Re: Releasing a spirit (was: same magic, different source, different application, all at once?)

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 14:30:37 -0000

• In HeroQuest-rules_at_yahoogroups.com, "Mike Holmes" <homeydont_at_h...> wrote:
  > >From: Philippe Sigaud <sigaud_at_f...>
  >
  > >Releasing a spirit to directly add its might to an ability makes me
  > >afraid.
  >
  > I have to agree. I mean, I'm the first person to say that game
  balance
  > doesn't matter. But why does the rest of the game go to lengths to
  make
  > character types develop roughly equally, and then have this
  monstrosity of
  > an ability thrown on top? Everyone knows that from a spotlight
  perspective,
  > it doesn't matter how often you can use the ability. In fact,
  limiting it
  > makes it even more lovable a trait because it means that when you
  use it, it
  > implies a sacrifice. Making you look even cooler for using it.
  >
  

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.

As it is currently, you have a simple contest (unrelated action in an extended contest) to release the spirit. BUT the results are:

complete failure: you have driven the spirit away, and that specific spirit is now hostile to you. (others of the same name will still have their usual relation with you, but to bind one of them HP will have to be spent again)

minor failure: You have lost the spirit, but you can automatically summon it with open spirit world, and try to re-bind it, with no HP cost.

marginal failure: the spirit is gone with no benefit to you, but will be back in a day or so.

Tie: the spirit was not released.

marginal victory: The spirit adds +1/4 of its ability to your ability.

Minor Victory: The spirit adds 1/2 of its ability to yours

Major Victory: The spirit adds its full ability to yours.

Of course, once you buy up your relationship with the spirit to a reasonable level, you should always succeed, and you can always bump with an HP. But recalling that you had to spend HP to buy up that relationship, and that it cost HP to bind the spirit in its fetish.

This still lets practioners and shamans do occasionally sick things, but at least they are taking some degree of risk to do so, don't so easily get the full benefit, and generally have earned their place in the spotlight a lot better.

--Bryan