Encyclopedia Magical: Sorcery Rules

Sorcery

Who Cannot Learn Sorcery

A shaman can learn no sorcery unless his fetch has been permanently destroyed. A person who knows sorcery and becomes a shaman loses all his sorcerous lore.

Most priests cannot learn sorcery, often because it is considered sinful by their deity, but also because the nature of their philosophy and devotion renders the priest unable to alter his mindset in the necessary manner. An initiate of a non-sorcery-using deity may never become an acolyte, priest, or rune lord while he knows his lore.

Normal dwarf magic is much like sorcery, and free dwarfs take to sorcery, like ducks to water.

Trolls also use sorcery in conjunction with their native darkness cults.

Few elves can learn sorcery, as their minds and souls are not keyed into seeing the universe as natural resources to be manipulated by principles of immutable law. Their Weltanschauung is highly personal Aldrya is immanent. Sorcery requires an impersonal view of the universe and Aldrya is more than just a distraction -- she makes the sorcerer's viewpoint an impossibility. Only rootless elves, which have lost their worldview, can sometimes learn sorcery.

Most non-humans can learn sorcery like anyone else, always assuming that someone is willing to teach them. Of course, this implies that the race can learn magic at all. Krarshtkids and Jelmre cannot learn sorcery because the former can never use any magic and the latter can only use their species unique emotion magic.

Learning Spells

From an instructor: This takes 50 hours of training from someone with skill in the spell being learned of at least 90%. At the end of the training, the student receives a spell skill equal to 1d6 plus his Magic Bonus. If this is 0 or less, the spell is useless to him. Another 50 hours adds another 1d6 to his skill, and this can be continued until he is finally at a positive level. A spell teacher can train a number of students equal to his Instruct skill /10.

From a Scroll or Book: A student who successfully reads a work describing a spell can learn the spell as if by Practice (100 hours and a Memorization roll).

From a Matrix: A sorcerer who possess a usable sorcerous spells matrix may attempt to learn the spell as if by Research (200 hours and a Memorization roll)

Spell Inscription: Anyone who knows a spell can inscribe it via a successful Write. If a matrix of the spell is enchanted into the scroll or book, the matrix's skill bonus is added to the student's chance of learning the spell.

Increasing Spell Skill

Experience as per normal rules.

Maintenance if a spell is kept continuously maintained for a week, and makes up at least a tenth of the sorcerer's total Presence, then the sorcerer gets a skill check. If the skill check results in an increase, the spell goes up by 1d6-2. If a sorcerer maintains more than one copy of the same spell, he only gets one skill check.

Memory Requirements

A sorcery spell takes up 1 point of INT. This INT can come from the sorcerer's own brain or a spell matrix. A sorcerer can increase his skill in spells which he has not memorized (but has access to through a familiar or whatever).

Casting and Maintaining Sorcery Spells

The chance of casting any sorcery spell is equal to the user's Memorization skill (Int x3 as base %, no modifier, and must be increased only through study). A successful casting roll which is also less than the spell skill will give an experience check for that spell skill. In all cases, the caster may not place more Art levels in a spell than his skill in that spell/10. The caster's degree of success can be relevant:

Time needed to cast a sorcery spell is equal to the user's DEX SR plus 1 per MP. The Arts of Ease and Speed and the Ceremony skill may modify this.

Skill in a sorcery spell determines the maximum limit to which the basic structure of the spell can be manipulated. The maximum levels of Arts that can be added to a spell are the sorcery spell skill divided by ten, unless it is a spell from a specialty school in which case it is divided by five. If using Ceremony, the Ceremony bonus is added to the skill before divided.

Commoners

Most sorcery-users are not wizards, and do not know the Arts. Such individuals can cast spells using the art of Intensity (only), with maximum levels equal to their skill/10, rounded up. Such spells have a maximum range of 10m, and if temporal last for 1 minute.

Sorcerers

Those who know the Arcane Arts must determine how many levels of each Art are used in each spell casting. A sorcerer cannot have more total levels in effect at any given time than his Presence. A sorcerer can cease maintaining a spell instantly. The spell's effects last till the end of the round in which it was canceled.

Ceremony

Increases the caster's chance to manipulate a spell. Ceremony cannot more than double the user's skill or add more than the Ceremony skill. Each round spent in ritual permits the sorcerer to use up to 1d6 percentiles of Ceremony. When casting a ritual spell, an hour must be spent per 1d6% bonus instead of a round.

Resisting/Dispelling Sorcery

With few exceptions, only Intensity is used to determine sorcery's power vs. counter spells. An Intensity 1, Range 6 spell acts as a 1 point spell and is blocked by a Countermagic 1 (knocking down the Countermagic in the process)

Spell Components

If the sorcerer possesses an object or substance especially appropriate to a spell being cast, the GM can give him a 5 percentile boost to chances of success. Special or rare components give higher boosts, depending on the GM's whim. An extra round must be taken in casting the spell when a component is used.

Example: Subadim casts Fly using an eagle feather. The GM rules this gives him a +5 bonus. If he'd used a griffin or sky bull feather, he'd have gotten a +10 bonus. A phoenix feather or dragon wing scale would be +20, and a feather from Vrimak, King of Birds, is worth +50. A chicken or crow feather is worthless. The tongue of a crow that'd been taught to speak would be worth +10 for a communication spell.

Spell Precedence

Spells are layered from the inside out in the order in which they were cast. For instance, if you cast Resist Magic 6, Castback 6, and Resist Damage 6, in that order, a foe casting Evoke Fire at you would first need to overcome Resist Damage, the last spell cast. If it penetrated, it would strike the Castback. If it bypassed the Castback, it would strike the Resist Magic. Only if it penetrated the Resist Magic would it affect you. Evoke Fire had to overcome the Resist Damage, because it directly causes damage. If the caster had thrown Stupefy instead, the Resist Damage would not have interfered.

Boosting

A sorcerer can boost a spell with additional MPs, unlimited by his skill or Presence. It does take an extra SR per MP. The additional MPs serve no function except to add to the spell's Intensity for purposes of overcoming counter spells.

Example: Subadim throws an Evoke Fire 4 at a broo. He suspects the Broo has Countermagic up, so he boosts his Evoke fire with 6 MPs. The Evoke hits the broo with 10 MPs of force. If the broo's Countermagic is 8 or less, he will be affected by the Evoke Fire 4.

VOWS

Sorcerers get and increase Presence by means of Vows: oaths the sorcerer must try to keep. If a sorcerer breaks a Vow, he loses all Presence he'd gained from it, and may never take that Vow again. This fact is taken by Malkioni as evidence that sorcery is governed by the Invisible God, deity of Law.

Gaining Vows

When a sorcerer becomes proficient with his first Art of Intensity (50%), he can take the High Vow. This sets up a mental discipline for him to follow throughout life.

Once the sorcerer becomes proficient with the three basic Arts of Intensity (75%), Range (50%), and Multispell (50%), he can take the Vessel vow.

For each Art he learns after that at 50%, he may take one additional Vow. In addition, for each sorcery spell he masters (90%), he may take yet another Vow. If a sorcerer somehow forgets an Art, or an appropriate skill drops below 50%, he does not lose the Vow he received for that skill or Art, but when he relearns the Art or the skill rises back to 50%, he does not get to take a new Vow -- only one Vow per Art or spell.

THE ARTS

The Arts of sorcery are used in casting spells. Remember: the user cannot have more MPs in a spell than his skill/10. Three Basic Arts are normally recognized: Intensity, Multispell, and Range. A number of "secondary" Arts are also commonly recognized. Other “special” arts are known, but not all are available to all colleges of magic.

Learning the Arts

The Arts are learned by three main methods. It is possible to mix and match these methods, though most students do not.

Study

For this purpose, the Arts are treated, as Magic skills with a base chance of 0%, acquired and learned like any other skill.

St. Malkion

The famous founder of the Western Way provides Arts to those who believe on him. If an apprentice has Malkion as patron saint, then each year at Sacred Time, Malkion can be invoked (1 POW) to gain one Art at 25%.

Art Vows

An Art Vow can be taken when the student gains 90% in a sorcery spell. When taken, the student gains access to a single chosen Art at 1d6% to start, and his Presence is increased by the Vow's value minus 3. In most cases, this gives a negative result! (For example an Art Vow of Shun Immortality reduces Presence by 2.) This way an Art may be learned without a teacher.

If a sorcerer violates an Art Vow, he does not lose use of that Art, and his Presence is restored to what it would have been without said Vow (it may increase!). However, he also loses 10 percentiles from all his spells.

RANKS OF SORCERY

In most societies, sorcerers rise through definite degrees, and are ranked according to their achievements.

Layman

A Layman is someone who knows a sorcery and may, or may not know some Arts. A Layman has made no commitment to the study of sorcery and is usually not very powerful with the magic he does know.

Not having any Presence, a Layman may not maintain any active spells.  Any temporal sorcery spell cast by a Layman lasts for only 1 minute (5 rounds).

Layman Requirements:

• Knowledge of a sorcery spell.

Apprentice

An apprentice is attached to an older sorcerer, normally at least an Adept, but some journeymen may take an apprentice, too, depending on local custom (typically, when sorcerers are common, only Adepts take apprentices).

The apprentice first devotes himself to the study of a particular Art, normally Intensity. Once he has learned the Art(50%), he can take the High Vow at a formal celebration. A good master will insist that his apprentice learn several different spells. A master may or may not cast Apprentice Bonding on a new apprentice.

Apprentice Requirements:

• Positive Magic Bonus.

Student

Once an apprentice has the three basic Arts, at a minimum of 50%, and Intensity at 75%, he is permitted to take the Vessel Vow in another celebration. At this time, he is considered to have risen to the rank of Student, and is given extra privileges. Technically, a student is still an Apprentice but a more important one.

A Student may now choose to become a specialist, if his master is one. The master must be a specialist in the field chosen.

Most sects require a master to perform Apprentice Bonding by the time his apprentice becomes a full student.

Student Requirements:

• Intensity skill at 75%,
• Range and Multispell skills of at least 50%.
• Ceremony, Enchant, and Summon skills of at least 1%.

Journeyman

Once an apprentice learns enough, most sects permit him to leave his master. However, he is not required to do so, and for some time will be considered second-rate in any case. Income may be significantly straitened until he improves his skills. This is normally the level at which a player-character becomes an adventurer.

Journeyman Requirements:

• Mastery of Intensity (90%), other Basic Arts at 75% and at least one secondary art at 50%;
• Ceremony, Enchant, and Summon skills of at least 25%;
• Mastery(90%) of at least one spell.

Adept

Adepts are considered competent in all aspects of sorcery. An Adept must meet specific requirements, and are respected or feared everywhere. In civilized lands, adepts are licensed by the authorities, and usually permitted certain privileges. For instance, in most Malkioni lands, only Adepts are permitted to wear all-white robes.

Adepts are able to learn spells and Arts normally restricted to specialists, because their lore and knowledge has grown until they can comprehend such.

Adept Requirements:

• Mastery of all Basic and one Secondary Art.
• Skill in at least five non-ritual spells at 90%.
• Ceremony, Enchant, and Summon skills of 50%
• Possession of a familiar.
• (Malkioni only) at least three Patron saints. Iconoclasts or non-Malkioni must have accomplished something similarly impressive, varying with the sect.

Magus

At some point, an Adept can proclaim himself a Magus. Generally, this is not done until most people who know of him have begun to consider him such (or he risks mockery). There are no specific conditions, but being called a Magus normally implies at least the following minimum;

Commonly Recognized Magus Qualifications:

• Ceremony, Enchant, and Summon skills of 90%
• Skill in at least a dozen non-ritual spells at 90%
• Having invented at least one new spell
• Presence of 50+

Making Spells

One of the listed requirements for Magus-hood is making spells. Making spells i.e. new, as yet unknown, sorcerous routes, is a complicated process.

The sorcerer must have a laboratory of area 100 square metros minimum, and outfit it with the necessary oils, balms, magical and non-magical salves, blessed equipment, statuettes of Malkion etc. Normally this costs, all in all, 8-10,000sp. For every hour spent in researching the spell to be created, the sorcerer must spend 5sp to replace used materials, as well as covering the cost of newer, more up-to-date texts.

The spell must (obviously) be acceptable to the GM. A spell, which duplicates another spell, or combination of spells, is not acceptable. Ditto for spells that are too powerful. "Advanced" or "improved" versions of spells are disallowed. A sorcerer with Venom 50% cannot create an Improved Venom spell to cut down the casting cost. Instead, it's called Venom 100%.

For every 250-(INT+POW+1/10th presence) hours, the character has a chance of finally creating the spell. This chance is calculated as follows:

• Base chance = Character's magical bonus-20
• +1/5th of character's presence
• +1% for every 10% the character has in ceremony, enchant and summon above 90%
• +1% for every 10% over 50 the character has in a related spell
• +1% for every 500sp the character devotes to additional materials etc. (max. +6%)
• +1% for having another sorcerer help (a sorcerer can only have up to INT/3 sorcerers helping; "Too many cooks spoil the broth.")
• +1-5% for having an object to help (for example, a lightning spell would be aided by an Orlanthi artifact)
• -1% for being interrupted (going on an adventure etc.)

For Example: Samas the Short has 37 Presence, INT 19 and POW 15. Every 250-(19+15+4)=202 hours he has a chance of creating his spell. He is trying to make the spell Evoke Acid, and has a magical bonus of 16, and so has a base chance of -4%. It is modified as follows:

• +7% for presence
• +1% as he has ceremony 97%
• +4% for he has 85% in Evoke Lightning
• +1% as Lugh Rawson, fellow sorcerer, is aiding him
• +1% as he has raised an extra 500sp for his research

This gives him an overall 10% chance of success every 202 hours.

For every roll, the player adds 1% to their chance of successful research.

For Example: After 202 hours, Samas gets a second roll at 11%, after 404 hours he has another roll at 12% etc.

It is impossible to research a spell with less than 1% chance of succeeding.

Lastly, while researching, a sorcerer must devote 1/5th of their presence to the process of the spell. They cannot use this presence, just as if a spell was "up". If the character drops this presence to cast another spell then the research is lost and the whole process must be started anew. A player may choose to devote less than the full amount of presence, but suffer a penalty of 2% to successfully researching the spell for every point of Presence it is reduced by. In any case, at least one point of presence must be devoted.

Once a spell has been researched it must be perfected by increasing it to 90%. If a spell is not perfected then whenever it is cast and the roll fails, there is 10% chance of something malign and horrible going wrong. The GM should create a table of random results, not letting the player know what is on it. For example, in the Evoke Acid context, failure may cause all water within 10m to turn to acid, cause the caster to evoke urine, create a soaking acid rain, or even cause the spell to cover the caster in acid!!

A sorcerer can raise a spell skill to 90% through either normal research, or experience. They need no longer devote presence to it. A sorcerer cannot teach the spell until he has mastered, nor make a spell matrix out of it. Attempts to do so are, at best unsuccessful and, at worst, explosive.

SPECIALTIES

A sorcerer may specialize in a particular school of magic. Essentially, the sorcerer gains exceptional mastery over a single school by neglecting the study of other schools and or spells.

The specialist gains a +10% bonus to chance to learn and cast spells in his specialty as well as have an Art limit and spell manipulation equal to his skill/5. But, the sorcerer is penalized with one or more other schools having the limit of his skill/20 and a -10% bonus to chance to learn and cast those spells.

The specialist gains the ability to use the Art of Magnify with the spells of his specialty school.

Sorcery Specialties

"Penalty" = penalized schools
"Vows" = Changes in Vows due to this specialty.
"Lore Mastery" = those skills which give him Presence above and beyond the normal Lore Mastery vow.
"Other" = any special bonuses or handicaps.

Abjuration

Penalty:

1. either Transmutation, Conjuration, Enchantment, or Illusion; or
2. both Divination and Necromancy

Lore Mastery: [any] Lore give 1 Presence each.

Chaos

Penalty:

1. None

Lore Mastery: Chaos Lore gives 2 Presence.

Other: The sorcerer will detect as chaotic.

Charm

Penalty: Any two schools

Lore Mastery: [any species] Lore give 2 Presence each; each Communication skill gives 1 Presence.

Conjuration

Penalty:

1. Elemental [any one];
2. any two of the following: Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion;
3. Transmutation;
4. any three schools.

Lore Mastery: Demon Lore, Magic Lore, Spirit Lore, and Summon give 2 Presence each.

Demonology

Penalty:

1. Elemental All;
2. any three non-Elemental schools.

Lore Mastery: Demon Lore, Magic Lore, Spirit Lore, and Summon give 2 Presence each.

Other: Art of Blooding is available. Can stack Tap spells. Demonologists are considered to be meddling with chaos.

Divination

Penalty:

1. Any one single school

Enchantment

Penalty:

1. either Transmutation, Abjuration, Conjuration, Elemental [any], Enchantment, or Illusion;
2. both Divination and Necromancy

Lore Mastery: Enchant and Magic Lore give 2 Presence each. The first Craft the enchanter masters provides 3 Presence. The second Craft provides 2. Further Crafts are worth 1 each.

Healing

Penalty:

1. All damage dealing spells or death causing spells.

Vows: None unique, though Never Kill [species] and Shun Harm are common.

Lore Mastery: First Aid, Treat Poison, & Treat Disease give 2 Presence each.

Illusion

Penalty:

1. either Transmutation, Abjuration, Conjuration, Elemental [any], or Enchantment;
2. both Divination and Necromancy

Lore Mastery: Conceal, Sleight, each Perception skill, and each Stealth skill give 1 Presence.

Law

Penalty:

1. Demonology and Chaos spells are prohibited. (Tap spells may be allowed by various sects)

Lore Mastery: Magic Lore and Enchant give 2 Presence each.

Necromancy

Penalty:

1. Any one single school

Vows: Shun Sky is required as the third Vow. In addition, every 5th Vow must be Sacrifice Appearance, until APP has dropped to 1. Never Kill and Shun Immortality are forbidden.

Lore Mastery: Magic & Undead Lore give 2 Presence each. Each Stealth skill gives 1 Presence.

Other: Can stack Tap spells. Necromancers are considered to be meddling with chaos.

Transmutation

Penalty:

1. Conjuration;
2. [any] Elemental;
3. any two of the following schools: Abjuration, Enchantment, and Illusion; or
4. any tree schools

Lore Mastery: Craft, Evaluate, Mineral Lore, and World Lore give 2 Presence each.

Warlock of [Element]

Penalty:

1. All other [non-dominantor inferior] Elemental schools, with the [enemy Element] totally prohibited.

Vows: Shun [enemy Element] is required as the third Vow. Enemies are the dominant or inferior element to your own -- for instance, Water & Dark are enemies to Fire. The other Shun [enemy element] must be taken as the fifth Vow. Each time you take the Flee [element] Vow vs. an enemy element, you get an extra 1 Presence.

Lore Mastery: Mineral & World Lore give 2 Presence each.

Sorcery Used With Other Magic Types

Other types of magic interfere with sorcery. When a sorcerer casts a spirit spell or Rune spell, they count against his Presence. His Presence remains encumbered with these magic until they expire. However, he cannot cancel them until they expire naturally, nor can he maintain them past that point. Each point of spirit magic takes up 1 Presence. Each point of Rune magic takes up 4 Presence. Instant spirit and Rune spells only use up Presence for the round they are cast.

When sorcery and other types of magic are cast on the same target, similar spells do NOT add together. Instead, they "overlap. For instance, if Boost Damage 6 and Bladesharp 4 are cast on the same sword, damage is increased by 6 (Boost Damage), and attack is increased by 20% (Bladesharp).

Because of the wide variety of possible combinations, the gamemaster is the final judge of whether or not a particular spell pairing "overlaps". Note that some similar-appearing spells may not overlap. For instance, though Fireblade and Boost Damage both affect the weapons damage, they do not overlap.

Definitions of Spell Casting

An "attack" spell, such as Hinder, must overcome a target's MPs in order to take effect. A target can choose not to resist. A non-attack spell, such as Treat Wound, normally does not have to overcome a target's MPs. However, a target can choose to resist such a spell.

When an "active" spell is up, you cannot cast any other spells (except a Held one). You can only utilize an active spell with some other spell if Multispell was used when it was cast. (For instance, combining Fly with Animate Stone to make a flying gargoyle). An active spell can be allowed to lapse into quiescence, and then later brought back into activity by concentration. You can only control one active spell at a time.

A "transient" spell is active, but in addition, if you end your concentration the spell is cancelled. You can only control one transient spell at a time.

Many spells cost points or do damage defined as 1d(intensity). This means a die is rolled with a maximum value equal to the Intensity. Thus: Intensity 3 = 1d3, Intensity 6 = 1d6, Intensity 10 = 1d10, etc.

Some spells come in the format VERB [noun] Such as Animate [substance]. Such spells come in a variety of forms, sometimes individually described, but sometimes not. Hence, Animate [substance] is not a single spell, but a whole category, each of which must be learned separately. Knowledge of Animate Stone is useless in casting Animate Fire.

Special Enchantment Rules

The amount of POW, which can be placed into an enchantment varies with the object enchanted. Basically, the more "magic" it is, the more POW it holds. Obviously, this is up to GM discretion. For instance, an ordinary pebble may only contain 1 POW. A wooden staff could hold 4 POW. A staff cut from an awakened tree might hold 16 POW. A living being has no limit to the amount of POW that can be enchanted onto him. Appropriate skill rolls are needed (such as Tattoo).

Spell Books/Grimores

Sorcerers will often create and use spell books to increase the number of spells they can use and have access to. They are often made out of exotic material and magically and mechanically trapped. A sorcerer's grimore is his most cherished possession, and they will kill in order to protect it. A sorcerer may have multiple spell books.

To record an arcane spell in written form, a character uses a complex notation that describes the magical forces involved in the spell. Each character uses his own system of shorthand notation, which makes particular sense to him. Even students of the same master may have trouble using each others spell books.

To decipher another's spell book, a character must make a successful Int x1 roll, assuming the sorcerer can read the language the book was written in.  If the Int roll is failed, the character may not attempt to decipher the spell until the next day. If the person who created the book is on hand to help the reader, then only the Read/Write roll is needed to be made.

Once a character deciphers a particular magical writing, he does not need to do so again.

Sorcerer can add new spell to their spell books by as follows:

• The process requires 1 day and a successful Read/Write check. On a special roll the spell takes up only a page and a half. On a critical roll only a single page is required.  On a failed attempt the the page is ruined and must be started from scratch. On a fumbled roll, the sorcerer has described the spell incorrectly and the spell is useless, but the sorcerer is unaware of that.
• Materials for writing the spell cost 200 sp per page and a spell normally takes two page to be described in detail.

It takes a sorcerer 1 hour and successful Memorization check to relearn a spell from his own spell book.

Sorcery Scrolls

A sorcerer may create scrolls which enhance his or an others spell casting ability. Such items are generally one use, as the magic contained in them is released in the process. Each use decreases the scrolls percentage by 100%.

The scroll material is prepared by a successful enchantments over a period of a week. A sorcerer may prepare a number of scrolls in this matter equal to his Enchant skill divided by 10. Each scroll requires a separate enchant roll even if more than one are prepared at the same time. Each scroll can store only one spell. Once a scroll is used it must be re-enchanted in order to store the next spell.

Once the scroll is prepared it takes one hour to enchant a spell into it. The sorcerer must make another Enchantment skill check to actually bind the spell into the scroll.

If the enchantment roll is fumbled the following will result

If the enchantment roll is failed the scroll must be prepared again from scratch.

If the enchantment is successful the scroll will then add a percentage to the users spell skill percentage. The percentage added is equal to the enchanters spell skill percentage - the number rolled while enchanting.

If the enchantment is a special success, the scroll percentage is increased by 1d6 x 10%

If the enchantment is a critical success, the scroll percentage is doubled.

Example: Mehotep knows Skin of Life 67%, Read/Write Hieroglyphs 50% and Enchantment 45%. When inscribing the Skin of Life scroll he must roll under 45% (his Enchant skill). He spends the time, and makes his roll. His result is a 26%. This succeeds. He records the scroll's effective skill as 67%(Skin of Life) - 26%(Rolled to Enchant) = 41%.

Anyone using this scroll will be able to add 41% to their Skin of Life spell skill, assuming they were able to read the scroll.

Before the scroll is useable it must be decipher with a successful Read [language] check, which takes an hour.

Spell casting cost

As a general rule the standard price to have a spell cast and maintained is 5L/mp/day. The price doubles for every 5 points of manipulation. The price varies of course based on location.

• 1 - 5L/day
• 2 - 10L/day
• 3 - 15L/day
• 4 - 20L/day
• 5 - 25L/day
• 6 - 60L/day
• 7 - 70L/day
• 8 - 80L/day
• 9 - 90L/day
• 10 - 100L/day

Copyright © 1997, Sandy Petersen.

Additional material taken from Nikk Effingham's website.

Additional material by Leon Kirshtein.