Is there a spell...

[Jukashi]

That creates an army? It'd probably be Solar Circle. Because if there isn't, I've got an idea for one.

 

[Guest]

there is 2 one is celestial the other solar, Sommoning the lesser and greter hord of the eyeless face.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

That depends on the size and type of army you want. Current spells for army creation include:


Terrestrial Spells:


Commanding the Beasts allows command of Essence x2 animals per casting. Or it can be used in war as a long tick spell and affect a Magnitude of creatures equal to the caster's Essence. With a bit of Survival, the commanded beasts can be permanently tamed by creating an Intimacy during the scene of control. (Seems most animals have a rather low Conviction)


Summoning the Lesser Minions of the Eyeless Face can give you a unit of Charisma+Essence troops. It's suggested you give them weapons and armor.


Celestial Spells:


Imbue Amalgam can be used to craft an army, but it'll be a slow process..but they'll be solid troops.


The Princes of the Fallen Tower summons a small group of Essence x2 automata


Summoning the Greater Minions of the Eyeless Face can summon a small army. Charisma + Essence + 1/5 extra motes


Necromancy adds many more options...if you wish to delve into its secrets. Hordes of Zombies, Ghosts, Hungry Ghosts, etc are available to the Necromancer.


If you want a large army of mortals, there is no existing spell that does so...and the charms that do so require access to a Wyld area. An Automata army, such as the various Minions of the Eyeless Face isn't too hard to supply, and using Imbue Amalgam on an existing army can make for a serious force adder. It wouldn't be inappropriate to say, craft a Solar level spell that created a significantly larger contingent of Greater Minions of the Eyeless Face, either...though like the other Minion spells you'd want some weapons and armor available...but then again, shouldn't be too hard to craft a spell for equiping them as well.

 

[Jukashi]

The idea for the Solar Circle spell I was thinking of was to use the "sunlight makes shadows" concept to summon up the shadows of every creature within a large radius and bind them to the caster's will as an army. The shadows of extras would be extras and heroic mortals would be heroic, so essentially what you'd be doing in a battle is doubling the amount of troops you have... in addition to getting some extra troops equal to your enemies' number, plus a bunch of animals. The only problem you'd have is that the shadows of Exalted wouldn't have Exalted power, unless those Exalted willingly released a portion of their power to their shadow. What do you think, cool idea or not?

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Potentially, so long as it doesn't cover too large an area...and depending on the duration of the spell. Copying all your enemies is pretty damn powerful...possibly beyond Solar sorcery... generally within its own sphere Necromancy is more powerful, and the closest Necromancy spell requires your foes to actually die before giving them to you as troops... If I allowed it, I'd likely let you copy your Essence in Magnitude of troops as a maximum for a single casting...which is pretty sizeable.

 

[Dracogryff]

I'd say allow those that aren't mortals to make a roll (Willpower probably) against the sorceror's essence (or essence + valor or something) to keep their shadow from being stolen, while purely mortal types lose automatically....or something like that. Those shadows that are stolen from essence users could have their abilities, but no charms...iunno...just random thoughts mostly...good luck with this!

 

[Jukashi]

The main problem I have is that it's clearly a Mass Combat-centred spell, and I'm still a little bit hazy on the rules. I'll try give them a re-reading.

 

[Flyck]

Necromancy has several that will summon hordes of undead.  Raise the Skeletal Horde comes to mind.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Oh, indeed. If you want armies, and are willing to delve into Necromancy, it's quite useful. Just seems he's more interested in something Sorcery-wise.

 

[Flyck]

Second Circle Demon Summoning.  Congrats, you have the freaking Earth-pimp 9000 Giant monkey god who will smash everything with the might of an fair-sized army.  Failing that, go all out with 3rd circle Demon Summoning, and bring in a Major Fiend from Malfeas to scatter an army, destroy the babies, and rearrange a large chunk of Creation while in the process...   :twisted:

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Eh. Most Second Circle Demons aren't really that powerful. Are they a useful fighter? Yes. But they can't handle armies unless you're facing something truly pathetic. Anyone who has real officers, or elite troops, will eventually win. Relying on even Octavion as your army isn't reliable...at least not with his stated stats.

 

[Flyck]

Eh... well, he's reliable against about a scale of Realm soldiers, provided they don't have any power-house DBs amongst them...

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Yes...but the Realm rarely uses a single scale...it's not very common to see a single scale alone, and they usually do have an officer....more likely you'll see one scale, and then the rest of the talon will arrive after you've started the fun. How many armies just send a single platoon as an army?

 

[Flyck]

Bleh, then get something... bigger...  Like 3rd circle!

 

[Jukashi]

I was hoping for something a little more wholesome than demons or necromancy. I imagine that, at least towards the beginning of the Age, there were some sorcerors who didn't use demon summoning on principle.


Besides which, third-circle summoning is risky business... and can only be done during Calibration.  It's limited to the one-task-or-period-of-service duration as well, plus, it's such a big essence expenditure that Heaven will be on your tracks almost immediately and all the big players will find out you've got Ligier on your back. With the theoretical shadow spell, though, you could summon up an army right there and then. That's handy.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Eh. Can only summon those during Calibration...and they're a lot harder to control. That and they don't have any actual rules. I'm not fond of creatures on a battlefield that don't have stats.


Edit: Seems I got ninja'd. Ah, well. Still true.

 

[Flyck]

Eh, details... details...  There'll probably be stats eventually for 3rd circle nasties...  Seeing how they just came out with the Wyld book, I'm sure a Malfeas one is on the way.

 

[Dracogryff]

Yep. Book 5 of Celestial Directions, IIRC. Maybe 4. It's been announced as a book of Celestial Directions anyhow.

 

[Ahnya]

You probably need to consider the rammifications of such a thing. What happens when your shadow is killed? Also, shadows are usually portrayed as mischevious beings....perhaps some of them cause more trouble than they are worth?


Just a thought.


If it were me, I would make it the Solar harnessing the light itself, shaping it into beings of light, and whoever is fighting one has a small chance to get blinded. That would be pretty cool, IMO. Then again, I'm wierd.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

I actually like the shadow idea...in part because there are already a number of shadow spells in the Sorcery spell list. For side effects of a killed shadow, possibly look at some of them. Though that might make the spell too strong...