Thaum clarification discussion

[David Price]

So I haven't read everything, but there's been a few things I've noticed that I dislike so I thought I'd bring them up. In fairness, there are quite a few things that I do like as well. This is by no means an exhaustive list and this isn't me complaining since I know the new staff is still planning on going through them, this is just pointing out the things I am not fond of.

Technomancy being added to Dur-An-Ki and Assamite Sorcery - This was a path listed as having been created by a specific canon tremere and very recently. It seems weird for other groups to also have it.

Blood Walk - Gives True Name of lineage but _not_ the person the blood is from? That seems completely backwards. Especially since it's the main way I know of to get True Names in the first place (what other ritual provides it?). I would prefer this to be reversed (True Name of only subject, not lineage).

Principle Focus of Vitae Infusion - I am a little leery of lack of maximum (previously was capped at permanent willpower), but meh. The "mental action for each focus - max 1 per turn" is a little weird - somebody can split mental actions. I've always seen this as "max 3 per turn" as the general maximum a vampire can drink a round. Also I am concerned about the 'Eat Food' allowing carrying them in the stomach thing- it's been abused in the past.

Incorporeal Passage - This seems to return all the problems back to Incorporeal Passage that got it house-ruled originally.

Transubstantiation of the Seven - I question the "one point of blood mystically removed" - nobody notices being a blood point down? And the drinker, not the caster (who had their blood swapped)?

Bone of Lies - I don't think there's a way to determine whether the bone came from somebody who became a wraith.

Drawing Upon the Bound - working on ghouls only kind of defeats the point a little, but I hope nobody has this ritual anyway.

Serum of Perpetuating Vitae - I object to a lot of the "long forgotten ritual"s, but this one is spectacularly bad. Please don't allow this in play.

New rituals-
I dislike Vistas of the Mind, Lightning Rod, and Refresh the Wearied Mind for power reasons. I also dislike Demand the Dark Gift, but I dislike infernalism plots in general so that can kind of be ignored.

I kind of object to many of the rituals from the Anarch Cookbook or 2nd ed, but they've already been in play so I can't really object to them as part of this. A lot of my objections to the rituals listed are "These should never be allowed" (like all the House of Tremere rituals), so rule clarifications themselves don't really bother me so much as the fact that they're listed.

[Skir]

Obviously I'm not on staff anymore, I was responsible for these decisions so I'd like to at explain the purpose of the things you've taken issue with.


Technomancy in Assamite Sorcery - This is because of the passage in Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy page 122 called "Reading What the Sky is Thinking" which talks at length about the transcendental state of their magic touching upon the "ultra modern miasma of radio waves, satellite transmissions and television broadcasts...they tune their minds into CNN and tap into data from Global Positioning Satellite systems...The sorcerer can listen in on a victim's cellular phone call, substitute the words of his interlocutor with a misleading message of his own" etc etc etc going on and about how they use magic to manipulate technology. That sounds a lot like Technomancy to me. It seems like more of an oversight than anything that they wouldn't have that Path since the book devotes four entire paragraphs to explaining that they do.


Blood Walk - This isn't a change, this is a statement to highlight how frequently this ritual is run incorrectly. Re-read the ritual; you won't find any version (and there are five) that mentions giving the true name of the person whose blood it is.

Principle Focus - I'm a little leery too, and we had a good long debate about this as my initial reaction was the same as yours. However, eventually I realized that ultimately carrying a gallon jar of blood (8 points) on your person or many such items in your car is basically superior in many respects as it serves much the same purpose - taking 10 minutes to go to your car to top off is not so different than using Principle Foci - the main advantage of the foci is portability and concealability, not really any idea of it making the character more powerful or giving them unlimited blood. Especially now that every blood point is tracked and making 10 foci over the week is the same as making a jar with 10 blood in it, the issue truly is about portability. Yes, they are more portable, but it is also a higher level ritual, and portability isn't something to be super afraid of in a world where people are carrying 3 suits of riot gear in their back pocket as item cards.

Incorporeal Passage - Maybe you could be more specific about what you mean, as I wasn't there for whatever you're talking about. However, I did hear a story about Mayek attaching a mirror to his tie to stay permanently incorporeal, and you might notice that that is now not allowed under what we wrote.

Transubstantiation of Seven - not a house rule. This is talked about in source material.

Bone of Lies - From the Vampire: the Masquerade Revised, Corebook pg 185: "This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom the bone belonged in life; it is this spirit who wrests the truth from the potential liar." That sounds like a wraith to me.

Drawing Upon the Bound - Having this only work on ghouls is the only way this ritual is remotely balanced. My philosophy was that if something was so broken that it should never be allowed in game at all, I'd rather just amend it to something that can be allowed in game. That way, the game doesn't lose out on the content or flavor that it provides, AND it prevents a storyteller on some future staff from accidentally approving something insane without realizing what they are approving, and thus letting a monster ritual (like this one) in and breaking the game. This way, it prevents that from happening.

Most things you list below can be answered by the above statement as well.