Arcane Bolt

Tier 1 Spell (Easy(d) difficulty)¹

"You do know you're supposed to hit the guy on the other side of the room, right?

— Most magic teachers to particularly bad novice students.

The most basic of magic attacks and the first such spell taught in most magic schools, Arcane Bolt is a simple but effective means of attack. It's basic enough that most students can pick it up easily, yet versatile enough that many master mages still use it well into their careers, often with modifications to the base formula.

There are a variety of ways to change how the spell does it's damage, although this comes at the cost of increasing the spell's difficulty rating. They are:

• Explosive: Gains the Blast quality, with a rating equal to the caster's ranks in Knowledge. This cannot be combined with Icy. (+d)
• Fiery:This attack deals Fire damage and gains the Burn quality, with a rating equal to the caster's ranks in Knowledge, and becomes charged with the Fire element. this cannot be combined with Icy or Electric. (+d)
• Icy: This attack deals Ice damage and gains the Ensnare quality, with a rating equal to the caster's ranks in Knowledge. This cannot be combined with Fiery or Electric. (+d)
• Electric: This attack deals Electric damage and the caster may spend aaa or t to stagget the target for a number of rounds equal to the caster's ranks in Knowledge. This cannot be combined with Fiery or Icy. (+d)
• Concussive: This attack gains the Knockdown quality. It also gains the Disorient quality, with a rating equal to that of the caster's ranks in Knowledge. (+d)
• Range: Increase the range of this attack by one range band. This can be applied multiple times, adding difficulty and one range band each time. (+d)
• Destructive: This attack gains the Sunder quality. It also gains the Pierce quality with a rating equal to the caster's ranks in Kowledge.(+dd)
  
• Daze: This spell gains the Knockdown quality, and the Disorient quality that has a rating equal to the caster's ranks in Knowledge. (+d)
• Range: Increase the spell's range by one range band. This effect can be applied multiple times, increasing the difficulty and range each time. (+d)
• Mental: By making a subtle, but substantial, switch in the mental process involved in spellcasting, one can change the damage type from physical to mental, ensuring that one does not accidentally kill someone one does not want dead. This changes the damage from inflicting wounds to strain, and cannot be combined with Fiery, Icy, Electric, or Destructive. (+d)

Effect

Arcane Bolt does basic damage to a target. Base damage is calculated by adding the number of s generated by the check to the character's Intellect. It can have different effects depending on what variations the caster has decided on.

Side/Secondary Effects

Varies with upgrades.

Manifestation

Arcane Bolt manifests as a variety of colors, and especially powerful Bolts can produce colors that don't actually exists, creating very strange visual effects.

For more information about difficulty, go here.

Gestures & Ritual

The caster must have at least one free hand to cast Arcane Bolt. They extend their hand, palm outwards, and simply focus on the target and think "damage."

Related Discipline

Arcane Magic

Effect Casting Time

1 Combat Action (instant)

Range

short (range band)

Level

Characters need at least 1 rank in Arcana to cast this spell.

Applied Restriction

Characters need at least one free hand to cast Arcane Bolt