Black Magic / Voodoo, ...Spirit behaviour Options

[Machiavelli]

According to the books, users of Black Magic tend to see minor spirits as some kind of demons that have to serve. Therefore it seems as if a Black Mage is not really the one who will be nominated for the "Best Master-in-the-universe"-price. But would this behaviour generally leads to spirits, who tend to be disgusted or angered of their Master?

[MK Ultra]

I´d say it still depends on the master. If he is carefull not to anger his 'slaves' and otherwise stays in the bounds of his tradition, I as a GM wouldn´t punish the player for their choice. But of course it makes for an excellent story-hook, to start an adventure involving an unhappy spirit.

[Ol' Scratch]

That doesn't necessarily mean they treat the spirits badly. Smart ones certainly wouldn't because they would know the reprecussions if they lost control of it.

That said, their spirits will already generally be a bit more disagreeable simply because the magician does, in fact, see them as demons. Thus they feel the same way about the magician as they do everything else. All the magician is doing is reigning them in and controlling them, but that doesn't mean he's abusing them or treating them like shit anymore than a Catholic priest trying to exorcise a demonic spirit from someone is. Sure, some Black Magicians will be total douchebags, but it's not a guaranteed given. And sure, some of the more powerful (high Force) spirits may hold a grudge at the undignified ease in which they're controlled. But those are all specific conditions that, at worse, just lead to fun roleplaying and potential adventure seeds.

[Machiavelli]

So that means no "Hahaaaa...dirty maggots. Do my dirty work slaves and die for your master"!!!!...?

[Ol' Scratch]

No, it means you're not forced to go that way.

[TheOOB]

While they likely are not nice or kind to their spirits, any black mage worth their weight in salt will respect their demons. A black mages demons are vengeful dark spirits who probably would be above destroying a master that useful to them(much less one who is cruel to them). When you make deals with the devil, you have to be careful or else you'll be burned.

[Snow_Fox]

you'd probably attract spirits who like that sort of dark stuff. get off on it and serve you for as long as it suits them, of ocurse when it doesn't suit them anymore, your screwed.

[Ravor]

Or according to the other theory of Spirit "Summoning" the Mage's own beliefs and subconious expectation of what his Spirits should be shape the demons as they are brought into existance.

[Glyph]

Black magic sees the lower Force spirits as minions to be ordered around, but that's not really too different than how hermetics treat elementals. The major difference will be flavor, as a black magician's summoned spirits will have a bit more personality, and either give some sass, or go the other way and be unctuously grovelling. They will also probably be a bit more nasty, antagonistic, and prone to creatively misinterpreting orders. On the positive side, they might be eager to do things that most other spirits would find repugnant.

I wouldn't start penalizing the black magician, though, unless he did the usual things that count as "mistreating" a spirit - using them for spell binding, using them for suicide jobs, doing things like making a fire spirit appear in a swamp, etc.

Also keep in mind that black magicians tend to treat higher-Force spirits with a great deal of respect.

[Rad]

you'd probably attract spirits who like that sort of dark stuff. get off on it and serve you for as long as it suits them, of ocurse when it doesn't suit them anymore, your screwed.

You'd probably attract spirits who like being dominated.

>Pictures a watcher spirit in a black leather gimp suit<
>laughs<