Thanks; this response has been a big help. Here are a few more questions as well.
[snip necessity to draw a circle]
[snip barrier nature of circle]
[snip]
>The Shamanic Circle is *not* a Summoning Circle, it is a transport device to
>get to the Spirit Plane. Once there, the tribesmen exit the circle to
>encounter spirits. Normally this happens in "safe" parts of the Spirit
>world - Eiritha's Herd or Waha's Camp, etc. Here the spirits are generally
>friendly (or at least not antagonistic).
[snip]
>Summoning Circles are part of the Sorcery style of Magic.
[snip question about binding spirits without crossing over]
>> 5. Canonically, what is the usual ability used to bind Tradition Spirits
>> into fetishes? Is it Spirit Combat, Tradition Knowledge, something else?
>> I have been using Tradition Knowledge with the relationships given in the
>> tradition keyword used to augment. The examples seem to only use Spirit
>Combat.
>
>Spirit Combat
>
>The skills break down something like this:
>
>Tradition Knowledge: Which spirits are safe, how do we approach them, what
>do they like
>Spirit Combat: getting a spirit to do what you want
>SpiritWorld Travel: Getting to, from and around the spirit world
>Spirit Sight: Seing spirits on the Physical plane. These might be embodied
>or integrated spirits (like a fetish, a nymph or a disease spirit in a
>victim), or disembodied (note that all disembodied spirits are bad news).
>Shamanic Escape: leaving the Spirit World in a hurry (or anytime when
>outside of the Shamanic Circle).
This raises other questions:
3. In the Animism chapter (PB p. 208) there is the section: "_Spirit Combat_ If the spirit will not cooperate with the shaman, the shaman may attempt to coerce it with this ability." I'm curious as to what this sentence is supposed to mean because I interpreted it to mean that there is an alternative to Spirit Combat. Specifically, I thought that Tradition Knowledge (how do we approach them, what do they like) was used to convince tradition spirits to help. Please let me know what this sentence meant to the writers.
4. What is the use of Tradition Knowledge if it is not used to convince spirits to help? The only other use that I can see is being raised to the minimum requirement to qualify for the tradition secret or being used to augment Spirit World Travel, Spirit Combat, etc. It may also be used to determine how to deal with foreign spirits at a huge minus. Further, Tradition Knowledge is the 3 HP/level magical ability for shamans. If Spirit World Travel is used to crossover and Spirit Combat is used to bind spirits, then the smart money is on the shaman jacking those abilities at 1 HP/level and leaving Tradition Knowledge in the dust. The GM can surely penalize the shaman by nailing him with improv penalties if he doesn't make Tradition Knowledge rolls, but then Tradition Knowledge is being raised to placate the GM, hardly an in-game reason to raise it.
5. Lacking a solid reason for Tradition Knowledge to have such a large cost
for so little gain, I propose two house rules for the website:
a. Tradition Knowledge is used as a non-confrontation ability to bind spirits.
b. All other shamanic magical abilities (Spirit World Travel, Shamanic
Escape, Spirit Combat) are limited to be no greater in target number than
the shaman's Tradition Knowledge.
How do I go about submitting them?
[snip spirit combat not being inherently hostile] [snip change from RQ]
6. Since the shaman must crossover to refill fetishes, does it really seem
realistic that at any time and place (even inherently hostile ones), the
shaman can just refill fetishes as long as it is between sessions? A
starting shaman with a 10w3 resistance vs. a 10w2 combined skill and fetch
in the middle of hostile territory (because he's adventuring) shouldn't be
automatically crossing over unless there is some other trick that we don't
know yet. If there is another trick, then it should be usable in session as
well. I see two possibilities:
a. Dramatic necessity (I don't buy it, but I'll accept it as a reason.)
b. Some other trick which needs to be explained. Please do.
I don't have a house rule suggestion, but I would like to repeat a tack
that I will probably take to get around this in my games: The shaman can
convince friendly embodied tradition spirits to help (refill his fetishes)
between sessions.
Please comment.
7. It's a D+40 difficulty to guide others to the spirit world. This means a barrier of 10w5. In a perfect situation, the barrier drops to 10w2. Given that Praxian tribesmen in a campaign (such as one of the innumerable skirmishes against Prax) will probably need to refill fetishes at non-perfect moments, how do you get around the formidable barrier? Is it possible that guiding others to the spirit world isn't necessary if they only duck outside the circle, use Spirit Combat, and then duck back in? Do ordinary Praxians only do their own spirit combat on one special day? Some other explanation?
8. How appropriate is the ritual item (PB p. 237) to a shamanic ritual? I had originally thought that the ritual item was sacrificed in a theistic ritual and that ritual items weren't appropriate for other rituals. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Andy
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