Re: Re: Gaining new charms

From: Roderick and Ellen Robertson <rjremr_at_...>
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 04:26:04 -0700

> > > Can an animist gain new charms of a different tradition/practice?
> >
> > Generally the answer would be: "not without trouble".
>
> It sounds to me as "Yes, but.." :)

Correct.

> > Common magic charms come from no particular tradition. Thus,
> > it "does not stem from his tradition".
>
> But "(such as common magic charms)" seems to indicate more applicable
> cases apart from Common Magic.

Hmm, I'm assuming that English isn't your first language. To me, this indicates something more along the lines of: "Common magic charms are definitiely in this category, and there *may* be others but we can't think of them right now"

> > Because the charm isn't "friendly" to the hero, you might want to
> > play out the scene - his Spirit Face (or other, appropriate,
> > ability, which "Worship [Great Spirit]" probably *isn't*) vrs the
> > Spirit's power (which might not be what is shown in the charm
> > - Practice Spirits often have several abilities).
>
> A shaman can use and create charms out from his tradition/practice
> using his Fetch ability, then a practitioner using Spirit Face (or
> other appropiate ability) should have an improvising modifier, should
> not he?

Yes. The proper ability to create a charm is "Worship [Great Spirit]" or "Follower of [Majestic Spirit]". - this is used when bargaining with the a spirit from that practice or tradition. Since you're not using the proper ability, then you've got a penalty. I probably wouldn't allow the hero to use a wrong Worship/Follow ability (even *with* a penalty) unless the practices/traditions were mythically very close.

> and the case of a spiritist?

Spiritists don't really interact with spirits (They use them as charms, but can't bargain with them), so a normal spiritist would be out of luck.

>
> A last question.
> What if the Hero wants to cement a stolen fetish?
> I think he only could use the fetish as a charm until he manages of
> some way to raise a friendly relationship with the spirit.

I might not even give him the Charm function of the fetish. A Spirit in a fetish has made a much better bargain than one in a charm - it is really there of its own "free will" (trusted some human that claimed to be its friend, see if it makes *that* mistake again!).

To make friends with an already-bound spirit you need to release it from the object, *then* make friends with it (like a Practitioner making friends with a Tradition-charm spirit). The spirit is most likely "Hostile", though it might just be "Neutral" (narrator's choice, of course), so "making friends" with it is going to be a chore!

RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has done what he has done.
- Richelieu

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