Enchantment
Overview
An enchantment is a persistent, beneficial magical effect, usually produced by a ritual, or less commonly by an Eternal.
Targeting
- Formulaic rituals that create enchantments must be cast on a target
- A target can only ever be under a single enchantment at once
Any given target may only be under a single enchantment. If a new enchantment is created on a target, it completely removes the earlier enchantment. Most rituals can only be cast on one type of target; this will be specified in the ritual description.
A ritual enchantment commonly targets:
- A character These are among the most common sorts of enchantments. Splendid Panoply of Knighthood and Fan the Flame of New Life are both enchantments that affect a character.
- A resource These rituals usually enhance a personal resource owned by a character who is present when the ritual is performed. Examples include Rampant Growth and Streams of Silver are both enchantments that affect a resource.
- A campaign resource These rituals usually enhance campaign resources like an army, which is controlled by a character present when the ritual is performed. Examples include Knights_of_Glory is an enchantment that affects a campaign resource.
- An item Very few rituals directly target items, Enchantments that target items are almost exclusively the preserve of the realm of Night, and are used to conceal information about an object or its bonds (such as Masque of the Blinded Weaver). The practice of giving magical properties to objects is largely the preserve of the artificer rather than the ritualist.
- A region, territory, or empire Some powerful rituals, such as Drawing the Penumbral Veil or Hallow of the Green World, target everything in a very large area. Such enchantments are usually indiscriminate - Hallow of the Green World targets every herb garden in the Empire regardless of who owns it.
It is possible for someone to benefit from multiple enchantments, even though they can only be targeted by one. For example, if Hallow of the Green World is cast then it targets the Empire - and the Empire can only be the target of one enchantment at once. But the effect benefits every herb garden in the Empire - a herb garden that is currently targeted by its own enchantment then it will gain the benefits of both enchantments.
Contagion
- Some enchantments can target a resource if the owner or controller is present
Most rituals require the target of the ritual to be present when the ritual is delivered. Some rituals make use of the magical law of contagion to affect a structure that is far away. This is most common with personal and campaign resources; the target for these rituals can be the character who owns or controls the resource. Although these rituals are expressly designed to target the resource through the character linked to it, the resulting enchantment is on the resource, not on the character.
For example, Bound by Common Cause affects an Imperial army. To cast it, the current general who controls the army must be present throughout the ritual. This ritual creates an enchantment on the army, the general acts as a conduit allowing the ritualists to enchant the army - they are not enchanted themselves.
Duration
- Encounter duration enchantments last until after the next major encounter
- Season duration enchantments last until the start of the next Empire event
The majority of enchantments are either 'encounter' - a duration that lasts for a single quest, skirmish or battle or 'season' - expiring at the start of the next Empire event that Profound Decisions runs.
- Encounter Rituals that last for an encounter expire after the end of the next quest, skirmish, or battle the character goes on. They automatically expire at the end of the current event if they have not been used beforehand. Occasionally a quest may not involve any combat and our team will specify that the quest has not expended the use of any encounter enchantments. If a ref informs you that a quest did not expend your encounter duration rituals, (and only if directly informed by a referee), then they were not expended, even if used during that quest.
- Season Rituals that last for a season expires immediately before the start of the next Empire event run by Profound Decisions. This means that the target could also be benefit at any sanctioned events that take place before the next event, if the event organizers allowed. Any season or encounter rituals that are cast at player events will end before the start of the next Profound Decisions Empire event.
It is possible to make an enchantment permanent through the use of ilium.
Identifying Enchantments
- Detect Magic can detect the presence, realm, and magnitude of an enchantment on a target
- More powerful divinations can reveal the nature of the enchantment
The detect magic incantation will tell the caster if a target is under an enchantment; the realm that enchantment comes from; and the magnitude of the enchantment. Further information requires deduction or the use of more powerful divination rituals.
Removing Enchantments
- A new enchantment replaces any existing enchantment
- A permanent enchantment cannot be replaced
The most recent enchantment is the only one that applies to a target. A magnitude 50 enchantment affecting a target is removed by a magnitude 2 enchantment that affects the same target. The only exception to this rule is that an enchantment that has been made permanent with ilium is not replaced by a new enchantment. The new enchantment fails, regardless of its magnitude.