Sorcery: Communication and Empathy Spells V

Sorcery: Communication and Empathy Spells V

Even more Communication and Empathy spells! Borrow Skill lets the caster temporarily learn a skill from another mind. Communication lets the caster establish a two-way conversation. Lend Skill lends a skill the caster knows to the subject. Retrogression lets the subject to reexperience a memory for good or for worse.

Borrow Skill

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 21 points.

Casting Roll: None.

Range: 1 mile.

Duration: Indefinite.

You can “tap into” the mind of a sapient subject you can see or hear, and borrow their knowledge. You can borrow the equivalent of 4 character points (e.g., if you learned a Hard skill, you would know it at IQ+0). You cannot have more points in the skill than the person you’re borrowing it from does. If the distance between you and the subject becomes more than a mile, you lose the skill!

Statistics: Telepathic Learning 4 (Limited, One Skill, -10%; Reduced Time 2, +40%; Sorcery, -15%; Vision- or Hearing-Based, -15%) [21].

   

Communication

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 35 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Indefinite.

The caster can set up a two-way conversation with another person. Range is theoretically unlimited, but the IQ roll to cast this spell takes the range penalties given under Long-Distance Modifiers (p. B241). If the caster cannot see or otherwise sense his subject, he has an additional penalty: -1 for family, lovers, or close friends; -3 for casual friends and acquaintances; or -5 for someone met only briefly.

If successful, each participant sees an image of the other, allowing “real-time” conversation. If he does not wish to speak with the caster, it’s a free action for him to mute the caster’s voice to a whisper and reduce the caster’s image to a faint light. The caster may maintain a connection with that subject for as long as he’d like. No further rolls are normally required unless the range penalty worsens.

Others can join the “conference” at any time – a new casting of the spell (by anyone involved) is required for each new person to enter.

Statistics: Mind Reading (Accessibility, Said words only, -20%; Link, +10%; Magical, -10%; Telecommunication, -20%) [18] + Telesend (Accessibility, Requires Words, -10%; Hearing-Based, -20%; Link, +10%; Sorcery, -15%; Visible, -10%) [17].

Lend Skill

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 31 points.

Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: 30 minutes.

Subject (sapient creatures only) gains a single skill the caster knows. Spells cannot be granted this way. The caster can lend the equivalent of 4 character points (e.g., if he lends a Hard skill, the subject would know it at IQ+0). The subject cannot have more points in the skill than the caster.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Sapient Creatures Only, -10%; Advantage, Lend Skill, +160%; Extended Duration, 10x, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [31]. Note: “Lend Skill” is Cosmic Power 4 (Accessibility, Subject cannot have relative skill level better than the caster, -10%; Limited, One Skill, -40%; Magical, -10%) [16].

  

Retrogression

Keywords: Resisted (HT or Will).

Full Cost: 95 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Instantaneous or 3 minutes.

Causes a subject to re-experience an event from his past life (or lives!). This can be a torment or as a boon. Different kinds of memories have different effects. A terrifying memory requires a Fright Check at -3 or more; the memory of one’s violent death, for example (in a campaign where Resurrection is possible), requires a Fright Check at -5 (but no more). The memory of a wound or illness requires a HT roll; failure stuns the subject. A memory of slavery or degradation reduces Will by 1 for 3 minutes unless a Will roll is made. A memory of personal triumph and power increases Will by 1 for 3 minutes. The GM judges the effects of any other type of memory, but it should not impose a disadvantage worth more than -10 points or an advantage worth more than 5 points. The caster only specifies the type of event to be relived; he cannot use this spell to “rummage” through the memories of the subject.

Statistics: Alternative Abilities [95]: Affliction 1 (Will or HT; Accessibility, Must be related to a memory, -20%; Advantage, Variable, +50%; Based on Will, +20%; Disadvantage, Variable, +10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Selectivity, +10%; Sorcery, -15%) [33/5=7] + Terror 5 (Accessibility, Penalty depends on the severity of the memory, -30%; Active, +0%; Increased Range, 10x, +30%; Presence, +25%; Sorcery, -15%) [88].