You're right. Both of these keywords were done before the Grazer keywords (which nailed down a lot of the Shamanic abilities) and they slipped through our checker.
> 2. Is there any known or likely shamanic tradition that will summon
spirits
> to the Inner World for the purposes of Spirit Combat?
I don't think so. Summoning a being is more a sorcery thing. That's not to say that there *can't* be one, but it would require a new ability (Summon Spirit) and probably a real Draw Summoning Circle ability (if you're planning on writing one up :-) )
> >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.
You can beg, promise, grovel fight, etc. (page 206). I was trying to respond to the "spirit combat is a hostile act & shouldn't be used on friendly spirits" (and obviously blew my roll). Let me back up. Spirit Combat is perfectly okay to use on "friendly" spirits asuming the Tradition Knowledge says it is. Can some spirits get annoyed by it? Probably, but if you beat them, they don't have much say in the matter :-).
> 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.
Tradition knowledge helps you recognize spirits and places on the spirit plane (Travel lets you get there). It can help you determine whether spirit combat, a bargain or other interaction is the best way to treat with the spirit. It can help you identify a spirit's actions on the mundane plane (a healing tradition would let you "diagnose disease" to see what spirit has infected a victim, frex). It will guide you in creating the right fetish/circle for the spirit you want to ocapture ("Desert Breeze needs to be kept in a leather bag filled with three parts iron oxide dust and one part sand, and three feather from the banded raven").
> 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:
Well, I hope the above gives you more of a solid reason.
> 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:
Use rituals to do it (as noted in the shaman thread last week or so). Time, Place, Items and Community Support really help get the barrier crossed.
> 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.
It's mostly just bookkeeping and the like - if the narrator thinks that the fetishes can't be filled because the players are way off the beaten path ("you're a Waha shaman in the far West all the spirtis have been tapped, destroyed or harnessed to power the Necromancer's Zombie machine"), or there's no time ("we ended the last session with the Bison tribe thundering at you, you're out of arrows and you've used up all your fetishes") then he can restrict the "free refill" rule. If you really want to play a small fetish-filling adventure every time your players want a "refill", feel free to do so.
> 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.
The problem with getting an embodied spirit to fill a fetish is that it already has a body (whether it's the wind, or a rock, or a dead tribeman's tattoo). Sure, there may be ways to do it, but we don't know them yet :-)
RR
> 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
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Hot off the press- summer's here!
> School's out and it's sizzling hot. Whether you're planning a
> graduation party, a summer brunch, or simple birthday party,
> shop GreatEntertaining.com before your next celebration.
> http://click.egroups.com/1/4473/9/_/385715/_/959745444/
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To Post a message, send it to: hw-rules_at_...
>
> To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: hw-rules-unsubscribe_at_...
>
>
Powered by hypermail