Sentai Fhtagn Spell Poll

[Username17]

So a Witch has techs available to them, which are basically spells. And these have to have names. And those names can be as direct or flowery as you want. But thematically they should be comparably direct or flowery. It's no good to have the spell that shoots fire be called "Firebolt" and the spell that shoots ice be called "Blizzard of Arnath."

The tradeoff is obvious. The more direct the terminology the easier it is to figure out and remember what this shit does. The more insane and elaborate the terminology the more evocative and arcane it is.

-Username17

[Sakuya Izayoi]

Went with Shroud of Aeons. I like that it's immediately evocative, before I've actually read any lore, or learned Klingon, but its less explicit than Modify Memory or Cloud Memory, and thus retains a bit of wonder to it.

It also reminds me of some of my favorite spell names that are actually terrible at describing what they do, but are fun anyway, like "Shine Aqua Illusion" and "Love-colored Master Spark".

[erik]

While I'd be okay for something more evocative than Cloud Memory, the next most colorful choices I would either did not get myself or would have to explain to others in my gaming group. I guess my priority is on near-universal comprehension as opposed to themeatrics.

So ideally it would be something between Cloud Memory and Castigation of Lethe for me at least. Honestly in my group they'd probably call it Jedi Mind Trick anyway.

[angelfromanotherpin]

I think the basic effect should be practically-named Arkham-style, but if there's any white space left on the name line, use that for example name(s) that are Derleth-elaborate.

Essentially, the base name is what EarthGov calls the effect, the other ones are what ancient tomes and lunatic witches call it.

[Previn]

I went with Modify Memory. I want to be able to quickly and cleanly tell what a spell does. If a player wants to call it Cloud Memory or Castigation of Lethe then let them do since it doesn't have any effect on the game mechanics.

[Lago PARANOIA]

Is this for a specific game? If it isn't, then for the types of games that I like to run/play -- namely, games with lists of non-interchangeable abilities -- I prefer Cloud Memory. It's a nice compromise between being immediately descriptive while also allowing enough room for additional effects. The SR naming convention is fine for games with small spell lists (like, um, Shadowrun) or with kludged ability sets (like most point-buy supers games) but for games like D&D you want there to be an at-a-glance distinction between Photographic Memory, Phobia, and Amnesia.

[TheFlatline]

Cloud Memory/Cloud Mind also invokes the 30's pulp hero The Shadow. Not necessarily a bad thing there even in a ChtulhuTech setting.

[Blicero]

What's the difference between Derleth-style and White Wolf-style?

[Maxus]

White Wolf style involves a sideways reference to the one who did it first. Lethe is the name of a mythological Greek river which induces forgetfulness.

Derleth is just a more cosmic vocabulary.

[TiaC]

I like Castigation of Lethe because the only association I have with Lethe is forgetfulness. It manages to be evocative while still being quite clear about its effects.

[Wiseman]

But most people don't know what the Lethe is. So I'd actually go for cloud memory or something that clearly says what it does, and then in parenthesis or at the bottom give it a flavorful in setting name.

[rapa-nui]

Arkham Style. Have some flair, but mostly be straightforward.

[Blade]

Depends on the game.

If magic is something well-known, studied and documented, there's no reason for spells to have complex names. A fireball spell, is a fireball spell. If magic is something strange done by weird, eccentric proud and vain people, a fireball spell is the "Most Excellent Spherical Flaming Conjuration of Abathor the Great".

Then there are practical considerations: you need the GM to be able to understand what the player is trying to do when he says that he's casting "Gruiledur's Seven Immaculate Blessings". That's easier to do if your game has only has a handful of spells, or if the player learns to say things like "I'll heal him using Gruiledur's Seven Immaculate Blessings" instead of just "I cast Gruiledur's Seven Immaculate Blessings".

[erik]

I don't know people who would say "Gruiledur's Seven Immaculate Blessings" more than once. That invariably will get shortened to Blessings or G7 or something of that nature.

[Username17]

Is this for a specific game?

Yes. It's for Sentai Fhtagn.

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Magic Beyond Understanding

Devices that operate on principles that Union science does not fully understand is called arcanotechnology, but things people can do themselves that cannot be adequately explained are called “magic” for lack of a better word. Magical ability is no more evenly distributed in the population than athletic or civil engineering ability is. While there are sorcerous incantations that can be used by anyone (and are either top secret or taught in schools depending on how dangerous they are considered by Union Security), there are many others that can only be used by people who have a great deal of magic channeling ability. Those with such ability are called Witches or Summoners. Those who lack this capability may not achieve anything when attempting a more difficult piece of sorcery, but sometimes they have terrible consequences on the mind and body.
Magical capability is a trainable skill, but the greatest powers are only attained by those who have intrinsic talent. These talents are mostly discovered or activated in children, and often burn out in adulthood. Those who have untapped magical potential are considered high priority targets by many of the Union's enemies, and those who could become Witches or Summoners and do not have poor life expectancy. Magical potency can be granted to a person by means available to the Great Old Ones, and the promise of this procedure is often used as a recruiting tool by terrorist cults. Most of the high end magic users of the Union get their starts as children, and these child prodigies are used as child soldiers by necessity.

The Basics

Like arcanotechnology, magic is divided into five color coded categories based on how the Union understands the physics that they interact with. Each powerful magic beyond what a normal human can channel is called a tech. A Witch or Summoner can learn to utilize techs from all five branches, but they need to be potentiated by one of the types of magic, and the type of magic that runs through them to give them this magical potential is called their aspect. But while a green aspected Witch can learn a blue Witch tech, they would not be able to learn a green Summoner tech. Witches learn and use Witch techs, and Summoners learn and use Summoner techs. Witches and Summoners can learn techs from others of their kind or magical writings, but can also learn new techs spontaneously in their sleep.
A Summoner's techs mostly work with and through their servitor(s). A servitor is a monster that is called forth (and hopefully controlled) by the Summoner. Most servitors are yaoguai, though it is possible for a Summoner to be powerful enough to have a kaiju servitor. Each type of magic has different means of calling forth a servitor, and the Summoner is permanently aspected towards the type of magic they first use to acquire a servitor. Most Summoners can be attuned to one servitor at a time, and use their techs through that servitor. If they acquire multiple servitors, they would have to switch their attunement to another servitor before they could use techs through it. An unattuned servitor is potentially very dangerous, and most Summoners with multiple servitors use a method to bind and/or store servitors that they are not attuned to. Some Summoners can manage to be attuned to two or more servitors at once.
A Witch's techs come directly from themselves. A Witch's body acts as their own magical conduit, and in order to do that the Witch must potentiate themselves with magical power in a process called assuming the aspect. When this happens, the Witch is immediately identifiable as a Witch; and the sign of their aspect is clearly visible, usually on the hand or forehead. While a Witch's aspect has been assumed, they are enhanced physically.

Summoners

A person is counted as a Summoner because they have the potential to learn and use Summoner techs, but most Summoners are discovered because as children they dream up their first tech and acquire a servitor. Those new Summoners who lose control over their servitors at this point rarely survive long enough to get it right the second time.
Servitors can be acquired in many ways, and the methods of acquisition are highly dependent upon the Summoner's aspect. A red aspected Summoner will open a gate to call their servitor from a distant place in spacetime, a yellow aspected Summoner will probabilistically have their servitor appear from the void, a green aspected Summoner will pull their servitor out of the Underworld from their own nightmares, a blue aspected Summoner will pry their servitor from a spacetime juncture, and a purple aspected Summoner will literally Frankenstein themselves a servitor out of biological materials and enchantments.
Once a Summoner has their servitor, they can learn and use techs that enhance or operate through their servitor. They can even acquire new servitors, though this is usually done by subduing and binding a yaoguai rather than by calling or producing one like the Summoner's first servitor. Each Summoner has a control limit, and each potential servitor has a power level. A Summoner can be attuned to one or more servitors so long as their combined power level does not exceed their control limit. Note that many giant sized creatures and even kaiju have power levels that just happen to be very large. Very accomplished Summoners might have a Gug or Dhole as an attuned servitor. The career of a new Summoner whose first servitor has a power level higher than their control limit is generally short and terrible.
Unattuned servitors are very dangerous and uncontrolled, so many Summoners use techs to safely store their unattuned servitors outside normal spacetime while not in use. Red aspected Summoners place their stored servitors in self contained timespace warp bubbles. Yellow aspected Summoners decoherentize their stored servitor's wave-form, causing them to sublimate into the vacuum energy. Green aspected Summoners transfer their stored servitors to their own dreams where they no longer take up realspace or progress in realtime. Blue aspected Summoners shift their servitors just a few degrees out of spacetime. And purple aspected Summoners draw their servitors into their own bodies when not in use. All of these techniques can be used with a fair amount of time and effort on the part of the summoner, and there are a number of arcanotech tools that speed up the process to the point where it can be used in combat. While the physics and appearance of the different storage methods are all very different, in game terms storage and retrieval of servitors is treated the same for every aspect.

Witches

A person is counted as a Witch from the first moment they assume their aspect. This spontaneously occurs shortly after puberty in most cases, as the child dreams the tech to assume their aspect and then invokes it in their waking lives. When the aspect is assumed, the Witch's clothing changes to appear how they dream themselves, which is sometimes embarrassing. In addition, a Witch with an assumed aspect has the sign of their aspect (red sign, yellow sign, cage of Azathoth, elder sign, or sign of the Dark Mother) prominently appear as a glowing sigil on the hand or forehead, but they also glow softly and give off an eery vibe that most anyone will recognize as active witchcraft. A Witch can only effectively disguise their nature by powering down, a process which also restores their civilian clothing.
While the aspect is assumed, a Witch is physically enhanced and extremely durable. When their sign is visible, a Witch generates their own eldritch field, and is thus able to strike those yaoguai normally immune to normal weapons as well as being personally protected from mundane inconveniences as long falls or bullets. Each Witch has a power level, which operates the same as the power level of a yaoguai or a Summoner's servitor. Witch techs require a certain amount of power to be channeled into them to activate or maintain called its power draw. A Witch can use techs whose total power draw does not exceed their power level safely. A Witch who attempts to channel more power draw worth of techs than their own power level is subjected to a painful and potentially lethal backlash called burn.
Some Witches have familiars. A familiar is an Imp, a shapeshifting alien that comes to Earth to teach potential Witches the techs that allow them to become Witches. As Imps usually present themselves to young people before they have assumed their aspect for the first time, most Imps assume the forms of small animals that children might regard as nonthreatening or cute. The Union does not know what Imps get out of these mentorship programs, nor does it know what the longterm goals of the Imps might be (or even if the Imps are all on the same side). However, the Union does know that they are desperately short of Witches, and the Imps do seem to increase the number of Witches available as well as enhance the powers of those Witches they do have. Witches with familiars are not presently considered a security threat, though there were certainly arguments about that in Union Security meetings.
There is no practical difference between a tech that a Witch learns from another Witch, an eldritch text, or their familiar and a tech that a Witch is inspired to understand in their dreams. However, a Witch will only ever spontaneously learn techs from their own aspect. Techs learned from mentors or texts can be from any aspect.

---

Anyway, that's what the caster types are looking like at the moment, so the question is about how to name the techs that they learn.

-Username17

[momothefiddler]

In that case I'd almost definitely go for SR Style for Summoners (straightforward and sciency) and Derleth Style for Witches (arcane without requiring player knowledge of specific mythology to easily understand). I've had a hard time answering this, though, because I keep getting hung up on the specific example: the Jedi Mind Trick isn't really about forgetting things... is it?

[Krusk]

I'm torn between the bluntly obvious SR method for ease of use and the derleth cool flavor style for authenticity.

My instinct is to go with derleth because anyone playing/buying this is going to have a decent knowledge base already (based on it being relatively niche) but maybe they have friends. And I assume friends don't have that knowledge and might find it off putting, so I went with SR method.

[name_here]

Given the setting, I don't think having Derleth style names is up for debate. SR/Arkam horror style can be used for the indexing, but fancier names should appear somewhere.

[Maxus]

It seems to me that Witches are going to have their own names for what they do, magic being such an individualized thing. So in the game it might be called Fireball, but the character calls it Roxie's Fantabulous Boomilation or something.

[NineInchNall]

I would have voted for Shroud of Lethe, since "castigation" doesn't really seem to have much to do with the mind trick stuff, and "aeons" don't really have to pass for the thing to be useful.

[momothefiddler]

I would have voted for Shroud of Lethe, since "castigation" doesn't really seem to have much to do with the mind trick stuff, and "aeons" don't really have to pass for the thing to be useful.

I figured "Shroud of Aeons" was pretty clearly "obscure memories as though it had been a super long time, which obscures memories pretty well"

...but I chose it because I perceived it to be clear, and if you're not getting that from it, maybe it's insufficiently clear. It's important that people be able to make some connection between the name of the spell and the function thereof.

[TiaC]

I would have voted for Shroud of Lethe, since "castigation" doesn't really seem to have much to do with the mind trick stuff, and "aeons" don't really have to pass for the thing to be useful.

I figured "Shroud of Aeons" was pretty clearly "obscure memories as though it had been a super long time, which obscures memories pretty well"

...but I chose it because I perceived it to be clear, and if you're not getting that from it, maybe it's insufficiently clear. It's important that people be able to make some connection between the name of the spell and the function thereof.

Yeah, that was my main issue with it. It sounds more like an aging spell to me. My earlier point about Castigation of Lethe was that for all that it is flowery, I knew exactly what it meant.

[Lokathor]

Given the setting, I don't think having Derleth style names is up for debate. SR/Arkam horror style can be used for the indexing, but fancier names should appear somewhere.

It seems like the ideal method might be to have SR style names for indexing and then somewhere in the entry it gives the flavor-name that the spell is known by to the different aspects. So, in the same way that every aspect has summoning with different fluff and identical rules, every aspect has "firebolt" but to some it's known as "breath of azathoth" and to others it's called "celestial angle shift" and to others it's a "tunnel rupture". Perhaps each spell has a single cannonical name for each of the five aspects, or each spell might go under more than one name depending on how particular witches imagine the spell operating within their aspect (like a SR spell formula being different among traditions for the same spell). Certainly, all of the Sailor Scouts could probably have their initial "basic attack" represented by a single spell even though they each call it something different.

[Username17]

So there are basically several kinds of spellcasters:

• Witches are Heroic Tier primary spellcasters who have their own Eldritch Fields and are expected to do the heavy lifting with their magic while doing basic super hero work. There are five flavors of them, and each needs about 3 "attack techs" and probably about 8 "utility techs."
• Summoners are Heroic Tier pokemasters who have some buffs but mostly fall back on their Yaoguai. There are five flavors of them, but the basic creature management techs can be universal. So there only needs to be maybe 3 or 4 of them per color and maybe 6 universal techs.
• Sorcerers are Agent Tier cultists and magic specialists. They also come in five flavors of course, but they are not expected to have their own Eldritch Field and may not have a magical "attack." It's totally acceptable for them to have to whip out a cutting laser or curvy sword when things get fighty, and they might not expect to do anything but run away from combat of any sort. Their techs are low end and can be learned by both Witches and Summoners, and there probably needs to be about 5 or 6 techs per color.
• Monsters. Includes playable monsters like Goat Spawn and Symbiotes. I genuinely don't know how many critter powers we need.

The combined tech list would therefore seem to be about 110 techs for Agent and Heroic casters. At about 60 words per tech, that's circa 6,600 words, and probably about 9 pages. That doesn't include the monster powers or the mighty rituals of vast power rules.

-Username17

[DrPraetor]

To review-
Miko Mido (La Blue Girl) is a purple witch, which is why she can... er... fight Yaoguai on an equal footing.

Mao Otori (Inma Seiden) is a purple summoner. She has a single pet Yaoguai of her own, who turns into a monster and fights for her. If she has magic of her own, it is agent-level stuff.
Notably, her Yaoguai teaches 7th grade - "forced to pretend to be human" should be a form of binding.

Finally, Niki Yuichi (Legend of the Overfiend) has a purple symbiote which is also a Mr. Stud implant. He doesn't know any magic.

These are all heroic-tier characters. Do I have that right?