[X] My Assistant

[bard4life]

its a new tradition that we are tooling around with, its called Discordian Illuminated, a new verison of Chaos Magic, or Chaos Magic 2.0. its bascliy bring chaos back to chaos magic.

so far I liking the idea.

[JoelHalpern]

I've had a lot of fun lately playing with the following spread idea:

Combat - Beast
Detection - Guidance
Health - Man
Illusion - Guardian
Manipulation - Task

If that were a possession tradition, it would presumably be a legitimate mix (similar to Voodoo.)
Although, almost all Guardian traditions assign Guardian to Combat, rather than Illusion.
And which drain attribute would this go with?

If it were not a possession tradition, it would be really amazing, but taking Task outside of possession seems to be against the unwritten rules.

Joel

[Caine Hazen]

I used Task outside of the possession for my Illuminated magic. Pretty close to my view there brad4, I'm thinking with Man in place these Discordians are a bit more Humanist than mine (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) Of course I felt water and Dolphins were proper for this whole thing, but it may be the books I was reading when I was designing it... I tossed about both Fire and Air in the mix, as they can be chaotic elements.

[Kerris]

See, I always pictured Hermetics as the C++ guys. They're the ones trying to boil magic down to something they can understand in a rational and scientific way. This is why I see Hermeticism as basically a codified form of Chaos Magic. That for me would be the difference; Hermetics try to come to a common agreement, a kind of shared set of standards, whilst Chaos Magic just bodge together whatever works for them. Shadowrun Chaos Mages are the dropout Hermetics who liked the ideas but just can't hang with the stuffy old academics.

That does kind of make sense to me. I guess it's the difference between a corporate programmer (Hermetic) and a hacker (Chaos).

[WeaverMount]

If that were a possession tradition, it would presumably be a legitimate mix (similar to Voodoo.)

The Voodoo write up is RAW, but I'd flat ban it from my game. If I ever had a player that actually wanted to RP that tradition then they should also be eager to do a right up that reflects their take on it

[Drogos]

The Voodoo write up is RAW, but I'd flat ban it from my game. If I ever had a player that actually wanted to RP that tradition then they should also be eager to do a right up that reflects their take on it

And see, I'd never play that tradition because my GM is an evil bastard and uses his understanding of the religion to taint all dealings with the spirit world to screw me. He's an evil bastard and I love him for it...hence why I'm playing a Wiccan in his upcoming game. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment as a PC.

[WeaverMount]

Hey giving your GM the opertunity to run things they are pumped about is a win for everyone.

on the voodoo note though, just keep a lot a rum on hand. That goes way farther than it should. That said loa are no joke. I was with my boyfriend and another friend of ours. the Friend was starting making fun a picture of boyfriend when he was channeling Papa Gedeh. Boyfriend tell the friend to knock it off he doesn't, goes home. Gets in a car accident on the way, and when he gets home the his refrigerated ketches on fire. I'm a stone cold materialist, stuff like that makes me pause though.

[HentaiZonga]

If that were a possession tradition, it would presumably be a legitimate mix (similar to Voodoo.)
Although, almost all Guardian traditions assign Guardian to Combat, rather than Illusion.
And which drain attribute would this go with?

If it were not a possession tradition, it would be really amazing, but taking Task outside of possession seems to be against the unwritten rules.

Joel

Charisma, definitely. The original concept is a Chinese/Korean 'ancestor cult' style concept.

Here's the idea:

Beast (Combat) - "Bear for Strength, Bull for Endurance, Tiger for Speed, Monkey for cunning - by nature red in tooth and claw I make my kill."
Detection (Guidance) - "Spirits of my ancestors, guide my hand, show me the face of my enemies, and bring me through safe passages to that which I seek."
Health (Man) - "May I live in harmony and balance with all things. May I walk the True Path of Righteousness, and may I be blessed in turn for my compassion and humility."
Illusion (Guardian) - "Spirits of my ancestors, hide me from those who wish to see me! Blind their eyes to the truth, and let their search turn to folly."
Manipulation (Task) - "O great John Henry Who Cleaved The Mountain, your humble descendant begs your succor! I must walk many miles, and the road is rough, and great obstacles stand in my way. Part this path that I may hurry to your great-granddaughter's rescue!"

It's basically what happens when a bunch of Chaos Magic dudes build their own "ancestor worship" cult.

[HentaiZonga]

Another concept that's useful for chaos (and some hermetic) traditions is doing away with the 'spirit type -> spell type' division altogether and just explaining per-spell whether the spirit can aid or not.

For example, a Fire spirit could aid an Ignite spell or a Fireball spell, while an Earth spirit could aid an Armor spell or a Power Bolt spell. Here's an idea I've been playing with, for 'more detailed hermetic spirits':

Fire Spirits - Fire Elemental Effects, Heat Elemental Effects, Light Elemental Effects, Smoke Elemental Effects, Blast Elemental Effects (when combined with Fire)
Water Spirits - Ice Elemental Effects, Cold Elemental Effects, Water Elemental Effects, Acid Elemental Effects
Air Spirits - Blast Elemental Effects, Smoke Elemental Effects, Sound Elemental Effects, Electricity Elemental Effects, Telekenetic Manipulations
Earth Spirits - Sand Elemental Effects, Metal Elemental Effects, Blast Elemental Effects (when combined with Sand or Metal), Direct Damage spells, Armor- and Barrier-based Manipulation Spells
Plant Spirits - Acid Elemental Effects, some Health Spells
Spirits of Man - Mental Manipulation and Mental Detection Spells
Beast Spirits - Shape-change Spells, Touch-range Combat Spells, some Health Spells

... and so on.

[WeaverMount]

Similar Idea say that all spirits can do anything, but give a -2 to +2 depending how appropriate it seems.

[bard4life]

I would bet the that the appearance of the spirit depends on the twisted mind of the chaos mage, and also if the chaos mage has knowledge of pop culture.

Spirits of Man would look like hood cloaked men with phantom masks, Plant spirits would look like swamp thing, Guidance spirits would like Gaimen's The sand man or Grandalf.