Chants of power
From Champions MUSH
This page is still a work in progress.
Contents |
General Information
DCs chants fall into the following categories:- Healing and Restoration
- Nature
- Thoughts and Perceptions
- Transformations
- Spiritual Effects and Spirit Summoning
- They all involve chanting and one-handed magical gesturing, at least to initiate, even if not specifically noted. Therefore he must be free to move and speak.
Unless otherwise noted, the chants are invocations of relevant spirits and explanations of the desired effects, interspersed with psalms of praise and similar stuff.
The exact wording can change from use to use, it's the sense of it that matters. However, all of it is in his native Manahoac language, and thus mostly unintelligable. (However, anyone who can understand Manahoac will understand what the chant is supposed to achieve.) - They feed off a "mana pool" END reserve, not his personal END.
His mana restores itself much faster if he meditates in a natural environment, and much more slowly if his surroundings are significantly extraterrestrial. - None of them will do direct damage to living things – not even STUN damage. In some cases they can indirectly result in injury... for example, entangling a target who can then be attacked by others, or raising someone to a height from which he can drop them. However, he is expected to adhere to the spirit of this stricture. If damage happens anyway, well, OK, things happen... but if he sets it up intentionally, or winks at it, the spirits will be mad at him.
- He can't buy "meta-magic" slots -- things like Dispel Magic, Reflect Magic, that sort of thing. (In some cases he can do this for specific categories... for example, he can Banish summoned creatures, or invoke True Sight to dispel illusions... but in general he leaves that sort of thing to more academic, abstract-minded mages.)
Material Components
Many chants involve material components. These are usually natural materials (herbs, crystals, bits of plants or animals, water, dirt, etc.) viable examples of which can be collected with relatively little difficulty in any natural environment.
He carries the relevant materials in his pouches, so if his pouches are stolen or destroyed he can't perform those chants. If some but not all of the pouches are missing, he can perform some but not all of his rituals. The pouches themselves are not at all magical and have no special properties. He can replace them relatively easily, but it takes time.
In OOC terms these are all bought OIF: pouches (-1/2), Unbreakable, Personal. The specific components are specified in the descriptions below.
- I'm buying the Focus as Unbreakable for two reasons: first, to represent that he has a lot of these pouches and targeting the relevant ones in combat is just not going to happen; second, because keeping track of the DEF of each such focus is a huge pain. However, they can easily be destroyed if removed out of combat (just burn them or stomp on them or whatever).
- It's Personal because to anyone else, they're just pouches of random stuff.
- Technically speaking, some of the components are expendable, but they're so easy to replace it's worth no points. In some cases I represent the expendability through Charges.
- In some cases I add the Arrangement (-1/4) lim. The idea here is that he carries the stuff around, but must set it up just so in order to actually perform the chant. The setup is in the description in these cases.
In some cases, the material component is so ubquitous that removing his pouches isn't sufficient -- for example, a chant might require small quantities of tears or dirt. In these cases they are not bought with the OIF: Pouches limitation at all, though he may in fact carry the component in his pouches. Sometimes they are bought with a separate "objects of opportunity" Focus(OIFOO, -1/2); in other cases they are not bought as Foci at all (he still needs them, they just aren't worth points).
In some cases, the "gestures" associated with the chant are specific tasks to be performed with the material component... that is, he doesn't just need to have it, he needs to use it in specific ways. This is included in the description.
Healing/Restoration Chants
Unless otherwise noted, these rituals affect living things only. That means he can heal a damaged tree but not a robot, unless it's somehow a "living robot".
Some of these rituals are built on Transform to eliminate various long-term problems. All of these are built to avoid abusiveness to the best of my ability.- For example, Deep Healing sometimes "mysteriously" fails, and can't be applied a second time, but is sometimes permanent. The idea here is that if the character's handler doesn't want to lose the Disad even temporarily, it fails. Otherwise it heals normally (but note rapid-healing lim). Continued re-application is abusive, so we prevent it. However, this can also be an opportunity for the handler to buy off the Disad, or replace it, in which case the fix is permanent.
- Also, it is built with 5 minutes of extra time. So for example, to remove a 15-pt disad from a target with 12 BODY takes (12*2+15=) 39 AP, so (39/3=) 13d6. If he slots the spell at full power (requiring a Shamanism roll at -9 just to set up), he gets 6d6/5 minutes, so 15 minutes is the minimum in this case.
- Similarly, Heal Mind and Heal Spirit both require the target's consent, and sometimes "mysteriously" fail even when consent is given, and take a long time.
- What counts as a "problem" that can be healed is based on SFX and decided case-by-case.
For example, while Deep Healing generally affects PhysLims, it would not affect Physlim: Ignorant of Earth Culture. It wouldn't affect Physlim: Blind if it represents hysterical blindness (in this case, Heal Mind would affect it, despite being a PhysLim), or if the target is from a naturally blind species (in which case no sort of healing will affect it, since it isn't a pathology of any sort).
Conversely, while Deep Healing generally doesn't affect PsychLims, it might affect Psychlim: Irritable if the cause is chronic back pain. It might also affect Soclim: Halitosis, Distinctive Features: Pustulent Sores, Dependence: Alcoholism. It might even boost a character's CHA to normal human average, if the low CHA represented some kind of physical problem. You get the idea.
Nature Chants
These chants involve manipulating natural elements -- plants, weather, earth/fire/air/water, that sort of thing.
Some of these chants influence weather or terrain on a large scale (~10km range). These work within local climatic conditions, and are only capable of producing effects that are physically possible within those conditions. They are consequently fairly stable (bought with Long Lasting to the +20 "permanent" adder, though of course they aren't really permanent) and take a while to ramp up (bought w/extra time 1 min Lim:-3/2). (Note that, although the Explosion Lim is not bought on these, the effects do tend to taper off gradually at the edges rather than mysteriously stop short.)
Some of these chants conjure natural materials or settings. Whether these can be used to support other chants that require such materials/settings is entirely a GM decision. I propose the following rule of thumb: if there are other ways to obtain the needed settings/materials, but the conjuration is convenient, that's fine; if he would otherwise be unable to obtain them (e.g., his Foci have been taken away) he can't use conjuration to sidestep that.
Thoughts/Perception Chants
Transformation Chants
Self Transformation
These typically fall into three categories: "Guise" chants, which modify his superficial appearance or shape (typically Shapeshift), and "Form" chants, which modify his essence (typically Multiform), and miscellaneous transformations that grant him specific capabilities without changing his basic nature or appearance.
Animal "Form" chants generally leave him with both animal and human class of mind. (Phys Lim). In general, he can't transition from one "Form" to another, but only back and forth to/from his human form (since he buys them as distinct slots in his VPP, not one MP with multiple forms).
Spiritual and Spirit Summoning Chants
Chant Details
General Notes:
- Chants in bold are balance-affecting... they affect CV, DC, SPD, or DEF
- HERO descriptions are on the application sheet, not here.
| Name | Category | Effect | AP Range |
| Aura of air | Nature | He dons a turquoise necklace and invokes it, creating a perpetually replenishing field of comfortable air around his body that allows him to breathe freely and protects him from extremes of temperature and pressure. | 17 |
| Awaken! | Restoration | He crushes a natural stimulant herb near the target, restoring it to consciousness. This takes a while, and sometimes doesn't work at all for complicated reasons. | 10-100 |
| Bubble of air | Nature | Like Aura of Air, but the field of air is expanded into a long, thin bubble capable of encompassing many people. | 34 |
| Bubbles of air | Nature | Like Aura of Air, but four distinct bubbles are formed and can be distributed to others, each associated with a single piece of turquoise. | 34 |
| Citadel of the Mind | Thought | He draws runes at the four cardinal points of a circle, forming an intangible, translucent sphere that provides powerful defense from mental powers. | 67-100 |
| Control weather | Nature | He casts a handful of colored sand in the air, and the weather over a large area slowly changes to reflect his request. This has no combat effects -- at least, none under his specific control -- but is not simply aesthetic: for example, he can end a drought, or protect an area from the effects of a hurricane. | 62 |
| Decay | Nature | He spreads a small amount of some natural corrosive (for example, digestive acids) on a target, which he magically augments to slowly corrode through even the toughest materials. (Nothing physically stops him from damaging a sentient target with this spell, but in practice he simply won't.) | 45 |
| Deep healing | Restoration/Transformation | He spreads a medicinal salve on the target and chants over the target continuously until the problem(s) is/are healed. This generally takes a long time, and sometimes fails for mysterious reasons. Sometimes it works, but the problem remanifests in days (in these cases, subsequent attempts will always fail). Sometimes the fix is permanent. There are complicated magical reasons for this we won't get into. (grins) | 15-90 |
| Dense fog | Nature | He casts a handful of black sand at his feet and an extraordinarily dense fog forms around him, completely obscuring visibility (although he can see through it himself). The fog follows him as he moves around. | 12-62 |
| Energize | Restoration | He crushes a natural stimulant herb in his hand and casts the fragments at the target, eliminating fatigue. This works only on personal END. | 12-100 |
| Exodus | Spirit | Like Haven, except a 30-meter-long portal is opened, allowing an unlimited number of travellers in either direction. Travellers must be willing, otherwise they simply don't go through, even if physically forced through the portal. (Unconscious or similarly incapable-of-consent travellers are generally assumed to be willing.) The portal takes about an hour to open, and stays open for an hour (although DC can close it before that). Once the portal closes, travellers are stranded until a new portal is opened (unless they can travel on their own). | 60 |
| Group Haven | Spirit | Just like Haven, except up to 7 others can travel the path with him. He must "authorize" the travellers, and they must be willing. All travellers must travel as a group -- anyone who stays behind is left behind. Anyone can walk out of Haven and return to their point of origin at any time, but cannot return under their own power. If DC returns, everyone else returns as well... he can't "strand" people there. | 55 |
| Haven | Spirit | He draws runes along a spiral on the ground, creating a mystical path that leads to a peaceful spirit realm known as "Haven." No matter how long he seems to spend in Haven, and no matter how far he travels within Haven, he returns to the same spot and more or less the same moment he left. (This is an advantage if he needs to rest, plan, or prepare for an imminent crisis... but also means he can't use it to escape from a crisis.)
| 25 |
| Heal Mind | Restoration/Thought | Similar to Deep Healing, except for mental problems. There is a telepathic element, but it's pure SFX -- no information is exchanged, etc. The target has to be willing... if they refuse the change on any level, including subconsciously, it doesn't work. No salve is required, instead he burns incense. As with Deep Healing, this takes a long time, sometimes fails or reverts, and sometimes is permanent, for complicated reasons. | 34-67 |
| Heal Spirit | Restoration/Spirit | Just like Heal Mind, except for spiritual problems. I actually have NO idea what that means, but I like VPPs. No salve is required, instead he arranges small crystals around the target in a precise pattern. As with Deep Healing, this takes a long time, sometimes fails or reverts, and sometimes is permanent, for complicated reasons. | 34-67 |
| Healing hands | Restoration | This is his default healing spell. He lays hands on the target and heals it. | 10-100 |
| Healing smoke | Restoration | He rolls herbs into a cigarette-like tube, which he lights and waves around, forming a cloud of healing smoke. | 20-100 |
| Healing spring | Restoration/Transformation | He pours pure water onto the ground and a magical spring appears, forming a continually renewed pool whose waters heal the injured slowly, but consistently. He can only do this once a day, but the spring lasts for five hours. The spring can be destroyed normally, ending the effect. He does not need to further maintain the spell, or even pay attention to it, once the spring has been created. | 30-90 |
| Ice Curtain | Nature | He casts a handful of white sand into the air, forming a wall or dome of ice. The ice remains in place until it naturally melts or sublimates away. | 65-100 |
| Nature's Bloom | Nature | A small-scale version of Nature's Domain. | 6-100 |
| Nature's Domain | Nature | He casts a handful of seeds on the ground, and a wide area (1km) slowly turns into a life-rich, life-supporting zone, full of plants and animals. The exact nature of the zone depends on local climate -- in temperate zones this is typically forest, in deserts he creates an oasis, in underground caverns the walls become covered with various useful molds, etc. | 37 |
| Nature's Friendship | Nature | He tosses a specially treated serpent's tooth into the air; it circles his body slowly. As long as it does so he is immune to all terrestrial toxins and pathogens. | 20 |
| Purge Toxin | Restoration | Just like Treat Toxin, except it does not (typically) reverse the effects of the disease, merely prevents further effects and allows natural healing to begin. | 7-94 |
| Reduce visibility | Nature | He casts a handful of black sand in the air, and a visibility-reducing event slowly affects a large area. The specific effect (heavy fog, sleet, volcanic dust, sandstorm, etc.) depends on the local environment and is not under his control. | 70 |
| Storm Curtain | Nature | He casts a handful of yellow sand into the air, forming a contained field of charged air that disrupts energy beams and similar attacks. While uncomfortable to walk through, it does not affect physical objects. Although he cannot control the intensity of the field, he can control its size and location. | 78-99 |
| Treat Toxin | Restoration | He spreads a medicinal salve on the target, undoing the effects of poisons and diseases. If there are multiple effects and it matters, this spell cycles through them each time it is cast on the same target, rather than curing one effect entirely before moving on to the next. This usually does not eliminate the cause, merely reverses the effects thus far (though it depends on the toxin). | 12-100 |
| Ward of the Mind | Thought | He draws runes at the four cardinal points of a circle, forming an intangible, translucent sphere that collapses if mental powers are used through it. This provides no protection; it is primarily useful to provide warning. | 9-99 |
| Wind Curtain | Nature | He casts a handful of translucent sand into the air, forming a contained field of high-velocity wind that deflects physical objects but does not affect energy beams or similar attacks. | 78-99 |
