Chapter VII: Magic
Example: Heinz, a Journeyman Wizard, is trying to cast the spell earth gate. With Magic 2, Heinz wants to increase his chances of casting the spell. First, he spends a half action to make a Channelling Test. If he succeeds, he’ll gain +2 on his Casting Roll. Unfortunately, Heinz fails his test but all is not lost, as he has also decided to use an ingredient. He pulls out an iron key, the ingredient for the earth gate spell, and uses it during the spellcasting. This gives him a +2 bonus. His Casting Roll is 12. Normally, this would have been a failure, but with his +2 the Casting Roll becomes a 14 (earth gate’s Casting Number) and he successfully casts the spell. a uTomaTIC f aIlure When magic is involved, nothing is certain. Regardless of a spell’s Casting Number or the effects of the Winds of Magic (see Variable Winds , page 145), if all the d10s of your Casting Roll come up 1, the spell fails. In addition, you must take a Will Power Test or gain an Insanity Point as the uncontrolled magical energy sears your mind. Because they only roll 1d10 to begin with, novice spellcasters are in greater danger than their more experienced elders. Example: Horst, a Hedge Wizard with a Magic Characteristic of 1, is tired of studying in the sputtering light of a candle so he decides to cast the magic flame spell. He makes a Casting Roll with his 1d10 and gets a 1, so the spell fails. He then makes a Will Power Test, fails it, and so gains 1 Insanity Point. Horst learns a valuable lesson about using magic for trivial purposes. T zeenTCh ’ s C urse Arcane Magic can be unpredictable. The more power you use to cast a spell, the more likely it is that something unexpected will happen. This is Tzeentch’s Curse. Not all Wizards honour Tzeentch, the Chaos God of Magic and Change, but all fear him. If you are an arcane spellcaster, Tzeentch’s Curse takes effect when you roll doubles, triples, or quadruples on your Casting Roll. The more d10s you roll, the more deadly Tzeentch’s Curse becomes. If you roll doubles, roll percentile dice and consult Table 7-2: Minor Chaos Manifestation . If you roll triples, roll percentile dice and consult Table 7-3: Major Chaos Manifestation . If you roll quadruples, roll percentile dice and consult Table 7-4: Catastrophic Chaos Manifestation . If you roll multiple matches on one Casting Roll, there can be more than one manifestation. For example, if you roll 4d10s and get two sets of doubles, you’d have to roll twice on the Table 7-2: Minor Chaos Manifestation. If preferred, the GM can improvise appropriate Chaos manifestations. If this is the case, use the manifestation tables as a guide to length, severity and type of effect caused by Tzeentch’s Curse. Despite Tzeentch’s Curse, if you meet or beat the Casting Number, the spell is still cast successfully. Example: Continuing the previous example, Altronia has just successfully cast fiery blast. However, all three of her d10s came up 7. While this did help her cast the spell, it also brought down Tzeentch’s Curse. Altronia must roll on Table 7-3: Major Chaos Manifestation , to see what happens. T he w raTh of g od Divine spellcasters don’t have to worry about Tzeentch’s Curse. They pray to their Gods for their spells in a highly ritualized fashion. This insulates them from the worst effects of the Aethyr, thought it also
142
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online