Magic - rpgfansite.comrpgfansite.com/magic_supplement.pdf · Magic uncanceled s plus the skill’s...
Transcript of Magic - rpgfansite.comrpgfansite.com/magic_supplement.pdf · Magic uncanceled s plus the skill’s...
Magic
Magic is RARE but beyond that it is also subtle, slow and
meticulous. Some people believe or
whisper about it but while they may
have claimed to have seen it in
person, no one has ever really seen a fireball or magic missile. Most
times when magic was used to kill it
was more likely them drowning
nowhere near a body of water or
their body burning from the inside.
School vs Spell Spells differ from spell
categories. In Genesys the magic
system lists several broad open categories; Attack, Augment,
Barrier, etc. Individual spells
achieve a more specialized task. To
better clarify things, these categories
will be referred to from here on as Schools of magic. We will use 'spell'
for individual task or rituals that
produce magical effects.
Some Schools have additional skill level requirements. Table 3.1:
Requirements shows what rank a
character needs to have to learn any
given School.
REQUIRMENTS
School Skills Rank
Attack All 3
Augment All 1
Barrier Arcane & Divine 1
Conjure Arcane & Primal 2
Curse Arcane & Divine 1
Dispel Arcane & Divine 2
Divination All
Heal Diving & Primal 1
Utilty All 1
Starting Magic As the character advances
they will want to unlock more Schools so they can cast spells from
these Schools. While a character
starts with one School for each rank
in their spellcasting skill, they must spend 5XP for each additional
School after game play has begun. A
character cannot have more Schools
than they have ranks in their
spellcasting skill. Individual spells on the other hand can only be
learned if the character has the
appropriate School. It cost 1XP per
spell the character would like to know at the start of the game. There
is no limit to the number of spells a
character can know.
Rite vs Spell There are two types of spells; Rite and Spells. Rites are spells that
have been carefully crafted and
practiced repeatedly over decades or
even centuries by many different
spellcasters. Every aspect of the Rite has been researched and crafted
making them far more effective than
Spells and even accomplish things
that seem nearly impossible. Rites can be found in Tomes and Scrolls
of Eldritch Knowledge or can be
taught to a character by a mentor or
some other being.
Spells on the other-hand are crafted by characters using their
knowledge of magic. A player crafts
the spell using the rules later in
Building a Spell. Spells can be crafted on the fly and usually are
but tend to be the character’s
repertoire of magical abilities.
There is one notable exception
to spellcraft; Dispel.
Magic
Dispel Dispel is quaint and simple
compared to any other school. There are no know rites and the caster
doesn’t need to build a spell for it.
Dispel can be used to end the effects
of an ongoing spell or counter a spell as it is being cast. Countering
a spell or dispelling an ongoing
concentration spell is an opposed
Magical Skill versus Magical Skill
check between the two spellcasters. Dispelling an ongoing spell that isn’t
being concentrated on is a Magical
Skill check with a difficulty equal to
the original spell’s casting difficulty.
Attack Spell The Attack spell acts similar
to a weapon. Regardless of the
options added to the attack spell it
does damage equal to any
SPENDING h AND d ON MAGIC SKILL CHECKS
Cost Result Options
h or
d
The magical energies exhaust the character, and they suffer 2 strain or
1 wound (controlling player's choice).
This character and all allied spellcasters in the encounter add to
any attempts to cast spells until the end of the controlling player's next
turn
hh or d
The spell doesn’t take effect until the start of the next round, or after a
minute in narrative gameplay.
If the character is using a magical item, it becomes damaged one step
(see Table I.5–4: Repairing Gear, on page 89).
Until the end of the encounter, enemy spellcasters add when casting
a spell that targets this character.
hhh or d
The spell is slightly more powerful than expected. One character of the
GM's choice is targeted or otherwise affected by the spell as well.
All other spellcasters and creatures attuned to magical energies within
a day's travel become aware of the character (and depending on their
disposition, may be very interested in finding them and doing them harm).
d
The character overexerts themself or loses their magical connection
and is unable to cast spells for the rest of the encounter or scene.
The GM picks the target of the character's spell. If the caster is an
NPC, the controlling player picks the target of the spell instead.
dd
The character completely lose control of their magical energies or
draws the ire of their deity, suffering one Critical Injury (at the GM's
discretion, this may instead take the form of some of terrible or hilarious misfortune, such as temporarily being turned into a small
woodland creature, being struck by lightning on a clear day, swapping
bodies with someone else in the encounter for the remainder of the
day, or summoning an avatar of divine or infernal wrath).
If the character is using a magical item, it is completely destroyed
Magic
uncanceled s plus the skill’s linked characteristic.
Divination Divination is the ability to
reveal information, whether in the
form of secrets long forgotten, glimpses of the future, the locations
of hidden things, or visions of
distant people or places.
Many of the spells that allow
you to see and/or hear distant people and places. This could be
now or in the past or future. Many
times remote viewing will require an
object from the Complications option that are connected to the
target.
When the spell involves
viewing the past or future we use
the Duration table for base modifier. While viewing the past is easier, the
modifier is the same as the Duration
modifier (i.e.: one minute in the past
is 0 while a month into the pass is 0). When viewing farther into the
past than a year continue the trend,
adding a difficulty for each time
frame (i.e.: decade, century,
millennia, etc.). The future is less certain and
thus harder. Add two to all the
modifiers listed in Deration table to
figure out the modifier for the spell
for viewing the future. Because of the fluidity of the future, this can be
problematic
Utility The school of Utility is
extremely flexible and possible the most powerful. It can be used to do
almost everything that doesn’t fit
into the other school.
Some things might seem to mirror other schools, it’s more in the
application of the spell than what it
does. Animating an object for
instances will allow the spellcaster
make a mop clean the floor, while summoning would summon a
servant that uses the mop.
Animated objects only have
modes of locomotion and abilities logical for their form. While the
spellcaster can argue that the mop
can move across the floor or ‘swim’
in water, it would require wings if
the caster wished it to fly and a mouth to talk. The augmentation
school can be included to give the
object movement and abilities it
wouldn’t normally have.
Combining Schools There are times that the
caster may want to cast a spell
that’s effects fall into multiple
schools; summoning an invisible servant, adding a curse to an attack
spell, etc. As long as the caster has
access to all the schools needed to
produce the effects of the spell they
can construct the spell as normal, otherwise they do not have sufficient
knowledge.
Magic
Building a Spell
When a player wants to build
a spell is can be as simple as picking options from the tables
bellow. Should the player want to do
something that fits the School but
isn’t listed they can work with the
GM to make that spell. Using the simple example, the
player is going to need to first pick
at least one option from at least one
School’s effects table. This will be the base difficulty of the spell;
Attack and Conjure being the
exceptions. Attack spells start with
an Easy ( ) difficulty before adding
any options. Conjuration uses the Silhouette of the creature +1 or half
an object’s rarity rating as the base
difficulty before adding any options.
After that you will need to figure out the duration, range and
casting time, applying the modifiers
from the options listed in the
appropriate tables to the difficulty.
The caster cannot choose an option that’s modifier is greater than the
ranks they have in their Magical
Skill. If the spell difficulty is too high
they can adjust the range, duration and casting time and/or add some
options from spell complications.
Once the player is happy with the
spell they are done, it’s as simple as
that. Write it down and or cast it. Should the player want a spell
to do something that isn’t listed,
that is when they need to include
the GM. This option should be done
outside of combat or in-between games. First, they should consult
the tables to find something that is
similar to what they want to do and
note the modifier listed. Then they
can run it by the GM so see if they
agree, if not adjust the modifier as per the GM’s ruling. Once they and
the GM agree the can write it down
for use later.
No spell can ever have a
difficulty less than Average ( ), no matter how many modifiers are
used. They can however be as
difficult as the player wants but
failure to cast a spell can result in some horrendous consequences.
Range & Area of Effect Standard spells require the
target be in line of sight and within
close range (30 feet). Lengthening the range of the spell increases the
difficulty, while eliminating the need
for line of sight should upgrade the
difficulty of the spell. Typically, a spell effects a
single target or small area. Should
the spell target more than one
creature or thing it requires an
increased area of effect. If the spell will affect all of the creatures or
object in the spell’s area of effect
you don’t need to specify the
number of targets. If only a few or
select creatures or object are affected, then you must increase the
difficulty of the spell. Summoning
more than one object/creature will
also increase the difficulty of casting the spell by a number equal to the
number of creatures or objects.
Object that are part of a collection
can be considered a single thing
(i.e.: coins and bills, bag of marbles, bushel of apples, etc.). If the target
is the caster the difficulty is
Magic
decreased by one. All targets of the spell must be within the range and
area of effect of a spell.
If the target of a spell is an
area, a standard spell’s effect a 5-foot area. Increasing this area of
effect increases the difficulty of the
spell’s casting.
Duration Typicality a spell has some set time it last. Some, like attack and
healing, don’t require more than an
instant for the spell to take effect. If
a conjured creature or object, ability
boost or shield is to be effective, it must last longer than a round. The
difficulty modifiers for Attack and
Healing spells are double the listed amount.
Regardless of the length a
spell lasts they usually require
concentration on the part of the caster to maintain the spell. Spells
can be sustained using the
Concentration maneuver as
described in the core rule book.
SPELL RANGE AND AREA OF EFFECT
Components Cost
Personal: Affects only you (also called “personal range”). -Touch Spell: Target must be Engaged with the caster. Unwilling
targets require an Average ( ) Brawl check as part of the spell to cast.
-
Additional Summons: The spell summons one additional item,
weapon, or creature. In addition, after casting the spell, you may spend aa to summon one additional item, weapon, or creature
(and may trigger this multiple times, spending aa each time).
+
Additional Targets: The spell affects one additional target within range of the spell. In addition, after casting the spell, you
may spend a to affect one additional target within range of the
spell (and may trigger this multiple times, spending a each
time).
+
Expanded Spell: Increase the radius of effect of the spell by five-
feet. (This option can be taken multiple times, increasing the
radius by 5 each time.) +
Blind Spell: Doesn’t require line of sight.
Medium Range: Increase the range of the spell up to 100 feet. +Long Range: Increase the range of the spell up to 500 feet. +Extreme Range: Increase the range of the spell up to one mile. +Remote Range: Increase the range of the spell to anywhere on the planet. (Must also include the cost for Blind Spell).
+
Magic
Casting Time No spell can be cast in an
instant. Traditionally spells can take
hours to cast, but with a little effort,
a caster could reduce the time down
to seconds. When building a spell we start with the spell taking ten
minutes to cast. Increasing the time
needed to cast a spell will lessen the
difficulty while the reverse will
increase the difficulty to cast. The caster must spend the whole time
working to cast the spell. Any
interruption of more than a few
seconds can scuttle the spell wasting any time or effort (and
consumable components) already
invested, forcing the caster to start
from scratch.
Complications Spell complication can add
flavor to spell as well as make
casting easier. Each complication
reduces the difficulty of a spell’s casting but as stated earlier no spell
can have a difficulty less than
Average ( ). Complications fall
under several types.
Component: Many spells
require special objects or rare ingredients. This can be anything
like a ceremonial athame, a rune
inscribed skull, blood or tea tree oil
incense. The rarer, more exotic or
hard to acquire the object is the more it will reduce a spell’s difficulty
by. Should the spell component be
consumed by the casting the
complication’s value is double. Any component can be made by the
character or purchased. If crafting it
yourself, see Crafting Rules (See
Crafting supplement) elsewhere.
Cost for components are determined by the GM based on rarity and any
laws that may govern the substance.
A spell can have no more than two
complications from this type.
Ritual: All spells have some ritualistic competent, chanting,
intricate hand gestures etc, but ones
that require skill or more elaborate
SPELL DURATION
Components Cost
No concentration or maintenance required
One minute. +
10 minutes. +
One hour. +
One day. +
One month. +
One year. +Permanent. +
CASTING TIME
Components Cost
One Action +
One minute +
One hour -
Four hours -
Eight hours -
One day -
Magic
rituals fall into this category. Elaborate ritual requires acts that
fall outside of the norm of society
and are usually more of the
outrageous occult trappings. This
can be anything from animal or human sacrifice, to orgies and
blood-letting. Regardless of the
details they do not require skill and
must be something that can get you
jailed, ostracized or worse. These rituals take quite some
time and you cannot have a casting
time less than the starting ten
minutes if you use this option. It may seem unintuitive that
something that requires skill would
make it easier to cast, but the
difficulty is offset by the caster being
required to make a skill check to fulfil this requirement. First figure
out what you want this pre-spell
requirement is; drawing intricate
runes on the floor or wall, interruptive dance to a god,
centering one’s self, etc. If the
requirement produces a component,
see above. Based on that, figure out
what skill best reflects the requirement, then choose what
difficulty you want for the skill
check. This difficulty is the number
you will lessen the spell’s difficulty
by and is the number of minutes it will take to perform.
Before the spell can be cast,
the caster must succeed at the
appropriate skill check. Failure means they must try again, while
success means they can proceed to
casting the spell as normal. Should
there be any uncanceled h or d,
increase the strain taken by the spell by an equal number of
uncanceled hs and ds.
*= Bloodletting can be done using a will or unwilling person or animal. Willing
participants (including the caster) takes one wound that cannot be negated.
While an unwilling participant must take at least one wound (damage after soak value).
SPELL COMPLICATIONS
Components Cost
Illegal or Immoral Objects: illicit substance, human blood, etc. -Personal: The object is something that belonged to the target. These
need to be something that the target used daily, or values, nothing that is cast away like currency.
-
Body Part: The object was part of the target, hair, finger nail, finger,
ear, etc. -
Elaborate ritual: Sacrifice, orgy, drug consumption, bloodletting*,
etc. (see description). -
Skilled Ceremony: Sand drawing, dancing, etc. (see description). varies
Trappings: Specially prepared objects (i.e.: rune covered skull,
anointed athame, etc.).
-Half
rarity
Magic
ATTACK EFFECTS
Components Cost
Blast: The attack gains the Blast quality with a rating equal to your
character's ranks in Magical skill. +
Close Combat: May select a target engaged with your character.
Deadly: The attack gains a Critical rating of 2. The attack also gains
the Vicious quality with a rating equal to the character's ranks in
Magical skill.
+
Fire: The attack gains the Burn quality with a rating equal to your
character's ranks in Magical skill. +
Holy/Unholy (Divine Only): When dealing damage to a target that
the GM determines is the antithesis of the character's faith or deity
(such as a priest of a god of life attacking an undead zombie), each s deals +2 damage, instead of +1.
+
Ice: The attack gains the Ensnare quality with a rating equal to the
character's ranks in Magical skill. +
Impact: The attack gains the Knockdown quality. The attack also
gains the Disorient quality with a rating equal to the character's
ranks in Magical skill. +
Lightning: The attack gains the Stun quality with a rating equal to
the character's highest rank in Knowledge skills. The attack also
gains the Auto-fire quality. (You must increase the difficulty by one
to use the Auto-fire quality as normal.)
+
Manipulative (Arcana Only): If the attack hits, you may spend a to
move the target up to five feet in any direction. +
Non-Lethal (Primal Only): The attack gains the Stun Damage
quality. +
Destructive: The attack gains the Sunder quality. The attack also gains the Pierce quality with a rating equal to the character's ranks
in Magical skill. +
Empowered: The attack deals damage equal to twice the characteristic linked to the skill (instead of dealing damage equal to
the characteristic). If the attack has the Blast quality, it affects all
characters within short range, instead of engaged.
+
Poisonous: If the attack deals damage, the target must immediately
make a Hard ( ) Resilience check or suffer wounds equal to
the character's highest ranks in a Knowledge skill, and an equal
number of stain. This counts as a poison.
+
Magic
AUGMENTATION EFFECTS
Components Cost
Increase Skill: increase one skill by one. (This option can be taken
multiple times, each time increasing the skill by one) +
Divine Health (Divine Only): The target increases their wound
threshold by a value equal to the character's ranks in Knowledge for
the duration of the spell. +
Haste: Targets affected by the spell can always perform a second
maneuver during their turn without spending strain (they may still
only perform two maneuvers a turn). +
Primal Fury (Primal Only): The target adds damage equal to the
character's ranks in their Magical skill to unarmed combat checks,
and their Critical rating for unarmed combat checks becomes 3. +
Swift: Targets affected by the spell ignore the effects of difficult
terrain and cannot be immobilized. +
Superhuman Ability: Increase one of the target’s natural abilities beyond the norm. (i.e.: super hearing, danger sense, quicker
climbing speed, etc.) +
Talented: The target gains 1 rank of a tier 1 talent. Increase the difficulty by one for each additional rank beyond the first.
+
Increase Characteristic: increase one characteristic by one. (This
option can be taken multiple times, each time increasing the Characteristic by one)
+
Supernatural Ability: Give the target an ability beyond the norm.
(i.e.: flying, turn invisible, etc.) +
BARRIER EFFECTS
Components Cost
Basic Defense: Each affected target gains either ranged or melee
defense equal to the ranks in your Magical skill. +
Add Defense: Each affected target gains ranged and melee defense
equal to the ranks in your Magical skill. +
Empowered: The barrier reduces damage equal to the number of
uncanceled s instead of the normal effect. +
Reflection (Arcana Only): If an opponent makes a magic attack
against an affected target and generates hhh or d on the check,
after the check is resolved, they suffer a hit dealing damage equal to
the total damage of the attack.
+
Sanctuary (Divine Only): Opponents the GM determines are the
antithesis of the character’s faith or deity automatically disengage
from affected targets, and may not engage them for the duration of
the spell.
+
Trap: The target may not leave the area of effect without making a
Strength check, difficulty equal to the rank in your Magical skill. +
Magic
CONJURATION EFFECTS
Components Cost
Summon Rival: The creature summoned is more powerful than the
average summoned being. -
Summon Ally: The creature the character summons is friendly to
them and obeys their commands. The character may spend a
maneuver to direct the creature, allowing them to determine its
action and maneuver. (If the character summons multiple creatures, the character may spend one maneuver on their turn to direct the
turns of all summoned creatures.)
+
Summon Supernatural: The creature the character summons is supernatural in nature.
+
CURSE EFFECTS
Components Cost
Enfeeble: Chose a Characteristic, upgrade the difficulty any time
the target makes a check using that Characteristic. +
Enervate: If a target suffers strain for any reason, they suffer 1 additional strain.
+
Misfortune: After the target makes a check, you may change one
to a face displaying a f. +
Despair (Divine Only): The target’s strain and wound thresholds are
reduced by an amount equal to the character’s ranks in their
Magical skill.
+
Distract: Add a to all checks made by the target. +
Doom (Arcana Only): After a target makes a check, you may change
any one die in the pool not displaying a t or d to a different face. +
Paralyzed: The target is staggered for the duration of the spell. This
affect may not be combined with the additional target effect. +
DIVINATION EFFECTS
Components Cost
Communication: To way communication with the target. Double
the cost if the target is dead or the communication is mental. The
target (or it’s body) must be in range when the spell is cast.
+
Locate: As long as the target is within the range of the spell you
know in what direction and roughly how far away it is. +
Steal Sense: You can see or hear what the target can. +Identification: You can choose an aspect of the target and gain
information about that subject; is it magical, weakness, defense
value, Characteristic, wound count, etc. For each aa you spend
you may choose another aspect.
+
Remote Viewing: You can spy on a person, place or thing that you
are either familiar to or have something from the target. +
Magic
Peer Through Time: Gain knowledge of the future or past. varies
HEAL EFFECTS
Components Cost
Natural Healing: The target heals as if they had a full night’s rest. -
Heal: Reduce the number of wounds the target has suffered by a
number equal to the uncanceled s. +
Restoration: Select one ongoing status effect the target is suffering.
This status effect immediately ends. +
Heal Critical: Select one Critical Injury the target is suffering. If the
spell is successful, the Critical Injury is also healed. +
Revive Incapacitated: The character may select targets who are incapacitated.
+
Sooth Mind: Select one Mental Trauma the target is suffering from.
If the spell is successful, the Mental Trauma is healed. +
Cure Madness: Reduce the target’s Madness score by one. +
Resurrection: The character may select a target who has died
during this encounter. If the check is successful, the target is
restored to life, suffering wounds equal to their wound threshold. If the check fails, no characters may attempt to resurrect the target
again.
+
UTILITY EFFECTS
Components Cost
Ignite: Light a candle, torch or some other small flammable item.
+
Prestidigitation: Create a harmless minor magical effect;
sparks, disembodied sounds, faint floating lights, etc. +
Telekinesis: Move things remotely with a Strength score equal
to your ranks in your Magical skill. +
Alchemy (Arcane Only): Transform one substance into another. + Animate: The target object can move on its own. The character
may spend a maneuver to direct the object, allowing them to
determine its action and maneuver. (If the character animates
multiple things, the character may spend one maneuver on their turn to direct the turns of all summoned creatures.)
+
Polymorph (Arcane Only): Transform the target into another
creature. While in the new form, they retain any mental
Characteristics, otherwise are the new creature.
+
Magic
Magical Accouterment
Potions Potions, elixirs, magical
powders all produce a magical
effect. Strength potions, dust of
disappearance or a healing salve are all examples of potions.
Anyone with the Alchemy skill
can imbue a substance with power
that is released when it is used. Crafting a potion is similar to
building a spell. Take all the
appropriate steps to build the spell
but stop before casting it. Only
Complications that are consumed by the spell can be chosen as an
option. Next decide the
circumstances that will activate it;
drinking, smashing, blowing/sprinkling it, etc. Once you
have the difficulty to cast and how it
activates you can begin using the
standard Crafting Rules (See
Crafting supplement) using that difficulty if the crafter has ranks in
a magical skill. If the crafter doesn’t
posses the talent Mad Science or
any ranks in a magical skill,
upgrade the difficult by two.
Foci & Lenses Foci and lenses are a catchall
category for objects that have been
used in rites and spells that they
themselves have become attuned to magic. While foci are used specify in
one school of magic, lenses can be
used for any spell or rite. These
objects can be anything from wands, ceremonial robes and crystal balls to
weapons or other trappings of faith.
Both are rare and valuable, but
Lenses are doubly so because of
their flexibility. Characters are
unlikely to ever find one for sell and there isn’t any known way to force
the creation of one. These objects
are passed down though covens and
family lines and have been created over centuries of use.
A lens or focus have various
levels of magical power and come in
several types. They have a rating of
one to four, reflecting the number of
s the spellcaster can call on when
casting a spell or rite. A lens can be
used by any and all spellcacters for
any spell or rite. Foci on the other hand are limited to a school or skill.
A focus for instance that is a set of
catholic vestments would be only
usable by those with the Divine magical skill, while a wand could be
used only for Attack school spells. A
focus will have the school or skill
listed in its description along its
rating.
Artifacts Artifacts are objects the have
had so much raw magic focused
through them that they themselves
are magical devices. Like foci, artifacts are limited to a school or
magical skill, but instead of adding
a , they add their own ranks to the
caster’s ranks in their magical skill. This increase in ranks not only help
in casting a spell, but also the
building of a spell.
Magic
Mad Science
Mad Science is a caught-all
for those that have figured out how
to paint outside the lines of
traditional science. Be it a deathray that shoots lightening, stitching
together dead flesh to make new life
or rocket pack, these devices
shouldn’t work or be replicated, but are. Some may think it is some kind
of magic, but magical casters do not
feel the presence of magic and mad
sciences cannot use magical items.
Mad Scientists rules work similarly to spellcasters with several notable
exceptions.
First and foremost, Mad
Scientists rely on their Mechanics skill instead Magical skills. They are
not spell casters and so their
abilities come from the fancy
gadgets they create and not intricate
hand gestures and exotic herbs. This also means that they
cannot make use of foci, lenses or
artifacts since they do not posses
any ranks in Magical skills. Likewise, spells from the school of
Dispel do not interfere with MS
devices. Magic can affect a MS
device just as it can any other
mundane object. Secondly, your wacky inventor
is not limited to schools like
spellcasters. The scientist starts the
game with access to the options in
all schools. They cannot however use an option that is limited to a
Magical skill (like Doom from the
Curse school). Since there are no
options in the Dispel school, that too is off limits to the Mad Scientist.
Also, unlike magic and
magical items, MS devices can be
used by anyone. Once a device is
created it any numb-nuts can pull
the trigger or use a rocket pack to take to the skies. Most devices, like
their mundane counterparts may
require a skill roll to use. Follow the
rules regarding interacting with an object as normal.
Lastly, Mad Scientists don’t
cast spells, they build devices that
produce effects some might think
are magical. When building the device, think of what the device it
supposed to do each time you pull
the trigger, flip the switch or do
whatever it is that activates the device. From there we follow the
steps in Building Spells earlier in
this supplement.
Building a Device You will need to start by
choosing at least one options from a
school, much like when crafting a
spell. Once you have that, you will
need a casting time. This represents
the time needed for the device to activate. Pulling a trigger for
instance would be an action. Some
devices may need to be turned on
but takes time to ‘build up a charge’ before they can be used, thus a
longer casting time.
Next you will need to figure
out range and duration. Duration
can be as simple a one round for things like ranged weapons. Some
devices’ effect will need to last
longer; say a handy tool bag that
can produce any tool needed, will need a longer duration so that the
Magic
tool will ‘stick around’ awhile. Likewise, a ‘clockwork’ creature will
only function as long as the
duration chosen during this phase
of creation. Devices also run on a
power source and duration can affect how fast it burns through that
fuel. But while the tool bag wouldn’t
need any range (you’re pulling the
conjured object out of the bag) the
ranged weapon cannot hit a target outside the device’s range. Like
spells, if the device uses options
from the Attack or Healing schools,
the modifier costs are doubled. The range will be added into the
difficulty as normal but record the
duration modifier to be used for
figuring the device’s Power
Requirements (minimum 1). Before the device can be build
there is one more set of options that
can be applied; Complications.
Instead of the normal complication that spellcasters use device will
have Item Quality. Certain negative
item qualities (Cumbersome,
Prepare, Slow-Firing & Unwieldy)
can be added to the device, lowering
the difficulty by a number of
equal to the total ranks in these
qualities. Inaccurate reduces the
difficulty by two. Once you have selected all the
options and have the final difficulty,
you are ready to get the parts for the
device. Add the number of upgrades
to the difficulty then multiply that by 10. This is half the street value of
the device and the cost in parts to
build a MS device.
Now it’s time to put it all together. Figure out what sized
Silhouette the device you’re
cramming this into. If the score is greater than the Silhouette upgrade
the difficulty by that many. Once
you’ve paid the cost of the parts,
you can start making the
Mechanics check. It will take a number of days equal to the score to
build. Each day the Mad Scientist
will need to spend eight hours
working on the device, at the end of
which the must make a Mechanics check against the device’s difficulty.
The days need not to be consecutive.
Record each day’s rolls. Once the
player has made a number of successful rolls equal to the number
of build days the device is finished.
As long as the check success, the
device is finished. Make a record of
the device’s Rarity of 8 and figure out any uncanceled a, t, h or d
and spend them using the Table:
Mad Science Build Roll. Failing the
roll means that the device doesn’t work and while the parts can be
salvaged, the inventor must start
over.
Reliability All Mad Science has a flaw; Reliability. The higher the ranks in
this quality, the better it is and all
devices start with 3 ranks. No device
can ever have a Reliability lower
than 1 for any reason. When using a MS device, you can use a number of
h equal to the ranks of the
Reliability quality to cause a
malfunction to occur. Each time a malfunction occurs roll percentile
dice and consult the Table: MS
Device Malfunction. Add 20 if the
device has minor damage and 50 if
it has major damage.
Magic
Tools & Workshops Every tinker needs a place to
work. This can be a desk in their
home or a full workshop. To make a MS device you must have at least a
set of tools. Tool sets of higher
quality can add a to Mechanics
checks, and this include the checks made to building MS devices.
Workshops add to Mechanics
checks.
Powering MS Devices All Mad Science devices
requires power, much like the strain
cost of magic. This power can be
provided by electricity, gas or even
the user in strain. Each type of fuel will come with a host of pros and
cons, including size, cost and rarity.
No matter the fuel source, all MS
devices have the Limited Ammo
quality. The ranks in this quality are based on the different fuel types. A
device uses this ammo once each
time it is used or the duration
elapses for device that continuously
run.
Steam: Be it coal or oil
burning to produce steam, these large devices can produce a lot of
power. Steam-powered devices
cannot be built into any device with
a Silhouette of 4 for oil (kerosene or petrol) and 5 for coal. This will give
the device a Limited Ammo rank
equal to three times the Silhouette
divided by the Power Requirement.
If the device is smaller than the Silhouette required for the fuel
type you will need a back-mounted
boiler called a Steampack,
connected to the device via a cable.
Building one is an Average ( )
Mechanics check and cost £2 in
parts or can be purchased.
The device will need a pound
of coal or liter of oil equal to the Silhouette of the boiler to run. It will
take 1 Maneuver to replace one
pound of coal or all of the oil back
into the boiler.
MAD SCIENTIST BUILD CHECK
Cost Result Options
a or
t
Reduce the Power Requirement by 1.
Add an item quality to the device. If it is ranked, add 1 rank each
time you use this option.
aa or t
Decrease the Silhouette of the device by one without changing the device’s score.
Raise the ranks in Reliability by 1.
t Reduce the Power Requirement by two.
Reduce the ranks in Reliability by 2.
h or
d
Lower the ranks in Reliability by 1 to a minimum of 1.
Raise the Power Requirement by 1.
dd If the Mechanics check was failed, the parts are useless and the Mad
Scientist must start over from scratch.
Magic
Battery: While not cheap or easy to get a hold of, batteries where
produced as early as the 1830s.
Batteries come in two sizes; large
and small. While a small battery can be put in anything of a Silhouette of
2 or higher, a large battery can’t be
placed into anything smaller than a
4. Large batteries have 50 charges
while small ones have 20. Divided the charges by the Power
Requirement to figure out the ranks
in the Limited Ammo quality.
Mechanical: To power these devices you need just a little bit of
elbow-grease and time. Mostly found
in clockwork devices this option requires someone to wind up the
tension of the device. It takes a
number of Maneuvers equal to the
Silhouette of the device to wind it up
fully. Regardless of the Power Requirement, this option only
provides 1 rank in the Limited Ammo
quality.
Personal: Be it an electrical
shock or some other physical affect, the device causes the user Strain.
The device must be something
hand-held or strapped-on and in the
possession of a living person to function. Adding this option will
decrease the Reliability ranks by 3
and give the device a rank of 1 in
Limited Ammo. While the device
doesn’t need to be reloaded it instead cost a number of Strain
equal to the Power Requirement per
use.
MS DIVICE POWER SOURCES
Fuel Source Encu Cost Rare
Steampack 3 £5 5
Coal, 1lb. 1 5d 3
Kerosene, 1l 2 2s 4
Large Battery 2 £1 6
Petrol, 1l 2 3s 4
Small Battery 1 15s 7
OBJECT SILHOUETTE
Silhouette Examples
1 Ring, coin, pocket knife, derringer, mouse.
2 Large knife, pistol, rat.
3 Carbine, doctor’s bag, cat.
4 Rifle, carpet bag, medium dog.
5 Backpack, large dog.
6 Potbelly stove.
7 Cannon, suit of armor, human.
8 Motorbike, horse.
Magic
Devices This is a small collection of devices available to character and serve as an
example of what can be done. We will start with a walk-though of building the
device.
Device Build Examples Theodor Grant is a moderately skilled (Mechanics skill rank of 3) and fairly intelligent (4) Mad Scientist. Have time and money on his hands he sits
down to build a couple of device in his very nice workshop (adds to
Mechanics checks); a rifle and servant.
Deathray The first thing Theodor wants to build is a Deathray. He decides it will be
a rifle with a decent range and good damage. Starting with the Attack school he
picks the Empowered option starting with a Hard ( ) difficulty ( from
Empowered and from Attack). Next he chooses the Long Range option from
Range adding to the difficulty and since this is an attack it will only have a
Duration of instant. Since the deatheray is a rifle it will need a Casting Time of
1 action so each trigger pull will activate the device add more to the
Difficulty. This brings the total to .
Theodor feels that that difficulty is too high, so he decides to add the
Inaccurate and Slow-Firing (1) quartiles. Inaccurate drops the difficulty by two
and the Slow-Firing by another one. This brings the difficulty to Daunting
( ) which is far more acceptable to Theodor. This will also give the device
a Score of 4. Since Theodor had already decided to build this into a rifle, the
Silhouette and difficulty are equal which means he will not have to upgrade the
difficulty.
So, after he gathers the £40 in parts he sits down in his workshop to put it together. After spending four days he makes his Mechanics check resulting
in a sss, hh & t. He decides to use one of the h to lower the ranks in
Reliability from the starting 3 to 2 and the other to raise the Power
Requirement by 1. He decides to use a large battery as the power source giving
him a Limited Ammo rank of 25 (50 divided by a Power Requirement of 2). He uses the t to increase the Reliability from 2 to 4.
Clockwork Servent Pleased with his deathray Theodor moves on to making a clockwork
servant. Using Conjuration, he choses a standard human minion but adds on
the Summon Ally option. This gives him a starting difficulty of . Next is range, which doesn’t need to be changed from the standard since the servant is
the target. Duration and casting time are two that he thinks about a lot.
Casting time will be the ‘down time’ between the durations, so he decides to go
with a four-hour casting time and one day duration, meaning that the servant
Magic
will run for a day but be ‘out of commotion’ for four hours of that time. These
options add to the difficulty. Unfortunately, he cannot justify any of the
item quality to lower the difficulty so he has a Formidable ( )
Mechanics check. He spends the £50 and five days required to build the
device and nets ss & a on his roll. Luck for him he didn’t waste his time and uses the 0 to add the item quality of Reinforced to the servant.
Example Devices
Clockwork Servent
BRAWN AGILITY INTELECT CUNNING WILLPOWER PRESENCE
2 2 2 1 2 1
SOAK VALUE WOUND THRESHOLD M/R DEFENES
3 6 0 0
Skills (group only): Brawl, Mechanics.
Talents: None.
Abilities: None.
Silhouette: 7 Price: £100
Rarity: 8
Special: Limited Ammo (1-Mechanical), Reinforced, Reliability 3.
While he may look like an average sized man, this device is a ‘clockwork’
man. Composed of layers of gears and cogs covered by clothing a porcelain mask, there is something ‘off’ about him making most people a little uneasy in
his presence.
A mechanical servant that can do little more that cook, clean and other
household jobs. Every night someone must wind his gears. This will take over a minute, but he cannot continue his function until his motors are fully charged
and he regains motion. This takes about four hours.
Deathray Skill: Ranged-Light
Damage: 6 Range: Long
Encumbrance: 2
Price: £80
Rarity: 8
Power Source: Large battery Special: Inaccurate, Limited Ammo (25), Slow-Firing (1) & Reliability 4
The deathray is modified rifle. The strange device has a large dish at the
end of the muzzle and a large battery revivor carved into the stock.
Magic
MAD SCIENITIST DEVICE MALFUNCTION
d100 Result
01–10 Minor Hiccup: Add a to the next usage of the device.
11-20 Shaken: The user takes 4 Stain as it shocks them.
21-30 Major Hiccup: The device stops working for two rounds. When it
starts working again the next check using this device add to it.
31-40 What Just Happened?: The device stops working for two rounds but
when it comes back increase the ranks in Reliability by 1.
41-50 Minor Damage: The device has minor damaged. If it already was
damaged, move the damage type up by one.
51-60
Inefficient: There is a power issue. If the device has the Limited
Ammo quality, reduce the rank by 1 to a minimum of 1. If the device
costs Strain, increase the Strain taken by 1.
61-70
Extreme Hiccup: The device stops working for 1d10 rounds. When
it starts working again it gains the Inaccurate quality if it did not
have it already, other wise lower the Reliability by 2.
71-80 Warped:
81-90 Moderate Damage: The device has moderate damage. If it is already
damaged increase to major damage.
91-100 Voltage Surge: the device has minor damage and does two wounds
to the user.
101-120 Major Damage: The device has major damage. If the device was
already damaged, it is destroyed (see above).
121-150 Destroyed: The device gives up the ghost and falls apart. The is nothing usable in the debris. The user takes a number of wounds
equal to the device’s Silhouette.
150+
Self Destruct: The device explodes sending shrapnel in all directions. The user and anyone engaged with the user takes two
times the device’s Silhouette in wounds and anyone within short
range takes a number of wounds equal to the device’s Slihouette.