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Delusions of Grandeur

Prime an object to an anticipated belief that it is a talisman.

Delusions of Grandeur is a spell that primes an object to expect people to Believe that it is a magical talisman. The spell does not actually make the object a talisman, it merely awakens it to the possibility and paves the way for it to become one. Once the object is thus primed, pandering to its newfound ego is required; this gives it enough Belief to latch onto and eventually attain full fledged talisman-ness.

After the spell is cast, the object must first be given a reputation. Refering to it by this reputation and most especially showing the object off will then soothe and reassure it enough that it may eventually become a bonafide talisman. This process takes Some Days and, while the object's resolve may be strengthed by repeated casting of the spell, the passage of a certain amount time is required. If it is neglected, on the other hand, the poor little object will eventually give up on its efforts.

Note that anyone may give the object its reputation by using the 'dub' command, not only the witch who Deludes it. Likewise, anyone may pander to its fragile ego. Note also the two syntaxes for the 'dub' command; the first actually gives the talisman a Proper Name which it may eventually show off proudly, whereas the second gives it a reputation by which one may refer to it but that isn't as obvious to onlookers.

This is a MISCELLANEOUS spell that is learned at 150 levels of ma.sp.misc.

This spell consumes 50 units of spell storage space.
The nickname of this spell is delusions.
There are no necessary items for this spell.
100 GP is needed to cast this spell.

Focus Tea Bonus Guideline S1: divining S2: convoking S3: enchanting
You would definitely fail. ???0 - 1980 - 250
You would almost certainly fail. ???204???
You would very probably fail. ???206 - 208255 - 256
You would likely fail. ???213 - 217262 - 266
You are a little more likely to fail than to succeed. ???220 - 221270
You might as well toss a coin. ??????274
You are a little more likely to succeed than to fail. 184 - 185??????
You might succeed if you put some effort into it. 186 - 200??????
You have a good chance of succeeding. 201 - 206??????
You would almost certainly succeed. ?????????
You would definitely succeed. ?????? (old: 229+)??? (old: 283+)

I appreciate any extra information reguarding focus tea results. If you'd like to contribute to this please make a copy of your magic skills and your focus tea results and mail them to me witches "Discworld Focus Tea" in the subject line. However, due to focus tea restraints a magic.spells.special bonus of 150 or higher is required.

The spell is very useful in two ways. A) it can give an item a Proper Name and B) it turns an item into a talisman. During the last stage of deluding the item becomes a talisman but not until it reaches full delusion (you'll recieve, "The (item) shudders suddenly and sharply. It flashes an intense octarine for just a moment and the shuddering subsides") can it be bonded to a person so it can only be used by that person. The casting of this spell though is only the beginning. As a witch you give an item a nudge towards talismanhood but the owner of the item has to continue on the belief by calling the item by name, showing off the item, using the item, weighing the item and even getting recasts of the spell. Looking at the items description will show you what level it's at. The levels are:

Deluding Levels
1. It has a faint octarine shadow about it that disappears if you look at it squarely.
2. It has a faint octarine shadow about it.
3. It has an octarine shadow about it that flickers occasionally out of the corner of your eye.
4. It has a flickering octarine shadow about it.
5. It has a flickering octarine haze about it.
6. It has the hazy octarine sparkle of a magical talisman.

It does take some time for an item to be turned. Neglect of the item or referring to it's previous name can lead to the spell wearing off.

Once the item has been deluded it needs to be dubbed or named. Try syntax dub if you need it. If you mess up in this bit you can mock the item to break the delude and retry. During the dubbing process you have about 20 - 25 characters, give or take a few, to name the item with. If the name is too long, the items ego will be deflated and you'll have to redelude. At this point the item should be referred to by it's Proper Name, shown to people, held, judged, used, unheld, weighed, enchanted, redeluded (all of these are not necessary, particularly the last two) this will help the item turn.

From Woom: As you work on your talismans, you may see different messages, stating that the octarine shadow around the items deepens or fades. Don't be alarmed by the fading messages, since one of these appear at the slightest change down on the scale, while the deepening messages don't come for every change upwards, just for a select few. No matter how much you pander your wannabe talismans, it takes some days for the item to change, how long depends on the item.

My guess is that it takes longer time for items with long descriptions. I have, for example, deluded my antique black dress and hobnailed boots (both with monster descriptions) and they both took a long time, while a privy key (with just 39 characters in its description) just took a day!