New Mentor Spirit: Spider, There's one in SM, but she doesn't fit Options

[James McMurray]

This Spider is based more on the African/Native american Totem Anansi, aka Spider, who is a trickster. More specifically, it's based on the Neil Gaiman representation of Spider in American Gods and Anansi Boys.

[Jaid]

+2 illusion and manipulation is way too much.

scale back the manipulation part, imo, and don't give the bonus to negotiation and whatever else that blank space was gonna be. if you absolutely must have negotiation, make it and one of the spell categories +1, or possibly give a choice (+2 mental manipulation or negotiation skill, for example)

not really sure about how the coveting thing comes into play, maybe if i knew more of the mythology or whatever...

[James McMurray]

Sorry, that trailing "+2 dice for" shouldn't be there.

The covetous part comes because the majority of Spider stories are of him tricking someone out of something they have that he wants.

I could drop the increased threshold for unique objects and the +2 for illusion spells, which makes him very close to all the other mentor spirits who have a behavior they must roll to avoid.

Also, I'm torn between Negotiation and Con for the skill bonus, although at the moment I'm leaning more towards Con. Depending on the story he uses them both frequently. In the end I may just flip a coin.

[Jaid]

do 1 better: the player chooses negotiation or con (much like another mentor, i think dragonslayer?)

[Buster]

I really like the Covetous disadvantage, I will definitely use it for my Raven totem mod. Raven and Ananzi are very similar totems, excelling in trickery and greed.

+2 illusion, +2 manipulation, and +2 negotiation is definitely too much with only one smallish disadvantage. I would add the Trickster disadvantage to even it out.

[Buster]

Actually now that I think about it, Raven's opportunistic disadvantage would fit Ananzi perfectly. Adding that to the covetous disadvantage would balance out the +2 manipulation, +2 illusion, + 2 con/negotiation.

As to voodoo, the loa listed in the SR books are just a tiny fraction of the loa known. There are like a dozen versions and incarnations of Ghede alone. I know the african slaves in the U.S. used to tell stories about "Aunt Nancy" (because using african words would get them a beating) and Uncle Remus's "Brer Rabbit" stories were based off the Aunt Nancy (Ananzi) stories. Just creating a loa named Ananzi or Aunt Nancy would be good.

[Buster]

Further thoughts: Would Ananzi even get Illusion? I don't remember any stories where Ananzi created illusions or turned invisible or such, he just built clever traps and conned people into them.

+2 manipulation, +2 con would cover it. Then you just need one disadvantage like your covetous disadvantage or Raven's opportunistic disadvantage.

[sunnyside]

First off adding disadvantages to get more bonuses is not a good idea.

Well it's probably a good idea for a character, bad idea for a GM letting it into their game, or other characters in the game.

Stick with the +2 manip +2 con

As for the disadvantage I suggest removing the generic part. The reason being that it will simply come up to often. You'd be a freaking kleptomanic. And really all you've done is create an IC reason why your character should be taking everything that isn't bolted down. So on one hand you'll tend to blow a lot of game time and on the other you'd tend to wind up with better gear. This will not make your party like you so much.

Therefore I would suggest the 3 threshold for something very special/rare and the 4 for something unique (so you won't want every little thing only stuff that is rare). Note that it applies to the thing, not neccesarily it's value.

Also by having it only apply to rare/unique things it means that you will probably have to get stuff off the GM's NPCs. And GMs tend to actually get a clue when it comes to their NPCs.

Finally is the "trick required" part. So no mobminding everyone and just taking their stuff.

[James McMurray]

Buster, I only added illusion to try and compensate for the added disadvantage of the 4 threshold items. I agree that it doesn't fit him.

sunnyside, it was actually a case of adding advantages to make up for a stronger disadvantage, but I see your point.

The generic clause for coveting wouldn't come up extremely often. I'm picturing it as them having something the magician doesn't have and can't readily get. They won't be tricking everyone out of commlinks, pistols, and data crystals because those are something they can get fairly easily. I like your version better though, so consider it swiped.

I'll repost the updated version momentarily.

[James McMurray]

[Buster]

Here's a good site that covers the Caribbean version of Ananzi:
http://www.robinsononeil.com/caribbean_anansi.htm

Here's the African version of the stories:
http://www.robinsononeil.com/african_anansi.htm

[James McMurray]

Thanks!

[Buster]

No problem. Some stories it's Tiger, some it's Snake, some it be Jaguar Wit Teeth Like Daggas.

[Talia Invierno]

Definitely manipulation. However, both the covetousness and trickster aspect generally can be unusual compared to what is more familiar within Coyote or Raven traditions.

(Ironically, I've not read Gaiman. I'd encountered and loved the Anansi stories in earlier myth/folklore contexts.)

I'm remembering a story about Anansi and his wife and children, hungry as always, but they only have enough plantains -- one each -- if one person went without. Anansi volunteered, so his wife and each of his children had a plantain on their plate, while he had none.

He looked hungry, and his plate looked empty. They felt guilty.

... And then each of them gave him half of their own plantain, so he wouldn't go without. (Work it out :) )

[James McMurray]