EDRulebook: 10 Workings of Magic

THREAD MAGIC

Thread magic is the process by which a thread of magical energy is woven into an existing True Pattern, thereby strengthening and enhancing that Pattern. Magicians of higher Circles can weave threads to any True Pattern, such as those possessed by any Named person, place, or thing. These rules only cover weaving threads to magical items. The more complex process of weaving threads to Named people, places, and Pattern Items will appear in another rulebook.

Most magic items in Earthdawn are unique, produced by a conjunction of magical energy and emotion that imbues the item with magical powers. These powers reflect the events that created it. These powers are not enchanted into the item; they simply come into being when the item is involved in some significant event. It is important to remember that in Earthdawn, magic is life and life itself is magic. This means that because of magic, all the world is alive in one way or another. The forces of magic and life also interact with each other, sometimes in distinct and sometimes subtle ways. This interaction is described in the concepts of Patterns, True Patterns, Pattern Items, and threads.

The greater the legend of an item, the more significant events it has been a part of, the greater its powers. The person wielding or using such an item rarely sees the full force of that power manifest. Because it takes time for the forces of magic to empower an item, we provide a selection of pre-generated magic items. These items possess magical abilities and the power to enhance the user’s abilities, though those abilities will not manifest until the character who acquires that item can empower it with a thread of magic. The procedure for powering a magic item with a thread appears in the sections following and in Magical Treasure. Players and gamemasters should review both sections carefully before introducing magic items into their game.

Not all magical items are created by unique circumstance. Some are created by more traditional means. These items all have similar capabilities (within their kind) because they were specifically enchanted with those powers. However, because each item has a unique history after its construction, the information needed to empower each item may differ.

[Serpentbane]

USING MAGIC ITEMS

Magic items, by virtue of their creation (coincidence or design) all have True Patterns. The True Pattern reflects all of an item’s history and all of its potential. Like a spell matrix holding a complex spell, a magic item cannot manifest its powers until a character weaves a magic thread to it. Magicians find thread weaving relatively easy, since they are intimately familiar with the Pattern of the spell they are casting and know how to connect the empowering threads. A character who discovers a magic item is not so lucky. The item’s True Pattern is a mystery of history, facts, and magic intricately braided together. Before the Adept can use the item he must unravel some of the mystery of that item. He does that in part by using one his own mystical talents, and in part by old-fashioned, mundane research.

Each ability or power of a magic item has a specific rank, similar to the ranks of talents. Each ability or power is also associated with a specific piece of information, or Key Knowledge, that must be learned before that power can be used. The magical thread that empowers the particular ability can only be woven once the appropriate Key Knowledge, that little bit of insight into the item’s True Pattern, has been learned.

For example, a magic item may have three ranks of powers, Ranks 1, 2, and 3. It can have more or less depending on the power and history of the item. (See Magical Treasure.) Each rank provides a unique power and is tied to a Key Knowledge that the character must know to unlock that power. Each Key Knowledge must be learned (and used) in succession. The Rank 3 Key Knowledge cannot be learned and used before the Rank 2, and so on.

Each character must perform the following steps to empower a magic item’s abilities. Each step is outlined in greater detail here and in the opening sections of Magical Treasures.

Obtain the Key Knowledge for this rank.
1. First, make an Item or Weapon History Test to learn the general nature of the Key Knowledge.
2. Research the specifics of the Key Knowledge.
Weave the thread.
1. First, spend a number of Legend Points based on the rank of the thread being woven. The thread rank is equal to rank of the Key Knowledge or power being activated.
2. Make a Thread Weaving Test against a Difficulty Number based on the rank of the thread (see the Weaving Difficulty Table)
Use the item (but use it wisely).

OBTAINING THE KEY KNOWLEDGE

A character who uses his or her Item or Weapon History talent discovers the basic information of a particular Key Knowledge at a specific rank. If the result of the test made to use that talent is exceptional, the character may learn the basic information for the Key Knowledges of several ranks. However, the basic knowledtge does not give the character any advantage until he learns the full Key Knowledge of those ranks.

This basic Key Knowledge is known as the Test Knowledge. This is the general nature of the Key Knowledge, but not the specific information. For example, the Test Knowledge might be that the character has to learn the name of the item’s creator. He does not learn the name by making the test, only that he must discover it before he can weave a thread at that rank. The specific information, such as the name itself is known as the Research Knowledge, and must be discovered by conventional means.

To learn the Test Knowledge, the character makes an Item or Weapon History Test against the item’s Spell Defense. The success level determines how many ranks of Key Knowledge the character learns. An Average success reveals the Key Knowledge at the next rank. A Good success reveals the next two, an Excellent success the next three, and an Extraordinary success the Test Knowledge for next four Key Knowledges. A character can only learn a number of Test Knowledges from one test equal to his rank in Item or Weapon History.

Thom Hammerblade is using his Weapon History talent to study a magic sword he found during his last adventure. His Weapon History Rank is 3. After a week of study, he makes his Weapon History Test against the sword’s Spell Defense. With a few Bonus dice, he gets an Extraordinary success, meaning he should learn the first four Key Knowledges of the sword. But because Thom has only a Rank 3 Weapon History talent, he can only learn the Key Knowledges for Thread Ranks 1, 2, and 3. If he wants to learn more of the sword’s Key Knowledges, he must first increase the rank of his Weapon History talent.

The character now knows what he must learn before he can weave the threads for those ranks, and must research it. See Research and the information presented in Magical Treasure.

Rank 1 Information

A successful Item or Weapon History Test at Rank 1 reveals to the character the Rank 1 Test Knowledge, the item’s total number of thread ranks, and the number of Deeds associated with that item (see Deeds).

Additional Ranks

Once a character weaves a thread to an item, he or she can continue to weave a new, stronger thread at each rank beyond the first. This new thread replaces the old thread, but maintains the powers and abilities of the old thread. This new thread cannot be woven until the character learns the appropriate Test and Research Knowledges. A character who fails to learn the Key Knowledges for multiple thread ranks as a result of a better-than-average success level on an Item or Weapon History Test (see Obtaining Key Knowledge) must simply make an Item/Weapon History Test to learn the Key Knowledge for each consecutive rank as he reaches it.

Research

Once the character learns the Test Knowledge, he must learn the specific information that will allow him to weave a thread. Learning this information can occur as part of an adventure and should be integrated into a story, or can be something that takes place between adventures. In either case, research is something the character does during the course of a story. It cannot be resolved with a simple die roll, but must happen through adventuring and roleplaying. The character must seek out the source of that information and somehow discover what he needs to know. The process could be simple and quick, or complex and arduous, depending on the nature of the item, the information to be learned, and the gamemaster’s mood. More about handling research and research-based adventures is presented specifically in the Magical Treasure section, and generally in Gamemastering Earthdawn.

WEAVING THE THREAD

Once the character learns the Research Knowledge, he will become aware that he can now weave the thread to empower the item at the appropriate rank.

The thread must be woven at a rank equal to the Key Knowledge Rank learned. The maximum rank at which a character can weave a thread is equal to his Thread Weaving Rank. When the character prepares to weave the thread, he must spend a number of Legend Points to do so. This cost represents the experience and effort the character puts into weaving the thread. The actual Legend Point cost varies with the item and the rank desired. The items listed in Magical Treasure list the Legend Point cost with each rank. For example, the cost to weave a Rank 1 thread to a Counterspell Staff is 200 Legend Points. The cost to weave a Rank 5 thread to Nioku’s Bow is 3,400 Legend Points!

Ardis Foarr, the Wizard, found a Counterspell Staff in the ruins of a citadel he traveled through and wants to weave a thread to it. He studies the item and learns its first Key Knowledge. Now he must spend Legend Points to weave the thread. The gamemaster checks the description of the Counterspell Staff and finds that Ardis Foarr must spend 300 Legend Points to weave a Rank 1 thread. If Ardis later becomes ambitious and wants to increase the Thread Rank from 1 to 2, he must spend 500 Legend Points to weave the Rank 2 thread.

Once he spends the Legend Points, the character makes a Thread Weaving Test to weave the thread. The Difficulty Number for this test is based on the rank of the thread, as listed in the following table.

WEAVING DIFFICULTY TABLE

Thread
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15

Weaving
Difficulty
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

If the Thread Weaving Test succeeds, the character attaches the thread to the item’s True Pattern and the item’s ability at that rank is empowered. When increasing the rank of an existing thread, the new thread replaces the existing thread.

If the Thread Weaving Test fails, the character cannot make another attempt at weaving a thread to that item until he has gained the next higher rank in Thread Weaving. Because the test failed, the character regains the Legend Points spent on weaving a new thread, and the old thread, if one existed, remains in effect. However, the character cannot spend those regained Legend Points on anything else. As soon as the character increases his rank in the Thread Weaving talent, he can try again to weave the thread, spending the same Legend Points allocated for his first attempt.

Jerreck makes a Thread Weaving Test to increase the rank from 2 to 3 of the thread he has woven to Drea’s Magic Pouch. The Difficulty Number of his Thread Weaving Test is 10. He makes his test and fails, getting only a 9. Jerreck must now increase his rank in Thread Weaving before he can again attempt to weave that thread. His Rank 2 thread remains in place, and the next time he tries to increase the rank of the thread attached to the pouch, he follows the same steps as he did in the first attempt.

Deeds

Sometimes it is possible to perform a specific Deed to earn the Legend Points used to weave a thread to an item. Sometimes, the character must perform the Deed to earn the Legend Points to weave the thread. Whether an item requires any Deeds is learned at Rank 1, but the Key Knowledge of the Deed can only be learned at the rank with which the Deed is associated. Deeds must be researched in the same way as Research Knowledge.

Some Deeds are voluntary. However, if the character chooses to perform the Deed, he can only spend the Legend Points earned by completing the Deed-adventure on weaving the thread for that item at that rank.

Deeds are usually symbolically or directly associated with the history of the item and the magical forces at work in its empowering. See the section on Deeds in Magical Treasure.

LIMITS ON THREADS

At any one time, a character can have a maximum number of threads active (attached to True Patterns) equal to his Thread Weaving Rank. This limit does not include spell threads, as those are temporary. The character’s Thread Weaving Rank also marks the maximum rank to which he can increase any of his threads.

Jerreck has Rank 4 in Thread Weaving. Until he increases his rank in Thread Weaving, Jerreck can have a maximum of 4 threads active at any one time (connecting to four different items), and none of those threads may be of a higher rank than 4.

LOSING THREADS

All the threads a character currently has active are lost when that character dies. When a character loses an item to which he has woven a thread, the thread remains active until someone else weaves a thread to that item and effectively disconnects the character’s thread.

BLOOD MAGIC

Blood magic is a special type of magic that draws its power from small sacrifices, usually a small amount of blood. The sacrifice is represented by the character taking (sacrificing) a few points of permanent damage to strengthen the magic of a talent or ability. Record this damage in the Blood Magic circle in the Damage section of the Character Record Sheet.

USING BLOOD MAGIC

The most common use of blood magic is to power special talents and abilities. At some Discipline Circles, Adepts have access to special abilities whose use requires blood magic. Similarly, some available talents can be made more effective and made to last longer through blood magic.

The use of blood magic can also make some magical items more powerful. The sacrifice strengthens the thread link between the character and the item, allowing the character to use the item’s known abilities more fully. Blood magic also allows characters to use certain powerful charms and to seal oaths.

DURATION OF BLOOD MAGIC

Though each type of blood magic functions differently, all share one feature. Nearly all uses of blood magic last for a year and a day. Some magical scholars and theorists suggest that the seemingly standard duration springs from the common factor of blood sacrifice in the various uses of this specific type of magic. Other learned sources contend that the stable magic level affects blood magic in this unique way.

Records in the Throal libraries indicate that the use of blood magic was less common before the Scourge, but these pre-Scourge sources do not refer to a standard or common duration for blood magic.