- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Really, it's their own fault. Damn "things with game mechanics" should just stop talking near me.
General Exalted Thread
Wait, could this lead to a Charm further down the line that would let literally make Riajuus go explode?Really, it's their own fault. Damn "things with game mechanics" should just stop talking near me.
- Location
- Singapore
Huh. I just realized something.
In a modern setting, Sigereth probably includes video games. No game no life, anyone? Or maybe even professional gamers actually playing against Sigereth or each other?
In a modern setting, Sigereth probably includes video games. No game no life, anyone? Or maybe even professional gamers actually playing against Sigereth or each other?
- Location
- United States
Sigereth is a Symmetra Main
- Location
- Singapore
Mare's Nightly Ride
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: One arcane link
Spell Duration: Meditation; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Wyld, Lunar or Oramus
It is said that even one's most intimate dreams are not proof against the devious ways of a sorcerer. With a drop of your blood or a lock of hair, a wicked magician can spy on your fantasies and bring you nightmares.
Ritual: The sorcerer engages in ritualised meditation of some kind, clearing his mind or exhausting himself until his mind is close to sleep. In this altered state of consciousness, he reaches out to the arcane link, sending his mind into the dreams of his target.
If the spell is cast with a Favoured Aspect, the cost is reduced by ten motes.
Mechanics: Once the sorcerer has reached his meditative state, he rolls (Wits + Integrity) against the dreamer's DMDV, with a -3 internal penalty. However, in such an altered state of consciousness fatigue penalties or penalties from drugs such as alcohol or marijuana instead provide bonuses to the roll, as his mind is brought closer to a dreaming state. On a failure, he cannot make the connection, though can re-roll after another hour of meditation. On a success, he enters their dream. If the target character is not asleep at the time, this spell automatically fails.
The dream connection lasts as long as the sorcerer remains in meditation. He remains Inactive, but must roll (Wits + Integrity) to remain focussed if disturbed. Being shaken or touched imposes a -1 internal penalty, while physical injury imposes an internal penalty of two plus the number of health levels of damage taken. Damage inflicted on the sorcerer within the dream removes willpower points on a 1:1 basis. Should the sorcerer hit willpower 0 for any reason, he automatically wakes from his meditation with a splitting headache and take three points of bashing damage.
On waking, the dreamer can roll their (Perception + Integrity) against the sorcerer's DMDV. On a success, the dreamer has an uncanny sensation that someone was spying on them in their sleep, opening up avenues for future investigation.
Effects: By default, the sorcerer exists as an immaterial presence within the dreamspace. He can observe the dreamer's fantasies and nightmares, making appropriate Read Motivation or Investigation-based actions to deduce Intimacies or character traits revealed by the dream.
While in the dream, the sorcerer can manipulate it with a Speed 5 miscellaneous action, rolling (Charisma + Performance) against the Dodge MDV of the dreamer. Success allows the sorcerer to change the dream's dominant Emotion (such as shifting a joyful dream into a terrifying nightmare). Whenever the sorcerer tampers with the dream, the dreamer can roll their (Perception + Integrity) against the threshold successes of the sorcerer's casting roll. On a success, the dreamer enters a lucid dreaming state and furthermore realises that their dream is not natural.
The sorcerer can form an avatar within the dream by spending one willpower, who can look like anything he wishes. In such a state he can interact with the dreamer, though Socialise and Larceny rolls may be required to avoid the dreamer realising something is wrong - or else the dreamer realises someone is tampering with their dream, as described above.
Example Spells:
Ephemeral Phantasmagoria (Essence Aspect - Wyld) - The ever-changing power of the Wyld is close to dreams indeed. Ingesting wyld-tainted herbs, the sorcerer lies down to sleep of strange things. If the sorcerer casts this spell in a bordermarch or deeper in the Wyld, the spell is reduced in cost to 0m, though the dreams are automatically twisted by the wyld pocket the sorcerer meditated in.
The Mirror of Dreams (Anchor - Artefact (Reflective Surface)) - Most sorcerers would prefer one of the enchanted mirrors that exist in the world to scry such things, but in extreme situations a buffed moonsilver shield might work. The dream is shown on the mirror for onlookers to observe, though if the artefact is not a dedicated mirror or scrying tool the sorcerer is at a -2 external penalty on the casting roll.
Eyes Wide Shut (Anchor - Cult) - Through orgiastic cult rituals and the consumption of prodigious amounts of hallucinogens in the company of at least ten cult members, the sorcerer sinks into a narcotic haze and dreams. Characters who partake in the ritual may spend one willpower to also see the fantasies of the dreamer, though they may not form an avatar and may not tamper with the dream.
Whispering Nightmares (Anchor - Whispers) - The Neverborn dream the terrible dreams of murdered titans, and those who hear their whispers dream them too. Rather than intrude on the target's dreams, this version of the spell means that both the sorcerer and the dreamer dream of the horrors of the Neverborn. The dream is automatically warped into a nightmare and count as training time for purchasing Whispers. The difficulty of a heroic dreamer realising the unnatural nature of the dream is reduced to one, unless they already have Whispers.
Adorjan's Kiss (Anchor - Mentor (Adorjan)) - The dream-given kiss of the Silent Wind gives a sorcerer a smidgen of the Yozi's power. Touching the scar her lips gave, the sorcerer begins his own chase. The casting duration of this spell is reduced to "Emerald". Incidentally, sorcerers with a kiss-scar always count as having an arcane link to Adorjan, and vice versa. Many sorcerers have found the price of such power to be more than they were willing to pay.
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: One arcane link
Spell Duration: Meditation; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Wyld, Lunar or Oramus
It is said that even one's most intimate dreams are not proof against the devious ways of a sorcerer. With a drop of your blood or a lock of hair, a wicked magician can spy on your fantasies and bring you nightmares.
Ritual: The sorcerer engages in ritualised meditation of some kind, clearing his mind or exhausting himself until his mind is close to sleep. In this altered state of consciousness, he reaches out to the arcane link, sending his mind into the dreams of his target.
If the spell is cast with a Favoured Aspect, the cost is reduced by ten motes.
Mechanics: Once the sorcerer has reached his meditative state, he rolls (Wits + Integrity) against the dreamer's DMDV, with a -3 internal penalty. However, in such an altered state of consciousness fatigue penalties or penalties from drugs such as alcohol or marijuana instead provide bonuses to the roll, as his mind is brought closer to a dreaming state. On a failure, he cannot make the connection, though can re-roll after another hour of meditation. On a success, he enters their dream. If the target character is not asleep at the time, this spell automatically fails.
The dream connection lasts as long as the sorcerer remains in meditation. He remains Inactive, but must roll (Wits + Integrity) to remain focussed if disturbed. Being shaken or touched imposes a -1 internal penalty, while physical injury imposes an internal penalty of two plus the number of health levels of damage taken. Damage inflicted on the sorcerer within the dream removes willpower points on a 1:1 basis. Should the sorcerer hit willpower 0 for any reason, he automatically wakes from his meditation with a splitting headache and take three points of bashing damage.
On waking, the dreamer can roll their (Perception + Integrity) against the sorcerer's DMDV. On a success, the dreamer has an uncanny sensation that someone was spying on them in their sleep, opening up avenues for future investigation.
Effects: By default, the sorcerer exists as an immaterial presence within the dreamspace. He can observe the dreamer's fantasies and nightmares, making appropriate Read Motivation or Investigation-based actions to deduce Intimacies or character traits revealed by the dream.
While in the dream, the sorcerer can manipulate it with a Speed 5 miscellaneous action, rolling (Charisma + Performance) against the Dodge MDV of the dreamer. Success allows the sorcerer to change the dream's dominant Emotion (such as shifting a joyful dream into a terrifying nightmare). Whenever the sorcerer tampers with the dream, the dreamer can roll their (Perception + Integrity) against the threshold successes of the sorcerer's casting roll. On a success, the dreamer enters a lucid dreaming state and furthermore realises that their dream is not natural.
The sorcerer can form an avatar within the dream by spending one willpower, who can look like anything he wishes. In such a state he can interact with the dreamer, though Socialise and Larceny rolls may be required to avoid the dreamer realising something is wrong - or else the dreamer realises someone is tampering with their dream, as described above.
Example Spells:
Ephemeral Phantasmagoria (Essence Aspect - Wyld) - The ever-changing power of the Wyld is close to dreams indeed. Ingesting wyld-tainted herbs, the sorcerer lies down to sleep of strange things. If the sorcerer casts this spell in a bordermarch or deeper in the Wyld, the spell is reduced in cost to 0m, though the dreams are automatically twisted by the wyld pocket the sorcerer meditated in.
The Mirror of Dreams (Anchor - Artefact (Reflective Surface)) - Most sorcerers would prefer one of the enchanted mirrors that exist in the world to scry such things, but in extreme situations a buffed moonsilver shield might work. The dream is shown on the mirror for onlookers to observe, though if the artefact is not a dedicated mirror or scrying tool the sorcerer is at a -2 external penalty on the casting roll.
Eyes Wide Shut (Anchor - Cult) - Through orgiastic cult rituals and the consumption of prodigious amounts of hallucinogens in the company of at least ten cult members, the sorcerer sinks into a narcotic haze and dreams. Characters who partake in the ritual may spend one willpower to also see the fantasies of the dreamer, though they may not form an avatar and may not tamper with the dream.
Whispering Nightmares (Anchor - Whispers) - The Neverborn dream the terrible dreams of murdered titans, and those who hear their whispers dream them too. Rather than intrude on the target's dreams, this version of the spell means that both the sorcerer and the dreamer dream of the horrors of the Neverborn. The dream is automatically warped into a nightmare and count as training time for purchasing Whispers. The difficulty of a heroic dreamer realising the unnatural nature of the dream is reduced to one, unless they already have Whispers.
Adorjan's Kiss (Anchor - Mentor (Adorjan)) - The dream-given kiss of the Silent Wind gives a sorcerer a smidgen of the Yozi's power. Touching the scar her lips gave, the sorcerer begins his own chase. The casting duration of this spell is reduced to "Emerald". Incidentally, sorcerers with a kiss-scar always count as having an arcane link to Adorjan, and vice versa. Many sorcerers have found the price of such power to be more than they were willing to pay.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Are you going to ever collect these into a super-document like the Green Cherry Demonomicon?
Yes, but there are still a few mechanics I need to properly build and balance, like "drawing essence" (to encourage your necromancer to go to a graveyard to carry out a necromantic ritual or your pyromancer to build a big fire as part of their ritual), and how to use hearthstones. These spells will go into the full sorcery hax document when it's done.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
I'm pretty sure there was already a TCS spell that did this- are you aiming to replace it, cause yours is obviously much more elaborate/nuanced.
Not really. "Silent Words of Dreams and Nightmares" is basically a social attack maker - it lets you send people a dream. This is much more to enable the evil sorcerer schtick of spying on your dreams, twisting them, and also pretending to be ur sexy waifu and seducing information out of you which you blab about because it's just a dream and you think you're talking to your loved one.
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
Speaking of which, given your alteration of Necromancy, is it acceptable to fold preexisting Necromancy spells into Sorcery, with their original effects refluffed as the product of using necrotic Essence to invoke them?
So your Shadowlands Circle spell that creates an iron tree full of monster birds would become friendly elemental falcons coming out of a sudden vortex in the skies if you use Allies (Air Elementals) to cast it, or a howling rift in the universe that spits out some sort of Hellish non-demon wildlife if you're fueling it with Yozic Essence, or painted birds on an Artifact shield that fly off it and attack.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
Riiight... and on closer examination the only thing keeping this from being a full on Inception reference is dream-within-a-dream and time compression. Not that I'm complaining.
Yep! That's one of the things that I'm basically going for here - the spells themselves should be written up as fairly flavourless "genre archetype" effects, and then the example spells should give you ways to flavour it by mixing the requirements. Take the most recent one, for example, which has examples including both "I sit in my sorcerer's tower and meditate on my magic mirror or crystal ball to spy on my foes" and "after lots of sex, drugs and rock and roll, I trip balls and see the dreams of my enemy".
Essentially, the Essence Aspect section is there for when you want to write a more specific spell - like, say, enforcing Essence Aspect: Necrotic for when you want to raise the dead, or Essence Aspect: Solar for closing a shadowland. Most of the rest is just fluffable as you want.
No, really, the main inspiration here was from one of the Eddings books where Zandramas gets the knowledge of where the heroes are going by invading Ce'Nedra's dreams and pretending to be her murdered friend so she'll trust her.
It's all the way being a pulp fantasy evil sorcerer.
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Dynamesmouse
Bzzzzzz
Then what about Favored Aspects? If you use Mentor: Luna as an Anchor, does it become more useful, powerful, or controllable? Is it cheaper in terms of XP cost?
- Location
- my house
Doesn't the anchor system make essence requirements redundant? As an example let's say we have three spells, summon 1CD, raise the earth's bones and death of obsidian butterflies, all of which are known by a Necromancer
The Necromancer learns the summon 1CD variant "summon least undead" which requires a necromanticlly aligned demense. Since he can only cast this spell when at the demense, it makes sense he'd spend a lot of time here, and since it's a necrotic demense it would be a tomb or graveyard or whatever. Furthermore, since he knows how to summon a least undead he can bargain with it (and spend xp) to gain backrounds and anchor other spells in them. So he's incentivized to do things like walk around with a skeleton (familiar) in order to anchor Raise the Earth's bones (It turns into a bone tower) and death of obsidian butterflies ( it breaks apart and launches bone shards at his foes).
On a related note, with how deeply you're sorcery system intertwines spells and backrounds, I feel like you could scrap the vast majority of spells and replace them with a generic "Transmute Backrounds" spell, one for each level of sorcery. This would cover every non combat spell in the book while allowing the magic to be more free form and allowing for some additional uses which weren't possible before.
Transmute Anchors (Terrestrial Circle)
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: Any (Choose 1-3)
Target: Choose 1
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any (Choose 1); Favoured Aspect: Any (Choose 1-2)
This spell grants the user up to three dots in any one background of their choice. Backgrounds created or enhanced using this spell may never exceed three dots. Each dot granted by this spell (referred to as spell dots from here on) must be anchored in a background dot (referred to anchored dots from now on) that the sorcerer already possesses. If the sorcerer loses an anchor dot, they also lose one of their spell dots, and suffers 1 HL of unsoakable damage as the spell rebounds on their form. Each version of this spell must be learned separately, and has its own Essence and Anchor requirements which must be decided during its creation.
- The Backgrounds granted by this spell may be bought up as normal, representing the sorcerer's ability to create permanent enchantments. Backgrounds purchased in this way are identical to any other purchased backgrounds.
- This spell can be anchored in backgrounds generated by a previous use of this spell. If the sorcerer does this then the backgrounds created by the second casting disappear when the duration of the original spell is over or if the original anchor dots are lost. Losing these anchors deals the normal 1HL damage per anchor lost as normal.
- This spell may be canceled at any time by the sorcerer. Doing so requires a one hour ritual and access to the Anchor used for the spell
- Resources created in this way are detectable as forgeries, though doing so is no trivial task. Player's be warned that the Realm's treasury does not look kindly on sorcerer's who forger the Imperial Script.
- The Familiar Background, and other backgrounds which involve bodily summoning or creating a creature, cannot summon/create a creature with Essence greater than 5
- One time Resource purchases made using this background use their Anchor only for the initial casting. Creating a boat, fortress or other item requires you have a background to anchor them in for the initial casting, but once the item is created the anchor dots are once more free to use. Items created in this way disappear after a year and a day, this may be made permanent by destroying an equivalent amount of resources during the casting of this spell.
- This spell may be cast again at any time during its duration to extend the effect by a year and a day. These effects do not stack, if the sorcerer extends the spell, the spell will last exactly one year and a day since the second casting.
Transmute Anchors (Celestial Circle)
Price: 30m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: None
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Any
This spell works
Transmute Anchors (Emerald Circe)
Price: 40m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: None
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Any
This spell works as per its Terrestrial circle counterpart, save that it can create backgrounds of up to 4 dots, and can create familiar's whose Essence rating is as high as 7
Transmute Anchors (Solar Circle)
Price: 30m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: None
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Any
This spell works
Transmute Anchors (Emerald Circe)
Price: 40m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: (Any) 1+
Target: None
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Any
This spell works as per its Terrestrial circle counterpart, save that it can create backgrounds of up to 5 dots, and can create familiar's whose Essence rating is as high as 10
The idea here is that this spell can then be used to replicate basically any strategic scale magic in fiction. Want an army of skeletons? Learn Raising the Dead - A variant that allows you to transfer demense dots into dots of command/followers
Transmute Anchors (Terrestrial Circle) - Raising the Dead
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: Demense (Necrotic)
Target: N/A
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Necrotic; Favoured Aspect: Necrotic
This spell allows the caster to convert up to three dots of their Demense backround into dots of command or followers. These followers take the form of undead and are appear within the Demense.
Want raising the earth's bones?
Transmute Anchors (Terrestrial Circle) - Raising the Earth's Bones
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: Backing - The Realm (3)
Target: The Ground
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Earth/Wood; Favoured Aspect: Earth
This spell allows the caster to create buildings worth up to a 3 resource purchase out of rock and wood within their immediate facinity. Designed by the Realm's Realm's Engineering core, the buildings have a rather militaristic design.
Want a demon to follow you around and fight for you?
Transmute Anchors (Terrestrial Circle) - Summon 1CD
Price: 20m; Circle: Emerald; Anchor: Choose 1
Target: N/A
Spell Duration: 1 year and a day; Casting Duration: One hour
Essence Aspect: Any; Favoured Aspect: Solar
The caster converts up to 3 dots of a background of their choice, decided when they learn the spell, into the familiar background. This familiar is a 1CD.
Etc
EDIT: Forgot to mention this, but a big benefit from a game design stand point is that it encourages players to buy up a lot of backgrounds. From my experiencing dming, one of the hardest things to do is break players of the murder hobo mindset. Getting them to really care about the world and treat it seriously can be extremely hard. I've found that giving players things to care about that they can't just carry with them goes along way in improving player investment. If all their gold is in a bank in that one town, then they will actually care if that town is attacked. Similarly, if they need their resources to summon a castle, then they will care when their industries are attacked.
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Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
A few nitpicks on the language here. Is the -3 internal penalty on the initial roll applied to the pool of the sorcerer or the DMDV of the dreamer? What difficulty is the sorcerer rolling (Wits+Integrity) against to avoid being disturbed?
Mmm, yes, the Malloreon. Not quite as iconic as the first series, but it did wrap quite a few things up nicely.
Plus, Xe'nedra is the archetypal tsundere.
mothematics
How wide is the concept of "you"?
- Location
- the bottom of a coffee cup
- Pronouns
- She/Her
It's not supposed to be like Mage paradigms, my dude. Like, fundamentally it's meant to be a system to encourage genre emulation, in this case Be A Pulp Evil Magicman.
- Location
- my house
It's not meant to be freeform casting? It's meant to reduce book keeping, simplify spell creation and increase balance by replacing many of the existing spells with one template that can be used. You want a skeleton army? Learn a version of this spell which gains you followers and say their skeletons. Do you want to make a boat? Here's an easy way to balance it. Castles? Sure we can do that. Etc
Functionally many spells on the strategic level basically give you background dots. Summon 1CD is pretty much indistinguishable from a familiar in many cases. This just simplifies the process and gives new players an easy framework to make spells.
EDIT: On rereading your post, it appears you are under the impression that a Sorcerer learns one of these spells and then gets access to all its variations. That is not the intent. Know sorcerer knows Transmute Anchors (Emerald Circle). Instead a Sorcerer may know Summon Undead army which allows them to convert dots in a necrotic demense into followers.
Each variation of the spell must be learned separately and is anchor and background specific. Summon Undead Army can only ever get followers (unless you learn the command variant) and only works if you have a necrotic demense. All that being said you can have a variant which requires two different anchors, such as a summond undead army variant which requires 2 points of Demense and 1 point of whispers, but again this variant must be bought separately by the sorcerer. Apologies if this was unclear.
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Bursting Eagerness Soul
Threadwalking Rating Machine
- Location
- Wisconsin
Ohshit Keris...
Speaking of compilations, did you ever make one of the elementals you were writing up? I can't find them in the threadmarks.
- Location
- Gladstone, OR
So I've been trying to search for it, but I'm having no luck. A while ago there was this really insightful post on the idea of magic being incomprehensible as a 'toxic idea' or 'poisonous idea'. It went on to explain things in such a way that basically conveyed that media which promotes... Not Understanding is fundamentally Bad for culture. I might be mis-remembering though.
I'd appreciate any help finding this post- it's either here on SV's megathread, or Spacebattle's.
EDIT! Nevermind found it! It was @Imrix expanding on a point @Kukla made.
I'd appreciate any help finding this post- it's either here on SV's megathread, or Spacebattle's.
EDIT! Nevermind found it! It was @Imrix expanding on a point @Kukla made.
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Salty
Shadow Cabal Assumptor Supreme
- Location
- Sun, Moon, Talia
- Pronouns
- I/Me
I think it's important to recall that said post was made in the context of 3e turning Thaumaturgy from "Magic As Done By Everybody Else" into "Those Miracle Powers What You Might Have Been Born With"
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
See, the picture I got was actually a creepy ascetic Sorcerer using it to gatecrash the dreams of people he considers sinful and proselytize to them behind the guise of loved ones/friends/etc, thanks to the part where it mentions that ritual fasting is a means of boosting the spell's success rate.
Alternatively, a sweat lodge where the Sorcerer has the chieftains of three allied tribes sit inside with him and get good and light-headed, so he may gaze into the hidden heart of the vicious warlord trying to subjugate them - which could be Anchored with either Manse (Ancient Magical Sweat Lodge) or Allies (Chieftains of the Three Peaks United).
This next bit is addressed to anyone willing to answer: I remember someone having the way Infernals gain access to the various Yozis' Charms be that you start being able to buy Charms from your Caste and Favored Yozis, and the only way to unlock others is to meet with the Yozi in question and convince them you're worthy of mantling them.
How does this work in conjunction with placing an increased focus on the Unquestionables as the power behind the Reclamation? Does that you mean just have to get one of the Yozis' TCDs to cut you in, do you need to convince multiple of the Yozis' souls, or do you still have to talk with the Yozi itself?