Spells
Spells
In the world of Utopia, there is an unseen force called mana that collects and flows in organic ways, purely of its own device. Though this is more concentrated and more residual in some places, the layer on Pia and Uto is always enough for a single caster to cast basic spells.
Any creature is capable of casting spells. The truth of a spell is that they pierce the Aether, a dimension with no mass or matter but infinite information. Every spell pierces with a certain calculation tied to it, pulling different effects from different places around the planar universe based on the formula tied in.
Different casters have different styles of casting; some sing a melody, some draw scriptures in the air. Each has their own style passed down to them or a way they taught themselves to remember these arcane codings.
Anatomy Of A Spell
A spell can be broken into two distinct parts: the maw and the wake. Though a maw is generally the same concept for every spell, wakes vary greatly. Spells that do not use the Art of Wake have an infinitely small wake, or one that is rather negligible.
Casting Requirements
All Spells require 3 turn actions to cast, as well as an amount of stamina predetermined by any given spell. The amount of stamina required to cast a spell, as well as any additional cost, should be detailed in each individual spell.
All spells must have an audible and visual component. What variety of audible and visual components is up to the caster, ranging from chanting to singing to weaving.
Spellcap
Every caster must observe a maximum called a Spellcap. Innately, your spellcap is equal to your Resolve score. This amount is the maximum amount of stamina you may spend on a single spell.
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Without discounts, if you have a Resolve score of 7, you cannot cast a spell that costs 8 or more stamina. If a spell has a discounted stamina cost, the discount is calculated before observing the spellcap.
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If a caster has a 2 stamina discount while having a Resolve score of 5, they can cast spells that naturally cost up to 7 stamina while only paying 5.
Extending Spell Duration
No matter what arts are used, you can increase its duration by Concentrating, if a spell is not instant. The spell continues for as long as you can keep Concentration.
On how to make a spell more autonomous, see Art of Enchantment.
Magical Mediums
Any spell can be cast through up to 1 meter of a solid medium. This means that the caster may force the spell's origin to travel up to 1 meter through the floor, through their weapon, through a wall, or a combination of all, before the spell activates.
Without the Art of Array, this is the maximum range of a spell. The spell's effects always spawn from where the spell's origin ends up after casting.
Standard And Custom Spells
There are a slew of Spells that have been pre-built for any situation. These spells are simple, easy to grab when the time is right. Although, what they give in convenience, they take in efficiency.
For the more experienced, customized spells will be a much better match. Every custom spell will be tailored to the situation, specific to the caster's circumstantial needs. This can be done on the fly, and with any number of characteristics; changing the spell's range, lifespan, effects, and a multitude of other things.
The Maw
- The maw is the heart of a spell, and every spell must have one. In literal terms, the maw is the actual point where the Aether is pierced. A spell always originates from its maw. If a spell only affects 1 object or creature, that means that the maw is inside that entity. When a single-target spell has a lingering effect, if the creature leaves the spell's range, the effects of the spell follow the targeted entity. This is not true if the spell has a wake. An important characteristic of a spell's maw is its signature. Some are able to read a spell's signature, and with pertinent information, deduce who the caster is and gain information on how it was cast, even what circumstances the caster was under in some cases.
The Wake
- Only spells utilizing the Art of Wake have a wake. This is the area of effect that the maw can take advantage of when casting spells. In essence, this is the "ripple" caused by the puncturing of the Aether, and what allows the spell to have a wider effect. Without using the Art of Wake, a spell's wake is infinitely small.
Tailored Incantations
In their base form, a spell requires 3 turn actions and an amount of stamina based on what effects it has.
This chapter will further detail what features may be added to a spell and what respective arcane art is required to be able to cast it. Every effect consists of Power Points (PP). Upon final design, a spell costs an amount of stamina equal to the amount of PP divided by 10, rounded up.
All spell features may be added multiple times, adding its PP cost upon every addition of the feature. For instance, if you were to use 3 stacks of the energy feature (Destruction feature in Evocation), the spell would have 75 PP. Thus, the spell would cost 8 stamina. As well, any creature that knows the Art of Evocation may cast it.
Any spell may be crafted at any point, and a caster is purely limited by their imagination and the cost of the spell. As well, a caster may have predetermined spells that they choose from, there is no difference in cost either way.
Spellcraft is an ancient form that has been used for combat, utility, healing, conjuring, and many other things. As powerful as it sounds, it is also extremely versatile. Many casters have designed and constructed spells that have stood the test of time.
Since its discovery, the use of mana to carve holes in the dimensions has been utilized for not only single spells, but in artifice and in infrastructure. Mana is imbued in the atmosphere, it is everywhere around us, and you can feel it.
All creatures have an innate sense of mana. How tuned this sense is may be different per creature, but it's there just like vision or hearing is. More than that, you can sense when magic is cast, when mana is disturbed, even when there is no mana around you. It almost has an odor to it, and in that sense, every spell has its own scent.
Spellcraft was founded by ancient dwarves, a subspecies now extinct: crystal dwarves. Simply, a spell is a hole poked in reality, utilizing the Aether to pull an effect from somewhere and point it somewhere else. The exact implications of each spell is based on the spellcaster's skill, energy, and design.
In the time of ancient dwarves, there were only four arcane arts: the Art of Evocation, the Art of Array, the Art of Enchantment, and the Art of Wake. Albeit, in the time of creation, these arts were not nearly as well defined or practiced. It wasn't until the independence of the twilight elves that the remaining four arts were discovered with much aid from the iron dwarves: the Art of Illusion, the Art of Divination, the Art of Necromancy, and the Art of Alteration.
Over years of development, the arts have not only been honed into the practicable states that they are in today, but they were also used to develop runes. While normal spells use the soul as a conduit and thus drain the energy of its user, runes allow this energy to be siphoned from a machine, using the runes as a more specified conduit. Given, rune carving makes for much more specific imbuements that cannot be changed once finalized.
Resisting a spell effect
When a spell text says that the creature may make a Rolls And Tests to resist its effects, the following rules apply:
- A creature can only make a test against a single spell effect a number of times equal to its Fortitude score.
- Once it has made its maximum number of tests, it fails all tests directly required from that spell effect.
- A creature may choose to automatically fail a test against a spell effect in order to reserve the number of tests it's allowed to attempt.
- When a caster used a feature of a specialist talent "Subtle Spells", resisting creature gains a point of Favor (as per talent description)