Spellcasting

Overview

A magician is any character that purchases the magician skill. This skill gives the character the skill and power to cast some simple spells. Once a character has this prerequisite then there are a wide range of additional arcane skills and abilities that they can acquire. This section covers the rules for all such magical abilities in Empire.

Spellcasting

• You must expend personal mana or crystalized mana to cast a spell
• Every magician starts with four personal mana every day
• You cannot cast spells while wearing armour
• All spells require vocals clearly audible to everyone within a few metres

Any character that purchases the magician skill has four personal mana and is able to cast create bond, detect magic or operate portal. Each time a character purchases an extra spell they must choose one additional spell from the spell list.

Your character may also use crystalized mana to cast spells; a single crystal can be used to cast any single spell.

Your personal mana replenishes overnight.

All spell vocals require appropriate roleplaying which must include spell vocals in a clear voice audible to everyone within a few metres of you.

Implements

• Offensive spells can only be delivered using an implement
• Must be a safe phys-rep of a wand, rod or staff
• Should not look like a weapon

An implement is a magical tool that allows a magician to deliver an offensive spell. All offensive spells require an implement to be used. You cannot use an implement to cast a regular spell such as mend or heal.

All implements must be weapon safe phys-reps. They may appear to be made of any material, and should be decorated and shaped to make it as clear as possible that they are magical implements and not weapons.

Implements come in three broad classifications; wands, rods and staves. Any character with the magician skill can wield a wand or rod effectively, but the Battle Mage skill is needed to wield a staff.

A character can cause a point of damage with an implement, but they cannot be used with the heroic skills cleaving strike, shattering blow or mighty strikedown.

Although any magician may choose to use a wand or rod as an implement, some magical enchantments can only be placed on wands and some can only be placed on rods.

Wands

A wand is 8” to 18” long. Magical wands usually enhance healing incantations such as restore limb or utility incantations such as mend

Rods

A rod is 18” to 42” long. Wielded in one hand, a rod is popular with many magicians who take the battlefield because it can be combined with a shield or with another one-handed weapon (provided the magician possesses the skill to do so). Magical rods most commonly enhance battlefield incantations such as repel or swift heal.

Staff

A staff is 42” to 84” long. It must be wielded in two hands, but greatly extends the magicians reach for delivering implement incantations. Staves are popular with magicians of all backgrounds, but require the Battle Mage skill to use in battle. Magic staves may enhance battlefield incantation or grant benefits to ritual casters.

Mage Armour

• Must cover at least 3 locations including one of the chest, shoulders or waist
• Providers 2 extra hits only
• Does not protect against CLEAVE or IMPALE calls

Mage armour is a magical talisman that protects you against harm but allows you to cast spells. The talisman is made up of several pieces fitted to the wearer's body to protect them. The parts of the talisman superficially resemble pieces of armour, but armour that is ornate and ceremonial rather than practical. They are often decorated with runes, crystals, gems or other magical accoutrements and it is clear that the armour protects the wearer through magic rather than by physically deflecting blows.

Mage armour provides the wearer with two additional hits. Mage armour does not protect against CLEAVE or IMPALE. To qualify the talisman must include three of the following items including at least one of the first three items on the list:

• Pauldrons (shoulders)
• Pectorals (upper chest)
• Hero Belt (waist)

• Circlet (head)
• Vambraces (wrists)
• Gorget (neck)
• Greaves (lower legs)

The items must be substantial and cover a significant portion of the area but it is possible to use a single pauldron, greave or vambrace if appropriate for the costume.

Although mage armour is magical in nature, if you have purchased the Battle Mage skill then you are considered to have access to a suit of mage armour, in the same way a warrior has access to a suit of mundane armour.

Mage armour can be made out of any real world material, provided you try to make as clear as possible that your character is wearing magical protection and not mundane armour.

Rituals

Performing a Ritual

Rituals require several minutes of appropriate roleplaying.

It should be obvious to everyone nearby that you are performing a ritual. While it is possible to conceal precisely what your ritual is intended to achieve, it is against the spirit of ritual magic to intentionally perform a ritual that appears to have an opposite effect. For example, performing a ritual that looks as if it is intended to heal someone that is actually intended to destroy one of their magic items is inappropriate.

You cannot perform rituals while wearing armour.

Ritualists can contribute to a ritual performance by joining a coven.

Further Reading

• Overview
• Spellcasting
• Rituals
  • Formulaic Rituals
  • Spontaneous Magic
  • Battlefield Rituals
  • Enchantments
  • Curses
  • Ilium
  • Ritual Theory
• Magic Items
• Herbs & Potions
• Cosmology
  • Eternals
  • Realms
  • Regio