True magic is the art of subtle listening. It is attained not by years of study from ancient tomes, but by honing one’s senses, finding hidden patterns in the chaos, and attuning oneself to the ebb and flow of energy. All magicians know that power and potential thrums in the silent heartbeats of reality. At moments of great opportunity, the skin of the world is stretched thin and something extraordinary may be plucked from the other side.
But this power is not without a cost. The magician plays with forces beyond their reckoning, like a child with a box of fireworks. Spiritual corruption, madness, and doom lie in wait for the undisciplined magician who invokes powers too great for their control. Few survive this fate, but burn dazzlingly bright until the very end.
Magic Dice
All magicians use d6 Magic Dice (MD) to do magic. A Level 0 character has 0+SAV MD, and may gain more as they acquire class Templates or as their Savvy improves. Note that this base number may be negative, which indicates a character who is poorly attuned to true magic and will have fewer MD than expected.
Any character with Magic Dice is a magician, even if they have no Templates in a magic-using class. Conversely, not all magic-users may qualify as magicians.
For example, a character with 8 Savvy starts with -1 MD. At Level 1, they acquire Wizard Template A, which grants them +1 MD, bringing their total to 0 MD. They are not a magician and cannot prepare spells, but may cast cantrips. At Level 2, they acquire Wizard Template B, bringing their total to 1 MD, finally allowing them to cast spells. They are now considered a magician.
When casting a spell, a player chooses up to 4 of the MD they have in their pool and rolls them. Effects usually increase with higher rolls and more MD invested. In general, any dice that roll 1-3 are returned to a player’s casting pool, and those that roll 4-6 are expended until dawn.
Mishaps and Dooms
Unless otherwise indicated, rolling doubles causes a Mishap, a small complication in the casting of the spell, and rolling triples causes a Doom, pushing the magician one step closer to ruin. Magicians have 3 Dooms, unique to their chosen magical tradition. The Final Doom is usually fatal or worse.
Magical Implements
Scrolls
Scrolls are essentially spellbook pages written to maximize comprehensibility. Like spellbooks, a Wizard can prepare spells from a scroll. Any magician can use a scroll to instantly cast the spell contained within, consuming it and releasing 1 MD towards the spell (which does not return to their pool). Additionally, the magician may choose to provide extra MD to the casting, potentially generating Mishaps and Dooms.
Wands
Wands are like scrolls, but can be used even by non-magicians. They contain 1 spell and up to 4 banked MD. Staves are larger wands, and may contain up to 3 spells and 6 banked MD. When used, a magician cannot add any of their own MD to the spell. If the MD are expended in casting, they do not return to the wand’s pool at all. Instead they must be banked by a magician. Wands still generate Mishaps and Dooms. If a non-magician suffers a Doom, it is always the Final Doom.
A magician with access to a spellbook can spend 1 hour to transfer a spell into a wand, and bank any number of MD in the wand. Spells cannot be transferred in the other direction, from wand to spellbook. When a magician banks MD, they are expended from the magician’s pool for the day. A magician can bank as many MD as they have available, but each generates 1 Stress from the strain. This Stress cannot result in Panic.
Identification
All magicians can smell magic in the air. By tasting, rubbing, or closely inspecting something, a magician can identify it as magical and how to activate it, but its specific properties must be determined through experimentation.