Your time factor for so complex a device is going to run into days.
The base time factor for the creation of a complex activation device that does nothing at all (obviously, no such device exists) is three hours. The level@intensity of each skill the device is to incorporate becomes a sit-mod against its creation. Thus the 7@8 Hear Thoughts is -78 to the chance of success, which has to be countered by doubling time factor and/or adding value objects. If the device itself is not going to be destroyed, materials that become part of it are deemed not to have been destroyed--if you crush a diamond to coat it with diamond dust you get credit for the diamond becoming part of the device, but if you kill a mouse and burn the body you get credit for sacrificing the mouse, which is doubled for object destroyed.
I'm giving you +6 for the helmet on the condition that any duplicate object must also be made of a polymer like plastic steel.
Breaks in the ritual are permitted, although they aren't free; a ritual done continuously would be more powerful than one that allowed you time off for meals and sleep.
Obviously the point is that a ritual that creates a powerful permanent magic device is going to be a very long, involved, complex, and probably costly one, because it pays back with a very potent piece of equipment.
Questions?
--M. J. Young
Nope, I will go with that, a device that needs to be activated. A weeklong ritual fasting, to limit breaks with food and bathroom, taking only liquid nourishment (soup etc fed by someone else or though a glass), using my whole body stating "Ex meus mens ut meus mens" forceable In Latin (From my mind to my mind), whole holding the skullcap in my hands. I would like to have a bonus to activate as well as create the object.
Adam
Merlin reviews your ritual plans and suggests that with the amount you're trying to pack into this, even with a nine minute activation ritual to operate the device, you're still going to need to do a lot more to get everything into the one device.
One option would be to include daily sacrifices as part of the ritual; given how difficult this is, you might want to make sacrifices every six or eight hours around the clock. He's not certain what you would sacrifice--collecting that many animals would be a challenge in itself, and that's a lot of gemstones or precious metals or other value objects.
It might work better if you picked one power with which to begin and made it a magic object that did that, then performed successive rituals to add powers to it. You would be working on it over the course of several months, but time is not really an issue for you at present and when you are constructing a masterpiece you get better results if you invest the time. The ritual you've designed would almost certainly guarantee success on any one of those abilities, and give a good chance of success for two, but to put five such abilities into one device is a major challenge.
-----
As an aside, it occurs to me that in order to put a spell into a device your character should know the spell. I don't see that as an issue--your mag bias is high enough that these are nearly automatic, or at least highly probable to be successful. But it's better if you design them the way you think they ought to work. That won't matter to how they work through the device, but you might find them useful nonetheless. The skills are:
- M7@8 Hear Thoughts, the ability to hear the thoughts of a target individual.
- M7@1 Store Information in Inanimate Object, self explanatory really.
- M7@1 Secret Messages, the ability to send information by thought.
- M7@6 Present Information, the ability to know information about a target character, such as his abilities or his status or occupation or other "fortune teller" type knowledge.
I'll roll for them, but it will probably be pro forma.
--M. J. Young
Why don't we go for one skill at a time after I've learned the skills necessary to make the device. I will go one week fasting, skill, one week off. so would take eight weeks of time to make the skullcap. I don't want to botch or fail, and the time this can save learning things is worth the sacrifice now. If you can roll for my skills to learn the above, with my normal style for spells, or how merlin teaches them, it will be appreciated.
Once those are done, and the object is created, I would like to learn a Create Permenant Duplicate Object Skill, for just the physical properties of the skullcap, and give Geneice the opportunity to do the same thing, and even Merlin if he has the time or desire for such an object.
Adam
O.K., let's start with the new skills.
- M7@8 Hear Thoughts, the ability to hear the thoughts of a target individual, user looks at the individual and says forcefully in Latin, "Your mind to my mind, your thoughts to my thoughts", sound necessary, with both hands pointing first to the target then to his own head, and repeating this action, slowly, 0:18 TF.
I can see the possibility that you might prefer that the words not be loud or forceful, so before I roll let me check whether you want to modify this in any way.
- Secret Messages M7@1, the ability to send information by thought, point at target with left hand, touch head with right hand, and say in Latin "hear what I mean, not what I say", TF 1:00 for a thirty-second message may be adjusted for longer or shorter messages not below 0:06 amateur TF for 0:03 message (not longer than six words), sound necessary, spoken forcefully.
Again I can see the possibility that you would prefer to be able to whisper the words in many situations, so I'll pause to ask whether you want to modify this skill at all. I can also see where the skill would be useful in places where sound would be impossible, so that might also be a component you want to drop.
- Store Information in Inanimate Object M7@1, allows caster to impress his thoughts or memories into any object for himself or someone else to recover later, requires successful use of M7@1 secret messages by thought after spell is cast to place information in the object, 1:00 TF remains open to receive thoughts for 10:00 duration, say forcefully in Latin, "Receive my thoughts and keep them safe, retain them for the day on which someone recalls them," sound necessary, must hold object in or touch with left hand while touching head with right hand. Hear thoughts spell required to read stored thoughts or memories from object.
I don't see any particular reason why there would be reason to alter this, unless you envision some moment when you are hiding for your life and want to leave a mental message for someone who will find it after you die, which seems to me a low probability use for the skill but an interesting one (and maybe I'll include some event in which you stumble upon such a mental recording from someone else somewhere). But since I'm asking about the others, let me get your confirmation or adjustments on these, too.
- Present Information M7@6, the ability to know information about a target character, such as his abilities or his status or occupation or other "fortune teller" type knowledge. Skilled user must touch target person with either hand and look at the point where they are touching, say forcefully in Latin "Your secrets are known to me; I know who you are," and then stare at him for three minutes, after which he will know a wealth of details about the individuals present life (not his past nor his future, except as it follows from the information he receives--he can know that subject has been married to Mary for a decade, which is not the same as knowing that he married her a decade ago; he could know that he has been divorced from Mary for a decade, but not know how long they were married).
Again, you might want to use this in situations in which you don't want to be heard, and I can see wanting to be able to read a person without touching him, so that's also at issue.
If you say to use them as written, the first descriptions will be used; if you want to modify them, specify which modifications are being made to which skills.
Good?
--M. J. Young
Works for me.
Adam
I've added the four spells to your sheet with the details behind the screens. Assuming there are no questions, we'll start work on the magic device next post.
--M. J. Young
Works for me.
Adam
The sit-mod bonuses for the creation of the device come to +223 (these are the bonuses for your ritual, not your chance of success, which has to take into account the penalty for the bias of the skill you are attempting to incorporate, but also other factors in your favor).
Since the ritual is the same for each incorporation of a spell in this case, it will be best to be consistent, that is, making all the incorporate spells have the same bonus in operation; but it doesn't have to be done that way--you could, for example, have a +50 sit-mod on the function of it reading your mind but a +80 sit-mod on it storing information. You get to decide how much of the sit-mod to apply to the forming of the device and how much to apply to operation.
None of the spells are above level 7, so once you hit +80 on the creation you have balanced the penalty and have your basic numbers for spell casting (BRA, bias). Note that the first time it will be a skill learning roll, but after that you will have learned the skill for creating such a device and will be doing new uses in adding the other skills to the existing device, so the numbers will change at that point.
Did I explain that sufficiently?
--M. J. Young
That works fine for me, +50 to read my mind, and a +80 to store information. Works well for me. Let's fire this puppy up, and see where it goes. When it is all said and done, and hopefully it works, I will work on that copy/creation spell for Geneice, and Merlin if he wants one.
Adam
Ah. Mea culpa. When I was illustrating the potential division of bonuses I suggested one value for one skill and one value for another; but there are four skills, and you did not give values for the secret messages or present information functions.
I'll go ahead with the store information function as you've given me a value for that and it seems like the best place to start in creating this device.
You manage to enspell the helmet to store information when activated by a complex nine minute ritual. (We ought to define the ritual eventually, but we can wait until we've put all four spells into it.)
You are tired and need rest, but still healthy. Geneice reminds you that after a fast like that you have to break it gently, and she starts you with a cream soup and cooked vegetables, promising something more substantial after you get a night's sleep.
If memory serves you're planning to rest for a week before continuing with the second step; are you doing anything else in that time?
--M. J. Young
Just keeping up on my skills, satisfying my wife, you know the mandatory things.
As for the ritual, if I am right I have +223 to add to the 4 different skills, while keeping enough bonus to success. Right now I have spent +130 for the activation and skill, do you have the math of what would have been left over while giving me 100% success aside from a botch? I can then use the remainder for the other skills.
Adam
That's a confusion. You have +223 to add to each of the four skills individually, but part of that will be consumed by the penalty for the individual skills--that is, to add a 7@1 skill you face a -71 penalty which is balanced by the +223. (You also get your SAL and BRA and Bias bonuses in your favor on the casting.)
You easily add the second spell to the helmet, which is now capable of hearing your thoughts and storing the information when activated by the nine minute ritual (yet to be defined).
--M. J. Young
Works for me, onto the next one.
I'm sorry; we've failed to communicate. Let me try again.
You're putting for spells into the device, using much the same ritual for each. The first was the store information spell, and you opted to put +80 into use which left you 223-80=+143 on creation (from which the bias of the skill was subtracted, and other adjustments made, but it's only the sit-mod you can assign). Then you did the hear thoughts spell so it could read your mind when you wore it, and for that you put 50 into the activation leaving 223-50=+173 for the creation.
You have two more skills, the secret messages that lets it communicate back to you and the present information that lets it analyze your present skill ability so as to instruct you more clearly, and neither of us have yet suggested how much of the +223 you want to transfer to the device operation skill and how much you want to leave on the device creation skill.
--M. J. Young
I would like +80 on both the present information, and +80 on the last, unless it makes my chance for success less than 100%, I know a 100 always botches, but you know what I mean.
Adam
Device complete.
I have it listed as
Magicked plastic steel helmet, Complex Activation device, M7@1 store information +50SM, M7@8 hear thoughts +80SM, M7@1 transmit thoughts +80SM, M7@6 present information +80SM, when worn can read the character's mind to store observed or heard skill information then guide the character in the proper performance of that skill much as a trainer for purposes of skill improvement through practice.
If I should make adjustments to that, let me know.
You also will in the process have designed the complex activation ritual. It will take nine minutes to activate the helmet's functions; I am assuming that one step in that activation is that you will put it on your head. I am satisfied that a device that can hear your thoughts can determine which function(s) it should be using once it is active (you don't need separate rituals for each function), unless you specifically want to have separate control over which functions are active, in which case you'll have to design distinct activation rituals (or at least one with variants--I can see having a ritual that will activate whichever functions you indicate and not the others, using the single nine-minute activation ritual).
--M. J. Young
*grins and in a technical and monotone voice* "We are the Borg. Lower your shields. Your biological and technological distinctivness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile!"
*gives a moment to see if Geniece knows this phrase or reacts*
"smiles" Just kidding, once I get some sleep, I'm thinking I need to create a make permanent copy spell for physical property's of an object, so that you two can have one if you wish. Now if you will excuse me, my sleep awaits.
*goes to sleep*
*I will await their answers and create the spell above when I wake up*
Adam
"Yes, well, here, let me install Windows in your system and see how fast it uses up all your central processing power."
Geneice asks what the thing does and whether it's really worth it to have two of them.
On some level, the activation ritual was created as part of the casting process--you were at it for days, so inclusion of the trigger ritual was simple enough. On another level, the complex activation skill will be somewhat transferable, in that once you've learned it you'll have a chance of activating other devices with complex activation rituals using the same "skill" and skill ability level, sometimes penalized for the individual complexity. That creates the notion that your familiarity with more such devices and with activating this one enables you to figure out how to activate one you've only just found, even if it's supposed to have a ritual you don't already know. Consider it one part knowing the right ritual and one part knowing how to hack the right ritual.
In any case, you can design the ritual for the helmet whenever you like, but in terms of the in-game timeline you've already done so.
--M. J. Young
*grins* "Touche, well it records, analyzes, improves and saves things you see, hear, experience, and teaches you what you see later, it's pretty useful, so yes you should have one too."
Adam
"All right, then, let's talk about how to do it tomorrow when you're awake again."
--M. J. Young
*When I wake up*
Begin designing a magic spell to copy the physical properties of an object and create an exact copy of it. It does not copy any enchantments or psionic abilities, just the physical attributes.
Ritual: Whole Body, A drawing of the object to be copied to scale which is consumed in the casting, Words said forcefully, using time factor to help create a bonus that will stop all but a botch failure. Words "Partum a proprius exigo effingo illae res, ut illic es duos identical physical res." (Create a permanent exact copy of this object, so that there are two identical physical objects.)
I hope that is enough to craft a spell, assuming that works, and I can create the object, Geneice can start with the enchanting for her skullcap.
Adam
Couple of things to address.
using time factor to help create a bonus that will stop all but a botch failure
I wouldn't let John Cross get away with that, and I can't show partiality to you. Unless you have an example of such a skill that will help you determine a baseline, you won't know how difficult such a skill would be or what kind of time factor is necessary to prevent botch.
(Incidentally, I meant to mention this before, but Multiverser does not have a guaranteed botch on a roll of 00--if you have better than 90% chance of success you cannot botch, and if you have better than 100% chance of success you cannot fail or botch. It comes out in the wash, though, when you attempt to do a skill in a situation in which something is working against you to lower your chance of success, such as a counter skill.)
a magic spell to copy the physical properties of an object and create an exact copy of it. It does not copy any enchantments or psionic abilities, just the physical attributes.
The aspect of not copying the magical properties is logical; but there is a question raised by the notion that it will not copy the psionic properties.
In Multiverser pseudo-science, psionic devices are so because they are made of properly aligned psionic materials. That proper alignment is akin to magnetism: a quality that exists in the material due to the alignment of the molecules. It is thus as much, or as little, a physical property of the object as magnetism is, although perhaps at a finer level in a more complex device. Creating a psionic device involves telekinetically imposing a sort of atomic-level microcircuitry in which the molecules are properly related to each other so as to respond to projected telepathic thought energy.
Thus the idea that the psionic sensitivity of a copied object would not be retained raises the questions of whether a copied bit of magnetic material would be magnetic, and whether a copied high-tech nanosystem using molecular circuitry would lose the molecular connections in the copy.
I'm not entirely averse to making the distinction, but I thought you should be aware that psionic sensitivity in a device is a physical property of the device. It loses its psionic capacity if somehow the molecules are jarred out of alignment, and is repaired by telekinetically realigning those molecules, but it is a physical alignment of the molecules that matters.
Merlin has an elaborate ten-minute spell which he uses to copy non-edible solid objects such as weapons. It doesn't always work and years ago he had some pretty colorful botches. He never used it on anything larger than a coffin.
--M. J. Young
I have no problem it copying the psionic sensitivity of a device. As for the length of the ritual, you gave me the answer I wanted. If Merlin designed one to take 10 minutes and botched sometimes, I will go for 24 hours with this one, should give me the bonuses I need.
Adam
Questions for the description, mostly.
How are you using your "whole body" in this spell? Are you dancing, or are you kneeling with arms raised, or doing calisthenics of some sort, or required to walk a prescribed path while carrying the affected object objects? The involvement of "whole body" matters on one level because it determines what else you cannot do and where you cannot do it; if you're kneeling you might be able to do this chained in a prison, but not if you have to walk in a circle around the object.
I'm assuming that making the drawing is not part of the spell, but the drawing itself is a preparatory aspect. Are there limitations to the drawing? E.g., would a photograph be acceptable, or an oil painting, or does it have to be on paper versus bark or wood or metal? Do you have to have done the drawing yourself, or can you get someone else to do it? You say it has to be to scale, which to me suggests it has to be accurately drawn; but it could mean it has to be done the same size as the original, but of course that it is in two dimensions. How good does the drawing have to be? Do you destroy the drawing yourself (e.g., crumpling, tearing, burning) or does it perhaps morph into the intended object or vanish in the casting?
Also, although you did not specify it in outlining the ritual, your preliminary comments suggested that the spell requires the original object to be copied be in your possession. You might be able to copy the Hope Diamond if you were able to get into the room with an accurate drawing of it and cast the ritual while standing next to it, but you couldn't do so simply because you have a picture of it. I'm wondering whether you are required to touch the original to make the copy, but more importantly I'm thinking that the original must be in your presence and control, that you could take it with you and leave the area if you wished. Is that correct?
You've got the skill, 1@1 Duplicate Material Object, but I'll need the answers to put it on the sheet.
--M. J. Young
Damn I answered and didn't take.
Kneeling with arms raised
Object must be drawn by caster with scale listed on the side, morphing into the intended object when done.
Original must be in your presence and control, that you could take it with you and leave the area if you wished.
*I present it to my wife* "Happy Birthday (probably isn't but haven't gotten her anything in awhile), Here it is, you will need to do the rituals to get it to work as intended. I'm sure I could do it, but you wouldn't learn them, would rob me the opportunity to take care of you and oogle you."
*I will activate the skullcap and leave it on, so that it gets some use*
*Assuming everything with my wife goes ok, I am happy to move up time, is there a stardard package Merlin will teach during the time? I assume it is spells and psionics he will know. Going into specifics with each one would take years. Either way, ready for the adventure to continue.*
Adam
- I know that it has been a bit frustrating putting these skills in place one at a time, but I had my reasons, and I probably ought to explain them.
You'll recall that when I was running B-Monster-Movie Columbus, it came to an end in a major botch. I saw it coming, and couldn't really prevent it, but it was sort of inevitable. See, Eric was a brilliant player in his earliest games, and he was building a powerful character, but then he dropped out of play and focused on his World a Week series in which he imagined his character becoming incredibly powerful. When he asked to be brought into the world where his friend was just starting, as that incredibly powerful character, I figured it would be interesting to see what he would do. But he never worked through the mechanics of becoming an incredibly powerful character, so he didn't realize just how difficult it would be for a character with absolutely no psionic skills at all to learn a 13@ teleport skill, no matter how much he tried to guide this. I mean, seriously, even if he were to contribute something as much as +70 (and I'm not sure that's even achievable for a teacher), it's still -60 something for the bias difference, and all the student would have left to add would be his own BRA and the world area bias--not likely to be higher than maybe 37. Success was impossible. A botch wasn't exactly inevitable, but with a negative chance of success it wasn't going to be pretty.
There are a few super characters I run whose skills are products not of game play but of fiction and extrapolation; but I know the mechanics very well, and I understand that the reason a martial arts master teaches his pupils the 7@1 skills before the 7@2 skills is to build that bias gradually, and make sure the student has the fundamentals before doing more.
Now, maybe I didn't have to worry about that with you; but I felt it would be unfair to toss a bunch of skills onto your character sheet without giving you the in-game feel for what it took to learn them.
I think probably we've accomplished that. Give me a list of skills you don't know that you'd like to learn to fill in the gaps.
The skill is listed behind the screen.
--M. J. Young
I understand, I have no idea of where my character lies in the power level with the other characters ever created for Multiverser, I just feel comfortable that I have options in most any situation I am thrown in now.
As for skills, I don't have the book with me but I will list them, and would want to learn them from easiest to hardest like we have been doing.
Skills:
Mind Blast (Blast directed to a target's mind to scramble and cause damage)
Create electricity to shoot
Create ice to shoot
Raise dead (like the animate dead)
Shockwave (blast that starts at you and projects outward)
Enervate (suck the energy keeping undead mobile and active and channel it to a blast to use against them)
Slow down time
Speed up time
Force wall (wall of force to block things, absorb damage)
Cause Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount
Reduce Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount
Make myself intangiable
Make others intangiable
Teleport myself
Teleport others
Mass Teleport
Teleport someone to me
Teleport someone away from me
Restore Life (raise someone from dead to the way they were before)
Heal others
Massheal of others
Cure disease
Cure mental deficiency
Cure physical deficiency
Fly
Allow others to Fly
Change gravity
Change temperature
Change weather
Create Object from Nothing
Chance physical object to another
Create Life from nothing
Create from thought (Like Wish)
I think that is a list of things I don't already know, that I would like to learn from
Psionic and Arcane. With that list, I would be happy improving the abilities I already have in the time that I have here.
Also I assume my wife if going to do what was indicated in the post above before we do this, since she was learning with me.
Adam
Looking over the list with an eye to how this would be done, so we're on the same frequency here:
- Mind Blast (Blast directed to a target's mind to scramble and cause damage) is probably a P8@6 Short Synapses or 8@7 Overload Neurons or 8@8 Mental Shock. These are not things Merlin will have learned. They differ by increasing depth and intensity.
- Create electricity to shoot is probably a M9@7 whether you want to call it electricity or lightning, although usually if you're shooting it it's lightning. These have relatively long time factors unless you go for low damage version or pack something in the materials end.
- Create ice to shoot is a bit less clear. You can create cold at M9@6, but it's just the energy; if you want to create ice, it's probably a M14@9 Create Energized Objects (remember, cold is an energy in magic). It's also going to have to incorporate a motion function, unless you want to create it at the target location as opposed to throwing it--it's one thing to create a block of ice at your target and another to create ice and propel it at him like a missile.
- Raise dead (like the animate dead) I'm thinking is a 13@10 restore life. They have typical one hour time factors, but the critical question really is how long after death can it still work--the first hour is free, but after that you have to pay for it.
- Shockwave (blast that starts at you and projects outward) I think gives you a choice. Merlin would probably suggest a M9@9 Create Blast with yourself as the unaffected eye of the blast. You could do it as a P15@2 Create Energy, which would be quick, but the baseline is damaging to a five foot radius, so you might want more potent even if slower.
- Enervate (suck the energy keeping undead mobile and active and channel it to a blast to use against them) is an interesting idea which seems to combine a necromantic M13@5 Steal Strength with a M4@10 Energy Control NOS. I'm not sure about a psionic alternative, but I'll think about it.
- Slow down time is going to be high bias and difficult whether you do it by psionics or magic, so it's more a preference thing on your part. There might be ways to simulate that, though, such as hasting yourself rather than actually manipulating time.
- Speed up time is kind of the same thing, although I'm not sure I understand why you would do this, so I'm not sure what sort of approach would work.
- Force wall (wall of force to block things, absorb damage) you've got your P10@1 force walls, and a wealth of M5@ variants of which a M5@6 Movable inertial/energy shield is probably most like what you want, although a fixed version exists at 5@2.
- Cause Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount again has both psionic and magical variants, and there's also a distinction between skills which affect the target temporally and those which change the target's appearance. For example, an immortal like Connor McCloud of the Clan McCloud could be hit with an aging spell that would not change him at all if it caused him to age a thousand years, but could be caused to look old without losing any of his youthful vitality by a skill that changed his appearance.
- Reduce Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount would be the same skill if it's appearances but might be different if it's temporal.
- Make myself intangible which I think means noncorporeal in some way. Almost any way you do it would be a P5@10 skill, but in magic there might be different ways according to how you conceive it (e.g., entering the ethereal plane would be a sort of gate).
- Make others intangible I might have to research a bit more; nothing is leaping to mind and it's something of a busy night here.
- Teleport myself has a variety of options, P13@5 for short hops, P13@8 for anywhere in the same sub-universe, M12@1 for short hops, M12@4 for a special version that takes you "home" to your present base location, or one that takes you "away" to a hopefully safe spot, M12@5 longer distances, M12@8 for an automatic time delay version, M12@9 to cross out of a subuniverse (gates to other dimensions or the border supernatural).
- Teleport others again has options, P13@6 for short hops, P13@9 for long distances, P13@10 for bringing an absent target to you;M12@6 to send a creature elsewhere, M12@7 to bring one to you, , M12@10 to bring something in from beyond a subuniverse.
- Mass Teleport is the same thing with a penalty for numbers.
- Teleport someone to me covered under teleporting others.
- Teleport someone away from me also covered under teleporting others.Restore Life (raise someone from dead to the way they were before) I'm not sure how this differs from the earlier one, so I must have misunderstood something. If you were looking to animate dead with that one and to resurrect with this one, that one should be a M13@8 Animate Dead.
- Heal others is either psionic or magical, the psionics mostly P6@ skills depending on what you want to heal, the magic M2@ skills again with some variations.
- Massheal of others probably want to do magically, because they're the same skill baselines and you'll want to pack ritual into it to cover large numbers.
- Cure disease same bias levels
- Cure mental deficiency I assume means an insanity or mental illness, which is a P6@8 or a M2@4 cure disease.
- Cure physical deficiency has a lot of possible meanings, such as lost body parts or lost attributes, and which it is will impact what it is.
- Fly is a P4@10 skill or a M12@7 skill.
- Allow others to Fly I have to ask about. Are you causing them to fly (in which case you are in control) or conferring upon them the ability to do so?
- Change gravity is one of the P7@ manipulate physics skills, one of the higher ones as I recall, and Zero Gravity is different. I'm not sure of the mag approach, as people don't usually do it magically--they usually lift the targets.
- Change temperature is M4@6; there are several psionic approaches that achieve the result, such as 7@6 pyro and 7@6 cryo, but it's not as easy to do directly.
- Change weather I'm going to have to look at for a bit.
- Create Object from Nothing are obviously high bias skills which fill most of a level in each bias area. A lot of factors are involved in the specifics--is it solid, is it edible, is it energized, that kind of thing.
- Chance physical object to another also raises a lot of questions concerning what kind of thing to what kind of thing. Changing lead to gold is easier than changing computer to cannon, which is easier than changing rock to horse.
- Create Life from nothing sounds like conjuring ex nihilo, very difficult M14@7 stuff.
- Create from thought (Like Wish)--how is this different from the other create skills?
-
Interesting list.
--M. J. Young
List looks good to me if you want to start hashing them out individually. Figure might as well since it's going to come down to it, and then once we are done, I won't have any desire to learn more and the story can continue.
Adam
O.K., I'll tackle them a few at a time.
- Mind Blast (Blast directed to a target's mind to scramble and cause damage) is probably a P8@6 Short Synapses or 8@7 Overload Neurons or 8@8 Mental Shock. These are not things Merlin will have learned. They differ by increasing depth and intensity.
O.K., let's decide which of these is most like what you're intending, and what you would choose of the options:
- A P8@6 Short Synapses momentarily crushes the electrical field in the brain, can do lethal damage at the baseline, tends to be a shallow rather than deep attack, might cause insanity in the target, RF 1/9, but at only -5 can be RF 1/3.
- A P8@7 Overload Neurons is nearly identical to that, except that it is considered a deep attack. That impacts what defenses are good against it, primarily.
- A P8@8 Mental Shock or Brain Force is the same concept targeting the mind instead of the brain. That means that in addition to the damage it will almost always stun the target for RS minutes; it also means that the 1/9 RF is the fast end, a 1/27 RF more common, although in this case 1/9 would be allowed without a penalty. Because they target the mind, they are the deepest of all attack forms.
Next up:
- Create electricity to shoot is probably a M9@7 whether you want to call it electricity or lightning, although usually if you're shooting it it's lightning. These have relatively long time factors unless you go for low damage version or pack something in the materials end.
For this one, we need to talk about time factor, damage, and materials components, because we're looking at a M9@7 skill so it's ritual that matters here. 0:12 is baseline for dangerous damage. Typical ranges are 10':30':60':120':+5/6'. A call lightning approach has longer ranges but also longer time factors. The baseline also is for the D&D-style "bolt is this long" type, although it also continues outward in motion once it departs from the cast.
- Create ice to shoot is a bit less clear. You can create cold at M9@6, but it's just the energy; if you want to create ice, it's probably a M14@9 Create Energized Objects (remember, cold is an energy in magic). It's also going to have to incorporate a motion function, unless you want to create it at the target location as opposed to throwing it--it's one thing to create a block of ice at your target and another to create ice and propel it at him like a missile.
The critical question here is whether you are talking about actually creating ice or just creating cold, and before we proceed further we should settle that one.
I'm copying the rest of the list below so I won't lose it.
* Raise dead (like the animate dead) I'm thinking is a 13@10 restore life. They have typical one hour time factors, but the critical question really is how long after death can it still work--the first hour is free, but after that you have to pay for it.
* Shockwave (blast that starts at you and projects outward) I think gives you a choice. Merlin would probably suggest a M9@9 Create Blast with yourself as the unaffected eye of the blast. You could do it as a P15@2 Create Energy, which would be quick, but the baseline is damaging to a five foot radius, so you might want more potent even if slower.
* Enervate (suck the energy keeping undead mobile and active and channel it to a blast to use against them) is an interesting idea which seems to combine a necromantic M13@5 Steal Strength with a M4@10 Energy Control NOS. I'm not sure about a psionic alternative, but I'll think about it.
* Slow down time is going to be high bias and difficult whether you do it by psionics or magic, so it's more a preference thing on your part. There might be ways to simulate that, though, such as hasting yourself rather than actually manipulating time.
* Speed up time is kind of the same thing, although I'm not sure I understand why you would do this, so I'm not sure what sort of approach would work.
* Force wall (wall of force to block things, absorb damage) you've got your P10@1 force walls, and a wealth of M5@ variants of which a M5@6 Movable inertial/energy shield is probably most like what you want, although a fixed version exists at 5@2.
* Cause Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount again has both psionic and magical variants, and there's also a distinction between skills which affect the target temporally and those which change the target's appearance. For example, an immortal like Connor McCloud of the Clan McCloud could be hit with an aging spell that would not change him at all if it caused him to age a thousand years, but could be caused to look old without losing any of his youthful vitality by a skill that changed his appearance.
* Reduce Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount would be the same skill if it's appearances but might be different if it's temporal.
* Make myself intangible which I think means noncorporeal in some way. Almost any way you do it would be a P5@10 skill, but in magic there might be different ways according to how you conceive it (e.g., entering the ethereal plane would be a sort of gate).
* Make others intangible I might have to research a bit more; nothing is leaping to mind and it's something of a busy night here.
* Teleport myself has a variety of options, P13@5 for short hops, P13@8 for anywhere in the same sub-universe, M12@1 for short hops, M12@4 for a special version that takes you "home" to your present base location, or one that takes you "away" to a hopefully safe spot, M12@5 longer distances, M12@8 for an automatic time delay version, M12@9 to cross out of a subuniverse (gates to other dimensions or the border supernatural).
* Teleport others again has options, P13@6 for short hops, P13@9 for long distances, P13@10 for bringing an absent target to you;M12@6 to send a creature elsewhere, M12@7 to bring one to you, , M12@10 to bring something in from beyond a subuniverse.
* Mass Teleport is the same thing with a penalty for numbers.
* Teleport someone to me covered under teleporting others.
* Teleport someone away from me also covered under teleporting others.Restore Life (raise someone from dead to the way they were before) I'm not sure how this differs from the earlier one, so I must have misunderstood something. If you were looking to animate dead with that one and to resurrect with this one, that one should be a M13@8 Animate Dead.
* Heal others is either psionic or magical, the psionics mostly P6@ skills depending on what you want to heal, the magic M2@ skills again with some variations.
* Massheal of others probably want to do magically, because they're the same skill baselines and you'll want to pack ritual into it to cover large numbers.
* Cure disease same bias levels
* Cure mental deficiency I assume means an insanity or mental illness, which is a P6@8 or a M2@4 cure disease.
* Cure physical deficiency has a lot of possible meanings, such as lost body parts or lost attributes, and which it is will impact what it is.
* Fly is a P4@10 skill or a M12@7 skill.
* Allow others to Fly I have to ask about. Are you causing them to fly (in which case you are in control) or conferring upon them the ability to do so?
* Change gravity is one of the P7@ manipulate physics skills, one of the higher ones as I recall, and Zero Gravity is different. I'm not sure of the mag approach, as people don't usually do it magically--they usually lift the targets.
* Change temperature is M4@6; there are several psionic approaches that achieve the result, such as 7@6 pyro and 7@6 cryo, but it's not as easy to do directly.
* Change weather I'm going to have to look at for a bit.
* Create Object from Nothing are obviously high bias skills which fill most of a level in each bias area. A lot of factors are involved in the specifics--is it solid, is it edible, is it energized, that kind of thing.
* Chance physical object to another also raises a lot of questions concerning what kind of thing to what kind of thing. Changing lead to gold is easier than changing computer to cannon, which is easier than changing rock to horse.
* Create Life from nothing sounds like conjuring ex nihilo, very difficult M14@7 stuff.
* Create from thought (Like Wish)--how is this different from the other create skills?
--M. J. Young
I prefer the following:
A P8@6 Short Synapses momentarily crushes the electrical field in the brain, can do lethal damage at the baseline, tends to be a shallow rather than deep attack, might cause insanity in the target, RF 1/9, but at only -5 can be RF 1/3.
I like the RF12 DnD style Lightning Bolt
I would like a DnD style Cone of Cold, fanning out from my hands.
Adam
Clarifications:
Did you want to take it at the baseline one attack per nine minutes, or take the -5 penalty for a version that can be used ever three minutes?RF 1/9, but at only -5 can be RF 1/3.
Just to be clear, that's a TF :12, that is, twelve second casting time. Is the baseline good, what do you want to do for actions, for words, and do you want to include any materials?I like the RF12
I'm reading this as an area attack. The baseline is one minute, targeting one individual with damaging damage of cold. We can expand that to an area attack filling a one thousand cubic foot area at no penalty; I'd have to do a bit of math to figure out the dimensions of a cone of that volume, but it's probably around twenty feet long and ten feet wide at the terminus on a guess. I'll note that you can also target an individual and cause the cold to work from the inside out. Although he gets an extra (resistance) check against that, most defenses against cold or external attacks won't stop it. Thoughts?Cone of Cold, fanning out from my hands.
--M. J. Young
For -5 I'll take it at 1/3, 12 seconds works for me. The cone of cold looks good to me.
Adam
Your first effort to learn to short synapses eludes you. You've never attacked another mind before, and you're having trouble figuring out how to dump the power surge through the telepathic contact.
Concerning the lightning bolt, to get the feel for the details:
- I'm assuming you want some Latin phrase related to lightning or electricity; have you got one?
- I'm assuming that you are throwing the lighting from a hand. Either hand is possible, a specific hand is stronger, and both hands is stronger yet.
- Are you including a material component of any sort?
--M. J. Young
I will try again with the short synapses when enough time passes, The lightning bolt phrase is Fry like the meatbag you are (Fry amo caro vos es), both hands works, for material sliver of a portion of a tree that has been struck by lightning.
Adam
You find a tree easily enough, and learn the skill as you've designed it. The sliver of wood burns up in the casting.
Looking at this cone of cold, The baseline suggests that a twenty foot length with a ten foot base is a bit smaller than the one thousand cubic foot volume, so I'm thinking you could make it a twenty-five foot length or a fifteen foot base, probably both a bit larger than baseline but I'll give it to you. You could make it longer by tightening the focus (a smaller base) or wider by making it shorter. However you do it, the cold will be limited to the immediate area of the cone.
Thoughts?
Again, I'm copying the list of other skills for reference.
* Raise dead (like the animate dead) I'm thinking is a 13@10 restore life. They have typical one hour time factors, but the critical question really is how long after death can it still work--the first hour is free, but after that you have to pay for it.
* Shockwave (blast that starts at you and projects outward) I think gives you a choice. Merlin would probably suggest a M9@9 Create Blast with yourself as the unaffected eye of the blast. You could do it as a P15@2 Create Energy, which would be quick, but the baseline is damaging to a five foot radius, so you might want more potent even if slower.
* Enervate (suck the energy keeping undead mobile and active and channel it to a blast to use against them) is an interesting idea which seems to combine a necromantic M13@5 Steal Strength with a M4@10 Energy Control NOS. I'm not sure about a psionic alternative, but I'll think about it.
* Slow down time is going to be high bias and difficult whether you do it by psionics or magic, so it's more a preference thing on your part. There might be ways to simulate that, though, such as hasting yourself rather than actually manipulating time.
* Speed up time is kind of the same thing, although I'm not sure I understand why you would do this, so I'm not sure what sort of approach would work.
* Force wall (wall of force to block things, absorb damage) you've got your P10@1 force walls, and a wealth of M5@ variants of which a M5@6 Movable inertial/energy shield is probably most like what you want, although a fixed version exists at 5@2.
* Cause Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount again has both psionic and magical variants, and there's also a distinction between skills which affect the target temporally and those which change the target's appearance. For example, an immortal like Connor McCloud of the Clan McCloud could be hit with an aging spell that would not change him at all if it caused him to age a thousand years, but could be caused to look old without losing any of his youthful vitality by a skill that changed his appearance.
* Reduce Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount would be the same skill if it's appearances but might be different if it's temporal.
* Make myself intangible which I think means noncorporeal in some way. Almost any way you do it would be a P5@10 skill, but in magic there might be different ways according to how you conceive it (e.g., entering the ethereal plane would be a sort of gate).
* Make others intangible I might have to research a bit more; nothing is leaping to mind and it's something of a busy night here.
* Teleport myself has a variety of options, P13@5 for short hops, P13@8 for anywhere in the same sub-universe, M12@1 for short hops, M12@4 for a special version that takes you "home" to your present base location, or one that takes you "away" to a hopefully safe spot, M12@5 longer distances, M12@8 for an automatic time delay version, M12@9 to cross out of a subuniverse (gates to other dimensions or the border supernatural).
* Teleport others again has options, P13@6 for short hops, P13@9 for long distances, P13@10 for bringing an absent target to you;M12@6 to send a creature elsewhere, M12@7 to bring one to you, , M12@10 to bring something in from beyond a subuniverse.
* Mass Teleport is the same thing with a penalty for numbers.
* Teleport someone to me covered under teleporting others.
* Teleport someone away from me also covered under teleporting others.Restore Life (raise someone from dead to the way they were before) I'm not sure how this differs from the earlier one, so I must have misunderstood something. If you were looking to animate dead with that one and to resurrect with this one, that one should be a M13@8 Animate Dead.
* Heal others is either psionic or magical, the psionics mostly P6@ skills depending on what you want to heal, the magic M2@ skills again with some variations.
* Massheal of others probably want to do magically, because they're the same skill baselines and you'll want to pack ritual into it to cover large numbers.
* Cure disease same bias levels
* Cure mental deficiency I assume means an insanity or mental illness, which is a P6@8 or a M2@4 cure disease.
* Cure physical deficiency has a lot of possible meanings, such as lost body parts or lost attributes, and which it is will impact what it is.
* Fly is a P4@10 skill or a M12@7 skill.
* Allow others to Fly I have to ask about. Are you causing them to fly (in which case you are in control) or conferring upon them the ability to do so?
* Change gravity is one of the P7@ manipulate physics skills, one of the higher ones as I recall, and Zero Gravity is different. I'm not sure of the mag approach, as people don't usually do it magically--they usually lift the targets.
* Change temperature is M4@6; there are several psionic approaches that achieve the result, such as 7@6 pyro and 7@6 cryo, but it's not as easy to do directly.
* Change weather I'm going to have to look at for a bit.
* Create Object from Nothing are obviously high bias skills which fill most of a level in each bias area. A lot of factors are involved in the specifics--is it solid, is it edible, is it energized, that kind of thing.
* Chance physical object to another also raises a lot of questions concerning what kind of thing to what kind of thing. Changing lead to gold is easier than changing computer to cannon, which is easier than changing rock to horse.
* Create Life from nothing sounds like conjuring ex nihilo, very difficult M14@7 stuff.
* Create from thought (Like Wish)--how is this different from the other create skills?
--M. J. Young
20 foot length 15 base sounds good, was I able to try the short synapses skill again?
Adam
Yeah, sorry, I was trying to handle three skills at a time, and it seems that is some days more of a burden than I can manage.
You manage the cone of cold nicely. I've assumed that you have some Latinish phrase for that, and since we're rushing this and I already got a successful learning roll without it if you want to add a material component I can tuck the bonus in while I'm writing up the description. So what are the words?
The Short Synapses skill still eludes you; you feel like you almost have it, but are not getting it.
Let's expand down the list a bit.
Raise dead (like the animate dead) I'm thinking is a 13@10 restore life. They have typical one hour time factors, but the critical question really is how long after death can it still work--the first hour is free, but after that you have to pay for it.
So the questions are what you want to include in this presumably rather complex and extended ritual, and how long after death do you want it to work (figure it's -10 for two hours, -20 for four, and so on, but most of these spells have heavy-duty components, lots of physical involvement, and are exhausting for the caster). I might also want to know what happens if you use it on the undead--supposing you found a vampire asleep in its coffin during the day and set yourself up to do this ritual--but part of me thinks you (the character) wouldn't know the answer to that so I don't know that I need to ask it.
I'm also wondering whether this brings the person to barely alive or fully restored, because the back of my mind tells me those are two distinct skills, but I don't recall which one I was citing when I gave those baselines.
Shockwave (blast that starts at you and projects outward) I think gives you a choice. Merlin would probably suggest a M9@9 Create Blast with yourself as the unaffected eye of the blast. You could do it as a P15@2 Create Energy, which would be quick, but the baseline is damaging to a five foot radius, so you might want more potent even if slower.
The basic question is already there: magic or psionic?
That puts three skills in "development", counting the short synapses that has not yet worked. I'm copying the rest of the list for reference once again.
* Enervate (suck the energy keeping undead mobile and active and channel it to a blast to use against them) is an interesting idea which seems to combine a necromantic M13@5 Steal Strength with a M4@10 Energy Control NOS. I'm not sure about a psionic alternative, but I'll think about it.
* Slow down time is going to be high bias and difficult whether you do it by psionics or magic, so it's more a preference thing on your part. There might be ways to simulate that, though, such as hasting yourself rather than actually manipulating time.
* Speed up time is kind of the same thing, although I'm not sure I understand why you would do this, so I'm not sure what sort of approach would work.
* Force wall (wall of force to block things, absorb damage) you've got your P10@1 force walls, and a wealth of M5@ variants of which a M5@6 Movable inertial/energy shield is probably most like what you want, although a fixed version exists at 5@2.
* Cause Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount again has both psionic and magical variants, and there's also a distinction between skills which affect the target temporally and those which change the target's appearance. For example, an immortal like Connor McCloud of the Clan McCloud could be hit with an aging spell that would not change him at all if it caused him to age a thousand years, but could be caused to look old without losing any of his youthful vitality by a skill that changed his appearance.
* Reduce Aging, both in myself or others by a set amount would be the same skill if it's appearances but might be different if it's temporal.
* Make myself intangible which I think means noncorporeal in some way. Almost any way you do it would be a P5@10 skill, but in magic there might be different ways according to how you conceive it (e.g., entering the ethereal plane would be a sort of gate).
* Make others intangible I might have to research a bit more; nothing is leaping to mind and it's something of a busy night here.
* Teleport myself has a variety of options, P13@5 for short hops, P13@8 for anywhere in the same sub-universe, M12@1 for short hops, M12@4 for a special version that takes you "home" to your present base location, or one that takes you "away" to a hopefully safe spot, M12@5 longer distances, M12@8 for an automatic time delay version, M12@9 to cross out of a subuniverse (gates to other dimensions or the border supernatural).
* Teleport others again has options, P13@6 for short hops, P13@9 for long distances, P13@10 for bringing an absent target to you;M12@6 to send a creature elsewhere, M12@7 to bring one to you, , M12@10 to bring something in from beyond a subuniverse.
* Mass Teleport is the same thing with a penalty for numbers.
* Teleport someone to me covered under teleporting others.
* Teleport someone away from me also covered under teleporting others.Restore Life (raise someone from dead to the way they were before) I'm not sure how this differs from the earlier one, so I must have misunderstood something. If you were looking to animate dead with that one and to resurrect with this one, that one should be a M13@8 Animate Dead.
* Heal others is either psionic or magical, the psionics mostly P6@ skills depending on what you want to heal, the magic M2@ skills again with some variations.
* Massheal of others probably want to do magically, because they're the same skill baselines and you'll want to pack ritual into it to cover large numbers.
* Cure disease same bias levels
* Cure mental deficiency I assume means an insanity or mental illness, which is a P6@8 or a M2@4 cure disease.
* Cure physical deficiency has a lot of possible meanings, such as lost body parts or lost attributes, and which it is will impact what it is.
* Fly is a P4@10 skill or a M12@7 skill.
* Allow others to Fly I have to ask about. Are you causing them to fly (in which case you are in control) or conferring upon them the ability to do so?
* Change gravity is one of the P7@ manipulate physics skills, one of the higher ones as I recall, and Zero Gravity is different. I'm not sure of the mag approach, as people don't usually do it magically--they usually lift the targets.
* Change temperature is M4@6; there are several psionic approaches that achieve the result, such as 7@6 pyro and 7@6 cryo, but it's not as easy to do directly.
* Change weather I'm going to have to look at for a bit.
* Create Object from Nothing are obviously high bias skills which fill most of a level in each bias area. A lot of factors are involved in the specifics--is it solid, is it edible, is it energized, that kind of thing.
* Chance physical object to another also raises a lot of questions concerning what kind of thing to what kind of thing. Changing lead to gold is easier than changing computer to cannon, which is easier than changing rock to horse.
* Create Life from nothing sounds like conjuring ex nihilo, very difficult M14@7 stuff.
* Create from thought (Like Wish)--how is this different from the other create skills?
--M. J. Young
For the Cone of Cold: Latin: Permissum glacialis queritor of nex levamentum vos. In English: Let the icy grip of death comfort you.
I will get that short synapses spell one of these tries.
I was thinking of two skills, a Animate Dead, which brings the person back to life as they were before, and the other, to raise undead to fight and command for a limited time, like shock troops, and it wouldn't be permanent.
Shockwave will be Psionic in nature.
Adam