I'm currently working on adjusting the Incantation system from Unearthed Arcana and D20 Modern to work with Forbidden Lore (a modified version of the system for it, as well) for some of my more cultist, elder god-related, and so on NPCs and monsters.
A sample ritual is as follows, but unfortunately there was no "seed" similar enough to it in d20 Modern, so I had to work from scratch in constructing it, which wasn't as difficult as I'd originally thought it might be.
Since most "immortality-related" spells and effects for PCs have been removed from my campaign (life-span is very important in my setting, as are rituals which raise the dead), one of the first ones I decided to build is built around that idea.
Eternal Youth
Necromancy [evil]
Prerequisite: knowledge (forbidden lore) 9 ranks; Skill Check: perform (ritual) DC 29, 6 successes (see text); Failure: two consecutive failed skill checks; Components: V, S, M; Casting Time: 1 hour (minimum; 1 check per 10 minutes); Range: personal; Target: self; Duration: instantaneous; Saving Throw: none; Spell Resistance: no
By casting the eternal youth incantation, you reduce your age category by one category for every step below old of the sacrificed humanoid.
For example, a venerable caster sacrificing an adult would reduce his age category by two, restoring him to Middle Age.
Material Components: One humanoid age category Middle Age or less, who is sacrificed at the end of the incantation (unwilling targets must be helpless). The humanoid’s blood is splashed all over the caster. Also, various incenses, oils, and candles to a total value of 20,000 gp are consumed when casting the spell.
Failure: The caster's age category is increased by one step. If this takes the caster past the venerable age category he must begin making saving throws as per the Curse of Ages witch hex (see new hexes).
Special: The sacrifice must be helpless, if unwilling. If, at at point during the ritual, the target slips the restraints or is otherwise rescued, the caster has until the next required roll to restrain the target or replace it with another. Failure results in the caster immediately suffers as if 2 consecutive failures have occurred, ending the ritual. A willing target need not be restrained.
There are a lot of things I intend to tie to this system, such as lich & vampire transformation ritual, wards and elder signs, and so on. I mostly just wanted to share and get other folk's thoughts on it.
I went ahead and moved things to a google doc (Forbidden Lore & Incantations) and added four additional incantations. Very flesh & necromancy focused at the moment, but I intend to expand it further once I've got this "grouping" done.
Incantations Added: Eternal Youth, Feast of Flesh, Graft Flesh, Piercing the Flesh, Vampiric Transformation
Added in "Life from Beyond", a form of aberrant animate dead.
Added Ceremony of Endless Night, Curse of the Were-Beast, and Sins of the Father to the incantations.
Forbidden Lore & Incantations.
List (Current) Ceremony of Endless Night, Curse of the Were-Beast, Eternal Youth, Feast of Flesh, Graft Flesh, Life from Beyond, Piercing the Flesh, Sins of the Father, and Vampiric Transformation.
It's pretty similar to the ritual system I've been working on.
The multiple successes and failures seems over complicated. The original Gamma World had a flow chart like that. Gygaxian roleplaying favors one die roll, all or nothing.
It's pretty similar to the ritual system I've been working on.
I'll have to check out your thread.
The multiple successes and failures seems over complicated. The original Gamma World had a flow chart like that.
It definitely appears to be overly complicated on paper, but it's pretty simple in practice. I'm going to modify the incantation rules a little bit more and have it resemble "skill challenges" from SWSE & 4e in terms of success/failure accumulation.
For example: The Ceremony of Endless Night wants you to accumulate 6 successes over the course of an 8 hour ritual; two failed consecutive checks results in failure. I'm going to likely alter it to read, "6 successes before 3 failures".
Gygaxian roleplaying favors one die roll, all or nothing.
You're right on the money, there. It's one of the problems I have with skills relating to social interaction.
I like conditional modifiers. In social interactions, a death poem you wrote for your prisoner, will give you +8 to intimidate. Likewise, candles made especially for the ritual will give a bonus for success.
Baby fat candles for your eternal youth ritual. +5
I like conditional modifiers. In social interactions, a death poem you wrote for your prisoner, will give you +8 to intimidate. Likewise, candles made especially for the ritual will give a bonus for success.
Baby fat candles for your eternal youth ritual. +5
I can dig that. Conditional modifiers are definitely flavorful.
This is pretty cool.
Sweetness.
Thanks +5 Toaster & Detect Magic! I've got a very "Things From Beyond" trying to force themselves on the setting & wanted to codify before the events begin. Thought others might find it useful.=)
Planned Incantation & Forbidden Lore Modifications
* # successes before # failures mechanic similar to skill challenges.
* Base DC for casting the incantations (before modifiers) will be calculated as 25 + the equivalent spell level (min DC 20 after modifiers). This will allow for lower level "incantations".
* The caster level, if any, for an incantation will be based on ranks in forbidden lore, which can only be acquired in very specific ways (this acts as a balancing factor; on the off-chance PCs try to use this sort of magic, you can control how much, if any, they have access to).
* Magical Link: The caster must use an item that has an intimate connection with the victim, such as a fragment of his clothing, a discarded sandal, a nailclipping or lock of hair, or some bodily fluid or other.
If a Magical Link is available, the caster may use certain incantations (those with a range listed as magical link) against the victim from any range, even if he is unable to see the victim. The caster must hold the Magical Link in his hand when casting the incantation to gain these benefits and retain it about his person for the duration of the incantation; otherwise the effect instantly ends.
I made a couple of minor name changes:
Lich Transformation - Rite of Becoming
Vampire Transformation - Ceremony of Endless Night (I need to flesh out the flavor text on this)
The following incantations are in progress and will be posted when complete:
The Balanced Scale: This incantation is a form of true ressurection. Unlike the cleric spell, however, when the target is ressurected, it also brings into being an equal and opposite force (similar CR) with an alignment as the the extreme opposite of what the subjects was (for instance, lawful good becomes chaotic evil, or chaotic neutral becomes lawful neutral; a neutral subject randomly becomes lawful good, lawful evil, chaotic good, or chaotic evil). The being will actively oppose the PCs. In the event of a failed ressurection, there will be a chance that the character is still ressurected, but his alignment will gradually shift to the opposite end of the spectrum and begin acting against his allies and subtle ways.
Insidious Pact: This will allow for the acquisition of new incantations, increase forbidden lore, and so on from dark powers at a high price.
The Mouth of Madness: This spell will require a focus, and when complete the caster may place the focus in an area of his choice. Once a set series of events occur, a greenish-yellow mist will form which drains the Wisdom of those in its area of effect. If 1 minute passes without successful drain, it dissipates. I'm considering once it reaches a set amount of drain, it may "spawn" animate dreams; each point of Wisdom it drains will grant it "warp points" which can be used to spawn animate dreams with HD/CR appropriate at the rate of expending 1 Warp Point = 2 HD worth. Destroying the focus will end the Mist prematurely, but the dreams will have to be taken care of individually.
Nightmares Made Manifest: This incantation will create an Animate Dream which will form from the caster's intended target's worst nightmares. It will feed on the target until it is destroyed or the target is. Afterward, the creature will move on to other targets.
Visions of Half-Heard Secrets: This incantation is merely a conversion of "Visions of Lamashtu".
Btw your vampire ritual fits oh so perfectly with my homebrew setting's Dhampirs. Instead of being half-vamps, they were people who participated in the creation of the first vampire.
Btw your vampire ritual fits oh so perfectly with my homebrew setting's Dhampirs. Instead of being half-vamps, they were people who participated in the creation of the first vampire.
That's great to hear and a really neat idea! I've got an arrangement in my setting that will use a future ritual based on the vampiric transformation: in essence, the nobility who perform particularly well in service to one of my setting's nations are rewarded with a form of half-life (as dhampirs) through a similar, lesser ritual.
One of the things I really like, as well, is the Lich Transformation ritual (Rite of Becoming); thanks to certain phrasing I found in the Master Craftsman feat and the lore I was able to dig up on Lich's, I'm definitely going to allow non-spellcasters to transform into a sort of Lich (remeniscient of the Dark Sun liches which could be of any class).
At the moment, as my daughter, wife, and other obligations permit today, I'm working on restructuring the rules of Incantations and a step-by-step process (mostly based on Unearthed Arcana's version) which allow more flexibility in designing Incantations with equivalent spell levels from 1st-9th and appropriately difficult DCs, as well as tying in what range of Incantations one can use based off their knowledge (forbidden lore). It dawned on me to do this before designing anymore incantations, so as to avoid having to go back and fix any errors.
I was able to get a little bit of work done today and with any luck, I'll get more done tonight, after I get back from the gym.
I did a quick once over on the Incantation System from Unearthed Arcana and d20 Modern and modified several rules to better fit the general concept of incantation use.
I've still got to get the actual Knowledge (Forbidden Lore) entry completed, which will come before the next set of incantations.
Forbidden Lore: Incantations
Incantation System (Revisions)
If you notice any errors or potential problems in the Incantation System Revision, please let me know.
Incantation Idea (as a reminder):
Lamentations of the Vast Gate: The idea will allow the caster to summon an outsider (daemon, abyssal, infernal, qlippoth, etc) into the flesh of a fresh corpse as a servant under the provision it will serve in any capacity required so long as the goals of its race are not impeded by the caster. The ritual will bind the entity to the corpse, granting it life and the simple fiendish template, using the bound entity's mental stats and the corpses physical stats. As a result of the "pact" the creature will be treated as a "Native Outsider". Impeding the goals of the entity free it from the obligation and result in it turning on the caster, free to do as it pleases after.
oh, this is exactly what i needed, i was finding in the webs somekind of ritual to transform my pc in a fey, anyone can help me?
oh, this is exactly what i needed, i was finding in the webs somekind of ritual to transform my pc in a fey, anyone can help me?
I'd consult Savage Species for becoming a fey. It's 3.0, but discusses turning people into different types of creatures via rituals.
oh, this is exactly what i needed, i was finding in the webs somekind of ritual to transform my pc in a fey, anyone can help me?
I'd go with what Lathiira suggests; the only ritual I know of outside of that is in the Guide to the Shadow Fey, but you don't want to be a changeling according to that book, I assure you.
Added New Incantations: The Balanced Scale, Dedicate Site, Half-Heard Secrets, Visions of the Dreaming Gods
Incantation System
Forbidden Lore: Incantations
I kinda feel a bit hit and miss on the DCs, so I may have to reevaluate them later (in terms of the Base 25).
Update: I haven't forgotten about this or stopped working on it. I've been very unhappy with the DC results of many of the "Incantations" using both the original structure and the revised one. I've almost completed the new guidelines for creating new incantations that brings the DCs more in line with what I expect and want.
Change Summary
o Using the new chart (which is only needed in constructing new incantations), incantations are broken down into several categories of difficulty based on level of the incantation, school, and other factors. Average, Moderate, Hard, Heroic/Improbable, and Impossible columns list DCs; complexity is determined by the equivalent spell level and determines which column is used and the number of successes required before 3 failures.
o All incantations will now carry backlash. Backlash and failure are rolled into one attribute, with degrees of failure determining whether something detrimental occurs or not. For example, an incantation carried out without a single failure accrued has no consequence; however, 1 failed roll adds a side-effect; 2 failed rolls will heighten this side-effect; and 3 failed rolls (resulting in a failed incantation) will carry the standard results of failed incantation using the old system.
o The General Factors for Incantations table is being revised to allow for 1-3 modifications per ritual with significantly lower DC modifiers.
I'll post the changes as soon as possible.
With curse of the were beast, if it fails, and the victim survives, they become an infected were beast that will try to destroy the caster every full moon.
You know, I really, really like that failure result. Great suggestion!
I have the new system for creating incantations up, though it is missing the General Factors table and some descriptive text of what a few things translate to mechanically. I've got to convert the incantations which are completed and finish fleshing out some of the descriptive text in the system, but I wanted to let folks get an idea of what I'm using.
The term "Cataclysm" refers to what resemble the effects of epic spells, which will be used by the least sane and most powerful/knowledgeable of cultists, often resulting in the caster's death. These will never be meant for PCs.
As the only real balancing factor of incantations is ranks in knowledge (forbidden lore)*, the GM has complete control over whether the PCs can use even the least of incantations, as well as the number of ranks a PC may gain.
* Forbidden Lore Reminder: You cannot gain ranks in this skill by spending skill points. You can only gain ranks by reading forbidden tomes or having experiences with specific horrible creatures.