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CHARM SORCERY - Practice of Magicks at the Collegia Infinitum

WIZARDS use their KNOWLEDGE Attribute to master the Quadra Practica, the Four Practices, which are technical Skills:

• Scribere (Inscription) - the reading and writing of magical texts
• Fizzix (Mixing) - the creation of potions, elixirs and other short-term effects, and Talismans
• Theorie (Theory) - the research of the concepts of magical power and effects
• Telesma (Talisman) - the handling of "Charms" through which to channel magical power

The Focus Skill (PRESENCE) is a psychospiritual Skill used to express Willpower. Wizards are required to Focus when maintaining spells, and must check Focus when their concentration would be disrupted. Focus is also known as Concentration.

The Wizard continually improves these practical skills throughout and their lifetime, but the most exciting work is done within one of the Octo Artis, the Eight Arts:

OCTO ARTIS

		Symbol	Cantrips	First Spelling
	Divinata (Divination) - the Art of Observation	TRUTH, the sun	Cartomancy	Detect Magic
	Abjurata (Abjuration) - the Art of Defense	CLOSED, a barred door	Sympathy	Alarm
	Conjurata (Conjuration) - the Art of Calling Forth	LIGHT, an open door	Palm, Vermin	Grease
	Transmutata (Transmutation) - the Art of Change (self: Mutata; another: Variata)	BODY, a bull's head CHANGE, a ram and bull	Color, Trim	Mage Hand
	Evocare (Evocation) - the Art of Projection	OPENED, a starburst	Candle, Chill, Shove	Arcane Arrow
	Encantare (Enchantment) - the Art of Manipulation	MIND, an open eye	Sneeze	Beguile
	Ludare (Illusion) - the Art of Deception	LIES, the moon	Flicker, Ring	Light
	Antitheare (Antithemancy) - the Art of Entropy	DARK, a gravestone	Pesticide	Chill Touch

Each Art has a controlling Casting Skill (KNO):

• Personas (Personal) - Antitheare, Encantare, Mutata
• Externas (Universal) - Evocare, Ludare, Variata
• Stellaras (Dimensional)- Abjurata, Conjurata, Divinata

Each Spell has its own complexity and rarity, colloquially known as the "Level" of the Spell. The base Difficulty to successfully cast a known spell is 10 + 5/Level of the Spell.

FAILURE to meet a Spelling Difficulty causes the spell to be DELAYED: the Mage must continue to present and chant over the Talisman; add 5 to the total for each additional time period, until the total is >= Difficulty. Roll a Wild Die each round to check for Fumbles. The Power of the Spell is still the original roll. The Mage may cancel the casting rather than complete it.

FUMBLING a Spelling roll: the Mage may elect to "fix" the Fumble by taking 1 INSANITY (see below), rerolling the Wild Die for a result of not '1'. If the Fumble is not "fixed", the Talisman Charm is destroyed. (NPCs take Insanity on odd totals, lose the Talisman on even totals.)

GEAR & PROCEDURES

Kit Bag: Wizards carry a bag of instruments, reagents, etc. used to analyze the world. A mage will carry “kit” measured in q, milliQuintessence, each valued at 200sp*, in the amount of at least 1q/Casting Die. Weight of the kit bag is 2 pounds, plus another pound per 1000q or fraction thereof. Creating a new Talisman requires 2^L * q be consumed from the Wizard's Kit Bag.

*Purchase price: the materials inside are only worth this to Wizards, possibly Gnomes/Alchemists. Represents specially gathered and prepared materials & tools: (Black Pearl, Blood Moss, Garlic, Ginseng, Mandrake, Nightcap, Spider Silk, Sulfurous Ash), willow branches, dried toad parts, newts, wing of bat, exotic candles, incenses, chalks, powders, wire coils, tuning forks, crucible, flint, lodestone, pendulum, balance, acids, bases, salts, compounds, plant & animal parts, gemstones, etc etc etc.

Grimoire: the Spellingbook containing the Mage's spells, casting notes, and talisman notes. Travel Spellingbooks weigh 4 pounds each and contain 96 pages. Spells take 1 page/Level + 1 page for the Talisman. Most Mages start a new Grimoire for their 2nd-Level Spells.

Radix, "(establishing) Roots": Casting spells requires a Wizard to read the astrological & mystical signs each morning. For each day a Wizard does NOT do this, the Fumble threshold is increased by 1 (ie, autofumble on Day 5). This process takes 1 minute per Casting Dice, total (ie 5D Personas/4D Externas/4D Stellaras takes 13 minutes). This time is doubled if the Wizard does not have their Kit, and doubled again if the Wizard cannot observe the outdoors, ie, if below ground.

Memini, "Review": Spells must be periodically reviewed to refresh the Wizard’s knowledge & technique. A spell requires 10 min/Level to Review; this spell will be very clear in the caster’s mind for the rest of the day, lowering the base difficulty to cast by 5. If a spell is not reviewed for 30 days, the base difficulty to cast is increased by 5 each month, to a maximum difficulty of 10 + 10/Level.

Flourish, "light hands": the skill of seemingly instantaneous retrieval and storage of a Talisman Charm. By successfully making a Talisman Roll, a Wizard can "fast draw" their Spelling Charm and begin Spelling the same round; Difficulty is 5 per Spell Level. Failure to make this roll consumes the entire round searching for the Talisman.

Focus, "concentration": Wizards must check Focus when their concentration would be disrupted & are required to Focus when maintaining any spells. The Difficulty of a Focus check is (10 + (5 * All Maintained Spell Levels)) or the Action Roll (Dodge, Run, Attack, Stamina etc), whichever is highest. Focus checks do not require any time.

Concentration is a Focus check before additional Spelling. Normally, a Spell's difficulty is increased by 10 for each maintained Spell. If successful, the difficulty of the intended Spell is NOT increased for each maintained Spell. Failure does not affect the Maintained Spells (the new Casting simply keeps the normal +10 penalty per maintained Spell). However, if the Focus check is under the base Difficulty of the new Spell, it is considered a failed Focus check, and all Spells end.

Ritual Casting: by taking an additional 10 minutes, the Spelling Roll is given a +5 bonus. This may be extended to a total of one extra 10 minutes per Spell Level.

Degrees of Success: Effect, Distance, & Duration

Many Spells check for degree of Success: 0-4+ Difficulty is '1 Success'; each 5 greater than the target Difficulty counts as an additional Success.

Learning New Spells

The base Difficulties for the Four Practices are 10 + 5/Level, the same as the Known Casting Difficulty.

Tutoring Modifiers:
+5: No tutelage available, notes only
0: Tutelage available (ie, typical Collegia Lectures)
-5: Intense one-on-one tutelage for the full learning period (ie, Collegia graduate advisor)
Documentation Modifiers:
+0: Fully documented instance of the spell; grimoire+notes available
+5: Poor documentation: full notes, no grimoire; or, damaged grimoire, no notes
+10: Bad documentation: just a casting scroll
+15: Misleading documentation: notes of an Insane Mage (qv)
Pace Modifiers:
Rush Day: By increasing difficulty +5, the total time will be reduced by 1 day. The maximum Rush reduction is once per die of KNO. The minimum total time is 1 day.
Plod Week: By reducing the difficulty -5, the total time will increase by 1 week. The maximum additional Deliberations are one per die of KNO. Ex: "Plod Week" adds a week of time per -5 difficulty; for a 4D KNO Mage, up to 4 additional weeks could be taken, for a total of -20 difficulty.

1. Determine Difficulty, as above. Modify by Rushing or Plodding.
2. Scope & Preparation: 1 hour. Determine days of work: Spell Level + KNO Dice. Rush (day) or Plod (week) up to (KNO) times.
3. Research Notation: Scribere roll* each day, ie "Notations Day 1, 21", generates 3d6 pages of research.
4. Three additional rolls* at the end of the last day.
   1. Research Theorie.
   2. Fizzix Practical
   3. Telesma Creation
   • FAILING any of these rolls should be noted for the First Casting: one Failure note for each failed roll. FUMBLING any of these rolls counts as two Failures.
5. VIRGIN SPELLING, or First Casting, Difficulty: 10 + 10/Level. Ritual Casting is recommended!
   * Research Failures:
   • The GM rolls one Wild Die for each Failed roll during the research period.
   • Fumble: CATASTROPHE for any Fumble: escalate severity (add to effective Spell Level) for multiples.
   • Other result: ADDS to the First Casting Difficulty; add Wild 6's as normal.
6. Failing this First Casting roll causes a CATASTROPHE: Effective Spell Level 0-2 Minor; 3-5 Major; 6-8 Terrible; 9+ Terrible twice

INSANITY

PROCEDURE FOR ACCRUING INSANITY

A Mage who fumbles any Magickal Skill Roll and elects to receive an Insanity Wound rerolls to override that fumble. Note which skill/spell was rolled for the fumble.

EFFECT OF INSANITY WOUND

• Insanity acts as a real Wound, but only vs. the PRE Attribute: Perception rolls, Focus, Willpower, etc. are lowered. The Mage doesn't perceive this; they think they have conversely received a mystical insight into an area of their study.
• The Mage will become Obsessed with the mystical insight. Encourage the Mage to roleplay the obsession. Gloss over the actual dice mechanics.
  • The good news: any non-casting skill (Theorie, Telesma, Scribere, Fizzix) receives bonus dice = to the # of Insanity Wounds *as long as the skills are applied to the Obsession*.
  • The bad news: the Mage must make a Diff 15 Willpower (PRE (minus Insanity!)) roll every DAY or they must begin a week of Obsessive Research (qv).

OBSESSIVE RESEARCH

• A Mage with Insanity Wounds will pine for their laboratory, having received a mystical insight to a magickal problem in their field.
• At the end of each week, roll (Theorie+Insanity).
  • This number * 1q is the amount of laboratory stock used. Frequently, the Obsessive Researcher will discover they require a reagent of some sort which will necessitate an adventure: they would PREFER simply to pay adventurers to recover the reagent, but in extreme cases would not trust the adventurers' competence and would accompany them.
  • If this roll is fumbled, the Mage receives an Insanity Wound, whether a Character Point is spent or not. Quadruple the amount of laboratory stock used this week, then double again for each Character Point spent.
  • Make a Stamina roll (15 for the first week, +5 each consecutive week) to avoid Exhaustion Wounding.
• At the end of PRE # of weeks, the Mage loses ONE Insanity Wound.

FULL INSANITY (Insanity Wounds >= PRE Attribute)

• A Mage at Full Insanity neglects all other pursuits outside their Obsession, especially social obligations.
• If a Mage at Full Insanity fumbles a casting:
  • Stellaras/Dimensional (Abjurata, Conjurata, Divinata): a Daemon is summoned. The power of the Daemon is relative to the Spell Lvl. The Daemon casts the indicated spell, not necessarily as the Mage intends, then persists for 24 hours, causing havoc. The Mage will cooperate with the Daemon, and the Daemon will use the Mage to cause maximum havoc. The Mage will have no memory of the Daemon, even seconds after speaking with it, even in full view of it.
  • Externas/Universal (Evocare, Ludare, Variata): Hallucinations: the Mage's mind is clouded with wild thoughts. Subtract Insanity from all Magickal Skills, including the Obsession. Any attempted Research will be worthless to anyone else, and only useful to the Mage while at Full Insanity.
  • Personas/Personal (Antitheare, Encantare, Mutata): Permanent physical mutation occurs, anything from impotence, pox, vestigial fingers all the way to blindness, cancer, plague, etc.