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WARNING, POSSIBLY LONG POST
Disclamer:
WE HERE DISCLAIM THAT IT'S NOT OUT FAULT THAT YOU MAY GET BORED
WITH THIS POST. IT IS YOUR NARROW, UNIMAGINATIVE MIND!!!!!!!!!
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Of Mages...
History: Throughout the periods and annals of history there have been many an account of those who have delved into the mystries of the magical. Those who found some control over this force were called Wizards. They discovered that surrounding everything and imbedded in everything was THE TAPESTRY. With their knowledge of the Tapestry Wizards were able to weave mighty spells. The ancient elves called these people MAGES, the elven word for Weavers. In time many of these mages discovered that there was a simpler, quicker way to the power that the Tapestry held. They found that they needed not to weave their spells, but merely rip the threads of the Tapestry in which they needed and cause the effect to happen. These people became known as the Reavers. As this type of thinking progressed the elder mages noted something. Each time a Reaver caused an effect by ripping the threads of the Tapestry and not weaving them slowly into complex spells, a backlash hit them. As if the Tapestry was trying to reweave itself and the Reaver was in the way. Many a mighty Reaver has been brought down by this....!
Mechanics:
The following game mechanics are taken from T$R's ADND 2nd Ed. Players Handbook and White Wolf's Mage: the Ascension.
The Reavers
Reavers do not follow the accepted manner of creating magical effects. They want it now and they want it fast! Nothing should stand in their way and if it does it will die! Ever since the first Reaver came into being, they have been distrusted, hated and outright hunted. At first when a Reaver begins his journey down his fated road he finds everything to be easy, but as his power increases so does the toughness.
Reaver (Wizard sub-class)
Level Experience Hit dice (1d4+2) 1 0 1 Adept 2 2,000 2 3 4,000 3 4 8,000 4 5 16,000 5 6 32,000 6 Disciple 7 96,000 6+1 8 250,000 6+3 9 375,000 6+5 10 750,000 6+6 11 1,125,000 6+7 12 1,500,000 6+8 13 1,875,000 6+9 14 2,250,000 6+10 15 2,625,000 6+11 16 3,000,000 6+12 Master 17 3,375,000 6+13 18 3,750,000 6+14 19 4,125,000 6+15 20 4,500,000 6+16 *Note: After level 20 Reavers gain 1 hp per level and it costs 750,000 to go up a level.Magick progression
Note: Reavers refer to their brand of magic as Magick.
1st level: Reavers begin with 3 sphere points plus one for there chosen sphere 2nd level: 1 sphere point gained 3rd level: 1 sphere point gained 4th level: 1 sphere point gained 5th level: none gained 6th level: none gained 7th level: none gained 8th level: 1 point gained 9th level: none gained 10th level: none gained 11th level: none gained 12th level: 1 point gained 13th level: none gained 14th level: none gained 15th level: none gained 16th level: 1 point gained 17th level: none gained 18th level: none gained 19th level: none gained 20th level: 1 point gainedand so on....
SPHERES...?What is a sphere you ask? Here is your answer. Every spell is related to one or more spheres. For instances: The first level spell GREASE is comprised solely of the MATTER sphere. In it the Mage weaves a spell to make grease appear on the intended spot. A Reaver, using his/her knowledge of the MATTER sphere rips the Tapestry to form the grease. INVISIBILITY is created when the Reaver uses his/her knowledge of the FORCES and LIFE spheres. Making his/her body immune to light rays there by letting them pass the Reaver by.
Here are the Spheres and their descriptions.
CORRESPONDENCEThis is the sphere that involves three-dimensional space. It assumes that every is "stacked" upon eac other in one "place", refered to by Reavers as ALL-SPACE. This is one of the hardest spheres for a Reaver to understand, seeing as they have grown up their entire lives relying on three-dimensional space. Reavers of this sphere understand that since everything is "stacked" upon each other at one point, then in reality they are everywhere at once. Arriving at the 3rd level of this Sphere the Reaver can decided to quit existing in one place and exisit in another.
Levels
1 Immediate Spatial Perception 2 Correspondence Perceptions 3 Shift through Space/ Co-locality Perception 4 Blend Localities/ Co-locate self 5 Mutate Localities/ Co-locationEntropy
This sphere deals with Chaos, death, decay, randomness and destruction. It assumes that everything strives to revert to the lowest point. As seen in nature that mountains build up, yet after time they dwindle to naught. Entropy is the sister to the Mages Necromancy.
Levels
1 Percieve Entropy 2 Control Randomness 3 Diffuse Energy/ Destroy Matter 4 Wither life 5 Intellectual EntropyForces
This sphere deals with the forces of energy. Such as light, heat and fire. Anything that is considered energy is dealt with by this sphere.
Levels
1 Percieve Forces 2 Contol lesser Forces 3 Spawn lesser Forces 4 Control Major Forces 5 Spawn Major ForcesLife
This sphere deals with all that is living. Animal and plant.
Levels
1 Sense Life 2 Alter Simple patterns (plants & bugs) 3 Alter Self/Create simple patterns 4 Alter Life 5 Create Life patternsMatter
Where as life deals with the living, the sphere of Matter deals with all material that is not living.
Levels
1 Matter Percpetions 2 Create Unified Patterns 3 Alter Matter/ Pattern Disassociation 4 Transmutation/Quilted Forms 5 New Substances or StructuresMind
This sphere deals with the mind of living creatures.
Levels
1 Empower Self 2 Mental Impulse 3 Mental Link 4 Control Minds 5 UntetherSpirit
This sphere deals with the concept that the spirit and the body are seperate. It also deals with the summoning of mystical creatures.
Levels
1 Spirit sight/Spirit sense 2 Call spirits/plumb the spirit world 3 Travel Spirit 4 Fabricate Spirit 5 Outward journyesTime
This sphere deals with the element of time just as Correspondence dealt with space.
Levels
1 Time sense 2 Past/Future Sight 3 Time contraction/Dialation 4 Time Determinism 5 Time Travel/Time immunityAt first through fifth level the Reaver is considered an Adept and can only go up to 3rd level in any sphere.
At sixth level through fifteenth level the Reaver is considered a Disciple and can only go up to 4th level in any sphere.
At sixteenth level on up the Reaver is considered a Master and may advance to the 5th level of spheres.
Herein will follow thus:
Guardians of the Tapestry
Payment for Reaving
Reaving spells
History of the Reavers
Interaction of Reavers
Sample Template of a Reaver
[FOR A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE GUARDIANS OF THE TAPESTRY EMAIL:sayersda@student.msu.edu]
PAYMENT FOR REAVING
The Goddess of Magic decided that such great power should not come without a cost. Everything that is powerful in the multiverse has a cost right? So she set her own prices for reaving. Her are her prices:
Mechanics: subtract sphere effect's rating X 5 from hit points.
I.E: Belarlz cast a lightning bolt which is a Forces: 2 effect. 2 X 5= 10. >From the backlash of the Tapestry being respun Belarlz takes 10hps of damage.
There could be almost any payment for reaving, it is mainly up to the DM!
REAVING SPELLS
You ask so my Reaver know something about the sphere of Correspondence, so how does he teleport?
Reaver's have a special rating called ARETE. Arete is the amount of dice you may roll to see if your effect works. This is how it begins:
Level Arete 1-6 4 7-15 6 16-20 8Example: Belarlz has an Arete of 4. This means he is allowed up to 4 ten-sided dice to roll. He has decided to bring lightning down from the heavens and strike his opponent. The Effect level is 2. The difficulty then for his effect to work is 5 (Effect level + 3). Belarlz rolls his 4 dice and gets the following results:
10,6,5,2
Thus Belarlz has achieved 3 success. The effect works!
Here it is simply: Difficulty: Effect or Sphere level + 3
Successes: Every roll that is at or higher than the
difficulty on a ten-sided dice.
So what do successes mean?
1 Success: The effect goes off, but is weaker than expected
2 Success: The effect goes off, and does almost what it should
3 Success: The effect works perfectly
4 Success: The effect works superbly
5 Success: The effect works Amazingly
and so on....
HISTORY OF THE REAVERS
For ages the Reavers have lived among normal mages. It is really sometimes difficult to distinguish one from the other, although it is said that some Reavers wear tattoos somewhere on their bodies. Yet, for the most part, there history is intermingled with that of the mages. Many times the Reavers have gone by the name: Warlock. Which translated into common means simply "Oath Breaker" thus signfying the oath broken between the Goddess of Magic and the Wizards.
One of the most famous Reavers was Gandalf the Grey. In Gandalf's time Reavers were really not respected so they had to hide themselves behind the facade of being normal mages, although it did come out a few times...
Firey blasts of pine cones at wolves: Forces 2
Knowledge of Bilbo Baggin's Past and Future: Time 2
Knowledge of the ring when Bilbo got it: Mind 3
Saving himself from the Balrog in Moria: Life 3-4
As you can see nearly any mage could be a Reaver, so you might watch out!
INTERACTION OF REAVERS
Every few years the Reavers come together at a predetermined spot to tell what has been discovered about the spheres. Many have a certain way of telling if a fellow Wizard is a Reaver, but they never let anyone else know.
Mainly they keep to themselves, acting like normal mages.
------------------------ Sample Template Reaver ------------------------ Kanar Garell Reaver mage 1st level AL: CN Str: 14, Dex: 15, Int: 17, Wis: 15, Con: 16, Cha: 14 THAC0: 20 HP: 8 AC: 10 Spheres: Corr: Entropy: Forces:2 Matter: Mind: Life:1 Spirit: Time: Equipment: normal Money: Normal
Send a request to: Subject:Reaver: INFO To: sayersda@student.msu.edu
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KANAR GARELL'S GUIDE TO EFFECTS AND ROTES
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Introduction: Well met! I am Kanar Garell, commonly called "he who rips what
others have sown". This tome in which I am submitting to you, for read at your
lesure, is filled with many mystical and cryptic messages. Be fore warned.
Use each effect and rote at your own risk, for I only submit it to you.
CORRESPONDENCE
Sight beyond sight (Corr 2)
This knowledge gives the Reaver the ability to shift his senses through the Correspondence point, allowing him to sense other locations. A Reaver in Waterdeep now understands that he, and everything else, exist at the same Correspondence Point, so he simply chooses to look at Shadowdale rather than his current surroundings in Waterdeep.
The Reaver need only picture the location in his mind's eye and extend his perceptions there. The Reaver can then see, hear and smell anything at the remote location and can rotate the perspective as if he were standing there. Tactile sensory input if very limited, but the Reaver can vaugely feel temperature and concussions. The Reaver does create a disturbance in space at the remote location he is viewing. Although this disturbance cannot be seen, it can be sensed by anyone with spatial senses.
The Seven League Stride (Corr 3)
A Reaver using this effect is able to manipulate his position within three-dimensional space. He can instantaneously blink out and reappear in another location within Gaia's physical world. This effect does not immunize the Reaver to his new surroundings. For example, if the Reaver shifted to the ocean depths, mistakenly thinking something was there, he would be crushed by the intense water pressure. Barring such untidy circumstances, the Reaver can safetly transport himself throughout the physical world. From the Reaver's perspective, however, he is not moving; he is simply "sliding" through the Correspondence Point and changing his interaction with the world so that he translates into dimensional space in a different location.
Herme's Portal (Corr 4)
This effect creates a "window" in space that connects two or more different locations. These windows have as many faces as the sites connected: two sites are conjoined by a flat window with two sides, three sites are conjoined through three windows arranged in a triangle, four sites by a square gate, etc.. Each side of the portal shows a blurry view of the location it connects.
Anything that desires to pass through the portal may do so. However, using the magick involved an act of will, so inanimate objects and nonsentinents cannot pass through by anyone using the gate. This restriction isolates the environments connected by the window; thus, a window connecting a living room to the deep ocean will not allow water to flood the room.
Kick of the four Winds or Sounding the Gong (Corr 4)
Using this effect the attacker executes a flying spin kick at an opponent, and while in midair, co-locates to four postitions directly around the opponent, so that one kick impacts the opponent four times. The second part of this effect is Sounding the Gong. The Reaver strikes the groung or a nearby object and through Correspondence magick transfers the power of the strike to any chosen target within sight.
Farther than you thought (Corr 5)
The Reaver has gained full understanding of how the Correspondence Point relates to dimensional space. By permutating that relationship, the Reaver is able to stretch distances, change the sizes of objects, and warp space around him. The number of uses for this magick are infinite. An archer firing of a Reaver may suddenly find himself 10 kilometers away from his target as the 10 meters of land between the two stretches out like a ribbon through warped space.
ENTROPY
Dim Mak (Entropy 1)
Using his knowledge of Entropy, a Reaver identifies the weakest part of an inanimate structure or living body- the location most susceptible to debilitating and destruction. By identifying these pressure points and then physically striking them, the Reaver may inflict more damage upon the object. 1d6 of damage is inflicted for each success when evoking this effect.
Games of Luck (Entropy 2)
Using his power to control localized random events, the mage can virtually determine the outcome of any game of luck. The Reaver can control the throw of dice, the shuffle of cards, the fall of a roulette ball, and other such events. The more successes scored, the more precise the control the Reaver can exert.
FORCES
Darksight (Forces 1)
In the abscence of light, the Reaver can shift perceptions up or down the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. This allows him to view infared or ultraviolet light, radio waves, x-rays, etc. The Reaver will no longer be able to discern color, but other interesting perceptions can be gained from the various spectra, such as seeing an object's underlying structure using x-rays or seeing in the dark using infared.
Shocking Grasp (Forces 2)
The Reaver can cause the static electrizity in the air to discharge spontaneously in a localized area. If the effect is centered around a victim, the target will suffer 1d6 of damage per success.
Lightning (Forces 2)
Provided there is plenty of thunderstorm activity directly overhead, the Reaver can route lightning from the sky to strike a visible target in the vicinity. The effect causes 2d6 points of damage for every success rolled.
Telekinetic Control (Forces 4)
The Reaver may telekinetically control the movements of an object, provided the object is alread in motion. The object cannot be made to move faster than its original speed, though the Reaver can slow or stop the object by siphoning the kinetic energy into the air around it. The more success the more kinetic energy the Reaver may control. Example: four successes would enable control of a speeding arrow or a sprinting man, five a moving horse, etc.
LIFE
Prayer of Healing Revelation (Life 1)
This enables the Reaver to discover flaws in her body. The more successes scored, the more specific the information the Reaver recieves. One success might revel poison, two might revel the poison is effecting the respiratory process, and three successes might determine the poison is cyanide.
Little Good Death (Life 2)
With this effect the Reaver mentally grasps and shreds the etheric pattern of any simple creature. The target suffers 3d6 point of damage for every success scored.
Mold Tree (Life 2)
This effect allows the Reaver to reweave the pattern of a tree, causing its branches or even its trunk to bend and twist into new shapes.
Ho Tien Chi (Life 3)
Through this powerful effect, the Reaver can restore damage done to his body. The results are 1d6 points regained per success gained.
Better Body (Life 3)
By reweaving their pattern of his own body, the Reaver can improve slightly on Mother nature. Each success rolled enables the Reaver to increase one of her physical attributes or Commliness by one point. The effect does not last long and can never be permanent.
Animal Form (Life 5)
Through this effect the Reaver is able to change his pattern into that of any living creature. He may infact change other's patterns also. The subject recieves full benefits and penalties of the new form, but the sentinece does not change.
MATTER
Sculptor (Matter 3)
With this effect the Reaver is able to change the pattern of an inanimate object to the shape he wishes. He only need to mentally picture how it looks and how it will end up looking. There for a Reaver could change the shape of a door to make it appear as part of the wall.
MIND
Pathos (Mind 2)
With this effect the Reaver can sense the emotions and feelings of the subject. For example, one success and the Reaver senses anger, two and he senses anger mixed with fear, three success and he senses that the subject in fact feels anger spawned from anguish voer loss mixed with fear, and so on with more success.
Mental Impulse (Mind 2)
The Reaver can broadcast a single image or word into a subject's subconcious. The more successes rolled, the more powerful the Reavers suggestion. The subconcious impulse will work its way into the concious; more powerful impulses will blaze straight through into the subject's concious mind. Powerful impulses can cause dramatic change in behavior, or trigger spontaneous reaction. For example, a Reaver may cause a serving wench to drop a plate by impelling to the wench's mind the word "HOT" as the girl picks up the plate.
Telepathy (Mind 3)
The Reaver establishes a communication link between his own mind and a number of minds equal to the number of successes he scores on his magick effect roll. The surface thoughts of everyone linked telepathically are automatically exchanged across the link, creating a collage of images and language.
Possession (Mind 4)
This effect allows the Reaver to take control of the subjects mind and use it as if it were her own. If the Reaver fails to possess the subject's mind she may not do so again until the subject has slept. Alternatively the Reaver may select to control only a portion of the subject's mind such as motor responses or emotions.
TIME
Time sense (Time 1)
This effect allows the Reaver to know the exact time. It also allows her to sense such things as time shifts and distrubances.
Postcognition (Time 2)
The Reaver can extend her perceptions backward in time to witness what has previously happened in the Reaver's current location. While the Reaver "rewinds" time in the location, she sees in her mind's eye what transpired there. The DM must relate to the player what the character sees.
For example the Reaver might begin viewing the events one day ago, then shift to one hour agoe, then 10 years agoe, etc. Her total viewing time cannot exceed that rolled for the effect.
Accelerate Time (Time 3)
By dilating the moments of time, the Reaver can create fields of space-time where things seem to move faster, like a film played at high speed. Each success scored over two speeds up time by one factor- three successes doubles speed, four triples and so on. Person's under this effect gain an extra action for every factor of speed added
Slow Time (Time 3)
Same as Accelerate Time, except the other way around.
ROTES
FORCES ROTES
Veil of Invisiblity (Forces 2 Life 3)
The Veil is a classic rote. By altering the interaction of light with his pattern the Reaver Alexander was able to make himself immune to light waves. Thereby making himself invisible. The effect is taht light passes right through the Reaver who employs this rote.
LIFE ROTES
Uther's Butchered Visage (Life 3 Mind 1)
By cutting himself with a sacred knife, a crazed Reaver named Uther literally carved himself into a new man.
[A Reaver must have the opportunity to study the pattern of another living creature, memorize it, and then alter his own appearance to resemble the memorized pattern. Five successes would allow the Reaver to completely alter his entire body.]
MIND ROTES
Serene Temple (Mind 1 Life 1)
This very simply rote allows the Reaver to control the process of his body. He can change the speed at which his body operates. Some uses are: accelerate the liver and kidney's removal of toxins, speed the natural healing process, control bleeding when badly injured, and endure extreme temperatures.
These are but a few rotes from my own tomes.... Many have created others... and many have yet to be created.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: All effects and rotes were taken from White Wolf's Mage: the Ascension. They are not the product of this writer's over active imagination. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hawk sayersda@student.msu.edu
Greetings, I have been getting great support from the list on this topic! Here are a few game mechanics that are needed:
Beginning each day the Reaver has the option to spend as many hours as he has Arete in meditation. Each hour of meditation will allow him to roll one die of Arete. This number gives him the amount of effects he can use during the day before the backlash kicks in. In effect he is storing threads to use later.
Example: Kanar decides he can only meditate for two hours. Rolling two ten-sided dice he gets: 8 5. Thus he has 13 spell effect to use for the day.
Here is a good rote for getting around this:
ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (Mind 2 Time 3)
This rote allows the Reaver to slow time around him giving him time to do some more important things like meditate.
1 success: 1 second now takes 1 minute 2 success: 1 second now takes 10 minutes 3 success: 1 minute now takes an hour 4 success: 1 minute now takes 2 hours 5 success: 1 hour now takes 12 hoursHave fun! and please e-mail me with comments I love them! Hawk sayersda@student.msu.edu