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Da9iel
I thought that only hermetic mages could call watchers. Is that from a previous edition? 'Cause it says "Any magician able to use Conjuring to summon spirits can summon watchers." (MITS 100) Am I missing something?
Kanada Ten
All characters capable of Conjuring can summon Watcher spirits and it was the same in 2nd Edition.
Da9iel
Thanks. I guess I don't know where I got that notion. Sorry. embarrassed.gif
Kanada Ten
Maybe from Watcher Conjuring Materials? They do mention that Psionics can also summon them and that Mental Forms might be a related species of spirit.
Cable
QUOTE (Kanada Ten)
Maybe from Watcher Conjuring Materials?

Nah, I wouldn't worry about that. What would be the material components...
A little spit and some dog poo...
Cable
QUOTE (Cable)
Nah, I wouldn't worry about that. What would be the material components...
A little spit and some dog poo...

WAIT!!! Awakened dog poo
Kanada Ten
Considering that Watchers came out of a MIT&T lab, I'd guess the materials to be rather hermetic in appearance. A quartz crystal impregnated with dust from a shattered glass prism set into a glazed clay disc and a blank sheet of paper or something.
Ol' Scratch
Maybe the original materials did, but it would still vary from tradition to tradition. They just developed the "formula" for doing it... and like any formula, the method of using it is different for each magician even though they can all use the exact same formula.
Kanada Ten
Well, they have existed for only 6 or 7 years in game time, but I guess you're right. Some Amerindians replaced the crystal with an eagle eye and use salmon eggs as the inhibitor instead of prism dust, and they often forgo the glaze and just paint the discs afterwards as the conduit. And sure, the wujen use mercury suspended in a jade on a porcelain disc... And the voodoo use snake eyes, venomous outside with water snake pupils and attach them to store bought paper plates with nutria hair...
Eldritch
I think Spit and dog poo should work fine.

LOL, that was good.


Kanada Ten
Summoner: "This shit costs a thousand nuyen?!'

Talismonger: "Yes, and it's awakened boogie droppings, not shit."

Summoner: "And this?"

Talismonger: "Er, well that's spit."

Summoner: "For a thousand smackers it better be dragon spit!"

Talismonger: "No, dragon spit is for fire elementals..."
Shadow
"But we have some nice Dragon Poo for summoning Earth elementals"
Cain
Bah. All you really need is 4cc's of mouse blood and an egg. It has to be a fresh egg, though. biggrin.gif
Bigity
The watcher conjuring materials are only for the longer term summons right? You can conjure a watcher with nothing if you only need it for a couple of hours right?
Ol' Scratch
Correct. I believe each unit of Watcher Conjuring Materials insures one week's duration. Even that's not a requirement; you can use a point of Good Karma in place of (or in addition to) each unit.
Herald of Verjigorm
The method is a bit odd. If you want the longer duration, you need to use enough materials/karma to match the units of time you succeeded on your conjuring test. It takes one unit to change a force 9 watcher from a one hour life to a one week, but 7 to change the lifespan of a force 1 watcher from seven hours to seven weeks.
Fortune
I wouldn't want to piss off anyone capable of Conjuring a Force 9 Watcher! eek.gif biggrin.gif
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Da9iel)
I thought that only hermetic mages could call watchers. Is that from a previous edition? 'Cause it says "Any magician able to use Conjuring to summon spirits can summon watchers." (MITS 100) Am I missing something?

The part that messed me up too was the fact it requires materials to summon, which normally shaman don't require. That and the overall characteristics of watchers are non-shamanic since they can do remote service and can cross domain boundries. For these reasons alone we assumed Shamans where excluded from watcher spirits.
Fortune
But, as was said earlier, they do not require materials to summon. The materials are there as an option (along with, or instead of spending Karma) to keep the Watcher around longer. smile.gif
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Fortune)
But, as was said earlier, they do not require materials to summon. The materials are there as an option (along with, or instead of spending Karma) to keep the Watcher around longer. smile.gif

Still bugs me Shaman's can summon a non-domain spirit.
Herald of Verjigorm
Bugs me hermetics can summon a spirit as one complex action. That's why the little buggers work for anyone who can conjure, they ignore the rules of each and every tradition.
GrinderTheTroll
QUOTE (Herald of Verjigorm)
Bugs me hermetics can summon a spirit as one complex action.

Though that took Force in hours to summon an elemental?
Herald of Verjigorm
Yes, to summon an elemental, but watcher spirits only take one action. That was my point, watchers don't follow any of the rules for listed traditions, but psionics come closest (voodoo as second).
Fortune
Shamanic characters can summon Spirits that can cross Domain lines by using Invoking too. biggrin.gif

Watchers are described as being different to normal Spirits, and are simple to summon for anyone with a minimum skill in Conjuring. I don't see this as being unbalancing in the slightest.

Why should Hermetics have the opportunity to have double the normal amount (12 or even more) of Spirits on hand while the Shaman has only one?
Ol' Scratch
QUOTE (Herald of Verjigorm)
The method is a bit odd. If you want the longer duration, you need to use enough materials/karma to match the units of time you succeeded on your conjuring test. It takes one unit to change a force 9 watcher from a one hour life to a one week, but 7 to change the lifespan of a force 1 watcher from seven hours to seven weeks.

I think you were just misreading (yet another) poorly worded rule. "...by paying Karma equal to its lifespan in weeks or expending the same number of materials..." means each unit you pay gives it a week's duration. It's wholly independant from the base time you conjured it for; use of karma or mateirals completely overrides it. Whether you summoned it for one hour or ten hours, using one unit/karma extends it to one week's duration.
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