EDRulebook: 11 Spell Magic

CASTING SPELLS

Magician characters who have the needed talents, have learned spells by creating and using a grimoire, and who successfully weave spell threads can cast spells. The process of spellcasting is straightforward, as shown below in the Spellcasting Sequence section, but it has the following limits.

LIMITS

Your character cannot cast every spell in this book. To cast a spell:

Your character must have learned the spell or else must cast it from a grimoire (see Casting from a Grimoire,).
To cast from a spell matrix, your character must have achieved a Circle of his Discipline at least equal to the Circle of the spell to be cast. Spells being cast from a grimoire or with raw magic can be of any Circle, including a Circle higher than your character’s current Discipline Circle.
Your character must have the appropriate Thread Weaving talent for the Discipline of the spell.
The spell should be in a spell matrix. The two ways to cast spells without a matrix, using raw magic or casting from a grimoire, carry higher risk to the caster and are not recommended. See Casting from a Grimoire, and Casting Raw Magic.

Concentration

Some spells require that the magician (or the spell target) concentrate in order to control the spell. If a magician concentrating on a spell tries to make any other tests for any other action while concentrating, he breaks his concentration. Injury to the magician also breaks his concentration. Once a magician has lost concentration on a spell, he may only regain use of the spell by re-casting it, including weaving any required spell threads.

SPELLCASTING SEQUENCE

The following summary outlines the steps necessary to cast a spell. More details on each step follow the summary.

When using standard spellcasting, or matrix casting, remember that the caster must place a spell in one of his or her spell matrices before he or she can cast the spell. Even though the mage knows the spell, he cannot cast it unless it is in a spell matrix. All types of spellcasting follow the procedure below:

Weave Threads Into Spell
Make Spellcasting Test
Check Success
Determine Spell Effect
Determine Duration

WEAVE THREADS INTO SPELL

If a spell requires spell threads, the magician weaves them using the appropriate Thread Weaving talent (i.e., Wizardry). A magician may use his Thread Weaving talent to weave more than one spell thread per round. To weave multiple threads, multiply the Difficulty for weaving one thread by the total number of threads to be woven.

If a magician achieves an Excellent success or better on the Thread Weaving Test, he or she may weave an additional thread to the spell in that round.

A magician cannot weave spell threads and cast a spell during the same round. Having woven the required threads, however, the magician must cast the spell during the next round.

Cymric’s companions are in a jam, and Cymric knows the perfect spell to get them out. The 3-thread spell has a Weaving Difficulty of 4, and so each spell thread also has a Weaving Difficulty of 4. Cymric recognizes the need for speed and decides to attempt to weave all 3 spell threads in one round, giving him a Weaving Difficulty of 12. To successfully weave all 3 threads, Cymric’s player must roll a 12 or higher in the Thread Weaving Test.
Remember that Cymric must weave all required spell threads before he can cast the spell, and must wait until the following round to cast the spell.

MAKE SPELLCASTING TEST

The magician uses his or her Spellcasting talent to cast a spell, making a Spellcasting Test against the Casting Difficulty of the spell. If the result is equal to or greater than the Spellcasting Difficulty, the magician has successfully cast the spell. Each spell’s description includes its Spellcasting Difficulty, beginning on p. 158. The Difficulty Number is often equal to the Spell Defense of the spell’s target.

Most living creatures have a Spell Defense based on their Perception Attribute Value, though some creatures are more resistant than others to magic. Dull-witted creatures and many inanimate objects have a Spell Defense of 2, the lowest natural Spell Defense.

In all cases, the lowest possible Spellcasting Difficulty is 2.

[Spellcasting]

Lowering Your Spell Defense

Even spells that benefit the target character must overcome that character’s Spell Defense. A character may take an action to voluntarily lower his Spell Defense, increasing the chances of receiving the spell’s benefit. The target character makes a Perception Test, then reduces his Spell Defense by the result of the test, down to a minimum of 2. When a character chooses to lower his Spell Defense, he forfeits his action for that round. This means that he may not use a talent that requires an action in the same round in which he voluntarily lowers his Spell Defense. This reduced Spell Defense must be used to defend against all spells cast on the character during that round.

Magicians casting spells on themselves automatically lower their Spell Defense against their own spells to 2. This occurs in the same round in which they cast their spell. The magician’s Spell Defense against spells cast by other characters is NOT reduced, but a character casting a spell against a magician who has voluntarily lowered his Spell Defense adds +2 steps to his Spellcasting Test step. This bonus is similar to the advantage an attacker receives for a Blindside Attack (see Situation Modifiers in Combat).

Line Of Sight/Astral Sense

Before a magician can cast a spell against a target, he must be able to see or astrally sense the target within range. Spells aren’t like rocks thrown blindly into the dark in hopes of a hit. Spells travel in an astral arc between the caster and the target, an arc the spellcaster creates only upon seeing or sensing the target. Without the correct arc from caster to target, the spell veers into astral space and has no effect against its intended target. It might also draw the attention of the denizens of astral space, including the Horrors.

Creatures whose primary sense is not sight may create this arc using their primary sense. In other cases, magicians may also violate this rule. For example, creating the astral arc is unimportant for the magician who is touching a target when casting a spell because the touch makes him certain of the target’s location. A magician could also place the center of an area effect spell at the edge of his outstretched fingertips.

CHECK SUCCESS

If the outcome of the Spellcasting Test is less than the Difficulty Number, the spell fails. If the Spellcasting Test dice result is equal to or greater than the Difficulty Number, the spell succeeds. The character must then determine the spell’s effect and duration.

A combat spell that does damage may have a high enough success level to qualify as an Armor-Defeating Hit, negating the advantages of physical or mystic armor (see Armor-Defeating Hits in Combat).

DETERMINE SPELL EFFECT

The effect of each spell is given in its description. The character makes an Effect Test using the Effect step listed in the spell description.

Some spells have a predetermined effect that occurs if the result of the Spellcasting Test is equal to or greater than the Spellcasting Difficulty. These spells do not require an Effect Test. Other spells’ effects are described in a form such as “Willforce + 5 steps,” for example. If one of these spells is successfully cast, the magician makes an Effect Test to determine the effect of the spell. The Effect Test steps of the spell are the character’s Willforce (or Willpower) step plus the indicated number (5 in the example above).

Combat spells, or spells that cause damage to targets, use their Effect Test as the Damage Test (see Make Damage Test in Combat).

DETERMINE DURATION

After determining the spell’s effect, the caster must determine its duration. Most combat spells have a duration of a single Combat Round; once the spell has affected the target, its duration ends. The description for most non-combat spells lists the spell duration as, for example, “7 + Rank” rounds, minutes, or some other time period. The word rank refers to the magician’s Spellcasting Talent Rank. The more competent a magician, the longer his spells will last.

Variable Duration

If a spell has a variable duration, the magician immediately rolls the dice indicated in the spell description to determine the spell’s duration.

SPELLCASTING METHODS

The general steps provided above apply to all methods of spellcasting—matrix casting, casting from a grimoire, and casting raw magic. Matrix casting, more commonly referred to as spellcasting, employs spell matrices and is the safest method. Magicians generally only use a grimoire when casting an unfamiliar spell. And because of the inherent danger in casting from raw magic, magicians generally resort to this method only in dire emergencies. Directions for using each method appear below.

SPELLCASTING (MATRIX CASTING)

A spell matrix is an astral construct linked to the intelligence of the magician, energized by the magical energies of the astral plane. Magicians in Earthdawn use spell matrices as a conduit through which they can transfer the energy of a spell from astral space into the physical world. Without a spell matrix, the energy must travel through the magician’s body, an action that could cause him severe damage (see Casting Raw Magic). As stated earlier, spellcasting with spell matrices is the most common and safest method of spellcasting used in the Earthdawn game.

Magicians are trained to design their matrices carefully in order to hide their magical activity from astral creatures. Though the corruption of astral space by the Horrors helps conceal the pure magical energy used to create spell matrices, when detected these constructs can usually be seen more clearly by astral creatures, namely the Horrors, than by the magician himself.

Magicians with the Spell Matrix talent can create spell matrices. Each Spell Matrix talent rank purchased represents one spell matrix. Spell matrices are ranked, just like any other talent. You purchase new ranks for spell matrices using Legend Points, at the same cost as for other talents of the same Circle. (See the Talent Rank Cost Table of Building Your Legend. See also Spell Matrix Types, below.)

To cast a spell from a spell matrix, the magician must place the pattern of the spell into the matrix. This process is called attuning a matrix. Simple spells, those that do not require threads, fit entirely into a spell matrix. Most spell matrices can only hold one spell.

Spell Matrix Types

Four types of Spell Matrix talents are Spell Matrix, Enhanced Matrix, Armored Matrix, and Share Matrix. This section explains how to use the first two types. The rules for using the Armored Matrix and the Share Matrix will be provided in future Earthdawn products.

The Spell Matrix is the standard matrix used by most magicians in Barsaive. An Enhanced Matrix can hold one of a spell’s required threads in addition to the spell pattern. An Armored Matrix holds the spell and one of the spell’s threads, and has its own mystic armor, allowing it to better withstand attacks that can damage a matrix. An Armored Matrix also has the highest Death Rating of all the matrices (see below). The Share Matrix can hold more than one spell at the same time. The sum of the Circles of the spells contained in a Share Matrix must be less than or equal to the Share Matrix rank.

The table below summarizes important game information for the different types of spell matrices. The Circle column indicates the Circle a magician must hold in order to purchase that type of matrix. Also use the Circle column to determine the Legend Point cost for increasing ranks in the different types of matrix talents (see the Talent Rank Cost Table in Building Your Legend).

MATRIX TABLE

Matrix Type	Death Rating	Holds Thread	Circle
Spell	10	No	1–4
Enhanced	15	Yes	5–8
Armored	25	Yes	9–12
Share	20	No	13–15

Attuning And Reattuning Matrices

A magician uses his Thread Weaving talent to place a spell in a matrix. This is called attuning the matrix. Once attuned, a spell will remain in the matrix until:

The owning spellcaster dies;
The owner reattunes the matrix to hold another spell; or
A magical process (for example, a spell effect) dislodges the spell from its matrix.

Placing or replacing a spell in a matrix is a simple matter for trained magicians, but it takes time. All magicians learn simple meditative exercises through which they place spells in their spell matrices. Each performance of the exercise takes ten minutes. Each exercise allows the magician to attune or reattune a number of matrix ranks equal to his Thread Weaving rank. For example, a Wizard with Rank 3 in Wizardry can attune or reattune 3 ranks of spell matrices with each meditative exercise. If a meditative exercise is interrupted, the exercise fails and the spells being attuned are not placed in the matrix.

Reattuning On The Fly

On occasion a magician may suddenly discover he does not have the spells he needs in his matrices, and can’t afford ten minutes of peaceful meditation to reattune them. A magician can hurry the reattuning process by reattuning on the fly. First, the character must make a Thread Weaving Test against the Reattunement Difficulty of the spell he is trying to put into the matrix (see Spell Descriptions). If the test succeeds, the new spell replaces the old. If the test fails, the magician has lost only time. Reattuning on the fly costs Strain; your character takes 1 Damage Point for each attempt.

Working with spell matrices is a delicate business and reattuning on the fly is risky. Once a magician begins to reattune a matrix, he should not take an action other than reattuning the matrix. If the magician chooses or is forced to take another action, all of his spell matrices are wiped clean. The new spell is not placed in the matrix, and all of his spells are dislodged from the rest of his matrices. The magician may not cast any spells (except by casting raw magic) until he has once again attuned his spells to a matrix.

A magician must declare which spell matrix he is trying to attune before making his Thread Weaving Test.

Magicians can attempt to reattune more than one spell matrix at the same time. To do this, the magician adds up the Reattuning Difficulty of all the spells he is trying to reattune to get the final Difficulty Number.

Jerreck, the elven Wizard, needs to reattune two of his spell matrices in the same round. The two spells he is trying to reattune are Dodge Boost and Ignite. Dodge Boost has a Reattuning Difficulty of 8, and Ignite has a Reattuning Difficulty of 11. Adding these together, Jerreck’s player needs to roll a 19 in his Thread Weaving Test to successfully reattune both spells.

Damaging A Spell Matrix

Spell matrices can be damaged. Magicians must keep track of Current Damage to their spell matrices, just as they keep track of damage to themselves. The Matrix Strike Talent, as well as some spells, allow an opponent to strike a character’s spell matrix. Damage from such strikes does not gradually make the matrix work less well; spell matrices either work or they do not work. As long as the Current Damage of the matrix is less than its Death Rating, the matrix works. Once the Current Damage equals or exceeds the Death Rating, the matrix no longer functions. A magician cannot cast a spell from a dead matrix.

A damaged spell matrix will recover on its own in 24 hours, as the magician’s Willpower slowly repairs the damage done. The magician can make a Recovery Test to repair a damaged spell matrix before the 24 hours are up. The result is the new, temporary Death Rating of the matrix. Once the 24 hours have passed, the matrix returns to its normal Death Rating.

CASTING FROM A GRIMOIRE

Magicians occasionally need or want to cast spells from a grimoire other than their own. A magician will use this spellcasting method whenever he finds a grimoire and needs to use one of its spells before he has had a chance to learn the spell by attempting a Read and Write Magic Test. A magician can cast any spell from a grimoire, including spells of a higher Circle than his current one. Casting from a grimoire is more difficult than normal spellcasting (or matrix casting), and is rarely used in Barsaive. However, even the difficulties inherent in casting from a grimoire rarely prevent a magician from doing so in a crisis. If the only Stop Horror Dead in its Tracks spell he has ever encountered happens to be in the ancient grimoire he just picked up in the dusty lorehouse of the abandoned kaer, and he’s facing the Horror to which it refers right now, he will cast the spell no matter what the risk.

Grimoires are similar to spell matrices, in that grimoires contain the spell patterns for all the spells written in them. In fact, the concept of the spell matrix was derived from the way grimoires store spells. Use the following specific steps to cast a spell from a grimoire.

1. Attune the Spell
The magician must first attune the spell he wishes to cast. When casting from a grimoire, attuning links the character to the spell pattern in the grimoire. Increase the listed Reattuning Difficulty by 2 when attuning a spell from a grimoire.

2. Weave Spell Threads
After he attunes the spell, the magician must weave any spell threads the spell requires. Reduce the magician’s Thread Weaving talent step by –2 steps when weaving spell threads to a spell cast from a grimoire.

3. Make Spellcasting Test
After weaving the necessary spell threads, the magician makes his Spellcasting Test as normal. Reduce the magician’s Spellcasting talent step by –2 steps when casting spells from a grimoire.

4. Effect and Duration The effect and duration of spells cast from a grimoire are the same as though the spell were cast from a spell matrix.

CASTING RAW MAGIC

The most infrequently used method of spellcasting is known as casting raw magic. Any time a character casts a spell not in a grimoire or spell matrix, he or she is using raw magic. Using this method, the magician taps directly into astral space to draw forth the magical energy for the spell, channeling it through his body. This almost always damages the magician, and can also have the harmful side effects described below. A magician can use raw magic to cast any spell he knows, that is, any spell he has successfully transferred to his grimoire with the Read and Write Magic talent.

To cast raw magic, the magician weaves spell threads and casts the spell as for any other spell. The gamemaster then consults the Raw Magic Table below to determine the consequences of his cast, if any. Spells cast with raw magic have the same effect and duration as spells cast using matrices. The only differences are the potential consequences to the magician represented by Warping, Damage, and Horror Mark Tests. The likelihood and seriousness of these side effects depends on the extent to which astral space has been corrupted by the Horrors.

[Casting Raw Magic]

Classifications of Astral Space

Because of the corrupted nature of astral space, magicians who cast spells that are not in spell matrices or grimoires are taking a considerable risk. Astral space suffered more than the physical plane during the Scourge. Much like what happened to the Badlands in Barsaive, astral space itself has been warped by the Horrors. Spell matrices were designed to protect magicians from the Horrors, and to serve as a filter between astral space and the magician’s body. Spell matrices shield the magician against the warping and corruption of Horror-affected astral space. Raw magic uses no shield, and leaves its caster vulnerable to evil influences.

The warped nature of astral space itself warps and energizes the spell as it is being created. The strength of this effect depends on how recently the area has been occupied by a Horror. The more recently a Horror occupied or touched that space, the worse the warping effect. The warped astral energy causes damage to a magician casting raw magic.

The four classifications of astral space distinguish the extent to which corrupted astral space may warp a spell, and the potential damage the magician may take. The classifications are Safe, Open, Tainted, and Corrupt. See also the Raw Magic Table for specific game information on each of the four classifications of astral space.

Safe: Safe regions of astral space are those areas the Horrors were unable to touch or corrupt. For example, because the entire city of Throal and the surrounding area was sealed off from the rest of the world during the Scourge, the astral space connected to Throal was not invaded by the Horrors and so remains pure. It is safe to cast raw magic in Throal.

Open: Open regions are those areas where Horrors passed through, but used little magic. In these places they caused little pain and suffering and left the countryside mostly intact; what they did destroy has been rebuilt since the end of the Scourge. Most of Barsaive fits into this classification.

Tainted: Tainted regions are those areas where the Horrors caused considerable destruction and pain. Though Horrors may no longer be active in the area, the region once suffered terribly under the Horrors’ influence. Some areas of the cities of Parlainth and Haven fall under this classification.

Corrupt: Corrupt regions are areas currently inhabited by a Horror. A Horror can affect a region varying in size from a few hundred yards to hundreds of square miles, depending on its power. The Badlands, the Wastes, and some areas of Parlainth are Corrupt.

Warping and Damage

Astral space has been twisted by the Horrors, and this twisting can affect spells cast with raw magic. After a magician successfully casts a spell using raw magic, the gamemaster must then determine any Warping and Damage Effects the caster may suffer. The gamemaster makes a Warping Test against the basic Spell Defense of the magician. Because Warping is an internal process, items, spells, and armor that normally increase the magician’s Spell Defense do not protect against Warping. The gamemaster uses the Warping step from the Raw Magic Table to make the Warping Test.

If the Warping Test is successful, the magician takes damage. The gamemaster then makes a Damage Test for the Warping using the step shown in the Raw Magic Table, below. This step is based on the classification of astral space for the area in which the caster used raw magic and the Circle of the spell he cast. Because this damage is also internal, only the character’s basic mystic armor helps defend against this damage.

Cymric wishes to cast a Circle 1 spell using raw magic. He casts the spell along the road to Throal, which he guesses is Open space. Unfortunately, he is wrong. The road he is on passes close to an undiscovered kaer, one that is Tainted. The Warping steps are Circle + 10, for Step 11 (1D10 + 1D8). Cymric’s basic Spell Defense is 9. The gamemaster makes a successful Warping Test, rolling 10. The twisting of astral space has warped Cymric’s spell, and so his use of raw magic damages him. The gamemaster then makes a Damage Test using Step 13 (1D12 + 1D10) and gets a result of 14. Cymric takes 14 points of damage.

Horror Mark

When a spell is cast using raw magic, the effect is the equivalent of firing a brilliant flare on a dark night. Such an act might attract the attention of someone or something from whom your character may prefer to remain hidden. During the first Scourge, powerful magicians doomed themselves by casting raw magic against the first signs of the Horrors. These men and women were not foolish, but they had no way of knowing the consequences of their actions. Spell matrices were developed only after the survivors saw (or heard) what became of these unfortunate magicians.

Anytime a character uses raw magic, the gamemaster makes a Horror Mark Test in addition to the tests for Warping and Damage against the basic Spell Defense of the caster. A successful result means a Horror has noticed the caster and marked him or her. The mark is usually visible only to Horrors, even in astral space, and has the same effect as any other use of the Horror Mark power (see Horror Mark of Creatures).

Horrors use their mark to locate the caster at any time. Many Horrors have ways of communicating with marked victims who are hundreds of miles away. Some can cast spells on their victims from a great distance. Below are some additional guidelines for using Horror marks.

•A Horror mark is a Horror’s personal gateway to a character. The Horror may use the gateway any time it wishes. Range may sometimes, though not often, restrict a Horror’s options.
A Horror mark lasts for a year and a day. No known way exists to remove a Horror mark. At the end of the first year and a day, the Horror may renew the Horror mark for another year and a day if it so wishes. This renewal may have range restrictions, but other than being out of range, a character cannot prevent a live Horror from renewing a Horror mark. Horrors have been known to quietly renew their Horror marks for years, without the victim being aware of the mark.
Magical protections, even those specifically geared to protect a character from Horrors and Horror magic, have no effect against Horror marks. A Horror-marked character has little defense against the Horror that marked him.

RAW MAGIC TABLE

Region Type	Warping Step	Damage Step	Horror Mark Step**
Safe	Circle*	Circle + 4	1
Open	Circle + 5	Circle + 8	Circle +2
Tainted	Circle + 10	Circle + 12	Circle + 5
Corrupt	Circle + 15	Circle + 16	Circle + 15
Circle refers to the Circle of the spell being cast with raw magic. *Horror Mark steps cannot exceed a Horror’s Spellcasting steps.