Subtle castings – why or why not?

The idea of loosing your character is not a concept that people like, but if some mechanic was introduced to represent a Harvester strike force like:

1. Every time you cast a spell that is not in the complete wilderness there is a chance that you will be noticed by a harvester that is under cover (perhaps a roll of a 1 on a d10)

2, In certain encounters if you cast a spell you are noticed (written by Author into Mod)

3. Each time you are noticed you get 1 point of fame with Ymandragore

4. When you reach 10 points of fame, at the end of each mod the GM make a roll. They roll two d10 and if they roll double 1s then you are ambushed while alone and captured

5. The roll increases as fame increases ie Double 1 or 2 at 20+ fame; 1,2 or 3 at 30 etc

6. If captured Player is given a standard cert saying that the PC is out of play until rescued. (Maybe special rescue opportunities at big cons or in mods etc)

7. If captured, and the hero has a fate point left, then they can use the fate point to avoid capture. They get the ‘Avoid Capture” general cert and for the next game they play they have no fate (as it has been used) and can not be given any by another player.

This would increase the fear of the harvesters to the players

The odd would still be that the players can avoid capture

Even 100 fame points would be only a 10% chance at the end of the mod. Which they can avoid by using a fate point so they would really need double on two consecutive mods.

And by making sure there is a rescue attempt once a year, its not a permanent loss, just a time out.

Cheers

So the related question – if you end up playing say an elder or eldritch caster with a healthy fear/respect for the harvesters and cast subtly, do you feel you’d still be an effective character or caster? It’s CTN+6, Speed +2 and then an opposed stealth/perception check. Potentially flipping it around, how would you make a character like that and keep them useful?

It’s an interesting connundrum. Mechanically the game is arguably balanced for non-subtle casting as evidenced by the fact that all casters including Divine have the same sorts of CTNs especially for the same spells.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

My val’Mehan has also several times mentioned (honestly) that he can invoke a few spells only because of his Mehan blood. He doesn’t want Harvesters to think he has the Gift.

From experience in some Year 1 adventures, that won’t save you from being Harvested.

Mehan blood is quite the rage amongst the Wine Drinkers.

Again, the threat of Ymandragore can make itself known without an outright attempt at Harvesting in the mod itself. Anytime your cert says “Noticed by Ymandragore” your character should grind their teeth. Because it will eventually come back to haunt you.

Alas, I disagree. Giving a player the Notice of the Harvesters is utterly meaningless unless there is a follow up, and thus far there hasn’t been.

Let’s just say one is coming.

As a player of a Psionic caster, I have to ask…how the hell could you keep it secret? The CTN is ridicuous. Even barring that, uhm…eyeballs are kind of a dead giveaway. Granted, you could Alter Appearance…which is a detectable, ongoing magical effect. My method of subtle casting is knowing th escape routes.

As a player of a Psionic caster, I have to ask…how the hell could you keep it secret? The CTN is ridicuous. Even barring that, uhm…eyeballs are kind of a dead giveaway. Granted, you could Alter Appearance…which is a detectable, ongoing magical effect. My method of subtle casting is knowing th escape routes.

Eyeballs at very close range are a dead giveaway. The difference between gray and clear is very subtle based on the drawing and hard to be certain of unless you are up close and personal and are specifically looking for it. Using Alter Appearance is certainly a worse way of doing it because having a binding spell up is a giveaway that you’re a caster of some sort. Now again, the range on Discern Residue is very limited and constantly recasting would be taxing not to mention mind-numbingly repetitive.

In terms of Harvesters, here’s what I think of as appropriate reactions

1. Eldritch casters – fear and paranoia. The boogeyman IS real and really IS out to get you.
2. Elder casters – slightly lesser fear and paranoia. Toned down Eldritch because they strike me (perhaps incorrectly) as having more of a chip on their shoulder
3. Primal casters – fear and paranoia outside of “safe” environments. Generally speaking not only are the harvesters after them if less fervently, so are the various churches.
4. Psionic casters – nervousness, yeah they’re not the focus of Ymmandragoran interest / ire, but really, is it worth tempting fate? And for my own psionic caster at Arcanicon, as soon as it was clear there were Harvesters in the city, I stopped casting completely.
5. Sorceror Priests – not sure there’s a typical reaction here. On the one hand they’re part of the larger church and considered divine, so poaching them is likely to have ramifications. That certainly provides some measure of reassurance. On the other hand, if I’m the SK the SSPs are EXACTLY what I’d want to study/understand as they embody what he strives to master and hint at secrets on the nature of magic beyond the understanding of most mortal practitioners.
6. Divine casters – harvesters?*shrug*

Now if you fall into one of the less interesting categories to a harvester they probably don’t invest a lot of thought or attention on you… unless of course you meddle in their affairs in which case dealing with you could provide insights and gets rid of a thorn in the side of the Ymmandragoran agenda. Heck, I would expect or at least found it completely appropriate for anyone who helped out against the Harvesters at Arcanicon – with or without arcane talent – to have earned their notice if any of their people got away. Clean the board with them and potentially no one gets it.

I’d also consider adding two check boxes to the Notice sheet – one for “annoyed” and one for gifted. In a subsequent attack anyone who merely annoyed them would be beaten, maybe killed or just left for dead. They’d serve as a warning to others who meddled in their affairs. For the gifted, the goal would be to harvest. Depending on how a PC behaved, they could be gifted, have done a good job of hiding it and merely earned Ymmandragoran ire. Which would make for an interesting connundrm – if the Harvesters are approaching you, do you use your gift and confirming you’re a target for more than their ire or risk not using it and risk them being able to determine your gifted anyway?

That’s my read. I’m curious how others see interactions with and reactions to Harvesters.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul