Spirit Walk

[Dr_Chill]

According to the scroll: "((the spirit walk ritual))...will allow one or more people, if those people have a spirit, to travel from one Circle of Power to another Circle of Power in spirit form without suffering a death. The targets can include the ritual caster or can be others of the of the ritual caster's choice who are present in the Circle of Power during the entire ritual casting."

1) If someone is bleeding out and/or in their death count, can they be the target of a spirit walk ritual?
2) If the ritual is completed before their bleed-out and/or death count is up, is the timer paused as the target travels to another circle?
3) What about other status effects, e.g., waylay, nausea, etc.? Will the counts on those timers pause as well as the target travels to another circle?
3) Can an unwilling participant be forced to spirit walk against their will?
4) How many people can be the target of the spirit walk ritual?

Thanks!

 

[obcidian_bandit]

I'm only going to answer a few of these, I'm not sure about 2 and 3; in the past we've done stuff locally, but I don't think it qualifies for a national ruling. Numbers 2 and 3 (your first three, I'm renumbering your second 3 and 4 as 4 and 5) are probably "Ask your local marshal."

1) If someone is bleeding out and/or in their death count, can they be the target of a spirit walk ritual?

Yes. You're a valid target for rituals until your spirit leaves the circle.

4) Can an unwilling participant be forced to spirit walk against their will?

Just like any other ritual (with very few exceptions), the player (not the character) always has the option to refuse the ritual and instead take a death.

5) How many people can be the target of the spirit walk ritual?

As many as you can cram in the circle and still cast.

~Matt,
OR/SEA Marshal

 

[Alavatar]

I know the questions have been answered for the most part, I want to emphasize a potential risk of casting on a Dead Body in their Dissipation Count:

Failure With Automatic Backlash
...
· The recipient, caster, or any individual
aiding in the ritual leaves the Circle of
Power;

So, if the Body dissipates while the ritual is in-progress the ritual will automatically backlash.

Seth
OR/SEA Marshal

P.S. I suspect the OP already knows this due to the specific wording of the questions. This post is more of a cautionary nature.

P.P.S. A clarification:

5) How many people can be the target of the spirit walk ritual?

As many as you can cram in the circle and still cast.

And capable of touching all of them within 30 seconds of beginning ritual casting.

 

[jpariury]

For 2 and 3, there is no language on the scroll to indicate that timed Effects or states pause in their count. The closest statement about time is as follows: "The time required to travel from Circle to Circle is the same as it would take the spirit, if physical, to walk the distance with all of its possessions." This would suggest that for the rules-as-written, timed Effects or states do not pause.

 

[Avaran]

I don't think the answer is cut/dry for a dead body.

From the scroll:
"This will allow one or more people, if those people have a spirit, to travel from one Circle of Power to another Circle of Power in spirit form without suffering a death."

From the Death description:
"This effect causes the spirit of any victim ... to flee its body..."

Checking under "Create Undead" we see...
This spell only works on a corpse that has neither previously been animated nor is permanently dead. It will put the character's spirit back to reanimate its former body....note that this spell must be cast within the five-minute period between a character's death and the point where the spirit heads to the Earth circle for resurrection."

I would say that as soon as the character dies, they are no longer a valid target for a ritual unless it specifically states otherwise on the scroll. Death causes the Spirit to leave the body, and it therefore does not meet the criteria of a person having a spirit, imho.

It's probably poor wording on the part of Death and what happens, etc., but I think it needs to be taken into consideration.

 

[obcidian_bandit]

Yeah, I think you're reading too much into the Death spell description there. You'll notice that Life doesn't say anything about putting the Spirit back, implying that everyone who's Death'ed no longer has a spirit until Resurrection. That's clearly not the intent there. Plus, a body (spirit or no) is totally a valid target for a ritual, that's how you Preserve your Master Construct. (I was going to use the Obliterate rules here, but they've changed in the last few years apparently.)

 

[Dr_Chill]

Thanks for the responses, let me clarify my question 1 with more color:

Spirit walk is normally a 5 min ritual, but by using high magic it can be cast in as little as 1 min. If you are out in a field of battle and are out of life spells, I was thinking that if you could throw down a circle and then circle walk to the nearest earth guild where they could life everybody (assuming there were life spells at the other end), or at least have everyone's gear in a "safer" place would be a good strategy (in theory).

According to the spirit walk scroll:
"The time required to travel from Circle to Circle is the same as it would take the spirit, if physical, to walk the distance with all of its possessions. While walking, the spirit is unable to observe or affect the world in any manner as if it were a spirit traveling for resurrection. The spirits are unaware of the happenings inside the target Circle until they enter it."

Question:
Do timers on effects continue to count down given that the spirit and all their posessions are essentially out of game and cannot interact nor be interacted with until they reform?

If the timer doesn't pause for the 10 min walk it takes to physically walk to the earth guild circle, this wouldn't be a good strategy.

Would this be better to post up to ARC? I am not 100% sure on the division of responsibility/authority to answer this question. In my assessment, I do not believe that this should be up to the ritual marshall of the local chapter as it relates to a game mechanic versus a flavor or style.

Thanks again guys!!!!

 

[jpariury]

As I said, there's nothing directly stated to indicate that timed Effects or states (including the Death/Dying count) pause their count while under an "I'm not here" event (Spirit Walk, Spirit Recall, Rift). The implication is that counts continue. If you suspect it is intended otherwise, ARC would definitely be the best source for clarifying that.

 

[Dr_Chill]

Thanks JP, I appreciate the response!

I will throw it up to ARC.

Thanks to everyone else who responded!!!

-Ryan

 

[Paladin of Chaos]

Question answered, thread locked

(ARC thread can be found here.)