Magic

What is magic? The traditional answer is that magic is connection.  A mage is a person who has an attunement to one particular aspect of the world around them: they perceive that aspect more clearly and directly than other people and over time they can learn to control it.  The aspect can be something elemental like air or heat, something connected to living beings like life or thought, or an abstract concept such as chance or time.

The type of magic a mage is connected to is based on their inner nature – their personality, character, and soul.  You could say that someone’s magic is an expression of their inner self, but it’s just as true to say that someone’s magic *is* their inner self – certainly mages can’t survive without their magic and in the rare cases where it’s separated from them they don’t live long.  The mage’s nature determines the kind of magic they can use, not vice versa – there’s no way to use fire magic without having the personality of a fire mage.  This doesn’t mean that mages of a certain type are all the same, but the type of magic that someone can use always reflects a profound truth about the kind of person they are.

**Resisting magic:** While magic is incredibly powerful, some effects allow for a character to resist its effects. This action is known as Spell resistance. Only mages, adepts, magical creatures and some constructs can undertake this action. To roll a Spell resistance roll, a character must roll one of his attributes at a DC of 10 + the assaulting mages power or control depending on which is primary for the spell. A success means the spell has been successfully resisted. Sometimes though, a spell doesn't allow for a resistance roll, rather the assaulting mage needs to beat a characters attribute + 8. In this instance the mage would roll either power or control, depending on which is the primary discipline for the spell. Say a charm mage wants to read the emotions of an adept, the adept has a wisdom of +2, the charm mage would roll 1d10+control (Which is is primary discipline for Read emotions).

**Mastery**: This determines a mages general ability to wield magic, this score directly reflects the number of dice rolled for damage, the duration of a spell, number of different bonuses a spell can affect as well as being added to your casting roll. If a spell references "spell level" or "level of the spell" it is referring to Mastery score.

**Power** 1st: At this level of power, the mage is getting acquainted with the awesome power to come, a fire mage could conjure a small flame, light candles, while a water mage might conjure a bit of a puddle. Diviners would be able to see the scarcest bits of futures, and without a good measure of control likely suffer some form of headache. At this level of power, damage is usually at 1d4 lethal damage or 1d6 nonlethal, ranges are self or 3 feet, duration is 1 round and ability bonuses cap out at a flat +2.

2nd: At this level the mage is slowly realizing his actual power. Fire mages begin being able to manipulate temperature at a distance, throwing small balls of flame, air mages can buffet people around, a life mage can now begin manipulating their own systems to achieve small changes. At this level of power, damage is usually at 1d6 lethal damage or 1d8 nonlethal, range 10 feet, duration is 3 rounds and ability bonuses cap out at a flat +4.

3rd: Mages with this level of power are often considered dangerous. Earth mages manage to enhance themselves, shapeshifters begin to alter entire sections of their body, time mages can actually affect localized streams of time. At this level of power, damage is usually at 1d6 lethal damage or 1d10 nonlethal, range 100 feet, durations 5 rounds and ability bonuses cap out at a flat +5.

4th: This is approximately the power of a senior mage, fire mages’ fire burns metal to slag. Death mages can knock a man unconscious with but a hit and air mages can cause localized implosions. At this level of power, damage is usually at 1d8 lethal damage or 1d10 nonlethal or 1d6 critical damage, range 200 yards, duration is 10 rounds and ability bonuses cap out at a flat +6.

5th: At this level of power, damage is usually at 1d10 lethal damage or 1d12 nonlethal or 1d8 critical damage, range 500 yards, duration is 20 rounds and ability bonuses cap out at a flat +8.

**Control** 1st: The mage can now manipulate his magic in subtle ways, a fire mage could light candles instead of blasting them to smithereens. At this level, an elementalist could coat his hands in his element, moreover all mages gain their unique senses. Life sight for a life mage, aerokinetic sight for the air mage and so on. A diviner can now filter between all the possible futures. All elemental mages, can with Control 1, conjure a small orb of light should they learn the spell to.

2nd: Now a mage could opt to spread his power, 15ft cones, small 10ft explosions. He can now transfer his immunity to his own power to his clothes. A diviner can now opt to check not just his own future, but that of one nearby creature. At this level most also begin forming shields.

3rd: Elementalists could now spread their power to 30ft cones, 20ft explosions or similar bursts. A life mage can now heal other humans, a diviner could see the immediate future of up to three people in total excluding himself. A mage could decide to focus on one part of his spell, prioritizing damage over duration, or duration over damage and so on. Now the more destructive kinds of magic can opt to deal nonlethal damage, while the less lethal ones can become lethal.

4th: With greater control comes better fine manipulation. An elementalist could now exclude others from his spells, a shapeshifter could pack his mass tighter so as to assume the shame of a creature up to 20% smaller than him. Time mages could now manipulate the flow of time for other individuals.

5th: At this level of control, most feasible manipulations of one’s magic type is possible. A fire mage having mastered control could rapidly raise localized temperature, opting to damage just a few choice individuals and not the spaces in between. A Diviner could now pathwalk without being disturbed by the presence of others nearby.

**General** 1st: At this level a mage gains their first rank of magesight. The mage can employ lesser wards, with very broad triggers and minute effects. (A gate would couldn’t prevent gating, by maybe alert the caster to someone gating in)

2nd: A mage could gate for a distance of about 5 miles, general spells can produce minute effects. (A general spell could for instance be lighting all the candles in the room.)

3rd: The mage could gate up to 50 miles. Wards can now be more general and wide. (Wards against fire, it wouldn’t stop a fire mage but ordinary fire would do no damage. A ward could also simply prevent gating into an area all together.) Gates can now cross the boundaries of realms.

4th: Wards are now incredibly specific and powerful. (You could create anti-divination wards, while they wouldn’t fully thwart a diviner, they would limit his foresight.) Harvesting is now possible, though not without risk. A mage could now grow a shadow realm.

5th: A mage could now gate from country to country, wards could be layered and thus hidden within each other. General magic spells now have more power. (Attack spells of simple nature, weaker shields.) A ward could now have gruesome consequences (Killing anyone gating in or out of a place),

**Magesight**
Effect

*This is the first power often*
discovered by anyone in the magical community, their ability to perceive and
sense magic. This isn’t as much a spell as it’s an innate ability, honed with
training it can be a truly impressive fond of information. A mage with General 1 gains access to the Novice grade of this ability, after that they must pay 4 points of experience, times the level not counting Novice. So 4 for Novice, 8 for journeyman and 12 for master.

Novice: The caster is capable of perceiving magic,
this level is always active and requires no activation. This simply allows the
user to perceive magic within a vicinity of 10 yards per point of mastery.

Initiate: With concentration a mage can identify what
kind of magic is being used within range, as such he can slowly hope to
identify spells as he sees/feels them being cast. He can also identify the
top-most wards in a layer of wards, or identify ongoing spells. Furthermore the
mage can identify the purpose of foci or imbued items, given time to study
them.

Journeyman: A journeyman is automatically capable to
tell the type of magic being used close by, without having to activate the
spell. Further more he can now see all wards in a given area, so long as he
spends the time to study them. The exact time is determined by the Storyteller,
which he must determine by the complexity or secrecy of the ward.

Master: At master level, mages sight automatically
identifies any ongoing spell within range, insofar the user has encountered and
successfully identified this spell before. Upon activation, master level allows
the mage to perceive exactly the number of wards, their magic type and their
general function with a cursory glance. With time, he can identify any wards
purpose and trigger. (Though not the command word, of such a trigger.)