Creating Spells
Incantation magic is extremely flexible. You chose the effects you want your spell from the many lists bellow and use the effects to determine the Spell Penalty
The table below tells you the total penalty to casting a spell based on the SP of the created spell.
Effects
The unmodified Effects of a spell are determined here. Every effect has its own SP and stacks additively if choosing to add multiple effects to one spell. Keep in mind, the more Effects your spell has, the longer it will take.
- Sense (2 SP): Learn something about, or communicate with, the subject.
- Strengthen (3 SP): Protect, enhance, or otherwise augment the subject.
- Restore (4 SP): Repair subject or undo a transformation.
- Control (5 SP): Direct or move the subject without changing it fundamentally.
- Destroy (5 SP): Damage or weaken the subject.
- Create (6 SP): Bring subject into being from nothing. (Cannot create duplicates of actual people, artifacts, etc. and when creating anything but raw materials, require a roll against a relevant skill; e.g. Armoury (Melee Weapons) for a sword or spear. If item is worth $5 or less, there is no penalty; $10 or less is -1; $20 or less is -2, $50 or less is -3; $100 or less is -4; $200 or less is -5; $500 or less is -6; $1,000 or less is -7, and so on. Can use Bestows a Bonus to offset this penalty)
- Transform (8 SP): Significantly alter the subject. (Crossing between two categories requires a Transform effect for both Paths. Example: turning a person into a statue would require both Path of Elementalism and Path of Transfiguration, adding 8 SP for each)
- Sense Arcanum: Locate magical items, attach a trigger to a conditional spell, detect mana levels, percieve active spells on a subject (acts as Aura), analyze an ongoing spell effect or magic item
- Strengthen Arcanum: Give +2* to cancel a spell, gird an existing spell, boost a magic item's Power by 1*, stretch the area occupied by a high or very high mana zone, enhance the HP or DR of an enchanted item by +20%*.
- Restore Arcanum: Heal a caster's crippled magical traits, reinstate a temporarily altered mana level, repair 1d* of damage to an enchanted item (use Damage Table), remove curses.
- Control Arcanum: Seize control of a subject's magic, shift a spell to a different subject, gain control of an enchanted item, remove the ability to cast specific spells or prevent spellcasting entirely, ward against golems or similar wizardly creations.
- Destroy Arcanum: Counter reflect or dispel spells, bestow any level of Magic Resistance, remove casting advantages, stretch the are occupied by a low or no mana zone, suppress an enchanted item's abilities.
- Create Arcanum: Cause subject to register as "magical", penalize all spellcasting in an area via magical "jamming", animate objects or create temporary golems, neutralize the effects of low mana in an area, conjure raw mana to do 1d* direct damage to a target.
- Transform Arcanum: Alter the parameters of an existing spell, temporarily shift the owner of a Loyal Sword item, change the mana level.
- Sense Augury: Predict the odds of something happening, allow a lucky guess (treat as Intuition), sense probability manipulation, divine the future.
- Strengthen Augury: Make an unlikely event more likely or vice versa (GM should estimate odds on 3d of given event happening, the incanter then uses Bestows a Bonus to improve this. Strengthen Augury can only help only if the target number was 3 or higher), enhance or penalize native precognitive abilities, temporarily bestow minor divinatory ability (Danger Sense or Intuition).
- Restore Augury: Counters most Destroy Augury spells, but can also grant luck-altering traits (Daredevil, Luck, or Serendipity).
- Control Augury: Manipulate probablities by modifying a roll or rolls by ±1*, force someone to see a vision of their possible future or relive the past, create a ward against divinatory or remote viewing attempts.
- Destroy Augury: As Strenghten Augury, but reversed, "mundanize" a target by removing Weirdness Magnet Serendipity etc., protect a subject against divinatory attempts, give negative luck-related traits (like Unluckiness).
- Create Augury: Make extremely unlikely events possible (see Strengthen Augery), create a remote viewing surface to view faraway targets that anyone can use.
- Transform Augury: Change any luck-related trait, add Weirdness Magnet or Cursed, grant Super Luck, change the information someone else recieves from a vision or divinatory ability.
- Sense Cosmology: Locate any celestial being, identify the celestial beings that are present, discern if a person place or thing is cursed or blessed, tell if a subject is possessed, detect sanctity levels, divination via questioning a celestial being.
- Strengthen Cosmology: Reinforce subjectt's ties to reality for +1* versus banishing effects, "mark" a subject so that Celestial forces attack it first and worst, enhance a celestial's native abilities as per other Paths, grant +2* to resist possession.
- Restore Cosmology: Remove some celestial curses, give +2* to Exorcism rolls, give +2* to resist banishment effects, return free will to a magically bound subject.
- Control Cosmology: Summon celestials and force them to do your bidding, shapeshift part of the body into a celestial appendage, remove a possessing entity, create a ward against celestial forces.
- Destroy Cosmology: Banish Celestials, give -2* to Exorcism rolls, afflict or cause 1d* of direct damage against a celestial, remove native abilities or traits from a subject, give -2* to resist banishment.
- Create Cosmology: Conjure Hellfire dealing 1d* direct damage, visit another plane of existance, give -2* to resist celestial possession, curse a subject, give a celestial new abilities.
- Transform Cosmology: Turn one form of celestial into another, transform subject into an actual celestial (this requires another Path skill as mentioned above).
- Sense Elementalism: Detect analyze and percieve matter or energy, tell how old a type of matter is, use energy as a sense (Scanning Sense (Sonar)), track energy or matter from one place to another, find the nearest location of a particular form of matter or energy.
- Strengthen Elementalism: Enhance energy by making it up to 1x* more potent (you can make a fire 3x larger with Incantation Gift 3), generate an illusion, make weapons do +1* damage or grant +1* to hit, reinforce matter's ST or HP by +20%* HT by +10%* or DR by +20%*, provide the effects of Essential Food on rations.
- Restore Elementalism: Return energy or matter to its former self, repair weapons or armor by restoring +1d* HP (use Damage Table), undo the effects of weathering rust or time on an object, make inedible objects edible.
- Control Elementalism: Reshape soft matter whithout tools, summon elemental spirits, telekinetically move matter or energy, exert control over elementals, change someone's voice, create a ward against elementals.
- Destroy Elementalism: As Strengthen Elementalism but reversed, banish an elemental spirit, remove or reduce a form of energy's inherent traits (e.g. a fire that doesn't burn when touched), destroy matter or energy completely.
- Create Elementalism: Conjure an element dealing 1d* direct damage, create an element, generate an interactive illusion, make temporary weapons armor or gear, create wood for a fire, create an elemental spirit.
- Transform Elementalism: Transmute one form of energy or matter into another, reshape hard matter without tools, reshape energy, turn one elemental spirit into another.
- Sense Mesmerism: Locate nearby minds, track a specific person known to the caster or an ally, transmit thoughts, read minds, riffle through a subject's memories, discern the subject's current state of mind (treat as Empathy).
- Strengthen Mesmerism: Enhance IQ Will or Per by +10%*, add any Mental Advantages (except Luck or Compartmentalized Mind), give ±1* to purely mental actions.
- Restore Mesmerism: Recover memories, counter any moind controlling or possession effect, counter any purely mental irritation or incapacitating effect.
- Control Mesmerism: Cause a Fright Check, force subject to perform a single action, make a single action impossible, control someone's mind, inflict any irritating or incapacitating mental affliction, bestow any self-imposed mental disadvantage or one with a self-control roll, create a ward against any mental attacks (regardless of their source).
- Destroy Mesmerism: Remove memories or memory blocks, cause mental stun, reduce IQ Will or Per by -2*, cancel any other purely mental spell or ability, give -1* to Fright Checks.
- Create Mesmerism: Create a mind, conjure a hyupnotic pattern in an area, create a telepathic link between multiple targets, add Compartmentalized Mind, sway an audience's emotions or views temporarily.
- Transform Mesmerism: Switch minds between two or more subjects, change the target of an ongoing mental spell or power, make a subject believe they are something other than what they actually are (example: "I'm an Elf!" they say as a dwarf), exchange any mental trait for another.
- Sense Necromancy: Locat any undead, identify undead that are present, discern if a person place or thing is haunted, telepathically communicate with undead, conjure a spirit and question it (treat as Divination).
- Strengthen Necromancy: Bring a subject closer to death by penalizing survival rolls by -1*, give ±1* to rolls involving True Faith, stifle or quicken putrefaction by up 1x* (e.g. make something decompose 3x faster or take 3x as long with Incantation Gift 3), cause an area to darken increasing Vision penalties by -1*.
- Restore Necromancy: Heal up to 2d injury to undead (use Damage Table) this is a static amount not per level of Incantation Gift, restore a decomposed corps, grant the effects of the Final Rest spell, remove some curses.
- Control Necromancy: Damage living subjects dealing 1d-1* direct damage, though spells must thematically fit the Path (e.g. a spell that causes the subject to rot or be diseased), grant bonuses to hide from undead, control already-created undead, curse subject, cause a Fright Check, ward against undead.
- Destroy Necromancy: Stop putrefaction entirely, sever the ties of spectral undead, deal 1d* direct damage to the undead, force a spirit to materialize, destroy a corpse, give -2* against rolls vs sickness or poison.
- Create Necromancy: Visit the lands of the dead, rais the undead, create a Soul Jar.
- Transform Necromancy: Turn on form of undead into another, vampiric spells, temporarily asuume a spirit form.
- Sense Protection: Discover a target's weaknesses (treat as Divination), sense protective or warding magic, discern the HP and DR or an object, warn of impending danger or enemies, sense active scrying.
- Strengthen Protection: Enhance HT by +10%* or HP by +20%, add +1* to active defenses, increase DR by +2* or +10% of innate DR (whichever is better), add any protective trait (Resistant, Magic Resistance, Mind Shield, etc.)
- Restore Protection: Temporarily mend flaws in protective gear or fortifications, heal a ward's lost Power, restore +1d* of ablated DR (use Damage Table).
- Control Protection: Regulate a locking mechanism, create blocking spells that add momentary DR of up to twice what Strengthen Protection allows, telekinetically turn aside weapons attacking yyou, create a Pentagram, create a ward against any one class of subjects (not Animals, Plants, Weather, Elder Things, or Gates).
- Destroy Protection: Anything Strengthen Protection can do reversed, banish any being not native to the local reality (but not Elder Things), reduce a ward's Power by 1d*.
- Create Protection: Creade a ward, conjure a spirit to protect an area, make an area or subject weatherproof, create a "non-hostile" zone where all attacks suffer -2* to hit and/or damage.
- Transform Protection: Temporarily convert one weakness into another, transform one form of DR into another (e.g. DR with Tough Skin into DR with Force Field), change a ward's primary focus.
- Sense Transfiguration: Identify a subject's race, descern subject's current physical health (treat as a successful use of Diagnosis), find all members of a nearby race, trace lineage or genealogy, discover how a subject died.
- Strengthen Transfiguration: Improve physical attributes or secondary characteristics by +20%*, add +1* DR, give +1* to resist pysical threats or hazards, add any physical trait that doesn't change a subject's morphology, add +1* to purely physical rolls or tasks.
- Restore Transfiguration: Share FP with another being (use the Damage Table), counter any physical irritating or incapacitating effect, counter physical stun, restore a subject to their true form.
- Control Transfiguration: Cause any physical irritating or incapacitating affliction, physically stun a target, force the subject to perform a certain physical action, control a subject telekinetically, partially shapeshift a subject, create a ward against mundane beings.
- Destroy Transfiguration: As Strengthen Transfiguration but reversed, cause 1d* damage (which must always be direct), cause a coma or heart attack, temporarily eliminate or cause pain, revert a subject to their true form, make a subject deaf mute blind or barren.
- Create Transfiguration: Conjure a transformative field that shapeshifts all subjects who are within it, create a living subject (you'll need Create Mesmerism to give it a mind).
- Transform Transfiguration: Change the subject's race, alter Appearance levels, add or remove Disturbing Voice or Voice, makea subject look and sound like someone else, completely shift a subject's form into anything the caster can imagine.
Casting Time
Spell casting requires a ritual. The time it takes to perform the ritual is dependant on the number of effects (not modifiers) on the spell. Find the number of effects the spell uses then compare it to the chart below.
Example: a spell has Destroy Transifuration, Sense Transfiguration, and Transform Transfiguration along with a 1 hour Duration and a +5 Bestows a bonus, this means the spell has three effects (Destroy, Sense, and Transform Transfiguration) and so takes 30 minutes to complete the ritual.
If you want to cast the spell faster or make it easier to cast you can do that.
- For an additional -3 per tier, you can remove effects on the spell for the purposes of casting time only. (At 5 minutes, you can take an additional -3 to lower it to 2 minutes. At 2 minutes, you can take an additional -3 to lower it to 1 minutes.)
- You may remove -1 in Spell Penalties per step slower on the chart respectively, but you cannot gain a bonus doing this. (Example: a spell has a -2 penalty and takes 5 minutes to cast. You can increase the casting time to 30 minutes to remove the -2 to cast, but you cannot gain a +1 or higher by increasing the casting time even further.)
Long some spells may take multiple days to perform. The incanter may perform up to 3 days of casting without penalty (to the spell. the incanter will lose FP due to missed sleep and meals as usual, assuming they need to sleep or eat). If a mage must eat, drink, and/or sleep, then they cannot have a ritual last more than 3 days at a time.
If the ritual must be temporarily stopped for any reason, the Path skill roll to cast the spell will be at a -1. When attempting to start the ritual again, make a Ritual Magic roll in order to avoid a cumulative -1 to the Path skill roll to cast the spell.
Examples: You must break up a ritual 3 times during a spell, but you make your Ritual Magic roll to return to the spell every time, this incures only a -1 on top of the Spell Penalty to your Path roll; You must break up a ritual 3 times during a spell, but you fail your Ritual Magic roll twice, this incures a -3 (-1 for breaking it up once, and -2 for the two times you failed your Ritual Magic roll to start it back up) on top of the Spell Penalty to your Path roll.
Ritual Modifiers
The following are used to build the incanter's spells. Keep in mind that spell effects do not necessarily need modifiers. Some function fine as is.
Afflictions
A spell effect to stun a foe requires no additional SP (example: Destroy Mesmerism). For other results, this adds +1 SP for every +5% it's worth as an enhancement to the Affliction advantage. Example: nauating someone would require +6 SP.
Someone affected by a spell that stuns them can roll against the better of HT or Will to snap out of it at the beginning of each turn. Someone affected by any other affliction type can make a similar roll to "shake off" the effects after minutes equal to the margin by which they failed to resist (minimum 1) have passed.
Altered Traits
Any spell that adds disadvantages, reduces attributes, or reduces or removes advantages adds +1 SP for every 5 Character Points Removed. One that adds advantages, reduces or removes disadvantages, or increases attributes adds +1 SP for every character point added.
A single effect can affect multiple traits, but only if they make sense together. Example: Protected Hearing [5] and Hard of Hearing [-10] for a net +7 SP.
You cannot add Power Investiture or Incantation Gift, and no HP or FP can be used to power rituals. You cannot use magic to get better at magic.
Area of Effect
Figure the circular area and add 10 SP per yard of radius from it's center. For example, a spell that affects everything within 3 yards would add 30 SP. If the caster is not in the area, calculate Range (below) from them to the nearest edge.
Excluding Potential targets is possible. Add another +1 SP for ever two specific subjects in the area that won't be affected by the spell. Alternatively, you mae exclude everyone in the area, but then include willing potential targets for +1 SP per two specific subjects. This is handy for buffing spells.
Bestows a (Bonus or Penalty)
Use this table, based on whether the ritual will add a modifier to a broad range of rolls (e.g., active defense rolls, Sense Rolls, or a wildcard set of skills), a moderate range (e.g., rolls to hide or Vision-based rolls), or a single task or skill (e.g., Climbing rolls).
You cannot give a bonus to magic use, though you can penalize it! The sole exceptions are for gaining a bonus on rituals that cancel other magic (e.g., Dispelling), and for making spells "hit harder" by giving the target a penatly to resist them in the first place.
| Modifier | Broad | Moderate | Single |
|---|---|---|---|
| ±1 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| ±2 | 10 | 4 | 2 |
| ±3 | 20 | 8 | 4 |
| ±4 | 40 | 16 | 8 |
| ±5 | 60 | 24 | 12 |
| ±6 | 80 | 32 | 16 |
| etc. | +20 | +8 | +4 |
Damage
If the spell will cause damage, use the table below based on whether the damage is direct or indirect, and on what type of damage is being done.
Direct Damage requires factoring in Range to the subject and is resisted like most offensive spells. If the subject fails to resist, the damage bypasses DR (becoming penetrating damage) and causes injury as usual for the damage type.
Indirect Damage is a visible, blatant, external attack. It requires an attack roll (usually against Innate Attack), allows an active defense, and must contend with DR. It does not require additional SP for range, as it is cast on the incanter (usually their hand, mouth, or eyes), who then fires it at the target. Thrown spells have Acc 3, Range 10/100, RoF 1, Rcl 1 and Bulk -2. Holding such a "missile spell" can be done for as long as you like, but it occupies your had and goes off if you set it down or drop it (roll vs. Will to avoid this if injured). Indirect damage is triple that of direct damage for the same cost (e.g., a 3d+3 fireball costs +1 SP). If damage falls between two values, treat it as the upper bound; e.g., a 3d+1 fireball costs the same as a 3d+3 one.
Damage is normally unaffected by the Duration (below) modifier, though see Damage Tricks for exceptions to this rule.
| Direct Damage | pi- | burn, cru, pi, or tox* | cut or pi+ | imp or pi++ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1d | 0 SP | 0 SP | 0 SP | 0 SP |
| 1d+1 | +1 SP | +1 SP | +2 SP | +2 SP |
| 1d+2 | +1 SP | +2 SP | +3 SP | +4 SP |
| 2d-1 | +2 SP | +3 SP | +5 SP | +6 SP |
| 2d | +2 SP | +4 SP | +6 SP | +8 SP |
| 2d+1 | +3 SP | +5 SP | +8 SP | +10 SP |
| 2d+2 | +3 SP | +6 SP | +9 SP | +12 SP |
| 3d-1 | +4 SP | +8 SP | +11 SP | +14 SP |
| 3d | +4 SP | +8 SP | +12 SP | +16 SP |
| 3d+1 | +5 SP | +9 SP | +14 SP | +18 SP |
| 3d+2 | +5 SP | +10 SP | +15 SP | +20 SP |
| 4d-1 | +6 SP | +11 SP | +17 SP | +22 SP |
| +1d | +2 SP | +4 SP | +6 SP | +8 SP |
Enhancements may be added to Damage. Each +5% adds 1 SP if the base cost for Damage is 20 SP or less. If Damage costs 21 SP or more, apply the enhancement percentage to the SP cost for Damage only (not to the cost of the whole spell round up. Added limitations reduce this surcharge, but will never provide a net SP discount. If you add Aura, you may optionally include Duration, however your spell must use the direct damage values.
Conjured weapons may be created by using an appropriate effect and the direct damage value, combined with Duration (which is expressly allowed only for this effect and Aura).
Vampiric spells, in which the injury taken by the target heals the caster at a 1-to-1 ratio, require adding an appropriate Transform effect and double the SP required for the Damage effect. This is the only way incantation magic can "heal" living things.
Explosive Damage uses the Direct Damage as a base.
Unless the spell is instantaneous, use the following table. Durations longer than a day are not allowed outside of enchanting. This modifier cannot be used to prolong Damage except where specifically noted.
| Duration | SP | Duration | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Momentary | 0 | Up to 12 minutes | +6 |
| Up to 10 seconds | +1 | Up to 1 hour | +7 |
| Up to 30 seconds | +2 | Up to 3 hours | +8 |
| Up to 1 minute | +3 | Up to 6 hours | +9 |
| Up to 3 minutes | +4 | Up to 12 hours | +10 |
| Up to 6 minutes | +5 | Up to 1 day | +11 |
Girded
The caster can always add any number of SP to a ritual, usually to make it harder to dispel or to overcome existing spell effects. This increases the casting penalty as usual. See Magic vs. Magic or Stacking Spells.
Range
For most spells, find the range in yards on the Size and Speed/Range table and read the "Size" value for that line (minimum +0) as additional SP. If the caster guesses, and desn't add enough Range to reach the subject, the spell has no effect.
For information spells (e.g., Seek Treasure), consult the Long-Distance Modifiers and apply the penalty (inverted) as additional SP; e.g., +2 SP for one mile. For cross-time spells, do the same thing, but read "miles" as "days". Crossing dimensional barriers adds a flat 10 SP per dimension.
Speed
For movement spells (e.g., spells that use telekinesis or allow a subject to fly), look up the speed in yards/second on the Size and Speed/Range table and add the "Size" value for that line (minimum +0) to SP.
Subject Weight
If the spell is designed to affect a certain amount of material, or causes a physical change of any sort to the subject (including direct damage), add the following sur-charge. For area spells, this is the weight of the largest individual subject you can affect. Don't pay for the total weight of all subjects.
| Weight | SP | Weight | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 10 lbs. | 0 | Up to 1,000 lbs. | +4 |
| Up to 30 lbs. | +1 | Up to 1.5 tons | +5 |
| Up to 100 lbs. | +2 | Up to 5 tons | +6 |
| Up to 300 lbs. | +3 | x3 | +1 |
Summoned
Use this modifier for summoning or conjuring beings. Find the point total of the creature to be summoned (GM may need to estimate) and use that to find the SP added to the spell. This spell does not give free reign for players to summon and control anything they please. The GM should put a hard limit on what can be summoned.
Summoned creatures use base templates, you cannot add traits to pad out the point total. More than one being can be summoned at once, simply add the SP (not point values) together for all conjured creatures.
Summon spells count as one of the active spells on a character and so you cannot have more than 2 summons at a time. They can also be dispelled in any way a normal buff or active spell could be dispelled.
| Max Points of Summon | Additional SP |
|---|---|
| 62.5 | +4 SP |
| 125 | +8 SP |
| 187.5 | +12 SP |
| 250 | +20 SP |
| 375 | +40 SP |
| +125 | +20 SP |
Limited Spells
Some spells are "quick and dirty" - faster to cast but with significant drawbacks. To create one, first convert the drawbacks to limitations, tossing out any that aren't significant enough to even count as Nuisance Effects. Every full -40% reduces the number of effects by one for the purposes of casting time. Minimum Casting time is two minutes or one minute with Focused Aptitude for the spell. These drawbacks only lower casting time; they do not reduce the spell's SP in any way.
