Magic in MythCraft: Difference between revisions

There are five Sources of magic, each of which work a little bit differently. After providing basic rules for magic as a whole, this chapter details each Source of Magic, first by their lore, and then by the abilities you can learn with that Source of Magic.

These rules apply to each Source of Magic.

All spells refer to a “Spell Point Cost” (SPC) and “Spell Points” (SP).

You have a maximum amount of SP determined by the magic talents and class talents that you have taken. You regain all expended SP when you Take a Rest (see p. 332).

Some spells have the Conjuring tag. These spells must be cast over multiple rounds. “Conjuring 1” means that you must spend at least one full round conjuring the spell. Rounds are counted at the beginning of your turn, meaning that even if you move and then start conjuring a spell, at the start of your next turn you are considered to have spent 1 full round conjuring.

If you take [[damage]] while conjuring, make a d20 roll and add your Magic Attribute. If you roll lower than a 10, the spell fails. You do not expend any SP. Even if you had AP, you lose all AP until the start of your next turn.

Some spells will give you the option to make them more powerful by upcharging them. This involves spending additional AP and/or SP. This additional AP and/or SP must be spent when you initially cast the spell in order to upcharge it. If you upcharge a spell but the spell fails, you still lose the upcharged SP, even if the spell lets you retain the base amount of SP on a fail.

Many magical abilities require some combination of gestures, verbal components, and the ability to see your target.

'''Visual.''' If you cannot see your target or the area you’re trying to affect, you cannot cast magic with a visual requirement.

Sometimes, magic will specify that you need Line of Sight (LoS) or Line of Effect (LoE).

'''Line of Effect''' means that no physical barriers may stand between you and the target of your magic. This means that obscuring phenomena such as fog does not block your magic, but a pane of glass or a transparent force field would block your magic as it breaks LoE.

Some Spells and magical effects specify that they affect an area, such as a radius, cone, or line. To determine the Area of Effect (AOE) of a magical ability, you can use the following guidelines.

'''Radius.''' Every space on the battlemap that is within the radius of the magical effect and is at least half covered is affected.

A spell’s APC will specify if it can be cast reactively.

Cantrips, chants, and prayers are unique magical powers that you might learn. These powers cost 0 SP to cast and you can cast them as many times per day as you wish. When you reach certain power levels, the power of cantrips, chants, or prayers become stronger.

Rituals and invocations are magical abilities that take a significant amount of time to cast. Your specific Source of Magic will explain how often you can use rituals or invocations.

If you can use multiple sources of magic, then you choose one source to be your Primary Source. You can change this choice each time you level up, if you wish.

Jake wants to play a character that has both the [[Student]] of the [[Arcane]] and Initiate of the [[Occult]] talents. He chooses Arcane to be his Primary Source, meaning that INT is his magic attribute. If his INT

The “functions” of magic refer to nine tags that spells and other magical effects will have. These tags are as follows.

Every magical ability has one function. If an ability refers to a magical function or a function tag (e.g., “spells with the Enchanting tag”), they refer to these nine functions.

The five Sources of Magic are inseparably linked. When This multiverse was created, the six creator gods used the Fundamental Wellspring to create matter, energy, and spirit.

The Fundamental Wellspring is as essential to the workings of the multiverse - and as esoteric and difficult to explain - as gravity or wind. One can feel gravity’s effects, or see the rustling leaves when wind blows, but actually explaining what wind or gravity is can prove difficult for one who is not specifically learned in such matters. The Fundamental Wellspring is much the same. It is a spark of absolute energy, of tremendous power and splendor, and of spirit and consciousness. It radiated outward through the multiverse in its inception. This Fundamental Wellspring causes matter and energy to interact in strange, unpredictable ways; in short, the Fundamental Wellspring allows magic to exist in all its forms.

Essence is the stuff of souls, the mental and spiritual

of the being’s life, their experiences and decisions might generate more Essence - the more change they instigate in the world, the greater the amount of Essence they create - so that when a creature dies, their soul departs greater than the sum of its original parts. The Essence of the deceased returns to the Celestial Sea and remains intact for some time - weeks, months, or even a couple years - before it begins to deteriorate, swirling through the endless expanse until it is drawn into a new living organism.

The Arcane Source is the physical energy produced by Fundamental Wellspring itself. Casters that use arcane magic tap into the Fundamental Wellspring, using its mind-melting power to bend the world in accordance with their whims.