This page is my attempt to clarify the Animism rules for Hero Wars, after having misunderstood them for most of my current campaign. Sorry Ted! As usual, I am sticking to the "player character is male, Narrator is female" distinction for clarity.

I. Basic Animism:

All animists have the following magical ability:
Tradition Knowledge - Allows the animist character to identify a spirit of his tradition and know its strengths, weaknesses, and habits. It also describes familiar areas of the spirit plane. It is used by shamans to locate desired spirits and occasionally as an alternative to Spirit Combat when creating fetishes.

A typical animist character spends 10% of his time in the rituals and practices of his spiritual tradition.

Fetishes:
Basic animist characters can use fetishes (which must contact bare skin), and sometimes have spirits integrated into their person. A typical animist character starts play with a number of fetishes (usually five) with an average might of 17. The player may choose to have these fetishes integrated instead, with one integrated spirit counting as two fetishes against the typical starting total of five.

The basic animist character cannot summon or bind these spirits himself, nor can he create fetishes. The basic animist is dependent upon his or her tribe's shamans for the creation and filling of fetishes. Regardless of how many uses per day the fetish previously had, it becomes one use when given to any character that is not a shaman.

Once used, these fetishes must be refilled by a shaman. In play this happens automatically between episodes unless narrator decides otherwise.

Integrated spirits provide only one Talent (a permanent ability or bonus) regardless of how many abilities the spirit previously possessed.

Common animist spirit types:

Skill Spirits - If the user does not have the skill provided by the spirit, he simply uses that ability as if it were his own. If the user does have the spirit's skill, then the spirit can be used to augment his ability and gains the spirits APs for extended contests as if it were his follower.

Passion Spirits - These spirits provide a passion which augments the character's ability(s) with a bonus equal to 1/10 of the spirit's might, rounded down.

Ancestor Spirits - These spirits typically have several skill and/or passion abilities. The shaman who invites an ancestor to inhabit a fetish must specify which ability he wants the ancestor to provide. Ancestor spirits are always voluntary participants, and are never bound against their will. In my game, this means that the shaman uses Tradition Knowledge instead of Spirit Combat to bind ancestors.

A shaman may purchase a fetish containing a might 12 spirit of his choosing for 2HP between sessions. Otherwise, he can role-play the encounters and cement the new fetches for 1HP.

Shamans spend 60% of their time working with the Spirit World.

 The Fetch:
Shamans have a spirit friend called a fetch, which is a magically awakened (by the shaman's teacher) part of his spirit. The fetch acts as a follower with a might equal to the shaman's own best ability.

The fetch can add its might to the shaman's Spirit World Travel ability when passing through the barrier between the Physical World and the Spirit World.

The fetch can block a non-corporeal attacker in spirit combat, and possibly offset multiple attacker penalties.

The fetch may be able to lend assistance on the physical plane depending on its abilities and the circumstances.

Shamans have the following magical abilities:

Craft Fetish - Creates a suitable container for captured spirits. Spirits held within a fetish can be used multiple times a day depending on the shaman's level of success with his Spirit Combat ability. Fetishes given to non-shamans become one use. The only alternative is integration, which causes the spirit to permanently provide the character with a single ability called a Talent.

A defeated spirit from outside the shaman's tradition will result in a one use fetish only.

Draw Shamantic Circle - Creates a sacred space for interacting with the Other Side. The Shamantic Circle is a 10W3 barrier against hostile spirits.

Spirit World Travel - After building a shamantic circle, the shaman can cross into the Spirit World (barrier 10w3) using his Spirit World Travel ability. Guiding others through this barrier has a resistance of D+40. Once through the barrier, the shaman uses this ability to traverse the Spirit World.

Shamantic Escape - Allows the shaman to exit the Spirit World in a hurry. Normally this is a simple ability test, but it can be opposed by hostile spirits. This ability does not work in other planes of the Other Side (God Plane or Sorcery Plane).

Spirit Combat - This is used exactly as it sounds. The spirit's resistance is its might, but it may attack with other, possibly more powerful, abilities. If the shaman is loosing, he may try to flee using Shamantic Escape.

A defeated spirit may be forced into a fetish, integrated, or compelled to perform a single task. See Craft Fetish above.

If the shaman gains a complete victory over a spirit outside his tradition, he may treat that spirit as if it were part of his tradition from that point forward. This only applies to him, and not other shamans of the same tradition. A fetish resulting from the Complete Victory would still be one-use, but subsequent bindings follow the rules for spirits within the shaman's tradition.

Spirit Sight - Allows the shaman to perceive spirits while he is on the mundane plane. Giving others the ability of Spirit Sight while guiding them on the Spirit Plane has a difficulty of D+20.

These individuals are not Shamans, but have a deeper connection to the Spirit World than ordinary tribesmen. The Holy Person might be someone touched by Spirit Powers (having a natural talent for animism), or he might be a Sacred Chief or Family Head.

These individuals may have spirit allies, similar to fetches. This spirit acts as an ally having several abilities which are used as if they were in a fetish. The spirit ally can either possess the holy person or act as a disembodied spirit.

The holy person typically spends 30% of his time in spiritual pursuits.

Jeorg is a Kolating shaman (Spirit World Travel 1W, Spirit Combat 5W, all other shamantic abilities are at 17) who plans to create a fetish and fill it with a helpful spirit.  He uses his Craft Fetish ability to make an appropriate container (difficulty 14). It takes him a couple of tries, but Jeorg eventually succeeds at crafting a fetish.

He then uses Create Shamantic Circle to form a safe area to work, and then Spirit World Travel to breach the Other Side. He chooses to perform the ritual at a shrine to Kolat (+10) on a particularly auspicious day (+5). His fetch adds another 5W to his Spirit World Travel ability (1W) and he uses his sacred Horn of Six Winds (+5) to play sacred songs of the Kolat Tradition. Because of these ritual aids, Jeorg now has an effective ability rating of 6W3 in Spirit World Travel. He is still at a bit of a disadvantage, but he is a starting Hero with much learning left to do.

Jeorg succeeds in traveling to the Spirit World, and uses his Kolating Tradition Knowledge to locate an appropriate spirit. Finding common friendly spirits requires only a simple ability test. Powerful or exotic spirits would require a resistance to be overcome. At last, Jeorg finds an appropriate spirit, and must convince it to enter the fetish.

If the spirit is sacred to the Kolating Tradition (an ancestor, for example) he may decide to bargain with it using his Kolating Tradition Knowledge ability. Otherwise, he will simply engage the spirit with his Spirit Combat ability. If Jeorg is successful, the spirit is bound in the fetish. If not, he may need to use his Shamantic Escape ability to quickly return to the ordinary world. The spirit is not automatically hostile - it depends on the type of spirit and its relationship with the Kolating Tradition.