Conjurering

[darthauthor]

So the Conjurer O.C.C.

Can a conjurer use their magic ability to conjurer something like:

A silver sword for the purposes of fighting vampires?

A wooden stake?

Silver Bullets?

[ShadowLogan]

Yes and No. Though beware of:
-the items lack permanence (option becomes available at Level 6, and even then requires the PERMANENT loss of PPE) IF you choose to allow the conjured wooden stake to function as a real wooden stake
-the items don't seem able to duplicate chemical properties (they can't create even something as basic as a potato battery, even after conjuring up individual parts though how they can make useable bullets puts a potential hole in this) so having it be silver or wood might not work beyond looks (GM call) though I would consider them "enchanted" items (so you can hurt a vampire with them even if they aren't real silver or wood)
-the above is for the use of their Conjuring Abilities and NOT for those they might achieve via their limited spell knowledge (ex. a Create Wood spell could give you a wooden stake not subject to the time issue above).

There is some additional info you might find useful by searching the OLD FAQ (https://www.palladiumbooks.com/general- ... d-requests) under the Magic and OCC sections (Several questions there). Though how "official" the FAQ is I couldn't tell you off hand.

[darthauthor]

At first glance, mostly I imagine the conjurer as someone who would be a handyman or great for a prison break.

A place or situation in which you need a common thing that you can't get because, like, you are in prison.
So the conjurer can conjurer themselves or you:
1. lock picks,
2. rope and grappling hook to climb a wall,
3. a prison guard's uniform,
4. A tool for getting into a locked car.
5. Tools to get the car to start without the key.
6. Caltrop (metal spikes) to drop on the road behind you to give your pursuers a flat tire.
7. A spare tire for the one the guards flatened out by shooting.
8. A tournequit to stop the bullet wound from bleeding.

Say can a Conjurer make a CANDLE?

One stick of dynomite?

A ladder?

Toilet Paper for the same reason anyone wants toilet paper? (yeah it would disappear in an hour per level but by then you wouldn't need it).

Fool's Gold?

How about Fool's Gem (diamond or such)?

[ShadowLogan]

Most of the stuff you listed should be doable provided they are familiar enough with the items in question (per text), some are even listed as examples.

Dynomite is out as it, if a conjurer cannot create gasoline (a specified example), I doubt they can also make working dynamite. They also "Can not make edible 'food' or 'drink'" (Per BoM pg53).

An unlit Candle I am not sure on if it could be lit afterward (conjured lit is a big NO) because it's going to come down to how you see it working in terms of conjuring. It could qualify as a type of energy dependent device on a nitpicky science level, at the same time nothing says the items conjured are fireproof (ie they don't burn).

Fool's Gold, they have access to the spell (along with spells that could stand-in for a candle in a more efficient PPE manner).

A fake Gem might pass casual inspection, but anyone with Gemology Skill (or similar abilities like a Stone Master) probably will be able to spot a fake.

[darthauthor]

I could have swore there was something about conjurers being able to make gunpowder.

Does that count as dynomite?

[ShadowLogan]

If they can't make gasoline (specifically identified as such) I don't see how they can make gunpowder or dynamite. And Grenades are also identified as something they cannot make (specifically in the text).

Now the text DOES allow for you to make bullets for guns, BUT how this works isn't clear given this might be:
-an intended exception
-an oversight (ie unintended exception)
-the literal bullet minus the cartridge or propellant. (What you might think of as a modern gun bullet before it is fired is actually several components, one of which is the bullet, you also have a cartridge holding the propellant, and primer).

[darthauthor]

I guess I am missing something or the Conjurer is just not the impressive to me.

They remind me of Batman's utility belt. Anything can come out of it.
Still all the games I have been in and heard about the characters already had the things so a conjurer would not really be of use. And the things the party could use a Conjurer could NOT conjurer.

The O.C.C. has a lot of options from which to choice skills but their biggest thing is, well, conjurering and unless I am missing something it is not that impressive unless you need equipment or a temporary part (as long as it is not electric based).

Even when what you can conjurer you can make permanent what is worth the price in PPE cost? Gems?

What would you conjurer if it cost you 1d6 PPE from your permanent PPE base?

It is so situational.
1. A life perserver/boat because I was in the middle of the ocean and I would drowned after I fell asleep.

It seems like everything that could happen in which you would need a thing it is in your OCC standard equipment list. While the circumstances in which you would need it and don't have it seem so improbable of ever naturally coming up one ought not to pick an OCC because of it.
I realize they all have their pros and cons but the Conjurer's pros feel like an adventurers class SDC game session. Someone to run with the City Rats, survive with the Vagabonds, explore with the wilderness scouts, experiment with the rogue scientists, or conjurer paper and pencils for the students of the Rogue scholar.

[Library Ogre]

One of the guidelines I picked up from reading it was that Conjurers could not make anything chemically interesting; no combustibles (from gasoline to gunpowder), no silver or other special materials, no electronics.

[darthauthor]

Wait.
Can they make soap?

[Library Ogre]

Wait.
Can they make soap?

For the sake of the Dog Boy's nose, we will say "yes". But, honestly, if they can't make a battery, potato or otherwise, they can't make soap.

[ShadowLogan]

It seems like everything that could happen in which you would need a thing it is in your OCC standard equipment list. While the circumstances in which you would need it and don't have it seem so improbable of ever naturally coming up one ought not to pick an OCC because of it.
I realize they all have their pros and cons but the Conjurer's pros feel like an adventurers class SDC game session. Someone to run with the City Rats, survive with the Vagabonds, explore with the wilderness scouts, experiment with the rogue scientists, or conjurer paper and pencils for the students of the Rogue scholar.

The Conjurer does appear in one of the PF setting WBs, though which came first Rifts WB16o or PF #10 I don't know off hand.

The Conjurer has three areas of magic:
1. Spell Casting.
2. Create items.
3. Create animals.

While #1 is limited (creation only spells), some of these are more PPE efficient to cast than trying to work out if you can do it with the other areas or even doing it via other areas AND are permanent. Create Wood Spell for a Conjurer is 5 or 10 PPE to create 100lbs per level of soft/hard wood, there is no way their #2 or #3 ability can match that. Create water (and the Palladium Fantasy Create Bread & Milk spell, not present in Rifts) is something they can't do via #2 or #3.

Number 3 on the list is something that isn't going to find under standard equipment. In theory they can summon up a lot of animal types (just not all at once), and if they need a mount that mount is more PPE efficient than casting Phantom Mount (10min per level 45PPE vs the ability at let's say 40PPE for a horse for 1 hour per level, so if the speeds are comparable the Phantom Mount requires more castings to go the same distances as the Conjured animal). One can also summon animals for tracking or to fetch or guard or do something else useful.

Number 2 seems to be your biggest gripe that you can't make the things you want, even though items like them are identified as being unable to be produced. While you could argue this is a situational ability due to the limitations, one could also argue that some of the materials you could conjurer up are things likely to not be found in a standard equipment (for field use):
-in the wilderness one could summon up some comfortable chairs and a table for dinner
-in the wilderness when camping one could summon up some cooking and dining paraphernalia
-create a stretcher (or crutch) to transport an injured party(s)
-create a decoy(s) to throw off/disrupt pursuit (or possibly as a form of intimidation to defuse a situation, nothing says you can't make "toy" guns that look real using this ability).
-create "cover" (either for combat, environmental shelter, or to slow down pursuit in confined areas)
-multiple castings might allow them to "construct" something even more useful
-create carrying "cases" for a variety of purposes (smuggling for example)
-create a simple structure to act as a bridge/ramp/ladder to access areas you might not normally be able to (not everyone has access to flight or teleport capabilities)

[Library Ogre]

You know what would be cool, and make ley lines and nexuses even more valuable?

Instead of burning permanent PPE for effects, you tap a ley line or nexus. That PPE is effectively infinite, so draining "permanent" PPE doesn't diminish it (unless you do Plot Device kinds of things), but it also means you are stuck to a place.

Wish I'd thought of this 17-22 years ago.