> Of course. Do we have rules for Truestone these days? (Yes, I can make
> some up, but as usual I'd prefer to go by what the rules *are* to start
> with).
Nope, no rules in HW/HQ. As a quick, offthetopofmyhead ruing, I'd go
something like:
(Looking at the Elder Secrets write up (Secrets book, pp. 40-41)).
It can hold Feats & Affinities, but not Spirits or Spells.
It can only hold those feats/affinities that were put into it when it was
first filled.
The holder of the stone knows what it contains as long as he maintains
contact with it
Each Affinity or Stand-alone feat can only be used once without "refilling"
the stone.
Blank truestone will suck all your Affinities and Stand-alone feats (but not
Common Magic feats) into it and set the stone's magic unless you succeed at
a "strong-willed" test (Against, say, a resitance of ~10W2). If you succeed,
you can get a bunch of people to all add their magic at one time.
Truestones burns chaos users with "Concentrated Power of Law" (call it
10W3).
Refilling the stone requires a pretty lengthy ritual.
In Cults of Prax, you lost any access to spells you'd put into the truestone until they were cast from the stone. You also couldn't tell what spells wre in the stone, so there was some rules-changes between CoP and ES.
There is a fabled "Cleansing ritual which clears the spells out of the truestone and allows you to re-set the feat list. It is not currently known to anyone.
There is another fabled ritual to awaken the truestone. This would basically make the 'stone into a follower able to cast all the spells it knows.
> Come to think of it, it won't help me on this occasion, but do we have
> rules for Thanatari taking heads? And could they lend a head to a
> friend? (Assuming that Thanatari have friends.)
Looking at Lords of Terror...it refers us to Shadows on the Borderlands.
Creating heads is a Ritual. It must take place on the Holy or High Holy day,
requires a victim, and a silver garrotte. The head is basically a really
special Follower (or a super fetish) with the ability to cast any magical
ability (Spell, Affinity, Standalone Feat, Common magic) (except for
Animism - charms can be stripped from the body and used anyway, and fetishes
require that the spirit be friends with the owner, or they become one-use
items). *And* the owner of the head gains access to the knowledge of the
head, so can use that as well.
Heads can't learn anything after they are created, so what you kill is what
you get (sort of like a Spirit).
The head can't resist being exploited.
The rules say a priest can't have more heads than Int/3, This is probably
between 4-6 heads (asuming that you priest has at least "above average" INT
of 12). Since we don't have an INT stat, I suggest a "Control Head" ability,
and each head is a 10-point cumulative resistance, so gaining the ability
allows you to control 1 head (13 vrs 10 resistance). Having 6 heads means
you need 3 masteries in Control head.
If the owner dies, all his heads die with him. Heads can be damaged by
physical means, and can't heal on their own (just use the regular rules for
damage and followers).
A Mad Head Ghost will form over the site where a head was buried or
discarded. A Cult/Tradition/Order that deals specifically with Ghosts
(Humakt, Ty Kora tek, etc) can get rid of the Mad Head Ghost. Lhankor Mhy
knows the Head-Smashing Ritual that will eliminate the ghost. Just smashing
the head (Without the H-S Ritual) just frees the ghost from the locational
imperitive.
Otherwise, it attacks with all the magic at it's command or with a "Blast
Stupid Living Interloper" ability at the rating of the highest ability it
has (whether magic or knowledge). it won't attack those protected by
thanatar (as indicated by a talisman or blemishes gained at initiattion).
A Thanatari who takes does a Create Head ritual on another Thanatari will
gain access to all his victim's heads. This concatenates downward, so High
Priests can have dozens of heads at their command.
It doesn't say that a head can be given to another person.
RR
C'est par mon ordre et pour le bien de l'Etat que le porteur du pr�sent a
fait ce qu'il a fait.
- Richelieu
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