Difference between revisions of "Magical Advancement"

Revision as of 07:43, 24 May 2011

The Magical Disciplines are like skills - they are advanced in the same way. Skill Upgrade Points are spent to buy Ranks. Unlike normal Skills, there is no cap to how many ranks one can have in a given discipline. One Upgrade Point buys a single Rank in a single discipline for a single Primary Mental Ability. If a character doesn't have any Primary Mental Abilities, he can't use magic.

• Different Abilities use magic in different ways. Intuition uses default rules, but each of the other three Mental Abilities have special advantages and disadvantages.

• Mixed Spells must be cast using one ability score — you cannot cast a spell using ranks from varying spellcasting methods.

• Any character may take ranks in magical disciplines. They must, however, have a Primary Mental Ability. What Primary Mental Abilities a character has determines what kind of a spellcaster she can be (see below).

For example, a character may be both a Mage (Intuition) and a Wizard (Intellect), or potentially any combination of the four. In this case, however, each discipline of magic is actually four skills - one for each ability score. When buying ranks in each discipline, a mixed caster must specify what ability score each rank is tied to. You may have a Mage/Adept who has 4 ranks in perception as a Mage and 8 as an Sorcerer. When they cast perception spells as a mage they get only 4+Inu+d20, and when they cast them as an Sorcerer they cast with 8+Int+d20. Usually this is inefficient but there are times when it can be useful.

Intuition

The Default. Characters who use Intuition are called Mages.

Mages are people who have a natural understanding of how one or more branches of magic work. They are the core of magic - people with simply some natural talent. They follow all default rules. The other three have limitations.

Intellect

Casters that use Intellect are called Wizards.

Wizards have had extensive schooling or have done research themselves on the subject of how magical forces interact, and have a strong understanding of magical theory. Most are trained by schools, of which there are many.

The main benefit of being a wizard is that spells can be prepared beforehand. By figuring out the theory, working out equations, and writing down basic notes, the Wizard can hold a spell in memory and not risk overdrawing himself when the time comes to cast it.

A wizard may spend 1 hour a day preparing spells. He may design any spell which he would be able to cast with a roll of 15. Up to twice his intelligence in such spells may be held at a single time. When a spell is cast, it is used up, so it is sometimes useful to prepare copies of spells.

Because Wizards are used to taking the safe route, however, and are not used to channeling raw energy unstudied, when they overdraw Capacity they take 8 damage per point overdrawn instead of 4.

In addition, Wizards cannot take ranks in the Life discipline.

Will

Casters that use Will are called Adepts.

Adepts focus on one (or rarely two) disciplines of magic. They are specialists, and their will is connected inextricably to this type of magic. Through discipline and focus they hone their ability, until it is a part of them.

Adepts which take ranks in only 1 discipline gain a +4 to all checks made in that discipline, a +8 to all saves against effects from that discipline, and a -2 to all saves against other magical disciplines.

Adepts which take ranks in 2 disciplines gain a +2 to all checks made in those disciplines (this stacks if a spell includes both), and a +4 to all saves against effects from those disciplines (again stacking if the targeting spell uses both).

Adepts cannot take ranks in more than two disciplines. An adept which has only one discipline may take a second at any time. If the adept wishes to change disciplines, they may but must give up all ranks invested in the previous one.

Depending on the culture, Adepts are often regarded as holy men or religious leaders.

Charisma

Casters that use Charisma are called Sorcerers.

Sorcerers are born to magic. Their soul is so powerful it leaks, and their energy is rash, wild, and flowing.

When Sorcerers overdraw Capacity they take 2 damage per point overdrawn instead of 4. In addition, they can cast from disciplines of magic they have no ranks in, though they take a -5 penalty on such checks.

When a Sorcerer fails a casting check, however, they burn double capacity. Sorcerer spells that are failed have a 50% chance to be cast anyways, whether the sorcerer wants it to or not, but act unpredictably. The more it is failed by the more unpredictably it acts - a failure of one or two points means it will be roughly the same, but the wildness increases exponentially the more it is failed. This means they can fail the DC by one or two points and be ensured that the spell will work at least in part, but they always risk a massive failure.