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Spell target question and consequences


tehR

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Hello,

The situation is: my player misunderstood spell casting recipe. The effect of his reading failure was adding his own hairs, nails etc to recipe. By original, it was "Cage of Kind" spell, in Horror's Heart. 

What logic consequences would occur in this case, according to Cthulhu's magic manner?

 

edit: 

I didn't add one important thing. It's about undoing spell. So, player was trying to undo spell which was never cast on him.

Edited by tehR
reason for edit was important :p
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It was a protective spell designed to stop another spell that was never actually cast?

I'd have their hair, nails, and skin grow thick, like armor, to reflect the cosmic energy that wasn't used to protect from that spell. They gain some amount of DR, but they are so hideous that they take a penalty die on all social rolls except intimidate. And if that isn't enough, maybe people need to make SAN rolls when they see them too.

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I am not really a Cthulhu player.. (mostly BRP, RevolutionD100, Mythras) but like to read Cthulhu thread out of curiosity and, of course, I haven't read this adventure.. hence take my opinion with a grain of salt...

I would say logic is not too important, it could be what you want for best impact....
- maybe the players have enough problem as it is and nothings happen.
- maybe something appropriately horrible happen, like their mind is unravelled leaving hem like a baby or a vegetable...
- maybe the player destroyed the illusion of rationality and had a glimpse at the true nature of reality.. hence gaining mythos point and losing sanity....

Also, most importantly, the spell was not undone. And probable no alarm bell was raised either since the targeting totally failed...

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Yes, it was my consideration too. I'm just looking for one system answer, if such even exists: having that this is Cthulhu stuff, and simply everything might or might not want to eat you, maybe there are some canonical penalties for using magic wrong? 

What Klecser write above, is in some way like "monkey's paw" idea, and I think follows Lovecraft drama in some way.

Edited by tehR
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8 hours ago, tehR said:

I'm just looking for one system answer, if such even exists:

I honestly don't think it does. IIRC, both the Keeper Rulebook and Gand Grimoire both suggest many alternatives for failed spell castings, but I don't remember there being a unified way to do it.

Serious question: Why SHOULD there be a unified way to do it?

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