Spell Examples

To get a feel for the magic system and how a spell caster select Effort in spells, we will walk through four common examples:

  • Heal Human
  • Break Human [Magic Missile]
  • Project Arrow
  • Create Fire [fireball spell]

We will consider two spell casters: one a novice psychic and one an experienced sorcerer.

Attribute Pychic Sorcerer
Power Skill Will Magic Theory
Skill Level 4 8
Mana 6 8
Spell POW Effort x Will Effort x Magic Theory

Determing Effort

Determing the level of effort in a spell depends on a number of factors:

  1. The amount of potential drain allocated to Range and Radius
  2. Risk Tolerance for going to 0 or -Mana MF
  3. POW level required

Potential drain allocated to Range and Radius

This step is straightforward. The range to the center of the effect is looked up in the Spell Casting Table to determine the range and radius. Keep in mind that within the area of effect a caster can identify a number of specific targets equal to their Quickness.

POW Level Required

The caster may desire the maximum POW they can acheive or some lower value dependsing on the circumstances. Step 1 and 2 will determine the maximum level possible. To see if lower POW levels, the caster should consult the noun runes charts. Below we have a comparison of the four skills.

Please note that caster with higher levels of their power skill will result in higher spell POW levels than caster with lower levels. For example, if each caster above uses 4 effort: * The Pychic will cast a spell of 24 POW [4 Effort x 4 Will] * The sorcerer will cast a spell of 32 POW [4 Effort x 8 Magic Theory]

Risk Tolerance for going to 0 or -Mana MF

The results of casting a specc can be:

  1. No drain taken
  2. Drain taken, but no ill effect. Resultant MF is greater than or equal to 0.
  3. Drain take with ill effects. Resultant MF is less than 0.
  4. Death. Resultant MF is less than -Mana.

Since the caster is unaware of how much drain will actually be take, the caster needs to determine their tolerance for risk of results #3 and #4. For example, The Psychic can reasonably expect to roll 2-3 success.

1.Any spell with less than 3 spell points can expect to be in result band 1—no drain taken. 2. Any spell with less than 8 spell points can expect to be in result band 2. 3. Spells with between 8 and 13 spell points will likely result in result band 3. 4. Spells with more than 15 spell points will most likely result in death

Factoring into this decision is the current situation. When starting out a scenario, choosing option 4 it not likely. However, when fighting the Boss in a scenario, the caster may very well select option 3 or 4.

Spell Details

  • Heal Human heals 1 HP/POW, but is resisted by the recipient's CON
  • Break Human causes 1 HP/POW damage, but is resisted by the recipient's CON
  • Project Arrow: Arrows (~300 grams or 0.3 KG) typically fly at around 70 meters per second, thus flying at 21 KG-m/s
  • Create Fire creates fire with:
    • temperature equal to 20°/POW
    • 1 HP/5 POW/full minute [Much different than AD&D which allows instantaneous damage]
    • 1 point of pain/10 POW.For each missed success the character adds one penalty die to all rolls.
POW Heal / Break Project Fireball
10 Heals/Destroys 10 HP No effect 1 pain; 2 HP Dam/min
20 Heals/Destroys 20 HP No effect 2 pain; 4 HP Dam/min
25 Heals/Destroys 25 HP Fires 1 arrow 2 pain; 5 HP Dam/min
30 Heals/Destroys 30 HP Fires 2 arrows 3 pain; 6 HP Dam/min
35 Heals/Destroys 35 HP Fires 6 arrows 3 pain; 7 HP Dam/min
40 Heals/Destroys 40 HP Fires 12 arrows 4 pain; 8 HP Dam/min
50 Heals/Destroys 50 HP Fires 48 arrows 5 pain; 10 HP Dam/min
60 Heals/Destroys 60 HP Fires 195 arrows 6 pain; 12 HP Dam/min
70 Heals/Destroys 70 HP Fires 780 arrows 7 pain; 14 HP Dam/min
80 Heals/Destroys 80 HP Fires 1,560 arrows 8 pain; 16 HP Dam/min
90 Heals/Destroys 90 HP Fires 12,483 arrows 9 pain; 18 HP Dam/min
100 Heals/Destroys 100 HP Fires 49,932 arrows 10 pain; 20 HP Dam/min