AN OVERVIEW OF SORCERY

Several different Gloranthan magic traditions are all vulgarly termed "Sorcery". Kralori mysticism is restricted to Kralorela, and is very difficult for outsiders to learn. The peculiar magic native to the East Isles is sorcery–like, in that the effects are created by manipulating magic energy. Dwarf magic is superficially much like standard sorcery, and indeed the latter may have derived from it.

Sorcery in its best–known form was originated by the Brithini and Vadeli. It has spread across much of the world, and many, perhaps most, Third Age sorcerers are not Malkioni at all.  

Who Cannot Learn Sorcery

·          a shaman can learn no sorcery unless his fetch has been permanently destroyed. A person who knows sorcery and becomes a shaman loses all his sorcerous lore. 

·          most priests cannot learn sorcery, often because it is considered sinful by their deity, but also because the nature of their philosophy and devotion renders the priest unable to alter his mindset in the necessary manner. An initiate of a non-sorcery-using deity may never become an acolyte, priest, or rune lord while he retains his sorcery lore.

·          Normal dwarf magic is much like sorcery, and free dwarfs take to sorcery like ducks to water.

·          Trolls also use sorcery in conjunction with their native darkness cults.

·          Few elves can learn sorcery, as their minds and souls are not keyed into seeing the universe as natural resources to be manipulated by principles of immutable law. Their Weltanschaung is highly personal –– Aldrya is immanent. Sorcery requires an impersonal view of the universe and Aldrya is more than just a distraction -- she makes the sorcerer’s viewpoint an impossibility. Only rootless elves, who have lost their world view, can sometimes learn sorcery.

·          Most nonhumans can learn sorcery like anyone else, always assuming that someone is willing to teach them. Krarshtkids and jelmre cannot learn sorcery because the former never use any magic and the latter only use their species–unique emotion magic.  

Learning a Sorcery Spell

·          From an instructor –this takes 50 hours of training from someone with skill of at least 90 in the spell. At the end of the training, the student receives a skill equal to 1d6 plus his Magic Bonus in the spell. If this results in a score of 0 or less, another 50 hours adds another 1d6 to his skill, and this can continue until he is finally at a positive level. A teacher can train a number of students equal to his INT.

·          From a Scroll or Book –a student who successfully Reads a written description of a spell, studying it for 50 hours, learns the spell by rolling his INT or less on 1d100. If he fails, he can study another 50 hours, then try his INTx2. Then INTx3, etc. A special Read doubles the reader's chances on that and all subsequent attempts. A critical Read is an automatic success.

·          Spell Inscription –anyone who knows a spell at 90+ can inscribe it via a successful Write. If a matrix of the spell is enchanted into the scroll or book, the matrix's skill bonus is added to the student's chance of learning the spell.

Increasing Spell Skill

·          Experience –as per normal RQ rules.

·          Research & Training –success in training or research provides a 1d6 increase, rather than 1d6-2.

·          Maintenance –if a spell is continuously maintained for a week, and makes up at least a tenth of the sorcerer's Presence, the sorcerer gets a skill check at the week’s end. If the skill check results in an increase, the skill raises by 1d6-2. More than one of the same spell maintained only provides one skill check.

Memory Requirements

A sorcery spell takes up 1 INT. This INT can come from the sorcerer's own brain, a spell matrix, a bound spirit, or a familiar, but must be stored somewhere. A sorcerer can increase his skill in spells which he has not memorized (but has access to through a familiar, magic item, or whatever). 

Casting and Maintaining Sorcery Spells

The chance of casting any sorcery spell is equal to the user's skill in that spell on 1d100 (possibly modified by Ceremony). In all cases, the caster may not place more Art levels into a spell than his skill in that spell/10. The caster's degree of success can be relevant:

Time needed to cast a sorcery spell is equal to the user's DEX SR plus 1 per MP. The Arts of Ease and Speed and the Ceremony skill may modify this.  

Commoners –most sorcery–users are not wizards, and do not know any Arts. Such individuals can cast spells using the art of Intensity (only), with a maximum level equal to their skill/10, rounded up. Such spells have a maximum range of 10m, and if temporal last for 10 minutes. A commoner may only have one (1) spell in effect at a time. He may drop a spell that is in effect to cast another one. In any case, none of his spells last longer than ten minutes.

Sorcerers –those who know any Arcane Arts must determine how many levels of each Art are used in each spellcasting. If a sorcerer has more total levels in effect than his Presence, he cannot cast any spells, until enough of his spells have been dropped to reduce the total levels below his Presence. A sorcerer can cease maintaining a spell instantly.

A temporal spell cast by a sorcerer has no duration. It remains in effect until the sorcerer voluntarily chooses to cease maintaining it, or he dies. He never has to “renew” the spell, or re-cast it, unless it has been dispelled.  

Ceremony –increases the caster's chance to cast a spell, and hence also the total Art levels he can use in it. Ceremony cannot more than double the user's skill. Each round spent chanting, etc., permits the sorcerer to use up to 10 percentiles of his Ceremony. Thus, a sorcerer with 85% Ceremony can spend up to 9 rounds chanting for +85 to a spell’s chances (assuming the spell is at least 85 itself). When casting a ritual spell, an hour must be spent per 10% bonus instead of a round.

Resisting/Dispelling Sorcery --with few exceptions, only Intensity is used to determine a sorcery’s power vs. counterspells. An Intensity 1, Range 6 spell acts as a 1 point spell and is stopped by Countermagic 1 (knocking down the Countermagic in the process).

Spell Components –if the sorcerer possesses an object or substance especially appropriate to a spell, the GM can give him a 5 percentile boost to chances of success. Special or rare components give higher boosts, depending on the GM's whim. An extra round must be taken in spellcasting when a component is used.

Example: Subadim casts Fly using an eagle feather. The GM rules this gives him a +5 bonus. If he'd used a griffin or sky bull feather, he'd’ve gotten a +10 bonus. A phoenix feather or dragon wing scale would be +20, and a feather from Vrimak, King of Birds, might be worth +50. A chicken or crow feather is worthless. The tongue of a crow who'd been taught to speak might be worth +10 for a communication spell.

Spell Precedence –spells are layered from the inside out in the order in which they were cast. For instance, if you cast Resist Magic 6, Castback 6, and Resist Damage 6 in that order, a foe casting Evoke Fire at you first needs to overcome Resist Damage, the last spell cast. If Resist Damage failed to protect, the Evoke Fire would strike the Castback. If it bypassed Castback, it would strike your Resist Magic. Only if it then overcame the Resist Magic would it affect you. Evoke Fire had to overcome Resist Damage because it directly causes damage. The Resist Damage would not have interfered with a Stupefy.

Boosting – a sorcerer can boost a spell with additional MPs, unlimited by skill or Presence. It does take an extra SR per MP. The additional MPs serve no function except to add to the spell's Intensity for purposes of overcoming counterspells.

Example: Subadim throws Evoke Fire 4 at a broo. He suspects the Broo has Countermagic up, so he boosts his Evoke fire with 6 MPs. The Evoke hits the broo with 10 MPs of force. If the broo's Countermagic is 8 or less, he’ll be affected by the Evoke Fire 4.

Copyright © 1998, Sandy Petersen

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