Geas Question - Group Strictures Options

[fistandantilus4....]

I was considering having a magical group with very tight bonds of secrecy, and requiring the Oath ordeal to make sure member keep their word. I was also trying to find ways to bind them even more tightly, something that would give immediate results if they broke their oaths besides the rest of the group knowing.

I was wondering if a geas could be taken to abide by an oath as part of a intiation ordeal, effetively making it so that the initiate would imediately lose a point of magic if they broke the Oath. I know it's not as restrictive as most of the suggested Geasa, but it is also certainly something that could come up, and something I could see very secretive groups doing.

Thoughts?

[Wasabi]

[Jaid]

you could always implant a [edit] anchor focus [/edit] with a death touch loaded into it at force 12, ritually cast, with edge behind it, so that it's a force 12 death touch with a dicepool of like 30 dice backing it up (and incidentally, not limited by force rating in hits, if that matters).

of course, that's a lot of karma... but it certainly would be a deterrent to speaking i bet :P

This post has been edited by Jaid: Apr 17 2007, 11:51 PM

[Fastball]

If you don't think it is restrictive enough, tie it to whatever metamagic they learn as well. Or to every single initiation grade. Let the geas be removed by paying the difference between the individual and group initiation costs.

Alternatively, make it a ritual geas in which they must renew their oath nightly, and are only able to do so if they haven't broken it.

[Anymage]

The problem with some of the overwhelming assault styles of enforcement is that you'd have a hard time explaining how "the group" could have the time and resources to apply these to each and every member of the group. This is less about one probationary member, it seems, and more about strictures as a whole.

The "hush or else" geasa doesn't sound too bad, except for the fact that it sets a precedent for similar minor-issue geasa. Whether or not you're okay with that depends a lot on the dynamic around the game table. I actually kind of like Fastball's solution to it all; it's a nightly ritual that requires at least one other group member to be present, and that fails to take if the member blabbed. This combines a good excuse for group members to see themselves as an elite team, and on top of that can raise interesting questions why the character has to duck out each night without being able to explain what they're doing.