Less Awful Maho Proposals

Maho Philosophy: Maho should be stronger than elemental magic. It should be at

least on par with Void spells and honestly, be even stronger. It makes no
mechanical sense for why any shugenja would be tempted to learn maho, or why even a
non-shugenja would bother with it beyond the healing spell.

Universal Maho:

Sense - Like the regular Sense spell, only it lets you detect Kansen.

Summon - You can summon any substance, barring the usual exceptions (rare/precious
and sacred). However, you can conjure forth obsidian with 5 raises.

Commune - The kansen are more than happy to talk to you. They take the best traits
of regular kami and none of the disadvantages. The only issue is that you only get
one question and there are no Raises for more - if you need more clarification, you
need to cast the spell again. It's not like you're using spell slots...

Mastery I:

Open Wound: The maho-tsukai can inflict a wound with a touch. It requires a
Jiujutsu roll, but the TN to hit is 5 + ATN + Honor rank (no Reflexes may be
applied). It deals 1k1 damage but you can raise for an extra 1k0.

Blood Rite: Keep as is.

Blood and Darkness: Keep as is, but the maho-tsukai can call 1 Raise per target
they wish to exclude.

Disrupt the Limb: Keep as is.

Inspire Fear: Keep as is.

Legacy of the Dark One: Gone.

Sinful Dreams: Area should be something like 3 miles, enough to affect a single
city.

Summon Undead Champion: It should last indefinitely.

Written in Blood: You should get 1 page base, and 1 page per raise. Also it should
be indefinite. With 3 Raises, it can also have a self-destruct trigger (detected by
magic, read by someone with Honor 6+, etc).

Mastery II:

Draining Touch: You touch a target using the same rules as Open Wounds (Jujutsu vs
a TN of 5 + ATN + Honor rank) but you deal more damage: 3k3 with 1k0 per raise.
Additionally, you heal for half the damage you drain.

Mosquito's Sting: You make a Ninjutsu roll vs a target's TN of 5 + ATN + Honor. If

you succeed you deal 1k1 worth of damage and they must make a Investigation
(Notice)/Perception check vs your roll to realize that it wasn't just the bite of a
mosquito/gnat.
Tongue Dripping With Blood: You double your ranks in a single social skill while
affected by this spell. You can get 1 more skill per 2 raises or increase the bonus
by +1k0 per Raise.

Veil of Blood: While affected by this spell you can cast Maho spells up to Rank 1
without doing anything visible, other than drawing the blood of another. Drawing
your own blood now happens entirely internally. You can increase the Rank of Maho
spell you can conceal per 2 Raises.

Chains of Jigoku: This needs to be Mastery 2 not 4.

Caress of Fu Leng: Take it out.

Curse of the Unblinking Eye: Needs to have a higher base duration or get 1
day/raise.

Curse of Weakness: Needs to last longer, like an hour.

Drain the Soul: Too weak, just take it out.

Pain: Should be concentration-based.

Puppet Master: Shouldn't have a time limit.

Spreading the Darkness: Keep as is.

Mastery III:

Siphon Blood: Like Draining Touch, but works at range, requiring no attack roll,
and can have multiple targets.

Blood Puppet: Making an opposed Willpower roll, you attempt to seize the mind of
another person. You can get +1k0 per Raise to this roll. Issuing a command depends
on the number of words used.

Blood Shield: You gain "temporary wounds" equal to your Earth Ring + Taint Rank.
These temporary wounds last for at least a week + 1 day per Raise. This spell
stacks with itself.

Contaminated Words: A person becomes forced to take the lowest dice when they are
making an opposed social roll against you. Additionally, if they engage someone in
conversation, the Contaminated Words spell may spread: the other person makes a
(normal) Willpower roll vs your spell's TN when you cast it. You can increase this
TN by dropping Raises on it.

Mosquito Swarm: The target turns into a cloud of mosquitoes. There's a number of
mosquitoes equal to the Wounds of the caster and so long as at least a number of
mosquitoes equal to the caster's Insight rank exist, he can reconstitute himself
later, with a number of Wounds equal to the mosquitoes lost. If a mosquito moves
more than 10 ft away from the "center" of the swarm, the mosquito dies.

Armor of Obsidian: Duration needs to be longer, like 1 day per.

Death Beyond Life: Keep as is.

Essence of Undeath: Good. Maybe bonuses for Raises?

Hate's Heart: Duration needs to be longer.

Summon Oni: Good.

Mastery IV:

Wave of Corruption: A cone spell that forces an Agility vs spell TN roll or be

discombobulated. Their TN drops to 5 + ATN and they suffer a -3k0 to all rolls.

Malignant Whisper: The kansen temporarily supress the kami of a nemuranai.

Dark Awakening: Like Death Beyond Life, but works retroactively.

Control the Blood: Like Blood Puppet, but the commands are telepathic so no actions
are wasted.

Chains of Jigoku: Moved to Mastery II.

No Pure Breaths: Weak, get rid of it.

Stealing the Soul: Good, but durations needs to be longer.

Truth is a Scourage: Duration needs to be longer.

Mastery V:

Warform: The caster becomes an Oni in body but risks becoming an Oni permanently.

Maho is in the Blood: While affected by this spell, casting a Maho spell is a
Simple action, though the character is limited to casting one Maho spell per round.

Strength of Darkness: Decent, but the duration needs to be longer and the Special
Raise bonus needs to apply to all physical stats.

Possession: Needs to be more like the Soul Jar spell from older editions of D&D. If
the old body is killed, the two people make a Willpower rule for control of the
body.

Touch of Death: Needs to be stronger but not as strong as Unmake the World. Maybe
10k10 damage and reroll on 8s, 9s, and 10s.