[UA] Preliminary thoughts for caffiene-based magick

[daniel r. lackey]

These are some rough guidelines for Dewmancy, a school of magick that I
thought up while at work last night and am currently developing.  I'm
stuck on a lot of things, so if anyone has any suggestions, send 'em my
way.

DEWMANCY

"I NEED MORE COFFFFFFEEEEEE!"
-- "The State"

Formulated by a reckless daredevil who'd seen a few too many Mountain
Dew commercials, Dewmancy is a newcomer to the occult underground scene
(the Sleepers' records of the first manifestation of this school dates
back to 1997).  Dewmancers derive their powers from the consumption of
caffiene in any form, giving them the ability to control the flux and
ebb of all sorts of energy -- physical, emotional, spiritual, you name
it.  Of course, since caffiene is a stimulant, the Dewmancer must
surrender control of his or her own energies.

The Dewmancers haven't been on the scene long enough to have garnered a
nickname they'd actually care to be called, but have been known to refer
to themselves as "Dewds" or "disciples of the Dew".

Veteran Dewmancers are known by their manic but nervous and cranky
nature.  Hey, if you could never sleep for more than two hours on end,
you wouldn't be happy either.

Dewmancy magick tends to be fairly powerful -- charges (at least minor
ones) are easy to come by -- just head down to your local Starbucks and
chug down a double espresso -- but hard to hold, as anyone who's stayed
up for three days straight and then crashed for eighteen hours will be
more than happy to tell you.

Random Magick Style: As stated, Dewmancers have power over energy;
they've used charges to fuel motorcycles, cram for history exams, send
astral parasites a-packin', and perform amazing feats of physical
activity.  The one unbreakable rule is that Dewmancers may not use
magick to fight their number-one enemy: sleep.

Dewmancy Blast Style (a/k/a The Mosh): The victim's energy levels surge
out of control.  Targets of the Dewmancy blast have suffered heart
attacks, strokes and ulcers. The minor blast is called The Smack Dab;
the significant blast is called It's Better to Burn Out Than to Fade
Away.  Survivors are usually left nervous and shaky, as if they've had a
few too many Dr. Peppers.

Generate a Minor Charge: Drink one caffinated beverage (a can of
caffinated soda or a cup of Joe) every two hours.  Simple, eh?  But you
gotta make up for lost time: That means if you've gone six hours since
your last can of Jolt, you have to slam three of 'em down before you can
generate one minor charge -- and that includes while you've been
sleeping.

Taboo: Actually, it's twofold.  The first is to drink more than one
non-caffinated beverage over the course of two hours.  (Since caffiene
dehydrates, a _little_ leeway must be given so the poor souls don't kill
themselves within six months.)  The second is to go for two hours
without drinking a caffinated beverage -- and this includes by sleeping.
This, coupled with the relative difficulty of generating a minor charge
if you've gone without for a few hours, makes Dewmancers reluctant to
sleep for any more than, say, four hours on end.  (As the founder of
this school is fond of saying, "Sleep is for the _weak_!")

Here's a few sample spells.  Since I haven't actually ran the game yet,
I haven't actually classified them as either minor or significant
effects yet, so any advice is more than welcome.

* CRAM: The Dewmancer adds half his Soul rating to one Photographic
Memory roll (maximum 90%) made during a two-hour period.
* THE DOUBLE DOG DARE: The Dewmancer can double the cost of any other
magus's spell by spending the casting cost of Double Dare plus the cost
of the target spell.  Example: Amanda the Pornomancer is getting pretty
sick of her boyfriend Jeremy's reluctance to performing weird-ass Naked
Goddess sex acts, so she casts The Smouldering Glance to make Jeremy a
little more... willing.  However, Jeremy's a disciple of the Dew, so he
casts Double Dare and now that kinky bitch has to spend two significant
charges as opposed to just one.
* EXTREME: A +20% shift to any non-combat (attack or dodge) Body or
Speed (or related skill) roll in the interest of surviving a physical
action that could reasonably cost him his life (such as jumping off a
six-story building).
* I CALL SHOTGUN: The next Initiative roll the Dewmancer makes is
automatically a success no matter what (except if it's a BOHICA) and
adds 20% to the result, even if it puts the result over 100.
* I'M THA MAN: A +20% shift to any Soul (or Soul skill) for the purposes
of looking like the coolest mofo in town.
* THAT WAS _INTENSE_: One attack made at the Dewmancer that does
firearm-style damage is reduced to doing blunt-trauma damage.  Example:
John Tynes is getting pretty sick of Daniel Lackey's incessant
brown-nosing about how great his stuff is, so he shoots Dan in the face
with a Browning Hi-Power, rolling a respectable 79 on his Shoot Fanboy
skill.  However, Dan's a disciple of the Dew and casts That Was
_Intense_, so he only takes 7+9 = 16 points of damage and only takes a
few points of head trauma, as opposed to having his head splattered
across some back-alley.

Whaddaya think?

--
daniel r. lackey
drlackey at mindless.com
http://home.earthlink.net/~jmdreyfuss/
--
"Be regular and orderly in your life,
that you may be violent and original in your work."
                                    -- Clive Barker