Magic

Important: Mages must have spellpower to cast spells.
!classpoints spellpower at level up or creation is needed.

They must also have a SPELLBOOK, ask DMs and OPs for these.

Spellbooks: 
Spellbooks carried on mages in Arklain are small rectangular discs that appear to be glass but are much more durable, they store the spells you learn but as soon as they are separated from you by more than 50ft, they lose their potency and your spells disappear. You cannot cast without a spellbook and once you lose one, you will have to rewrite all of your spells.

Gaining Spells: 
The following details #Arklain's system of spell gain (In addition to those methods listed below on this page.)

Gaining spells usually starts at a Temple. You can share spells out amongst yourselves of course, but usually those are very limited and very soon people run out of spells to share. Stealing someone else's spellbook does not work, the spells will disappear as soon as you read it, without giving you a chance to write them down. A spellbook has a life of its own and can only be copied from consenting Casters.

Temples
There are lots of Temples in Arklain, the biggest one being where the Council rules from. It is also not accessible to the common people. Only the ground level and the prayer halls are, the spells and summons are stored elsewhere.

You can search for spells randomly or go to a Temple Library and perform a Magic check (DC 10 + spellpower of spell you're looking for) This check will tell you which temple your spell is in. 

The basic process to gaining a spell is to go to a Temple, ask a Priest to spend some time in the Chamber of Spells and do a SpellCraft (DC 20 + Spellpower)  check. Most Temples do not have an easily accessible Chamber of Spells and the more powerful the spell you're looking for, the harder it will be to get them. All those seeking spells go through a Path to Power, as a group, pair or singularly, they must overcome the challenges to get to the Chamber.

You won't know what kind of spells are in a Temple until you go to the Chamber of Spells, so it's sometimes best to try and gather some information about the difficulty of the Path to Power and the type of spells the Temple would be likely to contain before you go and try it.

Parties and costs
Having a party to protect you might be important, spellcasters may choose to join you and help you and gain spells at the end alongside, or they may choose to sit out on the Quest altogether and simply protect you (No spell gain for them). Parties can be volunteers or hired help, depends on the person or persons that choose to help you. You foot the cost yourself, and it may or may not be worth your time and cost.....

There are other ways to gain spells as detailed below:
Spells gained this way are limited and must be sanctified by a Temple (!check performance skill ie Melody, Harp etc 20 + spellpower of spell, only spells up to 3rd caster level may be taught this way. (14 or under spellpower) 25 gp must be spent for every caster level in the spell and it takes spell level + 1 hours to write.)

Clashing Powers
Some Clans cannot get certain spells.

Ice/Snow/True Imae: Cannot take Fire Spells

Batek/Dwarf: Cannot Take Lightning Spells

True Yenrui/Sijercha: Cannot take Water/Ice Spells

Cyborgs: Cannot take Water or Lightning Spells

Bonuses

Your Intelligence bonus increases your spell point maximum when you buy them (!classpoints spell power).

Your Wisdom bonus increases your spell DC when you cast spells.
(For example: Fireball save - Refl to half damage, DC = 10 + Caster Level + Wis + Spell Level (3))

Your Charisma bonus increases how many spell points you regain at a time.

Casting A Spell

To cast a spell you have to have a modified spell power equal to the number the spell is listed under in the spell pages. E.G.: Prestidigitation requires 1 spell power, MageArmor requires 4 spell power.

You also have to have enough spell points to cast the spell. The cost of the spell in spell points is the same number of spellpower the spell is listed under (1 for Prestidigitation, 4 for MageArmor, etc.). When you cast a spell you use up spell points.

Your modified spell power is: spell power + Wis bonus. If your Spell power + Wis bonus < 1 then you cannot cast spells.

You need at least 1 spell power to cast any spells.You can't cast a spell if you don't have any spell power.

Point Regeneration

Spell points regenerate/heal at the rate of 1 point per hour.

If you have a Charisma bonus the regeneration of your spell points per hour is increased to: 1 + Cha bonus.

Healing

You can't cast healing spells on yourself since healing in #Arklain relies on a psionic basis, where you lose HP by the amount you heal. Curewounds always costs 1 Spell point.

!cast curewounds # Nick
Replace # with how much you want to heal and nick with the name of the person you're healing.

Spellpower vs Caster Level

On the Spells List you can find the spells listed by spellpower. Spellpower dictates how much the spell costs in spellpoints and your spellpower need to at least match the spell's for you to cast it. Caster levels help to dictate what the DC to overcome certain spells is, even if you reach the caster level of a spell but do not have the spellpower for it you cannot cast that spell.

Determining Caster Level

Caster level is determined by your spell power. For every 5 points of spell power you have, your caster level increases by 1 (minimum of 1). Mialee starts out her adventuring days with a spell power of 1, her effective caster level is 1. Later, when she's much more experienced, her spell power has become 23, making her effective caster level 5. Caster level 1 for levels 1-4, caster level 2 for 5-9, 3 for 10-14, etc. (Caster level = (spell power / 5) + 1)

Caster level is important to know when determining the duration of spells and damage, and other things. If Mialee, with a spell power of 23 (caster level 5) cast fireball, she'd do 5d6 damage (a fireball does 1d6 damage per level). If she cast protection from elements with the same spell power, the spell would last 50 minutes (the spell's duration is 10 minutes per level).

Starting Spells

All characters start with 6 spells total. The two free spells are always detect magic and read magic, the others can be picked by you, and may be chosen from any of the 0-level or 1st-level spell lists (Spellpower 1-4). Simply PM a DM to add them, and if none is available write your character's list in an email and send it to haiuka at haiuka@iprimus.com.au

Preparing Spells

The only preparation required to cast a spell is that the caster know the spell and have the required statistics to cast it.

Magical Writings
Spells gained this way are limited (!check performance skill ie Melody, Harp etc 20 + spellpower of spell, only spells up to 3rd caster level may be taught this way. (9 or under spellpower) Scrolls cost 25 + 25gp/per caster level of spell. The same amount must be spent again if copying into a spellbook. Scrolls can be bought in Halfling Trees.

To record a spell in written form, a character uses complex notation that describes the magical forces involved in the spell. The notation constitutes a universal language that wizards have discovered, not invented. The writer uses the same system no matter what her native language or culture. However, each character uses the system in her own way. Another person’s magical writing remains incomprehensible to even the most powerful wizard until she takes time to study and decipher it.

To decipher a magical writing (such as a single spell in written form in another’s spellbook or on a scroll), a character must make a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the spellpower). If the skill check fails, the character cannot attempt to read that particular spell until the next day. A read magic spell automatically deciphers a magical writing without a skill check. If the person who created the magical writing is on hand to help the reader, success is also automatic.

Once a character deciphers a particular magical writing, she does not need to decipher it again. Deciphering a magical writing allows the reader to identify the spell and gives some idea of its effects (as explained in the spell description). If the magical writing was a scroll the reader can attempt to use the scroll (see your friendly Dungeon Master about this).

Adding Spells to a Spellbook

Characters can add new spells to their spellbooks through several methods.

Spells Copied from Another’s Spellbook or a Scroll: 
Spells gained this way are limited and must be sanctified by a Temple (!check performance skill ie Melody, Harp etc 20 + spellpower of spell, only spells up to 3rd caster level may be taught this way. (9 or under spellpower) 25 gp must be spent for every caster level in the spell and it takes spell level + 1 hours to write.)
A character can also add spells to her book whenever she encounters a new spell on a magic scroll or in another character’s spellbook. No matter what the spell’s source, the character must first decipher the magical writing (see Magical Writings, above). Next, the wizard make a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spellpower of the spell).

If the check succeeds, the wizard understands the spell and can copy it into her spellbook at double the writing time. (see Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook, below). The process leaves a spellbook that was copied from unharmed, but a spell successfully copied from a magic scroll disappears from the scroll.

If the check fails, the wizard cannot understand the spell and cannot attempt to learn it again even if she studies it from another source until she gains another rank in Spellcraft. If the check fails, the character cannot copy the spell from another’s spellbook, and the spell does not vanish from the scroll.

Learning By Example:
Spells gained this way are limited and must be sanctified by a Temple (!check performance skill ie Melody, Harp etc 20 + spellpower of spell, only spells up to 3rd caster level may be taught this way. (9 or under spellpower) 25 gp must be spent for every caster level in the spell and it takes spell level + 1 hours to write.)
A character can learn a spell by finding someone who will take the time to teach you a spell by casting the spell very slowly. First, a character has to be able to figure out the magical energies going into the spell, and approximately what the spell is meant to achieve. Then they character has to successfully translate that description to paper. As you may have guessed by now, this system is approximately the same as the version where one reads the spells from a book or scroll. The successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spellpower of the spell) is required to figure the spell out, then another check (DC 15 + spellpower of the spell) is required to write the spell into your spellbook.

Unfortunately, if the second Spellcraft check fails the character cannot retry the next day unless they see the same spell being cast, because the memory of the spell's formation will have faded, and if the character doesn't get it right the first time, she isn't likely to get it right a day later.

With this technique a character can sometimes learn new spells when others cast them normally. The initial Spellcraft check stays the same (DC 20 + spellpower of the spell), but the second check for successful scribing into your spellbook is made at DC 35 + spellpower of the spell, because you only felt the spell for a split second.

Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook

Once a wizard understands a new spell, she can record it into her spellbook.

Time: The process requires 1 hour plus 1 additional hour per spell level. Zero-level spells (Cantrips) require 1 hour

Space in the Spellbook: A spell takes up 1 page of the spellbook per spell level (so a 2nd-level spell takes 2 pages, a 5th-level spell takes 5 pages, and so forth). A 0-level spell (cantrip) takes but a half page. A spellbook has 100 pages.

Materials and Costs: Materials for writing the spell (special quills, inks, and other supplies) cost 50 GP per page

Replacing and Copying Spellbooks

A character can use the procedure for learning a spell to reconstruct a lost spellbook, but the process of writing the spell into a book is made at the difficulty the same as writing a spell from the memory of a spell cast normally, not a slow-cast spell (DC 25 + spellpower of the spell, not 15 + spellpower of the spell). She can write any spells she remembers successfully directly into a new book at a cost of 50 GP per page (as noted in Writing a New Spell into a Spellbook).

Duplicating an existing spellbook uses the same procedure as replacing it, except that the task is much easier (DC 15 + spellpower of the spell, not 25 + spellpower of the spell).

Getting scrolls and learning new spells: There is currently one magic school/shop in the kingdom. They will sell you a scroll and the supplies to write it down, or enroll you to learn the spell at a reduced cost,
learning a spell from the school will take at least 1 day per 0 and 1st level spells, more for higher level spells

Top