There are a number of different Schools of Magic. These schools are methods by which a Mage may build up energy with which to cast a spell. Such Schools include Incantation, Blood Magic, Handcasting, etc.. The following is a list of the Schools of Magic, including the benefits and drawbacks of using that school and the method by which they are used to raise energy.
Incantation[]
Benefits: Duration is as long as you continue the incantation.
Drawbacks: Can be dispelled by silence.
Method: The magician utters ancient words designed to call up magical energies, and continues the chant until the completion of the spell effect. This means the spell has no set duration… it continues until the magician stops chanting, which means no additional points need to be spent on duration. For a spell that takes place immediately, the mage has but to utter the final word of the spell and release it.
Once the magician has cast a spell he wishes to continue over a number of turns or rounds, he stops rolling on his Incantation skill and starts rolling instead on the Spellweaving skill associated with the effect he is trying to accomplish. If, for example, he had created a fireball and hurled it into the enemy, and wished it to remain burning to cause ongoing damage, he would need to follow the following steps: First, he would need to use Incantation until he had enough points to create the fireball and project it. Once that was done, he would roll on his Create skill and his Project skill to create and then throw the fireball. Once the fireball hit its target, he could continue rolling on Create Fire once per round in order to find out how strong the fire would be for that full found. If he ever fails his roll, or if his concentration is broken, or if he stops the incantation, the spell stops working.
Blood Magic[]
Benefits: Large supply of energy during battle.
Drawbacks: Easier if the mage is also a skilled warrior.
Method: Blood magic requires sacrifice. Instead of raising energy, one must slaughter their foes, spilling their blood on the battlefield. A bloodletting weapon must be used for this, which means blunt weapons and magic won’t be sufficient. Most Blood Mages have one specific ritual weapon that they use exclusively for the purpose of raising Blood Magic spell points.
For every rank of damage you do, you immediately build up five times the regular amount of energy. This energy lasts for a half an hour, and unlike other types of spell energy it is not all expended when one spell is cast. Because of this, if you score an excellent hit and have 125 spell points, you could conceivably then spend the next five turns (in a row, if you wanted, but
they do not have to be) throwing 25 spell-point fireballs. Injuring yourself results in ten times the regular amount of spell points, and you can make called shots to yourself with no effort (for example: “I cut into my hand with my ritual dagger, doing Fair damage.”)
Handcasting[]
Benefits: Effects occur immediately.
Drawbacks: Can’t cast if bound or if hands are wounded.
Method: The magician begins making hand-sigils in the air which indicate his intention, and continues making them until the spell is ready to be performed. Once the spell points required have been built up, the magician directs the flow of energy with his hands. This means that if his hands are injured, he receives a penalty to spellcasting equal to the total ranks of damage to his hands. It also means that if the magician is bound or has lost his hands, he cannot cast. Handcasting can be done with only one hand without penalty, but the magician’s predominant hand must be in some way involved in the casting, and if it is injured, the magician suffers the penalty.
The effects of a handcasting spell occur immediately, which means every turn, the magician must drop the spell points into the spell effect and its attributes that he wishes to use. For example, over the course of the creation of a fireball, every turn until the fireball has reached its maximum size, the fireball grows a little bit, and then, when the magician propels it, it moves a little bit every turn, being directed by the magician, until it reaches its target.
Ritual[]
Benefits: Can get very powerful effects and build large amounts of spell power.
Drawbacks: Must be able to set up and have the time to perform the ritual.
Method: The method for performing rituals is very labor intensive. Luckily, unless they want to (in order to add flair to their spell), the details don’t need to be carefully paid attention to (such as colors or incense used in the ritual or arrangement of the altar). Spell points work a bit differently for Ritual spells, and not only do you gain more by using a ritual, but the spell points required change as well (this will be listed in the spell effect listings). You must spend one hour in preparation setting up the ritual area. The ritual must take place in a private area where there will be no interruptions, and if there are, the spell must begin over again (although not the preparations for it).
When the spellcasting begins, every person involved in the ritual stands in a circle with the main magician standing at the head. Every hour, the magician rolls on his Ritual skill, with a +5 bonus for every person attending the ritual. The number of points gathered for that whole hour are equal to the usual amount that would be gained over the course of one turn in usual spellcasting. However, Ritual Spell Points are much stronger than regular ones, and can create effects not possible with other schools of magic.
Once the spell points have been raised, the magician may begin rolling on his spellweaving skills one at a time, once more gaining +5 per person in attendance of the ritual.
Scrivening[]
Benefits: Lasts forever.
Drawbacks: Effects are limited, and only one effect possible at a time. Must have the imbue spell type as a skill.
Method: A mage skilled at Scrivening will devise a sigil known only to him and inscribe it (using a tool he must possess called a burin) into the surface of an object he wishes to enchant. He must then raise the spell points necessary to the spell using some other means of raising energy. Once this is done, he must raise an equal number of points and put them into an imbue spell, and cast it on the object that has been scrivened. From that point on, as long as the scrivening remains on the object, it retains the spell effect cast upon it at the rank at which the Imbue spell was cast. The spell effect may either be something that is always on and active, or else be a spell effect that can be cast from the object. For example, the spell increases the Strength of the person in possession of the object, or it can allow the owner of the object to increase people’s Strength. It may cause the object to burn with magical fire, or it could allow the owner to use the object to throw fireballs. A scrivened item of the former type is called a talisman, and the latter type is called a Focus (or a wand).
Focus Magic[]
Benefits: Spell Points can be stored to be used later.
Drawbacks: Limit on amount of spell points and spell types that can be stored. Only one sphere of magic can be used per focus item.
Method: A mage who uses Focus Magic normally has an object such as a stone or wand that he stores power in for spells. These spell points can be used immediately, with only a roll on the mage’s spellweaving skill for the quality of the spell effect. Once exhausted, the focus item needs 24 hours for its spell points to rejuvenate. It will not begin to rejuvenate until all the spell points in it are used up, but the mage can easily empty spell points from the wand just by saying he is doing so. The energy will arc into the ground, and 24 hours later the spell points in the focus item will be restored.
The item being used for Focus Magic could be anything, from a stick or a staff to a rock or gem, even a scrap of glass. The only exception is that it must be scrivened, and it can only hold the ability to cast magic from one sphere. This item must have spell points scrivened into it, and these spell points renew every day. Unlike other scrivened items, a particular spell effect does not need to be woven into the object, allowing the mage using the Focus Item to weave his own spells into it.
A Focus item can have spells woven into it at the time of scrivening. For example, a Scrivener could weave the ability to throw fireballs directly into a wand, and then all that wand could do would be throw fireballs. The mage using it can put as many of the spell points bound into the item into the fireball spell as he wanted, but those spell
points could never be used for any other purpose. If there is no set spell effect built into the focus item, the mage may use the spell points in it for his own spells, but only from the one sphere of magic the focus item is designed for.
Will Magic[]
Benefits: No components to be hindered, such as speech or gesture, and no spell points needed.
Drawbacks: Exhausts the magician’s Fortitude.
Method: Will Magic is the ability of a Mage to cast spells with simply a thought. This exhausts the mage, drawing from his Fortitude instead of spell points. For every point of Fortitude the mage expends, he gets 5 spell points per rank of the Will Magic characteristic to put into his casting. He may immediately cast the spell, using a spellweaving roll as usual.
Reagentry[]
Benefits: Spells can be cast instantly, without spell points. Can use spells from any sphere of magic.
Drawbacks: Must have the spell ingredients on hand.
Method: Reagentry is like potion-making. The exception is that a mage may simply take the ingredients and throw them out in order to cast a spell with them. The mage must first collect all the ingredients in his hand. Each small pinch of an ingredient acts as a spell point toward whatever spell effect the ingredient is linked to. A mage may gather a number of pinches per turn equal to a tenth of his Dexterity. Thus, if he has 50 Dexterity, he may gather five pinches of his ingredients per turn.
Once the ingredients have been gathered, the mage may use them in such a way as to demonstrate the way the spell will work. For example, to build a wall of magic, he would scatter the ingredients in a line in front of him, while for a ranged effect he would throw the ingredients. Because of this, range and area of effect does not need to be built into the spell unless they are an additional effect (such as an explosion after the spell has been thrown).
One pinch of an ingredient should be enough to fill a full square foot of area, and thus if the mage were building a wall around himself taking up ten square feet, the full amount of ingredients in the spell would need to be at least ten pinches, and he would deliver the spell effect by sprinkling the ingredients around himself. Magical ingredients that are to be thrown can be thrown as far as the mage could normally throw anything else, as the ingredients will magically bind together, sensing the mage’s intention.
Mages who practice Reagentry do not need to follow individual spheres of magic, as there are reagents themselves that contain the power of the spheres of magic.
Sigilism[]
Benefits: Sigils can be stored, used on the fly, activated, and deactivated with hardly any effort.
Drawbacks: Range is limited, and can only be used for the originally intended spell effect.
Method: Very much like scrivening, the mage will draw a symbol on something that has magical effect. The difference is that this symbol will not be permanent. The spell duration lasts as long as the sigil remains where it is. Also much like scrivening, sigilism can only be used for spells that will have ongoing effect, and not spells such as fireballs which have immediate effect. For example, a mage could use sigils to raise the Dexterity of everyone in the sigil’s area, to protect everyone within the area of effect from fire, or to make anyone in the are of the sigil tell the truth.
The creation of a sigil begins with the mage raising the spell points necessary for the spell to be cast using whichever other school of magic the mage is familiar with. Remember that duration and area of effect do not have to be built into the spell. Once the spell points are raised, the mage rolls on his Sigilism skill to design a sigil into which the spell will be held. The Imbue spell effect is not necessary to do this, and the roll the mage makes for his Sigilism score is equal to the effect the spell will have throughout its duration.
The mage may use a variety of methods to equate the area of effect of the spell. The following are the most common methods, but a creative mage and GM should be able to come up with a variety of other methods:
1) Put the sigil somewhere where everyone can see it, and all those who can see the sigil clearly will be effected by it.
2) Place the sigil at each corner of the area to be effected.
3) Place the sigil on the door or above the entrance to an area to be effected.
4) Place the sigil on something burnable and throw it in a fire. As long as the fire’s smoke fills an area, the spell will effect that area.
5) Draw the sigil largely on the floor, and all those within it will be effected.
6) Tattooing or painting the sigil on the skin of a person to be effected, or shaving it into their hair. Only one such sigil can be active at any time, which a person with several such tattoos can control by touching each sigil to turn it on or off.
If the sigil is moved or destroyed, the effect ceases immediately. The mage may turn it on or off by touching the sigil, at which point it is possible for the mage to pick up the item and bring it somewhere else, if it is on a portable item. Every time a mage turns on a sigil, he must roll on his Sigilism skill to find out what the effect of the sigil will be. If a person does not have the Sigilism skill, but is permitted to operate the sigil (such as if it is tattooed on them) they may
roll on their Willpower skill to activate the sigil.
Alchemy[]
Benefits: All spell effects are baked directly into the potion, and will take place immediately and effortlessly once the potion is drunk. The alchemist does not have to follow a particular sphere of magic.
Drawbacks: Takes a while to make a potion, and must have ingredients on hand.
Method: An alchemist may make potions which will have a magical effect on the person that drinks them. Also possible are such things as tinctures and oils which can have an effect by being rubbed on their target, or gases which can effect anyone who breathes them in.
The method is to use pinches of ingredients with the required effects and powers required. The alchemist should gather enough ingredients that contain the amount of spell points required to garner the effect in question (one spell point per pinch). Once this has been collected, the alchemist may begin to mix the ingredients. For this, he must have the essential
equipment (see the Equipment section). After making an Alchemy roll, it takes one hour to brew a potion, and the potion will have the rank of quality based on the result of the Alchemy roll.
The alchemist may brew multiple batches of a potion by multiplying the number of ingredients by an additional 0.5 for every potion he wants to brew (so multiply by 1.5 for two potions, or by three for five potions). They will all have the same quality. The alchemist must have an empty vial for every potion he wishes to brew.
The potion’s effect takes place immediately upon being drunk. The alchemist must remember to add ingredients in to extend the duration or the potion will have essentially no effect.
Scholarly Magic[]
Benefits: A non-mage can use scholarly magic.
Drawbacks: Although spell points are not required, it takes a long time to read and cast the spell. Also, spell effects are limited to exactly what is written.
Method: A Scholarly mage is someone who understands ancient languages and can thus read spells out of a spellbook or off of a scroll. The spell will take place immediately upon being read, but it takes time based on how many spell points the spell is worth and how quickly the caster can read. Reading speed is equal to one tenth of the caster’s Intellect score every turn, and the time it takes to read the spell is equal to the number of spell points the spell would be worth. Thus, a mage with an Intellect of 65 could read six and a half spell point’s worth of the spell every turn, and thus it would take him 8 turns to cast a spell worth 52 spell points. A spell with multiple effects (such as Creating a fireball and then Propelling it at one’s enemies) will take place all at once the second the spell is finished being read. A mage who practices Incantation can write his spells down so that a scholarly mage can cast them. This requires five minutes per spell point the spell is worth, and requires no roll.
Devotional Magic[]
Benefits: Can pray for the exact spell effect you want, no spell points needed.
Drawbacks: Must be in the good graces of your chosen Spirit to cast. Limited number of spells per day.
Method: Devotional magic is the act of calling upon a spirit to act on your behalf. Rather than casting a spell yourself, you are allowing one of the Great World Spirits to cast a spell for
you by reciting a prayer of thirty words or less over and over until the spell takes effect. The benefit of this is that you may cast virtually any effect that falls under your spheres of magic without raising a single spell point. The bad part is that you must live your life according to a certain code. If you ever break the code, you cannot use devotional magic any more until you have made penance to the spirit. See the section on the spirits in order to find what their individual codes are.
To cast a spell using devotional magic, the magician begins to recite a prayer. He must make it a plea to the spirit he is calling upon, and it may be no more than thirty words in length. Each recitation takes one turn. The caster must roll on his Faith score, unmodified. This roll reveals how many turns the mage must continue to recite his prayer before the spirit will take notice, and it cannot be rolled again unless the mage wants to start from scratch. The number of turns it takes before the spirit takes notice is 50 if the result of the roll is Poor, 25 if it is Fair, 10 if it is Good, and 5 if it is Excellent.
Once that many turns have passed, the GM decides how good a servant to the spirit the character has been, if the thing being asked falls under the spirit’s area of influence, and if the spirit is capable of doing such a thing. The mage then rolls Faith modified by his Devotional Magic skill, and the GM bases the result on that roll and these preceding influences.
A Devotional Magician may cast a number of such spells equal to one tenth of their Faith score every day. In addition, there are a number of spell effects that each spirit gives to their followers which can be cast immediately using only a roll as part of that number of spells per day.
Natural Magic[]
Benefits: Can control elements without building spell points.
Drawbacks: Limited amount of spell power.
Method: Natural Magic is an ability that most Elvantari have. They can cast spells every day based on a certain Sphere of Magic, and they do not have to have any kind of skill or ability in magic to do so. The amount of spell points a Natural Mage can use each day is equal to ten times their Willpower. Thus, a Natural Mage with 50 WLP has 500 spell points that they can use every day. They can drop these spell points into a spell all at once and throw it using only a single Willpower roll. A Natural Mage does not need to know any spellweaving skills, as his magery is completely natural. Thus, a Natural Mage can use any of the spellweaving effects while casting natural magic simply by rolling on his Willpower.
Once his spell points for the day are expired, however, he cannot cast any more spells until he has rested a full four hours. If he does not rest for that full amount of time, he does not regain his spell points.
Pranic Magic[]
Benefits: Can’t miss your target.
Drawbacks: Must be touching your target the full length of the spell. Can’t cast spells on yourself.
Method: A pranic magician can transfer his magical energies into another person through touch. In order to raise energy, the spellcaster must touch his target. It may be living or nonliving, biological or not, but he cannot touch himself, and it would be difficult to touch
an enemy in the midst of combat. For this reason, most pranic magicians are healers and don’t cast much (if any) offensive magic.
The act of touch is what builds up the spell energy, so if the touch is ever disconnected, all spell points that have been built up so far are lost and the mage must begin again from scratch.
Talismanic Magic[]
Benefits: Passive spell effect is always on.
Drawbacks: Must be wearing a talisman, and only one talismanic spell effect is possible at a time.
Method: A Scrivener may create talismans, which can be anything from rings to necklaces to pieces of clothing or armor. Once this is done, the person to whom this magical item is bestowed may continually gain the effect from it as long as the item is worn. Only one such item may be worn at a time, and if more than one enchanted items are donned, all of them lose effect until the number is reduced back to one. The effect will continue as long as the target is wearing the item, and cannot be turned on or off. The effect of such a talisman is equal to the success rank obtained by the scrivener at the time the item was made.
Bardsong[]
Benefits: No need to raise spell energy, and a bard can use any spell effect or sphere of magic.
Drawbacks: Effects are limited.
Method: Bardsong is a type of magic based on music that enchants all those that hear it. The bard must have an instrument (the voice is permissible, but every bard can only use one instrument per instance of the Bardic Magic skill, so if a bard that plays the mandolin ever loses his mandolin, he must get another: his voice will not suffice, since that is not his instrument of choice).
The bard begins by deciding what the effect of the spell will be. He does not choose the attributes of the spell, such as range, duration, area of effect, etc.. Only a Spell Effect and a Sphere of Magic, such as Create Fire or Enhance Persona. The bard does not get to choose
any more than that, and does not get to tell the GM what his intention is.
The Bard then rolls on his Bardic Magic skill, and the result indicates the result for that round. The bard may play his song continually, and the effect will continue until he stops performing. A bard may play continuously for a number of minutes equal to his Fortitude score. Thus, a bard with a Fortitude of 60 may play continuously for one hour. Out of combat, rerolling is not necessary, but in combat, the bard should reroll every round. If something happens to break the bard’s concentration, or if he rolls a failure on one of his rounds, the spell effect is broken
immediately.
Whether or not a bard fails a spell or simply ends it of his own free will, the same combination of spell effect and Sphere cannot be retried for 24 hours. The bard can play that song all he wants, but it will have no effect. The Bard’s song is the only type of magic that can tell friend from foe. Before performing, the bard may inform the GM that he wants his spell to effect only
friends, only foes, or anyone that can hear the song. Unless the bard fails horribly, the GM should know better than to make a spell intended for the bard's allies cause damage to them unless that is obviously the bard's intention.
A bard may make an Intellect roll modified by his Bardic Music skill beforehand, telling the GM the type of effect he's hoping to achieve and looking to his skill to see if there is anything he can recall about such a song.