The descriptions for shamanic abilities on these pages employ the Harnmaster (1st ed.) rules, since these are probably the most popular rules for the Harnworld setting, and have been adopted as the standard by the HRT. However, if, like me, you use rules other than those of Harnmaster, you may be puzzled by some of the terminology. If so, this guide is provided for you. Please note that it provides translation only for those terms employed in pages at my site, not for the whole of Harnmaster!
Harnmaster grades a priest's ability into seven circles, which somewhat resemble the 'levels' of systems such as AD&D. Characters must usually be of at least the 3rd circle to be ordained as a priest. A priest's circle determines what invocations he can learn. To enter a particular circle, a priest must have a minimum ability ('ML') in the Ritual skill, and then convince his superiors of his fitness for that level of responsibility.
An 'office' is a rank within the Church's hierarchy, and as such, has relatively little relevance to most shamans. Each office has a minimum Circle required of its holders, but actually attaining the rank can be as much a matter of politics and suitable vacancies than of ability. It is quite possible to hold a low office but a high Circle; thus a shaman can reach 5th Circle without becoming a high priest (or equivalent).
Skills in Harnmaster are percentages. Thus a Ritual ML of 60 means a Ritual skill of 60%. Each skill has a Skill Base (SB) which is derived from the character's attributes. The starting level of a skill is derived from a multiple of this figure. Thus 'Ritual/2' means that the Ritual skill for that character starts at the characters's SB x2.
It isn't necessary to know the details of this to translate to another system. All you need to know is that the higher the number after the '/' the better a starting character would be in that skill. The names of most skills should be sufficiently clear to render translation into an equivalent in your system relatively simple.
Priests and shamans generally also get three points to spend on improving their skills or developing new ones. This should be taken to imply that not all shamans have identical skills and that the figures quoted are minimums; again the precise details are unimportant.
These are a priest's 'spells', invoked by calling on his deity. Each invocation has two figures associated with it. The figure in Roman numerals indicates the minimum Circle required to learn the invocation, similar to 'spell level' in some systems. The number after the '/' represents the amount of 'Piety' (priestly magical energy points) required to use the invocation. Otherwise identical invocations may have different minimum Circles and Piety costs to priests of different religions.
When translating to other systems, the most important guide should be how spells of similar effect are handled in your system. If unsure, use the figures quoted as a guideline. In many systems, particular invocations may represent a range of spells. For example, the presence of the 'Cure' invocation should be taken to mean that the priest has access to healing magics in general, not necessarily one specific Cure Light Wounds spell (or whatever).
A brief summary of the effects of the invocations found on these pages follows. This includes only 'common' invocations; those unique to particular tribal religions are dealt with on the relevant pages. Don't be too literal in following the descriptions; they should really just indicate the types of magic in which a particular shaman specialises.
Harnmaster (1st ed.)
HarnMaster (2nd ed./HMR)
Back to the tribal religions index
This document was last updated 30th August 1998 by Jamie 'Trotsky' Revell. Comments are welcome.