Spell Casting & Learning

***For a list of all the spells in the model, go here.***

***For information on the Combat System, go here.***

***For information on the Stat System, go here.***

***For information on advanced casting techniques such as Enchanting, wandless magic and warding, go here.***

## Introduction

In Model Hogwarts, casting and learning spells work through a custom made Discord bot, **Phineas**. This guide will focus on how the casting and learning aspects of Phineas work, along with modifiers and destiny, both of which impact how likely it is that a cast will succeed, and its power.

To see everything Phineas is capable of, use the `!help` command.

## The Spellcasting System

Model Hogwarts spellcasting works similarly to *Dungeons & Dragons* and other tabletop RPGs. You roll a dice and add or subtract numbers representing various factors such as your character's age and how much they have learned this particular spell. The final result determines whether the cast succeeds or fails, and how powerful it is. All of this is automated by the bot, so you don't have to do any of the pesky math yourself or keep character sheets on hand!

Here are the terms you will need to know to understand spellcasting on Model Hogwarts.

* **Year Modifier:** The base number to which your dice roll and other modifiers are added. The Year Modifier increases as your character grows, reflecting their growing magical abilities and training. You receive +1 for every school year you finish, and the effect stacks leading to a maximum year modifier of +10 by the time your character is an adult.
* **Dice:** Just like a real life dice, the bot rolls a dice with a specified number of sides. In RPG terminology, this is often displayed as [number of dice]d[number of sides]. For example, rolling a regular 6-sided dice could be written as rolling a 1d6. A 1d6 could result in any number between 1 and 6, with an equal chance of each.
* **Dice Size:** The number of sides on the dice, and therefore the maximum roll you can get, not taking into account any additions or modifiers. Unlike real life dice which have a specified size (e.g. 6), in Model Hogwarts the dice size changes, increasing as your character grows just like the Year Modifier does.
* **Learn Point:** Points that you can use to learn a specific spell, permanently increasing your chance of casting it. This reflects spells your character is particularly skilled at, likes or uses frequently. More information is displayed in the Learning Spells section below.
* **Learn Modifier:** The number of learn points you have placed in a spell, which is added to the rest of your roll.
* **DC:** The difficulty of a spell, this can stand for Dice Check or Difficulty Check. To succeed in casting a spell, your total roll, including modifiers, must be equal to or more than the DC of that spell. First year spells tend to be in the range of DC 1 to 5, but very advanced spells can have a DC of up to 40. You can see all spells and their DC in the Model Hogwarts Spellbook and Recipebook (aka the Spell Sheet).

## Casting Spells

### Bot Commands

To cast a spell in Model Hogwarts, you use the command: `!cast spell name`. For example, `!cast wingardium leviosa` will attempt to cast the Levitation Charm, *Wingardium Leviosa*. The bot will roll a dice and do all the calculations for you, and tell you if the cast has succeeded or failed. `!cast` can be used anywhere in the model, but please refrain from spamming it anywhere but the #info-and-spam channels.

Before you cast, it is often helpful to check how many learn points you have put into a spell. To do this, use the command: `!info spell name`. You can also see a list of all spells you have learned by using: `!spellbook`.

### Destiny

If you really need to succeed in a spell, you can get an extra boost by adding **Destiny** to your cast. Destiny gives you extra points you can add to your dice rolls every day, and increase the results! However, you only have a limited amount per day: your destiny refreshes to the full amount at 9 am GMT every day. As a first year you start with 2 points; this number increases by 2 each year.

To use destiny on a spellcast, put the amount of destiny you would like to use after the spell name, i.e. `!cast spell name 2` if you are using 2 destiny on a spell. You are allowed to use your destiny in small amounts over multiple casts: you could use `!cast spell name 1` to only use 1 of your 2 points and save the other until later.

## Dice Chart

The following chart displays how your dice size, year modifier and destiny increase each year, making more advanced and powerful casts possible.

## Learning Spells

### What Spells Can I Learn?

You are given 3 learn points every 2 weeks, on alternate Fridays at 9 am GMT. You may use these on any spell you are eligible to learn. This means any spell that is both of the following:

* At your year level or below: for example, a Fifth Year cannot learn spells marked Sixth Year or above.
* Has no unlock requirement, or you have already satisfied it.
	+ Some spells mare marked as requiring having attended a specific class, such as Charms or Herbology, and you will need to wait until the spell is covered in class before being allowed to learn it. You do not have to RP attending the class to have the spell unlocked, and can see which spells have already been covered during the year by using the #spellbook channels in the Bots & Roles category.
	+ Other requirements may be specific to each spell. For example, Dark spells and some other extremely advanced spells require an application to learn.

You can check what year a spell is and whether it has an unlock requirement by doing `!info spell name`, or by searching for it in the spell sheet.

### How to Learn Spells

To learn a spell, you use the `!learn spell name` command, followed by the number of learn points you want to put in. For example, `!learn wingardium leviosa 2` will put 2 learn points in *Wingardium Leviosa*, hence increasing your Learn Modifier by 2. Your rolls when attempting to cast *Wingardium Leviosa* will therefore always be 2 points higher from now on. Learns are permanent - they never wear off!

You must roleplay every time you learn a spell. You can do this either in an existing roleplay scene (such as a class where you are learning a spell), or by writing a roleplay in the #learns-and-trains channel. Roleplays can be short, such as "<Character> practices the wand movement for the Levitation Charm", but you are encouraged to write longer and more interesting roleplays for your character's development! See the Learn RP Guidelines below for more information.

### Mastery and Proficiency

You may put as many learn points into a spell as you like and are able to, up to a maximum of **1 less than the DC**. Then, due to the fact that the dice roll will always be at least 1, you are guaranteed to succeed in casting the spell no matter what. This is called **mastering** the spell. Once you have mastered a spell, you cannot put in any more learn points. Some spells have a **Mastery Bonus**, which is a special effect or increase in power if you have mastered it.

Once you are in Second Year or above, you can guarantee you will cast a spell successfully while using less learn points, due to your Year Modifier. If you have a high enough Year Modifier and Learn Modifier combined to guarantee a cast, you are said to be **proficient** in the spell. Learning spells until you are proficient is a handy way to spread your learn points across more spells, compared to trying to master everything. Some spells have a **Proficiency Bonus**, too, but this is much less common than Mastery Bonuses.

## Planning Your Learning

Plenty of users on Model Hogwarts plan out which spells their character will learn in advance, to make best use of their learn points and create an interesting narrative using them. These plans are **optional** - you don't have to do it if you don't want to - and there are many different approaches to planning if you do choose to. However, they are a helpful way to map out your character's abilities and development. Here are some tips and tricks you may find useful for planning:

* Use Microsoft Excel or a Google spreadsheet to write up your plans. These are useful for visualising and doing calculations. When planning, have this open along with the spell sheet, which contains all of the spells and recipe books you can choose to learn.
* Start by deciding what fields of magic your character is best at (like Charms or Transfiguration), or what kinds of spells will help them most in the story or career you plan for them to have (like offensive spells/shields for Aurors, or sneaky spells if you plan for them to be a spy or criminal). The type of character you're starting as determines how much flexibility you have when choosing your pathway. As a rule of thumb, **if your character is starting out as a first year then you should choose three areas they are interested in; if they start as a fourth year then two interests; if an adult then only one.**
* When choosing spells, start from the bottom of the spell sheet which shows the very last spells that become available when your character is an adult. Work your way back towards childhood. If you choose a spell, take note of the spells in the **Linked Spells** column. These will often be related so may be worth learning too. If you need to find a particular spell, use the spreadsheet's Find or Search function; on PC this is usually done using Ctrl+F.
* If you want your character to be competitive when duelling, choose at least a couple of spells that are GradC, 26 DC and listed as requiring Combat Specialist, as well as all the spells listed in their **Linked Spells**. There are many of these, so choose what you think fits your character best. Try to get a mix of some spells with the "Dodgeable" attribute and others with the "Willpower" attribute.
* You will need to decide how many learn points to put in each spell. Keep in mind the Mastery and Proficiency section above. The maximum amount of learn points you can put in a spell is 1 less than its DC, but you can include less than this if you want; for example, you might only want to learn a spell enough to become proficient in it, saving other learns for other spells. It is recommended to master combat spells, and spells with Mastery Bonuses.
* Linked spells also help you to save learn points. For example, **Fly** shares 50% of points from **Hover**. This means that if you put 2 points in Hover, it will also count as 1 point towards Fly. Linked points add up then round down: for example, if a spell gets 3.9 points from one spell and 3.8 points from another, it gets 7.7 points in total which is rounded down to 7.
* Once you've made your character, you get 39 learn points per in-character year, including the year in progress. These must be used on spells at or below the year level you got them in. You can use fewer than 39 points in a year, but if so, you must use more points in earlier years to make up the difference.
* If your character started as a fourth year or as an adult, they are assumed to have been a NPC of lesser magical ability than player characters in prior years. They hence get a reduced amount of learn points for the years prior to you making them: 18 points for first year, and 17 points each for subsequent years (second and third for fourth year starters; second through to seventh for adult starters). When creating your character you will be asked to select a spell package, which allocates points to spells along a variety of different themes; see #fourth-year-information or #adult-information for details. Alternatively, you may choose a Custom spell package, allowing you to choose which spells to allocate these points to.
* It's better to have too many spells to choose from than too few. This will allow you flexibility with your character in case you change your mind later. You can also always go back and revise your plan if you want: it's your personal helper, not a strict regimen you'll be held to.

## Advanced Modifiers

Further to the modifiers already described, Model Hogwarts includes some advanced modifiers to cover very specific situations. First years are unlikely to need these, but as you grow more used to the casting system you may find them useful.

* **C modifier: (C)ombat:** Disables your year modifier, requiring you to rely on your dice and learn modifiers.
	+ C is primarily used in combat scenarios, which allow for students of different years to fight on more equal ground in both player versus environment and player vs player scenarios.
		- Check the Combat page for more information.
* **V modifier:** **Non-(V)erbal:** Lowers your dice size by 6 (e.g. 1d20 --> 1d14), and reduces your year modifier by half.
	+ V is used when casting non-verbally, and is restricted to students who have learned non-verbal magic.
		- Non-verbal magic unlocks in 6th year, but may be learned early in 5th year by purchasing with a |Journeyman token.
* **W modifier:** **(W)andless:** Lowers your dice size by 14 (e.g. 1d20 --> 1d6), and disables your year modifier.
	+ W is used when you're casting wandlessly.
		- Wandless magic unlocks in year 7, but may be unlocked in 6th year with a |Journeyman token.
* **Burden (Negative Modifiers):** You can have the bot subtract a specific number from your cast by adding a negative after it.
	+ This may be used in adventures to show injury, or difficulty with a specific spell.

The full command required to include advanced modifiers is `!cast spell name cvw`, followed by the destiny or burden. You only need to include the modifier you want to use, but may use more than one at the same time. For example, "c" applies only the combat modifier, while "vw" applies both the non-verbal and wandless modifiers.

Some examples of using bot commands with and without modifiers include:

* When attempting to light your wand to read at night: **!cast lumos**
* When attempting to body-bind a foe in a fight: **!cast petrificus totalus c**
* When using destiny to help you cast a harder spell in a fight: **!cast ventus c 2**
* When learning a spell: **!learn flipendo**
* When wounded and unable to cast effectively: **!cast incendio -5**
* An adult creating bluebell flames with a wave of their hand: **!cast algoignes vw**

## Learn RP Guidelines

Spell learns should be accompanied by some roleplay! Below is a list of guidelines and suggestions, accompanied by a few rules regarding the spell RP system. Please note that the vast majority of these are **guidelines** and can be tweaked to suit your tastes, they're not mandatory and mostly intended to be prompts on how to get the brain juices flowing!

* First learns should ideally be roleplayed in detail. These are recommended to be outside of #learns-and-trains, whether that be in a specific location, monologue or offscreen scene. These scenes should work to establish motive for learning this spell; this can be as simple as ‘for class’ to as complex as it being part of a character’s life long goal, Later learns can be done in #learns-and-trains, but some RP is still required, even if it’s basic.
* If you are learning in a RP scene but feel like doing bot commands there would break its flow, you may do !learn in #learns-and-trains, however you **must** link back to the channel with the RP by doing #channel-name.
* You can put multiple points in at once, so feel free to mix this up and base it on how much you feel they learned. You can put these points in any time, so take it at your own pace! Maybe one week they learn one points in Flipendo and the next week five in Diffindo, that’s up to you!
* Upper years and Professors may know more about spells than you; sometimes it can be a fun RP prompt to have them walk you through their own casting process and teach you a thing or two for a learn scene. This is especially the case for more difficult (higher DC) spells.
	+ Speaking of spells ‘difficulty’ we recommend starting off with lower difficult spells and building up to the higher one's, especially with lower years. This helps show a character’s growth at spellcasting. However, this is not enforced! Go with what you feel is true to your character.
* Learn modifiers don’t necessarily make you a master of that spell. Some spells require additional knowledge outside your characters ability to cast the spell. One such example is *Episkey* which requires an in-depth knowledge of the wound you’re trying to heal on top of your learn modifier.
* As learns aren’t strictly tied to rolls this gives you a variety of ways to approach the in character learning, some such examples include:
	+ Maybe your character is a big reader; rather than focusing on the practical elements of spellcasting they might study and study and study *before* they even begin to cast, allowing you to input your !learn prior to doing any spellcasting at all. This means when it comes time to cast, they’ll be ready. Likewise in classes you may do !learn during your teacher’s theory of said spells prior to the casting practicals.
	+ Perhaps your character learns through succeeding; prior to inputting your learns you can do a !cast and see if they successfully perform the spell. RPing this situation out you then either apply the learns or leave them for another time.
	+ Or perhaps your character learns equally well - or even better - from their mistakes. In this instance you can do the same !cast, but even on a failure add some learn points to the spell. Maybe they figure out their wand movement is sloppy, or they’re pronouncing the incantation wrong.
	+ If you feel like your character has an affinity for a specific spell (maybe they grew up with it, maybe they have some sort of mundane talent that helps them with the magical side of this spell, such as a tattoo artist understanding Imprimo). You may put points into this spell to start off with, prior to any study or practise. However, you, you must still write some form of RP for these learn points showing *why* your character has a natural gift here.
	+ Using the above methods, if you so wish you may place negative modifiers on your !cast by doing !cast Lumos -5 if you wish your character to have a particularly hard time with a specific spell.
	+ The flexibility of our spellbot allows you to tailor your learn narratives to fit *your* character, so don’t feel constrained by these suggestions even, developing the method in which your character’s learn can help create some extra flavourful RP that helps show off who they are as a person.

## Advanced Casting Techniques

Information about advanced casting techniques such as Enchanting and Warding is given on the following page:

**Advanced Casting Techniques**