Ok, here goes: 12 pages of rule modifications. I guess it's obvious from the way I did things that I favor a more subdivided view of the advanced powers than Wujick. Also, my campaign is more or less centered on the Pattern and Logrus as power sources. At least initially. This document really represents what the PCs know about at the beginning, assuming a relatively thorough training in sorcery and the use of the powers. In any case, if you have major sources of power besides the Big Squiggles, such as Cont Odekirk's (sp?) "Vitae", or any of the other Trump bases, I would recommend working in a way for them to power sorcery and such. I'd appreciate any comments on the lot of this - I guess you could say I'm playtesting it now, so I haven't run into any nasty little hidden problems yet. Also, any neat new ideas (especially for Pattern) that don't go heavily against existing evidence (like the walk-it-in-your-mind-then-teleport system does...) would be much appreciated. POWERS: Pattern: Basic pattern, as per rulebook: 50 pts Advanced pattern techniques (these can be bought by anyone with basic pattern, without necessarily any connection between them; i.e. you don't have to buy advanced technique A to get technique B) Editing of Shadow: 10 pts This is described in the rulebooks. Basically you are using the Pattern to alter the structure of an existing Shadow, doing things like distorting flows of magical energy, playing games with Shadow creatures, and fun things like that. This allows you to change most anything about ONE SHADOW. It does not allow you to alter the relationships between multiple Shadows, such as Shadow pathways or making a Shadow more likely to fall on a certain path, as Oberon did with Lorraine. Creation of Shadow pockets: 5 pts This is also described in the RPG. Allows the creation of small, limited access spacial anomolies. Erasing of Shadow: 5 pts You can, with a lot of effort and a good escape route, utterly destroy a Shadow. This is generally not a good idea, since it tends to have a bad effect on a lot of other things. Major sources of Shadow energy bleed off into other Shadows, and magic links to them, such as those that power the Spikards, follow. This is an all or nothing application. Either you rip the Shadow totally to shreds or it recovers quickly. Partial destruction is covered by editing of Shadow. Pattern-lens: 20 pts Yes, that's a lot. This allows you to use the Pattern as a lens to search through Shadow for an item, person, or actually just about anything. One slight problem is that you are limited to you natural senses, plus Pattern vision if you don't already have it somehow. This is more fully described in the RPG, with the exception that you cannot use this to recognize Amberites by sight unless you have some ability to do this anyway. Improved sight: 5 pts This lets you, above and beyond Pattern-sight, which is conferred by any of the advanced techniques, detect the presence of people with either the Blood of Amber or the Courts. Quite rare. Disguise Pattern: 10 pts This lets you disguise your or someone else's Pattern (not Logrus) blood from someone using the improved sight. Also rare. Create Pattern artifacts: 5 pts This lets you create artifacts that in some way harness the power of the Pattern. This is not things on the order of Greyswandir...Basic point here is that these artifacts will work about anywhere Pattern does, are especially effective against Logrus, and can channel and hold more energy than an equivalent Shadow-powered item. Meta-shadow manipulation: 10 pts This lets you use Pattern to manipulate the relationships between Shadows. Pattern editing is as close to a prerequisite for this as you can get, since you really do have to be able to work on one Shadow before you can affect several at once. This is good for making Shadows appear in someone's path, as witness the reference for Oberon above, affecting multiple close Shadows, and opening paths through Shadow, although Logrus is better at this application. This also automatically confers the 'create Shadow pockets' power. Logrus: Basic Logrus: as described in rulebook 45 pts Advanced techniques: Manipulate Shadow: 10 pts Pretty much the same as for Pattern; also mentioned in the rules Summon and control demons: 10 pts As described in rulebook; obviously only works out by the Courts Summon Primal Chaos: 10 pts As in books and rpg; costs more than Pattern destruction because it's more controllable, so you can destroy only part of a Shadow if you like. Also, it can affect real things, not just Shadow. Improved sight: 5 pts Same as Pattern Disguise Chaos: 10 pts Same as Pattern Create Shadow pockets: 5 pts Same as Pattern Logrus servants: 5 pts Described in rulebook; lets you control parts of the Logrus and set them to simple tasks unsupervised Probability manipulation: 10 pts As with Basic Pattern; does not require movement through Shadow Create Logrus artifacts: 5 pts Same as Pattern Bind demons: 10 pts This lets you use the forces of the Logrus to control Demons when you encounter them without a relevant spell handy. Best example is what Mandor does to Merlin's Ty'iga in the end of Sign of Chaos, just before the assault on the Keep of the Four Worlds. Meta-Shadow manipulation: 15 pts Similar to Pattern, but the pathways constructed are better - they're like smaller versions of the Black Road. Merlin's demon servant used this to fetch him back to the Courts at the beginning of Prince of Chaos. Also can be used to create 'ways' through Shadow, which is pretty easy in the Courts, and harder as you get closer to Amber. Trump: In my campaign Trump is an application of Pattern or Logrus; thus, you need one or the other to buy these powers. Basic Trump: 30 pts This allows: Create Trumps, as in the rpg, but doesn't take as long Trump sketches, as in the rpg Trump caller ID, as in rpg Trump gate construction, as in rpg Advanced Trump techniques: These are available to anyone with basic Trump. Create Trump artifacts: 10 pts This lets you create artifacts that have Trump qualities and powers. The Ghostwheel is the ultimate expression of this, but Ghost is a very special occurance and would be VERY difficult to reproduce, or even approach in terms of power and sophistication. Possible uses for this include a transport item, which would be easier to carry than a deck of place cards, and one very nasty idea a player came up with - a Trump gun. Basically this trumps a person, giving them the option to block the call, and then if it's accepted, fires through the link at them. This could also allow an item to trump in power from an established source, giving a Shadow sorceror (with the item presumably made for him by someone else) a better connection to his power source, or a high-tech item that would work in places where its power source (but not the basic physics) didn't function. Sense Trump: 5 pts This lets you sense Trump qualities in items, and tell something about the creator and intended target, if any. If someone with this is called with a trump they can usually tell if it's from a person or artifact. Trump spying: 10 pts As in RPG Trump jamming: 10 pts As in RPG; you cannot jam trumps that work on the opposite power source. That is, Fiona couldn't jam Logrus trumps with Pattern trump, for example. Also, with the Trump Jamming ability you can cause trumps of yourself not to show any visual image at all when in use. Thus a caller can hear your voice but not see what you currently look like, where you are, and such. This is refered to as a Trump Blackout. Note that this is not something you do on a case-by-case basis - either you're Trump blacked-out or you're not. Trump trap: 10 pts As in RPG; someone with Trump sense can tell these with some concentration, at least if they're not just trumps to dangerous places. Shapeshifting: Basic Shapeshift: 20 pts Gives you the following powers: Demon form: You can assume one fixed other form relatively quickly and easily. This is referred to as your "demon" form, and is usually designed for combat. The standard model is usually humanoid, scaled, fanged, and clawed, but more exotic forms are possible. For example, Mandor's demon form is an octopoidal ape. Auto shape shift: This is described in the RPG; basically you let your involuntary control of shapeshifting take over. Useful for surviving a number of awkward situations. Primal form: This is probably the most durable form; you, for all intents and purposes, turn off your consciousness and let your shapeshifting take over completely. Usual result is that you wake up later in some distant Shadow, but usually still alive. Also described in the RPG. Shape shift body parts: You can do some gross manipulation of your body structure. This is far above the cellular level; you can do things like shift your weight around or lengthen limbs. You can try to create new structures, but it's quite difficult and usually painful. Growing wings, for example, would be pretty much impossible with this, since you have to create feathers and such. Bat wings would be easier but still difficult. Advanced shapeshifting techniques: Shape shift features: 5 pts This lets you control your facial features. Not too much more to say... Shape shift wounds: 5 pts This lets you concentrate your shapeshifting abilities on healing a wound. The wound usually closes and heals in under an hour (a few minutes for scratches), but you can't regenerate lost tissue with this, and you can't use this during combat - takes too much concentration (unless you're Benedict against Human rank, maybe...) Shape shift to animal forms: 5 pts You can manipulate the tissues of your body quite well now, being able to shift either your entire body or parts thereof to forms much like those found in animals - wings, claws, fur, gills, fins, etc. This covers a lot of gross level manipulation. Basically you can adopt additional "demon" forms under your concious control and design, although not as quickly as the real thing. Bizarre stuff like toxin glands is tricky, and really exotic things like breathing fire are practically impossible. Shape shift creatures of blood: 5 pts This lets you control your blood once it's outside your body. The best example of this is when Oberon creates Corwin's blood bird. Admittedly he was doing it to someone else, but then Oberon's something special. The creatures you create (yes, you have to make them into creatures) can tap into your powers to a small extent, such as being able to shift Shadow. Once you've created a blood beast you can give it simple orders - they're not too intelligent, but you can tell them more or less what to do. In order for this to work the blood has to be pretty fresh out of the body; no barrels of your own blood that you keep to make into troops...These creatures aren't too sturdy either - they're usually tireless, but they erode after a while, and a determined enemy can just about always kill them, given an opportunity. Shape shift body structures: 5 pts This lets you manipulate your tissues on a finer level than animal characteristics or (basic) body control. Using this you can shift around your internal organs, draw mass out of your bones (making them hollow and lighter, if weaker), grow additional arms, and so on. Creation of entirely new organs is very, very tricky. In creating a new heart, for example, not only would you have to know just about everything about how hearts work, but you'd also have to plan out exactly how you're going to rework your circulatory system, and so on. One little slip and you've got oxygen-depleted blood flowing into your brain - big time trouble. Between these two factors, doing much of anything to nerve tissue is just about impossible, and creating a second brain is completely beyond anyone's capabilities. This also cannot be used to regenerate lost body parts, since the 'flow' of tissue necessary would be quite tricky, and redefining all the cell's purposes is too fine a level of manipulation for this. Absorb Mass: 5 pts This lets you learn to absorb inanimate, nonmagical objects to add to your body mass when shapechanging. The base reference for this is when the demon sent to pick up Merlin absorbs a chair and uses it to lengthen his torso. There are, naturally enough, restrictions on this. You cannot have more mass absorbed than you naturally possess. Also, while you have an object absorbed you have an "absolute mass", equal to the mass of your body just before absorbtion. This absolute mass cannot change until you lose the object. If you lose parts of your body while you have an object or two absorbed the objects leave first. Basically this power is used to allow yourself to change to forms larger than any of your natural forms. Demon forms are already allowed to be larger, but this lets you do that with more than one form. Oh yes, absolute mass is determined from your human form, not demon or other weird forms. It is slightly uncomfortable having an object absorbed - demons may not mind but this isn't something you use long-term. Your body will instinctively act to get rid of the foreign mass - you really don't want to know more about the mechanics. Elemental Forms: 10 points, plus ALL other shapeshifting techniques This is one of the very few advanced techniques to have prerequisites. With this power you can shape your body into totally nonhuman and even inorganic forms. All through Prince of Chaos Mandor and Dara use this, going around as pillars of flame, storms, and so on. The size of the forms you can assume is related to your mass; specifics are somewhat messy. Turning yourself into stone is not smart, for example, since it has a significantly higher density than you do in your human form, so you'd end up smaller. You'd also have a lot of problems moving. If you shapeshift to a rigid or immovable form you're still just as rigid. That's why flexible and amorphous forms are favored. Now, while you could use this power to give yourself natural attacks, like lightning bolts from a storm, there are a lot of simpler ways to do this. For one thing learning to create such attacks would take a lot of practice in each form. For another, projecting energy is VERY tiring. Amber rank endurance would be prostated after two or three such bolts. Chaos rank endurance would last for maybe one. As an aside or two, you can't do this to only part of your body, unlike most forms of shapeshifting. It's either all or nothing. You can't just turn your left arm into flame. Another thing is that your new form tends to be cohesive. Someone with a sword could damage you in an elemental form (for lack of a better term; the forms don't have to be elemental) by swinging it through you. The presence of a foreign object would disrupt your body and injure you, albiet probably not as much as if you were in human form. If someone manages to detatch part of your body you'd lose that portion of your body mass. And if, for example, you get extinguished while in a fire form you're in real trouble. If your form is totally destroyed you're dead. So sticking in a fire form around a water mage is probably a dumb thing to do. BTW, your face usually appears somewhere in the new form, but it doesn't have to. Thus if you were willing to lose the mobility and size you could turn yourself into a rock, indistinguishable from any other rock by normal means. However you wouldn't be able to see or hear...you'd be limited to your natural psychic sense and whatever senses rocks have...You can use this power to make yourself less vulnerable to certain dangers, but there are usually concurrent risks from the form itself. Magic: Magic is more of a set of skills than a seperate power. A sorceror casts his spells by manipulating the energies of an existing power source, which is usually either a Shadow source, Pattern, or Logrus. Shadow sorcerors are rather limited in that their spells can only be powered by and hung in their power source, so if you take them a few shadows out they're helpless until they either find a new source or connect back to the old one somehow. True powers, Pattern (and Broken Patterns, which just imperfectly tap the energies of the Pattern) and Logrus, can and do reach anywhere, and also can provide practically infinite amounts of power. Thus, the limiting factors on a Pattern/Logrus sorceror are the sorceror's capacity (Psyche), the opposition from the other power source, and possibly some Shadow situations, such as the blue crystal cave. Another important sorcerous ability is the 'sight'. Sorcerors with Pattern or Logrus, in addition to automatically being able to draw energy from and hang spells on their power source, automatically get either Pattern or Logrus sight. These are functionally the same thing, the only real difference being in the shape someone else using Sight sees when they check you out. Now that that's said, what is Sight good for? This lets you, once you have your Power brought up, look through it and see magical forces, spells affecting people (not hung), Powers brought to other sorcerors' minds, the Pattern Lens, Logrus tendrils, magical constructs, some peculiarities in Shadow, and so on. Shadow sorcerors can learn a lesser version of this. Basic sorcery: Spellcasting: 15 pts This lets you weave the energies of your power source into spells, and store those spells until you want to use them if you so desire. This takes a fair amount of time, depending on how much power you need, how complicated the spell is, and how good you are. For example, casting or hanging the invisibility spell takes about twenty minutes. More unique spells take longer. You can work out just about any spell, the limiting factors being how long you have to spend, the amount of power you can safely channel, the limits of your power source, your Psyche, and some quirks of Shadow. This covers sorcery as it is outlined in the RPG. Spontaneous energy manipulation: 5 pts This lets you summon the energy of your source and shape it into your desired result. This cannot handle anything complex or tricky; it is usually used for attacking, such as Mask's 'snowball' of power, or Merlin's Logrus Death Bolt. Some other things are also possible, look ovr the Power Words for examples. Spontaneous defense: 5 pts This lets you use the energies of your source defensively. This is an active thing, not automatic. This is not very helpful against spells, since it works on a simpler and less refined level. If you have a better power source and a good Psyche superiority you can try it, or if you have a truly extreme Psyche superiority. Basic use is to defend against the spontaneous attacks, such as when Merlin parries Mask's snowballs. This can also work against simple spells, such as elemental stuff. This is part of why it's so hard for a sorceror to kill another with sorcery. Sight: 5 pts Bought only by Shadow sorcerors, this allows a form of Sight which only shows magical constructions (spells, lines of force, etc). A better version comes free with either True Power. Probing (5 Points) This is a technique used to study magical constructs and artifacts in more detail than with Sight. Basically you extend a magical construct of your own into contact with whatever you want to probe. You can than analyze for many things, such as the nature of the magic (i.e. a fairly good idea as to its source), the magnitude of power present, its purpose, the structure of any spells on it, and so on. Logrus sorcerors can do a cruder version of this with Logrus tendrils, and Pattern sorcerors with the Lens. However, this is considerably more refined, and should still be bought by a Logrus/Pattern sorceror who wants the whole shebang. Also note that certain magical traps and such can be triggered by a probe, and can travel up the probe. Masking - 10 points This is a rather advanced ability. In order to use this you must have some form of the Sight. This is the ability to cloak your magical constructions. With this you can attempt to make a summoned Sign invisible to the Sight (this is quite tricky, since summoned power of such magnitude is very obvious - you need a good psyche advantage over the observor), make lingering spells such as wards and geases (such as those laid on the Spikard) hard to sense, make alterations to existing constructs with less chance of alterting someone in contact with them or observing them, and so on. You could also use this to, say, make a Logrus tendril difficult to See. If you plan on attempting to sneak up on a sorceror while invisible, this is a good thing to use; otherwise your invisibility spell shows up quite nicely to the sight, for example. This can also be nice for disguising your spells' weak points, disguising the presence of potential attacks (like if you want to keep a Logrus bolt ready but not be too obvious about it...) and such. This ability isn't too useful if the masked construct is probed, but if you've done this correctly a sorceror won't be too likely to probe your constructs anyway, since they won't appear to be magical at all. Note that as with all else in sorcery, how well you can do this is determined by your psyche. High Art (advanced sorcery, for Logrus/Patterners only) Direct interaction: 15 pts This allows you to use your raw forces (Tendrils in the Logrus's case, reaching through the Sign of the Pattern in the other) to work directly with magical constructions. Merlin does this when he forces open the remnants of the magical passage to the Keep of the Four Worlds, or when he considers reaching out and playing around with the forces Jasra and Jurt are manipulating. This might be useful for defending against complex or elegant spells. Logrus tendril casting: 10 pts For Logrus sorcerors, this allows the use of Logrus tendrils as channels for magical constructions. In other words, you can cast spells down a tendril, and use both your normal senses (which you can normally) and your Sight at the other end. Problem is that this works both ways... Pattern-lens casting: 10 pts For Pattern sorcerors, this allows the use of the Pattern Lens to channel magical constructions. You can cast spells through the Pattern lens. As with tendril casting, this is a two-way thing, so those who can sense the Pattern Lens, or who witness a spell being cast through it, can cast spells back at you through the Lens. SORCERY NOTE: Your power source is VERY IMPORTANT. Shadow sorcerors are at a serious disadvantage, because once you take them away from their source they can't cast spells or use spontaneous energy work. They do keep Sight, though, and can learn to tap other sources. Most Shadows have some 'background' magical energy, which is used by the locals, and some have strong sources, such as the Font of Power, or the sources the Spikards tap. In general, Shadow sources can't provide as much energy as the Pattern and Logrus do. Thus, a sorceror with a True Power can often brute force his way through a Shadow sorceror's spells. It is not a good idea to depend on this, however. For one thing, you need a strong Psyche to channel this much power. For another, some Shadows lend themselves to magic and manipulation thereof, and might even allow Shadow sorcerors more powerful than the True Power sorcerors - in that Shadow. The sorcerors in Edding's books, or in the Riftwar saga, or, for that matter, the Sartan and Patryn in the Death Gate cycle, are all good examples of how this might work. However, if you take them out of their Shadow, they lose this power until they can learn to tap another. Even then they won't be anything like as powerful. Conjuration: 15 pts This is the study of creating magical artifacts and enchanting creatures. If you do not use this in conjunction with Pattern, Logrus, or Trump artifact creation the resultant items will be relatively fragile and Shadow-specific. This is not a prerequisite for Pattern, Logrus, or Trump artifact creation, but without this those powers can only be used to create items that directly tap the relevant power source; i.e. you could use straight Logrus item creation to create a weapon from a Logrus tendril, but intelligence, psychic sense, movement, and so on would require use of Conjuration. Trump artifacts would be things like gateways, or the painting of the Tree of Power Victor Melman used to draw energy from. Pattern items would probably mainly relate to helping shift Shadow. Shadows: Are much the same as in the RPG, but you cannot have direct control over the Shadow; i.e. the only things you can buy are the Reality of the Shadow, which determines how much magical energy is likely to be flowing around, how difficult it would be to alter or erase with one of the True Powers, and so on, and the barriers on the Shadow. Other effects can be suggested, but anything like 'Control of contents' on up is illegal. You still get to define the Shadow more or less any way you like, but you can't change it mid-stream without doing what anyone else would have to and use Shadow Editing under Pattern or Logrus. Last minute errata to items: If you want an (intelligent) creature that uses Sorcery, use the following costs: 1 pt - minor shadow sorceror. You can buy 15 pts of basic sorcery for the creature to use, which usually means either spells or the energy stuff and the Sight. Possibly probing. The creature can learn to tap one Shadow source unless it connects to Pattern or Logrus, or even Trump, although a Trump creature is hard to imagine, through previous expenditures. 2 pts - major Shadow sorceror. You can buy 30 pts of basic sorcery for the creature to use. It can have several Shadow sources if this fits the concept at all. 4 pts - High sorceror. The creature gets 45 pts of sorcery, access to the Higher Arts, and the ability to draw on either Pattern or Logrus for spell power and Sight. Note that these abilities CANNOT BE TRANSFERRED! These qualities are transferrable: Sight: Second Sight - 1 point The object or creature has a weak form of the Sight used by sorcerors. This gives the creature or object occasional visions of what's going on but cannot be conciously summoned. This can be very effective in conjunction with psychic sense. Sorcery Sight - 2 points This is the same as the 5 point shadow sorcery power. The creature can, at will, summon the sight and look for magical constructions. Logrus tendrils, the Pattern Lens, distortions in Shadow, and so on do not show up to this sight. Pattern/Logrus Sight - 4 points The creature has full-blown Pattern or Logrus sight. This cannot be bought by Shadow creatures and such. Demons can take the Logrus version, or a Pattern or Logrus conjurer could imprint this on an object. Or the object could be enhanced by being carried through the Pattern, as Frakir was with the Logrus. Basically the object needs some logical connection with the source of the sight. Note that this power overlaps with the sorcery powers for items and creatures. The big difference here is that these are transferrable, at 5 points each. Well, I hope this compilation of my rule modifications to date is of use, or at least interest, to some of you. The point scale for my game is slightly different - base of 150 points, with 20 being the normal max for player contribs but theoretically going up another 10 points of "pocket change" contribs, such as printing out new and improved character sheets, or new ideas I adopt. Naturally the auctions go up higher too... As I said way back up at the beginning, anything you have to say about these changes would be much appreciated. Barring rampant flamefests of course. :) -Peter 94pdeglopper@vax.mbhs.edu pdeglop@goober.mbhs.edu