[2E Hack] Universal Banes for ghosts

[wyrdhamster]

So I like to use consistent rules across various CoD gamelines. And I love Supernatural TV series, where there monster hunters are famous for destroying ghosts be 'salting and burning' of their bodies corpses. And then I see those in Geist 2E preview ruleset...

Banes are increasingly esoteric and obscure with increasing Rank.
Rank 0 ghosts have ubiquitous Banes. A phantasm melts away in sunlight.
Rank 1 ghosts have common substances and phenomena as Banes, such as salt or fire.
Rank 2 and 3 ghosts have difficult to obtain but still “natural” Banes such as holy water or
silver.

How would change setting making salt, fire and a like as Universal Banes for ghosts of Rank 0 & 1 - and maybe holy water and silver for those Rank 0-2 - would it change a game a lot? I would leave Rank 3 ghosts for truly unique Banes, as those Rank 3 ghosts are of geists level.

[ArcaneArts]

Not much, You could get away with it no problem.

Of course, I would argue that if any of the ephemeral entitites are the most likely to not have universal banes, it'd probably be ghosts, but the folklore and mythology is there for you.

[Michael]

How would change setting making salt, fire and a like as Universal Banes for ghosts of Rank 0 & 1 - and maybe holy water and silver for those Rank 0-2 - would it change a game a lot? I would leave Rank 3 ghosts for truly unique Banes, as those Rank 3 ghosts are of geists level.

Yeah, but not necessarily in a bad way. I mean, I've always found banes a bit of a pain. The only issue is that this makes them a lot more predictable.

Maybe you could have a small pool of potential banes. So you have to try a few different ones before you find the one that works, but you at least know what they could potentially be.

[LostLight]

It would simply mean that it would be easier to deal with low Ranked ghosts- you don't need to understand who they are or where they came from, only that for most of the ghosts you may stumble upon, those materials would probably work. If your goal is to make it easier for mortals to deal with ghosts without doing some deep research about the ghost in question, it would do the job.

[21C Hermit]

Alternatively, maybe there’s a small ritual for “consecrating” tools into universal banes, at least to an extent. So the amateurs have to do some leg work, while the professionals get to skip some of the more ardurous stuff. Maybe this (a Merit?) doesn’t work on Rank 2 or 3+.

[ArcaneArts]

It would simply mean that it would be easier to deal with low Ranked ghosts- you don't need to understand who they are or where they came from, only that for most of the ghosts you may stumble upon, those materials would probably work. If your goal is to make it easier for mortals to deal with ghosts without doing some deep research about the ghost in question, it would do the job.

THis IS a serious thing to consider-a big part of Sin-Eaters is the practice of empathy with ghosts, and the universal banes makes it too easy to slide into Tyrant mentality.

Keeping that in mind, it might be a better hack for Hunter, and if you use it in Sin-Eaters, I'd be careful about implementation.

...which normally would not be a problem, but context matters.

[wyrdhamster]

Yeah, but not necessarily in a bad way. I mean, I've always found banes a bit of a pain.

It's exactly how I felt about Bane system to this date, from Hunter games I played.

Maybe you could have a small pool of potential banes. So you have to try a few different ones before you find the one that works, but you at least know what they could potentially be.

Universal Banes list:

• Rank 0 & 1 - Salt, fire, what else?
• Rank 0 - 2 - Holy water, Silver, Iron? ( Last is also from Supernatural TV series, it makes sense in those contexts. )

[Wormwood]

Personally, I love the variety of banes, since it can tie in into the ghost's personality or backstory, and makes researching and investigating so much more worth it.
I wouldn't mind "Universal" Banes to be a common thing, but would definitly stay away from making them apply always.

But as always, if it works for your table, go for it.

[Vent0]

You could always do a partial mix - read it more as Reliable Banes - use the manner of death (or Key) to map them to a Bane. So those that die from violence have the Bane of Silver (or whatever), those that die from substances have the Bane of Salt, etc. As Rank climbs, it gets more specific, but the base remains the same.

This has some variation and needs a little research, but not as much as individualized Banes.

[Michael]

Personally, I love the variety of banes, since it can tie in into the ghost's personality or backstory, and makes researching and investigating so much more worth it.

I like the idea, I just haven't found it easy in practice. I've never seen any guidelines on what makes a good bane or how exactly you research one. like, what kind of ghost would be hurt by salt? What about them would suggest it would work?

Also, that's still present to a degree in finding the ghost's anchor.

You could always do a partial mix - read it more as Reliable Banes - use the manner of death (or Key) to map them to a Bane. So those that die from violence have the Bane of Silver (or whatever), those that die from substances have the Bane of Salt, etc. As Rank climbs, it gets more specific, but the base remains the same.

This has some variation and needs a little research, but not as much as individualized Banes.

I love that idea. It'd give structure to the research.

[wyrdhamster]

You could always do a partial mix - read it more as Reliable Banes - use the manner of death (or Key) to map them to a Bane. So those that die from violence have the Bane of Silver (or whatever), those that die from substances have the Bane of Salt, etc. As Rank climbs, it gets more specific, but the base remains the same.

This has some variation and needs a little research, but not as much as individualized Banes.

Vent0, I love this idea - we should try to make this reality! Right, so let's make list of possible deaths ( so they would simply be Keys lists ? ) and let's look over Banes to connect them.