Re: Re: Summoning Otherworld entities

From: Andrew Solovay <asolovay_at_...>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:53:07 -0700


Mike Holmes wrote:
>
> I like them as two different abilities. I mean, if you're fighting Telemori,
> summon an Alynx daimone. Won't matter that you can't command it, right?

As I see it, "summon" doesn't imply "command", but "command" does imply "summon".

That is, the "summon X" skill means: Make contact with X, and give it the single, specific command "come here". (And also do whatever's necessary to allow X to come here--e.g. open a gate to its otherworld. But presumably "Summon X from otherworld" is "inherently difficult magic", and always has a penalty of several masteries, because you have to open that gate to the otherworld.) Once X arrives, you won't be able to tell it to do anything in particular--the only command you can give it is "come here". This makes, e.g., "Summon demon" a risky spell to use, as any black wizard can tell you.

"Command X" means "give X any instruction", *including* "come here". However, X has to *hear* the command. If X is a long way away (e.g. on top of that mountain), "Command X" has a range penalty. If X is in its otherworld, you have that "open a gate to an otherworld" penalty. On the other hand, if you can find a way to get close to the entity--say, by entering the otherworld on a heroquest--you're just using the basic "Command" skill to give the straightforward "follow me back home" command, with no penalty. (Except, of course, the one-mastery alien world penalty.)

Am I off base on these?

--AMS

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