Incantations in Theory and Practice, the latest product from Zombie Sky Press, just became available.
Incantations in Theory and Practice brings incantations—the alternate system of ritual magic from 3.5E—to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This exciting twist on magic brings great power to the fingertips of any player,even non-spellcasters, but power like this never comes without a price.
In this book, you’ll discover…
- Everything you need to start using incantations in your game right now.
- Guidelines to build your own balanced incantations and incorporate them into your game.
- New ideas on what incantations can be. (Here’s a hint, they’re more than just ritual magic.)
- New options, including opposed checks and lesser incantations.
- And 3 new incantations!
Every incantation is a story, complete with built-in hooks for more
adventure. This is an unpredictable, living, breathing magic.
Incantations in Theory and Practice is a perfect resource for players wanting to add a little danger to their characters or for game masters needing that extra something for their game world. This 9-page, high-quality, web-optimized pdf is compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and contains guidelines for building and using incantations and presents 3 new sample incantations.
Written by Scott Gable and Troy Taylor; Illustrated by James Keegan
Visit www.zombiesky.com to discover similar products.
And as a sneak preview, here's one of those new incantations:
You plunge your hands into the open abdomen of the corpse laid out in front of you. You slowly work the medium—the blood and innards—making sickening squelching noises the entire time. It is only as you finish, when the creature opens its eyes and stares up at you, its master, that the full reality of what you’ve done becomes apparent.
School necromancy; Effective Level 3rd
Skill Check Heal DC 20, 2 successes; Spellcraft DC 20, 1 success
Casting Time 30 minutes
Components M, S
Material Components—corpse of sentient creature, recently deceased (within 2 weeks of death); exotic unguents for preparing corpse (worth at least 500 gp)
Range touch
Target dead creature touched
Duration instantaneous
Saving Throw none; SR no
Description
You create a homunculus.With a fresh corpse in hand, you begin the work of molding some of its flesh and organs into your homunculus. Slowly, the tiny form takes shape, and with luck, it begins to take on a life of its own as it pulls away from your sticky hands and corpse incubator.
The creature is a homunculus (see Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary). You supply the creature’s vitality with your own blood (or 1d10 of its total 2d10 hp). You are its creator, possessing the standard bond between homunculus and master.
A secondary Craft (sculpture) skill check is required to determine how well crafted the homunculus is. (This check doesn’t affect the actual success or failure of this lesser incantation.)
Craft (sculpture) (Check Result)
9 or lower (The homunculus is poorly shaped, possessing ugly
deformities and no wings (or useless wings). It cannot fly.)
10-19 (The homunculus is appropriately formed. It can fly.)
20 or higher (The homunculus is expertly crafted. It appears as a tiny replica of whatever or whomever you wish: perhaps of yourself or another individual.)
Backlash
Half of the total hp of the homunculus, or 1d10 hp, are permanently drained from you to fuel the tiny, necrotic construct. You cannot heal this damage unless the homunculus is destroyed.
Failure
If you fail two consecutive skill checks, the homunculus animates as normal, but you are not its master. You still suffer the backlash, fueling the creature, and you still develop a telepathic link with it, but you cannot control it. It makes its own choices. You do not realize the failure until the homunculus says or does something to clue you in: it may threaten you, attack you, run away, or something else as appropriate.
The homunculus resents you for dredging it into existence, and it wants to ruin you for it. It may attempt to do so openly or secretly. It may even play along, feigning that it’s under your control, but you never actually control it.
This sounds great! I love the idea of incantations but have trouble with seeing how to use them in practice - seems like a perfect tool!
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okay just bought it...
my review...
15 out of 10 stars!
EXACTLY what I wanted. A Greatly expanded system of Incantations that opens them up to all classes and levels. A simple mechanic for creating new Incantations. And it MAKES SENSE within the existing rules!
Now... you opened a can of worms though... MORE Incantations... I expect to see scores and scores of Incantations released over the months (I like the smaller page count at the low cost... so I expect LOTS of products from you).
Love to see some products with themed Incantations.
Sure I will make some myself, BUT, just like monster books, there really is never enough!
Any chance these Incantations publications are going to be available in print soon?
Unfortunately, we won't be doing traditional print runs at this time, but we may offer releases (or collections of releases) on POD. Unfortunately, if you're familiar with POD, it's not always the most cost effective choice, especially for color. Details are still being worked out, but if you're very interested in print, that may be an option. We will of course keep everyone updated on the usual channels (such as zombiesky.com and facebook).
If you're "sitting on the fence," though, I recommend giving the PDFs a try. This is our primary format at ZSP, and it's more than an afterthought to a print release. We optimize them for screen display and usability, and we keep file sizes low without sacrificing on attractive illustration and layout.
Hope that helps!
okay just bought it...
my review...
15 out of 10 stars!
EXACTLY what I wanted. A Greatly expanded system of Incantations that opens them up to all classes and levels. A simple mechanic for creating new Incantations. And it MAKES SENSE within the existing rules!
Now... you opened a can of worms though... MORE Incantations... I expect to see scores and scores of Incantations released over the months (I like the smaller page count at the low cost... so I expect LOTS of products from you).
Love to see some products with themed Incantations.
Sure I will make some myself, BUT, just like monster books, there really is never enough!
Glad you liked it Krome!
This is the starter, presenting fully operational incantations for Pathfinder. If you liked it, definitely check out Incantations from the Other Side, which uses the same rules (although, since it came first, it doesn't take full advantage of the new options presented in Incantations in Theory and Practice).
I would love to offer more incantations and have material tentatively planned for a another 4 or 5 products of incantations. But the reality is that it depends on sales. If enough people like it and want more, there will absolutely be more! ;D
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okay just bought it...
my review...
15 out of 10 stars!
EXACTLY what I wanted. A Greatly expanded system of Incantations that opens them up to all classes and levels. A simple mechanic for creating new Incantations. And it MAKES SENSE within the existing rules!
Now... you opened a can of worms though... MORE Incantations... I expect to see scores and scores of Incantations released over the months (I like the smaller page count at the low cost... so I expect LOTS of products from you).
Love to see some products with themed Incantations.
Sure I will make some myself, BUT, just like monster books, there really is never enough!
Glad you liked it Krome!
This is the starter, presenting fully operational incantations for Pathfinder. If you liked it, definitely check out Incantations from the Other Side, which uses the same rules (although, since it came first, it doesn't take full advantage of the new options presented in Incantations in Theory and Practice).
I would love to offer more incantations and have material tentatively planned for a another 4 or 5 products of incantations. But the reality is that it depends on sales. If enough people like it and want more, there will absolutely be more! ;D
Yep Bought it right away as well! Damn good work there! Dug out two that I can use right away.
More sales... *gets out the whip* You heard him! BUY BUY BUY BUY!
100% honest though, Incantations are a FANTASTIC way to offer something different to the game that makes magic feel BIG and dangerous. This is the REAL magic of the fantasy genre. I cannot recommend this product enough. I think if you read it, you will see the potential to take your games to 110%.
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I picked this up over at Kobold Quarterly to supplement the Spirit Magic product - darn good stuff!!!
There's definitely some specific themes we want to explore with more incantations, but if there's anything that you'd really like to see, we'd love to hear it.