This is the first part of a two part series on ceremonial magic.
One of the things that always intrigued me about The Fantasy Trip was the ability of groups of wizards to work together to cast big spells. The canon rules only covered creating magic items, but the possibilities were so much more. Here is my attempt at proving ways to take group-based spell casting to the next level.
What Is Ceremonial Magic–And What Do the Rules Say?
The start with, we need to agree on terms: ceremonial magic vs. ritual magic. Advanced Wizard talks about rituals in terms of how well the wizard knows the spell, and if he needs to use gestures and words. GURPS talks about ritual magic as non-wizards using rituals to cast spells.
This article is not about non-wizards following a cookbook. Call it ceremonial magic, but it is about wizards working together to cast BIG spells. Two examples come to mind: the witches casting down the mountains in the Turning (Witch World novels) and every Swords & Sorcery novel where you had hordes of chanting evil wizards casting some spell that would ruin a heroes world–that’s what I’m talking about!
The problem is the canon rules really don’t spell out how to do that (no pun intended). The focus of the group casting rules in Advanced Wizard are on creating magic items, not other spells. Some spells have a very high ST cost, such as Revival (50 ST), but it is just kind of assumed that the casting wizard will have help or strength batteries.
So how do you do you do that?
The Problems
Well, you could flesh out the very brief rules provided on creating magic items and use them for casting other spells, but that creates two problems:
Problem One: How to translate smaller-scale spells into larger magics.
The normal Wizard spells cover areas from 1 to 7 hexes in a set progression. How do you translate that into a spell that covers a half mile (or kilometer)?
GURPS solves that problem by having the ST cost go up in a linear fashion as the number of hexes increases. For example, if a spell costs 1 ST for 1 hex, it costs 2 St for a 2 hex radius (a megahex), 3 ST for a 3 hex radius, 4 ST for a 4 hex radius, etc. That means the same spell would cost 375 ST for a half kilometer (500 meters divided by 1.3 meters = 375).
That creates some inconsistencies with the ST cost on the tactical level–for example, a 1 hex Fire costs 1 ST, but a 7 hex Fire costs 4 ST (and not 2 ST from the GURPS rules).
I think the solution to this problem is to go with the scaling solution from GURPS, but only allow that when cast from a wizard using a new spell: Ceremonial Magic. The theory is that when a wizard casts a basic spell, there are certain inefficiencies in the process caused by having only a single spell caster, casting without preparation.
On the other hand, the Ceremonial Magic spell lets a single or group of wizards cast the same spell more efficiently by allowing more preparation, and having certain knowledge of how to cast magic more deliberately. Having a separate spell implies that additional spell allows the caster(s) to do something differently, and cost less ST.
The lower cost would be balanced by the fact that these spells would not be cast in a tactical environment, only in larger, more deliberate settings.
Problem Two: How to cast these spells from a distance.
The other problem created by using group magic for non-enchantment spells is how to simply find the subject and cast the spell beyond line of sight. I keep reading and re-reading the spell list, and there is not really a spell that works for that purpose. There is also the problem of distance modifiers making long distance casting prohibitive.
One solution casting spells on an area–a place–is to force the lead, casting wizard to have actually been there before, or at least have seen the area with her own eyes.
But what about casting a spell on a person? This is MUCH more difficult. The problem, obviously, is that people move around. The caster has to identify, locate and lock on to the subject.
One solution to that problem is having a possession or physical part of the subject. That is common in tales of real-world magic. I generally don’t like to dictate ingredients in spells–I prefer to let the GM and players decide if they want to do that. But this is a specific case where that could be very handy.
Another solution is to have a scrying spell that could function much like a crystal ball. This spell could be used in conjunction with the personal item above, or without. The spell could also be used in the case of casting a spell on a distant area as well. The point would be that the group of wizards would have to have some way of finding some thing or place. The scrying would then be part of the ceremonial magic to cast the spell on it.
And what about the distance? That is another hard part. Normal modifiers subtract 1 from the DX roll for every hex from the caster. That means the DX modifier for casting a spell on an area 1 kilometer away would be -750. Not very practical.
One possible solution for this problem is the handy Ceremonial Magic and Scrying spell combination. Along with the knowledge gained from the Scrying spell (aiming) and the efficiencies gained by the Ceremonial Magic spell (control, focus, deliberation) it could be argued that the group of wizards would have a better probability of hitting their target. And the more wizards, the more energy–and better chance.
The Spells
With all of that in mind, here are the two spells that might make all of this work:
IQ 15
CEREMONIAL MAGIC: (S) [inthelabyrinth.org] Allows groups of wizards to cast larger spells, on subjects locally or far away. The spell involves using strict ceremonies, including candles, special ingredients, chanting, etc. to focus the wizards minds and expand the working of the spell.
Any spell can be cast using Ceremonial Magic, regardless of IQ level. To cast the spell, each wizard actively involved in casting the spell MUST know the Ceremonial Magic spell, as well as the spell to be cast. Wizards lending strength through Aid spells (such as apprentices) do not have to know either spell, but are limited to how much assistance they can give.
ST cost to perform this spell: 5. The time to cast the spell is 10 times the normal casting time, with a 1 hour minimum.
More details on the effects of multiple wizards, apprentices and assistants, plus DX modifiers will be given in Part II of this article.
IQ 15
SCRYING: (S) [inthelabyrinth.org] This powerful divination spell is used to see people and events–past, present and future. It functions much like a crystal ball. The spell can be used to see people or places.
To cast the Scrying spell, the wizard must concentrate, uninterrupted, for at least 5 minutes. At the end of that time, the GM rolls against the wizard’s IQ: 3 dice to see elsewhere in space; 4 dice to see the past and 5 dice to see the future. If the roll is successful, the GM will describe a scene giving the wizard some information about the subject of the Scrying. The better the roll, the more information. On a failed roll, the wizard receives no information. A critical failure means a false vision–the GM lies to the player.
The wizard received a -5 on his roll if he has a personal possession of the subject, or a piece of matter from the place being Scryed.
A Scrying spell will not penetrate a pentagram, reveal an astral body, and almost never penetrates a Conceal or Spell Shield spell.
Cost to cast: 5 ST.
That’s it for Part I–Part II will be published next Friday. I apologize for splitting this into 2 parts. I started to write this article as one piece, but as I added more and more, it grew unwieldy. In part II, I will tie all of this together and go into how to actually cast the ceremonial magic, with modifiers for the number of wizards, distance, etc. I will also have a modified backlash table–the bigger the spell, the more energy–the more spectacular the effects if it goes wrong!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 3/31/2017.)
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