Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

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Curbludgeon
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Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

There are a variety of magic types outside of Invocations for which the chart found on Rifts Ultimate Edition pg 134 details which sort of required material would be incorporated in a technowizard item. There are a bunch that weren't included, and so I thought it might be fun to muse over what might be most fitting for those.

Here is a list of all the "official" Megaversal types of magic, excluding those which already have something assigned.
Spoiler:
African Ceremonial Magic: Rifts World Book 4: Africa (note there is considerable overlap between these and Tribal Shaman Chants in Palladium Fantasy RPG Book 3: Adventures on the High Seas)
African Witch: Rifts World Book 4: Africa
Blue Flame: Rifts World Book 9:South America 2
Chi: Mystic China
Chaos: Chaos Earth Sourcebook 2: Rise of Magic
Conjuring: Rifts World Book 16: Federation of Magic (also found in Palladium Fantasy RPG 10: Mount Nimro)
Crystal: Rifts Dimension Book 15: Secrets of the Atlanteans
Combat: Rifts: Mercenary Adventures
Demon: Rifts Dimension Book 12: Phase World: Dimensional Outbreak
Diabolism: Palladium Fantasy RPG
Dolphin: Rifts World Book 7: Underseas
Fleshsculptor: Nightbane World Book 3: Through the Glass Darkly
Frost: Rifter 70
Hunting: Rifts Vampire Sourcebook
Korallyte Shaping: Rifts World Book 7: Underseas
Life Force: Palladium Fantasy RPG 10: Mount Nimro
Mirror: Nightbane World Book 3: Through the Glass Darkly
Mortificant Arts: Rifter 50
Nazca Line: Rifts World Book 9:South America 2
Pyromancy: Rifter 82
Rainmaker: Rifts World Book 4: Africa
Shamanic/Shamanistic: Rifts World Book 15: Spirit West
Shadow: Rifts Dimension Book 15: Secrets of the Atlanteans (with several spells originally found in Palladium Fantasy RPG 12: Library of Bletherad)
Soulmancy: Rifts World Book 35: Megaverse in Flames
Space: Rifts Dimension Book 13: Phase World: Fleets of the Three Galaxies Sourcebook
Star: Rifter 50
Summoning: Palladium Fantasy RPG
Whalesong: Rifts World Book 7: Underseas
Several of these would have little to no narrative reason for a Technowizard to ever even encounter a practitioner (Star, Chi), would not likely be shared with a TW (Hunting, Life Force), are from a time period prior to the discovery of TW (Chaos, Pyromancy), necessarily involve rituals, or are otherwise awkward fits. That said I, for one, am less interested in quibbling over the applicability of house rules than in talkin' 'bout rocks.

Choices for some of the above seem obvious enough. Korallyte Shaping should use Korallyte, for one. I could see an argument for TW items using Crystal Magic requiring naturally occurring crystal, which hadn't been magically shaped through either Crystal or Stone Magic. Even though it's a little on the nose in terms of cultural appropriation, I've seen enough cool carvings using chicken-blood stone that it and jade would work well enough for Chi-based items. Several magic types might be best suited to requiring fictional materials. TW items using Space Magic might require something from the Three Galaxies, while Demon Magic and Soulmancy could incorporate something from Hades or Dyval.

Suggestions are welcome.
Last edited by Curbludgeon on Sun Feb 06, 2022 9:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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ShadowLogan
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

IMHO Conjuring and Summoning are just specialized forms of Invocation magic spells and would just use existing Invocation Gems for those types.

Nazca Line and Diabolisim are out from TW already because they basically are already present and in use give mystic symbols are already part of their construction (they do add mystic symbols per text).

Most of the reset on the list I'm not familiar with, but the few remaining ones might be to specialized for use (Korallyte Shaping) or to restricted in who knows them (Blue Flame, Dolphin, Whalesong IIRC) that using them in a TW device is more complicated/encountered.
Curbludgeon
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

I reckon Diabolism and Summoning might be the two disciplines for which the most people would be averse to TW integration, if for no other reason than they often require a variety of materials. I envision something akin to a laser projector, into which a user would insert a miniature version of a given ward/circle made under book requirements. I'm unsure how many downsides to such a procedure might best present a fun tradeoff. I could see a percentage chance of failure, a susceptibility to the projection being obscured, and only being useful for communication due to the small size of the original circle as a couple of examples.

I'm going to edit the first post so as to list sources.
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SolCannibal
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Curbludgeon wrote:I could see an argument for TW items using Crystal Magic requiring naturally occurring crystal, which hadn't been magically shaped through either Crystal or Stone Magic.


Considering Crystal magic is a venue that evolved from Atlantean lore, i can see an argument for crystals magically shaped through either Crystal or Stone Magic being more appropriate for such usage. But yeah, that's mostly quibbling over house rules bits.
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

Either approach could be fun and workable, for sure. For that discipline in particular I think the taking of a stance is more important than the particulars of that stance.

I was thinking about the usage of Peruvian Blue Opal in TW items taking advantage of Nazca Line Magic. It's threading a bit of a needle to come up with post hoc explanations for why regional traditions would develop in the places they did without it just coming across as an appeal to stereotype, which I guess is ultimately a subjective matter. I read an article or two on the current status of the stone, which while pretty is fairly inexpensive. Apparently a number of Chinese-owned concerns are sitting on a surplus mined as a consequence of the more profitable metals to be found in the same mines. Extrapolate that forward through the Rifts Cataclysm, and there's some fun potential for Taoist fulu sold by the Green Scarf sect which makes use of niche forms of fusion line magic.
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SolCannibal
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Curbludgeon wrote:Either approach could be fun and workable, for sure. For that discipline in particular I think the taking of a stance is more important than the particulars of that stance.


True that.

Curbludgeon wrote:I was thinking about the usage of Peruvian Blue Opal in TW items taking advantage of Nazca Line Magic. It's threading a bit of a needle to come up with post hoc explanations for why regional traditions would develop in the places they did without it just coming across as an appeal to stereotype, which I guess is ultimately a subjective matter. I read an article or two on the current status of the stone, which while pretty is fairly inexpensive. Apparently a number of Chinese-owned concerns are sitting on a surplus mined as a consequence of the more profitable metals to be found in the same mines. Extrapolate that forward through the Rifts Cataclysm, and there's some fun potential for Taoist fulu sold by the Green Scarf sect which makes use of niche forms of fusion line magic.


Me i'm thinking of something much less elaborate, exploring the possibility of crafting magical constructions &/or objects by earth warlocks/fusionists and Gargoyle Mages who replicate the OCCs class. That and the use of crystal objects for psionics, another venue of power Gargoyles also have some (barely tapped) familiarity with.
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drewkitty ~..~
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

SolCannibal wrote:
Curbludgeon wrote:I could see an argument for TW items using Crystal Magic requiring naturally occurring crystal, which hadn't been magically shaped through either Crystal or Stone Magic.


Considering Crystal magic is a venue that evolved from Atlantean lore, i can see an argument for crystals magically shaped through either Crystal or Stone Magic being more appropriate for such usage. But yeah, that's mostly quibbling over house rules bits.


Except for the bit that Crystal Magic, as per the canon text it is in, is native to the PF world. And only during the Time of a Thousand Magics. Thousand of years before the rise of the Atlantean humans-sub-class rose up.
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Curbludgeon
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Re: Technowizard Gemstone Requirements

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

:roll:
SolCannibal wrote:I'm thinking of... exploring the possibility of crafting magical constructions &/or objects by earth warlocks/fusionists and Gargoyle Mages who replicate the OCCs class.
Ooh, I like this. For a variant earth elemental crafter, I'd want to at least tread some old ground in a new way, if not make something out of whole cloth. Here's a partial list of what's come before:
  • The Stone Master to a large extent just coopts the HU powers Control Elemental Force:Earth and Gem Powers, then tacks on the ability to move a lot of stone and pyramid stuff.
  • The Crystal Mage's spell list and OCC abilities are overwhelmingly focused on light/laser stuff, crystal gathering, making permanent/semi-permanent items, and conjuring temporary items. It's a little vague as to if the class gains spells through study or intuitively. They also have a unique ability to make temporary PPE batteries which is wildly abusable.
  • The vaguely described Crystal Masters of Island at the Edge of the World could be largely emulated by tweaking the skill list of Rifts WB9's Gizmoteer, provided one adds to the list of abilities which can be incorporated into devices. To head off any confusion/trolling, there's a Crystal King NPC in that book in control of most of the setting's psionic crystal magic items, and whom one other NPC refers to as the Crystal Mage, but the King can't actually create any items and doesn't have some unique *CC.
  • The Warlock and Elemental Fusionist don't really get much ability to create enchanted items, although the former is described as being able to on occasion
  • The Nebraskan Pyromancer from the "official" Chaos Earth article in Rifter 82 shares with the Crystal Mage (and the Lyn-Srial Sky-Knight of Rifts WB14) a focus on temporary creation of elementally-themed weapons.
One idea I'm taking a shine to is, instead of letting Gargoyles use up stones via pumping PPE like the Stone Master, or make psionic crystal magic items which require ISP/PPE like a Gizmoteer/Crystal Master, is to have them use something similar to the Mystic Herbology of the Rifts Woodland Druids to make items with a daily limit on use. Simple, violent rituals utilizing blood sacrifice seem like they'd appeal to Gargoyles, and I like the visual of a Mage embedding different rocks in a perpetually stoned Lord.
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