Post by Phsycodelic on Jun 8, 2016 10:40:08 GMT
Gematria
Korako
Korako
Roll: Varies depending on level and effect.
Cost: None.
Modifiers: +1 automatic success per level of familiarity (1 for an acquaintance, 5 for own self).
Duration: Permanent.
Price Of Failure: At lower levels, the practitioner may receive either faulty information or indecipherable gibberish as a result of a failure. But at higher levels the practitioners are interfering with a target's very nature of existence. They may accidentally give an enemy a boon rather than a curse, turn an ally's heart into wax, or - if the alteration is too drastic or becomes too unstable - the target could simply cease to exist (either as if it had never existed at all, or by exploding violently). The possibilities and power of Gematria are great, but when things go wrong they can go VERY wrong. Storytellers are encouraged to roll a chance die on a botch in order to determine the severity of the failure, in order to simulate the random backlash for attempting to alter how a target interacts with reality itself.
[ 1 ] Numbers Behind It All ( Homebrew )
Initiates of Gematria begin to see and hear the world and its inhabitants a little more clearly, and are capable of a minor form of divination as a result. The initiate must spend at least one scene simply noting small factors about the target, such as how many times they happened to blink within the last eight seconds, at what distance they can smell their body odor, etc. Most initiates must actively write down this information at the time of notice, however an initiate with eidetic memory that had the target in sight for at least an hour total within a single day may retroactively write this information down at their leisure. The answer is only ever in the form of numbers, such as the age of the target, how many people they have killed, how many miles away they are, etc. This may seem daunting, but a simple letter-to-number system fixes this issue and allows for sentences to be formed by the divination. Problem is though, the information is always bathed in riddles and symbolism, so most practitioners simply stick to divining numbers.
System: The initiate then rolls Perception + Gematria and consults their notes for a revelation regarding a certain question that they have in mind about the target. The difficulty and number of success required reflects how secretive something is with something like the location of some random Joe's house (something that's not a secret, but not advertised) being a difficulty 4 with only one success needed, to difficulty 8 with four success needed for the location of the nearest secret military base (something that only a few people know about, and is difinitely not advertised). Remove 2 from the difficulty or required number of successes if only numbers are being derived. If the initiate does not meet the number of required successes, they must observe their target for another hour. All successes rolled are cumulative, however botches reset the current amount achieved.
[ 2 ] Words Are Numbers Too ( Homebrew )
An apprentice of Gematria learns to see the importance of numbers and language in all things, and normally try to stop themselves from "jinxing" anything as they now know the power of words. Practitioners of this level are capable of recognizing little in the functions of the world at large, but are nonetheless able to mimic the small portion of power that they have seen. As a ritual action, an apprentice may devote an hour or more to "deriving" small things that eventually add up to determine short term fate. This hard work on part of the apprentice results in the subject in question receiving small blessings and curses as a bonus dice modifier equal to their level in Gematria on all actions for a scene, or as a difficulty modifier on a very specific type of action for a scene. The apprentice must "derive" the new blessing or curse from scratch every time either the effect or subject changes, however they are capable of recording these effects as they are manifested as spoken words of power, and can be written down or memorized. The formula must always be slightly tweaked depending on local circumstances, so the apprentice has little fear of the small chance that others could successfully use their work. This also that means that a massive change in location, sudden supernatural weather occurence, or other major factors requires the process be derived once more, but at a reduced amount of time due to the fact that this is only a modification to an existing formula.
System: In order to activate this the apprentice announces at the target the words of power, and rolls Wits + Gematria at standard difficulty. The apprentice must score a minimum of ten successes over the course of multiple turns, however each successive turn is rolled at a +1 difficulty due to the fact that the words of power must be spoken quickly else their meaning is changed. A target may only have one of these effects active upon themselves at any time, with the user with the highest Gematria rating's effect overcoming that of the less knowledgeable.
[ 3 ] Metaphysical Legalese ( Homebrew )
A disciple of Gematria is so knowledgeable in the esoteric laws of letters and numbers that they are able to form and understand contracts. The disciple may "read" and understand any spiritual, whether holy or demonic, contract with perfect clarity of the terms and conditions. The disciple themselves may also create written contracts between parties, however the participants must sign of their own free will.
System: The disciple rolls Intelligence + Gematria and creates a mystical contract. The contract must meet the requirements of being equal to all parties involved, no parties having any blatant deception present, and sometimes the contract cannot be signed under duress (practitioners of Gematria are not sure exactly why this is or what the conditions are, however it is known to rarely interfere). The number of successes rolled by the disciple is the number of either permanent willpower that must be spent in order to void the contract permanently, or the number of either temporary willpower points or health levels that must be spent per turn after voiding the contract (the voider of the contract can choose which each turn).
[ 4 ] The Spoken Purpose ( Homebrew )
Adepts of Gematria are now capable of "inscribing" their wisdom onto themselves, people, and items that they are very close to (or can sense the soul/pattern of). The adept must be with the target while creating the inscription and inscribing it upon the target in order for the target to gain the benefit or hindrance. The practitioner's inscription can either be physically inscribed or simply be words of power spoken towards the target, with both having separate effects. A physical inscription upon the target creates extra permanent (but non-replenishable) willpower points that the target can use for a specific type of task, such as combat, poetry, etc. If the effect is uttered to the target aloud, the target will instead receive temporary willpower points that the target can use for a specific type of task (combat, poetry, etc.). This should be done with caution however, as the words spoken here contain a small sliver of both the target and the caster's True Names. If an animal or inanimate object is targeted, they temporarily gain a rudimentary from of sentience, and may spend a willpower point per scene to speak (if they are inclined to do so). Keep in mind however, that an object or person with willpower pointing in a certain direction is normally completely consumed by their obsession with that task.
System: In order to achieve this effect, the adept rolls Intelligence + Gematria in order to determine the success of their research. They may re-roll over the course of multiple days, however successes are not cumulative and the highest of the success is taken as the final result. The adept may pool their successes with another practitioner of Gematria however, allowing for truly awesome feats to be accomplished. For every ten successes achieved in a permanent inscription, the ten non-replenishable permanent willpower points may be traded in for one replenishable willpower point, giving the animal or inanimate object permanent sentience. Also, an unwilling target dramatically increases the research time needed from one day per roll to one week per roll for mortals and one month per roll for supernaturals, so most adepts of Gematria rarely spend the amount of time needed to curse every individual that has ever slighted them.
[ 5 ] Break The Mold ( Homebrew )
Masters of Gematria are truly feared, as they now understand the surface of reality enough to understand how permeable it is. The master must spend at least one scene with the target during the process of a lengthy ritual, and target a single aspect of the target such as weight, texture, speed, age, etc. They must gather ingredients for the task, and spend an extremely large amount of time and effort as they change reality in a concrete and measurable way. The master rolls only Gematria, and rolls once per scene until they achieve the extremely large amount of successes required. All effects are cumulative and permanent, and capable of working in tandem with other practitioners of Gematria. The master may grant anything from aesthetic differences, to merits and flaws or even mystical abilities - although the rarity and cost of the ingredients and time required always reflect the change equally.
System: The practitioner essentially needs to spend their own experience points, time, money, and precious rare items in order to alter something. Merits and Flaws may be purchased on behalf of other people, places, and things, even ones that are normally only allowed at character creation. A ritual of this power may be calculated without any particular target in mind, but does need the participant to be either meditating or unconscious in the ritual circle for one hour per experience point spent on their behalf. This is a very powerful ritual that storytellers and players are encouraged to use responsibly, or at the very least make the acquiring of the rare ingredients an arduous task in and of itself.