Healing Potions? Healing Magic? Necromancy-Biomancy?

[beachhead1973]

I wonder a lot about this. As banged up as harry gets, we never see a healing potion even discussed. Now in TDF, I can imagine a lot of things going wrong with it, but consider there is discussion of flying potions and love potions, ect.

Yet no one ever does a "cure" spell anywhere that I have seen yet.

I wonder; is it necromancy? bringing dead tissue back to life on a live body.

Does it fit within the narrative of TDF to have a "grey" necromancer who does this kind of healing magic?

Or would it be more like a form of Biomancy? making things grow/heal? I am certain a "Faith healer" would not be quite as out of place.

I am considering this for a story element, a concept for a particular NPC, looking at either a Faith Healer or a Dr Frankenstein-like necromancer, with an eventual goal of creating life/soul, or a very good facsimile there of.

[blackstaff67]

Bringing dead tissue back to life on a living body is not necromancy.  Biomancy has already been covered.  I believe some holy type might be able to do a faith healing thing.

[Sanctaphrax]

You may want to check out the Reiki Healing Spell in Your Story.

The various healing Powers on the Custom Power list and the wiki might also be worth a look.

[PirateJack]

During Dead Beat, Kumori uses necromancy to save a man's life.

[Mr. Death]

The general gist of it seems to be that you can't really heal something--you might be able to reduce the severity of something, and make it heal a bit faster (like the Reiki healing spell downgrading the healing times from Moderate to Mild), but you can't just "erase" a consequence.

Further, you have to know what you're doing--just like normal doctor stuff, you can't use magic to heal if you don't know how it should be healed in the first place. The book does suggest, though, that a sponsor could do the heavy lifting on that front. That's why Listens-to-Wind is mentioned as returning to medical school every few years to stay current.

[beachhead1973]

So, what about the frankenstein idea? New life in old flesh?

[blackstaff67]

If by "new life in old flesh" you mean introducing the stunt "Wizard's Constitution" into someone that previously didn't have it, I'd allow it sans Lawbreaker.  The Frankenstein concept is a clear Fifth Law violation, assuming you mean raising the dead by supernatural means.  Unless you could show the Wardens some reason why it isn't a violation...

[InFerrumVeritas]

I allow them in my game since we have a character sponsored by Orpheus and another by Apollo. 

4-shifts suppresses a consequence for once scene, meaning it cannot be invoked or compelled during that scene
6-shifts suppresses mild consequence, and it goes away at the end of the scene (slot is still taken up during the scene though)
8-shifts reduces moderate to mild
10-shifts reduces severe to moderate
12-shifts reduces extreme to severe (but it still takes up a permanent aspect, and when it heals the permanent aspect must reflect the consequence, as before.  It just heals faster and re-opens the extreme consequence slot).

A consequence may not be reduced multiple times. 

[Taran]

I like the "suppressing a consequence" idea.

[beachhead1973]

If by "new life in old flesh" you mean introducing the stunt "Wizard's Constitution" into someone that previously didn't have it, I'd allow it sans Lawbreaker.  The Frankenstein concept is a clear Fifth Law violation, assuming you mean raising the dead by supernatural means.  Unless you could show the Wardens some reason why it isn't a violation...

I mean body parts from dead bodies, augmented by a few necessary mechanical additions(1890-1930 tech), making a serviceable body, filling in the gaps with necromancy/biomancy and creating/inviting/invoking a new soul/spirit/life to enter and use the body.

We know we can construct things with soulfire(divine lighting strikes?) and we know we can/do transfer bits of our souls around through various contacts and means. So our mad scientist; literally pours his heart and soul into his creation and attracts a little divine lighting to kick-start it.

[blackstaff67]

It might not be necromancy if you transferred your spirit into a construct out of (for example) poisoned body to do stuff until your body got better (maybe).  For you to transfer someone else's spirit/soul.whatever is a gray area.

[PirateJack]

It might not be necromancy if you transferred your spirit into a construct out of (for example) poisoned body to do stuff until your body got better (maybe).  For you to transfer someone else's spirit/soul.whatever is a gray area.

I'd rule it as necromancy, since you've pretty much exactly described what the Corpsetaker did.

The difference between biomancy and necromancy in my mind is that biomancy deals only with living flesh, whereas necromancy meddles with the soul/spirit. A biomancer couldn't do anything with a corpse, because there are no biological processes going on for him to manipulate (it would be like trying to get water from a stone for how effective it would be).

Meanwhile a necromancer manipulates the soul/spirit into dead flesh in order to animate it. Zombies aren't just golems; they're corpses animated by a summoned spirit that is under the control of the necromancer. Corpsetaker manipulated her (and her victim's) soul/spirit in order to swap bodies. Kumori prevented a man from dying in some way (following this theory it would be by anchoring his soul to his body, despite it being effectively dead). Harry summoned a T-Rex spirit to inhabit a body made of ectoplasm and Corpsetaker did the same with human ghosts.

That's how I define the difference between biomancy and necromancy and it's faired pretty well so far.