Of Wizards and Demons

[Madrigus]

Some more questions before the weekend:

1) Grimoires: Just a clarification. The skill "Read Grimoire" is 'you may read grimoires of [appropriate level]. That means if, say, I'm friends with Bill the Wizard and during a large field fight, Bill the Wizard needs to reset. Unfortunately his Tome of Squicky Doom has a spell that is the bane of all things that we are fighting. If Bill the Wizard hands me the Tome of Squicky Doom, and I have both the appropriate level of Read Grimoire and attributes to spend, nothing will stop me from casting the useful spell despite that it's not actually 'my' grimoire, right?

2) Contractual Obligations (part 1)- the actual contract: Does the card that a Bound hands to their Keeper upon making them so represent their contract?

3) Contractual Obligations (part 2)- passing the contract: Say Bill the Wizard is the Keeper of Bob the Bound. Bill the Wizard has to leave Whisper Hill for a few hours, so he asks Jill the Suit (a trustworthy friend) to be Bob the Bound's Keeper until he returns. Does he pass the contract by going through the same process that Bob the Bound went through to make Bill the Wizard his Keeper at game start?

Also, say now that Jill the Suit and Bob the Bound are walking through the woods for whatever reason, and they get ganked. Bob the Bound manages to escape to get help, but Jill the Suit is taken out. If the Bad Guys search her, will they find the contract? Can they take the Contract and therefore be Bob the Bound's new Keepers?

[HecateSkivvy]

My understanding is that the card does not represent the physical contract - its an inflict card that represents the *effects* of the contract. A contract can be verbal as well as in paper. The card is an out of game set of instructions, like any other inflict card.

Oh great Powers That Be, correct me if I am wrong!

[lackey]

For your Grimoire question...

It seems that a Grimoire is something you will find in game, and it will have a tag that clearly states what level of the Read Grimoire skill you need to use it. I also expect that the Grimoire will have the rules for whatever it allows you to do clearly stated in it. So I think you need to find out in game.

[Deeg]

Answers given in this thread seem correct to me.

Grimoires will be handled in game and the thing handed to the keeper is just the OOG instructions, so the physical contract can be handled in a way deemed appropriate by the people involved. I encourage the use of old school contracts handled in the form of The Forbidden Dance.

[Jacob]

The Lambada?

Also, to reinforce a point our dear friend HecateSkivvy made--the card is not a physical object per se. Based on the rules currently on record, you can only make someone your Keeper at the beginning of a Session. If Bill the Wizard runs to the nearest Walmart (in Canada), Jill the Suit... is Jill the Suit. And you're stuck being Bound.

Wouldn't it suck to be a Bound whose Keeper gets snuffed? Man. On the one hand, you hate your Keeper. On the other hand, if they buy it, you're screwed. It's almost like there's an interesting dynamic in play, there...

All (friendly, I promise) snark aside: it's why we gave the Bound the ability to echo locate and heal their Keepers.

[Madrigus]

OK. Thank you all

[Madrigus]

A clarification: somebody said that if your keeper perms you're permanently stuck in whatever state of (un)binding they left you in. I'm confused because can't you just pick up a new keeper the following event? That way you'd only be stuck for that weekend.

Or is it that since you only made a contract with that one person you lose the ability to have a keeper and be able to be unbound?

OR do you go down with them? That would raise the suck level unusually high.

[HecateSkivvy]

I believe the term is FOIG. Nobody knows for sure what happens, but we've had rumors going around to that effect.

Edit: Notice the above creepy GM foreshadowing.

[Madrigus]

Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me. Post event brain still not working

[PhilFromAccounting]

Phil's standing request is as follows:

"If that doormat Leslie dies, I want you to put me up against a wall and blow my brains out."

I sort of assume that if the Keeper dies then we're just boned. Might as well take a trip back to the Pit, now that our contract is up.