Magic System So Far

I’ve been asked how Minor, Greater, and Major effects work when spellcasting. The game being in my own head, I was ignorant enough to forget to mention it in any of my play test materials here. My plan was to make an entire section for magic when I got skills completed, but I wanted to remedy what I’m using now.

I’m bouncing back and forth with ideas like choosing themed domains, having an actual spell list, or using a free form narrative. What is being used right now is free form. The player for now describes their intent and follows the cost and DC assigned by the three categories: Minor, Greater, Major.

Minor: More like cantrips than anything else. These don’t affect the living directly. Minor is more about using magic as an illusion or performing a simple task such as starting a fire.

Greater: Greater magic is closer to throwing a fireball at someone’s face. You can create harm to someone or affect the way they can interact, like making someone being able to jump further for one burst or surrounding a person in magical darkness.

Major: Major magic is Gandalf or Merlin unleashed. You’ve summoned a wave of fire to affect a group of individuals. Recreate a memory as a VR projection that can be interacted. Maybe you’re a villain creating a plague.

The greater effect you attempt, the worse the repercussions may be when you fail.  As George Martin said, “Sorcery is a sword without a hilt.” it’s a powerful tool capable of cutting the wielded back.

Magic in this setting is brought forth from the Agne, red crystals that are the byproduct of Gehenna’s forced slumber. As all Alira have Agne in their blood, they are naturally inclined to it. The suit of Wands represents secrets, information, the strange, and magic derived from Agne.

In Home Fire, members of your caravan have found ways to use Agne if they have Wands and are capable of spellcasting. The most abundant way is the Alira ritual of tattooing. As Alira are a nomadic culture, they adopt a lot of outsiders to join the community. One form of adoption involves inking Agne into the flesh, This connects the individual to Gehenna, and that connects them to the Alira and the suit of Wands. This process is painful, and lore wise, has the ability to critically fail.

“As we are, as We are,” the Alira say after the ritual.

The other form of magic is technology based. This is the Artifice ability. The Nephilim are a great example as they naturally do not have an inherent magical ability, but their ancient empire had figured miracles out through science and understanding properties that bent reality. The Artifice ability allows one to use Curiosities, knowledge or remnants from an ancient culture not present anymore, and unlock the potential these things have inside. 

As recreating technology beyond current understanding is akin to being a mad scientist, there lies a danger in this method that is just as high as wielding magic. The greater the effect you try to recreate, the worse the blowback might be if it fails.