Re: Animist Question

From: Wulf Corbett <wulfc_at_...>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 22:03:34 +0100


On Wed, 11 Oct 2000 13:31:55 -0700, Wesley Quadros <wquadros_at_...m> wrote:

> Question: Can a shaman summon a spirit without a fetish if s/he wants to use
>that spirit immediately? An example would be a sending, I want to burn the
>neighbour's crops and summon a fire spirit, instead of binding it I command it to
>burn the field.

My take on this (as you may have noticed I've been doing Animistic things until my eyes no longer focus...) is that most spirits MUST have a physical 'body' to exist in the middle world. Usually this is a fetish for a summoned spirit. However, a fire spirit could be summoned into a fire, and earth spirit into the earth, etc. Incidently, it's not a Fire Spirit (Salamander) you need, they need an existing flame. Instead it's a flame spirit (the one with the Ignite ability), and they activate when they touch a fuel source, so I'd say you could use it that way. From past conversations it's this requirement to have a body that means spirits don't get the +/- 20 Alien World modifier.

> Taking this to another level, could a shaman summon many spirits, with no fetish,
>if he is using them immediately? An example would be for a battle. The shaman
>spends the night summoning spirits and sends them at the enemy line in the
>morning. Or, he spends the night summoning spirits and sending them at the enemy's
>camp harrying them all night.

Assuming the spirits could be sent out (Shades?) rather than the fetishes having to touch the target, as is usually the case, I'd allow the sending them out all night. But not the 'in the morning', they can't hang around disembodied.

> If the "in the morning" part requires a fetish for each spirit, and the shaman
>only wants it to be one use I would assume that no hero points are required;
>comments?

I'd certainly agree there. If he doesn't keep the ability, he doesn't have to spend the HP. Same as finding a fortune and spending it, you don't have to spend HP to gain Wealth.

Wulf

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