On Spells and Sages
CW for some body horror in a spell effect described later in the post.
Low Magic
It's telling that the people who named these things decided on "Low Magic" for one of the fundamental forces of the Universe. You've got your electromagnetic forces, your nuclear forces, your magnetisms, and between them all a pastry dough of Magic providing a sense of purpose and essential being to the rest of this mess. Anyone with sufficient training and will can master the basics of these fundamental forces and cast a spell or two.
Low Magic spells use a special roll under mechanic to cast. If you roll over your Willpower (or Knowledge, if you're a Sage), the spell costs 2 Strain to cast. If you roll under half your Willpower, the spell is free to cast. Otherwise, spend 1 Strain to cast the spell.
Spark: The caster gestures at an area they can see within 30 feet of them, which ignites into a small flame as if struck by sparks from a flint and steel. This unerringly lights flammable substances (char cloth, tinder, dry sticks, lamp oil) in all but the most adverse conditions. The caster can also put out a fire of moderate size – a torch, campfire, or even a Medium sized creature can be instantly extinguished by casting this spell.
Slumber: The caster puts 1dM + their level + their Willpower bonus worth of HD creatures into a deep sleep, lasting up to 8 hours. A Warding save resists but those who are already on the cusp of sleep cannot resist.
Low Magic operates under a few well-known restrictions - such spells expire at sunrise and sunset, cannot cause harm, and many require you to know a True Name or other bit of lore. For everything else, there's the High Magic.
High Magic
When you want to bend the rules, you use Low Magic. When you want to break them, you use High Magic. A precise enough instrument could measure the causal effects between a spellcaster's chaunt and ritual and Low Magic; not so for High Magic. The words themselves are so difficult to hold in the caster's brain that they are magically removed from their memory for the sake of their own sanity once spoken.
High Magic uses the Vancian method of magic spell slots, the number of which increase as the caster gains levels. I do not have "spell levels" or suchlike, as balancing those do not interest me. Rather, High Magic spells are more precisely mechanical and situationally useful, but extremely powerful.
Each High Magic spell is part of a "spell school," groups of 4-6 spells organized by the wizard who created them. High Magic spells are therefore grouped around a theme - I was definitely inspired by the Bigby's Whatever Hand spells and their ilk.
MacSewell, the Master of Technically Non-Lethal Spells
Lover, rival, and student of Mordaine, MacSewell rebelled against his mentor’s teachings by creating spells known for their creativity and technical nonlethalality. Despite this MacSewell’s spells are considered extremely effective. Some states employ the journeyman wizards of the MacSewell Academy as torturers and bodyguards which have wound up becoming guildlike in their traditions and exclusions.
MacSewell's Epidermal Eversion
Unless they pass a Warding save the target's skin sloughs off in a wet tangle and thumps onto the floor. The magic of the spell prevents them from bleeding to death. The pain is often described as, "beyond description." The target is reduced to 0 HP and 1 Strain and HP recovery is capped at 1 per week (or 1 per day with complete bed rest and a professional healer working to restore them).
Scrivello, the Tooth-Wizard
A man obsessed with eating people, and with making this action seem entirely necessary and rational, Scrivello maintains a large cult of dubious influence. Each active Scrivello spell increases the caster's bite damage: 0 ⇒ 1d4 ⇒ 1d6 ⇒ 1d8 ⇒ 1d10 ⇒ 1d12, plus their Brawn bonus.
Scrivello’s Digestive Dentils
While this spell is active, you can eat anything you can fit your mouth around, and you can chew through iron and stone like it were a tough steak. Nothing you eat while this spell is active carries any ill effects, nor do you get full from eating under the influence of this spell.
Sages
And so, we have our first proper spellcasting class: The Sage. While the Acolyte may know some lore, their power is societal and structural. A Cultist has the religious trappings but only mastery of a single school of High Magic. The Sage draws their power from their knowledge and education but are required to commit their insights to writing in order to use them.
| Level | Attack | Hit Dice | Low Magic Known | High Magic Per Day | Spell Research Hand | Magic Damage Dice | Arcane Secrets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +0 | 1d6-1 | 3 | 1 | Face or Ace High | d4 | 1 |
| 2 | +1 | 2d6-2 | 3 | 1 | Pair | d4 | 1 |
| 3 | +1 | 3d6-3 | 4 | 2 | Two Pair | d4 | 1 |
| 4 | +2 | 4d6-4 | 4 | 2 | Three of a Kind | d6 | 2 |
| 5 | +2 | 5d6-5 | 5 | 3 | Straight | d6 | 2 |
| 6 | +3 | 6d6-6 | 5 | 3 | Flush | d6 | 2 |
| 7 | +3 | 7d6-7 | 6 | 4 | Full House | d8 | 3 |
| 8 | +4 | 8d6-8 | 6 | 4 | Four of a Kind | d8 | 3 |
| 9 | +4 | 9d6-9 | 7 | 5 | Straight Flush | d8 | 3 |
| 10 | +5 | 10d6-10 | 7 | 5 | Royal Flush | d10 | 4 |
Proficiencies: A Sage is proficient with one simple weapon.
Restrictions: A Sage must have access to their spellbook in order to use their core abilities. If they lose their spellbook they must regain it as soon as possible through whatever means the character would pursue. In this case a “spellbook” refers to however they hold their work together, whether it’s a hardbound book, codex, series of scrolls, metal discs with etchings describing the formulae, or what have you.
- Each High Magic spell or Arcane Secret a Sage wishes to record requires 1d6+1 pages.
- Each Low Magic spell requires 2 pages.
Replacing a spellbook requires one week per the character’s level to recall and annotate all their known Low Magic spells. They can spend another week per High Magic spell they wish to recreate. A lost spellbook is a catastrophe.
A Sage can record a new High Magic spell into their book if they have room.
A spellbook is not necessarily one book but the Sage’s entire collection. It is important to keep track of how many pages have been used and which spells are recorded in each.
Gear: A Sage begins with a hardbound spellbook (200 pages, 6 pounds) and writing supplies.
Core Abilities
Spellcaster: A Sage uses Knowledge to cast spells. They begin knowing several Low Magic spells chosen by the player and two High Magic spells chosen randomly. A Sage may have a number of High Magic spells prepared equal to their level.
A Sage may learn new spells and Arcane Secrets if they can copy them into their spellbook. This requires that they spend time copying things into their spellbook, spending XP as normal.
Sage Knowledge: A Sage conducts research constantly, jotting down insights and synthesizing information into answers.
A Sage’s player keeps a standard deck of 52 playing cards at hand to represent their field research. They may pose questions to the referee, who will determine what hand is required to answer the question asked. A Sage may also use research to answer riddles, decipher texts, conjecture, or gather information which could reasonably be acquired through dedicated investigation.
A Sage may also, once per level, use their poker hand to add a High Magic spell to their spellbook. This is rolled randomly but the player may choose whether to:
- Roll randomly twice and pick one of the results
- Roll randomly within a school of magic they already know at least one spell of and accept the result
- Choose an Arcane Secret instead.
Whenever the character (or player, this is going to be fuzzy) learns something new and important they may draw a card and add it to their hand. A hand may be up to 5 cards; if their hand would exceed 5 cards then they may choose which to hold and which to discard. At the top of a session a player may draw a hand of 5 cards.
A Sage may fill 2d4 pages of their spellbook with notes about their current question or research to immediately make one card in hand into a “community card,” similar to Texas Hold ‘em, and replace it by drawing another. The community card is held by the referee and is public between sessions. A Sage may have a maximum of three community cards at once.
Once a spell is researched or question is answered the Sage shuffles the deck and any community cards and begins anew.
A Sage may also keep a codex or notebook dedicated to a single question they are trying to answer. This allows the Sage to hold up to 5 more cards, but cards are not shared between this codex and the spellbook.
A Sage may spend one XP and fill 1d3 pages in their spellbook to draw another card during downtime.
Design Notes
I am absolutely aiming for the sort of knowledge-seeking and bean-counting that I think a bookish spellcaster should have. A Sage is very much a "pure research" type and they can spin off in a couple different directions - more investigatory, more spellcastery, more inventor-y, and so on.
I'm also not sure about the Sage Knowledge ability just yet, I haven't put it in practice, but I'm excited to see how it looks in play.
Magic Damage Dice are the size of dice you use when a spell causes damage. This is abbreviated as a "dM," so if a spell says you cause 3dM of damage you look at your class table; a 4th level Sage would deal 3d6 damage while a first level Sage would cause 3d4. If you can cast spells but don't have a specific Magic Damage Dice, use d3.