Sponsored Magic Master List

[Locnil]

I don't think it would be out of line for it to provide Cloak of Shadows and maybe lower the toughness of light or fire based baddies.

I do. Compare to (UN)seelie magic, or other sponsored magics.  The extra benefit in this case would be much better than theirs.

[Blk4ce]

Has anyone made a character with the Dragon Magic sponsored power? I can't really think of a way to use it.

[Hick Jr]

I did a writeup for a group of villains called the Wyrmbound who were a dragon-cult with the same basic model as the Denarians, where holding a golden coin taken from the dragon's hoard would give you a direct line to the dragon's power, letting you use Dragon Magic and actually transform into a humanoid reptile thing. I mainly had them using Dragon Magic for pyrokinesis because it was a "fire dragon", but the whole "elemental energies" thing is pretty broad.

[Blk4ce]

Not to mention the true names part. I've been meaning to make a dragon, but since I don't know the first thing about their powers, that was my first thought.

[Hick Jr]

Well, there are two types of dragon in the DV: Dragons-with-a-capital-D, and dragons. The first kind are godlike. Ferrovax, the eldest of them, is one of the only things ever that is capable of actually killing Mab. Capital-D-Dragons are more like the Oriental dragons, where they're celestial beings who hang around with the gods.

Lowercase-d-dragons are still ridiculously powerful, but much less so. They're more like Western dragons- big scaly lizard monsters, extremely intelligent, extremely magically powerful. Think Smaug. This would probably be more appropriate for play in a very high-refresh game.

[Blk4ce]

So just put obsenely high evo and thaum and maybe modular abilities on the side? I was hoping for something more unique.

[Belial666]

Greater Dragons would be a liiiiiittle bit beyond the scale of your typical DFRPG characters. For example Kur, the Sumerian earth/underworld dragon, is as long as the Euphrates river in the legends. That's approximately 1750 miles long. Even curled up he would take a space 200+ miles long and nearly 100 miles wide. His stirrings would cause earthquakes and his steps could flatten mountains. 


How many ranks of Strength, Size and Toughness would that be?

[Sanctaphrax]

So just put obsenely high evo and thaum and maybe modular abilities on the side? I was hoping for something more unique.

Why would they have Modular Abilities? Shapeshifting's not a big thing for most dragons in mythology.

As for spellcasting, it probably depends on the dragon.

Here's one take.

Greater Dragons would be a liiiiiittle bit beyond the scale of your typical DFRPG characters. For example Kur, the Sumerian earth/underworld dragon, is as long as the Euphrates river in the legends. That's approximately 1750 miles long. Even curled up he would take a space 200+ miles long and nearly 100 miles wide. His stirrings would cause earthquakes and his steps could flatten mountains. 


How many ranks of Strength, Size and Toughness would that be?

Dunno if Kur is representative of a Dresden Dragon. Far as I know Butcher never went into detail about which sources he was using for Ferrovax and company.

Anyway, I figure Mythic Strength, Unthinkable Size, and Mythic Toughness with some level of Immunity to small-scale attacks could cover it. Maybe Aura of Influence or something for the earthquake steps.

[Blk4ce]

Most Chinese dragons like to transform. Also, it's the easiest way to depict the fact that they can take human form.

[Sanctaphrax]

Nope. Modular Abilities doesn't even necessarily change your shape, IIRC.

You're probably thinking of Human Form, Beast Change, or True Shapeshifting.

[Blk4ce]

Indeed. I meant the whole package. Sorry for not being clear.

[Hick Jr]

I thought i might be losing my touch, so, this. This one's pretty powerful and ergo might merit a cost of [-5]. Feedback is appreciated. Using this on a character in an IRL game who's basically a combination of Bonesaw, the Vord Queen, Infested Sarah Kerrigan, and a Tzimisce. She is the most frightening and the most adorable character I have ever played.

DEUS VITAE [-4]
Description: You are a master of both mind and body, and have learned to manipulate both raw psychic energy and pure life force, allowing you to do incredible things with biomancy and psychomancy.
Sponsor: Typically self-sponsored, but is occasionally granted by creator gods or gods of fertility and life.
Agenda: Your own, if self sponsored. If granted by a god or other entity, that entity's agenda. Typically, the influence of Deus Vitae will drive you to use your powers in some way linked to your worldview- one user might be constantly tempted to make everyone around her happy, while another, disgusted by his own appearance, might be compelled to twist other's features into grotesque, nightmarish things.
Evocation: You can manipulate blood, flesh, bone, and other vital fluids and systems. You can also manipulate psychic energy, allowing you to use Spirit magic, but with more finesse and skill than a spellcaster without this Power.
Thaumaturgy: You can create and manipulate biological systems and life-forms of nearly any degree of complexity, from an amoeba to an oak tree to a human. You can also manipulate psychic energy and minds, allowing you to use fantastically powerful and precise psychomancy.
Evothaum: You can use any ritual that can be cast with Deus Vitae with Evocation's speed and methods.
Extra Benefits: You may use your complexity and control bonuses from Deus Vitae in place of your power and control bonuses for evocation, so long as the spell incorporates some element of biomancy or psychomancy.

[gojj]

Sponsor: Typically self-sponsored, but is occasionally granted by creator gods or gods of fertility and life.
Agenda: Your own, if self sponsored. If granted by a god or other entity, that entity's agenda. Typically, the influence of Deus Vitae will drive you to use your powers in some way linked to your worldview- one user might be constantly tempted to make everyone around her happy, while another, disgusted by his own appearance, might be compelled to twist other's features into grotesque, nightmarish things.

Hmmm, well I generally do not like self-sponsored magic as being tied to the agenda of your sponsors is one of the few drawbacks of Sponsored Magic. However, I think this could definitely work as long as both the player and GM are diciplined in enforcing it.

Evocation: You can manipulate blood, flesh, bone, and other vital fluids and systems. You can also manipulate psychic energy, allowing you to use Spirit magic, but with more finesse and skill than a spellcaster without this Power.
Thaumaturgy: You can create and manipulate biological systems and life-forms of nearly any degree of complexity, from an amoeba to an oak tree to a human. You can also manipulate psychic energy and minds, allowing you to use fantastically powerful and precise psychomancy.

I'd be careful on the creating life part. While I have little knowledge of Dresden lore when compared to others on this board, I am fairly certain that even mending a cut is supposed to be incredibly difficult, so the shifts required to create life from scratch would have to be humungous I would imagine, especially considering this is self-sponsored, no one to cover the knowledge end of things.

Evothaum: You can use any ritual that can be cast with Deus Vitae with Evocation's speed and methods.

This may be my personal bias, but I really dislike the "anything you can cast with this sponsored magic can be cast as evothaum" thing. Evothaum is supposed to represent something the sponsored magic is especially good at, so saying that it is especially good at everything just seems like kind of a cop-out to me. Evothaum is a way to further develop the story of your sponsored magic via mechanical means, so I think it should be utilized as much. At the very least I think the chooser should have to pick whether they wish to specialize in the Biomancy or Psycomancy side of things.

Extra Benefits: You may use your complexity and control bonuses from Deus Vitae in place of your power and control bonuses for evocation, so long as the spell incorporates some element of biomancy or psychomancy.

This translates into several points of free refresh and I would not allow this on even a -5 Sponsored Magic. The only reason Kemmlerian Necromancy allows this is because it requires both Evocation and Thaumaturgy, so the incredibly strong bonus is balanced by the 8 refresh up-front cost. The user would always be able to include biomancy or psycomancy in the spell effect anyway.

I do like the flavor of it overall.
[Edit]
Hmmm, this came off more critical than I wanted. If I did not specifically say I did not like something, than I liked it!

[Hick Jr]

Even discounting the idea of being granted it by, say, Freyja, The whole "mastery of life itself" thing is sort of god-complex inducing, which is pretty much the same thing as Titania breathing down your neck about using your magic. The examples I provided are very tame. I actually would avoid using the character i'm playing with this Magic on this board, just because some of the things she does (that she's compelled to do) are utterly horrific.

There's no actual mechanical difference between using a Summoning ritual to whistle up a Frog Demon and using a Biomancy ritual to create a chimeric mutant. Narratively, maybe. We don't really see any biomancy in the series beyond some of Elaine's stuff and Listens-To-Wind, so it's hard to establish a benchmark for how strong biomancy should be.

Well, this sponsored magic is meant to be taken by people who are really good biomancers or psychomancers, and is an enhancement to your biomancy or psychomancy. I don't hate the idea of restricting it to one of the two.

Regarding the extra benefit, I forgot to include that you do need at least Thaumaturgy to take this Magic. It's implied in the Description, but I'll make it explicit. It's functionally just one or two stunts. I'm a little confused by your reaction. It's powerful, but only in a fairly limited scope. I can't really think of anything I could do with it that I also couldn't do with, say, Spirit magic.

Thank you!

[Sanctaphrax]

This is pushing it. Two evocation elements, two ritual fields, and two evothaum fields, and a strong extra benefit. With this you really don't need Evocation at all.

...being tied to the agenda of your sponsors is one of the few drawbacks of Sponsored Magic.

No it isn't. The agenda is as much an advantage as it is a disadvantage.

This may be my personal bias, but I really dislike the "anything you can cast with this sponsored magic can be cast as evothaum" thing. Evothaum is supposed to represent something the sponsored magic is especially good at, so saying that it is especially good at everything just seems like kind of a cop-out to me. Evothaum is a way to further develop the story of your sponsored magic via mechanical means, so I think it should be utilized as much. At the very least I think the chooser should have to pick whether they wish to specialize in the Biomancy or Psycomancy side of things.

I'd probably make them pick one too, on this Power. After all, the ritual section here is basically double-sized.

But sometimes evothaum can't do anything except the things it's especially good at.

This translates into several points of free refresh and I would not allow this on even a -5 Sponsored Magic. The only reason Kemmlerian Necromancy allows this is because it requires both Evocation and Thaumaturgy, so the incredibly strong bonus is balanced by the 8 refresh up-front cost. The user would always be able to include biomancy or psycomancy in the spell effect anyway.

Kemmlerian Necromancy actually has the standard cost for Sponsored Magic. The prerequisites don't affect its balance too terribly much. And while it doesn't replace power, it does provide a free Refinement.

Honestly, Kemmlerian Necromancy isn't quite balanced. When I tried to work out cost math for Sponsored Magic, every variety worked except for it.

It's hard to work out exactly how much letting you use one specialization in place of another is worth, but I'd guesstimate a little under 1 Refresh.