Spellcasting
is based on 2ed, but there are significant changes. MR is retained but only as a
limit to what spells you can cast. Actual spellcasting is based on skills,
using standard skill tests to check for success.
Types of Magic
Magic is
either arcane (including hedge magic) or divine.
All spells
are ultimately powered by Chaos, but arcane and divine magic is treated
differently regarding fumbles: Arcane casters suffer the Curse of Tzeentch, while
divine casters the Wrath of God (see below).
The latter
is usually less severe, although there are instances where your god could take
away all your spellcasting abilities, so it’s no joke. Priests typically have lower
MRs than wizards (but better profiles overall), so it balances out.
Winds of Magic
Every spell
cast draws upon one (or sometimes more for complex spells) of the 8 winds of
magic. Which color (s) usually isn’t important. Petty magic, for example, draws
a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Color magic draws almost
exclusively from one color, but again, this isn’t terribly important.
Magic Rating
To cast a
spell, you must have at least MR 1.
MR 0 characters: Initiates start with MR 0, meaning
they cannot actually cast any spells until they’ve purchased a single advance
in MR (can oc be purchased with starting XP).
Each spell
has a minimum (from 1 to 5—or more for some ritual magic) Magic Rating (MR)
required to cast it (see spell descriptions).
Spellcasting
careers allow characters to purchase Magic Rating as talents:
·
MR
1: 0 XP (Apprentice Wizard, Hedge Wizard), 100 XP (Initiate)
·
MR
2: 200 XP (Apprentice Wizard, Hedge Wizard, Priest)
·
MR
3: 300 XP (Wizard, Anointed Priest)
·
MR
4: 400 XP (Master Wizard, High Priest)
·
MR
5: 500 XP (Wizard Lord)
Boosting MR
The listed
MR is the minimum effective MR, not your base MR. You can't cast the
spell if you don’t have a high enough effective MR.
MR can be
boosted by 1 using up to TWO of these techniques (beyond 2, there is no benefit):
·
Artifacts
·
Intervention
(Divine or daemonic)
·
Ley
lines
·
Overchanneling
·
Sacrifices
·
Warpstone
It’s harder
to cast spells you’re not qualified for using barely controllable energies: Increase
the difficulty level of the spell test by 1 and increase the severity of any
Curse/Wrath effect by a number of steps equal to the effective MR used to cast
the spell.
High MR:
Many spells scale
with MR, so boosting your MR beyond what the spell requires can be a good idea.
If you’re willing to pay the price and live with the risks.
Artifacts
Certain
rare artifacts, such as a potent holy symbol, archdruid’s staff, or ring of
power, can boost MR.
The most
“common” type is probably the high regalia of the Masters of the Colleges of
Magic. Each set provides +1MR to one particular color lore.
Drawbacks: Some artifacts allow you to choose
NOT to use the bonus for lesser magic, which reduces difficulty and risk.
Others require you to ALWAYS use the bonus.
Wigmar: The Crook and Flail, when held,
provide +1 MR to spells of Flail and Light, respectively.
Intervention
A god (or
daemon) grants you extra power. All you must do is gain the favor of said
entity and draw its attention to you when you’re casting the spell.
Drawbacks: Most entities will want worship and
sacrifices in return. Withhold it at your peril. It’s also hard to call a God
and request an intervention (Daemons are more accessible, but this gives you
CP).
Ley lines
Requires
you to locate a ley line or ley nexus, stand on/near it, figure out how to tap
into its energies, and use a type or color of magic appropriate to that ley
line/nexus.
Drawbacks:
Takes preparation,
is localized, and only some magic is affected.
Overchanneling
You draw
heavily upon the Winds of Magic, drawing in far more power than you need—and
can control. This is by far the most common way of boosting MR, but it is not
without risk.
Drawbacks: Double the casting time of your
spell (Half action becomes Full action, obviously). You suffer 1 Fatigued
condition (which can only be removed by a Long rest) and suffer Wounds equal to
the effective MR (cannot be healed using any form of magic).
Sacrifices
You
sacrifice blood and souls in an amount relative to the power of the spell being
cast. This technique is used mainly for ritual magic since dragging around a
bunch of people to use as sacrifices is kind of impractical. That said, there
are ways (known to dark sorcerers and their ilk) to make the sacrifices in
advance).
Drawbacks: Murder (and kidnapping) is usually illegal—and
morally reprehensible (you’ll also get some CP).
Warpstone
Either consume
warpstone dust—or wave around a bigger chunk. At any rate, a volume of
warpstone is used up depending on the MR of the spell being cast—and then you
gain CP = MR. Unless you have an exceptionally high tolerance for mutation,
this is a very short-sighted way to boost your spells. Even Skaven can’t go
bonkers with it.
Drawbacks: You gain a LOT of CP. Even Chaos
sorcerers use it only sparingly (unless they are going straight for the Chaos
Spawn career).
Arcane Languages
Spellcasting
is usually done using an arcane language; you must typically chant
something incomprehensible in this language for the duration of the spell’s
casting.
Instead
of all casters using Arcane Language (Magic), pick one that fits your character
when you first learn it.
Magick: The most common arcane language is magick,
the language created by Teclis for humans. This language is a bastardized form
of Classical mixed with elvish. It is used almost exclusively by College-trained
wizards (who often—and erroneously—assume everyone else must be doing the same).
Other arcane
languages: Elven
mages use a variant of elvish, the sorcerer-priests of Ankh use the old form of
Nehekharan, while chaos cultists resort to this or that dark tongue.
Divine
magic: Priests
often use a form of Classical, heavily laden with religious meanings and
parables, missed in with the chanting of hymns, to cast their spells. This is
by no means universal; a priest of Ulric could favor an old Teutogen dialect,
for example.
Petty magic: Can be cast with or without a
proper arcane language. Hedge wizards and witches may have entirely mage-up
languages effectively used only by themselves. If such characters later learn
proper magic, they must adopt an arcane language.
Casting a spell
To cast a
spell, spend the requisite number of actions and select a legal target with
range. Then, make a magic test using the appropriate channeling
skill.
·
Very
Easy +40: Do you really need to make a Test?
·
Easy +20
·
Simple
+10: MR 1 average difficulty
·
Average
+0: MR 2 average difficulty
·
Challenging
-10: MR 3 average difficulty
·
Difficult
-20: MR 4 average difficulty
·
Hard -40:
MR 5 average difficulty
·
Very
Hard -60
·
Impossible
-100 (or more): Just don’t
The magic test
(and the MR requirement) is instead of rolling a bunch of d10s and
tallying together!!!
Channeling Skills
Each Lore and
type of Petty Magic (Arcane, Divine, and Hedge) is a separate
Channelling skill that must be bought with XP as any other skill.
Skill
advances: If a
career lists Channelling as a skill, you can purchase it once for each
Channelling skill you have.
Example: A wizard could learn his first Lore
as an apprentice (+0), and when he’s a Wizard Lord, it’ll max out at +30. But
if he picks up a new lore as a Wizard lord, he can never advance that Lore beyond
+0 (not without switching careers, anyway).
Example:
Wigmar’s first Lore can go up to +30, the second to +20, the third to +10, and
the fourth to +0. If he later switches to Wizard, he could advance those skills
further.
Lesser
Magic: These spells
are cast using a Petty Magic skill of your choice.
Spell Ingredients
Spellcasting
invariably involves using an arcane language (already described) and making
some gestures. In addition, a spellcaster MAY utilize special physical
ingredients to gain a bonus on the spell test.
Each spell
has components (if any) listed. More powerful spells typically have more exotic
ingredients that give bigger bonuses. The casting consumes ingredients marked
with an asterisk (most ingredients are reusable).
Note: The ingredient rule applies to any
and all spellcasters, be they priests, wizards, witches, Chaos sorcerers, or
whatever.
Curse of Tzeentch (Arcane/Hedge)
The Curse
of Tzeentch applies to all arcane spells, including hedge and color magic.
Doubles:
When rolling a
double on the spell test (11, 22, etc.), the caster suffers 1 Fatigued
condition (can be removed as normal with a Short rest).
Botch: If the spell fails AND there is a
double, you get the fatigue AND must roll on the appropriate Chaos
Manifestation Table:
·
MR
1: Minor
·
MR
2: Major
·
MR
3: Catastrophic
·
MR
4: Catastrophic +10
·
MR
5: Catastrophic +20
·
Etc.
Since
high-MR spells typically are more difficult to cast, the risk of failure/curse
is much higher.
Color
magic: Users of color
magic have a reduced chance of incurring the Curse; this is a big part of why
the elves taught men to use magic this way.
Reduce the
severity of the mishap by 1 step if using Color magic. If reduced below minor,
nothing happens.
Magic
focus: Using a
specially prepared magic focus, such as a Wizard’s staff, is another way of
reducing the risk of the Curse.
Reduce the
severity of the mishap by 1 step. If reduced below minor, nothing happens.
Wrath of God (Divine)
Divine
spellcasters do not incur the Curse but may end up angering their God instead.
Fatigue: As the Curse.
Botch: Using the following rules instead.
·
MR
1: Wrath
·
MR
2: Wrath +10
·
MR
3: Wrath +20
·
MR
4: Wrath +30
·
MR
5: Wrath +40
·
Etc.
Divine grace:
If casting the
spell would further the cause of your God or help one or more of his followers
in some significant, reduce the severity by 1 step. If reduced below simple
Wrath, nothing happens.
Conversely,
if the spellcaster is using magic for his own gain or for frivolous reasons,
the GM might increase the severity by +10 or more!
Divine
vestments: If you
cast your divine spells openly displaying your holy sympols and vocally calling
upoin the favor of your God, reduce the severity by 1 step. If reduced below
simple Wrath, nothing happens.
Conversely,
if you’re trying to using divine magic but is unwilling to do som openly,
regardless of circumstance, your God might take offense and the GM is free to
increase the severity by +10 or more.
Learning spells
Here
follows rules for learning spells.
Petty magic
Any career
that grants MR will give access to MR number of spells (so when your MR
increases, so does the number of Petty spells you know) of the associated
category:
·
Arcane: College-trained
wizards and the like.
·
Divine:
Ppriests and other servants of the gods.
·
Hedge: Hedge
wizards, witches, and the like.
Additional
Petty spells can be purchased for 100XP each.
Lesser Magic
These are
individual spells that can be learned by any spellcaster, regardless of type,
but each spell must be learned (100XP times the spell’s MR rating) separately.
Lore magic
Wizard
careers (real wizards, not hedge wizards) give access to 1 Lore starting at MR
1.
Base
spells: For each
lore you know, you automatically learn 2 spells of your choice for each MR you
have.
Note: This allows the GM to add more
interesting spells without resorting to other limitations, such as creating
sub-lists like those found in Realms for Sorcery.
Extra
spells: Extra
spells can be learned, costing 100XP times the spell’s MR rating.
Additional
Lores: Wizards can
learn 1 additional lore for each point of MR beyond 1, so a MR 3 Master Wizard could
know 3 lores. These could be lores of any kind, including dark lores.
Not
everyone opts to branch out; many stick to their main lore and pour all their
energy into mastering it. Truth be told, this is probably the quick path to
more power, but knowing more lores provides additional flexibility.
Priests CAN
learn additional lores in the same manner, provided their God has multiple
lores (Ulric has two lores, for example).
Learning
additional lores have an XP cost:
·
2nd
lore: 200 XP
·
3rd
lore: 300 XP
·
4th
lore: 400 XP
·
Etc.
You get
base spells for the new lore for free.
The most
common lores are the eight lores of Color Magic taught to Empire wizards and
the divine lores:
·
Color: The 8
disciplines taught to Empire wizards.
·
Divine: The
various divine blessings wielded by the priests of each god (Chaos gods grant
Chaos lores instead, see below).
Other lores
include (but are not limited to):
·
Damsel: The
magic wielded by the Damsels of the Lady of the Lake.
·
Elemental:
The magic wielded by the druids of the Old Faith. Very rare.
·
Illusion:
Some overlap with the Lore of Shadow, but this is an older form of magic not
taught in Altdorf.
Dark Lores
Dark lores
work the same as other lores. Learn/use only if you crave corruption and like
meeting witch-hunters:
·
Daemonology:
Summoning and controlling daemons of Chaos. Dark stuff.
·
Necromancy:
Creating and controlling the undead (some overlap with Amethyst, but not evil).
·
Chaos: Each
Chaos god (except Khorne) has one (or more) lores they can grant to their
followers.
High Magic
High magic
is available only to elven wizards (or so they say). Its basic form is
indistinguishable from color magic, but advanced users can “mix” colors to
create unique spells. High Magic isn’t inherently more powerful. It just seems
that way when you meet a 500-year-old elf wizard who’s mastered every color and
casts a bunch of spells you’ve never even heard of.
Wigmar’s Magic
Wigmar uses
the Old Magic of Nehekhara, which has more in common with Color Magic than
other Divine lores, but follows all the rules for divine magic, not arcane.
As long as
Wigmar is Ankh’s Chosen he has a permanent +1 bonus to MR. If he ever falls out
of favor (or Ankh is destroyed) he would probably lose all spellcasting
ability.
The Crook
and Flail can further boost this when held, but only for Death/Light (see
above). Persumably there are two additional artifacts that would make a full
set of Ankh-Akh’s regalia.
