same Grabowski caveat of 'Sorcerous combat'. That is to say, if you want to be good at Fighting, get good at Fighting- sorcerers have to fight in a specific way if they don't branch out into Regular Fitan Arts like Everyone Else. (summoning body guards, turning yourself into a bronze statue, etc).
So there's definitely thematic ground for a spell that makes you or your target more visually appealing- but this is probably better modeled with things like Illusion or Emotion Effects (not like holograms or glamours, maybe, but it's viable). Like, speaking for myself, I could totally see a Vain Sorcerer developing a spell like this to either transmute themselve into a personal idealized form, or that of their servants.
Like Disguise of the New Face, the root here is that you want to start with a basic mechanic like Disguise rules (as per 2e), that among other things gives you some baselines for how to raise Appearance and what it costs (time, and you can't raise it more than 1). Obviously this is Sorcery so you can do wilder things- and there is a time and place for adding dots or boosting traits, you just gotta do it Carefully.
Anyway- what you're really going for is something that's part cosmetic transformation, which isn't necessarily appearance dots, and an 'awe' effect. So my suggestion is that the spell does correct obvious cosmetic flaws as part of it's ritual- i wuoldn't say it burns the target to ash though at a fluff level. I'd almost argue that it's a really powerful Penalty Negator- so the blessed target always looks fresh, composed, no matter if they've been up all night or strung out on stimulants and hard work.
If it does raise Appearance, it should do so at a temporary level and never past App 4. By temporary I meant like 'weeks or months'.
The 'Awe' effect you want can be done with an Emotion Effect attached to the blessed target, or Illusion- depending on what keyword you prefer, with a fairly unobtrusive WP cost to resist 1-2 definitely. Functionally this means that as long as the 'Awe' effect is in play, the blessed character has something like +1-3 dice to add to their actions. You want to ritualize this more, so make it clear that the benefit is only if the character makes an obvious appeal or invocation of the Sorcerer's authority or the authority they're working for. Have them require a seal, badge of office or regalia to 'prove' they're speaking with authority.
Those are all the ideas I have at the moment, but there is room to develop this.
Now as you say, Disguise of the New Face exists, and it makes sense that there ought be a Sorcerous Blessing of Charisma (in general, not the Trait), but Kaiya is correct in that a spell that just grants Dots is mechanically boring. This sort of falls under the same Grabowski caveat of 'Sorcerous combat'. That is to say, if you want to be good at Fighting, get good at Fighting- sorcerers have to fight in a specific way if they don't branch out into Regular Fitan Arts like Everyone Else. (summoning body guards, turning yourself into a bronze statue, etc).
So there's definitely thematic ground for a spell that makes you or your target more visually appealing- but this is probably better modeled with things like Illusion or Emotion Effects (not like holograms or glamours, maybe, but it's viable). Like, speaking for myself, I could totally see a Vain Sorcerer developing a spell like this to either transmute themselve into a personal idealized form, or that of their servants.
Like Disguise of the New Face, the root here is that you want to start with a basic mechanic like Disguise rules (as per 2e), that among other things gives you some baselines for how to raise Appearance and what it costs (time, and you can't raise it more than 1). Obviously this is Sorcery so you can do wilder things- and there is a time and place for adding dots or boosting traits, you just gotta do it Carefully.
Anyway- what you're really going for is something that's part cosmetic transformation, which isn't necessarily appearance dots, and an 'awe' effect. So my suggestion is that the spell does correct obvious cosmetic flaws as part of it's ritual- i wuoldn't say it burns the target to ash though at a fluff level. I'd almost argue that it's a really powerful Penalty Negator- so the blessed target always looks fresh, composed, no matter if they've been up all night or strung out on stimulants and hard work.
If it does raise Appearance, it should do so at a temporary level and never past App 4. By temporary I meant like 'weeks or months'.
The 'Awe' effect you want can be done with an Emotion Effect attached to the blessed target, or Illusion- depending on what keyword you prefer, with a fairly unobtrusive WP cost to resist 1-2 definitely. Functionally this means that as long as the 'Awe' effect is in play, the blessed character has something like +1-3 dice to add to their actions. You want to ritualize this more, so make it clear that the benefit is only if the character makes an obvious appeal or invocation of the Sorcerer's authority or the authority they're working for. Have them require a seal, badge of office or regalia to 'prove' they're speaking with authority.
Those are all the ideas I have at the moment, but there is room to develop this.
