6.1 The Rules of Magic
Some characters have access to powerful magic that allows them to deal damage, buff their allies, hinder their enemies, or change the battlefield around them. Some characters will gain access to magic through class advancement, while some were just born with the gift.
There are two branches of magic subdivided into many schools. Magika stems from the positive energy in the world and relies on one’s ability to focus and bend it to your designs using Will. Malika stems from the negative energy in the world and draws directly from your lifeforce. Most magic users will rely on the prior form of magic, but access to Malika can grant abilities both powerful and unnatural.
Design Note
Structuring magic in this way allows us to implement very powerful magical abilities as Malika, but pair them with significant risk. Malika will require the user to risk their own Health to successfully cast, making these spells a careful balance of risk and reward.
All magic is subdivided into schools. Each school of magic focuses on a single concept. Schools of magic are organized into five different tiers representing more powerful manifestations of the same magic. Each level requires more of the user to manifest that effect.
In general casting magic of any kind will follow these steps:
- Choose a primary school of magic that is the baseline for your spell.
- If desired, choose a secondary school of magic to modify the spell
- Choose a tier (1-5) for your spell.
- Make a spellcasting check to see if you are successful at manifesting the spell.
- If successful the target(s) of the spell may choose to attempt a check to avoid the effects of the spell.
- If the target(s) fail their check or decline to make one the spell takes effect.
Casting a Spell
Casting higher tier magic is more difficult and more costly than lower tier magic. Manifesting a spell requires a spellcasting check. The table below demonstrates how the spellcasting check DC and point cost scales with spell tier.
| School of Magic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tags | [MAKICA], [PROJECTILE], [DAMAGE] | |
| Tier | Spellcasting DC | Cost |
| 1st | 2+ | 1 pt. |
| 2nd | 3+ | 2 pts. |
| 3rd | 4+ | 3 pts. |
| 4th | 5+ | 4 pts. |
| 5th | 6+ | 5 pts. |
If your spellcasting check is successful the spell is manifested and takes effect. Any targets subject to the effect of the spell may choose to attempt a save to avoid the effects of the spell. The difficulty class of the save is the same as the spellcasting DC. The type of check is determined by the traits associated with that school of magic. In general spells are one of these types:
[PROJECTILE]
A projectile spell is conjured by the caster and launched at its target similar to an arrow. It is treated like a ranged attack. The target does not get an inherent save to avoid the spell, but may attempt a dodge.
[ATTACK]
An attack spell is treated like a melee attack. The target does not get an inherent save to avoid the spell, but may attempt a dodge.
[SPHERE]
A sphere spell is conjured by the caster and sent to a point where it explodes outwards in a sphere. All valid targets within the area must make saves against its effects. If the spell does health damage the save will be a Fortitude check, while if the spell does Sanity damage the save will be a Will check. Sphere spells will have the radius of the sphere in inches listed in the tag like this: [SPHERE 3].
[TARGET]
A target spell takes effect on one or more targets selected by the caster. If the spell does health damage the save will be a Fortitude check, while if the spell does Sanity damage the save will be a Will check.
Spell Range
More skilled magic users can project their magic further. A spellcaster who knows one school of magic can project magic up to 6″ away. For each school of magic that a character knows they can project magic an additional 2″. Magic with the [ATTACK] tag is treated as a melee attack and has a range of 1″.
| Spell Range | |
|---|---|
| Schools of Magic Known | Maximum Range |
| 1 | 6″ |
| 2 | 8″ |
| 3 | 10″ |
| 4 | 12″ |
| 5 | 14″ |
| 6 | etc… |
MAGIKA
Points of Will are used to cast Magika and the spellcasting check required to manifest a Magika spell is a Will check. Like other Will checks, spellcasting checks can be made as a stacked roll. The table below presents a example school of Magika:
| School of Light | |
|---|---|
| Traits | [MAGIKA], [SPHERE 20] |
| Tier | Effect |
| 1st | Create dim light |
| 2nd | Create bright light |
| 3rd | Create radiant light |
| 4th | Create sunlight |
| 5th | Create everlasting light |
Each higher tier of Magika requires more Will to be invested and a more difficult Will check to manifest, but the resulting spell has more powerful effects.
Failing a Spellcasting Check
If you make a spellcasting check and fail on an unmodified result of a 1, the spell unravels and deals Sanity damage to the caster equal to the tier of the spell. Make one Sanity check for each point of Sanity damage. While making a stacked spellcasting check this effect only occurs if all results are 1.
Maintaining a Spell
Maintaining a spell costs a number of Will points equal to the spell tier each turn. There is no limit to the number of spells you can maintain so long as you have sufficient points of Will.
Taking Damage while Maintaining a Spell
If you take Health or Sanity damage while maintaining one or more spells you must make a Will check to continue to maintain the spells. The DC is equal to the number of points of damage taken plus 1. On a failure, all spells that you are maintaining unravel dealing Sanity damage as normal.
PUTTING IT TOGETHER – MAGIKA
Lets take at the steps for an example spellcasting action for Magika:
- The caster chooses a school of magic and a tier (1-5)
- The caster spends points of Will equal to the spell tier and makes a spellcasting check where the DC is equal to 1 + the spell tier.
- On a success the targets, if any, choose to make saves against the effects, if any.
- To maintain the spell to another turn, the caster spends points of Will equal to the original spell cost.
Example of Spellcasting (Magika)
Ani the Archmage is lost in the dark when her ally’s torch is extinguished. On her turn, she uses the spellcasting action to cast a spell from the school of light. She chooses to cast a third tier Light spell which creates radiant light. She spends three points of Will to make a DC 4+ spellcasting check and spends an additional point of Will to make a stacked roll. Rolling 2d6 on the spellcasting check she gets a 1 and a 5 which is a success.
The radiant light emanates out from her, illuminating three ghouls who had been hidden in the shadows. The ghouls have darkvision, so they are blinded by radiant light. Each one makes a 4+ Fortitude check against Ani’s spell. Two fail, one succeeds. The next turn Ani spends an additional three points of Will to maintain her light spell.
On the Ghoul’s turn it moves to attack Ani and hits, dealing two points of damage. Ani now makes a 3+ Will check to maintain her spell through the pain, but unfortunately rolls a 2. Her light spell unravels, dealing 3 points of Sanity damage. Ani has to make three, 4+ Sanity checks and rolls a 3, a 5, and 6. She takes one point of Sanity damage from the unraveling spell and reduces her Sanity by 1.
MALIKA
6.2 Schools of Magic
paragraph
6.3 Combining Schools of Magic
Paragraph
Leave a Reply