Glories: Thaumaturgy

Holden:

Thaumaturgy that can make you fabulously wealthy with a few successful applications? I'd say master.

I dunno.  I mean, yes, it can find gold, but it doesn't mean there's gold to be found or that you can get at it easily.  I'm also not sure that gold is worth anything in Creation.  I mean, everyone's on either the Jade or Silver standards, gold is associated with the schizophrenic god who might kill you if you pray to him, and the demons that keep possessing people all like wearing gold, so it's sort of got a bad rep.  Sure, you need Orichalcum for various artifacts and such, but I don't think anyone still has a refinery capable of pulling off the conversion anymore.

Plus, I was kind off under the impression that getting vast wealth was supposed to be one of the simpler challenges in the game?

Though, in the interests of full disclosure, I think part of my problem is that I created a generalized dowsing ritual that I thought was more or less balanced as an Initiate ritual.  Though maybe I didn't think it through well enough.  I dunno. 

I suppose it just seems to me that simply knowing that there's some wealth there is sufficiently different from actually having the wealth in your pocket that it doesn't need to be that high.

Thematically, I would do a 'Call GSP' thaumaturgy like this:

Art of Demon Summoning.
Slightly harder than beckoning first-circle demons.
Works by beckoning the unwoven coadjutors of any Infernals in a certain radius.
The coadjutors pester their Infernal to go toward the beckoning or whatever until they either get out of the radius, the sun rises or sets, or they actually get to the location.

Hey, as far as Funeral Rites goes... when you perform them for, say, a serial killer put to death, won't that serial killer who really wants to continue his killing ritual just spend the 3 willpower to rise as a ghost? It doesn't seem strong enough for definitively putting down the really dangerous people.

Someone remind me, can ghosts use Thaumaturgy?

glamourweaver:

Someone remind me, can ghosts use Thaumaturgy?

As written, the only requirements are human-esque intelligence/sapience (no dogs allowed), and a willpower pool. So yeah. Things are supposed to work oddly in the Underworld, but there's no mechanics for it.

Rafilar:

glamourweaver:

Someone remind me, can ghosts use Thaumaturgy?

As written, the only requirements are human-esque intelligence/sapience (no dogs allowed), and a willpower pool. So yeah. Things are supposed to work oddly in the Underworld, but there's no mechanics for it.

Jericus Rex:

Hey, as far as Funeral Rites goes... when you perform them for, say, a serial killer put to death, won't that serial killer who really wants to continue his killing ritual just spend the 3 willpower to rise as a ghost? It doesn't seem strong enough for definitively putting down the really dangerous people.

Not definitely, but remember, 3 WP represents an earth-shattering effort of will, the kind of stuff you'd only expend to save those you love, pretty much. Which means that, at least, the funeral rite makes it harder to rise as a ghost. It requires more effort, more willpower, and it makes it much easier to succumb to Lethe's sweet pull. It's no guarantee, but I'd say it works maybe 80-90% of the time, since few people would want to spend that much WP just to go on as a tortured ghost.

BrilliantRain:

Plus, I was kind off under the impression that getting vast wealth was supposed to be one of the simpler challenges in the game?

Yes. For the Exalted. For mortals, it tends to be the top-shelf goal.

Jericus Rex:

Hey, as far as Funeral Rites goes... when you perform them for, say, a serial killer put to death, won't that serial killer who really wants to continue his killing ritual just spend the 3 willpower to rise as a ghost? It doesn't seem strong enough for definitively putting down the really dangerous people.

Yes, he would, and you're right, it isn't. It works nicely to nudge spirits that might have been on the fence, but it's not a sure-fire ghost deterrant.