Implementing Immortality through various magical means

[Furious D]

In the previous thread I did some unstructured brainstorming.  Here I've stuck together my favorite thoughts and rules (my own and what other people posted) on this potential game balance destroying issue (including a couple new methods other than the straight body jumping).  

*Disclaimer, these are the spells as I would use them in my game.  Your mileage may vary.  Feel free to swipe and adjust to fit your prefered style of play, or ignore them.  It won't make me sad.

So, without further ado, here are a few ways to cheat death.  Mostly just fluff, comments are welcome.

Soul Swap
Spell of Many
CTN = 8 (casting time: 8 hours)
T) 3 R) 1 V) 0 D) 0 L) 4 (3+1+1+1-2)
Vagary(s): Conquer 3, Vision 3, Summoning 3, Imprisonment 3
Effect(s): Implant 3, Control 3, Repress 3, Clairvoyance 3, Telepathy 3, Spirit 3
Instantaneous(but with permanent effect)

Legends tell of vile sorcerors who could extract the souls of the living from their victims and steal their bodies to replace their own decaying forms.  These tales are not unfounded, though this magic's dangerous "all or nothing" nature has limited it's use to all but the most deranged or desperate of magic users.

One major roadblock to this spell's use is the requirement that the victim also be Gifted.  The power of the Gift is at least partly physiological (the aging mechanic seems to support there being a connection to a mage's physical form) and thus, unless the caster is willing to take a non-gifted host body, it requires the procurement of another sorceror.  Once a suitable victim has been found (not a small task, considering the rarity of the Gift), and subdued in sorcerous combat (you'd also want to limit yourself to sorcerors much less experienced than yourself), the ritual may then be prepared.

*Failure at any point is not an option!  Missing the initial roll results in 8 months automatic aging.  Losing the opposed check against the victim or fumbling at any time results in death for the caster.*

The physical portion of the ritual usually involves restraining the victim on a wide table (wide enough for two bodies) with the sorceror laying beside him/her.  Physical contact must be maintained throughout the duration of the spell, or it automatically fails (the caster loses all allocated dice and takes the aging hit).  This effect can be avoided by increasing the CTN by one (thus requiring the caster to stay merely within sight).

Before taking on the new body, the caster must wipe out the physical memory of the target's mind (unless he really wants to have the memories of the host, though this doesn't lower the CTN, as the vision requirement is still required to perform the spiritual manipulations, and the conquer to manipulate the souls).

At the height of the ritual, both souls are extracted from their host bodies.  The victim may make a save with their Willpower, Art, and any available spell pool to resist this (though the mage can use other spells prior to the ritual to reduce these attributes in the victim).  This save is made even if the sorceror has the victim's approval to cast the spell (achieved through persuasion or magic), as the soul resists being seperated from its vessel on a deep spiritual level (SAs can also be applied).

Once both souls are extracted, the Sorceror must use Imprisonment to seal them into their new vessels (especially their own, if they wish to be bound to the new body).  An SP cost must be paid for both spirits as per normal Spirit Imprisonment rules (the seneschal should determine the "greater", "normal", or "lesser" status of both the caster and the victim to determine).  Most sorcerors powerful enough to pull this spell off are seething masses of magical energy, however, and would probably have to pay the cost for imprisoning a Great Spirit (remember this isn't permanent).  Unfortunately, because of the disconnect from their mortal bodies, Mana spells may not be used to draw these dice, as the shock of drawing external magical energy into the spell during casting will disrupt it (causing death for both parties).

Optionally, the caster can forego paying the SP cost for the victim, and just leave his soul floating in the void instead of imprisoning it in his old body.  Doing this automatically earns the caster a haunted (major) disadvatage, as that soul will seek to torment the caster to the end of his days.

Once the imprisonment is complete, however, the caster is not able to fully utilize the new body effectively without practice, hardwork, and rehabilitation.  All attributes except MA and Wit are reduced to 1 temporarily, and increase by 1 every month (providing the caster works at it) until they reach their full value.  These can be bought back faster through the expenditure of SAs (representing extraordinary dedication to rehabilitation) at a reduced cost of 1 SA per attribute point.  For the final full attribute values use the physical attributes and perception of the victim and the attributes of the caster for all others.

Clone
Spell of Many
CTN = 10 (casting time: 10 hours)
T) 3 R) 2 V) 2 D) 0 L) 4 (3+1+1-2)
Vagary(s): Sculpture 3, Growth 3, Vision 3
Effect(s): Composition 3, Intricacy 3, Concept 2, Division 2, Expanding 2, Maturing 2, Clairvoyance 3
Instantaneous(but the permanent effect)

Functionally equivalent to regrowth, this spell allows the sorceror to create a new body identical to his own.  All it requires is a magically preserved portion of his own body at a younger age (thus requiring a good bit of forethought) and a sizable quantity of raw meat (any kind will do, it's only for working material).

The new body's physical attributes are based off those of the original at the time, but is initially weaker and untried.  All physical attributes are lowered by 1 from the original, though each additional casting success allows for the elimination of this penalty for one attribute (ie 6 successes results in a perfect copy of the original's physical attributes).

Once completed, the sorceror may Soul Swap into the new body at reduced difficulty (only one soul is involved, so no saves are made, and the SP cost for Imprisonment only has to be paid for the caster's soul).  Attributes are regained at double the rate described in the Soul Swap spell (including buying with SAs).

Youthful Vigor
Spell of Many
CTN = 11 (casting time: 11 hours)
T) 3 R) 2 V) 2 D) 0 L) 4 (3+1+1+1-2)
Vagary(s): Sculpture 3, Growth 3, Vision 3, Conquer 2
Effect(s): Composition 3, Intricacy 3, Concept 2, Division 2, Expanding 2, Maturing 2, Clairvoyance 3, Implant 2, Repress 1
Instantaneous(but the permanent effect)

Though time may not be reversed, and a body may not get younger, it can be made to function as well as if it was.  The human body is a biological machine, and as such, a mage with adequate knowledge of it's function on a cellular and even molecular level (possible with vision 3), can stave off the detrimental effects of the progression of years.  By strengthening weakening bodily processes and streamlining his metabolism, the sorceror gains 11+casting successes bonus die on his next aging test, and only that one test (thus the spell should be cast anually).

Hmm, I may have to thinks of some necromantic means of prolonging "life" in the morning.  Something along the lines of a liche (the Fallen Legend bit in the critter section makes me think this is very possible)

[Ben]

Sorry this isn't really anything constructive about your post but your first spell got me thinking about an aspect of the magic system that has recently started to bug me. Does it bother any body else that a sorcer can get so many multiple uses from the vagaries in a single spell. I don't mean different effects on the same target, I'm refering to unrelated effects on different targets. A not so good example: "ok, I've Vagaryed this thing here and oh, that thing over there needs some Vagaryingr and since it's already in the spell it's taken care of." for a more specific example I refer to the spell above, one needs to Conqeur the victims mind at M-level and then later uses it (all same spell) to implant himself into the other body (a M-level use). Anyway...
maybe there should be somsortof multivagery cost or what not.
That's just the seneschal Me talking. The player me likes it just fine an does it quite a bit. (so I'm not knocking Furious's spell in any way). Yes, I'm at a very conflicted point in my life.

[Furious D]

Does it bother any body else that a sorcer can get so many multiple uses from the vagaries in a single spell. I don't mean different effects on the same target, I'm refering to unrelated effects on different targets.

The Targets portion of the CTN variables table specifies that a spell may effect a number of targets equal of the MA of the caster, provided it stays within the volume constraints.  Before allowing a mage to use a spell, the Seneschal should check the description to see if this limit has been violated.

If you're mean, you don't even remind them of that when they try to cast a spell that's beyond their capabilities, just tell them when the spell fails because they can't keep track of all the parts. ;P