Magic & Spells

In Lenwir magic is volatile and responds to a variety of traits. In this section, we will explain the different types of magic, how to calculate damage and combat with magic, discuss AoE spells and talk about Resist Spells.

Magic works as explained below for all spell types except those explicitly mentioned (A Runecaller's Runes and Glyphs for example). Some creatures may be incredibly resistant to magic but not so to physical attacks, whereas other creatures may be extremely resistant to physical attacks but weak to magic. This is why it is important to balance your party and ensure you cover all your bases.

There are two main types of magic 'Elemental' and 'Mental'. These categories encompass all those below them and though some spells may be listed as a specific kind of damage, like fire or frost, they would fall under Elemental Magic. This is to give the GM or party a fun way to describe the spells in combat, but is only relevant if mentioned in the spell's effect. Otherwise, all magic works largely the same. Below we show what magic falls under each category.

Elemental Magic

Fire, Frost, Lightning, Earth, Air, Poison, Sea, Ink, (Force)

Mental Magic

Mind, Illusion, Spirit, Soul

Magic

There are four factors involved in magic and its use in the world of Lenwir. These mimic the way that physical combat works. These factors dictate if a spell hits (Spell Hit Chance), how much bonus damage it will do (Spell Power), what a spell needs to hit you (Spell Defense) and how much of the magic damage you can resist (Magic Resistance).

The following bonuses are added on top of a dice roll in some cases, but in the case of the defensive magic these traits are taken as a straight value.

Spell Hit Chance

This is the ability of a spell to hit and is calculated as a d20 + Wisdom + Potency. For it to hit an enemy, it must be higher than their Spell Defense.

Spell Power

This is the damage added onto the dice rolls of any spell cast to work out the total damage. This value is calculated by adding Intelligence + Magic Power together. You then add this onto whatever dice rolls the spell description asks for.

Spell Defense

This is the value that any spell cast against an individual needs to beat for it to hit them. If they match or are lower than this value, then they will not hit the target or cause the desired effect. This value is calculated by adding Wisdom + Magic Protection together.

Magic Resistance

This is amount with which you reduce magic damage if you are hit by a spell. This works the same as 'Armour' from physical combat. This value is calculated by adding Fortitude + Resilience together. When you are hit with a spell you can remove this value from the spell's total damage and take the remaining damage points.

Example

To show you how it works we have an example below. This example shows how it works with all of the numbers, however on a character sheet the numbers are already written in the boxes, so these sums are worked out. The methodology would be:

1. Roll a d20 and add your Spell Hit Chance.
2. See if it is higher than your opponent's Spell Defense, if so, it hits.
3. Roll damage and add your Spell Power to work out the total damage.
4. Remove the enemy's Magic Resist from your Spell Power to work out the damage dealt.

Here is a longer example to explain with the values shown. We have a sorcerer with the following stats:
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 9
Potency: 8
Magic Power: 14

They cast two spells of Firefrost at a wraith. This spell deals Elemental Damage so is a type of magic damage. The wraith has the following stats:
Wisdom: 6
Fortitude:8
Magic Protection: 20
Resilience: 10

The sorcerer rolls d20 on two casts of Frostfire to see if they will hit. They roll a 7 and a 16. The 7 + 9 (Wisdom) + 8 (Potency) = 24 Spell Hit Chance.
This is not high enough to beat the Wraith's Spell Defense of 26 = 6 (Wis) + 20 (Magic Prot). However, the second spell is 16 + 6 (Wisdom) + 8 (Potency) = 30. This is higher than the Wraith's 26 Spell Defense. The spell will hit.

The Firefrost spell deals 4d6 damage and the sorcerer rolled 18. The total spell damage is made by adding the roll of 18 + 7 (Int) + (14) Magic Power. This is a total of 39 damage.
However the wraith has a MAGIC RESISTANCE of 18 = 8 (Fortitude) + (10 Resilience). To work out the damage dealt to the Wraith you must remove this from the spell damage value. This means that 21 damage is the total dealt to the wraith.

Resist Spells

Some spells will target a single person with an effect or curse. These spells are usually related to Mind Magics and include things like Mind Control, Illusions, Magical Prisons and whatnot. These spells will list a specific Ability Score (AGI, STR, WIS, etc) that they must add to their d20 roll to resist the spell.

You roll a d20 + the chosen Ability Score against the caster's SPELL HIT CHANCE. If you fail to roll a RESIST score higher than their SPELL HIT CHANCE, then the spell action will take effect. You then can reroll this at the end of every subsequent turn to break the effects of the spell, unless otherwise stated.

If this spell causes damage to you each turn, then this magic damage is still reduced by your MAGIC RESISTANCE score.

Area of Effect Spells (AoE)

Spells tagged AoE deal an effect on an area that will impact everyone inside unless stated (e.g. affects all allies). These spells don't have to roll a Spell Hit Chance or include Spell Defense in their calculations. The damage dealt in the area is the spell's damage roll + SPELL POWER, as normal.

The damage dealt by an AoE spell cannot be avoided but is lessened by your MAGIC RESISTANCE as normal. AoE spells might also have additional effects (knockback, freezing, etc) that you can roll to negate. If this is the case, these are mentioned in the spell description. It will also be a D20 + a specified Ability Score (AGI, STR, WIS, etc) and will say the RESIST score that needs to be beaten in the Spell's description