EDRulebook: 11 Spell Magic

The was of the magician is both power and danger. A spell, like any other thing of power, is often a two-edged sword
-- Mestoph, Elven Nethermancer All Adepts use magic to power their talents. Many characters use their ability to wield magic to find, learn about, and use fantastic magical items and weapons. A few specialize in the use of arcane magics called spell magic. Characters that specialize in spell magic are known as magicians. These characters learn to create the patterns of spells and channel pure magical energy through those patterns to affect the physical world. This section describes the basic elements of spellcasting, gives the procedure for casting spells of all types, and warns characters of the dangers of certain ways of casting spells.

ABOUT SPELLCASTING

Characters can cast spells using one of three different methods. The three share similar elements, but each also differs slightly from the others. The first, and most common method is referred to simply as spellcasting. The safest way to cast spells, this method requires the use of spell matrices, and is sometimes called matrix casting.

The second method is called casting from a grimoire. As its name implies, this method enables a magician to cast spells directly from a grimoire, rather than using a spell matrix. A magician only casts spells from a grimoire belonging to someone else. By writing spells into his own grimoire he learns them, and so can cast them without reading them.

[Young Mestoph] The last method of spellcasting, casting raw magic, is also the most dangerous. Using this method, a magician draws energy directly from astral space and channels it through his body. Raw magic casting serves as a sort of last-resort method of casting spells. For example, say a magician has spell matrices available, but the spells attuned to the matrices (see Attuning and Reattuning Matrices) are not the ones he needs. If he also has no time to reattune his spells, even on the fly, he might risk casting raw magic just to get the job done or to survive. Casting raw magic can (and usually does) inflict physical damage on the magician. Because a magician casting raw magic has momentarily abandoned the teaching of his Discipline that allows him to draw pure magical energy into his spells, the polluted energy that flows from the astral plane as raw magic allows Horrors to locate magicians casting such spells and mark them (see Creatures and this section for information on Horror marks).

TALENTS FOR CASTING SPELLS

In order to cast spells, all magicians must use the Spellcasting and Thread Weaving talents. These talents allow magicians to shape the pattern of spells, power the spells, and cast them.

In order to cast spells safely and minimize the danger from the Horrors, a magician also needs the Spell Matrix talent. This talent gives a magician a conduit through which to transfer magical energy from astral space to the physical world. As a magician gains experience, he learns to channel more magical energy into his spells and uses the Willforce talent to increase the power of his spells.

The information below summarizes how to use these basic spellcasting talents. Full descriptions appear in Talents.

SPELLCASTING TALENT

Each of the four magician Disciplines—Elementalist, Illusionist, Nethermancer, and Wizard—have the Spellcasting talent available to them. This talent allows them to channel magical energies in the proper way to create a spell. Spellcasting steps are added to a character’s Perception step to make Spellcasting Tests, so a character created with a high Perception Attribute Value begins with an advantage as a magician. When casting a spell, the magician makes a Spellcasting Test against a Difficulty Number, also called the Spellcasting Difficulty. Most often this is the target’s Spell Defense, though in some cases another number is used. Each of the following spell descriptions lists a Spellcasting Difficulty. If the result of the Spellcasting Test is equal to or greater than the Difficulty Number, the spell succeeds when used.

In combat, Spellcasting Tests are considered Attack Tests. If the spellcaster achieves an Excellent success or better, that spell attack defeats the appropriate armor, physical or mystic, with an Armor-Defeating Hit (see Combat).

Many creatures also have the Spellcasting Talent among their listed abilities. When casting spells, creatures use the step number indicated under Spellcasting in the game statistics block included in each individual creature description (see Creatures).

THREAD WEAVING TALENT

Each magician Discipline has its own Thread Weaving talent. These are known, respectively, as Elementalism, Illusion, Nethermancy, and Wizardry. Thread Weaving talents allow magicians to weave spell threads into a spell’s pattern to strengthen the spell. A magician can also use Thread Weaving to place a spell pattern into a spell matrix, an astral construct that allows a magician to transfer the energy of a spell from astral space to the physical world. A magician may only cast spells from his own Discipline, and only if he has the Thread Weaving talent of his own Discipline. If he purchases the Thread Weaving talent from another Discipline, he can also cast spells from that Discipline.(See Learning New Disciplines of Building Your Legend .) Without the Thread Weaving talent, a magician cannot attune his spell to either a spell matrix or grimoire, and so cannot cast the spell (see Casting from a Grimoire).

SPELL MATRIX TALENT

The Spell Matrix talent allows a character to place a spell pattern in a spell matrix in order to cast it. In Earthdawn, magicians rarely cast spells without placing them in a spell matrix because the other methods of casting a spell, casting from a grimoire and casting raw magic, are often more dangerous and less reliable. For that reason, the following rules assume that magicians are using spell matrices when casting spells, though this section also provides guidelines for using the other methods.

The Spell Matrix Talent Rank represents the maximum Circle of spell the matrix can hold. For example, a Rank 3 Spell Matrix can hold up to a Circle 3 spell.

The Spell Matrices section below provides more details about the different types of matrices and how they are used in the game.

WILLFORCE TALENT

The Willforce talent determines and provides the energy for a spell’s effect. Characters do not have access to the Willforce talent until they reach at least Fourth Circle. Until a magician character purchases the Willforce talent, his or her spell effects will be based on his Willpower step. (The Willpower Attribute is the default Attribute for the Willforce talent. See Talents)

STARTING SPELLS

Magician characters begin the game knowing only a limited number of spells. Each beginning character has a number of Spell Points equal to his Perception step, with which he can purchase spells. For example, a character with a Perception Attribute Value of 9 has Perception Step 4, and so 4 Spell Points. In other words, he or she can learn 4 Spell Points’ worth of spells. A character with a Perception Attribute Value of 19 has Perception Step 7, and can learn 7 points’ worth of spells. Learning a Circle 1 spell costs 1 Spell Point, Circle 2 spells cost 2 points to learn, and so on.

A character may only select starting spells from those listed for his Discipline, though characters can choose spells that they cannot yet cast. As the character progresses through the Discipline Circles, he or she can begin to use the more powerful spells.

GRIMOIRES

Though your character may cast a spell from any grimoire without learning the spell, in order to learn a spell he must write the spell’s symbols and patterns into his or her own grimoire. The magical act of manipulating spell symbols on paper (or wood, metal, and so on) is necessary for the magician to lock the spell in his memory. Once a magician has successfully placed a spell in his grimoire, he has learned the spell. He need not use his grimoire to cast it.

Though a grimoire is often defined as a book of spells, implying a bundle of paper, grimoires can be written on almost any type of material. Grimoires come in many shapes and sizes. Some are thick tomes, with spells inscribed on the pages. Another might be a bag of coins with runes finely etched on the silver. Others might be sticks of bone. Some might be written on gems, and the spells appear only under moonlight. The shape of a grimoire is limited only by the knowledge and idiosyncrasies of its owner.

LEARNING NEW SPELLS

A magician must learn new spells from another magician or from a grimoire other than his own. He can learn spells of any Circle, even those higher than his Discipline Circle, though he may not be able to cast them. Once he finds a source of new spells, he can attempt to learn those spells. A magician can use the Read and Write Magic talent (see Talents) to learn most spells from a grimoire, reading the spell from the grimoire and then copying it into his own. To attempt to read or write a spell, the magician makes a Read and Write Magic Test. Consult the Spell Difficulty Table below for the Difficulty Number to learn the spell. If the result is equal to or higher than the Difficulty Number, the spellcaster has successfully read and written down the spell in his grimoire. The character may only use the Read and Write Magic talent once per day to learn spells, unless he sacrifices available Recovery Tests; for each Recovery Test sacrificed he may make one additional Read and Write Magic Test per day.

A magician can more easily learn a spell directly from another magician. The magician attempting to learn the spell first makes a Spellcasting Test against the spell’s Learning Difficulty. If the test is successful, the magician adds his teacher’s rank in the Thread Weaving Talent to the result of his Read and Write Magic Test. For example, a magician learning a spell from a teacher with Rank 4 Illusion adds +4 to his Read and Write Magic Test result, increasing the likelihood of successfully learning the spell.

SPELL DIFFICULTY TABLE

Spell Circle	Learning Difficulty
1	7
2	9
3	10
4	12
5	13
6	14
7	15
8	17
9	18
10	20
11	21
12	22
13	24
14	25
15	26

SPELL THREADS

Some spells are simple enough that a magician can put the entire spell pattern and all the energy needed to power it into a spell matrix. Other spells are too complex or require too much power to fit into a spell matrix. Before a magician can cast such spells, he must add magical energy to the spell in the form of threads. Threads used to power spells, as opposed to threads used to power magical items, are most often referred to as spell threads. The magician creates these spell threads from astral space, then weaves them into the spell pattern. The spell threads expand, strengthen, and define the spell, fully empowering it. A spell that requires spell threads is incomplete without all of its threads, and cannot be cast.

A magician weaves spell threads into his spell with his Thread Weaving talent. For the four standard magician types, these talents are Elementalism, Illusion, Nethermancy, and Wizardry. If a magician fails a Thread Weaving Test, the only harm the spellcaster suffers is wasted time; any spell threads already woven into the spell remain intact, as do those held by Enhanced matrices (see Spell Matrix Types). Once a magician starts to weave a spell’s threads, he must finish the spell or abandon it entirely. A magician cannot weave only some of the required threads for a spell. Once the weaving is complete, he must cast the spell during the next round (10 seconds of game time) of the game. If a magician begins to weave a spell and breaks off for a round or longer, or finishes weaving the spell threads and then fails to cast the spell in the next round, the spell threads woven are lost.