Difference between revisions of "Sorcery/GregLink"

Latest revision as of 02:43, 9 June 2010

Back to Sorcery | GregLink 's User Page

Kejak's Hidden Blade

Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Cost: 10 motes 

When Chejop Kejak was still a young sorcerer in training, he carried a Daiklaive, now lost called Destiny's Calling. It was an ancient thing of great power forged by the Mountain folk from the essence of divinities who were captured aiding the Yozi's in the Great War. However, as much as he enjoyed having the blade, he found it drew much attention both from mortals and from gods in Yu-Shan who had known the benefactors of its alloy. Thus he created a spell that cause the threads of fate's perception to fall away from a given item. During an eight hour ritual, the caster works the weave of Essence and fate around and into an object, which must be "his", and creates a new image, and a new fate, which is superimposed on the object. This superposition sets up a powerful ruse, such that it becomes nearly impossible to detect the enchanted object as anything but a lesser item, that might seem completely reasonable to have. For example, a character who pulls out a Daiklave in the middle of a battle in the middle of the street might be seen by others as merely wielding a mundane sword, or even a metal pipe he must have picked up from somewhere. If he were a regular of Yu-Shan, the character might have woven the illusion such that his Daiklave might appear as "just another Daiklave", rather than "The Daiklave that Killed 2 Primordials Before Breakfast". Another character wearing a Torc of the Deliberative might only seem to be wearing an average necklace, or perhaps a simple Hearthstone Amulet. Seeing through this magic requires a reflexive perception+awareness roll at a difficulty equal to the Essence of the casting sorcerer, and this roll may only be attempted if there is some reason to doubt the normalcy of the enchanted object. Magic and effects based on the appearance of an object do not function if the target cannot see the object's true nature. The effect of this spell is temporary, as the image fades after a number of months equal to twice the caster's Essence. This spell is used primarily by Sidereals, though it may have been taught by the Gold faction to a few newly arisen Solars.

(Begin mad props) The above spell was totally narfed from Shallows/EotWHiding_Weapons , game run by someone else, full of Sidereals. I liked it a lot, so I wanted a copy of it. I have since added more mechanics and detail, so this is no longer the original version. If you're up for an interesting game really employing and dealing with the nasty details of being a Sidereal, head over to Shallows/TheEndoftheWorld (End mad props)

Comments on "Kejak's Hidden Blade"

Realization of the Imagined Form

Realization of the Imagined Form
Terrestrial Level Sorcery
Cost: 15 motes 

This spell is based on the text box in Bo3C, where it specifies what type of material and how much of it can be made at each level of sorcery. It is also based on the Bo3C spell "Incantation of Effective Restoration".

Sorcery is a great and varied thing, capable of achieving many goals, in many fashions. While spells can take months to research and develop, the created spell persists, and can be shared among other sorcerers for power and fame. Over the millennia since Brigid's discovery, this has resulted in a nearly unimaginable number of spells, each created for any number of reasons. This particular spell, while quite similar in many ways to the Incantation of Effective Restoration, is much more useful to the average sorcerer, as rather than focusing on repairing only one object, be it mundane or artifact, instead allows the caster to repair, clean, and organize a region, making it capable of repairing a lab accident, cleaning the cinders from the room, and then sorting the casters scattered notes. The spell's magic, thus diluted, has no effect on magical objects or artifacts, nor on living things. To cast the spell, the caster begins by forming an image in his head of the desired outcome, attempting to imagine the desired result in as much detail as possible. As the weaving begins, differences in the area of effect and the caster's mental picture begin to glow, shake, and blur, as Essence is slowly poured into and through them. Over the course of the next 8 rounds, the illumination continues to increase, and the differences in the room continue to shift and blur as the Essence continues to weave Creation into the desired configuration. During this time, burned wood is replaced, shattered stone is restored, rusted iron becomes new again and threadbare cloth becomes strong as the magic creates new material to link with the old. As the caster finishes this short ritual, the illumination subsides, revealing a neatly cleaned, organized, and repaired area, as if a team of craftsmen and servants had spent weeks working. Due to the limitations of the Essence weaving possible at this level of sorcery, the Essence woven to repair any 'noble' elements, such as gold or the five magical materials, unravels quite quickly, fading from existence only a few seconds after the spell ends. This prevents the spell from actually repairing artifacts or expensive jewelry, but the existing pieces will be arranged as the caster imagined them, they merely will not be connected properly. The area that a caster can affect with this spell increases as their Essence, with Essence 3 casters able to affect an area the size of a reasonable workshop, Essence 5 casters able to affect large houses, and Essence 7 casters able to restore entire Cathedrals in a single casting. A Sapphire-circle version of this spell exist that can include nobel materials and affects nearly a city block, while the Solar-circle version includes the 5MM (but does not restore power to artifacts, merely their form) and even an Essence 5 caster can affect a large town or small city.

Comments on "Realization of the Imagined Form"

I've since incorporated the old comments, mostly claiming that the formula I wrote to describe the spell's area was too complicated. After some discussion, DeathBySurfeit won any verbal battle with the following post. I kept it because it was simply so poignant. -- GregLink

Simpler way? "This spell affects about a room's fill of materials; grander objects will require multiple castings to repair." Or how's this one: "This spell affects about a room's fill of materials, although sorcerors of high Essence are known to be able to refashion entire ships and cathedrals with a single casting of this spell." The math isn't impossible, but it isn't entertaining or immersive or a productive use of anybody's time, either. The time spent working out the exact dimensions of a room, calculating whether that will fit in an accordingly-sized convex polyhedron, and running through the formula you gave could be condensed into "Yeah, you can pretty much do that. The banquet hall is, in a rippling tide of Essence, restored to its former grandeur." All that time saved? There could be ninjas appearing in that time. Ninjas everywhere. And the vast majority of Exalted groups will prefer ninjas to math, at least during their Exalted sessions...DeathBySurfeit, nonplussed by needless intellectualism

Formation of the Greater Elemental

Formation of the Greater Elemental

Celestial Level Sorcery
Cost: 25 motes 

Throughout history, skilled sorcerors have been using summoning as a means to almost every end. From gathering goods to guarding locations, from subtle assasinations to outright war, there are a nearly infinite number of demons and elementals with which to accomplish one's goals. As the difficulty of the task grows greater, however, these sorcerors find that their old tricks are often no longer enough, as the demons and elementals one can summon using terrestrial sorcery are simply too weak to be useful. Many sorcerors, used to using elementals for their work crews, happy with the relative safety and simplicity of the summoning, are dissappointed that they are now 'forced' to employ second-circle demons, as these hideous creatures are often intelligent and manipulative, attempting to break free of the bonds forced upon them, so that they might wreak their evil master's plans upon Creation.

This spell attempts to sidestep this problem by providing an alternate source of labor, without all of the problematic drawbacks. In a specially developed summoning area, with five separate summoning circles themselves arranged within in a larger circle, the caster begins his workings, drawing forth not one but many elementals, and slowly reworking their being. Over the course of the next 5 hours, the lesser elementals are slowly reassembed into something much larger, and more reminiscent of the great elementals from ages ago. The type of greater elemental created is up to the caster, and can be composed of any combination of five of the elemental types, resulting in perhaps a fivefold wood elemental, or a broadly capable Creation-elemental, composed of one of each of the five elements. With their beings partially reconstructed as such, their intelligence and power grows as well, resulting in a highly conversant elemental fully aware of its new, but sadly temporary, situation. The resulting greater elemental can be bound as a second-circle demon would be, with a difficulty 1 to banish in the event that the summoning goes badly. After the elemental's assigned task is completed, or the duration of the spell expires, it disassociates back into its component souls, each with only a small fragment of the memories of their servitude. While the absence of the component souls does tend to disturb the Celestial Hierarchy, the intelligent summoner notes that as the larger elemental is greater than the sum of its parts, creating a second such amalgam and tasking it with performing the duties of all missing lesser elementals is often a way to not only avoid punishment, but keep things in a better order than they might normally be.

Comments on "Formation of the Greater Elemental"

Conscription of Gaia's Army

Conscription of Gaia's Army
Celestial Level Sorcery
Cost: 15+ motes 

Standing in a specially prepared summoning area (see "Formation of the Greater Elemental"), the caster begins by reaching out to a vast number of elemental Essences, tugging at their being, and drawing them to him. Over the course of the next few hours, a number of elementals arrive in the summoning circles before the caster, all slowly being bound by the workings of the magic. The caster rolls his Charisma+Occult, and adds a number of automatic successes equal to his Essence. The result of this roll is the number of elementals appearing before him in the summoning circles, that he might attempt to bind. The act of binding is performed via a contested Willpower+Essence roll, where the caster adds (Essence) automatic successes. The elementals resist as a group, using the highest Willpower of the group, the highest Essence of the group, and receiving one additional die for every 2 elementals being bound. As with any summoning, this is an extended roll, until one side or the other accumulates 3 successes. The caster can reduce the elemental's pool by spending an additional 5 motes per die of reduction. Using this spell, a high essence caster can expect to successfully bind over a dozen elementals, providing a quick and easy source of labor for projects or combat. Unlike "Formation of the Greater Elemental", this spell doesn't have a simple means of keeping the Celestial Hierarchy quiet, and can cause problems if used heavily without properly compensating one's new employees. Note also that while a large number of elementals might appear due to the Charisma+Occult+Essence roll, the caster can attempt to bind as many of them as he chooses, with the rest simply being returned to their original location automatically.

Comments on "Conscription of Gaia's Army"

Incantation of Elemental Infusion

Incantation of Elemental Infusion
Celestial Level Sorcery
Cost: 35 motes 

An extension of the Terrestrial sorcery that allows mundane objects to be imbued with the properties of the five draconic elements, this more advanced spell can also draw upon another, less well-known type of element: those of Autocthonia. When used to imbue an object with elemental aspects, these aspects become part of the object, and do not require essence to activate, with mortals able to activate such objects by simple mechanical exertion. As such, an unknowing messenger wouldn't accidentally activate the fire-rods in the fence, but a mortal security guard could, simply by turning a large knob. When cast by a sorceror who harnesses the true power of the magic, this spell functions much like its Terrestrial counterpart, but instead of harnessing wood, fire, or one of the other elemental aspects, it harnesses the power of oil, smoke/steam, lightning, metal, and crystal. Unlike the scattered elementals of Creation, the elementals of Autocthonia were never sundered by the Primordials, leaving their power intact, and thus, able to generate more broad, and more powerful effects.The effects granted by these foreign elemental aspects are detailed below:

• Metal: The most well-known of the fundamental Autocthonian elements, metal is strong. Stronger than it's weight and mass would imply, metal is capable of enduring great physical strain. Through this strength, metal can be refined. Grinding, alloying, and shaping, metal can be forced into intricate shapes with razor-sharp edges, and maintain its form. When the metallic essence is out of balance, objects become dense and enormously heavy, their own resistance to change preventing motion itself. Objects infused with the essence of metal gain 3 dice of soak, and one die of damage. In non-combat situations, such as construction, one may simply note that the object is roughly 5 times as strong as a non-enchanted version.

• Lightning: Where metal is well-known, the element of lightning is often considered to be well understood. Primal in its energy, lightning enables. It creates light, electricity, and magnetism, affecting other things by its mere presence. Objects imbued with the essence of lightning are capable of generating enormous amounts of electricity, amplifying any current passed through them. They may generate harsh, cold light, and if so desired, may even attract metallic objects through the power of magnetism. When the lightning essence is out of balance, objects will spark and stutter, their power leaking out into normally insulating regions, the destruction it causes reeking of ozone. Objects infused with lightning will amplify any current passed through them by a large factor, amplifying even the natural currents of a nervous system or muscular system to cause an additional point of damage. Lightning-enchanted objects can also generate copious quantities of light, easily illuminating a large hall, and increasing the difficulty of looking at or interacting with nearby objects or people by 1.

• Steam/Smoke: The gaseous elemental force of Autocthon, the pure and powerful force of Steam is being slowly converted into the darker byproduct of Smoke, representing Autocthon's illness. While this gaseous element is always uplifting, rising against gravity, the particular details of its composition have varying effects. Where Steam cleanses and purifies, Smoke pollutes and poisons. While both can be quite hot, scalding and burning, Steam is known for its clarity, and ability to co-exist with living objects without damage. Smoke, on the other hand, is quite naturally at home in normally horrible environments, resisting external forces, but does not integrate well with living things. When the steam essence is out of balance, smoke results. When the smoke essence is out of balance, the results are much more horrifying, generating blacktog through its use. Gaseously-enchanted objects will naturally float away from the direction of 'down' at a leisurely rate, effectively having a small amount of negative weight (thought their mass remains unchanged). This reduces fatigue values to 0, and depending on the situation, can even create a "+1" fatigue value, where moving is actually easier because of the newfound lightness.

• Oil: The element of oil is ever shifting, and ever changing, and thus one of the most difficult to describe. Responsible for the smooth operation of Autocthon's many aspects, oil is versatile and quick to adapt. Machines emboding this essence can change modes of operation easily and quickly, as this is their very nature. With a natural affinity for motion, the element of oil is also responsible for speed, moving much faster than expected with only a small bit force, as the normal restrictions to motion are simply ignored through this lubrication. When needed, oil can be sacrificed for the greater good, being burned to generate heat, or refined to generate needed products, such as artificial leather. When the oil essence is out of balance, viscous layers of oil drip, the overzealousness of oil spreading through the region. Oil-enchanted objects receive a +2 to their speed rating, and will move up to 50% faster than non-enchanted versions without difficulty. Wear and tear on such objects is also greatly reduced due to the lubrication.

• Crystal: Crystal, ironically is one of the least understood Autocthonian elements. Representing clarity both in being and in thought, crystal objects are sharp in edge and transparent. Automatons and information-related machines enhanced with the elemental essence of crystal are connected to this clarity of insight, providing enhanced thought and memory through the magic. Normally immensely hard, when Crystal is out of balance it becomes cloudy and fragile, shattering due to happenstance blows. Crystal enchanted objects become much more transparent to all types of sense, increasing the difficulty to detect them by 2. In cases of information systems, such as books, the user will find the book automatically turning to desired (or useful, but unknown) pages as the book attemps to speed the processing of information. This grants 3 bonus dice to actions such as searching, reading, or calculating, where appropriate. Weapons enchanted with the power of crystal become peircing.

As with the draconic elements, these aspects become part of the object's being, and can be activated through mechanical means if desired. As such, repeated castings of this spell can create lightning-essence electrical generation systems capable of powering a city and requiring only mortal supervision, or steam-essence medical implements that naturally prevent infection and can be used by mortal surgeons to cauterize wounds when necessary. The effects of this spell may be applied to any mundane object(s) that weighs no more than (Essence) times what the caster could currently lift, and no more than one Autocthonian and Draconic essence may be applied to a given object.

Comments on "Incantation of Elemental Infusion"

Perhaps this should be a God-Machine Protocol? - IanPrice

While I can see where you're coming from, in that since it accesses Autocthonian elements, it should be an Autocthonian "sorcery", I'm trying to avoid such a direct connection. More functionally, as a sorceror, I liked the Terrestrial thing, as it accessed the relatively useful Terrestrial elements. Thing is, I wanted more. I couldn't just 'make up' new elements, so after some research, I found that there are other elements out there. Even though they're not as prevalent on Creation, they do exist. More to the point, those other elements having had the ever-living crap kicked out of them. That's good to hear, as it means they might even be more powerful than the local elements. So I set out to researching, and trying to construct a spell. As per spell-construction rules, I don't know how high a level of spell it'll be when I start. After a few months of work, I find that to truly harness their energy, since the fount of their source is now in elsewhere, rather than just a few 1000 miles away, it'll take Celestial level sorcery to properly funnel the go-juice into the object. End result? This spell. To me, an Alchemical Protocol might even be able to do this at Man-Machine (which, strangely, is Ess4? What's up with that?), as it's so within their nature, and would (in my head) be heavily used throughout their Patropoli and Metropoli, as it seems a great boon to construction and design of machines. In addition, I'd think the 'color' of the spell might be different. Rather than 'infusing with elemental essence' (a purely Creation-born concept), I'd imagine there'd be a slightly different technique involving the refinement of what's already there.

So yeah. While it's easy to immediately jerk and say "It involves Autocthonian stuff, it should be a protocol", to me, the sorcery aspect makes perfect sense, as it actually has a reasonable history and reason for existing. Similar to how Sorcery exists that (weakly) does things some Necromancy can do, such as the bone lion. Sure, Necromancy has much better mojo of that type, but you can still pull stuff off if you want to. And in this case, the ability to "double-tap" elemental essences, giving you a firey-metal object, or a wooden oiled fluid that not only lubricates, it replenishes itself, now that's useful. -- GregLink

Good explanation. Now all the spell needs is mechanics. Do things infused with Metal essence gain soak? Do things infused with Lightning essence do a certain amount of damage with the charge they can release? Etc. Also, perhaps you should base the amount of material affected on Essence (possibly + Occult) rather than the character's actual physical lifting capability? - IanPrice

Ian. Thanks for the compliment! As to the mechanics, yes, there's a lot to be done. I'll get to it later, or maybe someone else will get to it for me. As for the amount thing, that's actually a nod to the original spell, which only allowed things the caster could pick up. I figured that as a more potent spell, it could affect more. Rather than changing mechanics entirely, I tried to do a weight-based again. Having said where the idea came from, do you still think I should use a different mechanic? -- GregLink

Since your spell is, in fact, supposedly a development from the original, keep the current mechanic. I was unaware that the original did that. However, might I recommend *[Essence] rather than *5? Slightly more powerful, which I think is needed for a Celestial spell. - IanPrice

Won't celestial circle sorcerers in most games be essence 4 or 5 anyway? Typically, this would reduce the effectiveness of the spell by 1 increment. Essence 5 is hard to get to, I suspect most people will sit at Ess 4 for quite a while.
-- Darloth

Quite right! Boffo. Included. I'll be out-of-contact during Decemberween, so I'll get back to this later. Thanks! -- GregLink, who, while having started adding some 'crunch', isn't too happy with it, and would adore help.