Rules for Genesys

As the world shifts with the influx of magical energies from other planes.
Important to note, not everything is hard defined. Some things will be (such as core class identities from dnd, and particular spells) but the idea is that if you want to play something from dnd (a specific pact warlock or want some specific class ability we can discuss it).
You cannot select a given use of a more than once per round. Strain and activated abilities arethe exception to this rule.
At the start of each session (unless the last session was a cliffhanger) each player rolls a d20. For each 10 and above the party gets a story point, and 2 on a natural 20. And for each 10 or less the dm gets a story point, 2 on a natural 1. The gm also rolls a d20, with 10+ being a dm point, and 10 or less being a player point, and 2 on a 20 and 1.
Additionally when attempting a task, you may only attempt it once with a given positive dice pool. The idea is that you must have changed the circumstances for the challenge. Additionally certain tasks may have multiple applicable skills, and each skill may have a different difficulty pool associated with it, since there can be more than one way to solve a problem.

Languages

Every player knows common and a language based on their species. You may learn languages by taking downtime to learn them. Additionally you may learn languages when gaining ranks in Knowledge lore or geography, forbidden may also grant a language.

Healing

Characters may benefit from short rests that are an hour long, during this time you must take it easy and make a cool or discipline check to recover strain rather than after an encounter.
You may add b to recovery rolls by having food and other amenities available.
A tenday of proper rest, can recover all wounds and strain. And at the end of it you may attempt to remove a critical by the normal Genesys rules.
You remove wounds at the normal rate of 1 per long rest.
When using restoration magic, a may not be used to recover strain for yourself.

Magic

These rules for magic are extended from the magic rules in the core genesys book.
Magic is split into many different skills, one for each school of magic. And can only be taken if you have a talent that grants it. Unlike other skills, magic skills have restrictions based on talents and can only be learned if it is a class skill or a talent grants you access to it. Additionally the max rank for magic skills is limited by your earned xp. Rank 3 requires 250 xp, rank 4 requires 500 and rank 5 requires 750 earned xp.
For certain spells (mass target, aoe) checks will be contested, with the dc being the spells dc. The caster does go first, and for 2 advantage the caster can add a b die to their the targets rolls. Additionally t can be used to increase the difficulty of the checks.
Spells have several important values, difficulty, rarity, rank, strain, duration, casting time. Where rank is the minimum ranks in the skill you need and how much strain it takes to cast.

Schools of Magic and Spells

Evocation

Conjuration

Abjuration

Necromancy

Divination

Enchantment

Illusion

Transmutation

Law

Dunamancy

Restoration

All spells in the world Aushudore belong to one or more schools of magic. But these are not all of the schools of magic, just the somewhat well known ones. A spell is defined as a specific set of effects and difficulty to cast, that may have optional modes. To learn or create a spell, you may either adapt a DnD 5e spell with the DMs permission or design a spell using the standard genesys magic rules. All spells have a default range, number of targets. Any spell with this effect can be cast a longer range or more targets by increasing the difficulty.

DnD 5E Spells

To adapt a spell from DnD look at the genesys rules to get an idea of power level and difficulty of the spell. For spells that are more utility look at the time to cast and the DM will decide if there is really a risk to failure to cast the spell.

Genesys Spells

The schools of magic from genesys do have equivalents in this system (provide list). When making a spell this way, the difficulty is what it would be what it would be in the genesys rules, its rarity would be low, and its rank would be equal to the number of effects that were added.
Any damaging spell (not including strain) by default can only critical on a .

Spell Qualities

There are new spell qualities that your can spend aa or t on to activate, if active
Duration (active) : You may increase the duration of the spell. It will indicate how the duration is handled, this is usually in either rounds, minutes, or hours. If nothing is specified then each activation steps it up one duration level, these go round, minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 8 hours, 1 day. After a day each additional activation will increase by 1 day.
Permanent (active) : The spells effects are permanent until dispelled. The cost to activate permanent is equal to the rating of permanent.
Magic (active): The spell or item over comes magical soak and resistances. Spells have this by default.
Focus (passive) : Spells with Focus require the caster to maintain focus on this spell, so as long as they have strain they may continue the spell up to its duration. A opponent may spend a number of a equal to the focus rating when they hit you with an attack to cause you to lose focus on that spell. You may maintain 1 focus spell at a time, or spend take a concentration maneuver to maintain an additional 1.
Concentration (passive) : spells with this quality require the caster to spend a maneuver to maintain the spell, these spells have maximum duration for which the caster can maintain concentration.
Material (passive) : These spells require a material component, indicated as part of this quality, and cannot be cast without it.
Knowledge (passive) : Specific Knowledge is need to cast these spells such as a sigil.
Upcast (passive) : Spells with this quality can be upcast by increasing the difficulty by 1, and suffering 2 additional strain. The effect will be noted. Some spells will have a rating higher than 1, you may upcast it multiple times.
Ritual (passive) : Spells with the ritual quality may be cast from a spellbook without being prepared.
Martial (passive) : Spells with this quality are cast as part of a attack action. If no specific action is mention, such as melee or ranged, then any attack roll is valid. Additionally Martial casters may learn these spells regardless of school they are from if they have the martial magic skill, they will use that skill when learning these. When making an attack roll you use the lower of the two skills for the ranks. You also don't add b due to heavy armor or no free hands. Can also be indicated as Martial Agility or Martial Brawn, this indicates the spell can only be done with that version of the skill.
Divine (passive) : May only be learned by divine casters.
Damage Types (passive) : The this indicates the damage type the spell does if it is not just standard force, bludgeoning, etc damage. By default all spells have magical damage but some will indicate Non-Magical if they don't count as magical damage. Common types Fire, Ice, Force, Necrotic.
Save (active) : Targets of spells and effects with the save quality can use hh (or h for AOE spells) to make a save. To make a save they take the ranks in the skill plus 1, and reduce the damage taken from the attack by that amount. This quality may be activated more than once per target, priority for activating goes by ranks in the skill.
Taxing (Passive) : Spells with this quality are particularly tiring to cast, and thus you cannot use a when casting them to recover strain, and strain used to cast these spells cannot be regained except by a long rest. Strain gained through h when casting these spells also cannot be removed except via long rest. Most spells above 6th level in DnD gain the taxing quality, i.e. rank 4 plus in genesys.
Failure (Passive, Active): When you fail a check with this spell or generates hh subsequent checks for this spell (regardless of caster) add d equal to the Failure rating. And yes failure can be triggered multiple times in a casting. Many Enchantment and restoration spells have this quality.

Common Spells

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Name	School	Rarity	Rank	Strain	Difficulty	Duration	Casting Time	Range	Description	Special
Fireball	Evocation	2	2	2	ddd	Instant	Action	Medium	A big fireball engulfs an spherical area of short range around a point. If successful, each target may attempt a coordination check equal to your magic skill to reduce damage by their successes. Fireball does damage equal to 8 plus each s	Something

Source of Magic

The ability to cast spells comes from one of a few sources

Study

Martial

Nature

Innate

Patron

Divine

Your source of magic will determine the number of spells you have available to you at any moment.

Learning Magic

Source of magic

Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
You must have at least 3 in the characteristic associated with the source
The first time you take this talent select a source of magic, you then gain access to 3 of the associated skills, with the given characteristic. You then gain 4 rank 0 spells from among those skills. The
Each additional time you take this talent you select a source of magic, and gain 2 more skills from that list. If there is only one more for you to gain, or only wish to gain 1 more, you may gain a rank in the new one instead. You also gain 2 rank 0 spells from among the skills taken.
Sources include
Bardic(Presence) : Evocation, Abjuration, Enchantment, Illusion, Restoration

Wizard (Intelligence) : Evocation, Conjuration, Abjuration, Necromancy, Divination, Transmutation

Arcane Rogue (Cunning) : Conjuration, Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion

Divine (Willpower) : Evocation, Conjuration, Abjuration, Necromancy (god dependent), Divination, Enchantment, Transmutation, Restoration

Martial (Brawn and Agility) : Martial for both brawn and agility

Nature (Cunning) : Conjuration, Divination, Abjuration, Transmutation, Restoration, Illusion

Innate (Cunning, Willpower, or Presence) : Any

Patron (Any) : Any

Learning and Preparing Spells

Your source of magic will determine how many spells you have access to. For all sources of magic, you initially know 4 spells, and can learn more spells through talents. Each source has a talent that lets you learn a new spell through some mechanism. You know all of your spells, though there are ways to cast spells you do not know.
You can prepare a number of spells equal to your ranks in magic skills plus 1 for every 100 earned xp. Rank 0 spells do not count against this and do not need to be prepared. Each source of magic has different requirements for doing this. But you must be at full strain to do this and it takes 1 hour and is a simple check. Can take longer if under stress.

Spellbook

Tier: 2
Activation: Active/Passive
Ranked: No
Requires Bardic, Wizard, Arcane Rogue or Int Patron
You create a spellbook. As part of this you learn 4 rank 1 spells that you can cast, and add them to the spellbook.
You may attempt to learn spells my copying them into your spellbook. You must have access to the spell and must be a rank that you can cast. You then spend a tenday, and make a magic skill check equal to the rank of the spell, and spend 100 gp. If successful you may add the spell to your spellbook. If you fail, you may take another tenday and another 100 gp to attempt it again, however you dice roll for subsequent tries must be different from previous attempts that session. This can be done by giving yourself a from a previous roll, getting better instruction, etc.
Preparing Spells from your spellbook: You may prepare a number of spells equal to your strain threshold. This is nominally a simple knowledge lore check, and takes 1 hour. You may attempt non prepared spells from your spellbook by using the spellbook and adding a c to the check or taking an additional ten minutes to cast if it is a ritual spell.

Prayer

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive/Active
Ranked: No
Requires Divine Magic
Your god has granted you privileged to more magic. As part of this they have also granted you 4 rank 1 spells to add to your known spell list.
Once per session you may spend a story point to attempt to learn a new spell from your god. You must have general knowledge of the existence of this spell, you then attempt at discipline check based on the rarity of the spell, adding b for circumstances decided by the gm. It must be a spell that you could cast. This pray takes several hours, and may not be attempted multiple times.
You may prepare a number of spells equal to your strain threshold. Preparing spells takes 1 hour of prayer, and is a simple discipline check (not required if not under stress), and there must be more player story points than gm story points.

Natural spells

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
Requires Nature Magic
You learn magic my looking through nature. You learn 4 rank 1 spells that you can cast.
Once per session you may spend a story point and attempt a survival check, while in nature to find a spell. The difficulty is equal to the rarity of the spell. You may then add this spell to your spell list.
You may prepare a number of spells equal to your strain threshold. You must be in a nature to swap out prepared spells, and the check is a simple survival check if under stress.

Training

Tier: 2
Activation: Active/Passive
Ranked: No
Requires Martial Magic
You learn your spells through extensive training. As part of this you learn 4 rank 1 spells that you can cast.
You may attempt to learn spells through training. You must have a teacher or some previous instruction for the spell, as well as a place to practice the spell. You then may spend a tenday training the spell. To do so you make a magic skill check equal to the rank of the spell. If you fail you may continue to take tendays to try the spell, each of these attempt must have a different dice pool than the previous attempts this session. This can be accomplished by getting b from previous attempts with advantage or a different teacher.
You may prepare a number of spells equal to your strain threshold. Additionally you may attempt unprepared spells by adding a c to the check.

Magic Talents

Tier 2

Smite

Tier: 2
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
Requires Divine
You may add a d to a melee or brawl check. If you do the attack gains the Smite quality. You may activate smite by spending aa or t to add wounds to the hit equal to your willpower + ranks in smite.

Distant casting

Tier: 2
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
When casting a spell with range other than engaged, you may add d to the roll, and suffer strain up to your ranks in Distant Casting.

Shield

Tier: 2
Activation: Active (Incidental, Out of Turn)
Ranked: Yes
Requires Abjuration Magic
Once per round as an out of turn incidental, after being declared the target of an attack roll, you may suffer 2 strain to add f equal to your ranks in Shield plus ranks in Abjuration. These f cancel out [generatedice:success] generated by attacks targeting you until the start of your next turn. Each f is used up after each use.

Tier 3

Lay on hands

Tier: 3
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
Divine
Each long rest you have a pool of wound healing available equal to your willpower plus ranks in healing hands, as a maneuver you may touch a creature you are engaged with an remove wounds up to your remaining wounds in the pool.

Cunning caster

Tier: 3
Activation: Active
Ranked: No
Must have at least 1 Cunning Based magic skill
When casting a spell you make suffer 2 strain to cast it subtlety, when doing so you also remove any b from not having a free hand or being able to speak. If casting using Cunning, this cost is reduced to 1. Checks to notice your casting are made against your skulduggery.

Dunamancy

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
Must be able to cast Intelligence or Cunning Magic
Gain Dunamancy (Intelligence or Cunning) as a magic skill. Gain a free rank in it and learn 2 spells from it.

Wind step

Tier: 3
Activation: Active
Ranked: No
When you cast a spell you may spend aa to move anywhere with in medium range. As you do this air lifts you up.

Counter magic

Tier: 3
Activation: Active (Incidental, Out of turn)
Ranked: Yes
Requires Abjuration Magic
Once per round as an out of turn incidental, in response to a caster you can see with in medium range starting to cast a spell, you may suffer 2 strain to add f to the roll equal to your ranks in Counter Magic plus ranks in Abjuration.

Tier 4

Focused casting

Tier: 4
Activation: Active
Ranked: No
You may spend a maneuver to add b to you next spell roll (can be done twice) this turn

Smite (improved)

Tier: 4
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
All of your melee and brawl attacks have the Smite quality without needing to add d

Deadly spell casting

Tier: 4
Activation: Active
Ranked: No
Requires Evocation or Martial Magic
When making an attack roll with an Evocation or Martial spell you may suffer 1 strain and add d to give the spell a Critical Rating of 3 if it does not have one, or reduce it by 2 (minimum 1) if it does. It also gains the Vicious quality equal to your ranks in knowledge lore.

Counter magic (improved)

Tier: 4
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
When you activate Counter Magic, you may suffer an additional strain to add d equal to ranks in Counter Magic (Improved). If this brings the total to 6 or more, the spell immediately fails.

Tier 5

Specialized magic

Tier: 5
Activation:
Ranked: Yes
Each time you take this talent select a magic skill. When casting a spell of this skill you add bb for spells with roll, and for utility spells reduce the strain to cast by 1. You must select a different skill each time.

Counter magic (supreme)

Tier: 5
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
When you activate Counter Magic, you may suffer 1 strain to also add h equal to your ranks in Counter Magic.

Let the magic flow

Tier: 5
Activation: Active
Ranked: No
When you cast a spell without the Taxing quality, you may spend any t generated to recover strain equal to the characteristic used to cast it.

Additional Talents

Tier 1

Rapid recovery

Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
When the character heals strain during a short rest they heal one additional strain per rank in rapid recovery.

Conditioned

Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Remove one b die per rank of conditioned from athletics and coordination, additionally reduce damage and strain suffered from falling by 1 per rank of coordination.

Expert tracker

Tier: 1
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Remove b per rank to find or follow tracks. Survival checks to track targets take 50% less time (this does not decrease with more ranks)

Tier 2

Unarmed parry

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
Requires Parry Talent
May parry while unarmed, reduce strain cost to parry while unarmed by 1, minimum of 1

Precise aim

Tier: 2
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
Once per round the character may perform a maneuver and suffer a number of strain up to ranks in precise aim then decrease the target’s defense by one per strain suffered

Stalker

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Add a boost die per rank of Stalker to coordination and stealth checks

Physical training

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Add a b die per rank of physical training to athletics and resilience checks

Uncanny senses

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Add b per rank of uncanny senses to perception checks

Uncanny reactions

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Add b per rank of uncanny reactions to vigilance checks.

Sense emotions

Tier: 2
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Add b per rank of sense emotions to charm, coercion, and deception checks

Tier 3

Favored enemy

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Requires Nature Magic
When you take this talent you select a creature type. And when making checks to track or them or when attacking you add a bb to those checks. If you take humanoid you may select two species such as humans, elves, dwarves, etc. Each additional time you take this talent you may select another species to gain these benefits.
You also gain a language spoken by your favored enemies.

Evasion

Tier: 3
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
Requires minimum 3 Agility
When the target of a spell with the Save Coordination quality, you may suffer strain up to ranks in Evasion. Reducing the damage by 1 for each strain you suffered. You also gain priority to activate Save when it is part of an AOE attack.

Iron body

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Remove b per rank of Iron Body from Coordination and Resilience checks. Reduce the critical rating of unarmed attacks by 1 per rank of Iron Body (to a minimum of 1).

Feral strength

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
The character deals +1 damage to one hit on all successful Brawl and melee checks per rank of feral strength.

Lethal blows

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
For each rank of lethal blows add 10 to Criticals triggered from your non magic attacks.

Nobody's fool

Tier: 3
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
May upgrade difficulty of incoming Charm, Coercion, or Deception checks once per rank of Nobody's Fool.

Tier 4

True aim

Tier: 4
Activation: Active
Ranked: Yes
Once per round, before making a ranged attack the character may take a true aim maneuver. In addition to gaining the benefits of aiming they also upgrade, or downgrade the difficulty, of their attack roll once per rank of True Aim.

Deadly accuracy

Tier: 4
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
Each time you take this select one combat skill (must select a new one each time), they then add their ranks in that skill as additional damage to the damage to attacks made with that skill.

Moving target

Tier: 4
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
If the character used the move maneuver this round, increase ranged defense by 1 per rank of moving target.

Prime positions

Tier: 4
Activation: Passive
Ranked: Yes
When this character or an ally in short range takes cover, they increase soak against ranged attacks by 1 per rank of Prime Positions until he leaves that cover

Tier 5

Evasion (improved)

Tier: 5
Activation: Passive
Ranked: No
Requires Evasion
You may activate the Save quality of a spell or effect, by suffering 2 strain even when the effect generates no h to use. Additionally when you activate the Save quality, you may reduce success rather than damage. If your total reduction is equal to or greater than the successes you negate all damage that would have been dealt to you.

Boons

At higher tiers of play, characters may obtain particularly powerful abilities. These boons all cost 50 xp and act like normal talents in a lot of ways, they all have minimum earned xp requirements. These xp requirements are in 250 xp intervals, starting at 250. If a boon is ranked, the next rank in that boon will cost 25 more xp and have minimum earned xp of 250 more.
Characteristics beyond 5, magic skills beyond rank 5, faster healing