THE ARTS

The Arts of sorcery are used in casting spells. Remember: the user cannot have more MPs in a spell than his skill/10.    Three Basic Arts are normally recognized: Intensity, Multispell, and Range. A number of "secondary" Arts are also commonly recognized. Other secondary arts are known, but not all are available to all colleges of magic.

Learning The Arts

The Arts are learned by three main methods. It is possible to mix and match these methods, though most students do not. Refer to sect-specific techniques of learning the Arts to see how your sect does this. Only general rules are listed below.  

·          ST MALKION – most Malkioni utilize St. Malkion himself, the famous founder of the Western Way, to gain their Arts. An apprentice with Malkion as patron can invoke Malkion once a year at Sacred Time to gain one Art.

·          STUDY – some groups and cultures treat the Arts as Magic skills with a base chance of 0, acquired and learned like any other skill. Once the student achieves 90% in an Art, he has mastered it. If the student tries to use Arts with a skill below 90, his chance of casting the spell is no higher than the lowest of all Arts used (or his skill in the spell, if that is even lower).

·          ART VOWS – most non-Western sorcerers use Art Vows. An Art Vow can be taken when the student gains 90% in a sorcery spell. When taken, the student gains access to a single chosen Art, and his Presence is increased by the Vow's value minus 3. In most cases, this gives a negative result! (For example an Art Vow of Shun Immortality reduces Presence by 2.) If a sorcerer violates an Art Vow, he does not lose use of that Art, and his Presence is restored to what it would have been without said Vow (it may increase!). However, he also loses 10 percentiles from all his spells.

THE BASIC ARTS (Intensity, Multispell, Range)

INTENSITY –the most basic Art. When a spell is listed along with a number, the number invariably refers to Intensity. “Venom 6” is shorthand for “Venom, Intensity 6”.  

MULTISPELL–lets the user cast multiple spells simultaneously, at the same or different targets. Multispells can have identical MP levels for all Arts used, or the user can voluntarily lower the levels for one or more spells selectively. Each MP in Multispell permits the user to cast one spell, or to strike 1 target with all the spells cast. Note: Multispell 1 is pointless.

Chance for success is figured by the lowest skill of all spells being cast. If a mage Multispells Evoke Fire 60 & Animate Fire 80, he may place 6 MPs into the combined spell –– limited by his Evoke 60. Since he needs Multispell 2 to cast the two spells, his Intensity can be no more than 4. However, all spells in the Multispell share the same Intensity. So the spell would be Evoked at Intensity 4, and Animated at Intensity 4, for the same 6 MP cost!

When attack spells are combined, each defender needs to make only one resistance roll. If he fails, all the spells take effect. If he resists, none do. If the spells have different chances of overcoming him, use the single die roll to determine success or failure for all. Thus, one spell could succeed while another fails. The single Intensity is used for all the spells combined when breaking through magic defenses. Thus a Countermagic 4 would resist fifteen Multispelled 2–point spells.

Example: Thraxon the wizard Multispells Diminish STR, Diminish CON, Diminish SIZ, & Shapechange. He applies Intensity 6 and needs Multispell 4 (because 4 spells are involved). The total cost is 10 MPs, and the target ends up with –6 SIZ, CON, and STR, plus enough Shapechange to affect a target up to SIZ 12. If Thraxon included Hold 8, he could keep the effect readied for a total of 18 MPs spent. Of course, he’d need 171% skill in all the spells involved. If he specialized as a Metamorph, then he’d only need a skill of 86, a bit more reasonable. (See the Specialty rules, following.) When Thraxon casts the spell, he only rolls to overcome his foe's MPs once. If the target's SIZ is 13 or more, then the entire spell automatically fails, because the 100% certainty of the Shapechange spell's failing is the "lowest chance" among the spells involved.

RANGE –without this Art, a ranged spell can be cast up to 10m. Each MP in Range doubles this. An active spell needs sufficient Range to keep the target within its effect.

SECONDARY ARTS (Accuracy, Ease, Force, Hold, Permanence, Reinforce, Speed)

ACCURACY – only usable with spells that use a random die roll in targeting (such as a random hit location). Each MP in Accuracy allows the caster to modify the die roll by 1.  

EASE – this Art actually costs –1 MP per level used! However, each level of Ease adds 1 extra SR to those needed to cast. You cannot reduce the total MPs in the spell to less than the levels of Ease used.

Example: Thraxon wants to Palsy an unsuspecting guard, but sees no reason it should cost him a fortune in MPs. He applies Palsy 4, Range 2, Ease 3, for a total of 4+2-3 = 3. It would be foolish to use Ease 4, because that would require at least 4 MPs, and he’s already got it down to 3. The spell will take 9 SRs to cast, plus his DEX SR. And of course Thraxon needs a skill of at least 81%.

FORCE – only usable when the sorcerer is casting an attack spell that matches the caster's MPs vs. the target's MPs, POW, etc. on the Resistance Table. For each MP in Force, the caster's chance of overcoming the target are raised by 5 percentiles. If the caster's chance is nominally less than 05%, it must be increased sufficiently to overcome this handicap.

HOLD – lets you hold a single sorcery spell ready to cast. The MPs in Hold must at least equal the highest other Art used. The spell pops onto the Otherworld, where it remains ready for release. This gives you an "emergency" spell. When a Held spell is loosed, it goes off on your DEX SR. Each Held spell counts 1 point vs. the user’s Presence until it is cast (when it counts normally). The MP cost of the spell is paid when initially set up, not when it is cast later on, so this makes a “free” spell!

PERMANENCE – causes a spell to count as a single point of Presence, regardless of its actual size. The MPs in Permanence must equal the highest other Art used. In addition, the caster spends 1 POW.

REINFORCE – renders a temporal spell more resistant to dispelling. Each MP in Reinforce gives the spell 3 additional pseudo–Intensities vs. dispel attempts.

SPEED – lets you cast a spell more quickly. Speed does not count against the SRs needed to cast the spell (though it does cost MPs), plus each MP reduces the SRs needed to cast the spell by 1, to a minimum of 1 SR.

Copyright © 1998, Sandy Petersen

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