Tree Magic

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(Mechanics and Requirements: Just the basics. As they are, Tree Levels are useless. Needs much further elaboration.)
(Quick mini-glossary: Starting the glossary)
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Talk briefly about what the purpose of the mechanic is. Omit this section if it is extremely obvious to the target audience.
Talk briefly about what the purpose of the mechanic is. Omit this section if it is extremely obvious to the target audience.
== Quick mini-glossary ==
== Quick mini-glossary ==
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Explain terms of great relevance to the subject matter of the article here, but not terms that are of generally great importance (e.g. RD).
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Tree Level (TL)
 +
Growth Time Interval (GTI)
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== See also ==
== See also ==
Include links here, to other articles that are highly pertinent to the subhject matter of this one. Remember <br> linebreaks before or after (but not both!).
Include links here, to other articles that are highly pertinent to the subhject matter of this one. Remember <br> linebreaks before or after (but not both!).

Revision as of 12:34, 7 December 2010

Describe - briefly - what the article is about, in 1 or 2 sentenes, or 3 at the most.

The idea is to make it easy for the reader to decide whether this article is relevant to his current goals, so include hugely important advice here, in a second paragraph, if you think it is necessary.

Contents

Mechanics and Requirements

There are basically four questions to be answered in order to cover all the in-game mechanics regarding Tree Magic. Who can Enchant a Tree and what methods are available to him? How can the Character be better at Tree Magic if he wants to make of this area a specialization of his? How much does it cost, in terms of personal Essence, to Enchant a Tree? How long does it take for the magic to be fully ingrained in the Tree and be 'operational'? This chapter addresses each ot them thouroughly and lists all the answers and the options available.

Spells from the Plant Realm

The most obvious way to go about when Enchanting a Tree is to use one of the several available spells within the Plant Realm of magic. Those that are most suited to this task are briefly summarized in the following, along with the different nuances and options each one gives.

  • (Spell 1)
  • (Spell 2)
  • ...

Specific Lore

Just as with Familiars, a Character can pursue a magical act without ever learning the appropriate spells frome the Plant Realm. Instead, a specific Lore (name of the lore here) exists which allows the Character to bypass the need for those spells and focus and specialize on the Tree Magic aspects he is most interested in.

Enhancing Powers

Sometimes being able to do something is not enough for a Character. Sometimes the Character concept requires him being particularly well versed at some specific aspects, because that's where his life led him to and that's where his interests lie. Tree Magic has two related Powers that allow a Character to be better than a 'standard tree magician' along two different lines.

TreeBrother

The TreeBrother Power entitles a Character to ES discounts when Enchanting trees, so that he will usually be able to Enchant more. It comes into three levels. The first is TreeBrother I (tree type name). This halves the Tree Levels for all the rituals regarding a specific type of tree (e.g. all oak trees, all plums trees, ...). See the section on the Essence Costs for a better understanding of how Tree Levels works. The result is that the Character will find Enchanting a specific type of tree particularly cheap (and will probably do most of his Enchanting on said type of tree as a result). The second level is TreeBrother II. The benefits gained from TreeBrother I (specific), that is the halving of Tree Levels, is extended to all trees, regardless of their type. The final level is TreeBrother III: in addition to the discount provided by TreeBrother II, this level allows the Character to pay much less when Preparing a Tree (see dedicated section below). In particular, the Tree Level cost for the various Prepare rituals is reduced by one and then halved, so that Prepare I is free (0 levels) and Prepare II and III are heavily discounted.

Fast Enchanter

How to calculate Essence Costs

All Rituals which can be wrought into a Tree are rated in terms of Tree Levels. Tree Levels are then converted to Essence cost using a conversion factor of 1TL = 0.2ES. Tree levels may then be reduced (e.g. halved) if the Character has chosen the TreeBrother Power and is wokring the ritual on a type of tree appropriate for the discount. In order to find out how much Essence your planned magical tree will end up costing you, simply tally all the Tree Levels for the Rituals involved, applied all relevant discount and then convert it to Essence cost using the Conversion Factor indicated above.

Growth Time Interval

Enchanting a Tree is not a fast process. This type of magic is not suited to fast tactical challenges, as it takes moons, sometimes years, to develop and bear fruit. As such, planning ahead becomes very important. The basic measure of how long it takes for a certain effect to grow magical into the tree is called Growth Time Interval (GTI). Its standard span is three years, but the Character can develop specific Mysticisms to modify it (see the section on Faster Magic above). The GTI is used in three Rituals, the first of which is a mandatory step in all Tree Enchanting Process.

  • Preparing the Tree base duration is one full GTI.
  • Enlarging a Tree base duration is one full GTI per Size (so that a Size VI Enlargment base duration would be 6 GTIs).
  • Awakeining a Tree base duration is five full GTIs.

The indicated base duration can be reduced by spending more Essence and taking the Speed Up I or Speed Up II options. Both options are available in all the aforementioned three rituals, but their cost (in additional Essence) depends on the Ritual being worked. All costs are detailed under the relevant section. Taking the Speed Up I option divides the duration by 6; taking the Speed Up II option divides the original duration by 36. Thus, for an average Character, whose GTI is unmodified (3 Years), taking the Speed Up II option to Prepare a Tree means that he can complete the step in 1 moon instead of 3 years (3 years divided by 36).

Steps to Enchant a Tree

Preparing the Tree

Enlarging (Optional)

Effects

Sentience

Life-related Effects

Radiance Effects

Fruits

Advice

Include any and all pertinent advice here. The goal is to increase the chance of each player having fun, by giving advice helping the player to decide whether to buy the ability or not (if the article is about one or more abilities) or use the option (if the article is about something that characters can choose to do), and later on how to make use of the ability (e.g. to avoid any pitfalls that aren't extremely obvious).

Please note

Clarify, elaborate, try to predict and answer questions that are somewhat likely to be asked during character creation or during play.

Mini-FAQ

Put in sub-sections (three ='s) each containing multiple Q&As, and insert a blank line between each individual Q&A.

sub-section

Q:
A:


Q:
A:

The world

A section mainly for the GM, or worldbuilder, about the world impact of the phenomenon, e.g. an Item Creation Power, or an attribute or other stat that may sometimes be starkly high or low relative to the Human average.

World impact

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The Ärth setting

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Design Notes

Talk briefly about what the purpose of the mechanic is. Omit this section if it is extremely obvious to the target audience.

Quick mini-glossary

Tree Level (TL) Growth Time Interval (GTI)

See also

Include links here, to other articles that are highly pertinent to the subhject matter of this one. Remember
linebreaks before or after (but not both!). link
link

Table structure to use

A B C
1 2 3
4 5 6

The above is a table with 3 colums and 3 rows, with the first row being bold-faced and having its text centered. Do not mix the ! and | symbols in the same row. Apart from that, hopefully it is obvious how to add and remove rows and lines.

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