Necromantic Skills

The mechanics for the practice of Necromancy (etc.) in this supplement uses the following additions to the Skill Chart in the format:

Note that NO Necromantic MAGIC Skill, including Atropiamancy, may exceed twice the Necromancers General Necromancy Rating or APPLICABLE Concentration or specialization. (e.g., Necromantic Conjuring <= 2x Mediumship, etc.)

Counter-Necromancy skill... Atropiamancy levels "counteract" Necromancy levels for all effects except CANCELLING Necromancy skill usage, for which it ADDS it's level to the skill use. NOTE: Atropiamancy levels (or applicable Concentrations or Specializations) DO counteract Necromancy Skill levels used to calculate the Necromancers Necrosis Rating: Apply them in this fashion BEFORE determining the highest Necromancy skill rating for calculating Necrosis. Atropiamancy Dice IN EXCESS of Necromancy Skill Rating may be used as Counter-Magic and/or Spell-Defense Dice against Necromantic Magic, but such use IS subject to the dangers mentioned below.

For example, Father Vryce has Atropiamancy 5; Necromachy 2; Necromantic Conjuring 4 -- he may Banish the spirits of the Restless Dead at a rating of 9, but has a -1 level (that is, 0 rating) to summon any such creature, and casts normal necromantic spells as if he had a Rating of 0 in Necromachy, while he casts Atropiamancy spells with a skill rating of 7.

This is a useful skill for countering the corruptive effects of Necromantic magic on the aura of a Magician who seeks only to COUNTER Death-Magics, but there is still a danger: whenever an attempt to counter necromantic magic fails to achieve ANY Successes, the Atropiamancer must make an opposed test of [Atropiamancy MINUS their Highest Necromancy Skill Rating] vs. the Rating of the effect they attempted to counter (that is, Spirit Force for Banishing, Spell Force for Necromantic "Prep"-Duration Spells (c.f.), etc.). If the Atropiamancer generates more successes, there is no further effect... if the Necromancy achieves more successes, the Necromantic effect inflicts one box of Aura Integrity Damage equal to its Force PLUS it's Net Successes. Furthermore, if the Atropiamancer, for WHATEVER reason, ever takes Deadly Aura Integrity Damage, ALL Atropiamancy skill levels are PERMANENTLY lost to the corruptive influence of Necromantic energies, and cannot EVER be relearned. If this happens in a failed attempt to counter Necromancy, the victorious Necromantic Force, if sentient, can attempt an immediate Astral Quest to acquire the True Name of the former Atropiamancer... if successful, they may influence and control the newly corrupt Magician exactly as if the victim were a free spirit bound by their True Name. Note that this corruption need not be immediately obvious -- often, the Corrupting Influence will exert its Power to Mask the corrupted aura of its new servant in order to wreak greater havoc among the living. This behavior is particularly common among the least human and/or most evil of the Spirits of the Restless Dead.

This Conjuring Skill Concentration represents the ability to affect the Spirits of the Dead. In order to reflect folklore and mythology's insistence on necromancy being a difficult, complex discipline, Necromantic Conjuring generally requires a "prep" duration Necromantic spell to be in use before functioning actively. This means, for example, that Banishing, Identification, etc. (for conjuring) functions operate normally without Necromantic spells, but to actually CONJURE something, the proper Necromantic spell must be in effect. Optionally, the GM can allow the skill to be used 'off-the-cuff', but at a +4 + 1 per (Spirit Force) Target Numbers to the success AND drain rolls, and to the Necromancers resistance to influence by Ghosts during the skill use (i.e., a Necromancer who doesn't prepare carefully can be in EXTREME trouble). The Ghostly Master of a Hellbound Necromancer CAN, also optionally, use its Spirit Energy to offset that Tgt# penalty at its discretion if it is within LOS of its Bound Necromancer.

This Enchanting Concentration represents the Necromancers ability to manipulate and anchor ectoplasmic energies. In order to reflect folklore and mythology's insistence on necromancy being a difficult, complex discipline, Investiture (Necromantic Enchanting) skill use generally requires a "prep" duration Necromantic spell to be in use before functioning actively. This means, for example, that Identification, and Talismongery functions operate normally without Necromantic spells, but to actually Alchemically process or ENCHANT something, the proper Necromantic spell must be in effect. Optionally, the GM can allow the skills to be used 'off-the-cuff', but at a +4 + 1 per (Item Rating) to the success AND drain rolls, and to the Necromancers resistance to influence by Ghosts during the skill use (i.e., a Necromancer who doesn't prepare carefully can be in EXTREME trouble). The Ghostly Master of a Hellbound Necromancer CAN, also optionally, use its Spirit Energy to offset that Tgt# penalty at its discretion if it is within LOS of its Bound Necromancer. Also note that the Concentration per se canNOT be used for normal enchanting, even for normal Talismongery and Alchemy, only for materials useful in Necromancy.

There are three specific applications for this ability:

• Scavengry is the Necromantic equivalent of Talismongery, and represents the Necromancers ability to detect and isolate ectoplasmic energies. Besides being usable to locate Necromantically-useful "alchemical" materials, Scavengry is also used for preparation of Necromantic Fetishes and Ritual and Conjuring Materials. The isolated ectoplasm may be of any of the three "types" of ectoplasm (Ectoplasm, Protoplasm, or Ichor), and these three substances function as the three "Arcana" for Investiture purposes. The Ectoplasmic arcana are referred to and used by their ectoplasmic nature, not the material item (called a Matrix) in which they are located.

• Haunts are the means of anchoring and stabilizing ectoplasmic masses to people, places, or objects in the material or astral realms. As the Necromantic equivalent to Alchemy, Haunts skill is also used to distill the pure plasmic essence from Scavenged Matrices. This Distillate functions in virtually all ways as an Alchemical Radical as well as a pure plasmic mass (the behavior of which is noted elsewhere) of 1 Force per Unit of Distillate.

• Conduits are the necromantic means of linking normal astral energies with ectoplasmic ones... i.e., to be useful to bolster Necromancy in ANY way, any Focus MUST be Invested as an ectoplasmic Conduit. When Enchanting Necromantic Foci, an item considers ONLY the "arcanum" covered in Scavengry. Ichor tainting is only checked for AFTER First Bonding Note that this means that a Necromancer will NOT know if his newly enchanted focus will be tainted or not until AFTER he's invested all his time and karma... Necromancy's a tricky endeavor :-). An item created to boost both necromantic AND "normal" astral energies in any way must be created as a multi-function focus.

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