Biomantic Rituals

[narphoenix]

Question: what complexities are set for healing rituals? I'm trying to put together a Healer of the White Council, and I'm trying to figure how to play his focus item. I was thinking something along the lines of double the number of shifts of the physical consequence you're trying to cure (so four for Minor, 8 for Moderate and so on) but I'm not sure if that works.

[Deadmanwalking]

The only available healing effects seem to operate ala Elaine's Reiki Healing spell (YS p.300), which is Complexity 8-10. Removing any consequence above Mild is right out (though mild's probably available at Complexity 6...just much less useful mechanically given how fast those go away).

You could also be able to use the Thaumaturgical Shapeshifting guidelines to bestow anything up to Mythic Recovery for a while (which would be awesome, and 5 shifts plus duration plus 6 FP/Tags)...but that's getting awfully close to violating the Second Law if used on anyone but yourself.

Healing magic is hard and almost never instant in the Dresden Files. Even if you specialize in it.

[narphoenix]

Well, I have my copy of YS in front of me, so let me... Ah, there we are. Owie. That's a lot. I mean, with his his focus and Refinements, my guy can throw off 12 shift biomantic rituals without needing aspects, and even then... Yekh. He could manage the severe to moderate though, with only a couple aspects or a moderate (physical, preferably, for him) consequence, so. Hm. But yeah, that's... Ow.

[Deadmanwalking]

Healing is intended to be hard in the DFRPG, both to reflect the world, and to make the consequences of fighting matter.

Still, the ability to make Consequences heal one step quicker casually (plus count as a doctor for recovery purposes) is nothing to sneeze at. And biomancy very much includes any and all shapeshifting you want to do (that you don't want to buy as a power), as well as various nasty curses and other amusement.

[narphoenix]

He isn't going to be doing anything close to violating a Law. He may be after Dr. House's heart, but he has one Senior Council member as a distant ancestor and mentor, and another (Listens-to-Wind) who he's working with regularly. So.

[Ellipsis]

Actually, Seelie Magic grants the ability to use biomancy as an evocation, and Reiki healing ritual is listed partially under biomancy.  You'd probably need to work out the limits with your GM, but if you spend 2 refresh on Seelie Magic (this might require some backstory rewriting and/or Aspect) and arrange focus items, etc. to be able to toss off 8-shift evocations, you can get something close to a relatively-quick healing spell.

[Deadmanwalking]

Actually, Seelie Magic grants the ability to use biomancy as an evocation, and Reiki healing ritual is listed partially under biomancy.  You'd probably need to work out the limits with your GM, but if you spend 2 refresh on Seelie Magic (this might require some backstory rewriting and/or Aspect) and arrange focus items, etc. to be able to toss off 8-shift evocations, you can get something close to a relatively-quick healing spell.

Uh...at Complexity 8+ (and he said the character can do 12) it's already only a few minutes or so to do the spell. The Seelie Magic would let you do it in a round, it's true...but it still only reduces the severity of the consequence by one level, not removes them...so it's going to take till at least the next scene to go away either way. Making the distinction between a few minutes and a round largely meaningless most of the time.

[Sanctaphrax]

Hey, you know what might be neat?

A Power that lets you pre-pay Refresh for future thaumaturgical temporary Power creation.

Spend X Refresh, you can have X Refresh worth of temporary Powers at any given time without paying for them.

Maybe include an upgrade that lets you share your temporary Powers so that you can give out Recovery Powers without busting people's FP budgets.

Okay, that was off-topic. Let me try to redeem myself with something more relevant.

The custom Power list contains a bunch of different healing Powers. You might find one of them useful. But I'm afraid none of them are very well-written, so you might need to do some fixing-up to make them usable.

[Deadmanwalking]

Well, per the game's creators (and YS p. 283), you can use Tags on Aspects done as part of spell creation to pay for temporary powers granted by a spell (instead of using them for anything else)...so it's not necessarily an FP sink if you've got some prep time.

[narphoenix]

I also have the guy taking a high Scholarship so that he can make declarations easily. And I'm emphatically not taking Seelie Magic. The guy knows some of the Seelie Court. They don't like him much.

[Arcane]

Uh...at Complexity 8+ (and he said the character can do 12) it's already only a few minutes or so to do the spell. The Seelie Magic would let you do it in a round, it's true...but it still only reduces the severity of the consequence by one level, not removes them...so it's going to take till at least the next scene to go away either way.

Unless of course the subject of the spell has a Recovery power.  Then they could possibly clear away the consequence as a supplemental action.

[Deadmanwalking]

Unless of course the subject of the spell has a Recovery power.  Then they could possibly clear away the consequence as a supplemental action.

True enough, though only if it's Moderate to start with. I didn't say it wasn't useful, just not most of the time. This is a perfect example of a case where it is. 

Though even then, 8 shifts of power in a turn is gonna hit you with a 3-4 stress mental hit at best (maybe more depending on Conviction), and probably require FP to succeed. Definitely an emergency measure.

[Mr. Death]

Personally, I would put the main limit on the person's medical knowledge--even the Reiki spell is limited to things like blunt trauma and the kinds of things that are going to heal on their own with time anyway. Elaine says as much, and that she can't really get it to work on much beside that.

In order to, say, mend bones and knit skin together, you've got to know the biology behind it--so maybe making a biomancy healing spell of more than 10 shifts without that knowledge doesn't heal the consequence correctly.

[narphoenix]

Personally, I would put the main limit on the person's medical knowledge--even the Reiki spell is limited to things like blunt trauma and the kinds of things that are going to heal on their own with time anyway. Elaine says as much, and that she can't really get it to work on much beside that.

In order to, say, mend bones and knit skin together, you've got to know the biology behind it--so maybe making a biomancy healing spell of more than 10 shifts without that knowledge doesn't heal the consequence correctly.

He has Great Scholarship and is a Healer of the Council. He should be fine.