Magic Theory Specializations

Sorcerers have some advanced abilities that they can make use of with the magical theory skill if they specialize in them. These special abilities are listed below.

Spell Identification

Active Spells

Spells that have been cast can be identified by sorcerers by inspecting the magical afterimage of the spell. The afterimage is similar to the effect of looking into a flash bulb when it goes off and it fades rapidly with time. The afterimage starts with an intensity equal to the power in the spell. For each second after the spell is cast, this afterimage is reduced by 1 power. Each The table below shows the information discovered by this process. Successes are cumulative, for example, achieving 3 successes would reveal both the category and the meta-category of the spell.

Successes	Information
0	No information
1	The presence and quantity of magic is known ¹
2	The meta-category of a noun rune used is known
3	The category of a noun rune used is known
4	The verb rune used is known with 50% accuracy
5	The verb rune used is known with 95% accuracy
6	The Instance rune used is known with 50% accuracy
7	The Instance rune used is known with 95% accuracy
8	Identifying the type of magic used [2]
9	Identifying the school of magic used [3]
10	Identifying the fingerprint of the caster [4]

The Spell identification roll will gain a bonus die for each 10 power in the afterimage. After the afterimage has disappeared it is no longer possible to identify the spell. Use the following table for additional bonus and penalty dice to this roll:

Information about the Caster (pick the best one)	Bonus	Information about the Runes (pick all that apply)	Bonus
Well known Caster	+4	All Runes Known	+4
Well known school	+2	One Rune Known	+2
Known spell caster type	+1	+1

Dormant Magic Spells

Spells that have not been triggered yet, for example enchanted items are much harder to identify. Their magic is infused with the object and the threads of magic must be searched through. In addition, the more spells that have been tied together, the more complicated the attempt. Use the table above to determine what is discovered during any attempt to identify the magic. Each attempt takes one hour of time. Spells will be revealed from the last cast to the first cast. In other words, any trigger spell is revealed first. For every 10 minutes less than that the investigator gains a penalty die.

For example, Alared picks up Harris’ Fire ring and tries to figure out if it a beneficial ring or not.

Alared’s Magical Theory is 8. He takes an hour to investigate the ring. At the end of the hour he rolls 6 Ss. At this point he can determine one of the Verb runes and, with a 50% accuracy, the associated noun rune. After one hour, he is told that the trigger is a Sense “Alight” spell. He tries for a second hour and finds the Protect from Fire spell. Fortunately, this spell resonated with him and, with 9 Ss, can tell not only that it is Protect from Fire, but also that the caster was a Mage of the Greyhawk Magic Guild. He knows that there is a third spell and so he begins trying to understand the third spell, when he hears Harris looking for the ring that “must have fallen off his finger.” He only put in twenty minutes of discovery and so he has 4 penalty dice to his roll. He still gets 3 successes and, therefore, knows that this thirs spell has something to do with elements. Great! it’s of no real help to him, but he must move out.

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Later Alared starts to investigate again. It takes him four hours (he rolled 5 Ss, 5 Ss, 3 Ss, and 7 Ss), to find out that the other spell is a Create Fire spell and that he’ll be protected from the spell by the Protect from Fire spell cast on the inside of the Create Fire spell.

¹The investigator will be able to tell the initial power of the spell(s) and the quantity of spells.

²Each type of spell caster leaves distinct traces. An investigator would be able to differentiate a god, from a sorcerer, from a spirit, from a psychic casting the spell.

³Each school of magic, including psychics, priests, and spirits leaves a different signature. The investigator may not know the details of the school, but they would know that it is different. A Magic Theory (Magic Schools) or similar skill may have to be used to name the school.

⁴Like a fingerprint, magical workings are individually unique. Though the caster may not know who the magical fingerprint belongs to, they would understand it’s differences from another magical fingerprint.

Spell Masking

Sorcerers can cast spells that are subtle; they are either not visually obvious or are harder to determine what the spell is. In order to mask a spell, the caster must declare so prior to the casting of the spell. Each point of spell masking is added to the potential drain of the spell prior to the spell roll and will directly offset 1 success on a Spell Identification roll. Please note, that this ability does not impact Sense Magic or Weaken Masking spells.

For example, Alesius is creating a Weaken Strength ring as a Trojan horse for an enemy–Tiresius. He doesn’t want the man’s sorcerer to identify the spell readily. He therefore, decides, in addition to the 12 point spell that he will cast onto the ring, he will also add 8 points of spell masking. This results in a 20-point spell and will force Alesius into a spell ceremony to cast the spell. 5 hours later, he has his ring and is all but assured that the secret of the ring will not be easily discovered. When Tiresius is given the ring, he gives it to his hired mage to investigate. the man is excellent, but cannot find any trace of the spell on the ring even though he rolled 7 successes. The mage, however, is no slouch and after his hour of investigation is still suspicious. He hands the ring over to a professional auditor. The man takes the rings and casts a Sense Magic spell on it of some power. The auditor hands it back and tells the mage that there is a Weaken Strength spell on it with a trigger of Detect Tiresius on it.

Spell Protection

Sorcerers may armor spells by declaring so at spell casting time. Each point of spell protection gives the spell 1 resistance from opposing spells. For example, if Alesius decided against masking the spell, he may have decided to armor the spell and out the 8 points into spell protection. In this case, all can see the spell and determine easily. However, it will use a resistance of 8 against the Break Magic spell–making it harder to remove.

Spell Chaining

Spell allows a caster to perform magic that is beyond the typical boundaries of a typical spell. When chaining spells, the caster will perform one spell and then prior to that spell’s completion starts another spell and so on until all spells are completed. In this way several spells’ effects can happen at the same time. Often, when chaining spells, the overall effort is so great that a ceremony is needed. Typically, a spell caster can chain together a number of spells together equal to half their Magical Theory skill (rounded down).

Specialty	Description
Spell Casting	The spell casting specialization adds a bonus die to any spell that is cast.
Guild Signatures	A sorcerer can specialize in knowing different guild signatures. This specialty represents the specific study of magic schools and their signatures.
Spell Components	This specialty allows the caster to substitute alternative components for spells.
Componetless casting	Each level of this will offset the penalty for not having a specific type of component.