בלשנימ לגמרי

Linguamancer

A.K.A. Linguists, Wordsmiths

It all started when your English teacher praised you for correctly using “further” rather than
“farther”. From then on, you had a passion for using language as it should be used. There are
rules to grammar. No, not rules, Laws damn it. From this passion sprang a desire to learn all
there was to learn about English and you thought that Subject-Verb-Object was the end all be all
of linguistics. Then you found Subject-Object-Verb and your world changed. Suddenly there was
more than just English and your eyes were opened. You found your calling in life. So what if
people got mad that you corrected them all the time. You are keeping pure the most important
thing in the world: language and communication.

The power of language is undeniable. It is the power of communication. The power to bring
people together and build nations, or tear them apart. The problem is, it seems, that the more
one studies language, the further away you drift from the original goal of communication.
People do not like to be corrected in how they speak, but it is so damn hard not to in the face
of all of that training. This is the paradox at the core of Linguamancy. You communicate too well
to be understood by the conscious observer. It is, it seems, possible to affect the unconscious
mind with the power of language, and that is what Linguists can do.

STATS

– Linguamancer taboo: Linguists cannot stand improper usage of grammar. They must correct any
violation of grammar laws they witness or they loose all charges. This applies to themselves as
well. If they make a grammatical mistake while in character, and someone catches it, they loose
all charges. If they can correct themselves before someone else, all is well. A kind GM might
allow a roll of the character’s ability in linguistics to prevent this, as the player is more
than likely not an obsessed grammarian, but it is best not to tempt fate in the first place.

– Linguamancer blast style: Tongue lashing- The Linguist can issue forth a phrase that is either
so contradictory, or so powerful in its language usage that it actually damages the listener.
This can take a few forms. Anything from a riddle or koan, to an ancient phrase in Sumerian,
or even a scalding torrent of vulgarities can cause the damage. Damage is as a typical blast
of its type.

– Charges
– Generate Minor charge:
– Spend a good amount of time in a challenging conversation with a native speaker
of one of the languages you are studying. This does not count if you find no
challenge in the conversation. This means you can gain charges from your native
language but it has to be high level technical talk that you find challenging.
At the same time you could have a conversation about the weather if you just
started learning French and it would count.

– (optional if the GM allows it) Spending experience to increase your language
or linguistics skill. Generates one minor charge per point spent. Note: You have
to actually do the training to justify the expenditure. Take a class, read a good
book, ETC.

– Generate Significant charge:
– Uncover a previously undiscovered text from an ancient language.

– Spend a day speaking only in a language not native to the area that you are in.
You can not use more than what a non-native speaker might know to get through the
day and you must spend the day trying to get by in society at large. The mall is an
ok place to try this at, as are know tourist spots. Biker bars, not so much. Oh, and
no using an interpreter.

– Generate Major charge:
– Discover and translate a completely undiscovered language (with out magical aid of
course.

– Trace back and recreate the common ancestor of a major language family.

– Create a new language that is accepted by at least a community of five hundred
thousand speakers.

– Random Magick domain: Language, communication, and control of people through language.

– Starting charges: 4 minor

– Minor formula spells
– Tongue tied- 1 Minor charge
With a quick “umm” or other interjection the Linguist can stop a sentence dead.
The target cannot finish the targeted sentence or the thought that came with it
for a number of minutes equal to the sum of the dice on the activation roll.
Optionally, the spell can be pumped with an additional minor charge to make the
duration the roll itself and not the sum of the dice. (Example: Aaron gets a 46
for the spell roll. If he used one minor charge it would be a 10 minute brain fart,
but if he used two it would extend it to 46 minuets.)

– “I took a few years of French in high school”- 1 Minor charge
Linguamancers are exposed to many different languages throughout their lives and
it comes as no surprise that they might have a basic understanding of a random language
This spell ensures it. The Linguist can speak any language with a basic conversational
fluency. This does not allow highly technical jargon, or inspirational rousing speeches.
However, it will let the Linguamancer to get by in any normal situation.

– Speed reading- 1 Minor charge
As bibliomancer spell.

– “It’s all in the nuance”- 2 Minor charges
This spell allows a cunning Linguist to take control of a social situation by choosing
his words and inflections carefully. He can instill an emotion in a target simply by
saying a word to her. This word or phrase need not have any connection to the emotion
and the target notices nothing out of the ordinary. This does not guarantee any sort of
control, and the context of the emotion is not chosen by the caster. The Linguist can
create love, but not choose who the target will feel the love towards, or what her
reaction will be. This emotion will last as long as a normal emotion in the situation
would.

– Undetectable lie- 2 Minor charges
A good linguist can obscure truth behind flowery words. A Linguist, however, can utter
a lie in such a way that there is no reason to think it false. Any listener will believe
any statement that is not obviously wrong for the next hour (or day if pumped with another
Minor). At this level the lie must be plausible, but the target(s) will accept it without
need of evidence. There is a higher version that uses 3 Significant charges to make a
single target believe any lie. A house wife could be told that she is a firefighter, thus
causing her to run into a burning building to save people. Of course, her skills would not
be affected and she might very well die. The one limitation of this is changes to obsession
skills and Magick. If such a core concept is attacked, the defending character can roll it
to ignore the effect. If he rolls under his score, and higher than the casters roll, he is
unaffected.

– Encrypted message- 2-3 Minor charges
The linguamancer can encrypt a message in codes and other languages in such a way that only
a specific target or class of targets may read it. A single target costs 2 Minor charges,
while a class of targets (all linguamancers, bikers…) costs 3. An additional charge sends
the message to the target. A group of targets must be finite to actively receive a message
via this spell (the bikers at the bar on 6th street would be acceptable, all bikers in the
world would not). Other Linguamancers and optionally Cryptomancers may attempt to decrypt
the message with 1 Minor charge and a Magick roll against the activation roll.

– Tongue Lashing- 2 Minor charges
This is the Linguists minor blast. The Linguist can issue forth a phrase that is either
so contradictory, or so powerful in its language usage that it actually damages the listener.
This can take a few forms. Anything from a riddle or koan, to an ancient phrase in Sumerian,
or even a scalding torrent of vulgarities can cause the damage. Damage is as a typical blast
of its type.

-Significant formula spells:

– Aphasia- 2 Significant charges
As Bibliomancer spell

– Crippling instability- 2 Significant charges
This is the Significant blast. It takes a similar form as the Minor blast, but as the caster
speaks the phrase, the world seems to dim and twist on its side as reddish purple light seeps
into the targets field of vision. The casters voice becomes an echo that floats on the edge of
perception. Damage is as normal Significant blast.

– “I spent a few years in Greece”- 1 Significant charge
The Wordsmith’s mastery of language shows through in this spell. The caster speaks as a native
speaker when this spell is cast. Any language can be duplicated flawlessly with this spell, even
magickal or unknown languages are not out of reach. This lasts one day.

– Linguistic programming- 2-3 Significant charges
Through the use of certain words and phrases keyed into the human subconscious, the Linguist can
control not just the emotions of people, but the actions as well. Similar to “it’s all in the
nuance”, the caster says a unrelated phrase and can then dictate an action the target must take.
This can be resisted with a mind roll if it is out of the ordinary for the target, but if not then
it is simply accepted. A simple command such as “sit down” or “turn left” is 2 Significant charges.
More complex actions taking more than a turn or two such as “defend me” or “go in the store and buy
me some beer” cost 3 Significant charges. In any event a combat command cannot last longer than a
number of turns equal to the sum of the activation roll. Outside of combat it can last an equal
number of minutes.

– “Hear ye, hear ye” – 3 Significant charges
With a simple proclamation a Wordsmith may make something known to a large mass of people. Anything
up to the size of a large city may be affected. The message spreads through the city by word of mouth,
but with the speed of a wildfire. By the end of the day, everyone in the city will know the message.
This is not much if the message is “Bob in accounting is a real ass!” (though it might make Bob a bit
unpopular), if the message is a rumor that the guy running for Mayor is into kiddie porn, it is a more
serious matter. This message is not necessarily taken as truth, but it is the talk of the town for a
good while.

– Major effects:
– Alter an existing language significantly, create a language for a select group of people (all Avatars of the
Fool now know Fool’s speak), Remove a targets ability to speak and understand language permanently, change
the language of everyone in a city.

– What you hear:
A Wordsmith is close to getting his Major charge. He is an ancient Linguist that started the schism between
British English, and American English. He figures that if he can get American English to be unintelligible to
Brits by 2015. Rumor has it he wants a French speaking Chicago. We have to stop this bastard!