Here's a suggestion on how to handle spirit magic users seeking and using spirits based roughly on how I handle things in my own game. It certainly won't be to everyone's game style or taste but may just prove useful for those still struggling with the spirit magic rules. The tables don't paste in too well so I hope they make sense. Apologies it's such a long post, I'll probably put it on the Wiki as well at some point.
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Spirit Magic
Spirit magic is practised by various spirit cults in both the historical world and in many fantasy worlds. The shaman is the leader of these practices, acting as an intermediary between the mundane world and the spirit world. Shamans use their various spirit skills and abilities to communicate with, and manipulate spirits to bring about a change in the physical world.
Locating Spirits
There really is no better way to run locating and dealing with spirits within a game than through role-playing the encounters. However, this is not always practical, particularly with larger groups where the other players have no real dealings with the spirit world. The following house rules are presented here to provide an alternative that can used during downtime for a spirit magic user to locate, negotiate with and bind spirits. This may involve the shaman spending Improvement Points to gain such spirits as for common magic. They are meant as a guide only and games masters are positively encouraged to amend and modify them as they see fit.
The first step in seeking a spirit is for the shaman to actually decide on what type of spirit he seeks. This could be as simply as looking for a healing spirit to heal the clan chiefs son of his serious wound, or as complex as seeking an allied magic spirit with a set of fire related spells to help defeat a local troll tribe. The possibilities are as vast as the spirit world itself and so the player must clearly state to the games master just what type of spirit his character is seeking.
Once the type of spirit has been determined then the shaman needs to make an appropriate Lore roll to find a suitable location to begin his spirit quest. If the shaman is seeking a type of spirit regularly associated with his own spirit tradition and is in his home terrain then a Lore (Shamanic Tradition) roll augmented with Lore (Regional) would be sufficient (see the Core Rulebook p33 for augmenting skill rolls).
If, however, he is in another location or is seeking a more unusual spirit for his spirit tradition then the games master may well feel other skills, such as Lore (Animal) or Lore (Spirit World), may be more appropriate.
The games master may apply modifiers to these skill rolls based upon various advantages or disadvantages. A few possibilities are listed below. These modifiers may well be cumulative.
Reason for skill modifier and Modifier Applied
Appropriate location found (for example; the site of a week old wildfire may grant +5% to find a fire spirit, but the edge of a lava pit would give +20%) = modifier between +5% to +20%
Inappropriate location (for example; an empty sepulchre for seeking a ghoul spirit would be -5%, but seeking a ghoul spirit at a site renowned for healing would give a -20%) = modifier between -5% to -20%
Appropriate time or holy day (for example; an ancestors birthday +5%, midnight for a darkness spirit +10%) = modifier between +5 to +10%
Sacred Time – the spirit world is closer at this time = modifier of +20%
For each Runic affiliation the spirit and shamanic tradition share (even if considered a hostile or enemy spirit) = modifier of +5% per rune
For each Runic opposite the spirit has to the shamans tradition (such as darkness being opposed by fire or light) = modifier of -5% per rune
The spirit type sought is considered an ally to the spirit cult or is an ancestor (such as a horse spirit to a nomad) = modifier of +20%
The spirit type sought is considered hostile to the spirit cult (such as a sickness spirit to a healing cult) = modifier of -20%
Once a suitable location has been determined then the shaman needs to travel there and enter the spirit world as described in the rules for spirit magic (Core Rulebook p138-142). Such journeys are typically only a day or two in duration and should be easily fitted in to players 'down time' between adventures, unless he seeks a particularly unusual or unique spirit.
If the shaman fails his Lore roll then he is unable to even find an appropriate location or his other duties interfere. Perhaps he needs to do further research or perhaps the site was temporarily out of use for some reason. The games master may allow him to make another roll at a later date with a bonus (say +20%) to reflect the current level of research already completed. If he fumbles the roll then he may well find himself in a hostile situation or completely waste his day looking for a suitable spot. If, however, he succeeds then he may then prepare to enter the spirit world on his spirit quest.
The Spirit Quest
Once the appropriate Lore roll has been made and the location found, then the shaman may enter the spirit world and make a Spirit Walking skill to try to find the type of spirit he requires. The shaman may make one such skill roll for every 1D4 hours he remains on the spirit world. This is handled as an opposed test against half the appropriate spirits Persistence skill, as most spirits are not actively hiding.
If he succeeds in locating a suitable spirit then the shaman needs to roll and determine the spirits initial attitude toward him.
1D10 Roll / Spirits Attitude / Influence Modifier
01-05 - Hostile : -20%
06-15 - Unpleasant : -10%
16-30 - Unhelpful or Wary : -5%
31-70 - Neutral or Indifferent : +0%
71-85 - Positive or Helpful : +5%
86-95 - Friendly : +10%
96-00 - Ally : +20%
The above table should only be taken as a guide and it must be remembered that a hostile healing spirit is far less of a concern than a hostile bane spirit! Even a spirit who may be interesting in becoming an ally could well change its attitude. The games master may even allow modifiers to the above roll to reflect the shamans spirit tradition and type of spirit he seeks, such modifiers should only provide a 5% or 10% difference.
Negotiating with the Spirit
Once the spirits initial attitude has been determined then the shaman must either defeat it in spirit combat (sometimes mock spirit combat) and bind it to his service or, more commonly, convince it to assist him with a roll of his Influence skill opposed by the spirits Persistence. The modifier from the Spirit Attitude table above should also be applied to this skill check.
The games master may also allow the shaman to augment his Influence skill with his Lore (Shamanic Tradition) or Lore (Spirit World) should he feel this is appropriate. A critical success could well result in the spirit offering to become an allied spirit, this means the shaman may call upon it any time in the future for its assistance. A fumbled roll would result in a hostile and possibly dangerous response from the spirit.
The games master should now work out some form of agreement between the shaman and the spirit. This is best role-played, if possible, but the following tables are provided with some suggestions, or for when inspiration fails.
Roll 1D10 / Spirits Request / Examples
1 / Physical Task / Deliver a message, climb a hill, move an item
2 / Physical Sacrifice / A sacrifice of alcohol, money, blood, a possession
3 / Physical Compulsion / Eat no meat, remain silent, sleep outside
4 / Mental Task / A riddle or puzzle, answer a question, learn a chant
5 / Mental Sacrifice / Don't use a Lore or INT based skill
6 / Mental Compulsion / Be friendlier, hate darkness, develop a phobia
7 / Magical Task / Cast a spell, seek a spirit, increase a magical skill
8 / Magical Sacrifice / Sacrifice MP's, forget a spell, release a spirit
9 / Magical Compulsion / Cast no fire magic, learn a particular spell
0 / Roll twice / Roll twice and apply the results
Next roll to determine the difficulty of the request, each difficulty has a few suggestions on how to apply the result above.
Roll 1D10 / Difficulty of Request
1-2 / Easy
Task: a simple task taking less than a day, +20% to any skills used to achieve it.
Sacrifice: a minor and inconsequential sacrifice not exceeding 1D6 silver pennies in value, 1D3 magic points/hit points or a rarely used skill for 1D3 days.
Compulsion: a minor, often bizarre, compulsion that has little daily impact for 1D3 days.
3-8 / Medium
Task: a reasonable task taking, well within the shamans abilities, takes 1D3 days.
Sacrifice: a sacrifice not exceeding 2D6 silver pennies in value, 1D6 magic points/hit points or an infrequently used skill for 1d6 days.
Compulsion: a strange, often bizarre, compulsion that has some daily impact for 2D3 days.
9-0 / Hard
Task: a hard task, just pushing the shamans abilities, -20% to skills used to achieve it, takes 2D3 days.
Sacrifice: a sacrifice not exceeding 3D10 silver pennies in value, 1D8 magic points/hit points or a frequently used secondary skill for 1D8 days.
Compulsion: a strange, often bizarre, compulsion that has significant daily impact for 2D6 days.
Remember that an agreement is only made when both parties have finally agreed on the result. The games master may even allow the shaman and spirit to continue to barter using appropriate skills.
Once an agreement has been reached then it becomes binding on both parties and the shaman and the spirit have a temporary alliance (although in reality such agreements are as easily broken on the spirit plane as they are on the mundane plane). A shaman who continually breaks agreements will find that fewer spirits are willing to assist him as time goes on.
