The Magic of A Song of Ice and Fire

[Rene]

Hi, folks. I've been playing aroung with building the magic powers from George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" in HERO terms.

 

The first of these is the "Warg" ability, possessed by the Stark children.

 

Telepathy 12d6 vs. the Animal Class of Minds, Only Works on a Single Animal Follower (-2), Receive Only (-½), Mandatory Effect: EGO +20 (-½), Constant Concentration, 0 DCV, Unaware of Nearby Events (-1½), Side Effect: Personality Loss (-¼), ½ END Cost (+¼), 75 Active Points, 13 Real Points

 

PLUS

 

Clairsentience, All Five Senses, x8 Range, Only Through the Senses of Animal Follower (-1), Blackout (-½), Constant Concentration, 0 DCV (-1), Side Effect: Personality Loss (-¼), Costs END Only to Activate (+¼), Linked to Telepathy (-½), 62 Active Points, 15 Real Points

 

 

This is the basic ability. Basically the character can get "inside the head" of his animal companion and must enter into a trance to do so, as reflected by the Concentration Lim. This is more like Possession than Telepathy per se, since the character feels like he *is* his animal companion. The Side Effect reflects this. After a while, the character will have to make EGO Rolls to retain his self and "return" to his own body.

 

 

More advanced wargs also have:

 

Mind Control 6d6 vs. the Animal Class of Minds, Telepathic (+¼), Continuous (+1), Only Works on a Single Animal Companion (-2), Constant Concentration, 0 DCV, Unaware of Nearby Events (-1½), Side Effect: Personality Loss (-¼), ½ END Cost (+¼), Linked to Telepathy (-½), 75 Active Points, 14 Real Points

 

 

The character now can retain a greater sense of self and make the animal act in unnatural "human-like" ways, as reflected by commands issued through the Mind Control power. This power is Continuous, the character don't need to make new ECV rolls to issue new commands.

 

Note also that an animal companion normally will not make Breakout Rolls. It will dutifully accept it's "rider".

 

 

Options:

 

Novice Warg: Add "No Conscious Control (-2)" Limitation to Telepathy and Clairsentience. The character usually will experiment "wolf dreams" when he sleeps, sliding into the mind of his animal companion while he dreams.

 

Experienced Warg: Change the Lim "Only Works on a Single Animal Follower" to "Only Work on Several Animal Companions". This character has acquired a collection of animals.

[Melchior777]

Looks good to me. The only part I would add is an experienced level to simulate the effects that Brandon had late in book three where he spoke to John through a tree.

[Rene]

I'm not sure how to build this part of the ability, Melchior. Maybe using Mind Scan, since Bran communicated with Jon from a long, long distance. And then a Mind Link, usable only with other wargs.

[Melchior777]

Allow the player to 'buy off' the "only through animal follower" limitation on the clairsentience and telepathy power. As they put more points into it I would create a scale. The lowest point would be "only through animal follower." The next level could be "Only through animal follower and weirwoods" or "only through dreams."

[Rene]

The problem is that the weyrwood thing would have different modifiers. Things like "Receive Only" and "Personality Loss" wouldn't really apply. Also, it works over a MUCH greater range. So I think it should be built as a different power. Maybe we should put it together with the wolf thing in a Elemental Control, though, since they're all warg abilities.

 

Anyway, it was an ability Bran used only once, and we just saw it from Jon's POV in a dream. It hasn't been defined enough for us to write it-up, IMO.

[Rene]

More abilities from "A Song of Ice and Fire".

 

Greendreaming:

 

Clairsentience, Precognition Option, Precognition Only (-1), Only Through Dreams (-1), Vague and Unclear (-½), 40 Active Points, 11 Real Points

 

The character experiments "Green Dreams" that ALWAYS come true. But the dreams are "Vague and Unclear" because they rely heavily on symbolism in the way they depict future events, so a GM could more easily contrive things to make the dream come true.

 

 

Gazing into the fires of Rh'llor:

 

Clairsentience, Precognition Option, Precognition Only (-1), OIF: Bonfire of Opportunity (½), Extra Time: 1 Turn (-1¼), Constant Concentration, 0 DCV (-1). 40 Active Points, 8 Real Points

 

The character, usually a priest or believer in Rh'llor, God of Fire and Shadow, can have visions of future events when looking into the fire. These visions are considerably clearer than Greendreaming, only they don't always come true. They can be from "alternate futures", the same way a fire can cast several different shadows, so a person can have several futures.