Increased Power Through Contact Successes

[Bret Gillan]

Short question: Using the option to add exta Power to a Demon for successes gained on a Contact roll (pg. 92) should you use the modified power for the subsequent Humanity rolls?

We used this option in a campaign of mine and in the Sorcerer got a large number of successes on his Contact roll, changing a relatively low-powered demon into a high-powered one and causing him to fail the next three Humanity rolls taking him from a 3 to a 0.

While it was very dramatic and the player was pleased with how it worked out narratively, we were wondering if we'd done things correctly since the character was "punished" for being more successful.

[Ron Edwards]

Hiya,

Yup, you did it right. The demon's Power turns out to be "bigger than I thought," unless there's some other in-game explanation (local definition of demon/sorcery) for the mechanical increase.

Your perception of "punishment" is interesting. The Summons and Binding are voluntary, so it seems to me that the player did not get sidelined by the Humanity dropping to 0. It seems rather to me that he chose to risk it, stepwise, point by point. He got a big demon. Did he still want to Bind it, knowing it was big? The answer "yes" carries its consequences, in Sorcerer.

Tell me more about the game, what happened, and who's playing. It sounds interesting.

And especially, what you and the group will do with a 0-Humanity character.

Best,
Ron

[Bret Gillan]

The player was Shael, who apart from me is the only member of my circle of friends who is enthusiastic about anything that's not Exalted.

His character was an Arabic man who had been mistreated in the wake of 9/11 (lost his job as a dockworker for "lowering morale") and was using sorcery as a means to take back what was rightfully his.

His Kicker was this his daughter had been beaten comatose in an act of racial hatred.

The game was progressing with him pursuing the perpetrator of the crime when his daughter's health took a turn for the worse. The doctors told him she didn't have a lot of time left, so he undertook to summon a demon to save her/heal her.

The reason he chose to continue summoning the demon despite the demon's power and the risk to his Humanity was his daughter's life was at stake and there was a time limit.

The Binding concluded with the character dropping to Humanity 0 and being dragged down into Hell. Humanity has been defined in this game as obedience to God, with Faustian thematics. Humanity 0 = Go to Hell.

Shael was very happy with his character making the "ultimate" sacrifice, and continued play as his original character's daughter, who now had a Possessor demon who was obsessed with her sexually following her around and claiming to be her guardian angel whom her father had contacted to save her.

It was deliciously wrong. :]

[Michael S. Miller]

Shael was very happy with his character making the "ultimate" sacrifice, and continued play as his original character's daughter, who now had a Possessor demon who was obsessed with her sexually following her around and claiming to be her guardian angel whom her father had contacted to save her.

Now that's a Sorcerer game. Bravo, Bret & Shael!