they say a man can change reality if he wans it bad enough.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

Just a fun Idea from one of my campaigns: once a ton of really nasty evil demons from the depths of ... well somewhere really nasty, came at a players character with the intent of doing things like removing limbs and what not, well this character was designed around the idea of being altruistic and believing that he could change the world through strength of his beliefs so we came up with this mechanic-
We allowed him to basically cast a mass banish vagary level three spell although he was not gifted by permanently burning a will power point and all his conscience sa's. We allowed this mainly because he was ubber good and was so to a fault (major flaw, vow to never take a life) and he was acting to save everyone else and not just himself.
I was thinking this impromptu mechanic has some interesting implications, where do you guys think you could go with this and the dangers this type of thing presents to the game?

[Thirsty Viking]

Given all you told in the story...  not a bad call....   although I might have gone the route of allowing him to sacrificie himself to close the portal,  or whatever allowed the demon horde in.  Worth nice insight bonus on the next charachter for that player

In the case of this story...  I might ban the charachter from ever buying that point of will power back.  This makes the sacrifice more meaningful in my opinion.

[Jake Norwood]

We originally discussed "belief" mechanics like this, but never got far enough in our discussion to put them in the game. I'm fond of the idea, and it's certainly part of what the "faith" attribute was meant for. I think you made a good call for your group/campaign.

Jake

[Nick the Nevermet]

Just to make sure I understand: was this a 1-time thing, or is it a more or less a permanent thing that this character can do under correct circumstances?

[Ashren Va'Hale]

it was a one time thing although once you open the door to some players they like to keep it open.

[Thirsty Viking]

it was a one time thing although once you open the door to some players they like to keep it open.

I agree with you here...  this is why i'd probably up the ante....   giving the charachters story a wonderful conclusion.   I assume that you had left another door open for them  to stop this problem...   That they either failed to go through...   or thier actions helped create this horde.   Less it be misconstrued...  Not a bad call   from me is ~ i find no grounds to criticize it ...  not in any way a condemnation.  (I tend to be sparing in my praise, especially  with fairly limited information)  

I listed an alternative style of implementation that I might use.  It is also one that would go over well with my group of long term roleplayers ....    your groups may vary.  Heroic sacrifices of charachters can be Very Meaningful in a story line,  It also transforms an almost obnoxiously good charachter into a savior remembered fondly by the party,  and sung of in Bardic Tunes.  Not infrequently bards will be hired to compose the tale.  Or the'll overhear the charachters in a Tavern Having a Wake for the Departed charachter...   often because they've been hired to play some of the charachters favorite tunes  durring the memorial. Saving a world from a Demonic Horde, is certainly a worthy tale for bardic composition.  Even if the story isn't believed.  

The permanent cap on his WP  if he survives...   Allows a Heroic Sacrifice on his life short of death....   And will force him to look for other methodes before relying on his "FREE Banishing Power"  ok so it cost some SA's  but you listed no PERMANENT effects..   A point of will power is Just more SA's  unless he can't recover it.    

Another Possibility would have been sorcerous aging of the charachter as if he had cast the spells to successfully banish the demons without any dice for aging rolls.  Played out this would have been accumulating with each demon,  and again the charachter seeing the party (including himself) is dead without his sacrifice...  continues anyway.   Then instead of losing SA's  he gains perhaps 3+ for wonderful roleplaying...  but ages ??? years  possibly decades if he survives.

Obviously  I have had far more time to think about this at the keyboard than you did at the table.   Assuming this Falls under a snap decision category to save the campaign,  you did extremely well.  I only offer these as alternative approaches to consider when looking at things that end up House Rules.   There have been plenty of snap decisions that ended up not being the final house rule  in my games (both as GM and Player)   We don't reverse the decision at the time...   but we do essentiall come back to the group and say...  In the future  ...  THAT situation will be handled this new way.  Minor Discussion usually follows,  but as long as the prior instance isn't being changed... the new world mechanic is accepted as is, if it is well reasoned.

[Ashren Va'Hale]

ok, I love th idea about aging, it was so obvious but I missed it! I would still have him sacrifice the WP as well and have it cost double to regain that point (it was exhaustive after all). As for heroic sacrifices... He had his chance to do that later on at the climax of the campaign. It was actually dang interesting.
basically the seneschal duty to torture his players kicked in and the same ubber altruistic character was granted the ability to use magic tht the character whined so badly for, only the catch was that it came as part of a curse, basically he wasnt using his own magic but the magic of a demon that the arch villain imprisoned in his FREAKING ARM. every time the character cast a spell he had to make a contest of will power with the demon otherwise the demon would gain control and start wreaking merry havoc on all sorts of innocent bystanders. The higher the CTN of teh spell the higher the players TN for the WP roll. This was fun since he got what he wanted but never really used it accept when there were no other options and it was fun watching him pull out tons of SA's in order not to kill the other party members by accident. It made for some great story elements and a wonderfull climactic end when he used the demons magic to heal a fatally mauled NPC that was about one heartbeat from dead. The CTN was so high he had no chance in hell of beating it with a normal WP roll and had to roll ALL of his SA's in order to not BLOW UP THE CONTINENT. The sa's were Drive: stop/Save his brother (the nearly dead NPC), Destiny: become the first human act of god, Conscience, Luck, Passion: Family (the NPC again). All applied and he managed to BARELY beat the demon with the amplified WP roll and instead blew up one of Weyrths superflous moons. This, in the Weyrth usedin my and my roomates campaigns, has ushured in the new age of the missing moon in weyrth chronology. And if anyone catches the anime references in that let me know because you deserve credit for it!
The effects of this as you can imagine basically burnt the character out and forced his retirement which worked out great for not just that  campaign but the next few as well since everyone on the planet knows about the moon incident.

[Jake Norwood]

This, in the Weyrth usedin my and my roomates campaigns

Heh...I love that. That's why I left Weyrth off where I did...sweet...

Jake

[Thirsty Viking]

sounds like a really cool campaign

[Mayhem1979]

Yes.. it was rather fun...  though seeingas I was the Senchal, I'm a bit biased  :)

[Lyrax]

The current campaign is fun, too...

The moon blew up, my character was found at the scene of the crime, unconscious and with amnesia.

I just found out Saturday that he could use MAGIC!  No Temporal magic, though.  All I know that he can do is see (Visions 3... oh the omniscience!) and at least suggest (Conquer 1 or perhaps more, don't know yet).  That's enough to be uber-kewl, though!