Magic

Magic

Magic is split up into two main variants: Arcane Magic hurts and hinders opponents; Divine Magic heals and enhances allies. The methods of spellcasting differ between these two types and use different resources.

Wardens and players should feel free to flavor magic as they see fit:

Damaging arcane magic could just as well be divine light or druidic thorns and spores;
Aiding divine magic could be cast by a wizard as a magical enchantment;
Ritual magic could be a god’s blessing instead of song.

Arcane Magic

Casting arcane magic requires Magic Dice (d6). Magic Dice can be gained through Skills (Gifted) or worn Equipment. This depends on the preferences of the Warden; if you want to stay true to the philosophy of “You are what you carry,” remove the Gifted skill from your game world. If you want to lean more into the Old School notion of classes and specialization, you could make arcane equipment only usable by those with prior training.

Casting Spells

The following works the same for any type of arcane spellcasting:

Invest a number of Magic Dice (d6), up to the number you have available due to skills or gear.
Roll the invested Magic Dice. For each 4-6, gain one Fatigue. For each 6, you can choose to roll an additional MD, even beyond your skills or gear. The total rolled MD can never exceed 4.
Play out the effects of the chosen spell.
Note any duplicate values. This indicates something has gone very wrong. The sum of the dice that show duplicate values are dealt as damage to HP, then to WIL, in the form of Arcane Feedback. For instance, rolling 4-3-3 means taking 6 damage. If damage taken is larger than 6, it has the Blast property, affecting anyone Close. Arcane Feedback occurs after a spell has taken effect.

There are 4 main ways of casting spells:

Sculpt Energy covers damaging spells in a wide variety of variations.
Tricks cover spells that hinder but do not damage opponents.
Counterspell is a form of defense against magic.
Practical Magic covers all other magic effects: those affecting the environment and allies.

Sculpt Energy

Any magic user can cast a bolt of arcane energy. This energy can be sculpted to the spellcaster’s will. The amount of modification depends on the number of MD rolled.

It costs 1 MD to cast a basic Arcane Bolt, as seen in the table below.

For each extra MD rolled, the caster can pick one property to enhance.

Spell Power	1 MD	+1 MD	+2 MD	+3 MD
Damage	1d6	2d6	3d6	4d6
Range	Near	Far	Distant
Speed	Full turn	Quick turn
Targets	1	2	Blast
Element	None	1 (Fire, Ice, Shock etc.)
Damage Type	Wound (STR)	Stun (DEX), Daze (WIL)

Harvald wants to blast the Orc Chieftain, who is standing Far, gloating at having captured the party. Harvald decides to invest 3 MD. He rolls a 3, 4 and 6. The 6 allows him to roll another MD, which he decides to do: he gets a 4. By default, the bolt does 1d6 damage, so he picks the 6 he rolled for damage. He decides to upgrade damage (and picks one of his 4’s) and range (Near to Far). He now has one MD left, and uses that to cast his spell Quickly. His spell does 10 damage, but also causes 3 Fatigue (4, 4 and 6) and 8 damage (the two 4’s) to Harvald.

Players are encouraged to be creative in their energy-sculpting; a player can simply describe what they would like to happen with their spell, and the Warden can indicate how many MD that might take. The general rule of thumb is that MD can be used to add a damage die or interesting effect at a 1:1 rate.

Depending on the campaign structure and style, characters might not immediately have access to all effects. In a one-shot dungeon delve, the party’s wizard might know all effects, to allow for versatility. In a longer running campaign, fire might be uniquely linked to the might of dragons and require a special trainer to be sought out.

Tricks

Tricks are akin to Gambits, except with magic. Tricks never deal damage, are always quick turns, and have a maximum range of Near. Just like gambits, Tricks can be used to stun, shove, disarm, trip, etc.

When performing a Trick, the magic user describes the desired effect: “Maltas wants to use his magic to freeze the boots of the orc in place, preventing him from moving.”

The Warden will decide on a fitting Save for the target: STR in the example, for the orc to wrest his feet free.

Just like with Sculpt Energy, MD can be used to enhance tricks. Casting a Trick at all costs 1 MD, which can be enhanced with:

Difficulty: For each MD, treat the Ability that the target uses to Save as lowered by 2.
Targets: the Trick affects 1 additional foe Near the main target for each MD.

Maltas tries to make an enemy orc stumble and invests 2 MD. He rolls a 3 and a 5. 1 MD is used to cast the Trick, and 1 MD is used to increase the difficulty. The orc must roll under or equal his STR (14), but due to the difficulty, his STR is treated as 12 for this Save. Maltas gains 1 Fatigue, from the 5.

Counterspell

Since the use of magic must be declared at the start of a combat round, there are opportunities to intervene in the casting.

Anyone with Magic Dice at their disposal can, at the moment an enemy spell is cast, attempt a counterspell. This option is not available if the caster is already focusing on a spell themselves.

A counterspell simply means investing and rolling an available number of MD, following the same rules for casting (i.e., Fatigue on a 4+ and Arcane Feedback occurs on doubles). If the total roll is equal to or higher than the total roll of the enemy spell, the two cancel each other out in a bright display of energy and light. If the roll is lower than the enemy spell, the counterspell fails and the enemy spell takes effect as normal.

Practical Magic

Any magic that doesn’t do direct damage (Sculpt Energy) or indirect harm (Tricks) can be improvised free-form by simply determining the MD value.

1 MD: A small, personal effect. Could be achieved with tools instead of magic (lighting a torch, growing vines as a rope).
2 MD: An interpersonal or room-sized effect. Barely beyond the possibility of tools (a small wall of force, breathing underwater, camouflage, sending telepathic messages).
3 MD: Large, “impossible” effects. Makes a mockery of the normal laws of nature (animating the dead or inanimate objects, teleportation).
4 MD: Mythical, highly dangerous alterations to reality itself.

Maltas wants to light up the environment. He tells the Warden of his intentions. The Warden informs him that simply lighting the tip of his staff, much like a torch, would require 1 MD. Creating a hovering orb of light would require 2 MD. Summoning a cloud of semi-sentient spectral fireflies would require 3 MD. Creating a ball of light with the same intensity and properties of sunlight would require 4 MD.

Practical Magic is designed to be very free-form. However, the list of Arcane Words of Power can serve as inspiration or as an interesting limitation. Perhaps your setting only allows a magic user to use certain Words or know a limited amount.

The Power of Magic

An important note: Magic is the only exception to the rule of use the highest die roll when taking multiple die of damage (besides environmental damage, such as falling or lava).

A wizard with 4 MD can use their Sculpt Energy to deal 4d6 damage, no questions asked. How is this fair?

It isn’t. A 4 MD wizard is a magical nuke — and I’m okay with that. This also makes them primary targets.
4 MD has considerable risk of Arcane Feedback. 2 MD has a chance of 16%, 3 MD has a chance of 44%, 4 MD has a chance of 72%!
4 MD requires 4 empty inventory slots, and, if my anydice.com math is correct, has a 93% chance of 1 Fatigue, a 68% chance of 2 Fatigue, a 31% chance of 3 Fatigue and a 6% chance of 4 Fatigue.
Empty inventory slots also means less loot and less armor.

The Upper Limits of Magic

There are no strict definitions as to the limits of magic mentioned here. This is done on purpose; primarily, players should feel free to let their creativity run wild. However, casting the equivalent of a Wish spell every day can quickly break the game. There are a few ways to handle “outrageous” spell ideas (Wishes, permanent enchantments to large regions, converting rocks into gold, and the like):

“Yes, but…“ Whatever the players want might be possible but is beyond the scope of simply using 4 MD. It requires extensive study, preparation, elaborate rituals with obscure ingredients… Adventures spring from friction in trying to reach a goal. Using magic does not need to bypass a challenge, but can simply change the nature of it.
Be careful what you wish for… If the party really, really wants to bring back that lovable goblin companion that ate an axe to the face, magic might offer a path forward — but something will take notice. Perhaps the God of Life and Death gets upset, or a jealous High Wizard (who has been asking nobles a premium for resurrection) sees this as competition, or the Church sees this as blasphemy, or word gets out and the party will now get harassed endlessly to please bring loved ones back to life. Foreshadow that this act of magic is highly dangerous and unpredictable, but leave the consequences unknown.
Within the fiction of the world, certain feats might simply not be possible; even magic has laws. Enchantments always wear off, and nothing can be made into gold.
Stick (strictly) to the Arcane Words of Power. These tags can be the framework of magic, and if a word isn’t on the list, it can’t be harnessed by magic.

The Warden can also decide to limit the availability and power of magic in several ways, by…

Only allowing spells up to a certain MD. A campaign where no magic beyond 1 MD is possible allows magic to be used for clever small tricks and not much more.
Putting limits on MD. A character has access to MD through training or gear, but these MD are literal dice in front of them. On a roll of 4-6, the die is exhausted and cannot be used again until a good night’s sleep.

Arcane Equipment

Trinkets (bracelets, rings, necklaces, circlets, whatever) give MD when worn. The MD given by trinkets don’t stack; you can only ever get +1 MD from them.

Wands can be held in one’s hand to grant +1 MD.

Staves (bulky) grant +2 MD when wielded and can double as a weapon.

Wands and staves have a Power noted next to them. This is the number of Magic Dice they can negate before cracking, be it from Arcane Feedback or an enemy spell. When cracked, a wand or staff does not grant MD until repaired. When using Power to counter an enemy’s spell, the wielder declares the number of dice they intend to negate after they know how many dice are rolled, but before they know the outcome.

Repairing wands and staves costs attention and resources (such as reagents or money) and generally restores them at a rate of 1 Power per day. Wands generally have a Power of 1-3; staves a range of 4-6.

Harvald wears an Inscribed Emerald Ring (+1 MD) and wields a Gnarled Oaken Staff (+2 MD, Power 3). He uses his 3 MD to cast a spell, and the results come up 3, 5 and 5. He can use 2 Power to negate the two 5’s and not take any damage. Alternatively, when targeted by an enemy spellcaster who intends to use 3 dice for a spell, Harvald can decide to use 3 Power to entirely nullify the spell (cracking his staff) or ignore the highest rolled damage die for 1 Power.

Divine Magic

Divine magic is a bit more rigid as opposed to the more free-form arcane magic. This is by design, to reflect adhering to dogma, scripture, or whatever kind of religious system is being depicted.

Higher Power

To cast Miracles, one needs to make a vow to a Higher Power. This Higher Power can be a god, a concept (vengeance, chaos), or an abstract construct (nature). Players are encouraged to discuss with the Warden what kind of Higher Power they want to connect with and figure out how this fits into the world.

Higher Powers tend to have one or two domains, such as courage, death, darkness, earth, life, fire, balance, glory, joy, inspiration, music, the sea, shadows, or animals.

A Higher Power also has Enemies of Faith: those deemed abhorrent, heretical or “evil”, such as the unjust and criminal, the greedy, demons, the undead, abominations, dragons, or those harming nature.

They also have a preferred form of Worship: specific rituals, acts, prayers, and frequency.

Finally, consider how likely a Higher Power is to intervene and how “human” they are. Are they fickle and petty, or more like a force of nature?

Miracles

Miracles are kept in a Prayer Book (or a similar item), which takes up 1 inventory slot. If this book is lost, the devotee cannot change their currently imprinted Miracles.

Casting a Miracle requires having one hand free to hold on to a Focus. This can be a ring, a necklace, a bracelet with prayer beads, sacred tattoos, or another type of trinket, and it does not take up an inventory slot. Many gods are petty and require a devotee to carry their Focus out in the open, identifiable by all. Hiding one’s divine allegiance is frowned upon by Higher Powers.

Only Miracles which are imprinted into the mind of the devotee can be cast. An imprinted Miracle takes up 1 inventory slot. This represents the mental burden of having an elaborate prayer memorized. Imprinted Miracles can be swapped, added, and removed every sunrise.

It can also be done during an adventure, in which case it requires 10 minutes and a WIL Save. The desired changes take effect regardless of the outcome, but on a failure, the devotee cannot change Miracles again until sunrise.

Imprinted Miracles cannot be “dropped” at will or due to a full backpack, but they can be forcibly “forgotten” due to wounds or Fatigue.

Casting Miracles

Casting Miracles takes a full turn. The caster must declare which miracle they intend to cast at the beginning of the round. While casting, the caster cannot actively defend (block, dodge, parry, etc.) themselves.
The caster decides how many Faith Dice (d6) they want to invest, with a maximum of 4.
The Faith Dice are rolled. For each 1-3, the caster takes 1 WIL damage. For each 4-6, they take 2 WIL damage. This does not trigger a Critical Damage Save. In a Miracle description, [dice] stands for the total number of dice rolled and [sum] stands of the total sum of the rolled dice. Bonus Damage is added to a damage roll but cannot exceed the weapon’s regular maximum damage. It also does not enhance magical damage from arcane magic.

List of Miracles

As a Warden, consider limiting certain Miracles to certain Higher Powers within the adventure setting. New Miracles can be acquired through devotion and through encountering them while on adventures.

Bless. The caster declares the allies they want to bless and rolls FD. The total value of [sum] becomes a Pool of points that those blessed can tap into at will when making Saves. The Pool lasts until the end of the day. The moment an ally needs to roll a Save, they can use up a number of points from the Pool to temporarily raise their Ability (STR, DEX, WIL). The Pool must be tapped into before rolling the Save.

Hargar must make a DEX Save to avoid falling rocks. The Pool has 5 points, because Justus the Cleric cast Bless earlier and rolled a 5 with his 1 FD. Hargar’s DEX is 12, and he’s quite wounded already, so he taps into the Pool and takes all 5 points. His DEX is now 17 for the purposes of the Save.

Rebuke. The caster targets [sum] Enemies of Faith. Each must make a WIL Save against [dice] difficulty, meaning they must roll under or equal to their WIL while rolling above [dice]. On a failure, they will flee in fear.

Empower. The caster targets [sum] allies. For the next battle (i.e., until they’d be able to restore HP by catching their breath), they deal [dice] Bonus Damage.

Replenish. The caster targets [dice] allies, who regain [sum] HP each, not exceeding their maximum HP. This means that a roll of 2 FD, with results of 4 and 6, allows 2 allies to regain 10 HP each.

Smite. The caster charges their weapon with divine purpose, dealing [sum] Bonus Damage for the next [dice] attacks.

Divine Protection. The caster selects [dice] targets, who now have 3 Armor for the next [dice] attacks they suffer.

Purify. The caster touches a waterskin or single meal (or something equivalent in size) and purifies it of any toxins, making it safe to consume. For 2 FD, purify up to 4 portions at once. For 3 FD, toxins, gasses or poisons nearby are temporarily suppressed. For 4 FD, this cleansing effect is longer-lasting.

Elemental Protection. Up to [dice] individuals are warded from harsh weather effects for [sum] hours, aiding in travel and sleep.

Surge of Resilience. For [dice] x 10 minutes, a single target gains a divine surge of power for one selected, damaged Ability. At the moment of casting, note their current Ability score + [sum], not exceeding their usual maximum Ability score. Whenever the target needs to make a Save, they can use this noted value, instead.

Prayer

At the end of the day, the devotee dedicates a short prayer to their Higher Power.

The Warden will decide, together with the player, how “pious” their day was. Depending on the content of the prayer and their actions during the day, the Warden might assign a bonus ranging from +1 to +3, or 0 if the Warden feels that the character did not serve the best interests of the Higher Power.

1d6+bonus	Effect
1	The Higher Power is not pleased. No WIL is recovered.
2-3	The Higher Power is silent. Determine to do better tomorrow, and regain 1d2 WIL.
4-5	The Higher Power approves. Bask in their praise, and regain 1d4+1 WIL.
6-8	The Higher Power is impressed. Their blessing fills and nourishes. Regain all lost WIL.
9+	The Higher Power is exalted. Their power flows through you. Regain all lost WIL, and any Miracles cast tomorrow gain a free FD, up to a max of 4.

Lyrical Magic

Songs can be encountered in many places: a minstrel on a market square, a bard in a tavern, a battalion of soldiers marching by, a maiden at the local well. To really understand a song, however, one must spend some time reflecting upon its meaning, the emotions behind it, and how to perform it well.

Studying A Song

Studying a song is a Complex Task. The timescale is in days, and each day of study requires exposure to the song; this can mean paying a singer to perform it, being at the same window each night to hear it sung, or hiring a trainer. The number of Steps is dependent on the complexity of the song.

Singing A Song

For singing a song, use the following rules:

Singing a song takes a full turn in combat. Songs can also be sung outside of combat, at camps or on the road.
To sing, make a WIL Save. The singer must roll equal to or under their WIL, but above the song’s complexity.
On a failure, the singer gains 1 Fatigue.
Roleplaying by singing or speaking at least four lines that feel appropriate reduces the difficulty by 3 (possibly reducing it to 0).
If a song targets a specific ally or enemy, the singer must be able to see them, and the target must be able to hear the singer.
A song cannot be sung while engaged in melee combat, and being attacked or attacking in melee ends the singing of the song.

Example Songs

The complexity of the song is listed in brackets after its name.

Song of the Hearth (1). A warm song, slowly building in intensity, singing of home, friendship, family — everything worth fighting for. It is popular as a lullaby but is also sung by soldiers marching into battle. When sung, it fills the hearts of your companions with comfort and passion, making all who hear it immune to fear and allowing them to automatically pass Morale checks until the fight is over.

Song of Vigilance (2). Sung by children playing hide-and-seek, though also mumbled by sentries to keep their wits sharp. It tells the tale of a spider checking its web for flies and is thought to have originated during a public panic about Doppelgangers, centuries ago. When sung, it prevents your party from getting ambushed by enemies. The song has a repeating structure, running for roughly 10 minutes (or an Exploration turn within a dungeon).

Song of Slaying (1). A shanty-like song about Gork the Barbarian, a figure of legend said to have slain literally every type of being in existence at least once. The song structure allows the performer to insert any type of creature they want into its lyrics. The song lasts for 1 round (effectively until all combatants have had 1 turn) and gives +1 bonus damage against a particular type of foe (goblins, bandits, trolls, orcs, etc.). This bonus damage cannot exceed the maximum possible damage roll of the weapon, so a roll of 4 on a d6 becomes a 5, but a 6 remains a 6.

Song of Silent Passing (2). Sung by the performer and usually softly hummed along to by others in the company in a call-and-response like fashion, this song describes a nobleman’s son fleeing the city after his father has been overthrown. Each couplet describes a new threat encountered and cleverly bypassed. When sung while traveling (in either wilderness or dungeon), roll 2 instead of 1 Event Dice next time a roll comes up. The party gets to pick the most favorable result.

Song of Light Feet (2). Sung by lumberjacks and miners when they venture further into the forest or mines than they have before, as a way to steel their nerves. If sung while traveling, it aids in bypassing natural obstacles involving physical exertion (such as climbing a rock wall) by preventing Fatigue of the party. If sung while in a dungeon, it prevents Fatigue loss from Exhaustion or similar events.

Song of All Seasons (3). Popular among travelers, merchants, and pilgrims, this song describes the passing of seasons. It has a strong sense of rhythm, which helps with long marches. When sung while traveling, it decreases the effects of bad weather by one tier (i.e., terrible weather has the effect of bad weather, bad weather has the effect of pleasant weather).

Song of Woe (5). A deceivingly simple song, describing the hardships of the world and man’s struggle against it. Its complexity rests in its complicated melodic transitions. When sung during a moment of rest, all who hear it remove 1d6 Fatigue. The singer does not restore Fatigue and is left Deprived until they can find proper rest. The song’s complexity requires the singer to truly feel the woe they’re singing about, and thus it cannot be sung properly unless the singer is at least somewhat uncomfortable. (This is Warden-speak for “don’t use this song to meta-game”; it doesn’t work if the singer has a camp available to them, as a quick way to remove Fatigue just before a quick rest. The party must be in a bad, desperate situation of some sort for this song to work.)

Song of Goodbye (1). A song sung about the recently departed. It summarizes the departed’s life, but also highlights the lessons and words they would want to impart on those still living. Its melody is haunting — similar in tone to Dies Irae. Each verse ends with “That’s what [name] would say, that’s what [name] would do.” If sung after a battle in which a character, either PC or NPC, has fallen, this song takes on special properties; the player of the fallen companion gets to impart their final words and goodbyes through the lyrics.

Song of Iron (3). A song singing the praises of a particular weapon, describing past deeds and battles, and ending each verse with a warning and threat. Singing this song in battle allows for one specific weapon to roll an extra damage die whenever it is used in an attack. The song takes one turn to sing, and its effect lasts for the rest of the fight.