[RPM] Elemental Magic

[Langy]

I'm posting this here because this post got too long to fit in a single post, and I didn't want to spam the other thread with this.

This is a new set of Paths for Ritual Path Magic, separated into two tiers that each have four elements and two paths that combine those elements. This hasn't been playtested yet, but I like the general idea behind it. It's highly influenced by classic elementalism, but doesn't stick to it quite as much as it may have (else it'd only have five skills).

I don't have any actual spells for it written up yet, but I'll do so shortly, probably sticking them in the fourth post, but I've expanded on the short descriptions of each skill I gave previously so that it now includes decent-sized descriptions of what each Path and Dominion can do.

Let me know what you think! Anything too hazy? Unsure what any skill can do, or how to create any effect? Let me know!

[Langy]

Elemental Magic
There are four Terrestrial elements (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) that make up the material world and four Aetheric elements (Spirit, Void, Life, Death) that make up the Aether, the divine or spiritual world, and give the material world life. Together, these eight elements make up the entirety of the universe. Alone, each element is powerful - but some elements can combine to form a new whole, a Discipline that utilizes distinct aspects of each component element. There are four Disciplines, two Terrestrial (Matter and Energy) and two Aetheric (Magic and Destiny).

Each Terrestrial element has an Aetheric counterpart and vice versa, and all Dominions and Disciplines have a diametrically opposing Dominion or Discipline. The various Dominions and Disciplines are related to the old Words and Runes of Power, and the effects of a ritual can be described by the Words of Power used within it.

The Terrestrial Elements

The Terrestrial Elemental Circle

Dominion of Fire (Flam)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Spirit-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Fire includes command over flames, explosions, heat, and light. It is a simple, but powerful path, capable of the acts that most people think of when they think of 'wizards'. Lesser Fire effects can affect normal forms of fire, heat, and light in simple, natural, likely ways; it allows the caster to do things with the flames that it would already be "inclined" to do. Greater Fire effects can affect 'primal' or 'pure' forms of fire or cause it to do complex, unnatural things.

Dominion of Air (Hur)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of the Void-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Air, or alternatively the Dominion of Wind, includes command over air currents, movement, and kinetic energy in general, as well as darkness and shadows and most gases. It is a versatile dominion whose effects aren't usually as flashy as those of the Dominion of Fire, but can be just as powerful when wielded by a cautious user. Lesser Air effects can affect normal forms of air and kinetic energy in simple, natural, likely ways; it allows the caster to do things that the air would already be "inclined" to do. Greater Air effects can affect 'pure' forms of air or cause it to do complex, unnatural things.

Dominion of Water (Aq)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Life-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Water, or alternatively the Dominion of Ice, includes command over liquids of all kinds. Life-giving liquids, such as juices or milk, and liquid fuels may not be created with just the Dominion of Water, but they may be controlled and transformed. This also includes dominion over frozen liquids as well as cold in general. Lesser Water effects are simple and "rough" - not very precise - and are limited to interacting with the liquid in ways that the laws of nature and physics would agree with. Greater Water effects can be very precise and/or blatantly impossible. (Create and Transform effects are an exception, as they are blatantly impossible by definition.)

Dominion of Earth (Ylem)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Death-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Earth includes command over raw, nonliving materials such as ores, dirt, and rocks. It also gives command over base metals and simple alloys. It does not include complex manufactured goods such as electronics or machines, but Greater Earth effects can impact simple refined goods such as refined metal plates or damaging/strengthening (but not repairing or creating) the metal portions of machines. Lesser Earth effects can affect raw materials in simple, "rough" ways and are limited to interacting with the earth in ways that the laws of nature and physics would agree with. Greater Earth effects can be very precise and/or blatantly impossible. (Create and Transform effects are an exception, as they are blatantly impossible by definition.)

The Terrestrial Disciplines
Discipline of Energy (Lux)
IQ/VH
Default: Minimum of Dominion of Fire-2 and Dominion of Air-2.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology; Dominion of Fire; Dominion of Air.
The Discipline of Energy includes command over lightning, the weather, electricity, sound, and complex illusions. It is a highly versatile Discipline whose powers end where another's begin; for example, it can not be used to halt the electrical signals within a person's nervous system (for that you'd have to use the Dominion of Life). Lesser Energy effects can affect normal forms of the energy in simple, natural, likely ways; it allows the caster to do things with the energy that it would already be "inclined" to do. Greater Energy effects can affect weird forms of the energy, such as radiation, or cause it to do complex, unnatural things.

Discipline of Matter (Xen)
IQ/VH
Default: Minimum of Dominion of Water-2 and Dominion of Earth-2.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology; Dominion of Water; Dominion of Earth.
The Discipline of Matter includes command over complex material creations, such as machines and complex refined goods, as well as chemical reactions. It can be used to repair or create manufactured goods, or transform them in strange ways. It can also be used to manipulate electronics, while greater effects can impact matter on an atomic level. The boundary between Lesser and Greater Matter effects is one primarily of complexity and size, though simple operations (causing a computer to crash or disabling the parking break on a car) on complex machines still count as Lesser effects.

[Langy]

The Aetheric Elements

The Aetheric Elemental Circle

Dominion of Spirit (Zu)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Fire-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Spirit includes command over the emotions, motivations, and current thoughts of free spirits, including nonsapient spirit beasts, and most sapient beings. Divine and Infernal creatures may also be commanded by the Dominion of Spirit, but require help from the Dominions of Life and Void, respectively. Nonsapient animals do not have enough animating spirit to control, and thus are not a part of this Dominion. Lesser Spirit effects can affect base emotions or must be noninvasive (e.g., voluntary communication). Greater Spirit effects can go further, with fully invasive procedures and explicit, direct commands. This explicitly does not include reading a person's past thoughts or their memories, both of which require the help of the Discipline of Destiny. Note that Lesser Spirit effects impact nonsapient Divine or Infernal creatures as if they were Greater effects if the requisite Lesser Control Life or Void effects are used to prepare the way. Nonsapient Undead, on the other hand, are controlled entirely through the Dominion of Death, while both sapient and nonsapient Elder Things are controlled via Dominion of the Void. Lesser Spirit effects can also manipulate a mage's own mana reserve; Greater Spirit effects can manipulate someone else's.

Dominion of the Void (Nul)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Air-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of the Void includes command over the connections between locations and the planes of existence, as well as the fundamental force of gravity. It is also connected to certain beings from outside this plane, primarily Infernal creatures and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. This does not include command over the connections between places in time; time-based effects either require the help of the Discipline of Destiny or are the domain of the Discipline of Destiny. Lesser Void effects can impact gates or weak points in reality that already exist, slightly alter the local force of gravity, or allow the Dominion of Spirit to affect Infernal creatures. Greater Void effects can create new gates or weak points in reality, greatly alter the force of gravity up to and including the creation of miniature black holes, or target creatures or people with the natural ability to travel between planes. Dominion of the Void can also affect Things Man Was Not Meant to Know as Dominion of Spirit impacts normal sapient beings, but it always requires an extra Control Void effect - Lesser for nonsapient Elder Things and Greater for sapient Elder Things. Like the Dominion of Spirit, Lesser Void effects can also manipulate a mage's own mana reserve; Greater Void effects can manipulate someone else's.

Dominion of Life (Mani)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Water-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Life includes command over the physical body as well as nonsapient animals and all plants. It can target seeds and trees (which are still growing), but not fallen branches or harvested fruits. This is the Dominion of physical effects and changes; use the Dominion of Spirit to target someone's thoughts or emotions, even if you’re justifying it as "affecting hormone levels" or something similar, though note that nonsapient animals and plants can have their minds and emotions affected by the Dominion of Life. Lesser Life effects allow localized, believable, and subtle changes – or provide basic information. They can also completely dominate most animals or plants, though they may only impact supernatural animals such as Dire Beasts in the same ways as Lesser Spirit effects can impact sapient beings. Greater Life effects can be blatant, complete, and/or superhuman in nature, or sieze control over supernaturally resilient animals such as Dire Beasts. The Dominion of Life may also be used to allow the Dominion of Spirit to impact Divine creatures; this is a Lesser Control Life effect.

Dominion of Death (Corp)
IQ/VH
Default: Thaumatology-6; Dominion of Earth-5.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology.
The Dominion of Death includes command over all necromantic powers. This includes command over nonsapient undead as the Dominion of Spirit, or preparing the way for sapient undead's spirits to be controlled via Dominion of Spirit. This also includes command over the process of death itself, allowing the caster to halt or even reverse the process. It can also include vampiric effects, such as draining the vital forces of one person and putting them in another. Lesser Death effects can make someone more resistant to succumbing to death, transfer a small amount of vital energy from one person to another, or issue basic commands to nonsapient undead or allow the caster to speak with sapient undead. Greater Death effects can halt the process of aging and death or reach across into the underworld to commune with a deceased soul, snuff out a person's life force entirely, or fully command sapient Undead.

The Atheric Disciplines
Discipline of Magic (Ort)
IQ/VH
Default: Minimum of Dominion of Spirit-2 and Dominion of the Void-2.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology; Dominion of Spirit; Dominion of the Void.
The Discipline of Magic governs spells, magical energy, and the act of casting. It is most commonly relied on for "meta-magical" spells. Like Spirit and Void, it may also be used to refill a mage’s mana reserve. No Discipline of Magic ritual can be used to improve someone’s ability to cast spells. Lesser Magic effects can target the caster or ambient magic – including active spells, conditional spells, and charms. Greater Magic effects can involve another person’s casting ability or magic resistance, or magic permanently tied to a place or object.

Discipline of Destiny (Des)
IQ/VH
Default: Minimum of Dominion of Life-2 and Dominion of Death-2.
Prerequisite: Thaumatology; Dominion of Life; Dominion of Death.
The Discipline of Destiny covers luck, odds, entropy, and time. This is often used for "metaeffects," such as influencing die rolls. The degree of the bonus or penalty does not affect whether the ritual is Lesser or Greater; a +5 boon to a skill roll is no more obvious than +1. Blatant effects are always Greater effects. For predicting events (e.g., winning the lottery or accurately betting on horses), use a divination. In conjunction with Dominion of the Void, this can be used for time travel; in conjunction with Dominion of Spirit, this can be used to read a subject's memories. By itself, it can also be used to see someone's past and their future (as a Divination).

[Langy]

Rituals

Flames of War
Spell Effects: Greater Create Fire; Greater Control Fire.
Inherent Modifiers: Altered Trait, Innate Attack (Burning; Explosive, +150%); Altered Trait, DR (Fire Only); Altered Trait, Innate Attack (Burning; Melee, Aura).
Greater Effects: 2 (×5).

This spell cloaks the caster's arms and shoulders in flames for the duration, while providing some protection from the flames as a side-effect. The caster can launch burning balls of flame from his hands at will for the duration using his Innate Attack skill, exactly as if he were casting Explosive Fireball spells.

Typical Casting: Greater Create Fire (6) + Greater Control Fire (5) + Duration, 10 minutes (1) + Altered Trait, Innate Attack 2d (Burning; Explosive, +150%) (25) + Altered Trait, DR 5 (Fire, -40%) (15) + Altered Trait, Innate Attack 1d (Burning; Melee, -30%; Aura, +80%) (8). 300 energy (60×5).


Beat Back the Reaper
Spell Effects: Lesser Destroy Death.
Inherent Modifiers: Bestows a Bonus, Death Checks.
Greater Effects: 0 (×1).

This spell provides a bonus for the duration to all death checks made by the target. Further, when used on someone who failed a death check within the last five minutes, they may reroll their death check immediately, including the relevant bonus. This does not work for those who died automatically from being reduced to -5×HP or below or those who died more than five minutes ago!

Typical Casting: Lesser Destroy Death (5) + Bestows a Bonus, +5 to Death Checks (16) + Subject Weight, 300 lbs (3) + Duration, 10 Minutes (1) + Distance in Time, 5 Minutes (0). 25 Energy (25×1).


Call Eldritch Abomination
Spell Effects: Greater Control Void; Lesser Strengthen Void.
Inherent Modifiers: Backlash, Fright Check.
Greater Effects: 1 (×3).

This spell calls out to the closest eldritch abomination - this is highly likely to be within one hundred miles, though on another plane of existence - and asks for it to travel to the caster's location. If the Elder Thing is nonsapient, this has the force of a command, and it will travel at best speed to the caster's location for six hours. If the Elder Thing is sapient, this isn't a command per se but more of a slightly impolite shout.

Touching upon the home dimension of the Elder Thing's is damaging to a caster's mind; as such, even if no eldritch abomination is able to answer the call the caster must still roll a fright check immediately upon the activation of this ritual.

Typical Casting: Greater Control Void (5) + Lesser Control Void (3) + Duration, 6 hours (5) + Range, 1 dimension and 100 miles (30). 108 Energy* (42×3).
* Requires a Will roll once cast, failure requires that the caster immediately make a roll on the Fright Check Table. This reduces the final cost of the spell by -15% and stacks with Traditional Trappings.


Town Portal
Spell Effects: Greater Create Void; Greater Control Void; Lesser Control Void.
Inherent Modifiers: None.
Greater Effects: 2 (×5).

Creates a dimensional rift to a previously created weak point. This rift can only be used by those the caster specifies at the time of creation; for anyone else, the rift is visible but impenetrable. This is typically used to connect a hazardous zone to a safe zone for a short period, after which the portal closes; this allows a party of adventurers to return to the safe zone to rest and resupply before heading back into the fires.

Typical Casting: Greater Create Void (6) + Greater Control Void (5) + Lesser Control Void (5) + Distance, 10 miles (24) + Subject Weight, 300 lbs (3) + Duration, 1 day (7). 250 Energy (50×5).


Gravity Roulette
Spell Effects: Lesser Create Void.
Inherent Modifiers: Bestows a Bonus/Penalty, Gravity Increment.
Greater Effects: 0 (×1).

The walls of reality begin to crumble and the laws of gravity fall apart. For the duration, the force of gravity becomes either stronger or weaker (by up to 0.5G in either direction) within the area of effect. The force changes randomly every five minutes (or possibly even faster!); roll 2d+3 and multiply by 0.1 to find the new force of gravity in the area of effect.

Typical Casting: Lesser Create Void (5) + Area of Effect, 15 yards (10) + Duration, 1 hour (3) + Bestows a Bonus or Penalty, Gravity Increment +/- 2 (10). 28 Energy (28×1).


Stabilize Reality
Spell Effects: Greater Destroy Void.
Inherent Modifiers: None.
Greater Effects: 1 (×3).

The reality-destroying properties of the Void are neutered in the area-of-effect, neutralizing any current Void-based effects. Any Void spells worth less than the energy used in this effect are neutralized completely - more expensive effects are put into hibernation, leaving a weak point in reality that can be relatively easily reactivated (requiring only Lesser effects, even if it would normally require Greater ones). If a target spell has a leveled effect and the remaining energy is still enough to maintain a lesser version of the effect, then that effect will remain, but at a suitably reduced level.

Typical Casting: Greater Destroy Void (5) + Area of Effect, 15 yards (10). 45 Energy (15×3).

[PK]

Very interesting take on the paths! I like the symmetry and the idea behind the "advanced" paths. I had to skim this -- it's late, but this caught my eye -- but the only issue that jumps at me is that it seems unfair to make the skill of refilling your mana reserve into an (inherently penalized for most casters) advanced skill. It's too important and fundamental to make that difficult, IMO. I'd suggest using the best of Magic or its two "parents," Spirit and Void, to refill the reserve.

Will look at this more later.

[Bramble Thorn]

Gave this a skim. Nice Work, but a couple things...

Shadows needs to be part of the dominion of Fire.

For the advanced effects, I would make them capped to the lowest of the two component paths, so having skill 15 in the path of Matter requires at least skill 15 in the dominions of Earth and Water. This is because they seem to be an advanced usage of their lesser paths, especially Energy and Matter.

I would also make the Advanced paths easier (as opposed to VH), as by the time you begin, the lesser paths give you a solid foundation for learning them (as well as already take up a lot of points...)

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Bramble Thorn

Gave this a skim. Nice Work, but a couple things...

Shadows needs to be part of the dominion of Fire.

For the advanced effects, I would make them capped to the lowest of the two component paths, so having skill 15 in the path of Matter requires at least skill 15 in the dominions of Earth and Water. This is because they seem to be an advanced usage of their lesser paths, especially Energy and Matter.

I would also make the Advanced paths easier (as opposed to VH), as by the time you begin, the lesser paths give you a solid foundation for learning them (as well as already take up a lot of points...)

The advanced paths actually are easier to learn if you have high skill in the component skills due to their generous default. But yeah, limiting the advanced path to the lowest of the two component skills is an idea - though I still would like there to be a way to exceed them if someone specializes in, say, weather magic. Perhaps a perk similar to Technique Mastery.

I can understand why shadows would make sense in Fire, but I like the idea of splitting Light and Darkness into two distinct skills (Fire and Air). Yes, this definitely does mean that the skills overlap a little (one can Create Light, the other can Destroy Darkness, etc) - but that's intentional!

Originally Posted by PK

Very interesting take on the paths! I like the symmetry and the idea behind the "advanced" paths. I had to skim this -- it's late, but this caught my eye -- but the only issue that jumps at me is that it seems unfair to make the skill of refilling your mana reserve into an (inherently penalized for most casters) advanced skill. It's too important and fundamental to make that difficult, IMO. I'd suggest using the best of Magic or its two "parents," Spirit and Void, to refill the reserve.

Will look at this more later.

That's a good idea, PK, especially since in the game where I'd be using this conditional rituals and charms can be made using Symbol Drawing in a similar way to how Alchemy is used in base RPM. It'd allow me to stick prereqs back on the combined paths, too (at the moment, they default to other skills but aren't limited by them). That'll make the Path of Magic not nearly as essential, I think.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by PK

Very interesting take on the paths! I like the symmetry and the idea behind the "advanced" paths. I had to skim this -- it's late, but this caught my eye -- but the only issue that jumps at me is that it seems unfair to make the skill of refilling your mana reserve into an (inherently penalized for most casters) advanced skill. It's too important and fundamental to make that difficult, IMO. I'd suggest using the best of Magic or its two "parents," Spirit and Void, to refill the reserve.

Will look at this more later.

A perk could also be used too, Skill Adaption (Path of X can be used to fill mana reserve) [1] works nicely. You could also do away with filling you mana reserve via a skill and have it statically regenerate - though if you did that you couldn't also fill your mana reserve. I suppose you could also get a perk to refill and have a static recharge, though.

By the way, Langy, I do rather like this, I was waiting to see you toss up some spells before I commented again. :-)

[Langy]

I'll have some spells up later today; I was just working on fine-tuning the general ideas to the point where the paths are all 'solid' in my mind before doing so, though.

As an aside, I created some new diagrams that I think look much nicer.

The Terrestrial Elemental Circle

The Aetheric Elemental Circle

I also edited the original posts, changing the nomenclature a bit again (took up Nul as the word of power for Void and Des as the Word of Power for Destiny, changed 'paths' to 'Disciplines' for the combined paths, leaving 'path' as the generic term for a Dominion or a Discipline), made the Paths have their components as prereqs, and stuck the mana-refilling bits into Spirit and Void.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Langy

I'll have some spells up later today; I was just working on fine-tuning the general ideas to the point where the paths are all 'solid' in my mind before doing so, though.

As an aside, I created some new diagrams that I think look much nicer.

The Terrestrial Elemental Circle

The Aetheric Elemental Circle

I also edited the original posts, changing the nomenclature a bit again (took up Nul as the word of power for Void and Des as the Word of Power for Destiny, changed 'paths' to 'Disciplines' for the combined paths, leaving 'path' as the generic term for a Dominion or a Discipline), made the Paths have their components as prereqs, and stuck the mana-refilling bits into Spirit and Void.

Damn that's cool! I might have to come to you when I need some diagrams.