Thursday, February 25, 2016

Magical Style: Gideon's Lessons

It's Sick Daughter Week here at Southern Style GURPS so posting is sparse.  Here's a magical style created in memory of an NPC who was very important to my earliest GURPS fantasy campaigns.


The Fraternity of Gideon


The Fraternity of Gideon evolved from the teachings of the legendary Archmage Gideon.  The Fraternity itself came into being on the grounds of the University of Citadel at the hall of the College of Mind Control.  In the year 697, a century after Gideon’s death, a student near graduation came across Gideon’s grimoire and diary in the College library, and decided to found an order of mages in his memory.  He ably managed to convince a number of his peers to join him.

Membership in the Fraternity of Gideon is arranged in five ranks: Probationary Scholar, Scholar, Gentleman (or Lady), Dean, and President.  The Fraternity is arranged in numbered Chapters.  The founding chapter at Citadel is I Citadel, the second chapter at the Guild of the Mind in Torona is II Torona, etc.  Each chapter sets its own membership rules and meeting places.

Rank in the Fraternity costs 5 points a level. There is no Honorary Title equivalent; members of this Fraternity must pay the full cost.

Fraternity of Gideon Ranks


Rank
Cost
Title
0
0
Probie
1
5
Scholar
2
10
Gentleman
3
15
Councilman
4
20
Dean
5
25
President

Probationary Scholars are the students of the style.  When they have learned the basics of the style, their teacher brings them to a meeting of the Gentlemen of the local Chapter for a black-ball induction vote.  Rejected candidates are forbidden from instructing others in the style.
Scholars are those fully inducted into the Fraternity.  They must hold at least one office (Secretary, Treasurer, Herald, etc.) in their chapter for no less than two years before they are allowed to advance.  A Scholar may not take on his own students, but they can aid a Gentleman in instructing others.
Gentlemen (or Ladies) are elevated when they are permitted to take on a student.  A Gentleman (etc.) can have as many students as he chooses.
Councilors make up the leadership pool of a Chapter.
Deans are the elected leaders of the local Chapters. This is a lifetime appointment and may be unofficially hereditary in some Chapters.
The President is the leader of the whole Fraternity.

The Fraternity is nominally part of the Brotherhood of Mages, but it’s not especially keen on advancing the Brotherhood agenda.

Gideon’s Lessons

15 points

Style Prerequisites: IQ 12+.

The style is named for Gideon’s Lessons, a multi-volume work consisting of Gideon’s journals, grimoires, notes, and letters collected by the university and annotated by past Deans and Presidents.  Each Chapter of the Fraternity has a copy, and new annotations are sometimes passed around between them. Discovering a new book or writing to add to the Lessons is a great accomplishment for any Gideonite.

A Gideonite studies the mind almost obsessively, in an effort to understand the nature of Mind in general and the subject’s mind in particular.  A Gideonite will always try his non-magical skills on a subject before moving to his spells.  Most members of the Fraternity consider it a personal failure to being forced to resort to casting a spell.

Required Skills: Acting; Detect Lies; Diplomacy; Fast-talk; Propaganda; Psychology; Public Speaking.
Required Spells: Daze; Emotion Control; Foolishness; Mental Stun; Persuasion; Sense Emotion; Sense Foes.
Perks: Continuous Ritual (Any); Intimidating Curses; Knower of Names; Permit; Rule of 17 (Any); Sanctum;  Secret Spell (Enslave, Gideon’s Fortress, Great Geas, Mind-Search, or Permanent Forgetfulness), Shortcut to Power (Remove Curse); Special Exercises (Charisma); Special Exercises (Mind Control with Suggestion and Hearing Based); Special Exercises (Mind Shield); Stabilizing Skill (Psychology).
Secret Spells: Enslave, Gideon’s Fortress, Great Geas, Mind-Search, and Permanent Forgetfulness.

Optional Traits

Attributes: Improved IQ.
Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Improved Will.
Advantages: Allies; Charisma; Claim to Hospitality (The Fraternity of Gideon); Cultural Familiarity; Languages (Modern); Smooth Operator; Status; Voice; Wealth.
Disadvantages: Code of Honor (Gentleman’s); Jealousy; Overconfidence; Pacifism (Cannot Harm Innocents); Proud; Selfish; Sense of Duty (Friends); Stubbornness.
Skills: Brainwashing; Gesture; Hypnotism; Intimidation; Interrogation; Linguistics; Mental Strength; Mind Block; Philosophy; Psionics; Sex Appeal; Streetwise; Teaching.

Spell List
Spell
Prerequisites
Avoid
Hide, Fear, and Forgetfulness
Boost Intelligence
Wisdom
Borrow Language
Lend Language
Borrow Skill
Lend Skill
Charm
Magery 1and  Loyalty
Command
Magery 2 and Forgetfulness
Compel Lie
Emotion Control
Compel Truth
Magery 2 and Truthsayer
Converse
Magery 1, Garble, and Silence
Counterspell
Magery 1
Daze
Foolishness
Delay
Magery 3 and 15 spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Dispel Magic
Counterspell and 12 spells
Emotion Control
Mental Stun
Enslave†*
15 spells of Gideon’s Lessons including Charm
Enthrall
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
False Memory
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Fascinate
Daze
Fear
Sense Emotion
Foolishness
IQ 12
Forgetfulness
Magery 1 and Foolishness
Garble
Voices
Gideon’s Fortress†
Magery 2 and Strengthen Will
Gift of Letters†
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Gift of Tongues†
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Glib Tongue
Suggestion
Great Geas†*
Magery 1 and 15 spells of Gideon’s Lessons including Lesser Geas
Great Voice
Thunderclap and Voices
Great Ward
Magery 2 and Ward
Hide
Forgetfulness
Hide Emotion
Sense Emotion
Hide Thoughts
Hide Emotion
Insignificance
Hide
Lend Language
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Lend Skill
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Lesser Geas†
Command
Link
Delay
Loyalty
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Mass Daze
IQ 13 and Daze
Mass Suggestion
Suggestion
Mental Stun
Daze
Mind-Reading
Truthsayer or Borrow Language
Mind-Search*
Mind-Reading
Oath
Magery 1 and Emotion Control
Permanent Forgetfulness*
Magery 2, IQ 13, and Forgetfulness
Persuasion
Sense Emotion
Presence
Persuasion and the seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Reflex
Delay and Ward
Remove Curse
Magery 2 and 15 spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Sense Emotion
Sense Foes
Sense Foes
None
Silence
Sound
Silver Tongue
Emotion Control and Voices
Sound
None
Strengthen Will
Magery 1 and the seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
Suggestion
Emotion Control and Forgetfulness
Thunderclap
Sound
Truthsayer
Sense Emotion
Voices
Sound
Ward
Magery 1
Wisdom
The seven required spells of Gideon’s Lessons
*: This is a Secret Spell.

†: This spell’s prerequisites have been altered.

Secret Spells

Gideon’s Fortress (VH)
Area

The caster, and anyone included in the area when he casts the spell, gets +3 or +8 to resist spells that affect the mind and all mental Psionic attacks.
This is a Mind Control spell.

Duration: 1 minute.
Base Cost: 3 (min area 2). Increase base cost to 8 for +8 to resist.  Same to maintain.
Time to Cast: 3 seconds.
Prerequisites: Magery 2 and Strengthen Will.

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