War Beneath Haven S02 E11 - the Mountain, end of Season 02

Season 1: 8 episodes May 17 to November
Season 2: 11 episodes Feb to April 26


Summary

1. The party began the adventure in the mountain, having crashed their vehicle in their escape. It was late so they rest. They took a couple of hours to fix things up and went on their watch and sleep shifts at 8pm. Two shifts, on the second shift Eeshu found a silver cord dripping liquid down from a tree. When he alerted everyone another silver cord lashed at him and he freed himself with a knife. Archie and Jack began firing, Archie had NVG while jack had better aim. The creature was hurt, trying to escape it jumped down and it happend to be a 400lb spider. They made sure it was dead and Eeshu was able to collect its poison sac. When they finally began to move, they discovered Dimitri dead from asphyxiation.
2. The party moved on, the objective is to reach one of the last ditch effort safe houses found in the float junkyard beside the container yard. First they had to get out of the mountain, and they could only move east to cross it (thanks to Eeshu's knowledge of the mountain). They proceeded up and saw a ravaged shanty community, tracks could tell a story to those skilled enough to read them. They avoided the tracks, but encountered a 5m/15ft giant.  It caught another shanty dweller, the giant took it and almost caught wind of Jack it waited but something summoned it. 
3. When they crested the mountain they can see the mist escaping the mountain and creatures emerging from it. It took people and consumed them. There were many creatures and they can see the Magus' territories as they prevented the mist from closing in. They all took a rest because it was 2km hike up the mountain. They left when they can see the silhouette of giants climbing up. 
4. They climbed down, and they encountered giants returning from forage. The party was able to ambush them - one giant's head was riddled with 20+ rounds of a P90 (the head was huge) by Archie. The other giant, the larger one, had his brain's blown off when Jack shot a .300 winchester through an eye. The third was stunned with paralytic poison by eeshu and its legs blown off by Fish, and froze just before being able to smash Jack. They made sure it was dead. The shots rang loud and they can see a rush of more giants coming at them. They escape below, Speedy's mobility allowing them to steal a large van to escape. 
5. Tasha drove them and they parked far to observe who was at the scene. Emily and Yasuf (Osman's Son), did not respond in the secret radio signal the group had in place in such emergency. Black SUVs arrived and many armed men came over to the scene. A sedan with Thomas came, it stopped when it saw SUVs and went around. The team tried to follow Thomas. When they found him, he entered through the Container Yard. Constanz was with him, and they were stopped by soldiers. The team assembled in cover and Speedy tried to get Thomas' attention. He answered them, talking down the soldiers, but then walked over to Speedy. There was something terribly wrong, Jeni tried to stop them. Thomas tries to kill speedy, but his spectacular HT saves him. Everyone tried to kill Thomas at this point, a sword appeared from no where and tried to stab Jeni (which the GM rolled 16 for). 
1. Jack shot with his sniper rifle, and blew off his own arm. Archie remembered the encounter with the mage and tried to attack the sword wielding thomas with his carbine. two soldiers, Eeshu and Speedy used ranged with predictable consequences. Eeshu managed to get hit with his own spear, and survives the paralytic on a 7. Speedy goes down when he tazed himself. The two soldiers got knocked down, all simultaneously. 
2. On the next round everyone gangs up on Thomas, and they bring him down. In his Speedy sweeping the legs under him and everyone successfully attacking him. He cripples speedy in his defense. Constanz who has eliminated the other guards creates fire around Thomas forcing everyone to dodge and retreat. Jeni does something to force Constanz to dispel the fire. 
3. When Thomas recovers he makes her pay, just before the other renew their attack. Jeni goes down, Eeshu deals the killing blow to Thomas. 
6. Before Contanz could use magery to escape or harm the soldiers, Dylan takes her down. He approaches the party and points out to them that with Thomas dead he is their new boss, if they would accept him. Thomas dies leaving a large number of ownership reverting to Speedy, who is actually valuable because he is HSS chief engineer. To save Jeni, Dylan asks for Speedys loyalty (a Geas). Speedy accepts. He then recruits Archie, pointing out the murder in the elevator and his protection - they negotiate and come to a price. He then approaches Jack with an offer and the restoration of his arm. Eushu, is also approached with the "opportunity" to help the people of his "empire". 
7. 
   

Limited Aftermath

1. The party gets a huge CP pay out. Enough points to allow characters to round out any deficiencies they may need.  I will help the party establish roles. 
2. The heights need to be retaken, and the Party will be given time and resources to slowly build up forward bases and a presence. Dylan is their Patron, and they will be having mission dealing with mages and other supernatural factions to control more territory. 
1. I plan to see if it is feasible make many adventures set in the african continent - the new frontier! Empire Estates expanding and buying out territory there. 
3. HSS is now a company of Empire Estates, and Dylan means to make a bigger profit from the businesses that operates in the Shadow ISP network. 
4. Enough time will pass that the party's adventures begin again in 2014 Feb. 
5. Season 3: 1st week or 2nd week of June. 

GURPS Magic Notes 15: Ritual Magic Basics and High Magery Game

Ritual Magic Basics

Ritual Magic under B242 and GURPS Magic p.200. Basically instead of every spell a skill, you have a core skill minus prerequisite counts, this core skill is Very Hard and a Very Hard College/Path Skill. Your college/path skill cannot be higher than your core skill but your core skill casts stuff at a -6 penalty. 

Ask your GM which is the core skill Thaumatology (B225) or Ritual Magic (B218) or an alternative. I think in principle the core skill, what ever it will be has to be a Very Hard skill. Ritual Magic requires a Tradition, while Thaumatology doesn't. These skills are excepted from being subject to the bonuses of talents. But there is a work around I would allow because it adds to flavor.

Example. A character with true devotion and talent can have IQ10, 4 levels of Talent that grants a bonus to Religious Ritual-15 [8] can buy from default. Raising Ritual Magic to 10 will cost only 4 points, instead of 8 points. Then apply Magery. 

Ritual Magic and Thaumotology are both core skills in the War Beneath Heaven Campaign. Thaumatology is for appropriate for Free-mages who pursue magic like a science. Note that Ritual Magic can be defaulted from Religious Ritual at -6. So that a faithful can use their Talent in Religious Ritual as an advantage.

Notes when you are Using Ritual Magic

• Normal magic vs RM, NM is easier because you as a Player or GM only have a few spells. If you are just using the spells in Basic Set, thats ~106 ish then Normal Magic is just fine. But if you want more spells and magic, Ritual Magic makes it easier to have more spells and magical effects in your game without having a Block of Text on your character sheet for all the spells you invested in. 
• You will need GURPS Magic, you will need to consult with p.225 to get their prerequisite count OR you can manually take note of all these counts. GURPS magic will add about +500 more spells to your spells list.  I would also like to say you will need to bookmark my notes as well. 
• RM has a lot of Penalties. Not only does the mage have to keep track of his Range/Distance penalties when casting a spell, he has to apply the prerequisite count. 
• You need to raise two Very Hard Skill. Because Ritual Magic needs the Core Skill cap the College Skill, this means that it costs about at least 8cp for a Mage to focus on a college since he has to raise both the College and the Core skill simultaneously (B242, M200). 
• Horizontal Expansion. That investing only 1cp in a College reduces the penalty casting a spell to -3. So a Mage with magery 15 and IQ11, who spends 1cp will have a 23 instead of 20. This means the easiest method to advance is horizontally - mastering more colleges since 1cp does a lot.   
• Normal magic allows you to specialize in One spell, while Ritual magic keeps you a broad generalist, even if you focus in one college you cannot raise it past your Core skill. But since there are few One

Pricing Magical Services

• This will come very much handy when you start pondering economic Implications of many spells. 
• Monthly Income of Mage (Wealthy at TL3 would be $3500 as an example). Mo.Inc / Time and Effort. Time is 20 days a month, 8 hours a day, and about 20 minutes per client (or 24 sessions a day). That would be ( Mo.Inc / 480 ) x2-5 depending on market conditions. That would be $15-35 per consultation and $15 per FP spent. 
• Non-Mages Magical Services. The service would be calculated based on the value of their magic Item, Mo. Income, Time and Effort. 
• Shape Stone, allowing an artist to Shape Obsidian or other Stones would cost $170k. The Enchanter mage who is his Patron or Partner would be expecting about almost $6000 income per month for 5 years (in return his apprentices maintain and service the Artisans needs). $6000 + Comfortable Monthly Income is $7400 divided by Time and Effort with modifiers for market conditions. Its about $16 per FP. Since a Stone Mage can make several very fine obsidian knives and implements up to its weight. 466kg or 10026lbs of very fine obsidian knives and tools. 

Mana Levels

• High Mana games means everyone can learn and cast spells. The economy of such a setting would be equal to a very High tech setting with very little scarcity. You can basically take such a high tech setting and make it "Magic". 
• You may need to setup Demographic assumptions for how frequently the Magery ability shows up or is it something that can be trained. So basically you can treat it like Literacy or the rarity of high hereditary IQ. Its very arbitrary to determine magical demographics and It changes the setting economics very much when there is an advantage one is born with that grants them powers like magery. 
• Examples: in War Beneath Heaven the demographics is 1:1000 or 0.1% of the population. Then I determined how much of the mage population are born outside of mage families and how hereditary it is. 
• Mage Population thread in SJgames forums. I'm one of those GMs who think its easier to consider additional levels of magery learn-able, that way I only worry about the magical demographic potential and use medieval education demographics for the higher powered mages. 
• Sample: Magery Social Class System. As there are Man-at-arms, Squire, and Knights, your fighting potential does not make you Knight. This is the same as mages, your magical potential does not make you a mage. As there are Squires who are squires for life, you have apprentices who are apprentices for life. There is also the matter of education and money, some mages can have the best education money can buy, while others self learned. If magic takes money and time to learn, then the mages who come from noble families will have the advantage. 
• Wealth and Education as a barrier. Spells are hard skills, already as compared to other skills it takes Intensive Training (B293).  
• Hereditary magery as a barrier. Mage families who cultivate their bloodlines will produce more mages, and the bastard mages suffer as apprentices and the rare-exception of being better than their full blooded siblings despite lacking in education and opportunity. if magical potential is only the elite class, you can just put it at 1:100. As a society gets more population and bigger, you can see mages being an oligarchy growing farther and farther away from everyone else (rarefied demographics). 
• Chinese Elite society from evolution of the Mandarins would be a good example of how to to handle Magery with Social Class system. Unfortunately there is not a lot of good Wikipedia articles I can recommend, and my understanding is from sifting through various sources in my Sino studies. Trying to summarize it: as it takes money, resources, and good genes to create an elite warrior - and the same for mages. You will need more bureaucrats in a society that can channel their resources in War and Magic (and Commerce). The greater the ability for the economy to specialize and others purse: War, Magic, and Commerce - such specialization will create a ruling class. Note that a High degree of education will also make a society more like China where there are more competing Ideologies (until one destroys them all; see Hundred Schools). You dont need to go far to find an Alien Culture that is very different. 
• From Yao to Mao, 5000 years of Chinese history. 
• Lazlo Montgomery's Chinesehistory Podcast
• Note that Magery in a Normal Magic setting has no equivalent that exists in the present or human history. The barriers were illusory (ethnicity and creed are mental constructs that can be overcome) when the definition of humanity was defined by the few and powerful. You can make Magery an illusory barrier. Of course if you make magery a true physical barrier then society can base their Value judgement on magical potential.  

Spell Task Difficulty Modifiers

• A Simple Barrier is creating Task Difficulty modifiers on casting Spells which create more complex results. Example is that mages who can Shape Stone can shape common stone, but when they shape Obsidian they have  a TDM penalty. If they Make Earth to Metal, they have a penalty when creating certain metals. At a high enough penalty you can reflect some elements of scarcity 

War Beneath Heaven Mages

• Initiates tend to have an average of 15 on their specialty of Magic and 9 for everything else. They would need to use extra-FP to improve the margin of success. Once spent, they may be out for a couple of hours. 
• Novices tend to have an average of 20 on their specialty of Magic, and 14 on everything else.  
• Adept tend to have an average of 25 on their specialty of Magic, and 19 on everything else.
• Masters tend to have an average of 26-27 on their specialty, Skill-23 in many other colleges, and Skill-21 in those that don't matter to them. They also have a lot of advantages that augment their skills.  

High Magery Game

• You will need to keep note of how the Colleges are at a certain level of Power Discounts. 
• Elemental (I realize this is a great specialty against swarms).
• Air  - Air is the second most cost effective elemental college, it is very useful in low tech and can still be fairly useful in high tech / modern settings.  B378 notes on knock back. Unlike the Fire and Earth that can maintain Shape Element Indefinitely at Skill-15, only has Stench in Basic Set. It has Air Jet in GURPS Magic M24, requiring Skill 18 to be able to cast often without FP lost. If the Mage has College (Air) -23 he can do Air jets at no cost to him at 4d knock back. 
• Air and Earth are always readily available. 
• Stench (count 1), and Shape Air (count 2)
• If you want to calculate the air pattern/current, remember circumference formula. You can make a current of air travel a 5 yrd circle of a radius of  0.8yrs/m at 1FP. So basically the Mage is in the center of a mini vortex of air
•  At 2FP it is a 1.6m/yrd radius spell and 1d of knock back. its a median average of 2.5m/s wind, if its enough to give 1d knock back it should be enough for some penalties for missile weapons to hit. 
• Shape Air (count 2), great against missile weapons or swarms or if the GM allows it aid missile weapons in adding range. Since it
• Air Vision (count  3) and Smoke (count 3) 
• Fire - Fire can be very destructive, but requires higher skill. The most basic combo is having 17-18 skill so as to maintain Create Fire and Shape Fire Indefinitely. Check Incendiary Attacks in B433. Use fire as a crowd control and cover all the hexes beneath enemies using Shape Fire spell - its bad footing with DAMAGE!.
• Unlike all the other elements, fire is not easily available. 
• Simple Combo is Air Vision (count  3) and Smoke (count 3). its funny how a fire mage cannot see through smoke lolz. 
• Strategic use of Ignite (note the distance penalties to spell casting, which you can limit by making a trail of oil). Take note of grease fire, which would require 3FP but will be very difficult to put out because it spreads when water is used. 
• Earth - Earth is the most bang for buck among all the elemental colleges. It is limited by the Players and PC's ingenuity and creativity. At Shape Earth-16-17 it becomes very useful and versatile. You will need Innate Attack (Earth) for various techniques. Will be covered in greater detail.
• Shape Earth use to Shove opponents (see Collision Damage B430; Slam B368; Shove B372) to Calculate Knock Back
• ( [ Mass(lbs)^(0.33) ] * 8 / 100 ) * yrds/s (2m/s for earth, 1m/s for stone)
• Example Sand has a density of 1.5-1.7 tons per 1 cu.m/yrd. So 3 tons of sand flowing at 2m/s is a 3d-1 cr  or  6d Knock Back. 
• Water - In muddy or snowy terrain water is as powerful as Earth requiring only a skill of 16-17 to be constantly useful every round and minute. Composite bows are very useless when wet. Muddying the ground or Fighting in the Rain will grant terrain penalties to opponents, and strategic application of Freeze or Frost can be very effective - freezing wet weapons in their sheathes.  
• Shape Water use to Shove opponents (see Collision Damage B430; Slam B368; Shove B372) to Calculate Knock Back
• ( [ Mass(lbs)^(0.33) ] * 8 / 100 ) * yrds/s (3m/s)
• Example Water has a density of 4.5kg per gallon. So 20 gallons of water flowing at 3m/s is a 1d-2 cr or 1d Knock Back. 
• Biological - 
• Animal - This helps you cultivate powerful and useful animal assets. Birds are often overlooked, swallows and sparrows can be very useful in sending messages and recon. Don't begin by thinking of the most dangerous animal you can get, consider the most useful animals in Communication and Logistics. Training animals in record time would be interesting. 
• Plant - Shape plant can be used to neutralized wooden weapons at Skill-16-17. Most of the plants spells are very powerful in economics and logistics. 
• Body - Itch against armored foes and Spasm are all great if the mage had a Skill-21-22 to cast it at no cost. 
• Healing - At Skill-21, the recover FP spell allows a mage to perform extraordinary feats of logistical endurance. 
• Wizardry
• Meta Spell - Scryguard, and Maintain are priority spells and effects for powerful wizards. Many Strategic Spells are found in Meta-Spells. 
• Enchantment - Make Items and Temporary magic items. It takes a lot of research to find items minor and useful at the same time. 
• Knowledge - very useful, although many information spells are useless against scrygaurd and have a hard time with conceal magic. Echoes and Visions of the past are powerful spells to determine what happened in an area. 
• Protection - very limited and many of the spells that would matter is in meta spells. 
• Necromancy - This is one of the most powerful colleges, it has Enchantment Spells as part of the specialization which basically means you can ignore many other colleges for just Necromancy.
• Necromancy has Demonic Summoning which allows a character have a demonic ally.  There is one very simple way to min-max this - Get a Demons whose motivations are your own. Its a bit zen to know oneself enough to know that this is the "right demons" for me. But if you get there then just summon the demon you choose to serve. Demonic Contracts basically reduce the cost of the spell equal to x3 their appropriate knowledge of the Black Arts. That means Hidden Lore (Dark Magic) -16, the Mage can reduce it by 48 points!
• That Translates to 24d ex missile attack, very powerful and large Area effect spells that can cover 1,800sqm or 18,000sqf.  Animate 1800sqf/180sqm room full of dead bodies. Cover 23 hectars or 60 acres in cloudy darkness. 
• Note this discounts, so it cannot help you add FP to a Maintenance Spell BUT it can bring down a spells power cost so that you can benefit from the x5 duration of maintenance spell for spells that cost nothing to maintain. That means you can maintain massive area effect spells.  
• Mind Control - Compared to Com/Emp, this is pretty bang for buck. At early levels such mages will augment with social engineering. 
• Communication and Empathy - not really useful in combat, the easiest spells to cast is mostly in social interactions adding reaction bonuses (pursuasion). Oddly expensive with many spells at 4fp and same to maintain. This mostly deals with communications and influence. sense foes, which is the most basic is hard to use because of the muddiness of intent, the very very small area of effect per FP used, and the lack of other detail.  
• Making and Breaking spells - Inspired Creation is powerful, the ability to reliably make Very Fine quality work means a lot of things and translates to a lot of potential uses. The spells costs compared to what they do makes it a fair specialization. 
• Illusion - This needs to be Combined with Meta Spells, particularly Maintain. Its ability to program Servants or even Zombies through Independence makes it worth while especially to necromancers. 
• Light and Darkness. Darkness Spell is a very powerful tactical advantage used well. You can see going out but no one can see going in. A size big enough can help in ambush and maintain some terrain superiority. 

Magos Lazarous Olumid, Lord of New Ejeba

He is an example of a Master, at 200cp he would be a formidable enemy or ally to the PCs. If you look at his disadvantage, it doesn't really make him out to be a bad guy.

• He is at a median magery level as Masters go, there are other masters who have higher magery. 
• Lazarus has 35 points invested in Spells
• Lazarus has 20 points invested in Secondary skills, 
• He has 2 Special Allies - the Heroic Companion Knight of Ife and a Formidable Familiar the Hawk Jaja. 
• He doesn't have a demon, which is an odd choice of companions. Demons are the most powerful and effective of companions and very cooperative if both personalities are aligned. His choice of Familiar and Companion can be attributed to sentiment or tradition. 
• He has about x50 100cp Adepts mages under his control, 10 can be available to him in any time. This is a very powerful resource and marks him as a very successful master, his Talent as a Teacher also supports why he has so many adepts. His adepts and Initiates are put to work, so only a few are available on call when he needs them. 
• He is basically his own feudal lord in part of Haven he controls. He has network to reflect this, and he serves of at the pleasure of the being known as Olokun.
• His Politics is 10 and Strategy is 9. This means he can be vulnerable attacked Socially and Strategically. His strong roster of Adepts would be attractive to other Masters and their Arch Mages who find the opportunity move against him.
• At this level stick to Easy Strategies - go with the herd in Politics and be conservative in strategies.  
• What he is not is a Leader, he's more of a Teacher and Administrator. He is not a Politician or Courtier, nor is he Strategist or Tactician. Hes not as good a liar as many other mages (who have it as a Talent). Like all mages, in order to survive, they have to be a good judge of character (Psychology-14). 

Lazarus Tactics 

• Basic Defenses
• Maintained Scryguard (93 days/45fp) Skill-23 
• Maintained False Aura (93 days/45fp) - Skill-20
• Sense Observation Daily (M167) (24 hours) - Skill-19
• Simple Illusion (-1 on all spell casting) - he appears a much darker and more virile looking, more like a gangster to others. 
• Lazarus makes use of two zombie guards, who are enchanted with Amulets against Control Zombie. He would sometimes disguise as the zombie and disguise the zombie as himself. 
• In an emergency he can draw on his 35Fp and his 30fp power stone and in an Emergency he can Burn his HP at no penalty because he can will himself to shrug the pain for a short duration. allowing him to burn as much as 20HP. 
• What 85 power can do?
• 43 explosive damage dice
• 1.8 Hectar (about 4.5 acre) Rainfall
• Rebuild 12.7 Tons
• Make a One use Temporary Magical Item worth 566FP.  

Killian Tarmikos, The Mage Killer

Killian (real name Kwanele) is free mage, who hires himself out as a trouble shooter among many of the Taipans or Patriarchs. He does not have an Arch-Mage patron and has to live in the fringes of magical society if he wants to keep a low profile.  Killian died in S02E10 in WBH, when the HSS got marked for elimination, he is still a useful template. 

• He has invested a lot in his spells, about 37cp. He's brought up his effective spell level with Knowledge, Healing, illusion, Protection and Meta-Spells. His default strategy is to keep a low profile and keeping security conscious. 
• His specialty is studying other mages and looking for weaknesses with Strategy and Information Analysis. He is not more powerful than other mages, he just happen to have to skills that allows him to exploit their weakness better and find it sooner.  Against mages with their many countermeasures he relies on giving them the impression that they are in control through a defensive strategy via defense in depth. 
• Since he is observing someone who has Sense Observation and Scry Guard, most of the information he gets are from Indirect Observation and Information Analysis. This problem solving technique simply takes what is unknown and working with economies of efficiency and predictable patterns of development. Much like an investigator who relies on Criminal history to sort patterns in their behavior and strategies. He will create a profile via indirect observation before proceeding, he charges for an evaluation and provides the report (a SWOT analysis) at the end of his research.      
• He has Traps and Electronics Operation (Comm). This allows him to use radio controlled devices and set up some technological equipment. He can use Inspired Creation to make a Very Fine Trap and Network Set up, one that does not backfire on him and works as it should. He makes use of fine quality equipment and electronics. 
• Based on the Risk Assessment he tends to work with harassing tactics, creating as many inconvenience and adding as much time wasting projects. For every hour he turns in, he has to create an attrition of hours of 1:5 or 1:10. Enough harassment for his Patron to move in and execute their own plan or to make it too costly for the mage to go on with their original strategy. He draws a lot of "agro" so he does get into fights and escalation, where he fights emotionally unstable and unpredictable mages.  

Commentary

• I wish the spells were designed to be more exponential like Area Spells. Many spells are linear like the shape spells, while Area spells are exponential. If you want the same exponential effect per FP: (basically 45 and 90 degrees exponential advancement). 
• Thanks to +Bertram Jänsch you can by using the (  3n(n-1) ) + 1 formula. 

GURPS Magic Notes 03: Basic Set System Mechanics Review

Bringing down the information barriers, and helping you get to play a mage or allow supernatural elements in the game. I'm particularly trying to work towards games with strategic and tactical magic. Like any level of complexity its built over a good foundation of fundamentals.

Quick Review 

• B234 Glossary of Terms - I skipped this and went back to it (now that I looked at it seems I never really paid attention to this). 
• Note the Spell Classes (B239): Regular, Area, Missile, Melee, Information, 
• Area spells are funky when calculating area of effect. For every increment calculate it as as ((X*0.6)^2) * pi. Where X is the number of increments. 
• It follows close to the hex area formula in very large values which is about (t^2)*2.6 where t is radius which is also equal to the length of a side.
• +Bertram Jänsch If you want to be precise then the area of a regular hexagon is (sqrt(3)/2)/(d^2) where d ist the distance between the parallel sides, ie 0.866 sq yds for a hex of 1 yard. (0.866 m^2 for a 1 meter hex if you're living in the world of modern units ;).)The number of hexes can be found by using 3n(n-1)+1 where n ist the number of increments.So just multiply the number of hexes with the area you want to use and voila.Hope this helps.
• (new) Area spells extend upward 4m up! so effectively every HEX of 0.866 sq yrds/m has a volume of  3.4 cu. yrds/m. This means a lot if you consider that create FIRE is an area spell, fires 4 m UP!
• Note the Colleges, in GURPS Magic there is a TON of them, about 20s compared to DnD's 7-8 groups. 
• B235 under Casting Spells - Spells are Skills. Pay the FP cost of the Spell and Roll your Spell Skill
• Your spell skill is IQ + Magery (B66-67) + Controlling Attribute Modifier (B167). Mana Levels are a Factor (B235), and only Low Mana matters in most situation because it imposes a -5 penalty. 
• Magical Rituals (B237) - skill 9 and below sucks and you look silly casting a spell, 10-14 makes you look funny, and 15-19 is where most cinematic fantasy fiction fall under, and 20 and up makes you look bad ass. 
• You can burn HP (B237) but it Penalizes the spell at -1 per HP burned due to something like shock. Immunity or Resistance to Pain has to be house ruled (B80). Note that since it says that its due to Shock but it says High Pain threshold has no effect its shock but not shock (make your ruling). Numbness should help (B146). 
• I house ruled Immune to Pain (but still you can feel damage since this is still not Numbness) as 20cp. GURPS Powers gives the maximum duration limitations and if I need an ability check to activate. I basically made it a 4cp ability with 80% limitations that brought down its duration and ability to use, you have to make a will check to activate this and it lasts only 1 minute. Note the Missile Class spell rules, since it takes turns to "Power Up" a missile spell, you may not be able to burn HP enough and in time when the pain will start giving penalties. 
• B348 Critical Failure - at level 16, only an 18 is a critical failure (made that mistake last game a player rolled an 18; still erred on the side of the player). 
• There is a Critical Spell Failure Table in B236. The odds of getting the worse result (18 and 18 again) is about 1:46k or 0.002% ish which is a demon. On the Table >70% of the effects are not so bad. Only 17-18 makes you the GM's bitch.
• B308 A lot of Spells. There are about 106 spells in the Basic Set and about a total of 600 more spells in GURPS Magic. 
• B242 Ritual Magic Rules in the box, under Clerical Magic System. 
• B201 Innate Attack (specify) is needed for various attack modes. Read more M12/B240 
• B226 Throwing Skill for spells which can be hurled. 
• B238 Casting While Maintaining Other Spells basically is your Multi-Tasking rules.  Unfortunately Multi-Tasking rules are not consolidated and come from ISW226 and Gurps Spaceships 1 p. 59. 
• Some Spells require Skills like Art like Illusion, Art (illusion), or Shape Earth, Art (sculpting). Since these are mental skills it takes a concentration maneuver (see B366) to use them. Since Shaping these things are speed of thought, the GM calls how much time it is to form.  
• M7 or  B236 Distraction and Injury rules. 
• B241 or M13 Blocking spells have no discount. 
• Resisted Spells B242 or M13-14. Resisted is Quick Contest! it is a contest of Margin of Success. 
• B349 Rule of 16, Basically in a Quick Contest Roll (B348) an uber-powerful spell casters margin of success is capped at 16 or the target's contesting stat. So a Mage with skill-36 which targets HT would be used on a PC with only 12 HT can only have a margin of success limited as to only 16 (and not his 36 skill). 
• So if the PC rolls a margin of 5 by rolling a 7, the Mage needs to roll at least a 10 and below Instead of rolling a 15 and still succeeding. Since the margin of success is using 16 to calculate a roll of 15 would have a margin of 1, instead of 11.  
• B366 You cannot cast spells with Wait, since wait doesn't allow you to use a concentrate maneuver. Blocking spells fall under reflex but the GM will ultimately decide. So a mage cannot cast spells to interrupt an action, but can interrupt Long multi-second actions (like other spells that have a multi-second casting time).  
• Ward M122 can allow a mage to "Counter" a Spell since it is a blocking spell. Note that you do not use a wait maneuver, you need to use a concentration maneuver using the Thaumatology or Ritual Magic or Hidden Lore Mages etc.. skill that allow you a clue of what spell is being cast. 
• Mage Sight (M102) will help, unlike Aura, Identify Spell, Detect Magic, or Analyze Magic which are Instantaneous Information Spells. 
• You can only "Counter Spell" a sell with more than 1 second of casting time and with Observable cues: which means the mage took a limitation for 

In Summary 

• B234 Normal Magic:  Roll your IQ + Magery (B66-67) + Your spells Controlling Attribute Modifier (that's a mouth full). Lets just call the Basic Set's core normal magic system NM vs Ritual Magics RM. in B242 its calls it "Normal" magic system.  
• B242 Ritual Magic:  Roll your IQ + Magery (B66-67) + Ritual Magic's or Thaumatology's Controlling Attribute Modifier - Prerequisite Count of the Spell (the counts can be found in GURPS Magic B225; I have a suspicion there are some errors but to check them would be such a head ache and I'm fine with the approximations). 
• In both NM (Normal magic) and RM high skill discounts (See B237 under Magic Ritual). Basically 15, you have a discount of 1FP, and every 5 levels after that is 1FP more discount. So at 20, -2FP discount, 25 -3 FP. The sweet spot is 25. In RM your Pre-requisite Count or your "count" brings down your skill, so more powerful spells (those with higher counts) don't get a discount. 
• Your Effective Skill matters a lot. It determines a Spells' Endurance (M20; not found in the Basic Set as far as I can research), a spells ability to contest other spells that try to affect it. 
• Resisted Spells, Note that many spells make the target roll HT or Will or even a Skill to resist the effects.  Note that some Area effect spells can be Dodged, with Drop and Dodge (B377). So if you see someone look at you funny in a magic game setting, it would be acceptable to Dodge and Drop for cover the same as you would if you heard gun fire. 

Strategy Guide and Tips

• Familiars or Companion one of the largest sources of limitations for Magery. Its basically -40% and its not so visible, you will find it in the Allies Advantage in B38 on the very lower left corner of the page. 
• Aspects are pretty much a must. You can make an Aspect just lower your effective by halving the Limitations effect (see Accessibility B110, 2nd to the last paragraph). So a Mage that is Half as powerful in the Day will have Half the Night Aspect limitation (B67) at -20%. If you want Mudras  aka Somatic Components, Poetry like in Visionaries aka Verbal Components, or Prepared Material Components like in DnD I recommend just basing it off the Aspects and House rule it or you can use my house rules for it (C'mon you don't really need someone else to make this and I'm sure someone online has made it already).  
• GMs who wants to play around with various mage builds should consider the following: 
• LIMIT THE COLLEGES! yes, limit it to like 10 or 7! This will make your life so much easier. 
• Use Ritual Magic. If your going to Build Mages and have to list every spells, F-that! Just write down your Ritual Magic (VH) IQ [8], College of Choice (VH) IQ [8] etc... Its so much easier. 
• Be a nice guy and point out this post about Modular Abilities: Super Memorization Spells to your GM. Basically I can make it 0.6cp per 1 modular CP with limitations. That means every 3cp I spend in Modular Ability: Super Memorization, I can have 5cp to allocate for spells. If he allows it great, if not you never ever entertained it or wasted your time with it. 
• Energy Reserves and Extra Fatigue. With the right amount, your mage can do a lot of cool stuff. If you bring down the cost to 0.6cp per 1FP than you have 3cp for 5fp. 15 points invested is 25FP of energy. Its not so bad or broken, its actually fun of course you may run some simulations and scenarios how much you would allow. 

The Can of Worms

• Air and Earth Spells. if we go science-y does mean I can create, seek, and shape various Minerals and Gasses. Its not so bad but its going to make you learn more about science in a fun way
• Prerequisite Count for Related Spells. Talisman and Amulet (M58) affect spells of the same family. Example Dull (M133) and Dullness (M134) can be affected by a Talisman and Amulet. 
• Here is the annoying follow up, Enchant spell (B480 or M56) and Temporary Enchantment have prerequisites of -11 and -12 respectively. Does that means that my master for Enchantment will not carry over my proficiency of Temporary Enchantment? you make your ruling. 
•   My ruling - I don't want a lot of point inflation and messy character sheets and enchantment is very expensive in my game setting at $250 1FP worth. Guess how I'm going to rule? - yeah it carries over but it has to be as strong relationship. So a Mage with Enchantment (H) [12] has a -1 to cast Temporary Enchantment. Note that these spells depend on a second spell skill so its kinda balances out. I've not thought as far as Enchantment Spells like Accuracy and the Like.  
• Extra Fatigue and Energy Reserve. It can be broken. Introduce a Cap. Stop a player from doing a yenkidama explosive fireball for 25d ex damage if he goes around and spends 30cp.   

Verbal and Somatic Components

If you use "playing a Trumpet" on B110, an example in accessibility, as a baseline then you can say a use of a skill, keeping both Hands and Breath busy would count as a -20% Limitation. If you want it Half Power then its a -10% Limitation. 

It gets complicated when you have a skill below 15 because there are other gestures and words, just grant a bigger bonus in identifying a spell or anyone who sees the character instantly knows he's up to something no-good. 

More Material

• Magical Familiar and Companions - why can't dogs and horses be companions? Well join me in magical heresy - this is gurps after all and I want to have horses and dogs.  
• Sample Mages - An experiment in magical demographics and work force allocation. 
• Zombie and Zombie Companion - inspired by almost human and resurrection lolz
• Minor Spirit Servants  - Inspired by hayao miyazaki takes on such creatures.
• Proto Lichs - Because there is so much sacred cows when it comes to vampires. 
• Swarm Familiar - the most dangerous familiar, GMs should really limit who gets these. Inspired by Chinese cockroach farms and some basic biology that comes with gurps gaming (like the square cubed law). Imagine where 2/3 of food wasted goes. 
• Information Gathering - Note that you should check out GURPS Mysteries, it has a chapter on the value of each spells in crime and investigation. 
• Darkness Mages - Because there is a scary combo asking to be used. Needs to be reworked a bit but the basic combo is still powerful. 
• Demon Ally - a review of contract and negotiation basics, because your dealing with the devil here. 
• Ghostly Companion - for those who really can't let go and leave things to rest. 

Next Article will focus on Ritual Magic and High Magery Campaign. Hopefully I covered the most basic and key points, and did a bunch to bring down the complexity of the game. I will feature 2 Master level mages and their Best Practices. They are what I use to gauge the level of preparation and organization the mages have in the War Beneath Heaven. 

War Beneath Heaven S02 E10 - The End has Arrived

1. Speedy is in the infirmary. Sam was taking care of him. Jeni visits him and this happens while the team was fighting the dragon. Sam notices something odd about Merle and Jakub. Jakub begins having violent seizures. Constanz arrives seems to calm him down. When everyone was distracted, Merle grabs the Sam who manages to escape. Sam tries to escape. Jakub smashes speedy back, and merle begins to strangle jeni. Speedy uses a flashbang, which knocks them out. 
2. The guys get back down only to find Jakub up and Merle standing among st slain staff. Jakub charges and proves very difficult to kill. Merle gets lead in the face and goes down. Zombies attack them from the rear. They manage to kill Jakub by bringing up a thin concrete barrier and shooting through it preventing him from dodging or parrying their weapons from arms reach. 
1. Fish is hurt terribly. The guys go through two M4 30-round mags against Jakub. 
3. The guys discover Speedy, Jeni and Sam guarded by zombies who attack and harm speedy as he tries to escape. The guys make use of the many secret stashes HSS has to scrounge and re-equip. They manage to recover a bit. They proceed to recover more gear in the infirmary. 
1.  All the bases are under attack. 
2. Tasha survives an ambush when she fails to appear in a trap because of her intense hate for Cheng. Cheng sets up a meeting with the partners only to kill them all, Emily survives because she's been too haggard and weak from the constant work. Someone raids his home in brighton trying to kill Emily and Osmans child but they managed to escape. 
3. A lot of time getting ready and doing evaluations.
4. The are able to distract some ghouls enough to get to parking where they were able to load up. A loud car door opener gives away their position, and they rush to get out fighting of two powerful ghouls. Speedy and Eeshu manage to fight them off.
5. Tasha meets them outside, but someone manages to shoot her from the building. She is badly wounded but still manages to drive them. Speedy sends out one of the last remaining drones to check on what happened to everyone
1. They find bodies, Chengs gang being consumed. 
2. they find Cheng impaled in his board room. 
3. They find Killian on the floor dying while Sid defending him. Sid's true form emerges as she fights off well armed and equipped vampires. Speedy detonates one more flash bang before the drone dies. It last vision is another swordsman facing Sid. 
6. The group tries to navigate through the heights but the area has become abandoned and filled with creatures who emerged from the gash in the mountain to feed on the populace. they are trying to getting to Brighton. The encounter one of them, sending it pipe bombs, they manage to bring it down in a rain of meat. 
7. Tasha navigates and Speedy tries to correct her. He is unable to change her mind (fails leadership) and she goes on her expertise. She manages to get them out, but on the forested jungle mountain and into a dead end. 

Killing of much of the old Cast and Pregens

• avoiding GM PCs. 
• removing the Clutter in the Cast
• More opportunity for the PCs to shine. 

Other Notes

• to build a setting and let it all go to hell to make for a good ending and add drama. 
• When I was preparing my guidelines were - which would make more drama for the character - loved ones and survival were easy marks but I wanted other sources of conflict. When tasha argued with speedy and speedy didnt have any leadership to correct her, it was two friends having a really bad fight and a wounded relationship. 
• Now I'm looking for conflict, as in two beliefes that draw the player in directions they cannot align so easily. 

GURPS Magic Notes 17: Spirits

Spirits are useful tools used by mages. The basic Spirit trait you see below can be slapped on a lot of various useful spirit lenses (also below) and is meant to be used with the Command Spirits spell found in GURPS Magic p. 153. The Command Spirit spell gives you a minimum of 50cp spirit, so you have a lot of lenses you can use.

I got the idea behind drones, but spirits as tools and aids has been a very old idea. Of course, it is in modern thinking of logistics and organization where we see methods and techniques to use spirits in a scale a mage would not have thought of prior to the advancements of logistics and economics.

I think of spirits as a much smarter drones, and a particularly unpredictable because they have their own personality and quirks. Mages see them as tools but they are much more than that. A simple and powerful use of spirits is "spying" and gathering information. Acting as agents for the Mages, they can be very powerful... but have their risks.

If you get the chance to read the template/trait, you will notice these are two spirits: light and darkness. The darker spirit being more useful because it tends to be used for more roles.

Here is the Gdocs which I update more frequently. 

Hidden Lore (Spirits) (IQ/A)

Defaults: Hidden Lore (Undead) -4, Thaumatology -6, Necromancy Path-4,

The ability inductively or deductively determine the abilities and qualities of a Spirit. Since spirits are not just the "dead", there are spirits can be those found in the worlds behind the veil of reality. Spirits is an optional specialty, and a broader expertise is possible looking all creatures beyond the "veil".

Command Spirit (Necromancy; prerequisite count 5; M153). This spell can be maintained by a mage with at least the spell skill of 25 (a gross skill ability of Thaumatology-36 or Necromancy-30)

Spirit Template

-14 points

Advantages [181]: Doesn't Breathe (B49) [20]; Doesn't Eat or Drink (B50) [10]; Doesn't Sleep (B50) [20]; Immune to Metabolic Hazards (B80) [30]; Insubstantial (B62; Always On -40%) [48]; Invisibility (B63; Substantial Only -10%; Visible in Mirrors -10%; Resistable, WIll-2, -20%) [24]; Night Vision 9 [9]; Unkillable 2 (Achilles Heel, Silver and Magical -50%; Hindrance, Silver and Magical -25%; Trigger, Simple Ritual, -5%) [20];

Disadvantages [-195]: Dependency (B130) (Very Common - Ambient Mana, -5 points;  Constantly x5 cost) [-25]; Dread (B132; Symbols of Protection) [-10]; Supernatural Features (B157; Pallor, No Body Heat) [-15]; Vulnerability (Rare - silver and magic; x4 damage) [-20]; Vulnerability (common - Energy Attacks; x2 damage) [-40];  Weakness (B161) (Sunlight 1d per minute) [-60] or Dependency (Very Common, Light -5 points; Constantly, x5 cost; 1d3 of damage per minute, +100%, Total -50), Vulnerability (Rare - Dark Magic, x2 damage; -10)  [-60]; Non-Legal Human Entity Meta Trait [-40].

• Dark Spirits are averse to daylight (1d burn per minute)
• Light Spirits are dependency on Light, taking 1 damage in complete darkness per second.
• They depend on mana, so can't be found in dead zones and dead zones "starve" them (1HP second).

Typical Packages and Features

• Mindlink (B70) with the mage (making even the smallest chance to communicate with the mage a success).  
• Detect (all Supernatural; use Observation skill) (B48) [30].

Small Spirits Templates

Lesser spirits tend to be small (SM-5 typically), because it makes it easier for them to hide and find safe places to wait out the day.

Watchers

31 points

these are small spirits that watch and report

SM-5; Move-5 (flight-5)

Social Background [5]: Cultural Familiarity (human) [2]; Language (Fluent) [3]

Template [-14]: Spirit Template [-14]

Advantages [45]: Detect (All Supernatural; B48) [30]; Talent Stalker 2 (Stealth, Observation, Navigation, Shadowing, Search, and Tracking) [10]; Mind Link (B70) [5]

Disadvantages [-25]: Curious (12) (B129) [-5]; Loner (12) (B142) [-5]; Workaholic (B162) [-5]; Cowardice (12) (B129) [-10]

Skills [20]: Observation (A) Per+1 [4]; Navigation (A) IQ+2 [8]; Stealth (A) DX [2]; Shadowing (A) Per [2]; Search (A) Per [2]; Tracking (A) Per [2].   

Harassers

31 points

Poltergeist comes to mind, these mean spirits can make someone's life miserable. Great for distracting and harassing people who don't have any defenses (even simple symbols of protection).

SM-5; Move-5 (flight-5)

Social Background [5]: Cultural Familiarity (human) [2]; Language (Fluent) [3]

Template [-14]: Spirit Template [-14]

Advantages [65]: Detect (All Supernatural; B48) [30]; Telekinesis  (ST4, BL 1.45kg or 3.2 lbs; source, magic; focus, magic) [20]; Talent Stalker 2 (Stealth, Observation, Navigation, Filch, Throwing, and Slight of Hand) [10]; Mindlink (B70) [5]

Disadvantages [-45]: Sadism (12) (B152) [-15]; Bully (12) [-10]; Trickster (12) (B159) [-15]; Callous (B125) [-5]; alternate disads:

Fanaticism [-15]; Pacifsm (Cannot Harm Innocence) [-10]; Code of Honor (soldier) [-10]; Workaholic [-5]; Hidebound [-5]

Skills [20]: Observation (A) Per [2]; Navigation (A) IQ [2]; Stealth (A) DX [2]; Throwing (A) DX+2 [8]; Slight of Hand (H) DX [4]; Filch (A) DX [2].   

Helpers

31 points

Such spirits summon and used to aid the mage in research and study.

SM-5; Move-5 (flight-5)

Social Background [5]: Cultural Familiarity (human) [2]; Language (Fluent) [3]

Template [-14]: Spirit Template [-14]

Advantages [65]: Detect (All Supernatural; B48) [30]; Telekinesis  (ST4, BL 1.45kg or 3.2 lbs; source, magic; focus, magic) [20]; Talent helper 2 (Hidden Lore, Theology, Expertise (Thaumatology), Art, Writing, Research ) [10]; Mindlink (B70) [5]

Disadvantages [-45]: Chummy (12) (B152) [-5]; Obsession (the project at hand) (12) [-5]; Code of Honor (Devoted Professional) [-10]; Truthfulness (6) [-10]; Pacifism (Self defense Only) [-10]; Workaholic [-5].

Skills [20]:  Hidden Lore (Mages, Undead, Spirits, or Magical Creatures) (A) IQ [2]; Hidden Lore (Mages, Undead, Spirits, or Magical Creatures) (A) IQ [2]; Theology (name a Tradition) (H) IQ [4]; Expertise (Thaumatology) (H) IQ [4]; Art (Symbol Drawing, Sculpting, Painting) (H) IQ [4]; Writing (A) IQ [2]; Research (A) IQ [2].   

Guardian

31 points

Such spirits summon and used to aid the mage in research and study.

SM-5; Move-5 (flight-5)

Social Background [5]: Cultural Familiarity (human) [2]; Language (Fluent) [3]

Template [-14]: Spirit Template [-14]

Advantages [70]: Detect (All Supernatural; B48) [30]; Magery (Limited Magery: Protection and Healing -20%; Accessibility -granted by ally -40%; Pact: Vow protect the Ally -15%; ) [35]; Mindlink (B70) [5]

Disadvantages [-50]: Bad Tempered (15) [-5]; Chummy (12) (B152) [-5]; Obsession (protect client) (12) [-5]; Code of Honor (Soldier) [-10]; Truthfulness (6) [-10]; Pacifism (Self defense Only) [-10]; Workaholic [-5].

Skills [20]: Observation (A) Per [4]; Protection (VH) IQ  [8]; Healing (VH) IQ [8] .   

Various Notes

Various Notes

Notes about Non-legal human Entity meta Trait [-40] - Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-15*]; Dead Broke [-25];

*Social Stigma: Monster vs Valuable Property. This is the difference between a Pest and an Asset. Its the fine line between a Cockroach farmer in China and many other people. Everyone else can see the cockroaches as pests and destroy it, and even encouraged to destroy the "pest". As for "Protected Animals" these fall under Valuable Property.

Biological vs Alternate "Biology"

Doesnt Sleep, Eat & Drink, Breathe, Immune to Metabolic Hazards basically remove much of the basic "needs" that make up a basic biological being. What happens is that other things take the role of Food&Drink, Respiration, and Rest.

Respiration, Food&Drink, and Rest, can be modeled by Dependency (B130), Maintenance (B143), and other Disadvantages.

With the unusual biology, poisons and disease don't work on it, but there are things that work like poisons and diseases - which can be Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities.

GURPS Magic Notes 18: Zombies

“The Far East Triad lets everyone know they are into human trafficking, but what they really specialize in is what happens with expired goods” - Killian Tarmikos

Basically magical automations. The hungry zombie is just a zombie inflicted by its mage with uncontrollable appetite (since they are re programmable). They are tools, and much of what made them human became fuel and material for creating the magical automation.

The template explains most, or you can just skip it on to the Template Notes. 

Zombies Template

202 points

Attribute Modifiers [-90]: ST+1 [10]; IQ-5 [-100]

Secondary Characteristic Modifiers [58]: HP+4 [8]; Per+5 [25]; Will+5 [25]

Advantages [135]: Does not Breathe (B49) [20]; Doesnt Eat o Drink (B49) [10]; Doesn’t Sleep (B50) [20]; Immune to Metabolic Hazards (B81) (poisons, disease, sickness) [30]; Immune to Pain (B81) [15]; Injury Tolerance (B61) (unliving, no blood) [25]; Unfazeable (B95) [15].

Disadvantages [-345]: Amnesia (B123) [-25]; Appearance (B21) (unattractive) (universa, +25%) [-5]; Bad Smell (B124) [-10]; Cannot Learn (B125) [-30]; Dependency (B130) (Ambient Mana) (Common, Constantly; 1HP per minute) [-50]; Meta-Trait (B263) (Automaton) [-85]; No Sense of Smell/Taste [-5]; Reprogrammable [-10]; Short Lifespan 4 (B154) [-40]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-15]; Supernatural Features (B157) (Pallor, No Body Heat) [-15]; Unhealing (Partial; Repaired by Magic) [-30]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25];

Features :

• Affected by Turn and Control Zombie,
• Pentragrams and various magical wards
• No Mental Skills (until they have their sapiens mostly restored), Physical Skills still exist but degraded (half the points)
• Zeroed (Legally Dead)

Zombie Template Notes

• Their appearance makes them look really sick. Make up is needed to hide their symptoms.
• This zombie is pretty much like a machine, you can kill it by shooting at vitals. In WBH organs are converted into something that processes and stores ambient mana.
• No Biological Living habits: no breathing means no chest rising and falling, except when talking, No sweat, no warmth, no blushing, etc… assume Supernatural Features covers all this.
• Slave Mentality and Automaton - they can be programmed, so treat it like a pretty sophisticated computer. Averaging IQ5, its a pretty powerful computer.
• Magical Repair. Assume there is equivalents of the Healing Spells in Necromancy with worse prerequisites of up to 2.
• As a template note how the person died, if they were crippled, the zombie gains the same disadvantages.  Blind zombie can be useless unless the mage does significant repair.
• Automaton and Slave Metality is slow. They need to be updated after every command. Typically commands are programmed. 
• More notes on Weak Dedicated AI (UT26):  
• Coordinating zombies is a teamwork perk specialized with (zombie). Use IQ or Soldier. Complex commands may need a check, or to have less rolling the zombie will interpret it poorly. Typically commands have end statements and conditions, and drills were used to see the parameters of the zombies comprehension.
• Zombies need to be "primed" typically soldiers need to issue commands, followed by confirmations of command receipt. Its complicated and hard, but drills are meant to make it very easy and intuitive. Without Familiarization, penalties of controlling a zombie in combat conditions can be hard to staggeringly impossible.
• Note Language Considerations means, Zombies coming from the poor and uneducated Haven, or possibly african refugees will require different commands. See Modifications.

  

How to Modify Zombie

• Zombies can be modified. It takes skill and magic to do so. Fleshcraft is a Hard Technique that defaults at -4 from Surgery or Artist (Sculpting) used to modify the Physical form of the zombie. Anima-Craft is a Hard Technique that defaults -4 from Psychology (familiar with behavioral sciences) -5 or Programming (AI) -5.   
• Modifying a zombie can be treated as an enchantment activity - either quick and dirty or slow and sure. 1FP can modify up to 5 character points worth of changes to the template. The maximum modifications on any one zombie is Fleshcraft skill x2 in FP or Anima-Craft skill x2.
• An Expert in Fleshcraft would have a 15, allowing up to 150 character points of alteration.
• An Expert in Anima-Craft would have a 15, allowing up to 112 character points of alteration.  
• The material costs for such modifications is an additional $10 per FP.  

What can be Modified

• Physical Modifications: Appearance and Bad Smell. As well as some of the damage the body sustained in death.
• Increased Strength and Toughness.
• some features like Payload (a very common practice in haven - typically carrying explosive or gass bombs.
• Partial DR. Some Mages have gone as far as to insert subdermal armor plates and sew the zombie back up. They vitals are protected and allows them to take more damage. Use partial DR rules Or just pay the cost of the armor.
• Zombies which have fuller Sapience (like Zombie companions; IQ6+ and Slave Mentality and Automation is removed) can have increased speed and dexterity.
• Mental Modifications brings the Zombie closest to its original form at great cost. A lesser skilled Mage will probably trade off the Automaton, Reprogrammable and Automation with Phobias, Compulsions, Flash Backs and Phantom Voices and many other psychological syndromes from the brain damage of death. A Zombie cannot have full memories restored and at best have Partial Amnesia (B123).  
• Removing the large, -5 IQ penalty, or Reducing it.
• Cannot Learn needs to be removed in order for the Zombie to learn more about its former identity.
• Modifications cannot grant skills, although once the ability to learn and remember is restored they can start practicing and learning again.
• Cannot Learn Magic or Magery! the zombie’s new form despite how modified has focused most of its resources in animating itself and cannot accomplish that of Ghouls and Vampires in magic and independence.  
• Language Modification requires spells. See Gift of Tongues (M46) 50fp * cost for enchantment. This can be the most expensive part of the zombie.

Zombies Companion

-27 points

Attribute Modifiers [10]: ST+1 [10];

Secondary Characteristic Modifiers [8]: HP+4 [8];

Advantages [120]: Does not Breathe (B49) [20]; Doesnt Eat o Drink (B49) [10]; Doesn’t Sleep (B50) [20]; Immune to Metabolic Hazards (B81) (poisons, disease, sickness) [30]; Immune to Pain (B81) [15]; Injury Tolerance (B61) (unliving, no blood) [25].

Disadvantages [-165]: Amnesia (B123) [-10]; Dependency (B130) (Ambient Mana) (Common, Constantly; 1HP per minute) [-50]; Flashbacks, Minor (B136) [-5]; No Sense of Smell/Taste [-5]; Short Lifespan 1 (B154) [-10]; Social Stigma (Valuable Property) [-15]; Supernatural Features (B157) (Pallor, No Body Heat) [-15]; Unhealing (Partial; Repaired by Magic) [-30]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25];

Features :

• Affected by Turn and Control Zombie,
• Pentragrams and various magical wards
• Zeroed (Legally Dead)

My Other Notes

This can be a lot of fun, a bit of Trans-humanism in my Modern Fantasy is a way to vent some of my sci-fi urges with out changing the game. I also realized a show called Resurrection also has some interesting ideas that can be applied to the zombie template.

PC should expect Zombies to be the very versatile tools of many baddies, as well as their ally (Cheng Dao). There are many ways to play with them, and use them for encounters.

Zombie, the better Drone

Treat them like a drone. A Zombie fire team lead by a soldier, or one zombie with one soldier. Zombies designed to take the hit and act as cover. They have IQ5 or improved, thats pretty much a sophisticated computer. They could be wearing improvised metal armor (cheap modern, heavy plate torso $500 DR8 3.5kg or 8lbs). Assume they are trained in formations and some carry very durable shields. Weighed down, they probably move-2 or 3.

Scary, would be armored BOMB delivery drones. Soldiers with pre-set detonation charges on the zombies can order them to charge (countered with area jammers) and blow them up on hard points. They can be used for bomb disposal.

I have two factions in WBH that uses zombies with technology as part of doctrine. I've used them in the background as Swarm delivery and insertion.

Identity Theft

Zombies have former Identities. There is a lot of crime that can be used with having an animated dead person giving their ID credentials to open a bank account or funnel money. Suffice to say, this is pretty much the standard criminal activity - from voter fraud, money laundering, and inheritance stealing.

Body Harvesting

Africa is a great resource for Zombies, especially because of the human tragedy that goes on. Expect this to be one of the major underground industries occurring in the continent and in Haven.