I think I understand ceremonial magic, but certain things in the listed examples in the HFH confuse me in that they seem inconsistent with my understanding of ceremonial magic. I don't know if these things that confuse me in the examples are oversights, or, I'm minunderstanding some aspects of ceremonial magic.
For example, my impression is that your traditional implements are not something you normally carry on you when dungeon delving and wilderness adventuring, that is, they primarily stay at your base (or whatever). Perhaps I have this wrong? The reason I ask is because on p. 111 HFH in an example concerning purifying yourself of stigma, it states:
"He and Algernon make camp for the night, and after a good night’s rest of 8 hours, Balbus spends 1 hour praying to Ammonar. His stigma is reduced to 0."
In this example, I'm just curious if Balbus has his traditional implements on him, given he's "making camp for the night." Can you purify yourself using a talisman? I've failed to see that written anywhere. I only read that you need your traditional implements in order to purify yourself.
Another example that throws me off is, on p. 109 HFH, it has an example of Ra-Ramases performing Choking Grip on a merchant in a shop, and in the example's equation there is no sign of any kind of talisman bonus, as if he is using his traditional implements in the shop when performing the ceremony, which seems odd.
I could be missing something obvious. My confusion could be due to smal oversights in the examples (but I'd place my bet on I'm missing something).