>Hmmm, here is one kind of obvious idea: when you release the spirit
>from the fetish, it is naturally pulled towards the spirit plane.
>Releasing it is no problem, releasing it so that it can hang around
>long enough to help you, and especially such that it can use its full
>might to help you, is harder.
Hmmm. Maybe. I mean, it makes the ability seem a tad more like other abilities. But you still get an effect that's akin to a secret on a marginal victory. And, worse, you're actually making the ability more interesting. That is, players I play with don't care about negative repercussions. They'll gleefully accept the risks, because they're looking for risks. This makes it more attractive to them, not less. It's more of something to play about.
BTW, this means that it's a very good rule. It's just that other characters don't have the same fun stuff. I mean, for Theists, the idea is that they have Affinities from which they can improvise feats. Is this equally interesting? I think that it's close, but fetishes as written are more interesting to play. Basically, the more rules that surround an ability, the more there is to play about, and the more fun it is (this is something that's fairly unique to games that are as well designed as HQ).
An alternative would be to give the other magic modes more interesting options, too. But that's a whole lot more work, and requires even making the common magic option more interesting.
Mike
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