How does Ben's magic work?

[deepbluerenegade]

I asked on the comic, but I have been directed to the forums, so people don't get spoiled.

-DBR : )

[Gorble]

He's a Shaman. He makes contracts with a Dream god and can call on them for certain abilities within the purview of that god's power. Of course these abilities are payed back to the dream god in favors.

As to why he's out of magic? Well he might not have a god he can currently call on with something useful (or a god he shouldn't call on). He might currently just owe favors (these are often in the form of specific tasks and thus not something you can generally do in a couple minutes).

[ShadowsMyst]

WARNING - WORLD SPOILERS AHEAD.

Okay, that being said, here's how it works.

Shifter Shaman, use a form of totemic magic. They make a pact with a dream god for a granted set of abilities. Each God has their own 'payment' required for the use of their magic. These payments are variable, but they have to be paid in order for the Shaman to once again call on the Dream god's power.

Shaman also only have access to the powers of gods they have an agreement with. If they don't have a pact, they can't call on them. Most shaman only have about 3-4 they can call on anyway. Ben is young, and in the Redux version, his youth and inexperience as a shaman is showing a bit. Currently he only has 2 pacts he can use, and one he won't. Like Gorble said, the usefulness of a particular dream god is usually limited. Not every dream god is useful in every situation. Some gods will also not respond if a Shaman still owes a debt to another god, or become very difficult to control. Currently Ben has yet to do his payment to Butterfly, as he hasn't had time to do it. So its risky, and at this point isn't really willing to possibly have a dream god go rampant, when there's already something that brute force will probably solve.

There's also the matter of not showing your true strength to the enemy.

The actual hows and whys of how a shaman acquires a pact, and maintains it and which gods will play with others is a whole other ball of wax. Ben's pretty powerful but this time around I wanted to let his power develop more over the course of the story. So he's missing some of what he had in the original.

[deepbluerenegade]

Awesome! Thanks for the explanation.

Is it too much to ask what the other 2 dream gods are?

-DBR

[artguy50]

does ben still go feral when a bear do to magic Shaman stuff or god favor. i forget what but it was one of the two?

[Gorble]

Awesome! Thanks for the explanation.

Is it too much to ask what the other 2 dream gods are?

-DBR

It's probably pretty spoiler me thinks, but those who read the old comic probably can hazard a pretty educated guess that Coyote, the forbidden trickster is still one of them in this revised version if SM's statement of one Ben won't use is any hint.

does ben still go feral when a bear do to magic Shaman stuff or god favor. i forget what but it was one of the two?

It was neither in the previous version of the comic. Ben's 'feral' nature the more he shifts into bear form is related to him being a shifter. All shifters usually have some disadvantage related to their animal, the more powerful the more problematic. A cat shifter might be affected by catnip in all froms, while a fox shifter becomes increasingly ADD when transformed.

Now Ben did go berserk in the near the end of the previous version of the comic series, but this was not due to being a shaman. It was because he was exposed to Ltv. Shifters have numerous reactions when exposed. One of the others previously demonstrated necrosis of the body as their regeneration destroys the increasingly infected flesh. As stated again and again Shifters and Vampires don't play well together on a very fundamental level.

[WadeWebb]

Hello! I really like the way how Ben's magic work goes on... It's extremely interesting!

[ShadowsMyst]

Glad you are finding it interesting.