Binding

Love spells, curses, and the evil eye are the powers that mortals most associate with Sorcerers, and all of them are forms of Bindings. It’s common for people to assume that every Sorcerer can work spells of this kind, which lends to their general reputation around The World for bringing trouble to their communities.

Inherent Technique: Spite

Skill Roll: Yes
Cost: 1 Momentum or 1 Legend
Duration: Scene
Subject: One character
Range: Short

With a few words or an angry gaze, a Sorcerer can inflict either misfortune or injury on a target. To inflict damage, the character spends 1 Momentum and rolls his Sorcery skill to make the initial attack. For the rest of the scene, he can use Spite on the same target at no extra cost. He can also apply the following Stunts:

• Eyebite (0s + opponent’s Defense): Force the target to maintain eye contact with the Sorcerer, preventing either one from performing mixed actions or any basic action other than Move. Eyebite can only be used on a given target once per scene, but lasts until the Sorcerer breaks eye contact or some obstacle blocks her line of sight.
• Under the Skin (2 or 5s): For 2s, inflict an Injury Condition on the opponent. For 5s, inflict an Injury with the Aggravated tag.
• Staggering Words (0s + opponent’s Stamina): Knock the target prone.
• Howl (0s): Spend 1 Legend instead of Momentum to affect every opponent in the same range band as the target.

Alternately, the Sorcerer can either spend 1 Legend to apply a difficulty penalty equal to half the number of Sorcery skill successes to all of a target’s rolls for the remainder of the scene or spend 1 Momentum to add difficulty equal to the full number of successes for one roll of her choosing in the current scene. The maximum difficulty in either case is 5.

BINDING TECHNIQUES

Curse

Skill Roll: Yes
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Scene
Subject: One character
Range: Short

The Sorcerer applies a harmful Condition to a target for the duration of the spell. The player must specify the curse before rolling; the Storyguide assigns a difficulty to the spell based on how significant an effect it will cause. In the case of Conditions that don’t have a direct mechanical effect (e.g., causing someone’s hair to fall out, their socks to always be wet, or for them to forget the names of everyone they know), the Storyguide can use the s table as a guide. For Conditions that add difficulty to the target’s actions, the difficulty penalty is equal to half the number of successes rolled.

Draw Out

Skill Roll: Yes
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Indefinite
Subject: One character
Range: Long

When mortals talk about love spells, this is the Technique that they usually mean. It doesn’t inspire love at all, but if successful, compels the target to come to the Sorcerer. Until he does, the victim gains the Wasting Condition, which prevents him from eating or sleeping and imposes an increasing Difficulty penalty to all actions the longer it goes on: +1 in one day, +2 in three days, +4 in one week. After one week, the target suffers an Injury Condition every day until the effect is resolved. Drawing Out cannot be used on anyone of a higher Tier than the Sorcerer. Targets of the same Tier can roll Resilience + Resolve each day to break free of the effect, with a difficulty equal to the number of successes of the original spell.

Envessel

Skill Roll: See below
Cost: Imbue 1 Legend
Duration: Arc
Subject: One spirit
Range: Short

Commonly used by Sorcerers who also know the Summoning Working, Envessel allows the character to trap a defeated spirit in an object. Against a spirit that has been Taken Out, the Technique requires no roll to succeed. Against spirits that are still active, the difficulty of the Sorcery skill roll is equal to its remaining Health levels and costs 1 Momentum per attempt.

A spirit can be interrogated by the Sorcerer once per session while it is trapped, or it can be released and commanded to perform one service afterward. Spirits given orders in this way tend to become resentful: if the player wishes, she can take it on as a Nemesis Fatebinding immediately after the service has been completed.

Forbiddance

Skill Roll: Yes
Cost: 1 Legend
Duration: Scene
Subject: One character
Range: Short

Similar to the geis, this Technique allows the Sorcerer to command the target to refrain from a certain activity. If successful, the spell applies the Forbidden Condition for the rest of the scene or until the Sorcerer chooses to end it. The target of the Forbidden Condition is unable to perform the named action, so long as it is one that is normally under his conscious control. (“Do not move” is valid; “do not breathe” is not.)

Spirit-Wrestling

Skill Roll: No
Cost: None
Duration: Scene
Subject: One spirit
Range: Short

The Sorcerer engages a spirit in a ritualized contest in order to drive it away from his presence for the remainder of the session. The contest is a complex action using a skill of the spirit’s choosing, requiring a base 1 to 4 Milestones to complete. For spirit Antagonists, the Storyguide should use its Archetype rank as a measure: one for the lowest, four for the highest. If it is one higher tier than the Sorcerer, add 2 Milestones; if one tier lower, subtract 2 to a minimum of 1.

The contest, which might be an exchange of riddles, a competitive dance, actual wrestling, or anything else appropriate to the nature of the spirit, must be played out to its conclusion to have any effect. If the Sorcerer wins, the spirit departs. If he loses, he cannot use Spirit-Wrestling on it again for the remainder of the current arc. If the contest is interrupted, he can cast the spell again, but either loses any progress he has made toward victory (if he was ahead or tied in Milestones) or treats it as a defeat (if the spirit was ahead).

Subversion

Skill Roll: Yes
Cost: 1 Momentum
Duration: Scene
Subject: One character
Range: Short

The Sorcerer alters the Attitude of a Storyguide character toward her (only). The player first tells the Storyguide what Attitude she wants the target to have (negative or positive, level 0 to 5), then makes a Sorcery skill roll with a difficulty equal to the difference between their current Attitude and the desired one. It cannot be used on targets two or more tiers higher than the caster.

Command

Skill Roll: No
Cost: None

You excel at enforcing your will on others. When using the Spite technique, you gain a new option:

• Command (0s + opponent’s Composure): Declare a single basic action the target must take on their next turn, and if necessary a target for that action. Your foe must spend 1 Momentum or Tension to take any other action, and if their action does not target the character you specified, they suffer Complication 2, which if not bought off prevents any movement actions until the end of their next turn.

Inner Voice

Skill Roll: Difficulty of target’s Resolve
Cost: None (1 Legend)
Duration: One scene
Subject: One character
Range: Short

You can bind yourself to someone, riding in their mind and influencing them. You share all of that character’s senses and can speak to them telepathically, without anyone else hearing. Any Momentum you spend to boost their rolls gives two dice instead of one. While you are bound to them, you may spend 1 Legend and make a Sorcery skill roll to force any roll to be a mixed action requiring an Integrity roll with difficulty equal to your successes.

Charms: Binding charms produce brief and immediate effects that hinder their target in some way: they can force a person to look at the Sorcerer, garble her speech while trying to call for help, mistype a password, and so on. If appropriate, the hindrance adds +1 Difficulty to a specific roll that the target makes in the next round or minute.