Mister E Missive #4: Happy Halloween
Howdy Agents. I thought this week I’d give ya’ll something to play around with. Have you ever thought about adding Natural cures and magic to your games? What I’m about to share with you is known by many practitioners of natural magic around the world today and with some tweaking for your game could easily be put into practice.
Any one of these could be learned during a mission or by having the agents make Knowledge (Mystical) rolls, though it is HIGHLY recommended that you limit the use of natural magic as too much gives an unfair advantage to the wielders, though it could make for an interesting bad guy.
Bryony: Herbaceous climbing plant. Black Bryony was mandrake, while white bryony was womandrake and both may be used as a purgative (reduces the effects of poison by allowing a new Vigor check to overcome Fatigue or wounds caused by some poisoning effects. (Each success and Raise reduces Fatigue level or wound level by one).
Fern Plants and Flowers: May be carried to provide protection from lightning (reduces electrical powered trapping damage by -1). If collected on Midsummer’s Eve and carried it bestows Deflection (-2) upon the carrier for 3 hours from the time it is cut.
Foxglove: A woodland plant with purple or white flowers with healing properties to both the spirit and the body. (When used with a Healing roll add +1 to the die result).
Garlic: May be used to ward off evil spirits or the undead. It must be worn, placed, or carried and requires at least one pound of it to be effective. Any evil spirit, demon, or undead that attempts to cross a threshold covered in garlic or to attack someone thus protected must make a Spirit roll (this roll must be made only once and if failed the attack automatically fails. This is only good for the first round of combat). Negatively, anyone wearing or carrying a pound of garlic suffers a -2 Charisma.
Hawthorn: Traditionally thought to be the thorny vine from which the Crown of Thorns was made that was placed on Christ’s brow. Often used in rituals of black magic to inflict harm or pain on a chosen victim, usually used with a doll or other representation of the victim. Often used on Halloween to attract the faerie and other malevolent spirits.
Hazel Wood: When used as a talisman (such as a wand), the Knowledge (Mystical) activation roll receives a +1 bonus.
Hemlock– Poisonous plant often used when summoning demons or spirits. When used in investigating ghosts or other spirits add a +1 to the first relevant Notice roll.
Marigold flowers– May be used to ward off evil. When worn openly on clothing or in the hair, the wearer gains a +1 Parry versus anything evil that tries to attack him. The effect only lasts for one hour from the time the flower is cut.
Walnuts: When placed under a chair upon which a witch sits, the witch/demonically possessed person is immediately bound to the chair until the walnuts are removed.
Hope you enjoyed this excursion into natural magic. Remember to let us know how your game is going. Send stories, character bios, bad guy stats, monsters, reports, mission briefings, or anything else you want to share to misterE@oblivioncentral.com.
Be sure to check out our forums. Some great story threads going on there, please feel free to join in on the fun. Looking for a couple more agents to play in my story there!
Till next time, don’t forget to duck!
Ed
