========================================================================= Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 00:39:12 -0400 Reply-To: Mythus Fantasy Roleplaying Game List Sender: Mythus Fantasy Roleplaying Game List From: Hawkeye Organization: University at Buffalo Subject: NEW CASTINGS & ITEMS: Mark/Recall Hawkeye, here, trying to do something useful for all of you out there... :) Here is something I 'borrowed' (Bill will say 'stole') from Ultima 7 (at least). I like the idea a lot, and have allowed my players to have the castings, but not the knowledge of creation (see below). While allowing them to get from place to place with relative ease, it doesn't really help them all that much...just saves on travel time! :) PLEASE, read through this (it's only two typed pages, very easy reading!) and let me know what you think!! I'd like to hear what you all think, particularly about the Heka Forging part... And without any further wasted bandwidth (my god I sound like a net-expert): Hawkeye Mark and Recall (two quite useful castings) Mark and Recall (both Cantrips) are incredibly useful castings capable of helping a persona travel around the world in a very short amount of time. Here are the castings detailed, as well as the process for making new stones. Mark Cantrip: Casting Grade III (Wizardry, General) Time: Permanent Other Heka Costs: Area: 1 stone (see below) R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: Nil E/F/M: This cantrip allows the permanent "memory" of a particular location to be placed in a specially prepared magickal stone (see below) and allows the Recall Cantrip to be used on it. This cantrip is the simplest part of the process. The caster merely activates the casting and places the stone on the ground (or wherever appropriate) in front of him. Note that the stone will consider the area where it is placed, not simply what it is on, so placing it on a wagon will not provide the HP's with a moving base of operations... Recall Cantrip: Casting Grade III (Wizardry, General) Time: Instantaneous Other Heka Costs: Area: Whatever is touched R&D: 50 per 1x man-size Distance: Touch and Infinite Other: 1 per mile (approx.) E/F/M: Recall allows the caster to take himself, anyone and anything touching him back to the location where Mark was placed on the magickal stone. Note that for this to work, the caster must be touching the stone located where he wants to go. He must pay, in addition to the 50 Heka base activation cost, 50 Heka per amount of mass approximately equal to one human wearing equipment. Therefore, to transport an Ogre (6x man-size), 300 additional Heka must be placed in the casting. The caster has the final say as to what get transported and what does not, since he is the one "weaving" the casting, but only as specific as individual objects. In other words, he could keep a villain from transporting with him, but could not take just the villain and not the villain's sword. When it comes to a party of adventurers and their gear and possibly riding mounts this casting can get quite expensive! (Other limits as per JM's discretion...) Creating New Marking Stones The creation of Marking Stones is often a difficult and expensive proposition. Actually getting the proper stone is one of the toughest parts, as the only substance known to work with this casting is Angite. (Of course, use whatever "special" material you want. Angite is something I've cooked up for my own personal world...) Angite is a very soft, almost rubbery mineral found only in the Eastern nation of Tabul, and the Tabuli do not have a lot of it (note: there are occasional rumours that it can be found in the Veresh Mountains between Sylvanos and Farad, but no solid (no pun intended) reports exist). Angite is not a popular working material, which adds to its rarity, and its rarity adds to the increase of its cost. The next problem is that the Angite must weigh at least a full stone- weight (1.1 lb, .5 kg) for the Heka-Forgings to work. Getting a stone that size would require a bit of enthusiasm and at least 5,000 silver lions (BUC's: use whatever you want). After the stone is aquired, the proper Heka-Forgings must be placed upon it, including Cleanse Item, Prepare Item, etc. Talk with your JM to determine the exact needed castings. Then, Astrology Castings must be consulted to determine the best time to perform the enchanting ritual. The exact time is impossible to state here since it is dependant upon any number of factors, including the season and the positions of the stars. Finally the enchanting ritual can commence: Enchant Stone Ritual Casting Grade V (Heka-Forging) Time: Permanent Other Heka Costs: Area: 1 Angite stone R&D: Nil Distance: Touch Other: 500 per stone (see below) E/F/M: This is the preliminary casting, the one which allows the Mark casting to be placed on the stone and Recall then used with it. This ritual takes 6 hours (60 AT's), and must be done at the "correct" time, something which can only be determined using Astrology. There are also some other limitations. As noted above, the only material usable in this casting is one stone-weight (or more) of Angite. Aside from the cost of that stone, materia to be used in the ritual, such as pure candles and incense, will cost another 500 BUC per DR, cumulative. (i.e. the more the HP spends, the easier this casting will become, but it will cost 500 for 1 DR, 1500 for 2, 3000 for 3, which should probably be the maximum). The minimum cost is 500 BUC, and that will leave the HP with a Difficult Heka-Forging roll (no matter what the HP's STEEP is). So, for example, spending 1,500 s.l. will make the casting at Hard. The reason is that nearly everything must be perfect for this to work. While the casting itself is comparatively not very difficult (only Grade V), the infusing of Heka into the stone requires nearly perfect conditions. Three final additions are needed. First, the caster must be sky-clad, or be wearing specially consecrated clothing (robes, blessed by Sellindria's priests (My goddess of Magick) will work, for example, but a dirty pair of underwear would not!). The caster must also bathe himself in herbs (ones dedicated to Sellindria/magick, including mandrake), the cost of which is assumed in the cost listed above (500 s.l.). This is to remove all unwanted influences from the caster. Finally, 500 Heka must be spent in addition to the base activation cost to make the casting permanent. No less than this amount can be used, for if so, the casting will undoubtedly fail! =========================================================================