06 The Magic System

#rules #magic #spells #dynamic-casting

In Apprentices, spells are not rigid, unchangeable actions. Instead, a spell is a complex architecture of mana canals that mages mould, push, and weave into existence. The act of casting is colloquially referred to as Shaping—a mage sensing the mana in the atmosphere and physically shaping it into a specific canal matrix to guide and transform the energy into an effect.

1. Unstructured vs. Structured Magic

Magic fundamentally exists in two forms: Unstructured (the raw expression of the soul) and Structured (the "divine limiter" system of spellcasting).

Unstructured Magic (Tier 0)

The oldest and simplest form of magic. A mage performs this by "shaping in the air"—clumsily forcing ambient mana to flow into a vague shape through pure visualization.

The Mechanics: In game terms, Unstructured Magic functions as Tier 0 magic. For 1 Mana, a mage can perform minor, harmless parlor tricks related to any Core School, regardless of whether they have dots in it or not. Every mage has the fundamental capability to clumsily force mana to mimic any basic school's effect.
The Catch: Unstructured magic requires no dice roll—it just succeeds. However, because the canals are unrefined and unstable, it can never be used to deal damage, inflict penalties, or solve complex challenges instantly. If an effect is complex or mana-intensive, figuring it out unstructured could take years or decades. It is highly flexible and undetectable by most low-level wards, making it excellent for on-the-fly utility and training mana control.

Tier 0 Examples by School

Core School	Tier 0 Example (Unstructured)
Alteration	Warming/cooling a cup of tea, slightly changing the color of a small object, mending a tiny tear in paper.
Projection	Lighting a candle, creating a faint ball of reading light, producing a weak, harmless breeze.
Dimensionalism	Making a coin hover briefly, causing the air to ripple slightly.
Divination	Sensing if magic was used in a room recently, feeling a vague aura of heat/cold from an object.
Illusionism	Producing a faint, ghostly whisper, making a small object look slightly blurry or distorted.
Animation	Making a piece of paper twitch, causing a clockwork toy to take a single step.
Abjuration	Creating a split-second energy barrier that dampens a minor impact, or snuffing out a tiny magical spark with a counter-pulse.
Soul Magic	(Forbidden) Sensing whether a small, mundane object has been handled by someone recently dead (within a day), conveyed as a faint chill or oily sensation on the fingertips.

Structured Magic (Spells)

Because the chaotic nature of unstructured "air shaping" is too slow and inefficient for complex problems, mages use Structured Magic—rigid architectures of mana canals invoked via studied mental structures, chants, and gestures.

The Mechanics: These are the standard "Spells" (Powers) you learn. They range from Tier 1 to Tier 5. They require dice rolls to cast as the mage attempts to perfectly replicate a specific canal structure, but they produce powerful, immediate, and massive effects that would take decades to achieve through Unstructured practice alone.
The Catch: Structured Spells are rigid. Once the canal architecture is formed in the mana boundary, the effect cannot easily be changed. Furthermore, the procedure for shaping these complex structures takes time and can be interrupted.

2. Core Schools & Specialisations

Magic is divided into 8 Core Schools. Players purchase dots (1 to 5) in these Schools using Study Points (SP). Because of the nature of Unstructured Magic, any mage can perform minor, harmless Tier 0 tricks associated with any school's core verb, even with 0 dots.
Highly advanced applications of magic are called Specializations. These represent a highly specific implementation of a Core School that has evolved into its own expansive subfield. For example, Abjuration focuses on active, immediate defense, while its Specialization, Ward, focuses on persistent, area-bound defensive magic.

Core School	Core Verb	Description	Known Specializations
Alteration	Restructure	Changes the properties of existing matter: density, flexibility, composition.	Medical Magic, Transformation, Blood Magic (Forbidden)
Projection	Generate	Creates energy from nothing: force, heat, light, electricity.	Evocation, Combat Magic, Negation
Dimensionalism	Displace	Moves things through space: teleportation, portals, spatial locks.	Summoning, Conjuration, Teleportation
Divination	Perceive	Gathers information: sensing, scrying, prediction. Pure observation — changes nothing.	Scrying, Chronomancy
Illusionism	Deceive	Creates false sensory data: images, sounds, phantom sensations. Not physically real.	Glamour, Mind Magic (Restricted, Requires Empath)
Animation	Animate	Infuses objects with a fragment of the caster's mind for autonomy.	Golemancy, Necromancy (Forbidden)
Abjuration	Defend	Actively protects against harm, counters magic, and creates temporary barriers.	Ward, Sealing
Soul Magic	Violate	Directly interacts with the soul, death, and the metaphysical self. Forbidden knowledge.	Spirit Calling, Soul Carving

(Note: Alchemy and Spell Formula remain purely Support crafts. Alchemy uses Academics + Survival, while Spell Formula uses Calculation or Finesse + Academics to inscribe prepared spells).

2. Gaining Spells (Powers)

You do not automatically know every spell of a specific level. Instead, spells are treated as explicit Powers you select.

Learning a Spell: Every time you gain a dot in a Core School, you choose exactly one Spell from that School. The Spell rating cannot exceed your total dots in that School.
Specializations & Cross-School Spells: Spells are listed under their parent Core School, and are often tagged with a specific Specialization (e.g., Transformation under Alteration). Additionally, spells that blend effects may have a Cross-School Prerequisite. (Example: A Tier 3 Homing Missile spell might require Animation Class 3 as its primary school, but also list a Cross-School Prerequisite of Projection Class 2 to fuel the explosive payload).

3. The Casting System

When you cast a spell, it works like any other mundane action roll, but fuelled by Mana.

The Casting Pool

Roll Attribute + School Proficiency. (Example: Casting a fireball is usually Willpower + Projection Class).

Success Threshold & Required Successes

The baseline Difficulty (Target Number) for structured magic is a static 6. Furthermore, the number of successes required to activate the spell is exactly equal to its Tier.

Tier 1 (Basic Effects): Requires 1 Success.
Tier 2 (Adept Effects): Requires 2 Successes.
Tier 3 (Advanced Effects): Requires 3 Successes.
Tier 4 (Master Effects): Requires 4 Successes.
Tier 5 (Mythic Effects): Requires 5 Successes.

(Note: The GM can permanently adjust difficulties up or down on the fly due to a hostile environment, extreme situational pressure, or actively resisting enemies).

Flat Mana Cost

Every Spell (Power) has a flat Mana cost that is stated at the spell's description as per this formula.

Personal Mana Pool: Your total mana is calculated as (Willpower + Calculation) x 5.

Overcharge (Enhancements & Status Effects)

When you cast a Structured Spell and roll more successes than the spell’s Tier requirement, those remaining successes become Overcharge. You may spend Overcharge immediately to augment the spell or inflict a Status, provided the spell’s narrative description (School/Element/Flavour) supports it.

Note: You may spend Health via Mana Burn to intentionally buy Overcharge at a 1:1 ratio. The maximum Overcharge you can spend on a single spell is equal to your School Proficiency rating.

Universal Enhancements

Cost	Enhancement	Description
+1 Overcharge	Duration Increase	Step the duration up by one category (e.g., Instant → 1 Minute → Scene). Cannot exceed the 'Scene' duration without GM permission.
+1 Overcharge	Scale Increase	Step the Area of Effect or Targets up by one category (e.g., 1 Target → 2 Targets; Handful → Size of a person).
+1 Overcharge	Potency	Deal +1 raw damage, or increase the passive defense value of a ward/barrier by +1.

Universal Status Effects
Rather than referencing a massive table of elements, apply one of the following mechanical tags to your target. The narrative effect (Fire, Ice, Light, Gravity) determines how the target acts, but the math is standardized.

Cost	Status Effect	Examples	Description
1 Overcharge	Hindered	Chilled, Blinded by flash, Deafened, Off-balance	The target suffers a -2 dice penalty to all relevant actions on their next move.
2 Overcharge	Lingering Harm	On Fire, Acid, Severe Bleed	The target takes 1 Physical Damage at the end of the scene or whenever they perform a strenuous action (e.g., attacking or sprinting), unless they first spend an action to clear the hazard (patting out flames, neutralizing acid).
3 Overcharge	Restrained	Frozen solid, Trapped in stone, Bound in heavy gravity	The target cannot take physical actions until they succeed on a Might or Mobility roll against your spell's total rolled successes (minimum 3) to break free.

4. Failing a Cast (Mana Burn)

If you fail a casting roll (i.e., you do not meet the GM's Difficulty threshold), the spell fizzles and the Mana is still lost. However, desperate Students have a final option:

Mana Burn: You can choose to voluntarily suffer 1 Physical Health damage per missing Success to force the spell to cast anyway, ripping the required energy directly from your body's life force. If a character suffers 2 or more points of Mana Burn in a single scene, the excruciating pain triggers a Difficulty 2 Sanity Erosion check.

5. Spell Mastery (Muscle Memory)

A Mage can deeply internalise a specific spell configuration, turning it into pure muscle memory so they don't have to consciously calculate the canal geometry. Over time, these become a mage's signature spells.

How to Master a Spell: To master a spell you already know, you must spend Study Points (SP) equal to the Spell's Tier (e.g., 1 SP for a Tier 1 cantrip, 3 SP for a Tier 3 spell).
Tracking Mastery: You can have a maximum number of Mastered Spells equal to your Memory × 2. If you are at your limit and wish to master a new spell, you can overwrite an old one, but the SP spent on the previous spell is lost.
Mastery Benefits:
1. Silent & Still: Mastered spells are carved so deeply into the mind that they no longer require vocal incantations or physical hand gestures. They can be cast while bound, gagged, or in stealth.
2. Mana Efficiency: Because the mental matrix is perfectly optimized, Mastered spells cost 1 less Mana to cast (to a minimum of 1 Mana).
3. Reflexive: Only Mastered spells can be used as instant reactions (e.g., throwing up a Ward instantly when ambushed).
Unmastered Spells: Any other spell the mage knows is considered "Unmastered." Casting these requires the mage to speak the formula aloud, use both hands for somatic shaping, maintain unbroken focus, and pay the full Mana cost.

6. Multitasking & Processing (Calculation)

Knowing a spell is one thing; processing the math to keep it active in the physical world is another. Your Calculation attribute acts as your mental RAM, dictating your ability to multitask and juggle complex spell matrices.

Ongoing Spell Limit: A mage can only maintain a number of ongoing, active spell effects (e.g., holding a Levitation, maintaining an Invisibility Glamour, and keeping a Ward active) equal to their Calculation rating.
- Consequence: If a mage tries to cast a new ongoing spell while already at their limit, they must consciously drop one of their currently active spells, or the new spell simply fizzles.
Simultaneous Casting (Dual Casting): Calculation also dictates your ability to cast multiple spells at the exact same time. A mage can cast multiple spells in a single narrative action, provided the combined Tiers of the spells do not exceed their Calculation rating.
- Example: A mage with Calculation 3 could cast three Tier 1 Magic Missiles at once, or simultaneously cast a Tier 2 Fireball while throwing up a Tier 1 Shield. A mage with Calculation 1 can only ever cast one spell at a time.