Hey there Gang. Quick question. Currently have my players in a prisoner scenario, their Duty has forced them to forgo the usual song and dance of seppuku in order to continue their mission. The Shugenja has Perfect Memory and the question was asked of me would she even need the Shugenja Scrolls at this point to even cast her magic? Since she has the scrolls all memorized (Via Perfect Memory) I have no idea if this has been addressed in the Rules in the current edition or previous ones. I personal thought that a increase of TN might be a reasonable compromise? Also if hands are bound, since Shugenja technically are just praying for an effect, would they still be able to cast in these circumstances IE: No scrolls, perfect memory. I appreciate the time and answers. A thousand Thanks.

I would not permit it at all as spell memorization carries an XP cost.

Same, the exp cost is too balance the overall power of characters and shouldn't be able be bypassed like this.

Thank you Gentlemen (and or Ladies) I appreciate the advice and information. I couldn't find the advantage that was mentioned during play so just went with "no" for the time being. I'll let my player know about the Advantage to memorize spells.

Because the advantage in question is actually "Precise Memory" not "Perfect Memory" and mechanically gives you a bonus to remember things (and only costs three points) I would definately disallow spells to be automatically memorized. Perhaps allow them to be memorized for one less xp, with an appropriate int roll with a TN of say 25 or 30, if they fail, then they have to spend the whole point value.

If they wanted a "Perfect Memory" advantage that automatically allowed them to succeed at rembering things including spells, I would have it cost 12+ points (probably 16). While it would eventually become a little OP, the fact that it is such an investment up front would balance it similar to elemental blessing, albeit in a significantly greater investment to return. Having it cost enough to basically increase a stat to 4 will potentially keep them from dinging to the next insight rank in character creation, thus limiting them to the available spells. Also, having spells memorized is not game breaking, as it doesn't make them easier to cast, just makes it so they can cast them without having to hold a scroll, which can be very useful for certain fire spells.

I'm like the idea of a minor drop in XP cost for a decent TN roll. Does anyone know the name of the Advantage that lets you memorize spells off hand? I can probably track it down on my own but I am an admittedly lazy GM as I work best in a deadline induced panic.

I'm like the idea of a minor drop in XP cost for a decent TN roll. Does anyone know the name of the Advantage that lets you memorize spells off hand? I can probably track it down on my own but I am an admittedly lazy GM as I work best in a deadline induced panic.

It's not an advantage. It's part of the core rules for Spellcasting.

I know I'm late to this party, but this situation came up in our group before and what the GM allowed for the shugenja to cite the spell from memory, but at TN of 30 vs raw INT. If pass, then he can proceed to spellcasting roll and yes, memorization the spell costs less 1xp.

Sorry I haven't replied in ages, wanted to thank everyone for their assistance.