Core Rules deep dive: Magic & Spellcasting

This is the second topic I wanted to cover in my deep dives: really, I love to transmit the message to the reader about how it is structured the magic system in the VI·VIII·X game.

Firstly the way I call magic in the game: SS or Secret Sorcery and CC or Clerical Canons. These are 2 ways rather different to have a magic effect. Hopefully I had been enough skilled to use the same mechanics despite the difference in concepts.

SS is the eldritch magic, the arcane powers, what is used by high wizards. It is secret for a precise reason, this is not disclosed in the rule book (it will be part of the setting and it has origin from the cosmogony to be more precise). SS casters know words of power, every word is one of the two parts which a spell is composed. The caster needs to use 2 different words of power: an element and a principle. These two are then enough to create the effect wanted by the caster. This means the SS is completely open! There are no constraints in the spell definition. There are not even limits in the number of spells per day! The SS system is definitely open compared to "traditional" RPGs... "Ok, then where is the drawback?" is wondering the reader... yes, that is correct, there are some drawbacks! The main important one is that the caster is always running the risk of a backfire in case he exceeds a limit. The backfire is proportional to the wanted effect: the more powerful is the spell, the higher risk for the caster to die by himself! "What is then the limit?" ...well here comes the real idea: it is partially not known since the total limit is given by a part known by the player and by a part known only by the GM! This is the KUP model! ...ok, better to stop here: in the book the magic system is one of the most detailed chapters, plenty of cases and side notes to help the reader to get familiar with this approach.

CC on the other hand is not as open as the previous one: this is channeling magic, it is therefore a matter of invoking the cleric's patron (which is called Elect in the game) with a prayer. This means that there are several prayers which a CC caster can use and they generates some magic effects. The effects are not completely defined: they will vary according to the power of the Cleric. This way allows that a cleric can cast a spell with and effect and another cleric can have a different effect from the same spell. Even in this case there is the risk of backfire, the rule is nearly the same. What is different is that the score in Morality can be in this calculation a bonus or a malus... the more aligned is the cleric with his Path (and his patron's Path), the more powerful/weak can be the spell effect. The KUP model plays a double role in this context: both for the unknown parameter in the calculation and the score in Morality! The final image for CC I want to leave is the one where a cleric casts a spell and keeps on fighting with his weapon: in the VI·VIII·X game I let the CC casters the possibility to fight and loudly pray their Elect in order to have a magical effect while fighting ...these are the war priests I had always in mind (thanks to Larry Elmore for providing me with this inspiration by means of his wonderful artworks!).

Last but not least, I have made up a counterspell system which is build in a way that any spell can be blocked (more or less, the playtest will confirm my idea). Even under this aspect there is a part tied to a clustering which enables or not the possibility to counterspell: for CC, useless to say, this is the Path of the caster (and the prayer), for SS it is a more difficult concept which will be more clear once the setting will be explained (in any case in the rule book everything is duly described).


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