Soul Crystals and Incarnum

Post/Author/DateTimePost
#1

CmdrCorsiken

Nov 14, 2007 21:39:56		Just wondering...

I'm only just now delving into the Shadow Elves gazetteer and the information about the Soul Crystals. If these Soul Crystals and the Radience are the source of shadow elf magical power, how much of the Magic of Incarnum book be adapted to mechanically represent Soul Crystals in Mystara? I don't have the book right now and had not intended to get it; but if it proves to be useful in my Mystara campaigns, I might pick up.

Any thoughts on this idea?

Thanks!
#2

twin_campaigns

Nov 15, 2007 1:33:31 		I'm not familiar with that book, so I can't help there. But Soul Crystals are a very versatile element, fit for many game systems. Currently we are using HARP in our weekly campaigns, and I adapted the Soul Crystals to that system.

As I've interpreted it, the crystals themselves are not the source of shadowelven magic, rather than a way through which the shamans can augment their powers. This is a big difference to the Glantrian variant of the Radiance, as it is used to augment arcane (magic-user) magic, not divine magic. The shamans gain their powers from Rafiel, but Rafiel has taught them the way to enhance them through the crystals.

In HARP I have handled it thus:
- Only the higher level shamans gain a soul crystal, and even they use their powers sparingly. After all, the big project of Rafiel depends on gathering a critical mass of intact crystals.
- All users of the crystals can use them as "Spell Adders" (which is similar to that in Rolemaster, but in HARP it is much more powerful due to some features of the game system), but ones which "burn" souls and are thus limited magic items. I'd say that the shamans don't consider this to destroy the souls rather than delay their return to the world of the living - thus from their viewpoint those unborn souls are servicing Rafiel. (From Rafiel's viewpoint, of course, the whole soul-thing is an elaborate hoax.)
- White shamans and the Radiant Shaman can also use the crystals to gain access to "High Magic", which is similar in HARP to the Radiance effects in OD&D. Sort of a quantum leap in spell-power.