# Magic in Temnia # Conceptions of Magic ## Adventuring Magic **Open Hand Magic, the School of Olidarus** **Staff and Circle Magic, the School of Bryn** **Linear-Runic Magic, the School of Caltraterro** ## Practical Magic Adventuring magic is the most familiar to player characters, and is also the most narrowly-defined form of magic. Spells read like contracts because they need to work that way in order to play the game. But magic used by everyday people who live in the towns, worship and the temples, and lock their door at night for fear of the unknown don't necessarily use magic in the same way. A town's priest might be capable of casting *sanctuary*, but what us would he have to protect one person from harm for 6 seconds? A more likely use of that power would be to ward his temple from mayhem or monsters. A blessing given to a couple on their wedding day is more likely to be needed than a town guard wanting a +1 to attack rolls in a single combat. Practical magic is a more diffuse, longer lasting and harder to dispel version of spells (both well-known and unknown) that NPCs use in their day-to-day lives. It may be worth while to create "practical" version of spells like mage armor, bless, sanctuary, goodberry, etc. but the entire point is that the village priest and sage are doing things with their spells other than sitting on their thumbs waiting for the player to ask them to cast a buff spell on them. ## Theoretical Magic Adventuring casters sort of just slap together in well-trod formulae for predictable, narrow effects. They are to magic what funko pops are to sculpture, what buskars are to concert musicians. Theoretical thaumaturgists rarely bother casting spells that "do things." Instead they study *how* magic works and *why*. In doing so they lay the foundation for future generations to build new generations of magic upon. The research that these people perform also allow for mundane defense against wizards just taking over everything. Non-casters can use their knowledge of how magic works to (say) build a "faraday cage" that would keep teleportation effects from working in an area and not having to resort to casting a bunch of 8th level spells every day. ### Magical Metalurgy - Mundane / Metallurgic defense against magic - Lead - Protection from divination - Silver - Protection from transmutation - Copper - Protection from illusion - Iron - Protection from enchantment - Gold - Protection from necromancy - Tin - Protection from conjuration - Nickel - Protection from evocation # Classifications of Magic ## Arcane Magic - Magic that is energized from elemental energy. Innate to the material plane. - Fell Magic - The Magic of Bodies ## Divine Magic - Magic generated from the connection of living things. - Fey Magic - The Magic of Souls ## Psychic Magic - Magic generated from the thoughts and feelings. - The Magic of Minds ## Psionics - Magic generated from the power of the Evermind. - The Magic of the Void ## Akashic Magic - Perhaps magic alien to the world, sourced from the worlds of the travellers? - Perhaps a purer form of divine magic, similar to how he mind blade shapers think of their constructs as a purer form of psionics? ## Shadow Magic - Didn't Dreamscarred do a book about the alternate magic forms? - Perhaps tied to the transitive planes? There is a shadow, truth and memory aspect to the three alternate magic forms. ## Shadow Weave Magic - Probably not a way to incorporate into standard magic, but perhaps might fit into a conception of vile/corrupt/tainted magic. ## Truename Magic - Important to the Eruden and their conception of a Ediosian realm of "true forms." - Maybe conected to the Astral Plane and the Plane of Truth ## Vestige Binding - Binding powerful lost creatures to yourself and gaining powers through them. - Pact Magic Unbound, Vol. 1 (PFRPG); Radiance House - Perhaps a flavor of psychic magic? - Dragon Shamans might also fit into this ## Wild Magic ## Dragon Magic - Runic Magic? - Dragonmarks? - Dragonpacts - Draconic Auras # Schools of Magic - Necromancy - Healing - Decay / Disease - (Un)Death - Divination - Fate (Curses, luck magic) - Foretelling - Scrying - Conjuration - Summoning - Creation? - Teleportation - Temporal - Evocation - Elemental - Invocation (Alignment) - Abjuration - Transmutation - Creation? - Polymorph - Illusion - Charm / Compulsion - Hallucination (Figment / Phantasm) - Projection (Light/Sound creation) / Glamour / Pattern) - Universal: Spells that view / shape magic as a whole (Detect Magic, Read Magic, etc.) # Categories of Magic ## Drift Magic >[!Notes] >Drift magic or waste magic might be a descriptor added to a variety of dessecation, negative energy or earth spells. It may be worth looking into the Dark Sun stuff to see if there's defiler content that might be worth including. >Alternatively, it might be worthwhile to classify spells, into terrain-based spells similar to the color magic system in MTG, where Red, White, Blue, Black and Green leylines tie to desert, cold, water, bog and forest terrains. (Also, grey for underground and yellow for planes?) Drift magic is the process of tapping the natural strata and tides of magic inherent in large collections of sand, ash, and dust. Such gatherings speak to eons of time, weathering, and history. This power is not visible to the unpracticed eye, but for those with the appropriate sensitivity, even common sand is awash with potential that can be tapped to increase the effects of spells and produce other special effects. **Learning Drift Magic:** Knowledge empowers drift magic. A character must have taken the [[Drift Magic]] feat to gain any of the following benefits. With this understanding, a character unlocks the knowledge of the eternal desert. Drift magic is not a secret lore. In fact, information on the craft can be found in desert tombs, scrawled on crumbling papyrus, and in the dreams of those who sleep at the heart of a sandstorm. **Limitations of Use:** Drift magic requires a connection to the waste, in the form of sand or other desert soil. In waste environments, the soil surrounding a character is sufficient to meet this requirement. When traveling in other environments, a practitioner of drift magic must carry 1 pound of such material among her equipment. **Using Drift Magic:** To use drift magic, a character must merely keep in mind her special knowledge of the desert. No checks are required. In natural areas of sand, dust, or ash, a practitioner can use drift magic as a free action. Other areas require the practitioner to expend a move action to utilize drift magic. Spells with a casting time of longer than 1 standard action cannot benefit from drift magic. **Bonus to Effective Caster Level:** A practitioner of drift magic adds 1 to the effective caster level of any spell that has the earth descriptor or that deals dessication damage. Even if a spell meets both these criteria, the effective caster level only increases by 1. **Flaywind Burst:** Characters with the Drift Magic feat can learn flaywind burst as a 4th-level spell, instead of a 5th-level one. ## Sacred Magic - Needs to be hard to live up to, a near impossible standard. ## Corruption / Evil Magic / Blood Magic - Evil spells and Corrupt magic need to be more powerful than true-good magic. - The entire appeal of "forbidden" magic is that it offers something that other magic does not, either a greater level of power or a shortcut to power. - Shadow weave? ### Dark Speech There exists a language so dire, so inherently full of spite, malice, corruption, and hatred that it is simply called the Dark Speech. This is the secret language of evil gods, so foul and so potent that even demons and devils refrain from its use, lest it consume them. Not surprisingly, very few mortals know even a few words of the Dark Speech. But those who do are wise to never underestimate the power of words. The safest way to use the Dark Speech is through spells such as dread word. Most characters must take the [[Dark Speech]] feat to begin to learn the Dark Speech language. The Dark Speech is extremely difficult to master. A special feat is required to speak even a single word of it correctly, for mortal tongues were not designed to utter these words of pure evil. Some evil outsiders know smatterings (or more) of the Dark Speech and need no feat to master it. To actually communicate by means of the Dark Speech— that is, for a knowledgeable speaker to convey some information to a knowledgeable listener—the speaker must take great care, or both listener and speaker will be harmed. There are no words in the Dark Speech for good concepts such as kindness, mercy, and purity. However, evil characters can speak of misery, anguish, hate, and betrayal with an accuracy impossible in any other tongue. The Dark Speech has no written form. It cannot be transliterated into another language’s written form without losing the underlying hatred that is at the core of its meaning and power. There are four ways that a speaker can use the Dark Speech: _Dread:_ Whenever you use Dark Speech in this manner, you take 1d4 points of Charisma damage, and every other creature in a 30-foot radius must attempt a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Cha modifier). The result of a failed save by a listener depends on the listener's character level and alignment, as detailed in the table below. | Level | Alignment | Result | | -------- | --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 1st–4th | non-evil | Listener is shaken for 10 rounds and must flee from you until you are out of sight. | | 1st–4th | evil | Listener cowers in fear for 10 rounds, and you may implant a _suggestion_, which persists to 10 rounds longer. | | 5th–10th | non-evil | Listener is shaken for 10 rounds. | | 5th–10th | evil | Listener is charmed by you (as _charm monster_) for 10 rounds. | | 11th+ | non-evil | Listener is filled with loathing for you but is not otherwise influenced. | | 11th+ | evil | Listener is impressed, and you gain a +2 competence bonus on attempts to change its attitude in the future. | _Power:_ Whenever you use Dark Speech in this manner, you take 1d4 points of Charisma damage. By incorporating the Dark Speech into the verbal component of a spell, you increase its effective caster level by 1. By using it during the creation of an evil magic item, you increase its caster level by 1 without increasing the cost. _Corruption:_ As a full-round action, you can whisper vile words at an inanimate object and reduce its hardness by half. This use does not drain you, but you cannot use the ability more than once on a single object. _Dark Unity:_ You can use the Dark Speech to establish a hive mind in any swarm of vermin or animals with an Intelligence score of 2 or lower. Thereafter, you can give the swarm one command as per the _suggestion_ spell (caster level equals your Hit Dice). Whenever you infuse a swarm in this manner, you take 1d4 points of Constitution damage. ## Ritual and/or Ceremonial Magic Some of the most powerful and spectacular spells worked across Faerûn are cast in the form of circle magic. Circle magic is a type of cooperative spellcasting that allows the spellcaster leading the circle to increase her caster level significantly and achieve results otherwise unavailable to the spellcasters composing the circle. The Red Wizards of Thay and the Witches of Rashemen make frequent use of circle magic. Stories of other forms of circle magic abound in Faerûn. ### Participation The ability to participate in circle magic requires the selection of a character feat.... One spellcaster, usually the most powerful or experienced character present, stands at the center of the circle. This character is the circle leader. A circle requires a minimum of two participants plus the circle leader. Up to five participants can aid a circle leader in a standard circle, but a Red Wizard of 10th level can lead a great circle containing up to nine participants. All participants in a circle must stand within 10 feet of the circle leader, who stands in the center. ### Circle Powers The first use of circle magic is to empower the circle leader with the strength of all the participants. This requires 1 full hour of uninterrupted concentration on the part of all participants and the circle leader. Each participant casts any single prepared spell, which is consumed by the circle and has no effect other than expending the prepared spell. The spell levels expended by the circle participants are totaled as circle bonus levels. Each bonus level may be used to accomplish the following effects: - Increase the circle leader's caster level by one for every bonus level expended (maximum caster level 40th). - Add Empower Spell, Maximize Spell, or Heighten Spell metamagic feats to spells currently prepared by the circle leader. Each bonus level counts as one additional spell level required by the application of a metamagic feat to a spell. The circle leader may add the feats listed to a spell even if he does not know the feat or if the addition of the feat would raise the spell level past the circle leader's normal maximum spell level (maximum spell level 20th). - Increase the circle leader's level by one for level checks (dispel checks, caster level checks, and so on) for every bonus level expended (maximum level 40th). These effects last for 24 hours or until expended. Circle bonus levels may be divided up as the circle leader sees fit. For example, the Red Wizard Hauth Var leads a circle in which four participants each cast 2nd-level spells. Hauth Var chooses to use three circle bonus levels to maximize his cone of cold spell, three to increase his caster level from 10th to 13th level for all level-based variables in his spells, and two to add a +2 bonus to any level cheeks he needs to make. The maximized spell is used up whenever he casts his cone of cold, and the other two effects remain for the next 24 hours. Many high-level Red Wizards lead circles on a daily basis to extract magical power from their apprentices. # Planes and Portals ##### Information about Portals and Nodes to the planes.