Magic (Red Age)

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Red Age > Rules > Magic


Mana

  • The Astral realm roils with infinite reality-altering potential. To tap it, all a caster has to do is touch the Astral and channel it through their spirit into the physical world. A caster's Mana is not the amount of power they can generate; it is the amount of power they can channel before their spirit begins to disintegrate under the load. As a caster trains, they refine their spirit and can bear heavier burdens of power.
  • Reserve Mana: equal to normal Mana. Converted into Mana through rest, putting an upper limit on near-term recovery.
  • Cantrip Mana: casters have 5 cantrip mana to fuel their weakest (Power 0) castings. It refreshes more quickly through rest, and can be instantly refreshed to 5 by spending 1 mana.
  • Sleep and meditation restore a caster's spiritual integrity.
    • After meditating during a Short Rest, clear all cantrip marks.
    • After a Long Rest, convert Reserve Mana into Mana.
    • After an Extended Rest, restore all Mana and Reserve mana.

The Power of a spell determines its Mana cost (Mana-X is the mana cost of a Power X spell, e.g. Mana-2 is 3 mana).

  • Power 0 (1 cantrip mana)
  • Power 1 (2 mana)
  • Power 2 (3 mana)
  • Power 3 (5 mana)
  • Power 4 (6 mana)
  • Power 5 (7 mana)
  • Power 6 (9 mana)
  • Power 7 (10 mana)
  • Power 8 (11 mana)
  • Power 9 (13 mana)
  • Power N (1 + (4/3 x N)), rounding up


TBD Excess Panoply can help with Overdrawing


Overdrawing Mana

  • When you "run out" of mana (regardless of whether you have remaining reserve), you've reached the limits of what your spirit can safely channel at present. But mana itself remains plentiful, waiting to be pulled from the Astral. If you do so, you are Overdrawing.
    • You can't overdraw cantrip mana, but can Overdraw mana to refresh your cantrips.
    • You can only overdraw as much as you need for the immediate spell or usage, not extra to bank. You can only overdraw after you have run out of mana, and can pay a mixture of normal and overdrawn mana in a single casting.
  • You suffer (5 x overdrawn mana) Spirit Fatigue and (2 x overdrawn mana) spirit damage. Then make a Spirit save DC 11+(2 x overdrawn mana) or suffer an affliction.
    • This damage and fatigue can't be mitigated by resistance, immunity, or temp HP. They can only be healed / removed through natural rest, not by magical or mundane healing effects.
  • If you overdraw during a week, there is a (9+total mana overdrawn)% chance of an unusual insight or other benefit from excess exposure to the Astral.

Afflictions (d8)

  • 1) Migraine: you are Blinded. Onset in 1d6 minutes, lasts until 1d4 hours and a Short Rest have passed.
  • 2) Aphasia: you can't speak, read, or write normal languages coherently, but can still cast. Onset in 1d6 minutes, lasts until 1d4 hours and a Short Rest have passed.
  • 3) Palsy: you are Slowed and have +D to Vigor and Dex checks. Onset in 1d6 minutes, lasts until 1d4 hours and a Short Rest have passed.
  • 4) Convulsions: you are Stunned. Onset in 1d6 turns, lasts 1d6 minutes.
  • 5) Burnout: you can't cast magic or maintain concentration. Onset in 1d6 minutes, lasts (1d12 x 10) minutes.
  • 6) Radiant: light equivalent to a torch flashes from your eyes, skin, etc as power bleeds off. You inflict 1d4 elemental damage on contact, but not to things saturated in your personal aura (your own possessions). Stealth is probably impossible. Onset in 1d6 turns, lasts 1d4 hours.
  • 7) Embrittlement: one random possession on you crumbles to glittering dust. This does not affect permanent magic items or panoply. It only targets things that have saturated in your personal aura for some time (not random rocks you just picked up, but potentially treasure or gear carried for an hour or more). If there is nothing at all to discharge into, you take an extra 1d8 spirit damage and twice as much fatigue.
  • 8) Telepathic: you are uncontrollably telepathic, broadcasting your thoughts to all within 30'. You can use this to communicate. Your lies (telepathic or otherwise) are immediately exposed, and everyone in range knows what you're about to do before you do it (take +D to attack, defend, etc). It is very distracting, giving those nearby +D to precise or intellectually demanding tasks (picking locks, remembering lore, etc). Things that don't require rolls still don't (casting spells). Immediate onset, lasts 1d4 hours.

Panoply

  • Your Panoply is the set of tools and techniques, individually called Instruments, required to safely work magic.
  • You can use any number of Instruments when casting a spell, though only one of each type at a time.
    • You can safely cast spells of Power equal to the lower of (PROF) or the number of Instruments in use.
    • If you cast a spell of higher Power, you are Overcasting. Instruments in excess of your PROF can help with this.
  • Some Instruments can provide additional benefits.
    • You can carry more Instruments of a type than you can use at once, switching among them as circumstances dictate.
    • It takes a Long Rest to attune to an Instrument and use it.

Instrument Types

  • Implement (sorcerer/malison)
  • Symbol (theurge)
  • Raiment (sorcerer/malison)
  • Vestments (theurge)
  • Talisman (sorcerer/malison)
    • A object made from rare magical substances or otherwise infused with power.
    • Talismans can only be made with special materials (dragon bone, ent heartwood, etc); they cannot simply be purchased.
    • Most talismans are small, weightless amulets, rings, etc, but their exact size and nature depend on their source.
    • A talisman often provides additional benefits, suited to its nature. Often this requires indefinite investment of some of your mana. This mana can't be reclaimed without destroying the talisman.
    • A talisman can be consumed as a Sacrament, serving as both kinds of Instrument for a single spell.
  • Relic (theurge)
  • Order
  • Sanctum (sorcerer/malison)
  • Shrine (theurge)
  • Patron
  • Familiar
  • Transfiguration
    • You begin to shed your mortality and its limits. There are many paths to Transfiguration, each with its own means and ends.
    • You must be at least 7th level to begin pursuing this. It will take considerable effort, adventure, quests, resources, etc to learn of a path and walk it. Most have consequences or prices, but often grant benefits as well, or open up new Feat options.
    • You can only undergo a single form of Transfiguration, and barring legendary events, it is irrevocable.
  • Ritual
  • Assistance
  • Sacrament
  • Font

Casting

  • To invoke a spell, you must be free to speak, gesture, and access your Panoply. The act of casting is generally overt and clearly magical in nature, unless the spell can be cast Subtly.
  • A spell must be Accessible for casting (Sorcery and Theurgy each detail this their rules). Muster your Instruments, choose the effect and details of the spell's invocation, and spend the necessary casting time, Focus, and Mana.
  • If exceeding limits of Focus, Mana, or Panoply, roll for Overcasting.
  • Some spells require concentration to maintain their effect.
    • Sustained: any number of spells can be Sustained, each requiring only a faint effort of will. They persist, up to their duration, as long as the caster is conscious. They can be dismissed by ceasing to sustain them.
    • Concentration: only one spell can occupy your Concentration at a time. Unless noted with an action (e.g. Concentration (action) or Concentration (total)), concentration doesn't interfere with other actions; it just can't be divided among spells. Suffering injury or serious distraction requires a Vigor or Spirit save to avoid breaking Concentration.
    • Concentration does not impact Sustained spells and vice versa.

Conditional Triggers A variety of spells can lie dormant until triggered by some condition (or end upon some condition). By default, a spell can observe and judge conditions as if it were an ordinary human with your knowledge at the time of casting. It can recognize people, objects, and language you can. It can't see in the dark, judge the truth or falseness of a statement beyond your knowledge, or recognize intangible properties that don't offer sensory input (e.g. a virgin, a thief, the true heir to the throne, etc). You can weave spells that grant greater powers of perception along with the trigger, paying all casting times and other costs. E.g. weaving Darkvision into the trigger of Magic Mouth would allow it to see in the dark to decide when to trigger.

Innate Abilities

Second Sight

  • (Power 0, 1 action, 10 min, 60' cone, self)
  • You immediately locate magical effects and beings within the area.
    • Magical deception is not detected by Second Sight, and requires other magic to reveal (e.g. True Sight).
      • e.g illusions, invisibility, a possessing spirit hiding within their host, a shapeshifter subtle enough to hide their true nature, etc.
  • Examining a subject for 1 action reveals obvious qualities, usually including:
    • Effect's Power, or rough Level for beings
    • Broad aspects (fire, storm, ward, divination, dimensional, tied to a particular god, etc)
    • Where it is localized (that idol is the anchor for the spell, the spell's field covers the door, the ghost slumbers within its corpse, etc)
    • Rough magnitude of an effect's age (freshly cast, hours to days, ancient, etc)
    • Effect's arcane integrity (solid, warped / corrupted / hacked, suppressed, unstable, etc)
    • Permanence (a spell with a duration, an indefinite spell, a permanent magical item, a consumable, an occupied / unoccupied spell vessel, an instrument of panoply, etc)
  • As a further action, you can "open your mind" to deeper information.
    • Roll Gnosis (Wits). Every full 10 points in the total grants a true answer to 1 question.
      • Insight may come in various forms: recognition of subtle details, glimpsed visions of past events, subtle threads connecting things, etc.
      • Generally, the simpler the question, the more precise and direct the answer; additional questions might be needed to follow up and gain greater clarity to a complex question.
        • E.g. Do I recognize the signature of the mage who cast this spell? Exactly what actions would trigger this ward? What is the general purpose of this arcane apparatus? What is the true form of this polymorphed victim? Etc.
        • Sufficiently complex questions require more time and mana (see below).
      • See Invisible: spending 2 questions grants the ability to see invisible and ethereal creatures for the duration of Second Sight.
    • The influx of raw insight can be overwhelming.
      • After your questions are answered, Spirit save, DC 11 + Power (or level / 2 for beings) + 1 per previous opening of your mind since your last Long Rest, or else suffer 5 Spirit Fatigue.
  • (Power 1, 1 Rest): your sight pierces deeper. You must open your mind and focus on a single subject throughout a Rest to gain your questions.
    • Learning the particular powers and command words or actions for a magic item requires a Short Rest. An even more complex arcane apparatus may require a Long Rest, or even an Extended Rest (usually in your sanctum).

Channel Mana

  • (Power 1+, 1 caster performing a spell, range 5')
  • You transfer Mana to the target caster, which is immediately channeled into a spell they are casting.
    • You must channel for as long as they cast, or a minimum of 1 action (a reaction spell happens too quickly to aid without a prepared action).
    • Your aid counts as an Instrument of Panoply.
  • If you can actually cast the spell yourself, you channel more efficiently, you may simply spend mana 1:1 to help them cast. Otherwise, they gain mana equal to the (Power) put into this ability.
  • (+1 mana, +10') Forcing mana across a greater distance carries a surcharge.

Counterspell

  • (Power 1+, reaction, spell's normal range and targets, instant)
  • There is no singular counterspell, but a great many spells can be hastily adapted for protection.
    • The countering spell used should have a logical means of nullifying, counteracting, obviating, blocking, deflecting, or defusing the incoming spell.
    • Some counterspells will need to affect the incoming spell itself (blocking a projectile), others will need to affect the targets of the spell (protecting them from the effect).
    • The counterspell must have a normal casting time of 1 action or less, and when used it is cast as a reaction. Regardless of its normal effect, the counterspell lasts only momentarily before dissipating. It might have some side-effects (a Gust of Wind used to deflect a Fireball will still project a brief, intense blast of wind that will affect the environment).
  • A counterspell automatically works against an incoming spell of equal or lower Power (as well as the logic of the interaction permits). To affect a spell of higher Power requires a (caster level + (2 x counterspell's Power)) vs (caster level + (2 x incoming spell's Power)) check.
    • Depending on the logic of the interaction, the incoming spell's effect might canceled entirely, not affect certain people (such as the caster), be displaced (a wind-deflected fireball still detonates somewhere else), or only reduced in effect but not completely countered (perhaps as if those protected had made a saving throw).
  • Examples
    • Shape Water to nullify (melt and evaporate) an Ice Bolt
    • Gust of Wind to deflect (but not nullify) a Fireball, but not a Lightning Bolt
    • Silence to mute Thunderwave
    • Alter Self to counteract Polymorph
    • Heroism to nullify Aversion
    • Protection from Poison or Purify Environment to neutralize Cloudkill
    • Hold Person to damp out a Paroxysm

Overcasting

Overcasting allows you to exceed your limits as a practitioner in one or more ways, at great personal risk. When you overcast, roll to determine what price you pay for your hubris. Prices cannot be cured or undone by magic, short of a wish, miracle, or other major fiat.

You can draw more Mana than your soul can safely endure.

You can cast powerful spells when your Focus is already depleted.

You can exceed your Instruments, casting more powerful spells than your can readily channel and control.

Roll d20 - (1 per Focus shortfall) - (pyramid cost of Instrument shortfall + 1) - (1 per 3 mana shortfall, or fraction thereof) - (1 per overcasting since last Long Rest)

Outcome 20+, or natural 20) no price 16-19) moderate price 6-15) serious price, 1 instability 2-5) brutal price, 2 instability 1-, or natural 1) terminal price, 3 instability

If you cast with the aid of other practitioners, combining Focus and Mana, each participant makes their own Overcasting roll. Only the leader's price matters for Instability.

If the leader wishes, they can push the brunt off on their dupes. They roll with +A, and every other member rolls with +D. They may also selflessly take the brunt themselves, giving the others +A, but taking +D for each participant they protect.

Each additional Instrument involved, even if it exceeds your Max Panoply, reduces the Overcasting roll penalty by 1 (min +0).

Instability: if there is an instability rating for the outcome, roll d6. If greater than the instability rating, the spell goes off normally. If lower, the spell is warped to a degree based on the price.

Terminal: the spell is warped beyond recognition or totally fails. Brutal: the spell functions but has serious unintended effects of at least the same magnitude as the spell itself, or introduces serious flaws into the desired effect. Serious: the spell has a side-effect of lesser magnitude than the spell itself.


Price

Prices cannot be cured or undone by magic, short of a wish, miracle, or other major fiat.

Moderate Afflicted: you suffer a Condition. Each Long Rest, Spirit Save DC (20-number of Long Rests). On success, the Condition ends. Dazed, Blinded, Poisoned, Confused, Deaf & Mute, Frightened, Restrained, Vulnerable, etc Wracked: suffer 30+1d10 Drain. Remove 1d3 Drain every Long Rest. You retain a scar or cosmetic mutation as a souvenir of the experience. This won't kill you if you already have Fatigue; just convert less serious form of Fatigue to Drain and cap your total at 59. Soulburnt: your effective caster level is halved (rounding down). Each Long Rest, Spirit Save DC (20-number of Long Rests). On success, regain 1 effective caster level. Mutation: gain 1 random mutation (mental and/or physical).

Serious Afflicted: as Moderate (same end condition), but more serious Conditions. Unconscious, Paralyzed, Petrified, Blind & Deaf & Mute & Dazed. Wracked: as Moderate, but suffer 59 Drain. Soulburnt: as Moderate, but your effective caster level is reduced to 0. Mutation: gain 1d3+1 random mutations.

Brutal Afflicted: gain a permanent Moderate affliction. Wracked: as Serious, and your Vigor is permanently halved. Soulburnt: permanently lose half your caster levels and lower XP total appropriately. Then suffer Serious Soulburn. Mutation: you are struck with a transformation such as lycanthropy, creeping demonic corruption, vampirism, possession, etc. With effort, it can potentially be managed to keep it from fully overtaking you. Treat this as an affliction (with interval, DC, etc) that threatens to overwhelm you and can be fought back, but not cured.

Terminal Death, monstrous transformation, irretrievable madness, soulburnt to a husk, adrift in strange planes, eternally slumbering, permanently petrified, etc. The character is no longer a PC, if they still exist at all. If the spell goes off correctly, it is maintained automatically for its full duration.

- sometimes a price will be a choice (accept a deal, blast something you care about, etc). if you refuse, the next worse thing happens (e.g. demon lord offers a deal. take it, or the backlash is 1 step worse).


Arcane Research

  • Power 0: 50 rp
  • Power 1: 100 rp
  • Power 2: 600 rp
  • Power 3: 1500 rp
  • Power 4: 3000 rp
  • Power 5: 5000 rp


??? Focused Research (1x cost, choose the spell of interest) Go Fishing (2/3x cost, choose 1 from 3 options; may buy an additional option for +2/3x cost)

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