Rituals? Bah....just drain 'em...

[Sutek]

I'd like to preface this by saying that I used to play with a point system which me and my buddies developed for good old AD&D way back in the day. It's really cool to see what I felt was a much better system for casting surface as actual rules, and in Conan no less...weee!!! :lol:

However, in really poring over the Rituals section, I noticed something that seems like a glitch. Way I envisioned things on the first read through, one could gain PP through Ritual or Draining (for get imbibing narcotics for a moment). But there's something wrong.

Were I, being the wiley magi that I am, to request that my followers help me out in a little arcane dance number I've worked out in order to boost my PP the product seems paltry. If I have the minimum group of 10 and they all make the minimum effort and just take 10s, I gain 1PP.

Were I, being the clever and devious magi that I am, to request that my followers help me out in a little arcane dance number I've worked out in order to boost my PP and instead lured one poor sole into my lair and drained the points right out of him, I can get 1d4 - up to 4 times the ammount.

To gain 4PP through ritual alone I'd have to either amass 100 or more people for the dance number takin 10s or the minimum 10 have to be REALLY good dancers...either that or suck one dude for one round.

Should I potentially suffer from Corruption if I drain? Should the second collumn in the Ritual PP gain table (8.1) be 2, 3, 4, 5 instead of 1, 2, 3, 4? In the section on Sacrifices and Energy Drains, where is the referenced but elusive "Chapter 5: Tricks of Sword and Sorcery" located?

In the words of the great Jar Jar Binks: Any help here would be hot...

 

[Anonymous]

I had wondered about this as well and the only seems to be that some Priest of gods such as Asura, Ibis, and Mitra have a purpose to oppose human sacrifices. Draining an enemy might be a forbidable act if you follow these gods.

Instead, to increase your BPP, you would have to gather the congregration. Imagine a large gathering of Mitra worshippers at a festival possible several thousand who might have made a holy pilgrimage and of those thousands hundereds might be versed in a basic perform skill and through a frenzy of worship vastly increase the High Priests BPP.

But if you are evil it seems the quick and easy path of draiing 'em would be the most efficient.

 

[Sutek]

Or if you were good but only draining evil guys...lol.

I noticed this and was perplexed, and your answer sounds plausible, but with no alignments I guess it woul dboil down to the GM deciding if the draining of someone went against the character's faith or moality. The offset would be accrual of Corruption, in my mind, but that leasds me to my follow up querry: Wouldn't really, really, evil Sorcerers benefit from gaining Corruption? Shouldn't they? I'm going back through the magic rules on a more detailed level not but on the first read through I never noticed anything like that in the system. Basically, the more Corrupt you are, the more evil power you generate, and so on. At least that fits my idea of things, plus it coincides with the Rule of Success but in a long term way.

Does someone have some other rational reason why ritual PP gain is so low? Or at least can someone from design (if there is someone) explain why direct drain doesn't force a corruption check? Also, can someone clarify the "chapter 5" reference?

Thanks

 

[Sutek]

...bump...

No other thoughts here? It just seems like noone is going to choose Rituals over just sucking some lacky dry...

 

[Jason Durall]

I can see your point where point-wise, it might be more expedient to just drain people through sacrifice than through rituals, but as a GM, I would begin to make it much more difficult for a character to do so, with the following guidelines:

Corruption will accrue for human sacrifice. It doesn't matter what your "alignment" or ethos is, Corruption is a consequence of doing evil actions. Evil characters accrue them also.

If a sorcerer begins sacrificing loyal followers rather than just milk them for power points, they will have to work harder on keeping followers loyal.

Followers aren't just cattle - they have families, and if the sorcerer has a reputation for making sacrifices, a heroic barbarian might show up to oppose them...

 

[InsomNY]

I think you're missing the point of the discussion, Jason. By "draining," they're talking about sucking Power Points (couldn't bring myself to abbreviate it PP in this case) from apprentices via the provisions of the Rule of The Master.

 

[Sutek]

No, I think he got me, InsomNY. If a Sorceror leeches PP directly, he should have to make a Corruption check. Evil Sorcerers don't care; they're evil. Do-gooders are going ot try and just get rituals underway, but it's still a lot easier to just drain PP directly.

I havent' got a full grasp of the Corruption mechanics yet, but I think I definitely see the potential for it to overlap into several areas and affect things slightly.

However, Jason, it's a nive solution to keep it on a role playing level and if PCs start draining passersby...it's goingot be hard to convinve the local patrol that you arent' the baddies...

 

[Bregales]

These are some things our group has been going over too. (I'm just back from vacation, our guys are all out now so it's been a while since I've visited these boards - or planned the next adventure for that matter :shock: ). This is kind of off your question, but one of the guys in my group raised a thread asking about Sorcerer behavior a while back, and I don't know if it'll be any help, so I'm just posting the link here. http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3126