This is an entirely new magical system based loosely on the magical works of Eliphas Levy and his description of how and why magic works. It is suited for a campaign where magic exists but is somewhat unnatural, and for a modern-day setting in which magic coexists with espionage, police mystery or just an absurd nowadays.

I have used this system on medieval settings to much success, creating an atmosphere where mages take an entirely different role from normal mage characters. This system does not try to balance magic with normal combat, and mages thus created must bear in mind that they are to take a different place in the storytelling, not that of fighters.

I am not advocating reading or the validity of the works of Eliphas Levy. I read them and found them interesting, but I am not saying they work or are true. For an RPG environment, though, they are very good.

Index:

• Magical Skills
• Time to cast
• Duration of magical effects
• How long can a mage concentrate?
• Special Duration
• Fixed Duration
• Magical Resistance
• Cost of Magics
• Familiarity
• Black Magic: Drawing power from madness
• Magical Skill summary
• Alchemy
  • Generic healing / disease potions
  • Birth-preventive potions
  • Veritas Potion
  • Potions against aging ailments
  • Hector Potion
  • Morpheus Potion
  • Hercules Potion
  • Eros Potion
  • Achilles Potion
  • Brutus Potion
  • Proteus Potion
  • Helena Potion
  • Hermes Potion
• Divination
  • New Advantage: Seer (10 points)
  • Effects
  • Clairvoyance
  • Retrocognition
  • Precognition
  • Telepathy
  • Intuition
  • Oracle
• Elementalism
  • Effects
  • Ignition
  • Windblast
  • Temperature control
  • Distant blow
  • Non feeding
  • Climate control
  • Explosion
  • Non breathing
  • Lightning
  • Cataclysm
  • Elemental Domain
• Enchantment
  • Talismans
    • Protection Amulet
    • Focus of power
    • Luck Charm
  • Magnetizings
    • Circle of protection
• Spells
  • Effects
  • Emotional impulse
  • Behavioral impulse
  • Psycho-Physical urge
  • Illusion of the senses
  • Binding spell
  • Invisibility
• Levitation
  • Effects
  • Telekinesis
  • Impulse
  • Floating
  • Manipulation
• Necromancy
  • Effects
  • Sense Spirits
  • Astral sense
  • Spirit Summoning
  • Spiritual Unfolding
  • Resurrection
• Theurgy
  • Effects
  • Diagnosis
  • Stabilize
  • Healing/ Infection
  • Regeneration
• Transmutation
  • Effects
  • Mending / Decay
  • Consciousness projection
  • Transmutation
  • Matter transport
• New Disadvantages

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All magic is a M/VH skill not affected by Eidetic Memory. Every specific magical effect is obtained by rolling the skill with an appropriate penalty (or bonus), defined by the effect. Thus, for instance, the “Necromancy” skill has many effects, of which one is “Sense spirits”, obtained by rolling Necromancy with a penalty of –2.

If a character has a magical skill, he can try any effect described, rolling his level with the appropriate penalty, regarding that his final skill is above 3.

In case the character does not possess the required magic for the effect, he cannot try any such effect. There are no default level for Magic skills.

The “Magery” advantage still exists and is needed for someone to learn magical skills. It still bestows the usual bonuses for magical skill levels.

Every effect has a time to cast specified in its description. If the mage wants, BEFORE he casts the magic, he may announce that he is casting it sooner than normal with an additional penalty. This penalty is given by the difference of the listed time to cast and the one attempted as described in the following table:

For instance: if an effect is described as taking 1 hour to be cast, a mage may attempt to cast it in 1 minute with a penalty of (6-3) 3 points in his skill level.

A mage may deliberately take more time than usual to perform a magic, and, with this, gain a bonus in his level on the same fashion. The greatest bonus possible is +3. There is no greater penalty possible.

On the great majority of cases, the magical effect lasts “whatever it needs to last”, or it is instantaneous, or it lasts for as long as the mage concentrates on it. A healing, for instance, lasts as long as it needs to last, which is until the target is wounded again. A divination effect lasts as long as needed for the caster to receive his vision. In case of doubt, the master is the final arbiter.

Some magical effects have a differentiated duration. The durations an effect can have are as follows:

An effect’s duration is generally read on the “Duration” column. The last column, “Faerie duration”, regards the same effect when produced by faeries or any other mystical, inhuman creature. The duration “Forever and a day” means that the effect lasts forever, but, if it is somehow countered, it will still last a day to vanish.

This is determined by his level on the “meditation” (M/H) skill. The greater the skill, the greater his ability to focus:

Plus 1 day per level.

This period assumes that the mage is relaxed and free of interferences. If he is distracted by something, he must roll his “meditation” to avoid losing control of the magic. If he is repeatedly distracted, he must roll with an appropriate cumulative penalty.

Some magical effects have a duration described as “special”. This means that, for an additional penalty of –2 per duration level, the mage can increase the effect’s duration beyond the original, as long as he determines, at casting time, the total duration of the effect.

Other effects have their duration described as “fixed”. This means that the duration of these magical effects cannot be altered with successes. It lasts only what is indicated. On the great majority of cases, these are instantaneous effects or ones that last as long as the mage concentrates.

A magical effect can be resisted by a target with a successful willpower roll, modified by the caster’s margin of success (considering all of the effect’s penalties and bonuses). Certain effects cannot be resisted. These are listed individually.

Magics have no cost for the caster.

Many magical effects are modified by the caster’s familiarity with the target. The table which relates familiarity with skill modifier is as follows:

Magic, as presented here, is ordered and safe for the mage’s psyche. However, to use it, the mage must be centered and at peace. Without the adequate knowledge of this science, the mage may end up dead, mad, or an eternal slave of his own dark side.

Only an emotionally imbalanced person may use black magic. A sane person do not have this possibility without becoming first insane, because black magic exists exactly through imbalance and disease. It draws its power from denial and the absurd, being the weapon of death, the arrow of evil, and the contract of darkness.

A person with certain mental disadvantages have, at its disposal, an optional bonus in all of his magical skills. He do not have to roll his effects with this bonus, if he so will it, but, if he does so, he will be drawing power from his own imbalance, and thus running a great danger.

Every time the mage uses a black magic (which is any magic rolled with this bonus based on his disadvantages), he must afterwards roll a fright check with a penalty equal to the bonus used minus 1. This roll symbolizes the fright of oneself coming to life, the imminent madness and the certainty of the nothingness which grows inside the mage’s spirit. He is not “afraid” per se, but his spirit is corroded from the inside, and the effects are similar.

Eventually, if used frequently, black magic leads to an endless abyss, from which return is quite costly.

This is the list of disadvantages and their bonus for magical effects:

If the sum of all bonuses goes beyond 10, the character may try a black magic in the default level of IQ – 18, plus the bonus.

Here is a list of magical skills and a brief description of their sphere of influence:

Alchemy: The study of the properties of herbs and combination of natural elements.
Divination: The study of the reasons and paths of the gods.
Elementalism: The study and control of the elemental forces of nature.
Enchantment: The study of the creation of talismans and trinkets.
Spells: The study of the action of the magical forces over the will and mundane perceptions.
Levitation: The science of the control of movement at a distance.
Necromancy: The study of death and the dead.
Theurgy: The study of healing through magic.
Transmutation: The study of the alteration of bodies (living or not).

Alchemy is the art of transforming things. Unlike transmutation, however, it does not uses the mage’s energy for its effects, but the energy of the very things it change. An alchemical operation depends on complicated and hard to obtain equipment, and many obscure ingredients.

Alchemy is based on the assumption that all things have within a certain energy, and when this energy gets in touch with other energies of other substances, there may come a specific resulting component which may be strong enough to create a certain effect (like a sum of vectors with a strong component), whether the user believes in it or not.

Therefore, anyone can learn Alchemy, even without Magery. Moreover, The alchemy skill IS NOT affected by the Magery advantage.

Alchemy teaches what are the best ingredients, how to obtain them (the best time and method), and how to mix them in the right proportions. One slight mishap in an alchemical operation can be fatal, and mistakes usually leave lasting marks on the alchemists.

Alchemy establishes a parallel with the human spirit, and all alchemical operations have a correlation with human operations. In this fashion, an alchemical potion may alter living beings on ways few other skills can, taking them to degrees of alteration higher than any other technique.

For the creation of an alchemical potion, the mage may buy the necessary ingredients or gather them himself. In the description of each potion or effect, there is a field indicating the price for the obtaining of such material (considering a TL 3-4 environment such as medieval Europe), and another field determining what are the skills and penalties needed to find the necessary ingredients. There is also a field stating what is the minimum time needed to create that potion.

The penalty for each potion is the penalty used for the creation of it. Only one roll is allowed per potion, at the end of its making.

Every potion also has a duration, which is the time in which it remains in effect in the target’s body.

An alchemical set costs $5000 and demands an expenditure of $300 per month for maintenance. For transportation, it needs a special box made to minimize the risks of breaking the delicate glasses, which cost about $400.

An alchemist can create potions that heal certain diseases if he has some skill in Theurgy. At the creation of the potion, he rolls his level in Theurgy and defines what disease that potion will heal or inflict. He, then, takes note of the margin of successes in the Theurgy roll and creates a potion that heals such disease with –3 or –4 (for example).

When a person afflicted with the specified disease drinks the potion, he must roll his will with a bonus equal to the penalty of the potion. In a success, he is healed.

Such potions only heals diseases, they do not recover lost hit points.

In the same fashion, an alchemist can create potions which inflict diseases on a target.

For the duration of the potion, whoever drinks it will become sterile. If given to a pregnant woman, it may cause an abortion (if she fails a roll of HT –3). In the same fashion, an alchemist can create a potion which forces an ovulation in a woman, making her fertile for the day, or creates a potion that forces the birth of a boy or girl (if given to a man).

This potion makes sure the target sees clearly. It eliminates any vision impairments the target may have (except blindness), and still clears his sight in such a way that he cannot be affected by spells or skills which confound his perceptions.

These potions do not rejuvenate the target, but they prevent some certain aging ailment and may even revert it. Aging ailments include: wrinkled skin, hair loss, menopause, proneness for heart attacks, etc. The avoided ailment must be determined at the potions creation.

When this potion is ingested, the person receives an extra dose of vitality. For 5 minutes, he will not lose any physical fatigue, regardless of the effort he does (unless drained by magical effects).

Whoever drinks of this potion, will sleep for 1D + 5 hours. It can also be spread over a surface or burnt on fire, and the aroma that it exudes will cause anyone inhaling it to fall asleep. However, in this fashion, people can resist the sleepiness with a roll of willpower + 16 plus a penalty equal to the number of hours at which they are awake. The aroma expands for about 10 meters of radius, though winds can spread it further.

This potion doubles the physical strength of whoever drinks it (before applying any modifiers to it).

This potion is made in pairs. Once given to two different people, it will cause them to fall in love with each other the next time they meet (if they are of opposite sex), or become immediate great friends (if they are of the same sex). If this passion will last, this potion gives no guarantee. Its effect is that, whenever the two people meet, they will roll an 18 in their reaction rolls.

With this potion, the user becomes impervious to pain. It guarantees that the person who drank it is active and clear until it dies. For the duration of the potion, the user will not fall unconscious and will become immune to any sleep causing effect. He will only fall in battle when he dies. If he doesn’t, he will keep on fighting without any penalty for pain or wounds.

This potion enhances the target’s physical resistance, effectively doubling his HT attribute (and consequently gaining the difference in HPs) for the duration of the effect.

When the potion ends, the target loses the gained HPs. If he took damage during this effect, he will lose one HP every 2 points of HT lost.

Required material: Some personal object of the potion’s target.

This potion creates a certain Halo Effect (see the subconscious skills) around the one who drinks it. Whoever looks at the user, will perceive with his mind’s eye someone else, chosen at the potion’s creation. Some item of the potion’s target is needed for the creation.

This potion causes the user to exhale such a pleasant aroma that all people around him will automatically have the best possible reaction with the user. It affects beings from both sexes equally and its effect does not have (necessarily) any sexual component. All people affected will treat the user with the greatest possible reverence and recognition they can, and the user will, undoubtedly, become the center of attentions for a while.

This psychotropic potion alters the user’s perceptions in such a way that he will see and hear everything around him as in slow motion. The user gets a +5 in all of his physical rolls, or an extra attack per turn.

This potion does not guarantee that the user will recover or lose fatigue any faster than normal.

Divination is the art of knowing the divine, and one of the most imprecises branches of magic. A divinatory mage has knowledge over the reasons which move the gods, and the mysteries which surround the events that happen in what the mundanes call “life”.

The divinatory art allows a practitioner to penetrate the future, know the past, travel to distant places, know the reason why things happen and even penetrate the nature of the very universe, if he, at least, correctly interpretates the visions he has.

The divinatory effects can be very diffuse, or a little more determined, depending on the caster’s margin of successes. The table which relates the margin of successes and the definition of their visions is the following:

Many scenes are symbolic, which means that the information doesn’t come directly into the caster, but passes through an unconscious “filter”. The mage may see, for instance, a balance meaning there is justice involved, or a lion meaning courage, etc. Its interpretation is left for the player (not the character) to unravel.

You cannot make a divination to better understand another divination. Repeated attempts at a divination will always result in the same images, even if the other rolls are better than the first. That is because the first image about something is the one that sticks. A mage can only attempt a second divination about a same topic when the circumstances involving that topic have changed, when the character sees the situation in a different light that he saw before.

There are some advantages that, being intimately connected with the effects of divination, count as points already spent on that skill, as long as the character already spent at least 4 point in the Divination skill. They are:

There are some people who, even without any magical aptitude, can achieve some divinatory effects, just as there are mages with great training that cannot penetrate the designs of the future.

Whoever has this advantage can learn Divination even without Magery, and perform divinations in the default of IQ – 6. If a mage has a skill in Divination and does not have this advantage, he can never learn this skill beyond level 20, no matter how hard he studies it.

This is the effect that allows a mage to know what is happening far away. It allows the obtaining of information about events which go beyond that what the senses can usually perceive.

The mage defines what he wants to see (a person, place, object, etc) and makes his roll. This effect can also be used to see through solid objects, although the image obtained is always with the mind’s eye.

This effect is like clairvoyance, but for things which happened in the past. Some events leave a mark more profound than others, and these are easier to sense. The penalty for the time in the past that a mage wishes to see is given by this impression, and not the time in itself. Therefore, a dollar bill has many impressions in it, so much that even a simple retrocognition is a very difficult effort indeed. However, the pope’s staff is only used in special circumstances, and carries within the impressions of very little owners. A retrogression with it, even for decades in the past, would be quite simple.

Moreover, an archeological item would carry with it impressions from a distant past, and nearly no information as to the time when it stayed buried underground.

This effect is like Clairvoyance, but for things which are not yet.

Basically, anything which haven’t happened yet may still change. However, some things are VERY improbable while others are very likely. If a person has terminal cancer, and doesn’t know it, there is a great chance that he will die soon. Just the same, there are many events which depend on factors we do not know, but factors which are on the move right now, to determine something which we have no idea of.

A precognition gets the most likely events to take place, which is why is rarely fails, but it does fail sometimes. The GM may even “force” things a little to make that prediction happen.

This is the ability to gather other people’s thoughts and feelings in one’s own mind. With this skill, the mage knows how to differentiate from his own thoughts to that of others. All thoughts the mage senses come to him as his own, and this is much more a training to identify what is his and what is not (and hold on to those) than anything else.

This effect gives the mage an intuition, a hint, a help on the hard times and even on the easy ones. With it, he may know what to do, find out what NOT to do, thus: save the day.

All intuitions are instantaneous, and though they may be quite specific, they come as images/ notions about something fixed and timeless, for instance: “Do not enter this plane”, “Bet on the white horse”, “He is lying”, etc.

An intuition may be declared by the player or left completely to the master’s demise. There is no such thing as: “But… didn’t my intuition warned me???” when things go wrong for the player if he didn’t used this skill in time and the master chose not to use it passively. However, the GM may, at any moment, use this effect passively for the player. I, for one, found myself using it a lot to save my players from time to time.

Though Intuition can serve for mostly anything, it cannot answer ANY question. You cannot, for instance, make an intuition to find out the meaning of life, or for any elaborate and lasting answer that cannot be transmitted as an immediate feeling. Those things fall under the “Oracle” effect, described below.

Unlike an “Oracle”, an Intuition depends basically on two factors: Emotional involvement and a determined goal. The mage cannot make an Intuition for something with which he is not emotionally connected. Also, if the mage has no personal goal, he will never have an intuition. An intuition will always come in the means to help him further his own goals. If his goal is big and complex, he may have a lot of intuitions from time to time. If it is something simple and direct, they may be harder to come by.

Also, the mage must place himself in position to receive intuitions for them to come. If the mage is someone who cares about the others too much, for instance, he will rarely have an intuition about himself.

This effect allows the mage to know the answer to any question. The mage has an additional penalty of 5 points if the question is about something with he is personally involved with.

The master is free to (and must) give out cryptic and incomplete answers to questions that could potentially solve the campaign, justifying them with things like “The energies are low right now”, or “This person has a very high Karma and is hidden from superior spirits”, or any other psycho-babble. However, SOME answer always comes to the mage, it is its usefulness that the GM may manipulate at his will, to prevent harm to his well-plotted campaign

This is the science which allows the mage control over the elemental and elementary forces of nature, from summer rain to volcanic eruptions, from a candle flame to the strength of a typhoon.

This skill takes control of the 4 elements, and usually it is not taught unless the mage is first submitted to very strong tests, to assure the masters of the moral integrity of the student.

This effect allows the mage to set fire on flammable objects or surfaces. In non flammable objects, it brings out a spark, and that is all.

The greater the margin of successes, the greater the spark.

This effect allows the caster to summon forth a gale of wind. He can control the direction and place of the wind, and it will hold as long as the mage concentrates on it.

This wind is strong enough to blast small objects away and throw people to the floor. Everyone caught by it have to roll against their DX to avoid falling to the floor. If they remain in the area of wind, they must roll again every 10 seconds.

This effect allows the mage to alter the temperature around a person, object or area. He may alter this temperature to any value from –20 to 100 degreed Celsius.

A person affected will have the temperature around him affected, but not his own internal temperature. Objects can have their temperature altered indefinitely, though the mage can alter the temperature at a maximum rate of 1 degree Celsius per second.

Looks like magic. With this effect, the mage may project his own energy at a distance and strike at things far away. He must move and perform the blow as if he were doing it at someone close to him. He rolls his skill with all modifiers for ranged attacks.

The caster must see the target through a straight line for this effect to work.

The projected strike has the strength of a normal punch.

This effect can be used to push objects away, but without delivering any damage to them. It may be used to throw someone far away (the target resists with a contest against his DX –3)

This effect allows the mage to suppress all of his need to eat for a determined amount of time. For the duration of the magic, he will not grow hungry or thirsty and will “magically” produce all nourishment he needs from nothing. If he does feed while the magic is in effect, the food will pass through his body without being processed.

This effect allows the mage to control the forces of the climate. He can, basically, determine the climate in a certain region. If the region is far away from where he is, apply the Familiarity modifiers.

If the alteration is something radical (snow in the desert), the mage has an additional penalty of –2. Otherwise, he can determine any natural climate to take place, as long as it’s not disastrous (no hurricane, earthquake, etc), and even if it’s not natural of the place he is in (like snow in the tropics).

For the 30 minutes of the time to cast, the climate will slowly change into the determined type.

The mage concentrates, and causes a blast of fire. With that, he can blow up almost any object. It the target is an electronic device, he can cause a short circuit with this effect.

This effect causes a 4D explosion, centered on a point which the mage can see (distance modifiers apply). If he can’t see it, he can’t do it.

The final control over the air. With this effect, the mage can live without breathing. For the duration of the effect, the mage may not only refrain from breathing, but also become immune to the effects of extreme pressure (positive or negative). The mage will “magically” produce air in his lungs from nothing.

This effect allows the mage to cause a lightning to fall from the sky in a place of his choosing. He must see the place, it must be on open air, and the climate must be favorable (a cloudy sky, though it can be arranged with climate control).

The lightning falls with the strength of a normal lightning (4 to 5 Coulombs). It causes a 6D structural damage to whatever it touches. No armor protects from this damage, but a Faraday cage dissipates it entirely. Outside the fact that it was created b magic, it is a very normal lightning.

This effect is like “Climate Control”, but for the creation or prevention of great cataclysms. Below is a table with the additional modifiers for every type of disaster. The penalty to prevent a disaster is the same to cause it:

This effect allows the control over all forms of the 4 elements. With a simple command, the mage can part the waters, stop winds or seed storms. The mage may completely neutralize any damage based on the 4 elements at the rate of 1D per margin of success (thus being able to walk into the fire).

He can move the elements in great amounts. He could summon a snowstorm, burn down an entire castle, or freeze a lake. The GM is free to determine any penalty he thinks just for this.

Damages caused with this effect are in the range of 5 to 7D

The art of enchantment covers the creation of magical talismans and items of all sort. A well done enchantment can protect a family for generations, or lead kingdoms to destruction.

All listed enchantments have a fixed time of preparation, and the need of one or more physical components. There are 2 types of enchantments:

Talismans: which remain enchanted until a certain condition is met.
Magnetizings: Effects made over fixed areas, which remain active until a certain condition is met.

Beyond the usual penalty on the level in Enchantment, every different effect requires the use of certain skills by the caster, specified for each effect.

The duration of an enchantment is, in most cases, permanent. However there are certain conditions established in the creation of the enchantment that may change this determination, modifying also the caster’s roll.

For the creation of a talisman, the mage may buy the material component or create it himself. In every talisman’s description, there are two fields, one stating what is the cost of the material and another stating the required rolls (and penalties) and time required for the creation of the talisman.

Talismans require attention and care by their user. If a person creates thirty amulets and uses only one with himself, carrying the others in case something happens, the others will lose their effect, because the user will not value and care for them. For an amulet to work, it must be used at all times OR stored away from everyone’s sight, from sunlight and contact with ANY person (keeping it in the bag is not enough). Every amulet is different and has a “discharge time”, after which it loses its power if these conditions are not met.

This amulet protects the user from other malign uses of magics or supernatural effects. While the user wears it, anyone using any supernatural power in him with hostile intent (cinematic martial arts skills included) must first win a contest against the magical skill level of the mage who did the amulet.

If one hostile magic wins this contest, the amulet breaks and becomes useless (material included).

This is a generic focus which allows a mage to power up an object with enough energy to enhance ONE SPECIFIC MAGICAL EFFECT, and not magical skill in a whole. It gives the user a bonus in his level with that effect only.

The bonus conferred is equal to the creator’s level in Enchantment minus 15 divided by 2. Therefore, a level of 21 confers a bonus of +3 and a level of 31 confers a bonus of +8.

The greatest bonus that can be obtained with a focus of power is +10 (level 35).

For the creation of the item, the maker must use an adequate skill enough to create a “fine” quality item, which costs at least $20.000.

A mage can only enchant focus of powers for effects which he himself knows at level 15+

No focus of power can be created for this effect.

This talisman consists of a very hard to find object (a four leaf clover, a rabbit’s foot, etc), and, once enchanted, protects the user against bad luck.

The talisman gives the user a number of re-rolls which he can use in case he fails an important roll.

Once used the re-rolls, the talisman loses its power, and a new one must be obtained.

The number of re-rolls which the talisman gives the user equals the creator mage’s level in “Luck Charm” minus 12, divided by three (round up). Therefore, a level of 15 would allow one re-roll, and a level of 22 would grant 4 re-rolls.

With this focus, the mage creates an area (usually a circle), within which he will be protected against hostile intent.

Anyone using supernatural powers on the mage with hostile intent must overcome the mage’s level in Enchantment. Anyone trying to cross the boundaries with hostile intent (whatever they are) must overcome a challenge of its willpower and the caster’s level in enchantment.

If someone breaks the circle, it will cease to function altogether. The mage may optionally place a crystal at the circle’s border at casting time. This crystal will break the moment the circle is broken (if not removed first).

Spells are the study of the effects that a powerful willpower can have over other’s perceptions. This study involves the so called “illusions”, mind control and the coveted ability to become invisible.

Most spells, unless noted, are subjected to the Familiarity modifiers based on the caster’s familiarity with the target.

With this spell, a mage may influence a mind in a way to make it feel whatever emotion he desires. The target may resist with its willpower, and, if he fails, he will start to feel whatever emotion the caster imposes. Induced emotions must be generic (anger, calm, pleasure). The intensity of the emotion will depend on the margin of successes by which the caster won the target’s resistance. Directed emotions (like anger towards someone, or pleasure towards something) must be created with the “Binding spell” effect.

The target can only resist this effect if the induced emotion goes against what he feels or wants. On the contrary, he will be a sitting duck for this effect.

If the target is another mage who has some level in Spells, then he can always resist this effect. If he does resist, he will know that someone tried to bewitch him.

The mage may choose to influence more than one person with a penalty of –1 in his roll per target affected. With an extra penalty of –5, he can affect everyone nearby (within 10 meters or so), thus creating an “aura” of feelings to all around him. When used in such manner, the spell has no familiarity modifiers, although every one affected has its own resistance roll as described.

This is the spell used to force someone to perform an action he would normally not do. The mage concentrates on the effect and the person affected, and it will be taken into doing the described action if it fails a resistance roll.

The target can only resist this spell if he has some level with Spells or if the described behavior goes against what he believes or wants. In other instances, he will he a sitting duck for the spell.

If the target is another mage who has some level in Spells, then he can always resist this effect. If he does resist, he will know that someone tried to bewitch him.

If the target is not a mage, then he will probably not even realize what was done unto him, believing that he did what he did because he so willed it.

If the action described goes against the target’s beliefs, he can have a bonus in his resistance of up to 15 (for things like “kill your mother”).

This effect allows the mage to influence the target physically through his psychological component. It allows the mage to induce specific physical effects controlled by the brain, such as: fear, anxiety, heartbeat, sleepiness, fever, low pressure, etc. A mage which knows anatomy (or theurgy) may have much more ideas for this effect, inducing complex diseases though psychological manipulation.

The target can always resist this effect with his willpower or HT, whichever is greater.

This effect can be used to control certain hormones which may amplify or reduce a target’s physical attributes according to the following table:

This skill cannot be used to kill a target outright.

Although magical in nature, this spell cannot confer superhuman resistance for the target. If, for instance the mage amplifies the target’s strength for a month, this would be fatal for the target, considering that this change comes though biochemical alteration of bodily functions. Forcing it to occur for one month straight could yield effects such as: The target doesn’t feel sleepiness or hungry anymore, the target gets tired much more frequently, the target forces his muscles above their limit. Use the spell’s duration with care.

This effect allows a mage to confuse another’s senses, making him see what is not there, hear what was not said, and feel what doesn’t exists. The illusion is purely mental. The image doesn’t “appears” per se, but the target can never tell the difference. It can resist its effect with his level in Spells or his willpower, whichever is greater.

The illusion tricks all five senses. The target will see people interacting with the illusion as if it were there. People seeing the target will see him interacting with nothing. Therefore, if the target tries to climb an illusionary ladder, or go through an illusionary door, he may try to disbelieve the illusion with a roll of IQ minus the caster’s successes. Every subsequent action which yields a physical response to the target that goes against the illusion gives the target a new IQ or Spell roll.

An illusion may give the target the feeling of being attacked, hurt or even killed. Every time this happens, the target rolls his resistance with a penalty equaling the damage he would illusionary take. If he fails, he will lose half the damage as fatigue (round up). When his fatigue reaches zero, he will believe himself dead and must roll a fright check at –8. He WILL fall unconscious and possibly wake up later on with a nice trauma.

This effect can also be used to hide things from the target, making them invisible to him. Size is irrelevant, since what is affected are the target’s perceptions.

The mage may choose to affect more than one person with a penalty of –1 in his roll per target affected. With an extra penalty of –5, he can affect everyone looking at a certain object (thus altering its appearance, for instance), focusing the illusion on an object and not a person. If he does so, everyone looking at the target can roll their IQ or Spell level minus the caster’s successes to see through the illusion. If they fail, they must not roll again unless the illusion does some kind of physical incongruence from what they see and what happened.

This spell allows the caster to “enslave” part of the subject’s willpower, determining it. The mage determines a desire and a target, like, for instance: “likes chocolate”, or “love me”, and rolls against the target’s willpower. In a success, the target will be compelled to act as the mage determined. The margin of successes will indicate how intensely.

If the target is another mage, he can resist this effect with his level in Spells. This resistance may take place as a second chance if he failed his normal willpower resistance roll.

If the order that the mage gave the target goes against what he really wants or believes, he may resist with a bonus at GM’s will (up to +15 for things like “hate your mother”).

This effect can be used, with the same modifiers, to free a person from a binding, although the mage cannot determine that someone is bound unless he gathers as much by his great change of behavior.

One of the strongest possible spells: that to become invisible. For such, the caster must have a will used to extreme and quick efforts. The mage, with this effect, stimulate the minds of those around him to “see but not notice” him. As if everyone looking at him were suddenly distracted with something else, except him.

Therefore, the mage doesn’t becomes physically invisible, but mentally.

This effect cannot be resisted and is not modified by familiarity. The margin of successes from the caster is the penalty in the perception people will have to notice the caster. This invisibility is not only visual, but affects all senses (even blind fighting or “see invisible” spells from GRUPS Magic). It lasts as long as the caster concentrates on it.

If, for instance, the mage is filmed while invisible, people will see him through the film normally after the spell has ended, but will NOT see him, even through the film, while the spell is in effect.

The mage may exclude certain people from this effect at a penalty of 1 per people excluded.

This is the ability that allows witches and wizards to climb on broomsticks or carpets and fly away. It is the ability to create an energy field around a certain object that may lessen or negate the gravitational field of the planet, allowing the target to be moved at a distance.

Therefore, this levitation is not the same as Psionic Telekinesis, which affects an object from the inside, at molecular level.

This effect allows the mage to control the movement of an object at a distance. It depends on volume, not weight, and bigger objects incur in bigger penalties. The controlled volume equals 125 cubic decimeters per margin of success (50 x 50 x 50 cm per success. –8 is the penalty to levitate a person), up to 10 successes, when the moves 1 hex of matter. After that, each success adds to 1 hex of volume moved.

The speed at which the matter is moved is equal to twice the margin of successes of the modified roll. For 0 successes, the speed is 1 m/s.

Complex movement require additional penalties (like making a pen write on a piece of paper) and various meditation rolls to keep focused.

This spell can affect part of an object, making it levitate on one side, for instance.

This effect allows a mage to create a sudden impulse of movement to an object. The effect is the same as if someone had suddenly pushed (or pulled) the object with an ST equaling the mage’s IQ.

This impulse is quick and instantaneous and cannot be maintained for a finer control.

The impulse is not dependant on the objects volume. If the strength used is not enough to move the object, it simply does not move.

This effect allows a mage to levitate himself and fly away. It lasts while the mage concentrates. The speed at which he flies is equal to 2m/s, times the margin of successes (for 0 successes, the speed is 1 m/s).

The mage can levitate himself and all he is carrying in one hex, regardless of weight. To levitate someone else, or someone with him, he has an additional penalty of –2 per person levitated.

This effect allows a mage to, with intense concentration, manipulate some object at a distance as if he were holding it. He could, for instance, lock/ unlock a door without the key (but with a roll of Lockpicking), play a musical instrument, type a keyboard, etc. The object will not levitate, but simply start working. To levitate the object while manipulating it, add the “telekinesis” penalties to the manipulation.

The mage could, with a “mundane” skill, perform professional operations such as fixing a clock, lapidate a jewel, etc.

Necromancy is the study of death and the dead. With it, a mage can not only communicate with the dead, but also conjure, bind and banish spirits in general. On some cases, he can also bring someone back.

When someone dies, as far as these rules are concerned, his body passes on and his soul enters another plane called “astral plane”, which is where the magical force comes from. He, then, remains in this astral plane for a period which varies from 3 to 5 days (referred to as astral transition) until it moves on to some superior dimension which transcends the realm of conventional magic.

The spiritual summoning that magic performs, the binding of a spirit and other effects which deals with spirits in general (except resurrection) do not affect THE spirit of the deceased person, his immortal soul, which lies beyond magic, but rather, they affect the echo that he left marked on the memory of the astral plane, an image of what the person was, in all likeness to himself, but without real substance, a shell of intelligence which the astral plane retains from everyone which traverses it.

The light of the astral plane, called astral light, works like a universal memory of sorts, where every single thought and action is recorded. This very light also records the patterns of the beings which were once living, like an intelligent software which remains behind after someone dies, the echo of his very own intelligence. Therefore, summoning the spirit of a deceased person is to summon this echo, and give it life and strength through the mage’s very own life and strength. It is not the person which comes before the mage, but that person’s memory left in the world where it once lived.

For this reason, when the spirit of a dead person is conjured, it can answer many questions about its own life, but nothing about what lies beyond. Also for this reason, conjured spirits lack free will. They will behave as they were used to, as a conditioned behavior, but cannot change their ways, evolve or learn anything. They are like automatons built by the astral light and the mage’s willpower.

Thus, a deceased’s spirit cannot resist an attempt at conjuring it, because it has no will of its own to resist anything.

This effect allows a mage to sense the presence of spirits around him. These can be other mages outside their bodies, spirits of dead people going through astral transition, or spirits of dead people which left an impression so strong in certain places that they created “hauntings” which still roam these places.

With this effect, the mage “feels” the presence of other spirits and may even obtain more information about them, depending on the margin of successes:

Margin of successes: Information detail

This effect allows a mage to see, hear, smell, or place one of his five senses on the astral plane (the spiritual world). He must choose which sense will be displaced, and others may be added at a penalty of –2 per additional sense. The most usual are sight, hearing and smell.

For the duration of the effect, the mage loses his original sense. He effectively will not see with his physical eyes, if he places his sight on the astral.

With this effect, the mage may summon a dead spirit to his presence. It appears only before the mage, a priori, but the caster can add people to the summoning ritual if they spend all of the time to cast along with him in preparation. If such is the case, these other people will also be able to communicate with the spirit.

Every other person watching this ritual will incur in a penalty of –2 for the caster’s roll. If the preparation is ever interrupted, it must start anew. The conjuration lasts until the mages (and auxiliary) have asked all they wanted to know or until one of them is perturbed by external influences.

The spirit communicates through impressions, thoughts and ideas, which may be perceived as his answers in a successful IQ – 4 or Necromancy roll, but NOT through physical sounds (in what other way would a shadow talk?). If the mage uses astral hearing, he may listen to he spirit with his ears. The spirit understands the mage’s orders not because he hears them, but because, being astral, he can sense and answer to a dominant willpower, and reacts accordingly.

This very same effect is used to summon to the mage an elemental spirit or a “demon”. These are not spirits of living beings, but are like the astral echo of great emotions concentrated by mankind throughout the ages. They behave like the spirit of a dead person, but are usually capricious and quite irrational, following an almost animal logic. Many mages consider treating with elementals a great danger, but they may confer benefits quite beyond the reach of other conventional magics.

This effect allows the mage to unfold his spiritual body from this physical one and enter the world of the dead: The astral plane.

The astral plane has many particularities described in many books. Basically, it is a realm governed by thought, where, with a simple effort of willpower, you could go anywhere you want, talk to anyone, cross walls, etc. Likewise, it is very easy to create a reality of its own in the astral plane and “think” that what you see is a loyal reflex of the physical world, when in fact it is all built by your imagination. Also, not always thought rules. Although you know that you could, for instance, fly in the astral plane, you may find yourself jumping from a cliff just to fall flat at the bottom, simply because the belief that you cannot fly is deeply rooted within your consciousness.

As a rule of thumb, astral trips are very little trustworthy in what regards their connection with the physical world. You may think that you are talking to the spirit of a deceased person, when you actually just “created” this being with you own will to find it. However, there is a certain relation between images seen on the astral and the physical world. In the overall, it is a pretty messy place to be.

However, that is where elemental spirits and other beings lie, and once there, you can talk with them much more freely and directly.

Once in the astral plane, the body’s sensibility is reduced to nearly zero. An astral travel can last very shortly, or minutes, or even hours and days, depending on who is traveling. The physical body may pull the traveler back in cases of physical need, or a travel can end abruptly if the traveler is suddenly taken by materialistic thoughts (like lust, lecherousness, etc).

This is considered the greatest effect of necromantic knowledge. It allows the mage to bring someone back into life after he has died, under certain conditions. When someone dies, depending of the cause, it may still be that his body is capable to sustain life, even if shortly.

If a person, in dying, still has his body in one piece, this effect can be attempted.

Through this effect a mage gets in touch with the spirit of a deceased person which is still going through astral transition (3 to 5 days after death, at most), and, under an extreme effort of willpower, he captures the will of the dead person and creates an affinity with it so strongly tied to life that the target will, indeed, wish to live again so strongly as to come back.

However, in returning, the person will be subjected to the conditions in which his body was left. If, for instance, he died of cancer, he will come back and still have his cancer. If he died with a shot in the head, he may come back for only one or two seconds. The healing of the conditions which caused death is not covered by this effect.

There is, also, an additional complication. Death, being the greatest possible change in someone’s life, and being unavoidable to everyone, always represent an evolution. In dying, the person enters a state of consciousness far greater than she had while living. The effort that such a person has to make to come back to the life she already left behind is tremendous, because, as a rule of thumb, in dying, a person understands the reason for his death, the designs behind the apparent fatalities, and why she must move on, and not move back. Therefore, a target ALWAYS resists an attempt at resurrection with a bonus of +3 in his willpower roll.

If the mage is successful in his attempt, the person will come back and inhabit his body again (most times bearing full remembrance of what happened beyond). For how long, though, will depend on the state of the body and this person’s will to stay alive after this death experience.

This is the ability of a mage to cause or heal afflictions simply by an effort of his will.

A priori, a person doesn’t have to know anything about anatomy or medicine to perform an act of theurgy. In fact, on most cases, the more a person knows, the less she can do, because “anatomical studies prove that such a thing is impossible”, and, being magic an answer to the mage’s will and beliefs, it will fail when the beliefs also fail. For theurgy, the mage just must believe in SOMETHING (for instance, that the water of an unexplored lake has healing properties against certain diseases) for it to work.

For this reason, a theurgist mage is not used to discuss his beliefs with other mages or medics. The secret of his magic keeps his will sharp. If he ever discusses it, he may lose his power when someone proves him from A to B that what he believed is without grounding.

This effect allows the mage to feel what is physically wrong with the target. If he has any medical skill, he may explain the problem technically. If not, he will explain according to his belief. He may describe what symptoms the target will display as consequence of his illness, such as: “You have an illness which will cause a growing fever in 3 months, and death two months thereafter”.

In a successful roll, the mage feels one illness per success, starting always with the gravest. Successes can be “spent” by the mage to obtain more detailed information about an illness. For instance, is the mage feels the target has a liver cancer, he may spend successes to understand what caused it, how long the target will live, etc.

With this effect, the mage “stabilizes” the target’s body in a way to stabilize his injuries preventing his death. The target remains injured (he does not recovers lost HP), but his wounds will close and will not infect or bleed any longer. The target stops losing HP right away due to open or untreated wounds.

This effect MAY heal the target’s HP if he have come below -HT. The points of HP recovered are equal to the margin of successes of the caster with this spell. If the recovered HP is greater than –HT, then it stops recovering at –HT + 1.

This effect can also be used to prevent heart attacks, strokes and other metabolic accidents of the kind. If performed every day on a person, this effect keeps its body free of cholesterol, clean and in good working condition, thus greatly increasing his life expectancy (aging rolls start in 70 years on a TL 3 environment, or 20% later on other environments).

This effect allows the mage to heal or cause a disease on the target. The penalty for this effect varies according to the strength and intensity of the disease, but, at first, any disease or illness can be affected, even those which are purely psychological in nature, or spiritual illnesses afflicting the body.

At first, nobody heals nobody. The only person who can heal a diseased one is himself. The mage can only help him believe he can. Therefore, when someone is targeted with this effect, he must roll his willpower with a penalty equal to the mage’s penalty to heal him and a bonus equal to the mage’s margin of successes. If the target is successful, he will be permanently healed. If he fails, the healing will last for as many successes the mage had in days, after which the disease will resume its course.

Healing is instantaneous, all symptoms are gone in the same instant.

This effect can also be used to remove or insert any kind of intoxication or poisoning within the target, with the same penalties.

This effect allows the mage to recover lost tissues and close wounds, thus recovering structural damage (HP) to a body.

Every margin of success heals 1 point of HP to a target.

This effect can also be used to heal other kinds of structural damage, according to an additional penalty:

This regeneration happens through a process in which the mage places part of his own energetic body within the target, and solidifies it, this recovering the wound. Therefore, in healing X points of damage in a wound, the healed person will star for X days without sensing that part. It will be like “sedated” to him, and he will only recover that region’s mobility and sensibility after the X days elapse.

If the mage heals more than 6 points of HP in one single roll, he will transfer some of his mental disadvantages (and advantages) into the target. For every point of healed HP above 6, the target assumes 5 points of mental (dis)advantages from the caster, first the disadvantages, and only after all those have been transferred, the advantages. This effect goes away as the healed part recovers its sensibility, at the rate of 5 character points per day, until all returns to normal.

The mage rolls one attempt at this skill pr wound. If he fails his first attempt, or do not heals all of the needed HP, that wound can no longer be healed by that mage.

This is the ability to turn one thing into another. It is the definite conquest over matter, and a mage with this knowledge, at first, do not have to worry about material welfare anymore.

This effect allows the mage to destroy objects or mend broken ones. The margin of successes indicate how many HPs he can recover or remove from the object. This effect cannot be used to increase the quality of an item above its original value (turning it into “fine”, for instance).

This effect cannot rebuild an object to which a part is missing. To fix a broken item, the mage must have the pieces of that item with him, or, at least, 90% of the original object intact. An object which turned to dust cannot be rebuilt.

With this effect, the mage may project his consciousness outside of his body in the form of another being. The mage must choose which animal best represents his personality and this will be the animal that he turns when his consciousness is projected.

The effect is that the mage leaves his body exactly as in “Spiritual Unfolding”, but his astral body takes on the form of an animal, and projects with so much intensity that it becomes solid. Therefore, during this effect, the mage’s original body is left behind, unconscious. When the effect expires, the projected body vanishes and the mage returns to the location of his physical body.

The mage may end the effect whenever he wishes. Any damage that his animal self sustains will be reflected to his physical body instantly.

With enough skill, the mage may project in the form of other animals:

The projected body forms itself a few steps away from the mage’s unconscious body. When the effect expires, the projected body vanishes wherever it is.

Through an effect known as “repercussion”, all damage delivered to the projected body is reflected back in the mage’s physical body, although it is generalized damage and not specific to any organ or body part. If the physical body of the mage dies, the mage dies as well and the projection ends immediately.

Transmutation:
Penalty: -10 (plus an additional penalty)
Time to cast: 1 hour
Duration: Instantaneous - Fixed

With this effect, the mage may, as the name implies, alter an inanimate substance into another. The penalty is given with the complexity of the transmutation performed:

All alterations happen within the same realm (solids remain solid, liquids remain liquid).

To turn something in another very rare one or very complex (like tetra-ortil-para-hydronegate of Triborus), the mage must be successful in a roll of chemistry or another skill that the GM deems appropriate. To turn a material in something usually known, like sugar, gold, etc, no extra roll is needed.

If the mage wishes to use this effect to cause damage (creating poison), all people affected by the poison can resist the damage with a willpower roll. If they are successful, that poison is completely neutralized for that person.

The affected mass is 333 grams (1/3 of a kg) for success (plus one).

Penalties are cumulative. To turn 3 kilograms of water into wine, the mage rolls with –8 (to alter the element’s nature), -9 (3 kg), -10 (natural penalty) for a penalty of –27.

With this effect, the mage may go from one place to the other without traveling the distance between them. He vanishes from wherever he is, and appears far away.

During the time to cast, the mage slowly disappears from the original place and appears in the new place. In this period, he is vulnerable to attacks in both locations.

The effect has a modifier based on the familiarity of the mage with the destination.

The mage can carry nothing in this transport.

Every magical school passes on their knowledge differently. Some teach through nature, others, through mathematical analogy, and so on. These differences can give the student, and usually do, certain specific magical disadvantages, listed below.

The mage learnt magic through the analogy with a mundane field of knowledge. He understands magic as being related to this knowledge, and, therefore, cannot evolve his magical knowledge beyond this mundane one.

This disadvantage is related to one mundane skill in specific (math, poetry, singing, etc). With it, the level in any magical skill of the caster cannot be higher than his level in that mundane skill.

If this disadvantage is assumed more than once, the magical skill level of the caster can never go above the lower of all of the skill’s levels.

The mage learnt all of his magical theory as being an offset based on a “master” ritual. Whenever he performs a magical effect, he must, before, perform his “master” ritual, thus increasing his time to cast.

If the mage do not perform the ritual, all of his spells will have a penalty of –8.

This disadvantage costs –5 points for master rituals which last 5 minutes, -10 for master rituals which last 30 minutes, and –15 for master rituals which last 3 hours.

The mage learned magic as being intimately connected with physical life, and believes it as being inseparable from his life force. To perform magical effects, he must use his own energy, thus weakening himself a little at every spell he performs.

With this disadvantage, to perform a magical effect, the mage must spend a number of fatigue points equaling half of the penalty for the effect he is indenting to create (round up). If he has no such fatigue, he may spend his own HP at the rate of 1 HP per every 2 points of fatigue.

Without this expenditure, the magic doesn’t happen.

These mages learned to extract energy from their sexual centers to power up their spells. To perform their effects, they must observe the most rigid chastity, refraining completely from any sexual activity.

If they ever engage in sexual relations, the energetic loss will confer them an additional penalty of –7 in all of their magical effects. This penalty goers away at the rate of 1 point per day of chastity, until in one week they are fully restored.

Needless to say, if the mage engages in sexual relations “again”, this penalty drops once more to –7.

The mage learned to perform magics and to control the invisible forces through a series of movements (many martial arts use such techniques). To perform any magical effect, he must be able to move hands and feet, and, if incapable of so, will be subjected to a penalty of –4 (if he can only move his hands) or –8 (if he cannot move).

The mage needs some artifices to concentrate his will and perform a magical effect. Magic wands, broomsticks, and so on. Without these items, h is subjected to a penalty in his effects of –8.

Every magical skill needs a different item related to it.

This advantage costs –5 points for small and easy to carry items such as rings, wands and the sort. –10 for hard to conceal items, like long staffs or broomsticks, and –20 if every effect uses a different item.

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