3.0 Magic

The magic system divides magic into six branches; Black, White, and the four elements, Earth, Air Fire and Water. The power of the magic is rated in terms of five ascending levels; Faerie, Guardian, Diety, God and Lord. These subdivisions are described in the Magical Hierarchy section. For convenience the different types of magic are given labels such as Imp, Sprite and so on, and throughout the system are referred to as "spirits".

Although many traditions of magic claim that all magic is the result of the intervention of magical spirits, the GM should not feel confined to this interpretation. The system is designed to be flexible and adaptable to whatever tradition of magic exists in the GM's world. Magic can manifest itself in many different ways, and the mages and adepts in the GM's world may have widely differing explanations of how magic works. Nevertheless, it is necessary to give the different types of magic some form of label and statistics in order to make the system workable, although the GM should feel free to alter these labels to whatever suits their world best.

At the higher reaches of the magical hierarchy, the system allows the GM to integrate whatever dieties, gods etc. exist in their world into the system. Some entities may span several branches of magic, while other slots in the hierarchy may be left blank. For example, if the GM wishes the most powerful entity in their universe to be a White Lord and all other magical forces to be lesser entities, so be it. Gods, dieties and Lords can be treated as fully-blown characters in their own right, with their own sets of aims and priorities and much more freedom of action than Guardians and Faeries.

As stated above, the system is flexible and unlike most systems does not confine the adept to long lists of set spells. The GM should therefore be familiar with the section on the Limitations of magic, in order to confine the abuses of over-enthusiastic players.

All magical operations require the magic to be conjured (see Conjuring). After this, the adept may require an immediate service (a spell), or a more elaborate Enchantment ritual may be carried out, such as a Binding, Animation or Possession, in order to create a magical device or creature.

3.2 The Magical Hierarchy

Air and Fire are opposed to Earth and Water. Dark and Light are opposed. All other relationships are neutral. Opposed magic will tend to attack when possible, often cancelling itself out. Air, Fire, Black and White magics can all fly. Earth can move freely through the ground (including under oceans). Water can move freely through water (including underground streams and water tables). A spirit cannot create a glamour (see Glamour) of something to which it is opposed, e.g. a Gnome cannot create a tactile (and therefore breathable) glamour of air underwater, because Air and Earth are opposed.

3.3 Limitations on magic

Knowledge of magic is extremely rare, and the more powerful, the rarer. For this reason the realm of magic is often characterised by a very few powerful individuals. In this it is the exact opposite of Technology, which (with the exception of the occasional genius) relies on building on the work of others and thus thrives in a society with a large participating population.

The Adept is often a solitary individual, a hoarder of knowledge. Many magical operations take several hours to perform. This is a large limitation in itself. The exception to this is the area of Faerie magic, since conjuring a Faerie takes only a few seconds. Several limitations can be applied here.

Firstly, a spell can go wrong and even a controlled Sprite can cause problems. Treating spells as at least semi-intelligent spirits allows the GM a certain amount of flexibility in the effects of a spell. Think of a spell as a rather unusual short-term NPC. Capricious spirits may not simply vanish after the spell is performed; they may linger and cause mischief. Over-enthusiastic Adepts should beware of magical fallout!

Secondly, the adept must apply imagination in the use of magic. A certain amount of thinking is involved in the correct use of magic in order for it to be effective. The wording of a spell contrived in the heat of combat may have serious unforseen consequences.

Thirdly, magic can only be directed towards a target that is in sight of the adept. The only exception to this is Contaign (see below). Remote viewing through such means as crystals balls etc. are psionic effects and should be dealt with using the psionics rules. If a character skilled in both psionics and magic can view a target through such means (eg. clairvoyance), the GM may allow that character to direct magic at the target, but in most cases the line-of-sight limitation should apply. This means that a faerie spirit cannot be told to "look around that corner and report" what it sees.

Finally, magic entails fatigue loss. The character drops one level of fatigue per level of the conjured spirit. Thus a faerie conjuring requires one level of fatigue, a Guardian two levels and so on. An Enchantment ritual will also require one level of fatigue.

3.4 Basic Techniques

The following are some of the basic skills of an adept. All mages will need to know one or more of the runic languages and conjuring rituals. Wardings and the purification ritual are also described.

3.4.1 Runes

The six written and spoken languages of the six branches of magic.

Healing is treated as a spell. Magical healing objects can be created through binding (see below). Only Lords can restore life. If a character lost their head due to a Destroy to the neck, a God could reassemble the body but not restore it to life. The result of this magic would be a soma; a body with no Essence.

Black magic can be used to heal, but the result will be warped in some way. For example, an arm regenerated by a Black Diety might come back as a claw.

3.6 Pacts

Unless the spirit is openly hostile to the adept, a pact may be made. An agreement is made whereby the spirit undertakes a task for the adept and in return receives a reward, such as a sacrifice or the spirit (soul) of the adept on their death. Some spirits are notorious in their use of language; the GM should be strict in making the player-adept write down the agreement, and exploiting any weakness in its wording. Pacts of spirits with Diety rank or higher may be used to prolong life. Often the payment is a life for a life (ie. the adept gains the same number of years in lifespan that someone else loses). Pacts may be used by the GM to introduce powerful magic into the game which is not otherwise covered by the magic system. Provided that the GM approves, powerful enough magic can achieve almost anything via a pact. The catch is that there is always a price to be paid and the GM must be strict in making that price severe enough to avoid unbalancing the rest of the system.

3.7 Enchantments

The following magical operations cover the creation of magical devices or creatures. They include Bindings, Possession, Animation and Potions, the latter being a special form of Binding.

3.7.1 Binding

A spirit may be bound to an inanimate object (doorway, staff, sword, amulet etc.). When performing the binding ritual, the adept can either give precise instructions for the nature of the magic (e.g. astrally attack the being towards whom the staff is pointing when I say "zap"), or they can tell the spirit to take instructions when the object is activated (usually by a particular word). If the latter is the case, the object acts as a kind of magical power storage device or wishing object, and the spirit will disappear once the wish has been spoken, just as for any spell. If however the instructions are precise, the spirit will perform the instructions a number of times equal to the spirit's Stamina. After the object has been used this number of times, the spirit will no longer be bound and will (probably) disappear. A new spirit must be conjured and bound in order to use the object again. In all cases, the instructions must be given in the correct runic language. For a specific binding, the will roll for the spell (see spells) should be made when the ritual is carried out, and if successful the spell will automatically go off when the object is activated. However if the roll is unsuccessful, the object will be flawed and not work correctly. The GM may therefore wish to make this roll in secret, so that the adept will not know for certain whether the object will work until it is tested. If the binding is general, the will roll should be made when the object is activated, and if the roll is not successful the wish spell will not succeed (in which case "magical fallout" may well occur).

Lords may not be bound. The binding ritual takes one hour. If the spirit is unwilling to be bound (a distinct possibility) its willpower is use as a negative modifier on the skill roll for a successful binding.

A bound spirit may make astral attacks or physical attacks in combat. A maximum of three Faerie spirits or one of any other level can be bound into an object. Binding requires the inscribing of runes on the physical object. It is these runes which bind the magic to the object and the removal of them will release the magic.

A bound spirit may not leave the object to which it is bound, but will retain all mental and physical stats and is capable of making ranged attacks in combat if that is the task specified in the binding (see Magical Combat).

One possible form of binding is the creation of a potion (see below) in which a spirit is bound to a liquid, which is then drunk. The bound spirit will carry out whatever instructions were given by the adept. Normally these will be directed at the drinker.

3.7.1.1 Potions

Solid objects which are invested with magic must be inscribed with the correct runes as a part of the binding or animation rituals. Liquids (potions) obviously cannot be so marked and so it is the special ingredients of the potion which allow the magic to be bound.

The potions skill is a measure of the adept's knowledge of what ingredients to use in a potion and how to mix them. Once the correct ingredients have been gathered, in addition to all other necessary die rolls (conjuring, binding etc.) the adept should roll against their potions skill to see if the potion was mixed correctly and the magic takes to it.

Potions require a liquid component, a colour component and an animal or vegetable component. Sometimes one ingredient may fufil more than one function, e.g. the blood of a Troll killed in combat may be used to create a black magic potion without any other ingredients (see below).

All potions require a liquid base. Water may be used for white, air and water magics. Blood may be used dark,black, earth and fire magics. All potions must contain at least one ingredient of the correct colour for the type of magic being used. Normally this can be gathered from mosses, lichens, fungi, molds, ferns or flowers. However, in certain cases the liqiud base may itself be of the appropriate colour, e.g. ordinary blood for fire magic, trolls's blood for black magic or even milk for white magic.

All potions require an animal or vegetable component. In some cases the blood of an animal is used, thereby also supplying the liquid base, or else an animal is actually cooked in the potion brew. Air magic requires a component from an air-dwelling creature such as a bird, water magic from a water-dwelling creature such as a fish, earth magic from a plant-eating land dweller or else a natural food plant and fire magic from a flesh-eating land or air creature such as a lion or eagle. White magic requires an animal component from an animal which died a natural death or else a plant which must also be the colour component (i.e. it must be white). Black magic requires the use of a violently-killed creature.

Further ingredients may be added to the potion in order to mask the colour or taste of the other components or to make the potion more palatable.

3.7.2 Possession

A spirit is directed towards a living creature and attempts to take control of the body. When the will of the spirit(s) is greater than the will of the victim, the victim is possessed and under the control of the spirit(s), who will (probably) follow the instructions of the adept.

Because of the inferior intellect of Faeries, more than one possession ritual may be required if Faerie magic is used to possess someone. A maximum of three Faerie spirits or one of any other level can be used to possess a single creature. The ritual takes one hour for each spirit. The victim's willpower is used as a negative modifier (presuming they are not willing), as is the spirit's. If the spirit is willing to possess the victim, its will is used as a positive modifier. If possession is used at a distance from the victim, a Contaign spell is required before the Possesion may be performed in order to locate the victim. Therefore some token of the victim is required, such as a picture or statue, a lock of hair or an object that has been close to them. A possessed individual may be ordered to die by the adept.

Possessed entities may make physical attacks in combat, but not astral attacks. They may not make ranged physical attacks in the same way as bound spirits, but can of course use ranged weapons. Possessed entities will have either their own stats or the stats of the possessing spirit, whichever is higher. The duration of a possession is indefinite, although when the body dies the magic is released. Spirits of Deity rank and higher can prolong the life of their adopted body (i.e. ignore ageing rolls).

3.7.3 Animation

A spirit is invested into an object in order to animate it. This allows the object to move as would the spirit, but no astral attacks are possible. A chair that was animated could go marching around the room. An animation carried out on a dead body would create a zombie or an animated skeleton. An animation carried out on a manufactured body or soma would create a golem.

A maximum of three Faerie spirits or one of any other kind may animate an object at one time. Animation cannot be carried out on a Lord.

In combat, the animated object may only make physical attacks. It may not make ranged physical attacks in the same way that bound spirits can.

The animation ritual lasts for one hour. The chance of success is equal to the adept's skill percentage. If the spirit is unwilling to cooperate in the animation, it's willpower is used as a negative modifier on the ritual. Animation requires the use of runes in the same way as binding, i.e. the runes must be inscribed on the object. Zombies or skeletons may be raised by marking the runes on their graves and specifying in the ritual that it is the body that is to be animated, not the earth or gravestone which lies above it. The duration of an animation is indefinite. Destroying the animated object or soma will release the magic.

3.8 Mysticism

Mysticism covers skills found on the Mystic's skill table rather than the Magician's or Psionics tables.

3.8.1 Spiritualism

This is essentially a conjuring ritual for Revenents, the spirits of the dead. The spiritualist may attempt to summon the spirit of someone in particular, or else call on whatever spirits are in the area. revenents have all the stats and skills that they had in life. They are translucent and cannot be seen in strong light. revenents of those who died a violent death or who left their life's work undone often haunt a particular location. If a revenent is haunting an area, the GM should provide some way of laying the revenent to rest, by finishing the work left undone, or avenging their death. A revenent can also be dismissed by a successful Exorcism ritual. A spiritualist with the correct skills could perform a binding, possession or animation ritual on a revenent in exactly the same way as for a magical spirit. More powerful revenents, in particular the spirits of dead magicians, could have magical skills of their own, and could thus perform the rituals mentioned on themselves, e.g. by possessing a new body.

Revenents can make astral attacks but cannot make normal physical attacks.

3.8.2 Astral Projection

A skill which enables someone to leave their physical body and travel on the astral plane. In this form they may combat magical spirits and revenents directly and incidently walk through walls and fly. All attacks on the astral plane are astral attacks unlike spirits and revenents, characters who are astrally projecting cannot physically or astrally attack the material plane . The only weapons that may be wielded are those with bound spirits who can make astral attacks as part of their binding. The astrally projected form is invisible to those on the material plane and may fly (for movement rates see Magical Combat). The character's body is in a trance when projecting. A successful astral projection roll allows the character to enter the trance. It takes 15 seconds (3 combat rounds) to enter the trance. The character must return to their body in order to wake up, which they can then do at will. Damage sustained on the astral plane will translate into physical damage when the character wakes up.

3.8.3 Prediction

3.9 Magical Combat

Without prior preparation, the only magic that can be used in combat is Faerie magic. Conjuring a Faerie takes one combat round. If the conjuring is successful, then the next round, the adept may speak the spell and if the required willpower roll is successful (see Spell Casting), the spell will go off. In the round that the spell is spoken, the spirit moves immediately after the adept, regardless of it's initiative. If the magic is still around on subsequent rounds, the spirit will move at it's normal initiative.

Animated or possessed entities may make normal physical attacks in combat. The strike chances and damage for physical attacks are calculated in exactly the same way as normal combat. Spirits do not normally have combat skills (although the GM may wish to give some to those of Deity rank or higher when designing the local pantheon) and strike chances and damage are calculated on stats alone. Physical armour will affect physical attacks.

Bound spirits may make astral attacks or physical attacks. Activating a bound spirit to attack is a combat action. The bound spirit will attack immediately after the adept activates the item, regardless of the spirit's initiative.

Astral or physical attacks by spells or bound spirits can be treated as ranged attacks. Astral attacks by someone astrally projecting (and attacking a target on the astral plane) or by a revenent can be treated in the same way. Strike chances and damage are calculated as normal for physical attacks and as given below for astral attacks. As any mode of attack is treated as ranged under these circumstances, the GM may wish to limit a bound spirit to a single mode, specified in the binding ritual (e.g. a Gnome bound to a staff is specified as making "bearhug" attacks). Normal range modifiers apply. The effective range of a ranged magical attack is equal to the spirit's constitution in hexes. Any target that is visible is taken as being within extreme range. When a magical object is used in combat, only one set of strike and damage rolls are required. If the strike roll is successful for both the magical and physical attacks, the damage values for the magic and the physical damage should be added together and applied on the damage table. If the roll counts as a success for only one or other of the attacks, only the relevant damage should be applied.

Spells may attack living beings physically or astrally, but objects can only be attacked physically. In all cases the target of the spell must be visible.

When a spell attacks physically, the spirit will manifest itself in some form on the physical plane. For example, a conjured djinni could make an attack in the form of a lightning bolt, or a gnome bound to a staff could make a ranged physical attacks by making the ground rise up around the target, giving the appearence that the earth was swallowing them up.

Astral attacks are unaffected by physical armour. Spirits bound to an object (e.g. a breastplate) enhance its armour value by 1/3 of the spirit's constitution. This does not apply for possession or animation. Magical armour of this type will count against astral attacks, though the physical armour value of the breastplate would not.

For characters who are astrally projecting and for revenents, mental stats are used to calculate strike chances and damage instead of physical stats. The equivalent stats are:

The statistics for astral combat are:

3.9.1 Damage to Spirits

For astral attacks against spirits or revenents, do not use the hit location tables. Instead, the attack is taken as being against the whole of the spirit. Major damage effects will alter stats according to the table below:

Spirits are affected by culmulative damage in the same way as for normal combat.

3.9.2 Characteristics of Spirits

Charisma is variable with the type and appearence of the spirit. Figures given for Dieties and Gods are guidelines only. It is recommended that the GM specifies the stats of whatever dieties and minor gods inhabit their world.

No figures are given for Lords. The stats for Lords are effectively infinite. Spirits higher than Guardian level may well have magical skills of their own, and thus could control lesser spirits and perhaps perform bindings, possessions or animations on those lesser spirits or even on themselves. Skill percentages for Gods should start at 100% and for Dieties at 75%. Lords do not fail skill rolls.

3.10 Psionic Skills

Psionics is the use of the mind directly to produce physical effects, rather than using the agency of magical spirits. This section may be used in addition to the rest of the magic system, or if required, only psionics may be available in the GM's world and spiritual magic not used at all, as is sometimes the case in science-fiction.

As with spiritual magic, anyone may learn psionics, but the skills below are based on PC's having a good willpower and intuition stats.

Hypnotism

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower with opposed roll of Targets Willpower x 2. Defenders resistance will also be greater if actively trying to resist.

Telepathy

Send and receive thoughts or images from another person with the telepathy skill or too any other individual.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower with opposed roll of Targets Willpower x 2. Unless of course the target also has Telepathy skill or knows communication is likely.

Clairvoyance

View scenes displaced in time and space. PC must decide in advance whether he wishes to try and view with regard to a TIME, a PLACE, a PERSON or an OBJECT. Whichever of these he does not choose he may not know in vision. For example, PC wishes to try and see an event next week. He will know that the scene he sees takes place next week, but he may not recognise where it is.

Chance of success is Skill + Intuition.

Telekinesis

Move objects with the power of the mind alone.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower

Teleportation

The movement of the user instantaneously from one location to the other using the mind.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower

Telempathy

The ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower with opposed roll of Targets Willpower x 2.

Note: When emotion has been changed it will take longer than duration of control to return to normal!

Probe

The ability to read thoughts even at subconscious level of an unwilling target.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower with opposed roll of Targets Willpower x 2. Alternatively the defender can use the Shield skill to defend against this attack.

Assault

A direct attack on a sentient mind with the intent of doing injury or rendering the target unconscious.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower + Intuition with opposed roll of Targets Willpower x 2. Alternatively the defender can use the Shield skill to defend against this attack.

Roll on ordinary damage table with the result being applied to the head. Wound or above is unconscious, maim reduces Willpower, destroy renders target insane or dead.

Shield

Shield is used as a defensive action against Probe, Assault, Telempathy and Telepathy.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower.

Healing

Healing is laying on of hands to repair damage.

Chance of success is Skill + Willpower. Two levels of fatigue for every level of damage healed or attempted.