Well, he's happy with his girlfriend, but I don't see him getting on the honor roll this year.
I might run out before I finish; if I do, I shall endeavor to return. I am expecting to make some long drive visits today and again tomorrow, but I do not know exactly when these will occur or even with certainty whether today's will happen. So while I await some sign of what will be, let me tackle threads by Kurt, Harry, Nikolaj, and John 2.
Kurt needs a GE roll to determine the conditions where he is. I would expect that five miles from the casino it is starting to get built up and busy, particularly given that it's established to be afternoon at the Riviera; but I don't know that, so I use that as my baseline against a roll of 16, which doesn't change the baseline at all.
Harry is of the opinion that if the gods can undo the impurities in his food, they can turn ice into water by some means. Unfortunately, he is in a flatlined world. The prayer he is using will remove impurities from the ice and make it safe to eat, but it will not turn ice into water because (by definition of the bias) it is not designed to do that (and if it were not so defined, it would not do anything at all in this universe, because the other possibilities are biased out). He wants to perform the same ritual but get a different result. There are two possibilities here--one, that he performs the same spell and gets the same result, that the iceberg becomes safe to eat (which probably it already is); the other, that he uses the exact same ritual to perform a different spell. This is his intention. However, it is an extremely complicated circumstance. Were he to succeed in teaching himself a completely different (from the bias perspective) skill using the same ritual, that would partially invalidate the ritual, creating a negative sit-mod against both spells because the only distinction between them is in his mind (a very difficult part of the spell to control). The point of distinct rituals is to control the expectations in the mind; by using the same ritual for different expectations, the benefits are lost, and the rituals become penalized. Meanwhile, it is not possible for him to do such a spell in this universe--but it might well be possible for him to learn it, such that he would know how to do it in any world in which it would work.
I have reviewed all the skills within the curve, to assure myself that I am not overlooking something. It is not possible for him to turn ice into water directly. He needs either a 3@10 transmute to altered state, a 4@6 manipulate temperature, or a 9@6 create heat. Since the Manipulate Temperature skill would have an RS/10 degrees Fahrenheit effect that would not be practical here. The transmute is the best choice. This, though, is going to be a bit of work for me, for what is not a particularly useful effort. Well, nothing for it, I guess.
The original skill reads
1@4 Freshen M+3@1, will purify food and drink or restore other materials to a desired previous state of freshness or purity, sit in activated holy ground for 1:00:00 TF while invoking Hel, Baldur, and Heimdall, saying "Restore what was, for the good of all, that what once passed may all the sooner come again," +74SM.
Let's take those same actions and plug them into a magic skills worksheet:
Is this arcane or holy magic, alliance, neutral, or anarch? It is holy magic; that is what he does.
What exactly will the magic do? M3@10 Transmute to Other State, caveat that it only works on the same material changing state, works without regard for temperature, and only moves from solid to liquid, for which +25.
What distances, sizes, areas, or quantities are involved? A single object is baseline. That's sort of stretching things, because one thousand cubic feet is the normal baseline, but given that we are talking of a single solid object I think we can allow it. I think that the standard ranges of 20':50':75':100':+1/1' are not long enough, because if he gets that close to the iceberg he's in trouble. For my own convenience, I'll make it 160':400':600':800':+1/8', because that's a simple three doublings, -30.
Over what variables does the character have control? Nothing beyond what the spell requires, the choice of the object.
What, if any, is the base damage category for the magic? Not applicable.
How long does it take to perform the ritual necessary for the spell? He has given a 1:00:00 TF; that is the baseline time for transmutations.
How many times in a minute may an amateur cast it? Does not apply.
How long will the magic last? The effect is instantaneous, and then the magic dissipates; that which he transmuted becomes the new substance, but is then immediately impacted by environmental factors--in other words, if the water is cold enough and pure enough in sufficient volume and does not disperse into warmer waters quickly enough, it will begin to refreeze quickly. There is no adjustment for this.
Exactly what will the character say? The words are appropriate, +5.
Must the words be spoken loudly or forcefully? Nothing of the other spell suggests this.
Are the words in a language other than the character’s native tongue? Never.
Is the sound of the words vital to the magic, or will it work if the words are properly articulated within a place where there is no sound? This bonus does not apply.
What does the character do? Not much, but it's not that important.
Which body parts must be committed to this action? I don't think I give bonuses for "sit", other than to say that an action is required.
Which body parts can be substituted if necessary for the ones normally used (e.g., left hand instead of right)? Inapplicable.
Is the ritual physically exhausting? No.
What materials are required? None.
Which if any of these are destroyed or damaged beyond use during the ritual? Inapplicable.
Are there any other limitations on the use of this skill? It must be performed in active holy ground, for which I believe the bonus is +10.
That totals +10, but I am also assessing a -10 penalty because it matches another skill.
His bias is 3@1; the skill bias is 3@10. He gets +13 for half his religion SAL and +10 because his is an alliance faith in an alliance world. His BRA is 2@3. That makes his chance of learning this skill 55%, higher than I anticipated; his roll is 34, so he has learned a 1@1 Transmute Solid to Liquid (at current temperature) M+3@10, will change any object to a liquid form of that same substance, subject to changing back at rate solifification would happen at its current temperature, sit in activated holy ground for 1:00:00 TF while invoking Hel, Baldur, and Heimdall, saying "Restore what was, for the good of all, that what once passed may all the sooner come again," includes -10 penalty for ritual identical to 3@1 Freshen skill, +0SM.
I need to mention here that the ability to learn a skill in a world in which you cannot actually perform the skill is a very difficult question in Multiverser. Harry has just learned a skill informationally: he knows exactly how to do it, but has never done it, because when he learned it it did not work.
Nikolaj is communicating with people in two different conversations, both of which have the potential to be very interesting, as long as we can keep them distinct.
I'm smiling, because when John 2 tried to follow the scriff sense I decided where each of his companions were and gave him descriptions of the vectors--and he chose the one he didn't want.
It appears that I have managed to complete my assigned tasks here in my available time; I might even be able to be ready on schedule for my departure.
Hopefully I will even make it back tomorrow.
--M. J. Young
