Slytovhand
Mongoose
Hi gang.
I was lying awake today (I do night shifts), and not sleeping
, but I did think of this.
This skill is used when a character wants to formulate a new spell (either out of the book, or completely original). They use the standard 2 improvement rolls to gain a new spell - the first is the Language: Sorcery skill to see if the can actually work out how the spell is to be intoned, the second is a straight INT+POW roll to see if they have correctly understood how the will is implemented. If the first roll is CRIT, then add the characters CRIT bonus (ie 10% of total skill) to the second roll. Failure means improvement rolls are wasted - bummer!
To use sorcery, it basically takes an understanding of the 'mechanics' of magic, and knowledge of how to apply a person's will.
The 'mechanics' is basically a language - the correct pronunciation of the correct sounds at the right places. While this isn't truly a 'language', but 'linguistics', I figured this would be easier on the character sheet.
Most sorcery (IMO) has a stack of gibberish in it, so not just anyone can pick it up. This language skill educates a character to know what sounds are gibberish, and what the right sounds are, and in the correct way... just like in any language (nouns, verbs, pronouns, gerunds... locative case, subjective case, accusative case, etc...).
Similar to other language skills, Language: Sorcery is regionalised, and en-cult-ured, so knowing one areas sorcery does not mean you know another areas - you don't know what is gibberish, and what's not (which is why the different magic schools are able to keep their secrets!) Thus, it would be Language: Brithini Sorcery vs Language: Dwarvish Sorcery, etc.
Example of use: Adeline overhears Frankston throw a spell ("Flashbangallakazham"), and sees a person in front of her go from siz 12 to size 23 in a couple of seconds. She already has Enhance DEX and Tap POW, so presumes it's a pretty similar spell (ie Enhance SIZ). She made a successful LISTEN check, so feels she heard it all aright. Adeline and Frankston are from the same 'school' of sorcery. She pretty quickly figures out that "Fl", "shb" and "zh" is mere gibberish to fool others. "A" is for targetting another person. "anga" is the intonation used to increase or enlarge something. "am" is part of a manipulation. Using the Language: Sorcery skill, she figures that "llaka" is the objective term for SIZ. She now rolls her language skill (and succeeds). She then rolls her base skill (32%) and succeeds - and she now knows Tap SIZ.
So - what say you guys??? Useful? I thought it might come in handy for GM's when their players say they want to create new spells. I was also thinking it because of the pure number of Detect, Dominate, Adept etc skills requiring a substance, creature, skill etc etc). Like with our own language, while many of us purport to be able to speak it, very few these days actually understand what goes into how it is spoken (ie - it's parts of speech), thus, very few characters or even NPC's will have this skill (nor even high!!) - also explaining why most will only have a few spells they have been taught - very little inventing being done, due to lack of understanding - it's all rote learning!
Slyt
I was lying awake today (I do night shifts), and not sleeping
, but I did think of this.This skill is used when a character wants to formulate a new spell (either out of the book, or completely original). They use the standard 2 improvement rolls to gain a new spell - the first is the Language: Sorcery skill to see if the can actually work out how the spell is to be intoned, the second is a straight INT+POW roll to see if they have correctly understood how the will is implemented. If the first roll is CRIT, then add the characters CRIT bonus (ie 10% of total skill) to the second roll. Failure means improvement rolls are wasted - bummer!
To use sorcery, it basically takes an understanding of the 'mechanics' of magic, and knowledge of how to apply a person's will.
The 'mechanics' is basically a language - the correct pronunciation of the correct sounds at the right places. While this isn't truly a 'language', but 'linguistics', I figured this would be easier on the character sheet.
Most sorcery (IMO) has a stack of gibberish in it, so not just anyone can pick it up. This language skill educates a character to know what sounds are gibberish, and what the right sounds are, and in the correct way... just like in any language (nouns, verbs, pronouns, gerunds... locative case, subjective case, accusative case, etc...).
Similar to other language skills, Language: Sorcery is regionalised, and en-cult-ured, so knowing one areas sorcery does not mean you know another areas - you don't know what is gibberish, and what's not (which is why the different magic schools are able to keep their secrets!) Thus, it would be Language: Brithini Sorcery vs Language: Dwarvish Sorcery, etc.
Example of use: Adeline overhears Frankston throw a spell ("Flashbangallakazham"), and sees a person in front of her go from siz 12 to size 23 in a couple of seconds. She already has Enhance DEX and Tap POW, so presumes it's a pretty similar spell (ie Enhance SIZ). She made a successful LISTEN check, so feels she heard it all aright. Adeline and Frankston are from the same 'school' of sorcery. She pretty quickly figures out that "Fl", "shb" and "zh" is mere gibberish to fool others. "A" is for targetting another person. "anga" is the intonation used to increase or enlarge something. "am" is part of a manipulation. Using the Language: Sorcery skill, she figures that "llaka" is the objective term for SIZ. She now rolls her language skill (and succeeds). She then rolls her base skill (32%) and succeeds - and she now knows Tap SIZ.
So - what say you guys??? Useful? I thought it might come in handy for GM's when their players say they want to create new spells. I was also thinking it because of the pure number of Detect, Dominate, Adept etc skills requiring a substance, creature, skill etc etc). Like with our own language, while many of us purport to be able to speak it, very few these days actually understand what goes into how it is spoken (ie - it's parts of speech), thus, very few characters or even NPC's will have this skill (nor even high!!) - also explaining why most will only have a few spells they have been taught - very little inventing being done, due to lack of understanding - it's all rote learning!
Slyt
