Research Matrix

A Magic Move. Available to all Students during downtime.

When you spend protected study time to stabilize a spell pattern you have successfully improvised before, name the formula, list the declaration (Intent -> School -> Glyph -> Scale -> Tags), and roll 2d6 + Mental.

• Requirements: You need notes, a mentor, or equivalent research context, and the target pattern must already exist in fiction.
• 10+ (Strong Hit): Your thesis stabilizes. Add the formula to your Grimoire as a Mastered Spell and define two safe-casting requirements with the GM. When those requirements are met, choose one standing benefit:
  • reduce Mana Track cost by 1 (minimum 1), or
  • on a mixed success, ignore one offered non-harm complication.
• 7-9 (Mixed Success): You create a Provisional Thesis. Add two strict requirements and one built-in flaw with the GM (loud signature, narrow target profile, instability timer, or expensive setup).
• 6- (Miss): The research destabilizes. The thesis is not yet usable, and the GM makes a hard academic move (lost materials, faculty scrutiny, rival theft, dangerous test conditions).

See also: Shape the Matrix, 04 Progression, Study Points and Insights, Memorized Spells.