Sorcery [Magic]

This skill set encompasses the casting of spells, be it quick or as a ritual, solo or in a group, making subtle modifications to them, and countering enemy spells by bolstering allies. When trying to cast a spell, a follow-up Drain Resistance Test must be made to limit the burnback from the manipulation of mana.

You may wish to check out the Spellcasting Process here.

Sorcery Specializations:

s Spellcast [Magic]: is the rapid channeling of mana into supernatural effects. See page 4 for the Spellcasting Process and page # for the Listings of Spells. (See extended example in the green column to the right.)

s Metamagic [Magic]: is often performed as a spell is cast and has the effect of altering the spell in one way or another. Some Metamagic actions can be used when casting any spell, like Silent Spell (requiring 2 successes on a Sorcery: Metamagic + Magic Test) allowing the Mage to cast without being heard. Other uses modify spells like increasing the range of Detection spells or curving the line of hexes hit by an elemental combat spell like Jet of Cold. See the Metamagic entries in the Spell Categories and specific Spell listings (page #). (See extended example in the green column to the right.)

s Ritual Cast [Magic]: is far less commonly used than pure Spellcast due to the increased time and cost in Reagents to complete them. They are often used to target people that are outside one’s line of sight.

Step 1) choose the Ritual Leader, the spellcaster who will make the final rolls to determine the level of success for the casting;
Step 2) declare the Ritual Spell and its Force, five such Ritual Spells allow the leader to cast a non-Ritual Spell through it (which the Leader must also know) from the five categories of Spells;
Step 3) prepare the Magical Lodge, which is a location like a temple’s ritual room, a Wizard’s library, etc., or a temporary one which is expensive and still takes a few hours to set up (see Magical Lodges
Step 4) spend the Reagents specified for the Ritual; additionally, the leader can use additional drams of Reagents to reduce the Drain Code of the Spell on a one-to-one basis (minimum Drain Code 2).
Step 5) Perform the Ritual (see details in the specific Ritual listing
Step 6) Seal the Ritual by making the Sorcery: Ritual Cast + Magic + Magical Lodge Force + synergy from the other participants’ similar Test versus the GM rolling the Force x 2;
Step 7) Roll Drain Resistance Tests for all of the participants; unlike non-Ritual Spells, the Drain Code of Rituals is based on net successes the leader got on their Sorcery: Ritual Cast + Magic + synergy Test. The Ritual Drain Code is twice the GM’s successes from Step 6 with the Drain doing Physical damage if the number of successes are over the leader’s Magic Attribute, and Stun if they aren’t.
Glitches in any step of a Ritual by any of the participants can increase the final Drain Code (usually by +2), increase the threshold for the Ritual Spell by +1, or force the leader to proceed without the synergy from the other participants. In situations like Dances, Leaders can choose which participants ‘count’ before rolling takes place

extended Sorcery: Ritual Cast example

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Having been a near drought in the southern area of Ngahere Koura (the ‘Golden Prairie’), the ani-yunwiya and ngeru-tangata elders of the village of Kari Teitei (‘High Garden’) have decided to perform a Force 6 Rain Dance Ritual Spell. The Ritual Leader is a catfolk priest of Hau, God of Wind , whose domains include tempests and storms.
In this case, the holy shrine at the center of the town acts as the Ritual’s Magical Lodge (Force 8), maintained by priests of a variety of catfolk and liontaur deities and respected by all who reside in the area. Residents bring whatever smoked meats and dried fruits they can spare so that the participants can remain within the area of sanctified grounds during the Dance.
Hau, God of the Wind, requires that incense be burned during Rituals, and this represents the primary type of Reagents used, equating to roughly 150 gold worth (25 gold per point of Force). The village high priest, an ani-yunwiya follower of the Bear Spirit commences by telling a parable of a similar event in their tribe’s history and how the devout people were granted respite by the gods. (This has no actual effect on the ritual.)
The music and dance of the Ritual Spell begins. Many more mundane participants remain within the invisible Mana Barrier of the shrine’s Magical Lodge, but their actions also don’t directly affect the ritual. The dozen magically-inclined participants all strengthen the Ritual Leader’s final Test and he rolls a base of Sorcery 5 + Ritual Spell Specialization 2 + Magic 6 + Magical Lodge 8. The other participants make personal rolls of Sorcery: Ritual Spell + Magic and many have a -2 penalty for not being followers of Hau, and most have an additional -2 penalty for not having spent XP to learn this Ritual Spell. In all, the Ritual Leader gets 12 bonus dice from the additional participants, rolling a whopping 33 dice and getting 11 successes, the GM rolls 12 (Force x 2), getting 3 successes. With 8 net successes, 6 count as they are Limited by Force. The Leader resists the Drain Code of 6 with their Intuition + Willpower and participants also resist 6 (twice the GM’s successes), taking Stun Damage since the Force is not over the Leader’s Magic Attribute.
After the 4 hours of the Ritual Spell, clouds move in over the mesa and it begins to steadily rain for the next 6 hours.

extended Sorcery: Spellcast &
Sorcery: Metamagic example

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Mystlevision of Anapsul Han (below) is a karboten illusionist of great renown. While actually having accomplished a number of the remarkable feats which stories give him credit for, and all before reaching his tender age of 27, his ambition knows no bounds. To further his need for exploration and magical discovery, he enjoys moving through aristocratic circles making use of his ability to manipulate mana to create memorable visual and auditory effects, hoping to impress the wealthy and influential enough to gain new patrons without getting directly involved in their politics.

During one such evening at a ball hosted for the leaders of the major cities’ families of Gloridia, he noted that there were very few Mages about (through a quick Assense Test). So he wanted to cast a Phantasm — an Illusion Spell which allows you to create clear semblances of things and can include up to one of the three senses of sight, hearing and smell for each point of Force. Since he only wanted to really apply visual and aural components, casting at Force 2 would have sufficed. However, he wants to make sure that none of the numerous dwarves occupying the space would accidentally see through the illusion with their high Willpower (and while a Willpower Test to see through an illusion usually only takes place when the observer is suspicious, anyone watching him cast the spell in the middle of the room will immediately and instinctively attempt to ‘see through it’)…
…So he sets the Spell at Force 5. Before getting into that, however, he’ll need to use Metamagic as specified in the Phanstasm Spell (#link#) reaching the Threshold of 3 in order to be able to later radically shift the nature of the illusion without recasting the Spell. He rolls Sorcery 7 + Metamagic Specialization 2 + Magic 6 for 15 dice and easily reaches the three needed successes.
Next comes his Sorcery 7 + Spellcast Expertise 3 + Magic 6 yielding 16 dice and he gets the needed 5 successes for a Force 5 Phantasm — despite wanting to only begin with sight and sound, he can add scent later if so desired.
The drain, however, is [F+1] so he’ll need 6 successes to reduce the Drain Code to zero or take Stun Damage. He rolls Charisma 7 + Willpower 5 + Drain Resistance Focus 3 for 15 dice. He only gets 2 successes which would leave him with 4 Stun Damage and a -1 Wound Penalty on everything else he attempts to accomplish with Skills during the party, so he spends Luck to reroll his misses and ends up with 5 successes, taking only a single point of Stun Damage which is easy enough to shrug off.
He begins off on the side of the ballroom with a purple glowing triangle within a circle surrounded by various gold glowing arcane symbols around it — the symbols glow brighter and hum irregularly (he’s learned that specific harmonic chords tend to better draw people’s attention and he uses those). He’s mumbling to himself and very slowly walking towards the center of the room as people gradually begin to take note of him working on some new magical theory right in the middle of a bustling party. If the GM had called for Mystlevision to roll to avoid bumping into people (which wouldn’t have high thresholds) with the Perceive Skill or Athletics: Acrobatics Specialization, he’d receive a -2 penalty since he’s Sustaining the Phantasm Spell.
As he reaches the center of the room and a small crowd has gathered, he begins to orate (Con 5 + Perform Specialization 2 + Charisma 7 - Sustaining 2). He first announces that, “no one be alarmed — this is but a figment of my memory… I, Mystlevision, am working on an important magical discovery and was just struck with inspiration watching all of these magnificent people moving about the ballroom floor.” Those of keener mind will likely not be swayed by the ramblings of this foppish karboten (they may roll something reasonable to resist Mystlevision’s like a Con: Perform or Charisma + Willpower Test), but he’s used to that.
He shifts his Phantasm illusion (easily meeting the Threshold 2 of his Sorcery 7 + Metamagic 3 + Magic 6 - Sustaining 2) to that of a chimaera, and much of the crowd gasps and backs away from this physically overbearing fantastic beast. He tells the beast to be quiet and it does so, achieving a bit of applause. What he'll do next is anyone’s guess...

s Counterspell [Magic]: can be used in two ways.
Spell Defense is a pre-emptive tactic in which a Mage spends a Complex Action and rolls a Sorcery: Counterspell + Magic Test. The base size is a 2-meter sphere within LOS, but it can be expanded by 1 meter for each dram of Reagents spent or ; the successes are the number of synergy dice any friendly targets receive to resist hostile spells. When Spell Defense has not been declared, the conscious Mage themself is considered protected against undesired Spell Effects.
Dispelling is the second use of Counterspell is an attempt to cease Sustained (ongoing) Spells and their effects. Using a Complex Action, roll a Sorcery: Counterspell + Magic Test against the Spell’s Drain Code x 2. Net successes on this Test reduce the Spell’s Force, ending its effects if the Force reaches zero.

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site table of contents

Active Skills...

Physical Active Skills [LA]

Athletics [Str] . . . Acrobatics [Agi], Climb [Str], Ride [Ride], Sprint [Str], Swim [Str]

Stealth [Agi] . . . Disguise [Agi], Escape [Agi], Legerdemain [Agi], Sneak [Agi], Shadow [Int]

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Social Active Skills [LA]

Con [Cha] . . . Disguise [Cha], Fast-talk [Cha], Impersonate [Cha], Perform [various]

Influence [Cha] . . . Etiquette [Cha], Instruct [Cha], Intimidate [various], Leadership [Cha], Negotiate [Cha]

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Technical Active Skills [LA]

Perception [Int] . . . Aural [Int], Olfactory [Int], Tactile [Int], Visual [Int]

Outdoors [Int] . . . Navigate [Int], Survival [Int], Track [Int]

Heal [Log] . . . First Aid [Log], Herbalism [Log], Recovery [Log]

Engineer [Log] . . . Architecture [Log], Armorer [Log], Locksmith [Log], Mason [Log], Weaponsmith [Log], etc.

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Combat Active Skills [LA]

Close Combat [Agi] . . . Blades [Agi], Bludgeons [Agi], Pole-arms [Agi], Unarmed [Agi]

Ranged [Agi] . . . Bows [Agi], Crossbows [Agi], Slings [Agi], Thrown [Agi]

Defense [Rea] . . . Block [Str], Dodge [Rea], Maneuvers [Rea], Parry [Int]

Exotic Weapons [Agi] . . . Claws [Agi], Chakrams [Agi], Flails [Agi], Firearms [Agi], etc.

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Magic Active Skills [LA]

Assense [Int] . . . Astral Combat [Wil], Astral Diagnosis [Int], Astral Navigation [Int], Astral Signatures [Int]

Sorcery [Mag] . . . Counterspell [Mag], Metamagic [Mag], Ritual Cast [Mag], Spellcast [Mag]

Enchant [Mag] . . . Alchemy [Mag], Artifice [Mag], Disenchant [Mag], Identify [Mag]

Conjure [Mag] . . . Banish [Mag], Bind [Mag], Possess [Mag], Summon [Mag]