Guardian Spirit
|
| Abbreviation: | GS | |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Circle 20, Innocence, and Compel or Paralysis | |
| Signature: | Yes | |
| Spell Slots: | 2 | |
| Mana Type: | Life Magic | |
| Spell Type: | cyclic / utility | |
| Difficulty: | advanced | |
| Prep (min/max): | 5 / 25 | |
| Skill Range (min/max): | 250 / 1000 | |
| Valid Spell Target: | Special | |
| Duration (min/max): | Indefinite | |
| Pulse Timing: | 10 seconds | |
| Justice: | Unknown | |
| Corruption: | Unknown | |
| Description: | The Guardian Spirit spell summons a warrior of the Fae -- an alfar -- to keep you safe from hostility and be your champion in combat. In some ways, the creature mirrors the caster, as Empaths with greater skill at targeting magic summon more powerful warriors. This spell requires constant upkeep and vigilance on the part of the caster. An Empath who fails to maintain the pattern will lose his hold on this creature of Fae, and it will abandon him to return whence it came.
[Can be cast CUSTOM if you wish to establish a special relationship with a specific Fae or simply CAST to get a random alfar.] While this spell is available to Empaths 20th circle and above, the majority will find that they must be magical adepts before they can successfully form the pattern. | |
| Effect: | summons combat "pet" | |
| Example Messaging: | Your heart skips a beat as your spell sends a subtle jingling call outward from you in all directions. | |
| Devices/Tattoos: | No devices or tattoos documented. | |
Notes
- Guardians are considered holy beings, and their attacks are holy.
- Strength varies with the amount of mana used per cyclic pulse (what you prep the spell at). The warrior's defensive skills can be between 110-125% Empath's TM and its offense 95-105%.
- Looking at or describing a warrior will tell you who summoned it.
- Prior to 3.0 there were several types of fae that could be summoned (avengers, colepexies, dirnels, guardians, narmobreths, and woodwisps). However, only warriors can be summoned now.
- Casting the spell normally will summon a random warrior. (See below for a list of possibilities.) When using CAST CUSTOM, the Empath will summon the same warrior every time. The IC justification for this is that the Empath has established a special relationship with a particular warrior.
- This spell cannot be cast when completely insensitive to empathy ("perma-shock"). If cast before the complete insensitivity is reached, the spell can be maintained. As with other empathy-dependent spells, shock increases the difficulty of casting Guardian Spirit.
- It is possible to give "mundane" (non-verby, non-gore, non-swappable) one-handed edged weapons (light, medium, or heavy) to a warrior. A common reason for doing this is to give the warrior a blessed weapon for hunting the undead.
- Similar to necromancer pets, any precious weapons should not be given to a warrior. Item loss may occur due to the dropping of the weapon when the warrior despawns or is killed.
- A bonded weapon cannot be held by a warrior.
- It is highly recommended that Empaths learn the magical feat of Raw Channeling (allows the powering of cyclic spells from raw attunement) and Efficient Channeling (mana cost of channeling cyclic spells is reduced). These feats are recommended for anyone who routinely uses cyclic spells.
- Guardian Spirit does train the Targeted Magic skill. However, the creature being fought must be of appropriate level to otherwise teach the Empath TM. TM will not go up out of combat. TM will train a small amount with each hit, and a larger amount if the warrior kills creatures or uses special attacks (throwing star).
- Guardian Spirit now leave bodies or drop ammo and lodged items, whereas as in 2.0 any lodged items could disappear with them.
- Having a Guardian Spirit set to aggressive behavior will cause it to attack any creature in the room, including other warriors, and enable a special attack.
- Special attack (stun) - A(n) <adj> alfar warrior reaches into a small pouch at its belt, drawing forth a small, light-drinking star of unusual design. Pirouetting balletically, it throws the star with astonishing force directly at <target>!
- For this reason, it is better to use defensive or passive in crowded areas or in town. (Note that attacking another player's summoned or owned creature may grant them consent on you.)
- Successfully cast with 150 utility, +20 buff from SAP, +30 PM buff from link, and a level 1 astrolabe (+1 luck).
- Successfully cast with 182 utility and utility mastery spell feat. Had two failures then succeeded.
Recall
Bards can use recall to see the following information:
Fair and pale, the alfar are tall and willowy creatures that greatly resemble nyads and dryads. The alfar can be mischevious as the rest of the fae, and alternately aid and hurt mortals, as pleases their current mood. A few alfar are servants to the gods, although these are few and far between. Some alfar are willing to aid Empaths these individuals tend to be more serious and warlike, protecting their charges with single-minded ferocity.
Alfar have long been associated with Empaths, though the exact relationship between the guild and the fae remains murky. Whatever their reasons, alfar continue to heed the call, serving Empaths as guardians in times of peril and avengers when all else seems lost. Some stories say that long ago a great Empath rendered the fae a service that could never be repaid. Though time seems to have forgotten the tale, the fae apparently have not.
Verbs
Commands
Alfar may be commanded to tell you about their NAME, to change their STANCE or BEHAVIOR, to ATTACK, ATTACK STOP, or to TAUNT your enemies to make them attack it instead of you. The alfar may be asked to TAUNT generally (it will try to attract everything that is attacking you), or told to taunt a specific target (TAUNT [TARGET]). You may also command the alfar to RELEASE or LEAVE, to DROP (their weapon) to or TAKE a one-handed edged weapon from your left hand.
- Stances control your alfar's combat capabilities.
- Options (BALANCED | OFFENSE | DEFENSE)
- Behaviors control what enemies your creature will attack. A warrior in a passive stance will not attack anyone or anything (by default they are summoned in PASSIVE).
- Options (PASSIVE | DEFENSIVE | AGGRESSIVE)
EXAMPLES:
COMMAND WARRIOR TO NAME
COMMAND WARRIOR TO STANCE DEFENSE
COMMAND WARRIOR TO BEHAVIOR AGGRESSIVE
COMMAND WARRIOR TO ATTACK GOBLIN
COMMAND WARRIOR TO ATTACK STOP
COMMAND WARRIOR TO TAUNT
COMMAND WARRIOR TO TAUNT GOBLIN
COMMAND WARRIOR TO DROP
COMMAND WARRIOR TO TAKE
Role-playing
- Some of the RP verbs have an "Easter Egg" version where they do something other than what is listed here. These have a very small chance of occurring on any use of the verbs that have the "Easter Eggs".
- DANCE: A sedate alfar warrior frees its hands for a moment, grasping yours with the tips of its long, slender fingers. Nodding solemnly at you, the sedate alfar warrior takes you through a few sedate turns of a stately waltz. The warrior smiles gravely, then bows over your hand, taking up a guard position at your side once more.
- BOW: The sedate alfar warrior gravely returns your gesture with a respectful bow of equal depth.
- CURTSY: The sedate alfar warrior gravely returns your gesture with a respectful bow of equal depth.
- DESCRIBE (third parties see who summoned it): An athletic alfar warrior is tall and fair of face, with clear eyes and white skin that gleams like ceramic. Its features are all sharp angles, with oblique cat-slitted eyes that survey its surroundings with an untouchable serenity. Its pointed ears sweep upward, accentuating the eagle-like hauteur of its mien. Its lips are tinted blue, the color of a bruise, and are set in a grim line. Flat black clasps gather its colorless hair, binding it into a severe, warlike queue that brushes its waist. Thin and attenuated, though with a wiry strength, this warrior of the alfar is not obviously male or female.
- The warrior hovers near you protectively, smiling briefly at you when it notices you looking its way.
- HUG: The warrior returns your hug gingerly, being careful not to hurt you with its weapons or armor.
- KISS: As you move toward a sedate alfar warrior, it gathers you close, crushing you uncomfortably against its lacquered armor. It grins at you fiercely, then taking your hands firmly, dips you low to the ground and hoists you high into the air in an exhilarating whirling lift. The world spins around you, then it lowers you carefully to the ground, adjusting its armor nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.
- LICK: A towering alfar warrior with platinum stars accentuating its skin frees its hands for a moment, grasping yours with the tips of its long, slender fingers. It steps through a few spritely turns of an exuberant gavotte, giving you a fey smile before releasing your hand and taking up a guard position at your side once more.
- SMOOCH: As you move toward a sedate alfar warrior, it gravely takes you by the hand and leads you through a few turns of a delicate minuet. As you dance, the air seems to grow crisper around you, with a sharp, cool scent of autumn. The warrior smiles at you as it releases your hand, the tips of its ears coloring slightly.
- TOUCH: You reach out and lay your hand on the graceful alfar warrior's arm.
- You sense a successful empathic link has been forged between you and a graceful alfar warrior.
- You feel the burning fire of pain and suffering slowly building as you begin to draw out the truth of the warrior's injuries.
- The creature's life force is alien to you. Though you can empathize with a graceful alfar warrior in a sense, peculiar sensations begin to overwhelm you and you feel your control of the empathic link slip away.
- It is not possible to heal a warrior via empathy.
Equipment
The quality of equipment is determined by the caster's skill (which seems to be purely Targeted Magic) and the amount of mana channeled into the spell. Here are some possibilities:
Weapons
- unusual black blade (medium edged weapon)
Shields
- spiked black shield (large shield)
Armor
| Armor | Type | Effective TM Requirement* |
|---|---|---|
| lacquered black leathers | light armor | minimum casting skill |
| lacquered black chainmail | chain armor | 300 ranks |
| lacquered black light plate | brigandine | 500 ranks |
| lacquered black heavy plate | plate armor | 600 ranks |
*Effective TM means your spell stance and spell mana will influence your results.
List of Possible Warriors
Casting the spell normally will summon a random warrior. According to GM Melete, the names and adjectives go together. (They are not chosen independently.)
| Name | Adjective | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Al | gracile | |
| Amyigi | ethereal | |
| Apreekdin | tall | |
| Arnalde | lean | |
| Arturae | slim | |
| Blink | graceful | |
| Bluemoon | trim | |
| Cordy | alert | |
| Dillka | serene | |
| Fred | delicate | |
| Furle | trim | |
| Grimley | slender | |
| Hornet | stoic | |
| Igley | athletic | |
| Kar | lithe | |
| Lecibre, Anthari | lissome | |
| Paloorna | solemn | |
| Rolth | sedate | |
| Soone | tranquil | |
| Yovzaz | wiry | |
| ZerraZap | svelte | |
| Genvi | imposing | only gets chosen if an error happens |
| Ashpool | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
| Cayce | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
| Ell-Lee | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
| Kolodny | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
| Rivett | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
| Steppen | savage | from Drathrok's Duskruin 421 |
Altered Warriors
The following Empaths have established special relationships with these warriors (aka, they have custom altered descriptions). Guidelines for altering your warrior can be found here.
| Empath's Name | Warrior's Name | Appearance |
|---|---|---|
| Dianelle | Bannin | imposing alfar warrior with a stern countenance |
| Kaelie | Cathaoir | athletic alfar warrior with an aloof gaze |
| Morvetan | Lucifer | imposing alfar warrior with a tenebrous aura |
| Sarkranis | Muffet | spindly alfar warrior with tenebrous eyes |
| Zamara | R'lyeh | macabre alfar warrior with fierce crimson eyes |
| Rebecka | Hiro | majestic alfar warrior with strange sparkling patterns covering its skin |
| Kalinandra | Charone | cranky alfar warrior with blood-red glittering symbols traced up both forearms |
| Dantia | Ahven | towering alfar warrior with platinum stars accentuating its skin |
| Medikaus | Sanguinus | muscular alfar warrior with merciless eyes |
| Allye | Arna | hulking alfar warrior sporting smears of glittery amethyst war paint |