Thaumaturgy: Summoning

[Madmacabre]

Hello all...

As I understand it, when you attempt a summoning you must first prepare the ward (well the containing), then the actual summoning and finally, as an option, you could try a binding.

That third part is optional as you can simply negociate with the being to get what you need.

But if you want to go forward and actually bind the summoned creature, you seem to have two options:

- Use a spell to control the being with a full contest. This requires a LOT of shifts as you essentially need to take out the being.

- Use the being's TRUE NAME you can "attack" the being using your Discipline or Spirit evocation.


Now, what's the real difference between the two? Don't you have to  '"take out" the being on both cases? And should the method using the TRUE NAME be a lot  "easier" considering the strong link (plus normally TRUE NAME are supposed to grant major power over a being)?


I just don't see how using the TRUE NAME method is more powerful/easier then using direct spell casting.

Is it because using TRUE NAME is available even to non-casters and therefore their only real option to actually bind a spirit?



Thanks for the clarification guys!

[MyNinjaH8sU]

A direct attack is far less dangerous than pulling off a huge ritual.

To pull off the ritual with a full contest, you have to have a very high complexity. How do you get there? What sacrifices do you make? Can you control the power that you are trying to summon? Can you hold the creature once it arrives?

With a true name, if you can take it out with direct attacks (remember, you can still summon it and hold it in a ward in the meantime) than it is taken out, and without any of that aforementioned risk.

[Ryan_Singer]

Remember, with the true name spirit attacks, the monster has to get at you through the ward, while you are free to blast it with evocations that skip toughness and recovery powers.

[MyNinjaH8sU]

Yep. Way nastier.

[Madmacabre]

Remember, with the true name spirit attacks, the monster has to get at you through the ward, while you are free to blast it with evocations that skip toughness and recovery powers.

I must have missed that part about the special effects of using TRUE NAME. Where can I find that in the book?

[Ryan_Singer]

From YS273:

A more haphazard and dangerous approach
is using the entity’s True Name to assault the
being directly, trying to wear it down in an actual
exchange-by-exchange conflict. In such a case,
you can use your Discipline as the attacking
skill, inflicting mental stress on the creature,
or you can step it up to genuine spellcraft and
assault the creature with spirit evocations.
That True Name must be guarded carefully.
Any skilled practitioner that learns a creature’s
True Name can make similar attacks to wrest
control of the creature away from its original
master. (Without the True Name, evocations
directed at the creature simply work to disrupt
its manifestation and send it away.) Regardless,
bindings formed in this way are imperfect and
decay more rapidly than those achieved by way
of ritual.

I interpret this to mean that binding can be accomplished using spirit evocation to make *mental* attacks, which is *very* effective on most things you summon, because of their low discipline and conviction scores.

[Bruce Coulson]

For powerful entities, having a True Name can be an Aspect used for bargaining as much as for attack/binding.  After all, why engage in a contest with someone who's managed to ferret out such a secret?  Perhaps you should listen to what the little mortal wants...it might fit in with your plans, after all.

[Belial666]

Or you can use your own evocation-like powers to cast a spell of silence on yourself when mortals try to speak your True Name at you. Or keep the spell until the mortal "binds" you and wait for them to lower the binding circle. Then use the silence spell to not hear their frantic commands at you to stop while you're tearing them limb from limb.


"Over the sound of how awesome I am, hear you I cannot"