Having not played the last campaign, I don't know how prevalent 'harvesting' of PC's was. I understand if I go around town casting Arcane spells right and left with little regard, that's fair game. But going about the normal life, casting spells in most adventures as needed (most are outside of city proper, etc.0 is there much risk?

I think the best Self buffers are Psions(Body of the warrior,Alter Appearance), the best group buffers are probably Divine( Benediction of the Gods, Blessed Pledge) and IIRC, divine casters aren't harvested.

The arcane caster most likely to get harvested (in my book at least) Elder!, Ebon shield, Ebon Armor and Ebon sword all are silly obvious, followed probably by the primal caster, for his animal based spells and "hunting buffs".

maybe the harvesters have a better way for peeking at who is and isnt a caster. that being said, i dont thing characters have a lot of fear about harvesters right now, I hope we can change that soon!

I still question the utility of harvesting Primal casters or Sorcerer-Priests of Sarish. Primal Casters technically have no arcane power of their own, and SPS's worship Sarish which MAY get in the way of the SK being the "god" of Ymandragore.

Well, the reality of it is that you're generally trying to fit a coherent story into a 4 to 5 hour-long block. As a result, it's difficult to fit random harvester attacks into the mix. There were a smattering of adventures that did put a harvester attack into the adventure. But they were few and far-between.

Then there were the special events. Same problem, but more leeway. I remember one battle interactive where several PCs were harvested. There was a special mission to try to retrieve them. There was also a soft-point module whose sole purpose was to mount a rescue mission to the Isle of Tears to recover some harvested individuals, including PCs. (It had a way to get rid of a special "harvested" cert.) I strongly remember that adventure. I was running a table through it and things were going well until they suddenly decided to deviate from their plan. Things went south and they ended up all getting harvested, themselves! To my knowledge, it's the only instance of a TPH that Arcanis has ever had.

But personally, anything that can add a real element of danger to playing an arcane caster will add to the ambiance. As players, it's easy to forget that there is a real and tangible fear of being harvested. That's why the sanctorum exists. If we can make that fear come alive in some way, I'm all for it.


Scott

I understand your position on the Primal Casters as their power is gained through pacts and deals with lesser powers. Although, it would serve as a model of understanding for how to transfer power from one being to another. The inspiration for Wine Drinkers had to come from somewhere. Perhaps study of primal casters is where it came from and they're looking for ways to improve it.

The SPS are a very interesting case. In some ways I expect they'd be of higher interest in some ways than the other arcane casters. Sarish breaks the rules when it comes to manipulating power as do his followers. If you're looking for keys to unlock what separates the manipulation of raw power from what's granted by a deity, they're it. You could also look at it as the bridge to godhood for a being looking for a backdoor to divinity. Finally, if SPS's existence gets in the way of the SK's rise, then eliminating the agents of the competition seems reasonable. No one said how long the SPS's would live after being harvested.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Yes, the sanctorum exists for sorcerers. There isn't any equivelent organization for psions or shamans (who were previously divine, I think). I thought that their spellcasting was relatively safe. I thought the only others in danger were the silly Elorii

I mean, no one but a primal can turn into wolf. It's an obvious spell, but I would think it would be an effect that if reported to a Harvester he would ignore. I can certainly be wrong because I didn't play in the last campaign, but I thought these types of casters (psion and shaman) might be grabbed if they happened to be around when a harvest occurred, but it was pretty unlikely they would motivate a harvest by their own powers/actions.

Same thought with the "Alter Appearance." It can't be cast by anyone that Harvesters care about harvesting. So thought it was pretty safe to use in public - just as dangerous as having psionically active eyes.

The prevalence and frequency Scott already covered. Arcane spellcasting according to the world is risky. I believe that those risks and the CTN modification for casting spells are supposed to be helping to balance casters at higher tiers. The challenge with that is that doing so is a +6 to the CTN if I recall correctly which is 2 full tiers. That's such a high bar that I've never seen anyone even attempt it.

As it stands for a variety of reasons, Arcane casters in the living campaign don't have any real fear of the SK. This is typically because

1. They don't understand the dangers the SK poses to their character OR
2. They're metagaming and looking at the chances of negative consequences being very low

There are other reasons I'm sure, but those are probably the most common. This can be addressed through a few things.

1. Reinforcing the risks in mods - provide the long shadow of the harvesters or at least a fear of such, attempt harvesting, etc.
2. Providing some mechanism to improve the likelihood of success at casting spells stealthily. This could be additional talents, a lower penalty than +6 or some combination.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

yeah I always thought the 'casting stealthily' option seemed overly harsh. I like having the risk and if you do 'crazy' things there should be a chance of having it occur. I would *hope* that in a module, you might get some backup from other party members, but you never know

John

I call dibbs on harvesting Kelb!

Yes, for sorcerers and Elder casters. There is lots of material indicating Sorcerers need to be careful. A prince who was born with the ability being grabbed, wars fought, secret societies started. There is a lot of indication that Eldritch spellcasting in the world is risky.

I haven't seen anything indicating psionics is risky. There are groups that educate psions in each Val family. schools. No apparent fear of harvesting. I haven't seen anything about shamans being afraid of it either, but I could be wrong.

So from what I have been able to find it seems that those kinds of casters don't have any reason to be afraid. Are those casters at risk as well? Should they know it? Is it significant or just "opportunity grabs"? I've heard on the boards that "Arcane Spellcasting is risky" but I don't know if that is just shorthand for Elder/Eldritch or if it truly includes psions and shamans as well, because if it does, does that come from somewhere in the current books, or is it all module/campaign knowledge (that I do not yet have the experiance to have observed).