Balance: Magic Users – NEWPROTEST Publishing

MAGIC USERS

Magic Users are Discipline-Based characters whose primary tools are spells derived from conceptual “Lines of Magic.” They solve problems and navigate the world through the creative use of their spells.

Creating a Magic Chart

The first step in creating a Magic User is to select two Lines of Magic. These two lines develop the character’s Magic Chart.

Lines of Magic are conceptual, and in the simplest of terms, each line represents an opposing concept. These are the foundation of the character’s magical abilities and dictate the themes of their spells. Lines can be tangible (Fire vs. Water) or conceptual (Life vs. Death). The intersection of these Lines forms a Magic Chart with four Quadrants. Each Quadrant represents a combination of the two opposing forces.

For example:

Line 1: Water and Fire
Line 2: Life and Death

The chart above creates four Quadrants from which the Magic User’s spells are derived:

Water + Life
Water + Death
Fire + Life
Fire + Death

Note: The Lines of Magic do not describe how powerful the Magic is. They simply dictate the way the character’s Magic manifests itself narratively. Choosing pairs like “fire and water” won’t automatically create more powerful spells than a pair like “tall and short,” but “tall and short” will likely require some more creative narration to play out. There’s nothing wrong with that!

Adding Spells

To start the game, a Magic user has a number of spells equal to their Discipline stat. If they have 4 available spells, they create the spells by rolling 1d4 to determine which Quadrant each spell is from. The Quadrants are shown below. As an example, if the 1d4 roll results in a “1,” the first spell would fall in the Water + Life Quadrant.

Then, the Player would roll 1d4 again to position a sub-Quadrant for their Water + Life spell. Supposing they rolled a 2, the Player would place a “1” in the second square within the Water + Life Quadrant.

This would continue four times (one for each of their new spells), giving the 1st Level Character 4 spells to choose from, as shown below. If an identical roll occurs for a sub-Quadrant, the Player will replace the “1” with a “2” in the same sub-Quadrant box, resulting in a higher-level Spell, which is described in the Magic: Spells chapter.

Spell Bond

During spell creation, a Spell Bond occurs when a spell’s sub-Quadrant value exceeds the Magic User’s Class level by 2 points. Bonded spells are capped at the user’s Class level but will automatically increase in level to match the character’s Class level. To indicate that a Spell Bond has occurred, the player must circle the sub-Quadrant, indicating that the spell is now bonded.

This Character has the following Spells available:

Water + Life, Level 1
Water + Life, Level 1
Water + Death, Level 1
Fire + Death, Level 1

You’ll notice that they have two Water + Life Spells available. This does not mean that the Spells are identical. These Spells must be different, but both must fall under the Water + Life category. For example, the Player could decide that the first Water + Life spell is a “Water Shield,” that provides +1 defense against physical attacks, and +2 defense against fire or heat attacks for an hour. The second Water + Life spell could be an “Animate Water” spell that gives the player control of the behavior of water, up to 50 gallons, for an hour while concentrating, or up to 10 minutes without concentrating.

Note: Spells must be clearly defined when created, and they cannot be changed after creation, with some limited flexibility. For example, a Fire + Death spell can harm with fire (2d6+1 as a Level 1 Spell), but it also makes sense that it can cause flammable items to burn. But this same spell couldn’t be used to control fire or reduce an existing fire; that would require a different spell. A second Fire + Death spell might be “Fire Quench,” which has the ability to reduce or snuff out fires.

Spell Development

Magic users (Discipline-based) can cast a number of Spell Points equal to their Discipline Stat. A Magic user with a Discipline Stat of 4 can cast 4 spells at 1st Level, or two 2nd Level spells.

Note: Every spell can be cast as a lower level spell to reduce its spell cost.

When a magic user increases in Class Levels, they enhance their magic in the following ways:

Add additional spells
Enhance existing spells

The process for adding new spells at new levels is identical to the process outlined in Adding Spells above. For example, an increase of two Discipline Stat points results in two additional spells or spell enhancements.

Different characters will increase in their magic abilities in very different ways. Some may become hyper-specialized in a small set of spells, while others may enjoy the utility of having a larger library of spells from which to choose.

However, there are some uniform advances as spells progress in levels.

SPELL LEVELS

Flux: 10’ range, 50 lbs of weight, no bonuses to attack
Level 1: 30’ range, 300 lbs of weight, 1d6+1 for Spell actions
Level 2: 50’ range, 500 lbs of weight, 1d6+2 for Spell Actions
Level 3: 300’ range, 3,000 lbs of weight, 3d6 for Spell actions
Level 4: 500’ range, 5,000 lbs of weight, 3d6+2 for Spell actions
Level 5: 1,000’ range, 10,000 lbs of weight, 5d6 for Spell actions

Note:

Every point of Discipline: Attune adds +1 to Flux and higher spells / + 1 Healing Rolls to Level 1 and higher spells.

Magic Focus

Magic users can Focus to enhance their spells during combat. This enhancement treats the spell as though it is one level higher. To Focus a spell, a Magic User spends Initiative Turns equal to 2 + the Spell Level. For example:

Flux Spell: 2 Turns
Level 1 Spell: 3 Turns
Level 3 Spell: 5 Turns

Magic users can Focus a spell no more than one level above their current Class level. For example, a 3rd Level Magic user can Focus a 3rd Level spell to cast it as a 4th Level spell.

Spells can only be Focused once per round of combat.

With the exception of Flux spells, Focused Spells do not cost more to cast. a Level 3 spell costs 3 Discipline Stat points, Focused or not. Flux spells cost 1 Spell point to cast when Focusing.

A Focused spell that is broken causes a penalty. The Magic user takes injury or is sufficiently unfocused during their Focus turns, the spell being cast suffers a Penalty Roll (roll 2d6 twice, keeping the lowest total).

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