Before we can discuss the powers and types of magic we first need to get a grounding of how the multiverse is made up.
Thus we can see that the prime material plane where the characters dwell is actually part of the elemental planes. These planes comprise the four basic elements at the periphary surrounding the demi-material planes of dust, smoke, shadow and dozens of others which in turn surrounds the prime material plane. Following the logic it can be seen that the prime material plane is in fact simply a mish mash of all the elemental planes put together. No one elemental plane dominates the prime material, creatures which inhabit the other planes often find it relatively easy to slip betweeen the boundaries in to the adjacent planes.
The planes of heaven and hell exist in another dimension to the elemental planes which is why the priestly and elemental magic do not co-exist. In the diagram power for a character can only flow vertically or horizantally between the planes but not both.
Surrounding the planes are the ethereal and astral planes. The ethereal covers the elemental planes and the astral passes between the heaven and hell planes. Creatures wishing to pass between planes must travers either the ethereal or astral planes.
These can perform their powers anywhere on the elemental planes. They employ their powers by direct manipulation of the elemental forces and channelling the forces from their home plane. Wizards have more problem than priests when travelling towards heaven or hell as their powers are designed to work within the elemental planes and not pass the boundaries in the vertical direction. Rather than preventing the mage casting the more powerful magics however (as happens to priests) it reduces the level of spell available to him.
| Spell / Prayer Level |
Power points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 |
| 5 | 7 |
| 6 | 9 |
| 7 | 11 |
| 8 | 14 |
| 9 | 17 |
Each spell/proyer has a difficulty factor associated with it which must be reached before the spell will work as planned. The base difficulty is
10 + spell/prayer level
However rolls lower than the skill level only mean that the spell was not as effective as expected, the fireball will be cooler or the charm easier to throw off
The spell difficulty is rolled against the highest power level of the spell using the skills in the normal way.
Wizard
Intelligence + casting ability + 2d8
Priest
Willpower + Faith + 2d8
If it has two levels such as Elemental and Force then the one in which the caster has the lowest power over that required is used.
Each spell has a default attribute which will be affected by the roll, normally damage, area or saving throw. The difference between the difficulty and skill rolled is checked against the appropriate table to determine the effect.
If any spell is bodged a wild surge may result. See wild surges.
Against spells or prayers the saving throw is
12If in direct melee it is impossible to cast a spell that takes more than 2 segments to perform. Longer than this and that spear will have an intimate knowledge of your entrails.
To determine the success of the prayer the priest must increase the difficulty by 1 for each 5 stamina points (or part of) or 1 wound point taken.
e.g.
If saying a 1st level prayer and the priest gets hit for 6 stamina they must roll a constitution save of
10+1 (base)+ 2 (6 SP) = 14
| Situation | Example | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Possible movement | Stationary horse | +2 |
| Continuous slow movement | Walking horse | +6 |
| Medium movement | Trotting horse | +8 |
| Fast / unpredictable movement* | Galloping / frightened horse | +11 |
| Hours of sleep |
Percentage recovered |
|---|---|
| 4 | 20% |
| 6 | 50% |
| 8 | 100% |
After resting characters need to spend time reading their books or praying to their god.
With each point lost there is a chance that wild surge occurs.
| Condition | Surge modifier |
|---|---|
| Casting when out of Power points | Number of PP |
| Using more Power points the the casters level allows | Additional PP |
| Casting a scroll of a higher level than they can control. | Difference in PP |
| Bodge |
When a wild surge is possible a difficulty must be rolled to control the power. The difficulty is the surge modifier.
PP difficulty modifier This is rolled against their base intelligence as other factors have been calculated in already. Thus if a caster with 3 intelligence and 2nd level force tries casting Part water a 6th level spell they must roll a difficulty of 7.
6th level = 9 PP
2nd level = 2 PP
Base 9 - 2 = 7
When a wild surge occurs the mage loses control and the power flows out
of them in an uncontrolled manner. They suffer various ill effects.
Each wizard can automatically dispel their own magic. In addition they have a natural chance of dispelling other mages spells. To dispel a spell a wizard must concentrate on the spell to be dispelled and employ 1 more power point than the original caster. If this involves more power than the wizard can normally use safely a wild surge may result. The difficulty is :
9 + spell level
In order to make a spell permanent that is not naturally so, a continuous channel of power must be opened to the plane from which the magic flows.
The steps for creating a permenant spell are
| Succcess level | Duration |
|---|---|
| 0 | 1 year |
| 1 | 10 years |
| 2 | 100 years |
| 3 | 1,000 years |
| 4 | 10,000 years |
To create a permanent wall of fire
Obviously the caster must be capable of casting an elemental spell at 5th level. The casters' staff is acting as a focus for the spell.