Libriomancer(may have spoilers about the book sharing topic name)

[InFerrumVeritas]

If it's about items that give you varying superpowers, wouldn't item of power + modular abilities do the trick?
Excalibur could be represented by claws + inhuman strength.
The green lantern ring could be modeled using breath weapons.
Super-Strength pretty much explains itself.
Maybe add ritual("crafting") as a constant power for enchanted items and potions for declaring one trick effects.

Because in the book it's really more about creating magic items on the fly, not granting powers (that can be done, but then it's not temporary and would just be represented as purchased abilities). 

The best way I could describe it in DFRPG terms would be creating magic items with evocation's methods and speed.  But the skills and that are a bit different.  It's less about personal power.  Libriomancers are rather weak on the "power" side.  That's why they have to draw on shared beliefs about stories to manifest magic.

[Haru]

No, I understand you.
The thing is, an enchanted item would work as a weapon:x for 1 attack and then vanish, mechanically. If you wanted to draw it out of the book to fight with for an entire scene, that's where modular abilities comes into play. By tying it to the item of power, you make it an item, not a character power.

I never read the books, so it might really not fit, and if that's the case, ignore me. But I think the power is pretty neat to model something like that. I have a character in my campaign who has a bag of magic items that he can draw from, each with a different power. The character itself does not have a single power, he can use the items which store the powers. Mechanically that makes no difference, but narratively, it can be a huge deal.

[InFerrumVeritas]

No, I understand you.
The thing is, an enchanted item would work as a weapon:x for 1 attack and then vanish, mechanically. If you wanted to draw it out of the book to fight with for an entire scene, that's where modular abilities comes into play. By tying it to the item of power, you make it an item, not a character power.

I never read the books, so it might really not fit, and if that's the case, ignore me. But I think the power is pretty neat to model something like that. I have a character in my campaign who has a bag of magic items that he can draw from, each with a different power. The character itself does not have a single power, he can use the items which store the powers. Mechanically that makes no difference, but narratively, it can be a huge deal.

Ah, I see what you're saying. 

The more I think about it, the more I think both may work best.  The big thing is making it a mechanically viable concept. 

My big focus is deciding which skills should be important.  I think I've settled on Scholarship and Lore being the primary skills and used for any calculations.  Conviction and Endurance would only come into play because they affect stress.

[fantazero]

So he can basically pull anything out of a book, He's creating things from thin air. Sounds like NPC Fairy Magic.
i'd say he'd be a good NPC but a terrible PC (because of the power involved)

But if you want to try it. I'd say you'd basically stat them as a Wizard (to control the items) but you'd make them pay a Fate Point to pull something out a book (And maybe make them role Lore and Discipline) but that feels unfair to the player.

[sqlcowboy]

Something that people seem to miss here is Isaac couldn't actually USE everything he pulled from a book.  There's a specific example

(click to show/hide)

That he could never figure out how to use Dr Who's Sonic Screwdriver

which would lead me to believe that it'd be GMs discretion to say if he could figure out how (or have the prerequisite ability and aspects, ie Will and Lack of Fear) to actually USE a Green Lantern ring.

[Taran]

Something that people seem to miss here is Isaac couldn't actually USE everything he pulled from a book.  There's a specific example

(click to show/hide)

That he could never figure out how to use Dr Who's Sonic Screwdriver

which would lead me to believe that it'd be GMs discretion to say if he could figure out how (or have the prerequisite ability and aspects, ie Will and Lack of Fear) to actually USE a Green Lantern ring.

O.k.  Now I have to read the books.

[JDK002]

Something that people seem to miss here is Isaac couldn't actually USE everything he pulled from a book.  There's a specific example

(click to show/hide)

That he could never figure out how to use Dr Who's Sonic Screwdriver

which would lead me to believe that it'd be GMs discretion to say if he could figure out how (or have the prerequisite ability and aspects, ie Will and Lack of Fear) to actually USE a Green Lantern ring.

That's a good point.  It kind of goes along with the games notion of trying to fly with magic.  That you could create a spell that lets you fly, but that doesn't mean that you know HOW to fly.  That would make for a lot of good compel fodder.

[ways and means]

BIBLIOMANCY [-4]
Description: You can project the world of the word into the real world. Nothing from the world of the word can exist without context as it would lose its meaning and therefore its existence. Monsters drawn from books remain monsters and heroes, heroes.
Sponsor: Bibliomancy draws upon the world of words for its powers. The world of words is essentially a conglomeration of everything ever written, from novels to textbooks. It is not actually sentient, but it has a sort of will nonetheless.
Agenda: The world of words has no concrete agenda, but it is generally in favour of knowledge and against the destruction of books. Sometimes it will try to force reality into the shape of a novel.
Evocation: Bibliomantic evocations make use of the Word element. Word evocations generally function by bringing things from the world of words into reality. This can create almost any evocation effect, but it requires access to written material containing the desired effect.
Thaumaturgy: Bibliomantic rituals can blur the line between text and truth, perform a wide variety of divinations with a textual thematic, create books or other associated objects, and open portals to certain realms.
Evothaum: Bibliomancers may summon creatures from books, divine written things, and create written materials with the speed and methods of evocation.
Extra Benefits: A Bibliomancer adds two to his or her Resources skill when using it to determine Library quality or to purchase a new Library. In addition, a Bibliomancer may use a Library of any sort as an Arcane Sanctum of an equal rating.


It was originally designed to model the Ink-hearts books but it seems a similar concept. Its in the sponsored magic magic list.

[Aminar]

Forgive me.  I'm reviving this because I recently reread the book, and accidentally wound up with a PC with the power...(First time roleplayer, Friends Wife, wanted Rogue's powers from the X-men.  Because she's moderatley uninvolved I totally forgot she can steal anything my NPC's have.  Well oops.)

I'm working on a more PC friendly way to handle this than my NPC just having cool items and the corresponding books on him.
Template requirements
Ritual/Sponsored magic-Libriomancy(Obviously)
Follows the basic rules of Libriomancy as shown in the book.  When summoning an item it deals physical and mental stress equal to the total number of item slots the item takes up.-This is in line with the way the books work in that they take caloric energy and cause some sanity issues.  It also means calling anything too obscene is unlikely.
(Uses Scholarship in stead of lore.)
Feeding Dependancy(modified)(Food)
For each item used in a scene there is one Feeding Stress.  This represents the extra costs to using magic for libriomancers who, as they use magic more burn lots of calories and are repulsed by food.  It also creates some very distinct limits on the character in the face of their overwhelming adaptability.

From there I just have to juryrig the items she comes out with.  This scares me because the whole group is very reader heavy...

Right now she has Scholarship 5(stolen from the NPC), not sure how that will interact with advancement later.
-3 for Libriomancy(including the stunt that switches Lore and Scholarship.)
and 2 points worth of extra item slots.  She also has an allotment of five books she can carry to keep things simple.
I can freely mess with those given that I told her we would work out PC balance issues later.

Another question.  Say she wants to grab an item that allows flight, whatever that may be.  How do enchanted items that simulate low levels powers work(or would I just have her use it as an item that grants the skill (Athletics)Flight 5 for a scene...

[Sanctaphrax]

Ritual/Sponsored magic-Libriomancy(Obviously)
Follows the basic rules of Libriomancy as shown in the book.  When summoning an item it deals physical and mental stress equal to the total number of item slots the item takes up.-This is in line with the way the books work in that they take caloric energy and cause some sanity issues.  It also means calling anything too obscene is unlikely.
(Uses Scholarship in stead of lore.)

Not sure what this means.

Feeding Dependancy(modified)(Food)
For each item used in a scene there is one Feeding Stress.  This represents the extra costs to using magic for libriomancers who, as they use magic more burn lots of calories and are repulsed by food.  It also creates some very distinct limits on the character in the face of their overwhelming adaptability.

Also not sure I understand this, but it sounds sketchy balance-wise.

You might want to try a proper Power write-up for those Powers. Using a rigid template forces one to explain oneself, and is good for dispelling ambiguity.

Another question.  Say she wants to grab an item that allows flight, whatever that may be.  How do enchanted items that simulate low levels powers work(or would I just have her use it as an item that grants the skill (Athletics)Flight 5 for a scene...

(Athletics)Flight is not a thing. And you can't just give yourself a skill for a scene with an item, that'd be crazy broken.

Spells that grant Powers are basically just an excuse to let people spend FP on temporary Powers. But some people will let you use tags instead of FP. This may or may not be what the rules as written tell you to do.

[Aminar]

Where's the ambiguity(assuming you've read Libriomancer)?

The concept of being able to pull items from books is sketchy balance wise.  I'm trying to put enough cost to it within the grounds of the books that it isn't too broken(largely impossible).
Basically pulling an item deals mental and physical stress.  The stress amount is the number of item slots the item takes up. 
So for a scholarship 5 libriomancer a 3 use lightsaber(Weapon 7) deals 3 physical and mental stress.  The same item with 7 uses would deal 5 physical and mental stress(Mandating consequences)
The feeding dependancy treats each item like a power.  Part of the high concept libriomancer is that magic use burns calories but makes eating repulsive.  It should prevent overuse of items if nothing else.

Obviously not many items go over 3 or 4 item slots and stress clears at the end of each scene so they can slowly build up an arsenal during the session, without major consequences.