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Looking for Demon Creation rules


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A long time ago I saw an Eternal Champion series book that gave a point-buy system for demon creation.  I don't see the idea mentioned in my copy of the rules, Companion Books 1 & 2, Rogue Mistress, White Wolf, or Ship of Fools.  Does this subsystem sound familiar to anyone?  

Edited by rick.darwin
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  • rick.darwin changed the title to Looking for Demon Creation rules

I am pretty sure that Ben Monroe’s 4th edition of Chaosium’s Stormbringer book had a very detailed point buy system for demon summoning if i understand your question right. Also the cover art on that edition was incredible!

Check out our homebrew rules for freeform magic in BRP ->

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A version of the system from  Elric! is in the Magic World supplement Advanced Sorcery . It’s been a very long time since I looked at them side by side so I can’t recall all the differences between the SB4e systems and Elric! nor whether Ben made any significant changes when he put the Elric! / SB5 demonology rules into Advanced Sorcery as the Summoners Art.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/19/2024 at 9:03 PM, rsanford said:

I am pretty sure that Ben Monroe’s 4th edition of Chaosium’s Stormbringer book had a very detailed point buy system for demon summoning if i understand your question right. Also the cover art on that edition was incredible!

 

On 7/19/2024 at 10:25 PM, NickMiddleton said:

A version of the system from  Elric! is in the Magic World supplement Advanced Sorcery . It’s been a very long time since I looked at them side by side so I can’t recall all the differences between the SB4e systems and Elric! nor whether Ben made any significant changes when he put the Elric! / SB5 demonology rules into Advanced Sorcery as the Summoners Art.

In Elric!, you spent MP during the summoning, which you used to create your demon.

I don't think SB ever used Magic Points, even in its 4th edition.

As for which edition had more options than the other, I have no idea...

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On 8/13/2024 at 6:52 AM, Mugen said:

 

In Elric!, you spent MP during the summoning, which you used to create your demon.

I don't think SB ever used Magic Points, even in its 4th edition.

No and yes. Technically Stormbringer didn't use magic points, but it did use Temporary POW, which functionally was the same thing. Back before RQ3 they used to have "temporary POW point", used for Battle Magic and in spirit combat,  and "permanent POW points", used for Rune magic.  Summoners had to spend temporary POW to summon demons and used a "brazier of power" as a POW/Magic Point storage battery. IN RQ3 they renamed temporary POW "Magic Points" to clarify things. 

On 8/13/2024 at 6:52 AM, Mugen said:

As for which edition had more options than the other, I have no idea...

The latter editions (about Strombringer 4 onwards) tended to have more options, but the earlier editions tended to have more powerful Demons, and more powerful Sorcerers. The T&T influence was very strong in SB1, where demons were built with the same number of characteristic points as the summoner who conjured them up. The summoner just got to reassign most of them (Demon POW was randomly rolled). Demons in first edition were incredibly powerful, especially if embodied into weapons or armor. Demon Weapons go a +1D6 damage bonus per 10 STR, so even a middling summoner could get a demon weapon that did 4-5D6 damage. Weapons doing ten or more dice were possible for powerful sorcerers. Demon armor was (mostly) imperious to normal weapons and had hit points equal to the demon's CON, which had to be depleted before the wearer was injured.

From Elric! onward (Strombringer 5, Magic World's Advanced Sorcery) the die ladder (1 magic point for d2, 2 magic points for D4, etc. was used to buy demon abilities and this greatly reduced demon capabilities. Demons were still powerful, but to get something that did the equivalent of +5D6 (+3D10 or so in Elric!) would cost a lot  (15) of the summoner's magic points, and most sorcerers only had 20-30 magic points available to spend on the demon, as opposed to 80-130 characteristic points. Especially if they wanted to keep a few magic point on hand for spells in case something went wrong, which it sometimes did.

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

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