Energetics - General Information & Channeling
Energy is what the world is made of. It exists in and around everything. Energy is in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the ground we walk on, and much more. It is not one thing but everything, both separate and the same.
Energy can take different forms and be used to channel spells or powers.
In order to manipulate energy, you must first connect it to the energy within yourself, known as essence. This process is called channeling, which allows you to manipulate energy according to your will. Once the energy is absorbed inside you and mixed with your essence, you can release it through an object known as a conduit. See conduits later in this chapter.
Energetics in the world are derived from manipulating the different energy that make up the world. The term Magic is a commoner’s term for Energetics, the study of energy manipulation and the science of energy. Energy comes in different types - essence and life force within creatures, and a general energy that surrounds everything else.
Through intense research and study, I have discovered some limitations of Energetics. I have written the following laws that should be observed when manipulating energy.
- Spells require a physical constructed object (conduit) in which to release the energy.
- Energy flows through a conduit in a back-and-forth motion, requiring the object to have an end point from which the spell’s effects expel from. These objects must have an end, point, or edge (i.e. the tip of a wand, the end of a rod, the end of a staff, the point of a sword, the edge of a hammer, etc.)
- Energy must first be mixed with either your own essence or life force before it can be expelled out of the conduit.
- The spell’s effect is released out of the conduit being used, but not always.
- A verbal command spoken in Runic must be spoken, which releases the combined essence and energy from the conduit.
- Transmutation energy almost always requires physical objects that make up or relate to what you are transmuting them into. The farther away the material is from what is being created, the more difficult the process becomes.
- The Explorer
Channeling
There are four different ways to perform energetics in order to channel spells. The most popular way is standard energetics, where you use spells within your limit and energy knowledge.
The second way is called wild energy and it can be dangerous. This involves channeling energy without knowing where it will go, which can cause unexpected effects. This happens because of lack of training, using the wrong energy, or not having the right skills.
The third way is known as blood energetics (blood magic) and relies on using your life force (health) instead of essence to channel spells.
Finally, the fourth way to perform energetics is to push yourself beyond your limit and over channel. Over channeling has negative effects but allows you to channel spells that are beyond your channeling limitation.
Regardless of which type of channeling used to manipulate energy, a constructed object is required in order to release the spell’s effect. These objects are commonly called conduits and energetics are not possible without them.
Adrenaline Rush when Channeling
It is possible to use your life force (health) to channel spells, even though you can connect to your essence. Instead of using essence, you spend health.
This can only be done when you don’t have enough essence to channel a spell. If you have enough essence for the cost of the spell, you must pay for the spell using essence. This does not apply to those who have the two previously mentioned masteries.
So, if you are channeling a spell that costs five essence but you only have four, you can spend five health to channel the spell. This leaves you with four essence to be used on a lower cost spell. Likewise, if you have five essence and the spell costs five essence, you must use your essence to channel the spell.
Blood Energetics
The process of using your life force (health) instead of your essence to channel a spell is known as blood energetics. This way of channeling has its limitations, and specific situations must be met before your life force can be used. These specific situations are when using Adrenaline Rush or having one of the following masteries: Blood Cost or Blood Ritual. See Energetic Masteries for more information.
Healing Limitations
Because of how spells are channeled through your blood, you cannot channel healing spells on yourself. Spells that cure poisons, diseases, and other ailments still work. However, any healing a spell would provide has no effect on blood channelers unless they are necrosis spells.
Channeling a Spell
The act of channeling a spell requires a conduit, a memorized (or recited) spell in Runic, energy, and either essence or life force.
As the channeler, you absorb energy into your body from the surrounding atmosphere. Then you take that energy and mix it with your essence inside your body. When you say the spell's command word in the Runic language, the energy infusion is released through your conduit. Speaking the command word releases the infusion out of a point, edge, end, or tip of the conduit. This released infusion is the spell’s effect.
Breakdown of Channeling Spells
The basics of how to use energetics through the process of channeling spells are:
Runic Language and Channeling
The Runic language is the only language that can activate the powers within spells. Trying to channel a spell using any other language does not work. It is as if you are simply reading a description of the spell that has been written in another language.
Knowing runic is required when channeling
Channeling Limit
Your channeling limit is the amount of energy you can absorb before it harms you. Channeling spells that cost more than your channeling limit will cause you to over channel. Your channeling limit is your vitality plus mental.
Vitality + mental = channeling limit
Channeling within your limit will not have any negative effects caused by over channeling. This is considered the safest way to channel energy. Your natural maximum channeling limit is twenty.
Some of the more powerful spells cost more than your natural channeling limit. To channel these spells, paragon conduits or intentionally over channeling is required.
Channeling Trinkets
When learning to perform energetics, you learned how to channel minor spells known as trinkets. These trinkets don’t cost any essence but also only affect mundane objects and tasks. Such as cooling a tankard of liquid or making dancing lights in a teeny area that is only six square inches.
Over Channeling
Over channeling occurs when you exceed your channeling limit or use an untrained skill. By doing this, you are putting extra strain on your body and mind in order to withstand the larger amount of energy being absorbed. Each time this is done, you gain one instance of over channeling.
Spell cost > channeling limit = over channeling
Untrained channeling skill = over channeling
When over channeling, different effects happen to you and your conduit. Listed below are those effects.
- Magic Accuracy or Spell Difficulty increased my +2 for the over channeled spell.
- Age equal to half the spell’s cost (min. 1).
- Non-melded Conduit takes spell cost in durability damage.
- Melded Conduit takes half the spell’s cost in durability damage.
- Become one step closer to becoming an energy breaker by gaining one over channeling instance.
- Gain two fatigue.
- Faint marks and scars form from your body where the energy seeped out.
1. Accuracy Improvement
Over channeling large amounts of energy means expelling large amounts. You can choose to increase your magic accuracy or difficulty by +2 and make the spell effect appear faster by over channeling.
2. Aging
Channeling a spell that costs more than your channeling limit causes you to age equal to half the cost of the spell in years.
If a spell costs ten essence and you have a channeling limit of nine, your age increases by five years.
Half the spell cost = years you age
3. Conduit Damage
The durability damage that your conduit takes when channeling with a conduit you have not melded with is equal to the spell’s cost. The spell cost is converted to durability damage the same way health is (ten cost equals one durability damage, minimum one). See conduits later in this chapter for more information.
Spell cost = conduit durability damage
If the item being used as a conduit is destroyed; any remaining damage applies to your health. Convert the durability damage to health damage before applying it to your health.
Excess durability damage = health damage
4. Conduit, Melded Damage
If you cast a spell that costs more than your limit, your conduit gets damaged by half the spell's cost. The damage is converted to health, with a minimum of one damage.
Half the spell cost = durability damage
5. Energy Breaker
It is important to keep track of how many times you have over channeled. Once you have over channeled equal to your channeling limit, you become an energy breaker.
(Over channel attempts = channeling limit) = energy breaker
Those who have been consumed by energy at the farthest level are known as Energy Breakers. Their minds become fragile and slip into insanity. Eventually, the energy they channel takes over and they become raving mad, striking out at anyone who is within range. It is possible for player characters to become energy breakers by over channeling too much. If this happens, the player’s character becomes a creature and the rest of the characters must decide what to do. See the Creature Guide at the end of this book for more information.
The Skin colorization and cracking effect of over channeling becomes permanent once you become an Energy Breaker. If you become a Chrono Breaker, your skin becomes almost completely translucent and cracks of other colors appear to float where your skin should be.
6. Fatigue
Over channeling puts a lot of stress on your mind and body. Every time you over channel you gain two fatigue.
2 fatigue per over channel
7. Skin Colorization and Cracking
Over channeling causes your skin to crack and break, leaking the color of the energy used. Once the spell ends, your appearance returns to normal, but faint marks and scars remain.
Recovering from Over Channeling
Over channeling can be a dangerous thing to do, but there are ways to reverse the effects. When you remove an instance of over channeling, you gain your vitality in years of your life back but cannot become younger than your original age.
Over channeling instance, removed = vitality in years restored
Your age is only restored if you remove an over channeling instance. You cannot gain the effects of removing an instance if you do not have an instance to remove.
Emerald Orb
If ten essence is sent into the orb, it consumes one instance of over channeling for the person spending the essence. This can be done one time before the orb becomes clear and its value reduces to a quartz orb. The new clear orb does not have any of the properties of a quartz orb. Once drained, it can no longer remove instances of over channeling.
Life for Talents
You can spend two talents to remove one instance of over channeling.
Temple Services
Chrono temples offer services that can remove instances of over channeling, but it can be costly. See the Services section of the Marketplace chapter for more information.
