Re: CF: Clerical "spell" scrolls

[David Andrew Michael Noelle <dave@Straylight.org>]

> Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1999 14:32:37 -0500 (CDT)
> From: Rick Tanner <leaf@real-time.com>

> For my AD&D gaming group, we decided that it doesn't matter who (or what)
> scribed the priest scroll, since the spell effect is granted by whatever
> god the reader follows.  If the spell is denied by the god, then the spell
> doesn't happen, and the scroll is ruined.  

For mage scrolls, the theory is that the magic of the spell is already
formed and bound to the scroll, so that just reading the last few
words of the incantation from the scroll completes and releases the
spell.  At least, that's how it was defined in AD&D the last time I
played.  (We were just getting used to 2nd edition.)  That seems
reasonable enough to me.

I can imagine a few different ways prayer scrolls might work, and I
think it should be decided exactly how they work in Crossfire and
recorded somewhere, so we can stay consistent in implementing such
things.

A prayer scroll could work the same way as a spell scroll, having a
"canned" magical effect bound to it and released by reading it aloud.
In that case, the prayer has alerady been granted by some deity and it
doesn't matter who reads it.

A more plausible explanation would be that the scroll has been
consecrated by a priest and contains the wording of a prayer to that
priest's god.  That would mean that the deity named in the scroll is
the one who would grant the prayer, and the religion of the reader
might be a consideration.

Or the scroll might simply be a generic prayer the reader can use to
ask a favor of his own god.  If that is the case, then the scroll
shouldn't work at all if the reader worships no god, or the reader's
god does not grant prayers of that path.

My preference would be for the second option.  Randomly generated
prayer scrolls, and those for which no religion has been specified,
could have a religion randomly assigned to them, based on each god's
attunement to that path, with denied meaning no chance, repelled
meaning half as likely, and attuned meaning twice as likely.  The
scroll would still be usable by anyone except worshippers of that
god's enemy.  For worshippers of the same god, the prayer might even
be more effective, adding some factor of the reader's wisdom level to
the scroll's level to determine the effect.  Worshippers of the enemy
god might get a reversed effect or take damage from scrolls of
significantly higher level than themselves.


> Also, doesn't a character _have_ to follow a god, in Crossfire, in order
> to recite a clerical scroll? (see 2nd paragraph from the original post...)

I don't think so.  That would prevent atheist characters from using
scrolls of word of recall.


> On Mon, 20 Sep 1999, Peter Mardahl wrote:
[...]
> > However, priest spells which perform attacks....  These would
> > seem to require active intervention by the god involved, he's
> > actually doing some smiting right on the spot.  These spells
> > should not be in scrolls, IMHO.

For anything more powerful than holy word or turn undead, I agree.
Those two are merely a matter of invoking the deity's name or some
symbol, which by itself has power over that god's enemies.  


-- 
            -Dave Noelle,                 dave@Straylight.org
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