Saving the world on a Sunday afternoon
Characters who follow magic, do so from a number of Schools, the first School they learn a school-dependent skill for is the Primary School, the second the Secondary School, the third the Tertiary School and so on.
A Characters School order is determined when they buy one of the following school-dependent skills for a new School: Learn Spell, Enchant Item, Magic Ritual, Read/Write <School> Runes.
Example: Winterlight, an Elf Mage, has no school-dependent skills, she learns the spell Detect Magic, this makes General her Primary School. She then learns Magical Ritual(Fire) 0, this makes Fire her Secondary School.
The cost for a school-dependent skill is dependent on the School order. A Primary School skill is bought at its level CP cost. A Secondary School is bought at its level + 1 CP cost (note the ‘level increase’ does not effect the casting level of the spell or when you can learn it). A Tertiary School is bought at its level + 2 CP cost etc.
Example: Winterlight’s cost for Learn Spell is 2 x (l + 1). This means Detect Magic (level 0) cost her 2 CPs. Winterlight’s cost for Magic Ritual is 8 + l. This means Magic Ritual(Fire) 0 cost her 9 CPs.
She subsequently learns Endurance 3 (level 0), this make Earth her Tertiary School. This costs her 6 CPs.
| Air | ||
| Fire | Water | |
| Earth |
The Schools of Fire, Earth, Water and Air are combined into a single Elemental Group. Learning your first school from the group means you cannot learn its opposite (unless a member of the Circle at specific Guild Rank) and the other schools are automatically BOTH learnt as the next schools.
Example: When Winterlight made Fire her Secondary School, Earth & Air were automatically made her Tertiary Schools and she cannot learn Water. Hence she could learn Air Blast 2 (level 0) for only 6 CPs (the same cost as Endurance 3).
| Dark | Light |
The Schools of Light and Dark are combined into a single Luminosity Group. Learning your first school from the group means you cannot learn its opposite (unless a member of the Circle at specific Guild Rank).
The following types of Mages exist:
| Primary School | Name |
| General | Metamancer |
| Fire | Pyromancer |
| Earth | Geomancer |
| Water | Hydromancer |
| Air | Aeromancer |
| Light | Photomancer |
| Dark | Nyxomancer1 |
| Demonology | Demonologist1 |
| Necromancy | Necromancer1 |
| Spellsword | Spellsword2 |
1 Not available to PCs.
2 Only available to Bladesingers.
Example: A Pyromancer takes Fire Primary, Air & Earth Secondary, Light Tertiary
He cannot take Fire Primary, Light Secondary, Air & Earth Tertiary!
He also cannot take Fire Primary, Air & Earth Secondary, Water Tertiary! ..unless he was a member of the Circle.
Example: A Metamancer takes General Primary, Light Secondary, Earth Tertiary, Fire & Water Quaternary
Example: A Photomancer takes Light Primary, Earth Secondary, Fire & Water Tertiary, General Quaternary
Wearing metal armour interferes with the casting of magic. A Casting Penalty is applied to increase the effective level (for the purposes of requiring extra Mana, extra vocals and increased casting damage) of the spell.
The Casting Penalty is equal to the average of the Normal protection provided by metal armour on all locations (6) rounded up.
Example: Hurl, a Half Orc Mage, wears Chain on his Body and Arms, which totals 12 points of metal armour. His Casting Penalty is hence 2.
When Hurl casts the level 2 Fire spell Fire Dart 4, it is treated as a level 4 spell. Thus he needs to use vocals of at least 12 words and spend 5 Mana to cast the spell and takes 4 points of casting damage (which can be reduced by his Talisman in the usual way).
Superior armour that increases the Normal protection of the armour also affects the Casting Penalty.
Example: Hurl, buys superior (increased Normal protection) Chain for his Body and Arms, which totals 15 points of metal armour. His Casting Penalty is now 3.
Increasing the Normal protection of the armour by Spells/Miracles (e.g. Strengthen) does not increase the Casting Penalty of the armour.
Every level the character has in the skill Transcend Armour reduces the Casting Penalty.
Example: Hurl learns Transcend Armour 2, which reduces his Casting Penalty to 0.
Metal armour also interferes with ritualists in the same way. Where the Casting Penalty is equal to the average of the Normal protection provided by metal armour on all locations (6) rounded up, for each of the ritualists in the group added together.
Example: The following are performing a magic ritual together:
Hurl – Transcend Armour 2 – Chain on Body & Arms (12 points) – Casting Penalty 0
Chuck – Transcend Armour 0 – Full plate on all locations (36 points) – Casting Penalty 6
Lob – Transcend Armour 0 – Chain on Body (4 points) – Casting Penalty 1
The total Casting Penalty is 7, thus the effective level of the ritual is increased by 7 levels (though no extra ritual skill levels are required), which increases the time taken, casting damage etc.
All characters who use Magic should have a spell book listing all the spells the characters knows, with notes on the vocals and any other casting requirements. For Mages this book must be at least A5 size and for other classes it must be at least A6 size. It is not required that the spell book is kept on your person and there are no penalties if it is not.