On the Use of Magic

Magick in Fading Twilight

Philosophy of the Game Mechanics

The magic in Fading Twilight attempts to model a more “realistic” style of spellcasting than the standard Gary Gygax-style cliché of magic being some kind of mobile heavy artillery system. I hope it is more suited to a medieval style of Lovecraftian horror, matching our low magic fantasy campaign where magic should be relatively rare and difficult but also extremely powerful, such as the worlds of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser or Conan. The first thing we need to note is that there are certain mechanics that are common to these rituals, and that differ from traditional fantasy RPG magic as presented in D&D-style systems:

• Magick takes time — normally it requires a fairly laborious ritual or sacrament to be performed, which can take anything from 5 minutes up to several hours. In most cases you can’t cast a spell within a few seconds.
• Magick doesn’t break the laws of physics in a direct fashion — no matter how good a magician you are or how devout your priest, you aren’t ever going to throw fireballs out of your hands.
• Magical power doesn’t come from how Intelligent you are, or how Wise you are, or how Charismatic you are. It comes from the power of the directed Will. Even an illiterate, ugly person can perform magick.
• Magical power is not “innate”. It doesn’t come from bloodlines or mutations. Anyone can learn it.

Let’s examine these changed mechanics in more detail:
True Magick takes time — even powerful priests and great magicians can’t just wave their hands in the air for 6 seconds and evoke a Malfean onto the battlefield, unless they are very, very good, and very, very lucky. To perform even a simple spell requires time — time to to prepare a ritual space, to recite dozens (or hundreds) of lines of text, to draw mystic sigils in the air, etc. On the flip side, magical effects also last a long time, too — hours or even days at a time. Some magical effects can be triggered rapidly, via using charged talismans or speedily running through an extremely cut-down version of the ritual, with associated issues, but generally magicians will be doing the bulk of their magical work outside of combat (in other words, your magician or priest might consider armor or learning martial skills).
In the immortal words of Mr. Scott of the USS Enterprise: “Ye cannae change the Laws of Physics, Captain”, and magick doesn’t attempt to do that — at least not very obviously. You are not going to cause a barrier of thorns to erupt from the ground, or ice to shoot out of your palms. However true magicians can evoke spirits with (limited) physical abilities, can buff or curse allies and enemies, heal the wounded or sick, and deal with assorted non-material entities that brawny fighters will have extreme trouble with. So there will be no lack of utility. Also the few spells that do directly damage opponents can be extremely deadly indeed…
One of the great fallacies of standard Old School RPGs is that there are two types of magic: Arcane (based on learning spells from books, and associated with Intelligence) and Divine (based on praying to the gods and associated with Wisdom). This strange concept was presumably based on a misunderstanding of medieval grimoires (spell books) which contained long and complex instructions on how a mage could cast spells, which probably seemed to be something very different to what priests did in church. However a close reading of those medieval grimoires shows that the magical spells contained therein were actually just complex ritualized prayers which depended on the power of God and his angels for success — and thus there is actually no difference at all.
Although the Pentic Church asserts that all magic is evil and demonic, and that the spells cast by their priests are divinely sent miracles and somehow not magic, from a purely technical point of view it is fairly clearly the same thing with the same effects (healing, spiritual power, exorcism of Neverborn, etc.). It could be argued that this false distinction between “prayer” and “magic” was simply an early attempt at “intellectual property rights” and brand identity preservation, not unlike Coke vs. Pepsi. Doing it one way was The Real Thing, doing it another way was Evil Pretense. The fact is that both the mechanism and the results were exactly the same in each case, only the trappings were different.

True Magick in Savage Worlds

Misunderstanding of the foregoing has led to many traditional fantasy games suffering from a plethora of magic systems, some based on Intelligence, some on Wisdom, and so on. As we have seen, this is a completely artificial construct which has nothing to do with historical magical teachings. Regardless of the type of magic used, the power to cast spells is based on the training of the Will and on spiritual discipline. In Savage Worlds terms, this means that the Thaumaturgy skill (that handles ritual casting) is based on Spirit, not on Smarts.
Having said that, a truly great magician does need intelligence in order to read those religious treatises and hefty grimoires, understand their contents, and memorize rituals and sacraments. Even “primitive “ shamans need considerable Smarts, because their spells are passed down via oral tradition, and must be fully memorized — and are often extremely long and complex. To model this in True Magick we use the Academics skill which, like all Knowledge skills, is associated with Smarts.
Each spellcaster can never memorize more rituals or sacraments than a number equal to their Occult die. If they want to learn new spells they can do that by obtaining and reading grimoires, or by learning from another mage or priest. Each of these processes takes at least a month during downtime, and requires a successful roll against the Occult skill at the end of the month — failure on this roll means that they have failed to understand the teaching presented to them and have to start studying again for another month. Alternately, they can simply take the New Powers Edge, which represents their own solo experimentation and learning from experience. However they come by new spells, the total number of spells a character can memorize at any one time is equal to their Academics skill die — if they want to learn another spell over their total they must either forget a spell they have in memory, or increase their Academics skill.
In game terms this means that effective spellcaster characters will need to increase both their Academics skill and their Thaumaturgy skill, which usually means making sure they have high values in both Smarts and Spirit. This helps balance out what is potentially an extremely powerful magical system.
It also means that there’s no practical distinction between mages, priests, mediums, shamans, etc.— they all use the same mechanisms to cast spells, just with different trappings and Professional Edges. There are more than enough of these to create very distinct flavours of Spellcasting “classes” if you wish, without needing to add any layers of complexity to the basic True Magick rules — see examples below.

Mechanics

True Magick uses the No Power Points Settings Rule. Under this rule, half the Power Point cost listed for each spell (rounded down) is used as a Casting Modifier instead, e.g. a spell with a Power Point cost of 2 would give a -1 modifier to the Thaumaturgy roll. Where True Magick differs from the standard Savage Worlds rules is in the amount of time required. Casting spells is a complex process which can require a considerable amount of time and concentration. This kind of magic takes the form of rituals or sacraments: forms of ceremonial magic performed by one or more participants. A ritual is a specific process required to cast a spell; a sacrament is a ritual embedded in a holy ceremony. It isn’t necessary for the participants to comprehend how the magic works any more than it is necessary to understand the ingredients in a recipe to make a loaf of bread. Ritualism is cookbook magic—performing the same steps in the same way to reach the same results.
Each ritual involves the use of highly specific items and components and requires a time of at least 5 minutes per Power cost of the spell, so a spell that costs 3 Power Points would take at least 15 minutes to perform. Accordingly in most cases spells will be cast outside of combat. The caster only needs to roll once at the end of this time to see whether she has succeeded or not (with a Casting Modifier of half the Power Point cost if you are using the No Power Points rule). If the roll is successful, the spell takes effect. If the roll is failed, the time and components are wasted and no effect is gained. If a Critical Failure is rolled, the GM will determine the consequences on the Ritual Failure table...
In an emergency, such as during combat, a magician may attempt to run through the ritual rapidly. To do so successfully is not easy. To cast a spell quickly requires the caster to perform a ritual as a Dramatic Task. This means the caster must achieve 5 successful Spellcasting rolls for the ritual to take effect. However you may treat each Raise as another success, so experienced magicians can not only cast spells more reliably, but usually also much more rapidly than novices. Success means the spell works. The last roll, the one achieving the fifth success, determines the spell’s effect. If opposed, the final roll is the only one the target rolls against. If the spell fails--even a simple failure--the GM determines the consequences on the Ritual Failure table, and there may be additional negative events...
Overall True Magick spells are considerably more difficult for a character to perform than the standard magic rules, but are easier for the player and GM to keep track of. On the upside, using the No Power Points rule means a character can effectively perform an infinite number of powerful spells per day, as long as they can handle the possible backlash (which can be considerable, especially with more advanced spells). Rituals can be cast from memory or may also be cast directly from a Grimoire or spellbook if the character possesses one and has a hand free to hold it while casting.
If a character is Shaken while performing a ritual, he may resume performing the ritual when he has covered from being Shaken. Each ritual may be attempted once per day without penalty, however each further attempt at the same spell adds one Fatigue level to the caster and her assistants. To compensate for the increased difficulty and duration of casting, the duration and intensity of spells is also increased. Any spell which produces an effect adds +2 to that effect. Spells which cause direct damage add +2d6 to their damage rolls. Spells with a duration usually have a duration of one hour per character level of the caster, so spells cast by a Novice character last one hour, and spells cast by a Seasoned character last two hours, etc.; thus Spellcasting using this system may be difficult but the effects are long-lasting. Also once a spell with a duration is cast, the magician does not take any penalty for “maintaining” the spell — the spell is already fully energized and materialized, and will keep going until it runs out, without any further input required from the magician.
Rituals usually require a great deal of chanting which can be heard by anyone within earshot. If a caster wishes to perform a ritual silently they can normally do so, but at a -2 penalty to every Spellcasting roll. If the spellcaster has assistants who also possess knowledge of the arcane they may aid him in the ritual. Each one of them makes a Thaumaturgy roll each turn. Every successful roll that an assistant makes during the ritual adds +1 to the main spellcaster’s next roll. Conversely if an assistant rolls a natural 1 on their assist roll, the main spellcaster’s next roll is made at -1. If the assistant scores a Critical Failure, then he has done something horribly wrong (like spilled the incense, tripped over the altar, accidentally cut himself with the dagger) which has completely disrupted the ritual, and they must start again from the beginning.
All rituals require words, gestures, and certain prescribed paraphernalia. These components are categorized as either common or exotic and are determined by the GM at the time the ritual is discovered by the characters. Components are consumed or rendered unusable during the course of the ritual, so even if the leader fails her skill roll she must acquire another set of items for the next attempt.

BLACK MAGIC

Rituals that use certain components make a ritual “black magic.” Additionally, any power that directly damages a target (bolt, blast, etc.) will almost always be black magic regardless of the components used. Versions of those powers which are not black magic should be extremely rare and usually limited to affecting a very specific type of evil creature. As a rule of thumb, if it can harm a human, animal, or other natural creature, it’s black magic. Also note, create talisman is considered black magic if the imbued power is black magic. Black magic is the most dangerous and volatile of magic. Unlike a standard ritual, if a lead ritualist in black magic is Shaken or wounded while gathering power and fails the Smarts roll, the ritual fails and he draws on the Ritual Failure Table.
When the ritual is complete (after the casting roll), all of the participants draw a card and consult the Black Magic Corruption Table, above. Unless otherwise noted, these effects last a number of weeks equal to the Casting Modifier. If the black magic ritual is create talisman, check the color of the card drawn by the leader of the ritual. Red means the talisman works without any side effects, but a black card means the talisman is tainted. The result from the table affects the bearer of the talisman as long as they carry the item (the Spirit roll for Lost is rolled each day or every time a character picks up the item, whichever comes first).
PCs should think very carefully about the risks before messing with these dark forces. Sometimes heroes must embrace this darkness for some greater goal—but there’s always a risk.

Talismans

Mages may also store some of the results of their rituals in the form of talismans. A talisman is a material substance which functions like a form of spiritual battery that can release its magical energy instantly, which can be particularly useful in combat. Talismans designed to be carried about the person are usually made in the form of metal disks, engraved with a sigil and often an inscription with the appropriate tools (burin, paint etc.). Talismans created using other substances can work, though at a -2 penalty to the casting skill. Some talismanic spells might also be imbued into a magick ring or other form of clothing that needs to be worn to activate, or might even be in the form of a sacramental wafer to be consumed.
To charge a talisman requires the performance of a ritual as normal, with the energies generated focused on the talisman. A success gives the talisman one charge of the spell. For every successful Raise the caster may add an extra charge. After that the talisman will hold its charges in latent form indefinitely until triggered. For a character to make a talisman active requires the player to spend a Benny. Once it is active the talisman’s spell will continue to affect the bearer for one hour per level of the original spellcaster. This means that a charged talisman can also be used by non-casters, allowing other members of the mage’s party to make use of their magical abilities.