As I understand it...
A Talisman is connected to a Spell Node on the Magic Plane and acts
as a conduit of magical energy when the spell is cast using the skill
rating for that spell.
A Grimoire is connected to a Founders Node on the Saint Plane which
is, in turn, connected to multiple Spell Nodes on the Magic Plane. It
also can act as a conduit of magical energy when one of the spells
connected to the Founders Node is accessed THROUGH the Founders Node.
This activity uses the appropriate Use Grimoire skill.
If I understand your question correctly what you're asking is...
- Can a talisman-like item be connected to the Founders Node and
thence on to one (and only one, presumably) of the associated Spell
Nodes?
- If so, would casting the spell with this item use the caster's
Use Grimoire skill rating (instead of using their rating in the skill
for that particular spell, if they have one)?
Surely the answers to these questions come down to the specifics of
how magic works behind the scenes. So, unless the way magic works in
your game world is indistinguishable (down to this level of detail)
from the Gloranthan model, does it particularly matter what the
'official' answer is?
Still, its a fascinating question and I'll be interested to see what
other (especially Roderick etc.) think.
Thanks,
- John
- In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com, "Mike Holmes"
<mike_c_holmes_at_...> wrote:
>
>
> >From: "Roderick Robertson " <rjremr_at_...>
> >
> >The intent was that every spell cast needs an anchor to the "Spell
> >Node" on the Essence plane. This is normally a Talisman. However, the
> >physical Grimoire can *act as* a talisman for any spell it contains
> >(because *it* is connected to the Grimoire Node, and so are the
> >spells in it).
>
> I'm getting really technical here, I know, but if you'll bear with me...
>
> Can a talisman be created for a spell only known from a grimoire,
but which
> still only uses the Grimoire ability? Or does creating any other
talisman
> for the spell imply that it's being taken separately from the grimoire?
>
> If I have Use Grimore with spell X in the grimoire, can I have a
separate
> talisman for spell X, and still use it with the Use Grimoire ability
rating,
> and not need the Grimoire?
>
> That is, you say that the grimoire "can" act as a talisman. But it
*must*
> act as the talisman here, right? Because nothing else can? By saying
"can"
> you don't mean to imply that it can not as well, correct? Or *do*
you mean
> to imply that?
>
> I think you mean that you must use the grimoire as the talisman
substitute,
> else your response about augmenting seems to make less sense.
>
> From a more metagame perspective, the question is whether or not a
charcter
> has to lug around big burdensome books as a drawback to using the
grimoire
> ability or not. Is that there to balance out the general usefullness
of Use
> Grimoire abilities? Or is it just descriptive of some typical
Gloranthan
> reality? The answer is important, because it'll help me determine if it
> makes sense to keep such a restriction, say, outside of Glorantha.