Alternate Section 7.1, FUDGE Magic ================================== By: Reimer Behrends, r_behren@informatik.uni-kl.de 7.1 FUDGE Magic ---------------- Magic in this system is handled by skills, similar to those for more mundane tasks. However, only persons that are magically imbued (henceforth called 'mages') can handle them. It is up to the GM whether this ability is inborn or can be learned. 7.11 Magical Skills -------------------- Ususally, a magical skill is defined by *what* it manipulates and *how* it manipulates its target. Examples would be 'control mind of human beings', 'shape fire', 'summon demons'. The GM is the sole authority on what skills are allowable, but most GMs will be open to players' ideas. Magical skills are learned on the usual scale Terrible..Fair..Superb. However, it isn't as easy to raise them as it is for normal skills. In particular, in the Objective Character Creation System, you will have to buy more one levels of the Superpower 'Magic'. And, of course, *all* magical skills have a default of Non-Existent. That is, for buying Magic once, you can get one magic skill at Mediocre, up to three at Poor and up to five at Terrible. For spending one level more, you can instead have one magic skill at Fair, three at Mediocre, five at Poor and an unlimited number at Terrible. Each additional level of Magic raises this accordingly, as shown in the following table: Levels of Magic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 -------------------------------------------------------- Number of skills at Terrible 5 * * * * * * at Poor 3 5 * * * * * at Mediocre 1 3 5 * * * * at Fair 0 1 3 5 * * * at Good 0 0 1 3 5 * * at Great 0 0 0 1 3 5 * at Superb 0 0 0 0 1 3 5 at Legendary 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 * means unlimited. The GM can adjust the numbers as she seems fit. For example, the above values limit mages quite a lot. In a more heroic game, the GM might decide to have any level except the first cost only have as much (i.e. a gift). Or make magic even rarer by making magic skills cost twice as much as normal skills (which is recommended anyhow if the other skills are very narrow). Or combine both schemes. 7.12 Casting spells -------------------- Casting a spell may be hard in reality, but in a game it should be simplicity itself. For this, casting is just resolved as an Unopposed Action with the additional condition that your skill level must equal or exceed the difficulty level to achieve the desired effect *before* the roll. That is, a character who is Good at telekinetically moving objects will never have a chance to topple a boulder if the corresponding difficulty level is Great. However, only the level at which the character *learned* the skill is important. The *effective* skill level may well be below the difficulty level. For while a wound or whatever handicaps the character might make spellcasting harder, it usually won't let him forget his magical formulas. To assess the difficulty level, it is useful to list one or more effects for each magic skill and difficulty level in advance. Factors to be taken into account are the size of the target or the area affected, at which range the spell is being cast, the amount of energy involved, the inherent difficulty (telekinetically picking a lock from the inside vs. just breaking the door down). You may want to define what a spell with Fair difficulty level of the appropriate type is and then modify the difficulty level up or down dependent on the above factors. Some spells affect other beings (or objects imbued with a natural resistance against magic). In these cases, spellcasting is resolved as an Opposed Action where the caster has to equal or surpass *both* the difficulty level and the result obtained by his opponent. Resistance is determined by the attribute that would naturally oppose such a spell. For instance, mind control magic would be resisted by a Will attribute or something similar, while shapeshifting a persons body would be resisted by that persons constitution attribute (or whatever is closest). There is no resistance roll, however, against a fireball that explodes nearby. In addition, characters can get additional magic resistance. A bonus of +1 is the equivalent of one superpower, a bonus of +2 the equivalent of three levels of superpowers and a bonus of +3 the equivalent of seven levels of superpower. This bonus gets added to all resistance rolls. The time needed to cast a spell is also assessed by the GM. Of course, some skills (like some kinds of shamanistic magic) can by definition only be used for ritual magic (which takes quite a lot of time anyway). In other cases, however, the basic time unit for casting time is usual the combat round (as otherwise time usually isn't that important). As a rough guideline, spells at the caster's skill level may take four combat rounds, spells one below the caster's skill level three combat rounds, two below the caster's skill level take two combat rounds and everything below a single round. Of course, the time needed can increase or decrease depending on other factors if the GM desires. For example, there may be areas with a natural magic resistance that doesn't make spells harder to cast but slower (like trying to drive a car without the brake released) or anything else. How magic works in a particular world is up to the GM and the players anyhow. Now mages of course can't be allowed to cast spells all day without any drawbacks (after all, even good fencers can't fight for a long time without tiring). First of all, it is suggested that rolling a natural -4 means a backfire (magical backfires are to much fun to leave them out of the game). Second, failed spells mean fatigue. Your constitution attribute or whatever is used to measure stress and exhaustion drops temporarily by one per failed spell. (The GM can of course also introduce an additional Spellpower attribute for mages if she thinks the fatiguing effect of spells doesn't fit in with her understanding of magic). Fatigue lost by magic returns at a rate of one level per two hours of rest. There is no explicit need for gestures, spoken words or material components in this system. However, you may want choose that *not* using any of them gives a negative modifier to the effective skill level. That is, at least one of them is needed to avoid being penalized. On the other hand, using more than one of them in a creative fashion might even earn the caster a small bonus if the GM thinks so and is willing. Appropriate spells may be maintained indefinitely. However, the caster is at -1 to *all* actions and reactions for each spell maintained, including resistance to other spells. Also, if his concentration is broken (for instance, by getting wounded and failing a concentration roll or by having to sleep), the spell ends. To cancel a spell with a permanent effect, there are three viable options. One, the caster can just tell the spell to stop (as if it were being maintained). Two, the caster has to cast the same spell in reverse (which is being controlled by the same skill, although normally Create Water is a different skill from Destroy Water). Three, it is impossible unless the caster knows a spell to achieve the desired effect. The particular way a magic ritual has to be conducted and what requisites are needed is (as usual) decided by the GM, although most GMs will highly value player input here. Of course, for less important rituals the details can be skipped (meaning that no obscure requisites etc. are needed). 7.13 Sample Magic Skills ------------------------- This section lists some examples of what magic skills there might be. Nothing in them is obligatory. Be creative and modify them as you will. As always, the GM is the final arbiter as to what magic may be used in her campaign. 7.131 Shape Darkness --------------------- Assuming that Darkness is an elemental force, this skill allows you to manipulate it, transforming the shape of a shadow, enveloping a candle with darkness drawn from the surrounding night, etc. 7.132 Move Objects (Telekinesis) --------------------------------- This allows the mage to move objects around that he isn't touching, like levitating a ring of keys, closing a door, moving a boulder. However, to pick a lock from afar you still need the appropriate lockpicking skill. And this kind of magic doesn't influence fluids or living beings. 7.133 Heal Wounds ------------------ This skill is useful for attending to characters involved in combat. It will heal all external wounds. It doesn't help, however, with internal injuries or diseases. 7.134 Trigger Spell -------------------- As a meta magic spell, this skill allows you to set conditions that will trigger another spell. The difficulty level is determined by how complicated the condition is. Two skill rolls are required, one for the trigger and one for the spell to be triggered. Of course, this can be used to build large spell chains, but the probability of a backfire increases proportionally. 7.135 Dispel Magic ------------------- Stops any spell (but not permanent enchantments) from working. Difficulty level is that of the other spell. Effects might involve disrupting a flight spell or cancelling a light spell. However, a magic sword will remain magic (it usually gets crafted using ritual magic which is fairly resistant to such approaches). 7.136 Bind Spell ----------------- This is used to 'attach' a spell to an item. However, unless months of work are invested, the spell will not be permanent and disappear after a few hours or days (GM decision). This can be used to create a sword that fights on its own or a magic seal that serves as a ward (and blasts the unfortunate visitor with a fireball). The Trigger Spell skill comes in handy here (and don't forget to teach the sword to stop fighting). The difficulty level is, as with most meta-magic skills, the level of the spell to be bound (plus, maybe, modifiers). 7.137 Create Image ------------------- Allows you to create optical illusion. This kind of illusion can't just be 'disbelieved'. It is created from light, not in the mind of the viewer. However, as soon as the caster doesn't maintain the spell anymore, it ends. It might be useful to also learn Create Sound to make the illusion more real (a mute dragon just isn't that terrifying). 7.138 Transform Body --------------------- This is generic shapeshifting skill. And while it will be of Superb difficulty to perform a full shapeshift, it can also be handy to grow an extra limb or snake fangs which is much easier (whether the effect needs to be maintained or is permanent until revoked is up to the GM to decide). Note also that this cannot be used to cause wounds to another characters body. 7.139 Sense Living Beings -------------------------- This skill allows you to discover the whereabouts of living beings in the vicinity of the caster (or even their presence, if that is unknown). More difficult spells involve finding out what kind of living being is around (Sentients, Animals, even down to a particular species). 7.14 More Ideas for Magic Skills --------------------------------- Neutralize Poison, Create Undead, Glue Matter, See Future, Change Sound, Analyze Matter, Magic Shield, Countermagic, Cause Wounds, Heal Illness, Summon Fire Elemental (the GM may want to require ritual magic for summoning, including pentagrams and stuff). 7.15 Magic Items ----------------- Magic Items are basically created by the Bind Spell skill. (or by an Alchemy skill for potions). To get a permanent effect, expect to put several months of work into it. To limit an items power, there are several possibilites. The number of charges (i.e. how often it can be used) may be limited, it may be necessary to recharge between uses, if used to often there is a possibility for it to burn out or backfire, etc.