Magic
Magic is the physical manifestation of will. With the help of emotional energy, a magician can change the world. However, it is not easy to cast and requires a lot of training.
1. Sources of magic
The first step in any use of magic is access to a source of magical energy. But where does magical energy come from? Magical energy comes from emotions. This means that all living beings that can feel emotions generate magical energy when they feel emotions. The stronger the emotion, the stronger the energy.
Magical energy is very volatile and must be used up as soon as possible, because as soon as the emotions fade, the magical energy also disappears.
1.1. Own emotions
A character always has access to their own emotions as long as they are feeling emotions. A player must therefore describe which emotions their character is currently feeling in order to use them for magic. Then the game-master must decide how far he believes that description.
The exact strength of the emotion is not important at first. What is important is that emotions for the use of magic are present.
1.2. Foreign emotions
Magical energy cannot be transmitted through air, it needs a conductive medium. Magical energy can be transmitted through 2 media. Living tissue and through a yurei crystal (more on this later).
In order for a player to access the emotions of another player, there must be a conductive link between the two. For example, if 3 people in a row are touching each other, the first player has a conductive link to the last player, even if they are not directly touching each other. Mechanical limbs are not magically conductive (unless their metal is infused with yurei crystals).
In order for a player to access the emotions of another character (with whom they have contact), the other character must:
- agree to this
- the player must pass a Charisma-compete-check against the other character
If a character uses the emotions of others, they are also affected by the mental feedback, However, they only receive half of the resulting mental damage. That also means that they must make a check against their mental resistance and can therefore be infected with a Yurei. More details on this later.
Lydia, the group's mage, wants to cast a spell.
The group is in a dark cave and everyone is slightly frightened. Lydia can use this fear to cast her spell. She must pass an easy check according to the game-master to cast her spell.
She can also touch her companions to access their emotions. The spell is thus strengthened and does more damage to enemies, but she must pass a Medium check to succeed.
1.3. Amplification and amount of energy
Normally, it is not a question of how much energy a character has at their disposal, but only that they have access to emotions.
However, if a character has access to particularly many or particularly strong emotions, the game-master can give the character a bonus to their spell effect, but it also makes the check more difficult, as a character who interacts with many emotions has more difficulty to make rational decisions. If the check for the spell then fails, the spell can also get out of control. How much the emotions affect the character depends on their species.
Note here that opposite emotions negate each other, e.g.: Hate and love negate each other if they have contact with each other.
2. Working magic
Even though researchers have been trying to find out exactly how magic works for centuries, no one has yet succeeded in understanding the precise effects of magic. The way it works eludes the seeing eye. Magician must fall back on their intuition to be able to work magic, as it is only accessible to the subconscious.
This means that magicians have to train for many years to learn magic. At some point, they know how to work their magic, just as a person eventually understands intuitively how to walk or breathe.
Masters of magic will therefore not waste a moment of their training trying to understand magic, but will work on their ability to cast it.
The process of casting a spell is as follows:
- Describe spell
- Do a check
- Play out effects
- Mental feedback
2.1. Describe spell
Firstly, the player describes what kind of spell they want to cast. There is no fixed list of spells. A character needs a skill to be able to cast spells. This can be somewhat general and name only the type of magic, e.g. fire magic, shadow magic, light magic.
Which spells can then be cast with it is up to the interpretation of the players and the game-master. So if a player has the "fire magic" skill, they can use it to conjure a wall of fire, a fireball or anything else from fire, provided the game-master allows it.
2.2. Do a check
When casting a spell, the check must get more difficult, if the effect is
- more complex,
- larger or
- the area of effect is further away.
The effect of magic requires a check, as described in Checks. Magic is fuelled by the user's subconscious. A check for a mage is therefore usually a check for intuition or a combo-check that includes intuition.
If a player does not have a skill or the corresponding magical energy for a spell they want to cast, the game-master can refuse the action.
2.3. Playing effects
The effects are now played. If a player is hit another character, the damage is evaluated and applied as in hit evaluation
Players can also react to spells to ward them off, interrupt them, distract them, etc.
2.4. Mental feedback
When a player casts magic, they manipulate emotional energy, which affects the character's mind. After a player casts a spell, they lose mental health, depending on the difficulty of the spell.
| Difficulty | Damage Range |
|---|---|
| Easy | 0-3 |
| Medium | 4-8 |
| Hard | 9-12 |
| Very Hard | 13-infinity |
The exact amount is up to the game-master.
The player must then roll a check against their mental resistance (this is not necessary if the mental resistance is greater than 19). If the dice value is greater than the mental resistance, the following happens:
If the player has a Yurei inside them, it can exert control over the character and manipulate their mind. The Yurei also rises by one level. If the player does not have a Yurei inside them, they can now become infected with a Yurei. More information on exactly how this works can be found here.
Keep in mind, that there are species-specific rules on the pages of each species.
Lydia wants to shoot a fireball at a giant spider on the ceiling. This is a simple spell, but since she is accessing the emotions of her companions, the spell becomes a little more difficult. She must pass a medium intuition check, with a value of 20.
She has 7 in Intuition and a Fire Magic ability at 4.
She rolls an 8 and is unsuccessful. As she had access to many emotions, the spell gets out of control. The fireball splits open in flight and hits the cave ceiling in several places, which weakens the cave itself and causes parts of the ceiling to collapse.
Fortunately for her, the spider is crushed in the process, but the way back is now also blocked.
In addition, there is the magical feedback. As the spell required a medium check she herself loses 5 mental resistance. Her comrades, whose emotions she has accessed also lose 3 mental resistance.
Lydia herself and one of her comrades still have more than 20 mental resistance and do not have to roll the dice.
However, the warrior Lothar only has 17 and must roll a check.
He rolls an 18 and is infected with a Yurei. The Yurei is characterised by Lothar's fear and has an affinity for fire magic.
Next chapter: Items