"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and a single tale begins a thousand journeys"
Here is a brief history of Ithelia in each of its Ages. Note knowledge of the Creation Age and the Age of Beginning and End is mostly unknown or forgotten knowledge. The most recorded knowledge that modern Ithelia has dates back to the Age of the New Dawn. The unknown ages are mostly there for player benefit, but don't expect your character's to know that knowledge (especially the part about the Original Divine or the Vanari).
Before Ithelia began there was just an empty Void where nothing existed. There was no light or darkness. There was simply nothingness. Soon though a mighty being known as the Divine came forth from what mortals believe to be a reality that has always existed. Mortals use the one thing they know about the reality and have named it "The Existence". When the Divine entered the Void from the "Existence" it brought Existence with it.
From this "Existence" came the two forces that balance it. These forces are known as Law and Chaos. Law is what keeps Existence in order and makes sure that it is not contorted into something else by Chaos. Chaos is what allows Existence to change and makes sure that Order does not freeze the time of Existence by never allowing it to grow or change. The moment Existence was brought in Darkness was born to fill up the Existence, but in order to create a balanced existence a counter of Darkness was needed.
The Divine created Light using Chaos and then used Order to balance the Light with the Darkness creating a filled and balanced Existence. Even with this work done, the Divine noticed that something was still missing. It was then that the Divine brought forth the Elements from the Elemental Planes connected to the always existing reality.
With Earth the Divine sculpted the very lands themselves. Water was used to create the seas by filling the deep holes within the land. Fire was used to heat the lands and seas. Air was used to create the skies and breath the heat of Life into the lands creating the plants and other greenery. The Divine noticed that something was missing though. While pleased with the lands he created, the Divine noticed that it was just a lonely, barren existence despite being one filled with life.
The Divine decided to then create sentient beings to populate this Existence. It was from this decision that the Divine created the Dragons, the first beings to populate the World, which was what the Divine decided to call its creation at the time. For a period of time after this, the duration only known to the Dragons, the Dragons were the only sentient life in the Existence. The Dragons, for a while, were content with this and lived. Eventually Bahamhut, the first dragon to be brought into the World, was spurred by Chaos to change the existence of the World by telling the Divine that simply one type of sentient life in Ithelia was not enough.
The Divine took this suggestion to heart and began to make more types of sentient life. The Divine made all different types of life from various forms of animals, to other beings that were mystical like the dragons. Even with these new lifeforms, the Divine still felt as if the World was missing something vital. He had simply created beings that lived to sustain their eternal Life by inflicting Death upon those they ate so that Life in the World would still be balanced out by Death.
The Divine was slightly displeased with this basic existence that had been created in this world. While a balanced existence was what the Divine desired, this basic simplistic one was not exactly to the Divine's liking. It is this factor that played into the Divine deciding to create one other kind of being. These beings were known as the Vanari.
The Vanari were different from all of the other Divine’s creations. The mystical beings that were created before had only a basic concept of Law and Chaos. They either lived ordered, dignified existences or existences of flowing change and freedom. Of course, the Divine still noticed that even these balanced existences lacked something as they were only living to just fulfill their desires for survival, which the Divine found somewhat lackluster.
The Vanari were different. They were born with an understanding of Law, Chaos, Good, and Evil and these understandings were used to help dictate and guide their actions. It is these actions that also caused them to further other desires that the Divine had simply implanted in them. The Vanari had the desire to learn more about their world, to thrive as a people, and to build civilizations and do other interesting things.
The Divine was pleased with how the simple desire to do more that the Divine had planted in them grew thanks to their minds being balanced with Law and Chaos while their Souls (Hearts) were balanced with Good and Evil. The Divine was pleased with this existence that was different from the other beings he had created whose entire beings were only living on a single balance that either always stayed in the center or was always shifted to one side.
The Vanari, instead, lived with two balances in them that were always shifting and changing. Of course, despite their being Evil in their hearts, the Vanari still lead rather peaceful lives for many years to come, the creating of these first people marking the end of Creation and the age of a new beginning for the World...the world which the Divine had named Ithelia.
The Divine noticed how the Vanari had a greater desire to understand and learn more, so he had Bahamhut go to them and teach them the magic called Summoning, the name of the world they lived in, information on the Divine, and other important knowledge pertaining to the world they live in. It was this very encounter that marked the beginning of this age since it is in the moment that the Divine names this world, which is information that is given to Bahamhut during this encounter, that Bahamhut was able to give the information of this world's name to the Vanari.
Eventually a few centuries passed after the encounter between Bahamhut and the Vanari. The Vanari had taken to spreading themselves out across the world as many of them wanted to see more of it. They were a rather curious and knowledge hungry race. For a while this world was peaceful and the Divine was quite pleased with this.
The Vanari though began to change. As they learned and grew more each different Vanari "country" had developed different cultural traditions and different ways of life to match the areas they lived in. The Divine also began to change as well. The Divine had many different thoughts on how to govern different aspects of the world that was the Divine's creation. These thoughts were all split by the different forces of Law and Chaos. Chaos was trying to change these thoughts while Law was trying to keep them in order.
The Divine was, essentially, becoming unbalanced in its own mind and decided on what it had to do. The Divine ejected each of these thoughts from it and imbued into them a piece of its body and soul. Each of the ejected split thoughts now became new beings with their own bodies, minds, and souls and are what are known today to the people's of Ithelia as the Great Divines.
Each of these Great Divines governed over different aspects of the world. With the last of the Divine's power the Divine managed to create the Nether Realm, the High Realm, and the Spirit Realm. After this last attempt the Divine returned back to the Existence to begin to regenerate and rebalanced itself. In the meantime these new Greater Divines that the Divine had created began to govern over each different aspect of Ithelia that the rejected thought they were originally pertained to. It is actually unknown to the peoples of Ithelia today that the Great Divines were apart of one original Divine.
The Vanari had originally worshiped the Divine, but when Bahamhut once again imparted the knowledge to the Vanari that the Divine left this reality and now it was the Great Divines that ruled over Ithelia they soon began to worship them instead. It was here that history took a major turning point as different Vanari cultures began to worship different Divines.
Some Divines had opinions and ideas that countered others and the priests who had knowledge of how to communicate with the Divines knew this. This turning point took place within two large, neighboring Vanari cultures. These two neighboring countries had been conflicting over territory for quite some time, but had never sorted to violence to solve the disputes and just let them remain unsolved. The Divines that each of them worshiped though seemed to be "enemies" with one another.
This fact lead to a religious dispute between the two cultures that eventually brought back the territorial dispute. Soon a war broke out between the two cultures. It was the first war that Ithelia ever experienced and there were massive casualties on both sides especially since the Divines that each side worshiped also got involved. These two Divines were Sal-Marak, God of Slaughter, and Hedrik, God of Valor and Crafts. The two cultures wiped one another out and it was from here on that the Great Divines made a creed to never directly interfere in the affairs of the mortal world again.
These were not the only two cultures in peril as well. Other cultures were dying out as well. One culture was destroyed as it tried to exploit the powers of Demons from the Nether Realm with the use of Summoning. Other cultures soon began to quickly decline one by one over the next couple of centuries and this decline spelled the doom of the Vanari. Bahamhut, however; would not allow this to happen.
Bahamhut had grown to like the Vanari and had even tried to stop the First War, but was unable to due to the Divine involvement. Bahamhut pleaded with the Divines to help save the Vanari, but the Divines were not able to due to the creed that they made. It was here that Bahamhut decided that he would sacrifice his life if the Vanari could be spared. Knowing how important Bahamhut was to the original Divine, the Divines accepted. Bahamhut died to save the Vanari, and was made to be a Minor Divine due to the nobility of this sacrifice. To this day he governs over the Dragons as the God of Dragons. It is believed that he was always a Minor Divine as well.
The Vanari were not completely saved though by Bahamhut's sacrifice. While this creation of the Divine was not destroyed in its decline, the Vanari still were slowly dying out. Instead of disappearing though, they were changing. The first of the great Vanari cultures had begun to change over time as they dabbled more into magic. They had begun to seek ways to increase their own mystical abilities which led to many dangerous experiments with the only magic all Ithelians had access to at this time, Summoning. They had learned ways to gain more control over the powers Summoning let them borrow from mystical creatures, which had begun the first stages into developing a later form of of Magic known as Arcania.
Unfortunately though these experiments were dangerous and caused this first culture of Vanari, who were called the Felkindri (which meant the First People in Vanarian) to begin to change. This very undeveloped magic that all of them used began to affect them and over time caused them to undergo a complete "evolution" into an entirely different people and thus an entirely different culture. From this change the first of the Fey-kind, who call themselves the Feyrin, were born.
The Felkindri were not the only ones to undergo changes. Other cultures and groups had begun to change whether it was due to adapting to the environment they lived in or for some other reasons that no one knows. Whatever the case various large groups of Vanari turned into various different races. From these changes the Orcs, Dwarves, Tyrman, and Bestials were born. Eventually the final Vanari had changed into what is known today as the Human race. In this single age a single civilization had its beginnings as a humble creation and its ending with its fall and birth into the new races of today's Ithelia.
These new peoples of Ithelia suffered at first. There was alot of various fighting and other forms of strife. Even the mystical beings had undergone changes as well as new species were being born and older beings died off. Some of these new species of beings even became aggressive monsters and attacked the common peoples of Ithelia. Of course, over time in this brand new age the peoples of Ithelia had made some progress in building themselves anew with the birth of new countries and prosperity. Things were still long from being prosperous and peaceful though.
On the year Dawn 5430, two main cultures of Orcs and Dwarves (Orcs and Dwarves actually being descendent of the two Vanari cultures who were in the First War) living on the Northern Continent (also known as Frostfurn), had disputes with one another over territory, beliefs, and other various things. Over the next few decades these disputes had escalated into fighting on both sides. Humans who lived on this continent also sided with the Coldstone Dwarves (a Dwarven culture native to the mountainous regions of Frostfurn) due to some problems they had with the Kilbari Orcs (an Orcish culture native to the frozen plains of Frostfurn). The Orcs didn't really have anyone on their side, but their numbers were large enough to count for this.
A terrible war broke out between the two sides on the year 1350, this war being dubbed as The First Blood of Dawn. It was the first great war to the knowledge of the Ithelian peoples (as most knowledge of their past Vanari roots and history were practically gone at this point) and lasted for around a century. Near the end of the fighting some of the Human cultures on different continents had decided to go help their brethren end the fighting by going to defeat the Orcs. This made the fighting much worse as some of those final years rolled by. It was around the end of that century when the Feyrin, with the aid of the Tyrman, decided to intervene to put an end to this brutal violence which they feared would engulf every corner of Ithelia.
Thanks to this interference a somewhat shaky truce was formed between the two sides. Of course, nowadays Orcs and Dwarves all over still hold a great grudge towards one another and Humans still aren't too fond of Orcs either. In fact, minor disputes will always happen between the two main participants in the war and it isn't common for an Orc and a Dwarf to get into a fight whenever they happen to see one another, these fights even sometimes leading to one person killing the other.
A somewhat uneasy cloud of tension rested over Ithelia between all of the peoples of Ithelia as it seemed as if a war could break out between any groups of people at any moment. The risky war that could potentially break out would be a war that would involve all of the races and possibly end up with the complete genocide of a few peoples. This unease passed for a few centuries until one day a new discovery was made by the combined efforts of a group of peoples from each Race.
This group had taken the ancient, undeveloped magic which was said to be left by the Divines along with Summoning for the use of the peoples of Ithelia (which is not true, but its what they believe) and use what was known about Summoning to develop this undeveloped Magic into a new one known as Arcania. This new type of Magic, which was an achievement brought about by all races, would become an instrument of peace, growth, and prosperity that would drive Ithelia into a new age of peace. By older beings who know of the past before this age this age is called The Age of the New Dawn, but by everyone else it is just The Dawn Age.
With the usage of Arcania many advancements in all fields including crafting, medicine, farming, and etcetera all of the races seemed to prosper in some way. Even the grudges from the previous age were somewhat pushed aside in thanks to the new-found prosperity that this Age of Discovery was bringing to Ithelia. Magic was originally primitive and somewhat uncommon due to it being Summoning and requiring a sort of natural ability to communicate with the forces and beings of the world around them, which was not something everyone could have or develop.
Arcania changed all of this. Arcania was a magic anyone could use with extensive study and practice, so now Casters (those who could use Magic) were given strange looks anymore as they had received before due to anyone being able to become a caster. Of course, while anyone could become a caster, it was still difficult to become one in some areas so Magic still wasn't totally widespread, but the affects of it were with all of the various changes this new type of Magic brought to the world.
One of the most notable changes that affected nearly everyone was the development of the science known as Alchemy. Thanks to the new type of Magic this incredible science was discovered. All sorts of new things were created with Alchemy and what could be created with Alchemy was also used to greatly improve all other forms of craft as well. Thanks to these advances and many others thanks to this new type of Magic the peoples of Ithelia prospered to a great extent. Not even the ancient grudges between the Orcs and Dwarves or other such grudges were so openly acted upon now.
(This info is not known to Ithelians)
For many years this was age was truly an era of peace. One being, however; did not like all of this peace and prosperity in the world. This being had been created by the Divine a short bit after the Divine had made the Dragons during the Creation. This being was displeased with the Great Divines that were left after the Divine had split into several (as were some other mystic beings). This being decided to overthrow the Divines, but figured a greater form of power would be needed, so he decided to create a new type of power by distorting the balance between Light and Dark to forcibly make a Chaotic power which this creature then went to corrupt using bloody rituals. Using this new, terrible power (dubbed Demonic Power by this being itself) this being attempted to overthrow the Divines.
Since this creature had attempted to attack the Divines directly they were able to counter without breaking their creed. They threw this being into a section deep within the Nether Realm and sealed the section off, dubbing this section as the Demon Realm after the name of the power that this creature tried to overthrow them with. Try as he may, the creature couldn't break out of the Demon Realm due to the powerful seal placed on him and the realm itself. Over time though the Demon began to take control of the realm by fusing it with his own terrible, demonic power.
The Demon King then began to amass more power by attracting other displeased mystic beings to his realm by using his powers. Even though he couldn't escape from the realm himself, he still found ways to attract other beings to him. Every being he attracted to his realm he turned into a Demon like himself using his Demonic power. The more Demons that the Demon King created would cause his own power to grow. Of course, no matter how hard the Demon King tried he could never break the seal on his realm. Knowing this the Demon King had another plan as he had figured out a way to send other Minor Demons out from his realm to Ithelia. With this fact, the Demon King could begin his move by having his Demons he sent out go and target Ithelians and attempt to pull them over to his side with the temptations of Demonic Power.
The peace all seemed to begin to end when strange beings appeared all throughout Ithelia. No one knew what these beings were at first, but it appeared that they were only targeting Casters and Priests, granting them strange powers. They tempted Summoners to make Contract Summons with them, which they would corrupt to turn it into Demon Contracts which would be incredibly powerful (which was what the Summoners who fell for it liked). They also tempted users of Arcania (called Arcanists at the time) with temptations of a more powerful form of magic called Demonia, which was a combination of the Demonic Power they wielded and Arcania. They urged Priests who craved power to worship the Demon King as a new Divine, those who did gaining the ability to wield Demonic Power as they would Spiritual Power.
Of course, the Minor Demons were quick to target other mortals as well. Many Orcs were easily swayed by the Demonic Power as they admired the Demons for their strength. Groups from other Races gave into the temptation as well. They even managed to sway some of the Feyrin as well, but instead of just giving it to them the Demon King decided to do something else. He managed to use his power to corrupt and twist the Feyrin and turn them into ugly creatures which he dubbed Goblins. The Demon King was able to do this since the Feyrin were almost like mystical beings, so turning them into demon-like beings was done in the same way as he turned other Mystic Creatures into Demons. The Demon King managed to wipe the memory of the Goblins he had under his control so no one knows of their origins except for the Demons themselves as the Demon King replaced their memories with the memory of them being a race that had been hiding within the depths of the Dark Mountains ever since before the First Blood of Dawn (which is what the people of Ithelia heard from Goblins who they managed to hear it from and this is believed to be the truth till this day).
No one knew that the Demons were evil and the Divines couldn't tell the mortals directly due to their creed. Of course, by the time some people figured it out through messages from the Divines through those of great spiritual standing it was too late. With all of these people influenced by the demonic powers and a new Goblin army at his disposal, the Demon King was able to finally make his move. He managed to seize the souls of those under the influence of his demonic power and control them to his will. Since not many people saw this coming, all of those that were under this power couldn't resist. With this one action the Demon King had a large army in Ithelia consisting of Ithelians, Goblins, and all of the Minor Demons (along with some Lesser Demons and a few Greater Demons) that the Demon King could send to Ithelia.
Not but one day after this attack, the day being Discovery Year 2310, Month IV, Day 14, the Demon King had his new army attack the peoples of Ithelia to attempt to seize control of everything. It was this one event that marked the beginning of a war known as the Great Demon War. It also ended this peaceful age of discovery and brought about an age of terror, despair, and bloodshed. An age that would forever change Ithelia even after it ended.
After that day, which on the Ithelian Calender would be forever marked as The Day of Blood and be one of the most hated days in history by almost all, things only began to get worse. The fighting right off was gruesome with many casualties on both sides. As the years of fighting continued things only continued to look worse for the armies of Ithelia. The Demon King had a large supply of Lesser Demons that he could send out. Not only that, but many people still continued to fall under the Demon King's influence.
Things continued to look bleak for the Ithelians. Every day hope seemed to drain away of ever winning the battle as the forces of peoples of Ithelia dwindled while those of the Demon King remained strong. After nearly a few centuries of fighting the Divines were tired of simply watching, but knew that they couldn't interfere with the Mortal Realm due to their creed. It was then that Bahamhut, a minor deity, decided to aid the Ithelians in the one way he could. He ordered the Dragons to aid the Ithelian army by joining their forces.
With this one single order of aid made on the 657th Year, Month III, and twelfth Day of the Great War, which is still honored to this day as the Day of Dragons in honor of this, that the war began to turn in the Ithelians favor. After around ten more years of long, hard fighting the Ithelians, with the help of the Dragons and a few other groups of mystical beings, managed to destroy most of the Demon King's army, driving the Demons who survived back to the Demon Realm and killing many of those under the Demon King's power while using holy power to rescue those who surrendered. The Goblins were also forced into hiding as well during this time, taking refuge in the Dark Mountains where no one ever dared to venture.
The end of the war, taking place on the day of Year 667, Month VII, Day 25; which is known as the Day of Victory and is still celebrated as such, Ithelia could finally begin its long recovery. Many losses occurred during this long war though. Many of the dragons had been killed while various cultures of the mortal race had been wiped out. Summoning was now somewhat of a "lost" art due to how many summoners died on both sides of the conflict. Even an entire culture of Human Summoners known as the Kailen had been completely destroyed.
With the war finally over though, the battle torn Ithelia could begin a long period of recovery. Even then though everyone knew that Ithelia would probably never be the same ever again after this tragic time.
A long period of recovery began a few years after the war had ended. Ithelia had been torn, wounded, and scarred by the battle and so had its people. Many Dragons had died in the terrible war, their sacrifice allowing it to end and causing Dragons to become few in number. The Goblins became one of the most despised races in all of Ithelia while those who had grudges against the Orcs now despised them as much as Goblins. While several cultures had died out during the war and even the Tyrman were mostly destroyed several new Races and Cultures came into existence afterwards. Summoning had also become a very rarely practiced art during this time since the knowledge of it had become a dying thing thanks to the war.
The Dark Dwarves and Devians are two examples of Races born thanks to the Demonic Power. The Dark Dwarves are Dwarves and the Devians are Humans who had both fallen under the Demon King's power. The Dark Dwarves, unlike the Dwarves, are skilled at Magic and have blackened skin while the Devians are like Humans only they have small horns upon their heads, slightly reddened skin, and are a bit stronger than Humans but are also weak to demon destroying abilities. Strange creatures also came around at this time. Animalistic-Humanoids such as the Harpy, Minotaur, and Centaur were also believed to be born at this time (along with a few other Animalistic-Humanoids and no one knows why or how they came to be, but they know it is not because of the Demon King). Dragoons also came into existence during these times after the war as well, again not thanks to the Demon King.
As the days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, years into decades, and decades into centuries a recovery was slowly being made and many notable things did happen during this age of recovery. The maps of Ithelia were expanded with the discovery of new lands, new advancements in magic and other such fields were made, and even one more notable event occurred on a single day.
It was the day Recovery Year 548, Month V, Day 13. On this day in the Planes of Talgricka the first Dungeon had appeared. The Dungeons were a strange phenomenon that no one had ever seen before. The entrances could appear with any common entryway to any place and, when entered, lead to amazing buildings, caves, or other strange places that seemed almost otherworldly. Even the beings dwelling in the deep depths of the dungeons were those never seen before in Ithelia. It is believed that Dungeons connect to different planes or realities home to these different beings. This is only a theory though, as no one knows the truth of the Dungeons' origins.
Within these Dungeons were all sorts of amazing treasures that were either highly valuable monetary wise or held incredible mystical powers. Over the years research was done on these Dungeons and thanks to the Items discovered in them more advances in Magic and other places had been made, allowing for the recovery of Ithelia to go even more smoothly. Dungeon Exploring became a popular profession at this time and the Dungeon Explorers had brought out many items from the Dungeons (as Dungeons were usually never safe) and had even formed the Dungeon Explorers Guild.
In the end this age was prosperous and peaceful. Maybe not as peaceful or prosperous as the Age of Discovery, but it still allowed Ithelia to recover as the centuries turned into several long millennia and Ithelia had soon recovered completely from its war torn past to the point where the war was just a distant memory that people wanted to forget, but couldn't as they didn't want to make the same mistake as they did last time. The scars from this war were also something that could never be truly recovered from. People simply hoped that this peaceful age would continue, but sadly...it did not.
For a while Ithelia continued to experience more peaceful, prosperous times as the Age of Recovery (which after a certain point was renamed the Age of Peace) continued. There were a few disputes every now and then with the occasional battle since the grudges and hatreds couldn't be pushed to the side this time despite the great times of peace that Ithelia was going through. All was not well though, but not in a place visible to mortal eyes. This place being...the Demon Realm.
The Demon King, who had named himself Grelthiegor, was amassing power constantly. With all of the mortal souls who had died in the war sent to the Nether Realm still under his control and with many new demons in his Demon Realm, Grelthiegor's power was only growing. A few more years of peace passed, and on that day, The Recovery Year 10225, Month I, Day 11 known as the Day of Evil's Arrival to this day, Grelthiegor did what the Divines feared he would do for a very long time. Grelthiegor had amassed enough power to escape the Demon Realm.
With Grelthiegor's escape came the escape of all of his demons into the Mortal Realm as well and the end of the Age of Recovery/Peace. With the aid of the mortals who were under Grelthiegor's influence, the takeover of the Mortal Realm was a quick, and bloody process that took only a few months. Grelthiegor's power and terror spread to all corners of the Mortal Realm and reigned supreme for a long time. The Divines could not interfere and even the Dragons, Celestials; mystical creatures who died, ascended to the heavens, and became holy existences (they also helped out when the Dragons did in the Great War), and Angels; mortals who ascended to the Upper Realm to become celestial beings (who also helped out in the Great War when the Celestials did), were mostly powerless to stop him and his terrible armies.
For many years Grelthiegor continued his relentless takeover of the Mortal Realm. No matter how much it seemed that he would win though, Grelthiegor couldn't fully take over the mortal realm as long as there was some force to resist him. A few groups of Ithelians continued a hard, but futile, resistance. No matter how many resistances were crushed though for many years people continued to resist. This continued for centuries and even then passed into a few millennia.
Grelthiegor could not attack the Upper Realm or the Spirit Realm until ever soul in the Mortal Realm was under his control. Despite how valiant the resistances were, they couldn't last forever. People began to lose hope as resistances became fewer until it seemed like there was no one left to resist Grelthiegor. It was as if the entire mortal realm had finally been held beneath his boot heel after thousands of years of despair and terror. It all seemed as if Grelthiegor had won.
Hope was not lost however. While not all details are known about the event, it is known that a single person stepped up to challenge the Demon Lord. The day was The Reign Year 4934, Month XII, Day 24, a day that shall be forever known as the Eve of the Heroe and is celebrated by almost all except for those who willingly sided with Grelthiegor. On this day it is said that the Hero faced the Demon King while wielding the Seven Sacred Armaments forged by the Divines in battle while what powers the Divines could conjure into the Mortal Realm through the Celestials kept all of the other Demon King's forces at bay while the Heroe fought the Demon King.
The fighting continued for a day that felt like several years. In the end though, on Day 25 of the same month and the same year the Hero had dealt the final blow to the Demon King. Using the powers of the Sacred Armaments granted by the Divines the Hero managed to seal the Demon King into the Great Void, which is the space between the Realms where nothing exists. With the Demon King defeated the Celestials, what forces the Ithelians could rile up, what Dragons were left, and the Heroe (the Angels being unable to help due to the demonic powers in the world preventing them from entering it) destroyed a large number of the Demon King's forces while driving what Demons they didn't destroy back into the Demon Realm.
After that it is said that the Hero put a powerful seal on the Demon Realm using the powers of the Seven Armaments to prevent any more Demons from escaping the Demon Realm and to strengthen the seal they had put on the Demon King. It is believed that the Hero had died in this battle though, but had risen up to the Upper Realm to become a Minor Divine at the grace of the Greater Divines. While no one knows the name of this Hero, the peoples of Ithelia still pay respects to Hernir, the Minor Divine that was the Hero when the Hero was still alive. Hernir in the language of the Celestials meaning Hero.
With the Demon King gone and the majority his vile forces either destroyed or driven back into the Demon Realm the peoples of Ithelia were freed from the influence controlling them before and took back their lands and freedom in no time. Soon Ithelia was free once again and with no more threats looming in the distance... the true recovery could begin as this frightening age was put behind them and Ithelia entered into a new age of hope and peace.
With the Demon King defeated a new age could begin. An age of recovery, an age of peace, and an age of prosperity. This entire period in Ithelian history is named in honor of the Heroe who saved Ithelia from the clutches of the Demon King when everyone else had almost lost hope (another non-official name for this Age is the Age of Hope, both names are used commonly in conversation, but the Age of the Heroes is the "official" name accepted by all). It is thanks to this Heroe that Ithelia is able to enter what is called the most prosperous age in all of its history.
There were indeed many wounds dealt to Ithelia and its peoples that would probably never heal, grudges that would never be settled, and changes that were irrevocable. Despite all of these though the peoples of Ithelia prospered. During this age Dungeons began to appear in a much higher frequency then they had during the previous age. It is thanks to the Mystic Items and knowledge brought out from Dungeons by the Dungeon Explorers that the Magi Librium (the order of casters that had originally discovered Arcania) had managed to create a new type of magic called Sorcery.
Sorcery allowed for magic users to develop Magic in new ways that they couldn't do so before. Instead of just single spells like Arcania, Sorcery allows people to command and control different powers with magic in almost any way imaginable. This new type of Magic allowed for magic users to perform magic in new ways that they couldn't before. Not only that, but knowledge found in these Dungeons allowed for those using spiritual powers new ways to use their spiritual abilities without necessarily relying on the powers of the Divines but their own abilities. With all of this prosperity people figured that the Age of the Heroes would be ever lasting and continue forever.
In fact, during this age war was very low to the point where any "War" was only just small fighting based upon grudges dating back before the Reign of Grelthiegor. Of course, the world was by no means perfect. There was still crime, poverty, and even slavery in some places. These things were only a few things that still plagued Ithelia. Demon worshipers and Demons continued to plague Ithelia, but in very small amounts to where it did no notable damages that couldn't be prevented with ease. So even with these evils in the world, this Age named for the Hero continued to trump over all evil and be peaceful for an even longer period of time.
It was supposed to be a clear, starry night like any other on a night that occurred during the Age of the Heroes, Year 6850 on the Day of Evil's Arrival. As the sun began to set everything was completely normal, but once night came was when a strange occurrence happened. The Moon that had risen in the skies of Ithelia was completely black as the night itself. This shocked many people and even caused a bit of a panic. People began to try and research this, but on the next night the moon had returned to normal. After this things continued normally as if nothing happened and the morning after the appearance of the Black Moon everything was as peaceful as it had been before.
A year had passed once again and again on the night of the anniversary of that evil day the moon was completely black once again. This time something was different though. Monsters that had been known to be dormant or peaceful began to attack people or awaken. Evil forces began to appear from some Dungeons and more demon and demon worshiper sightings had been reported. For the next few years these small changes were all that happened, but these next few years had been tense and filled with anxiety and fear as more nights of the Black Moon appearing occurred more than just one time a year.
As time passed nights of the Black Moon appearing became more and more in number until a long fifty years had passed. A single week occurred that had every night watched over by a Black Moon. It was after this week that things got even worse. Demon sightings and worshipers became much more common, monsters got much more aggressive, alot of fighting between feuding peoples broke out, and the world's prosperity in general began to decline. It was after this that people believed that the Demon King Grelthiegor had reawakened (no one had any proof though) and that the Age of the Heroes, a time of peace and prosperity had come to a crashing end.
Twenty-five more long years have passed ever since the Age of the Hero has come to a tragic end. Things have had their ups and downs the past 25 years, but all in all they were getting worse at a very slow, but still fearful, rate. People still have the suspicion that the Demon King has returned and it is widely believed that he has despite no major moves being made. Fighting in Ithelia against any threat (Demons, monsters, and even each other) has escalated over the past 75 years. Many people believe that Grelthiegor has returned despite the Demon King making no major moves.
Like during the Reign of Grelthiegor, people have joined the side of the Demons as they hunger for power and have made the fight to regain Ithelia's peace much harder. A call has been sent out needing those who can fight and bring hope back to Ithelia as the next Heroes. Will you become one of these next Heroes and help end these ominous times and return the Black Moon to being a body of celestial light, will you join the side of the Demons for power and seek to oppress Ithelia, or will you simply fight and journey for your own goals and agendas whether they are power, glory, or wealth.
Your Tales of your Adventures in Ithelia have officially begun.
So how will your Tales of Ithelia be told?
There are rules to this. Yea, no one likes rules I know, but they ensure that everyone taking a part in this epic quest enjoys themselves, and to ensure that everyone reads the rules you will have to find the "Proof" within the rules here and post it on your Character Sheet. If you do not post the proof then I will not accept your character until you do.
Follow the Game Mechanics. Whether you are engaged in grisly combat, solving a challenging puzzle, or just performing some other task you must always follow the Game Mechanics. This means that you cannot automatically succeed in something. Instead you describe what you want to do in your post with your post and wait for the DM, which will be me, to roll up the result of a Check you would make with your Action in the situation. The result of the Check determines the result of your Action. (Some Actions don't require Checks, these you can automatically succeed in unless said otherwise by myself).
No sexual content in the RP. This is not one of those RP's nor do I want to turn it into one. I will allow Romance (as long as it doesn't become a freaking plot focus, in that case forget it, this isn't a romance story), but sexual content is a no-go. No one wants to read about any two characters doing the deed...seriously.
Obey Me. GM's word is always law in any case. Of course, mind that I am not so much as a jerk to say you can't complain about something you have a problem with, but usually if I say something it goes (but if you do have a problem with my judgement feel free to voice your opinions, I do not mind). This is also the longest rule.
No OOC fighting. Try to keep hostility and insults to a 0 on here. I want everyone to enjoy their experience on this RP, so no going around making others feel bad.
Have fun. This is a game and an RP. So just enjoy yourself and have fun.
Ask questions, make suggestions. Have a question or a suggestion, do not be afraid to ask or tell. Questions are especially important, especially if you don't understand something about the game mechanics. I made them, so if you don't understand something then don't be afraid to ask me a question about it.
Be Active. I cannot stress this one enough. Since this is a Game RP characters usually move in turns (unless its situations outside of combat). So please always remember to try and post at least a couple times a day, and especially be there during Combat. If the RP is moving quickly and you are not here (especially when it is a combat scenario or other scenarios when we post in Turns and we need your character to post to advance the story or combat) we will bypass your turn, but your character will still gain EXP. If you do not post for a day or two then I will make your character "Invisible" to where he/she is still there, but they gain no EXP or items. If you fail to post for a long period of time then I will void your character's existence entirely. If you do not post for a few weeks then I will assume you have dropped out unless you tell me in advance in some way so that I will know and can just make your character Invisible until your return.
Just a side note to all. I Perform all Dice Rolls and other mechanic features so you guys can enjoy the role playing more. The mechanics are here to add a challenging difficulty to the RP. Most of the dice roll stuff is there for mainly my benefit (so I can look at it and remember what to do), but other than that it is also there for your benefit so you can know how I determine things and decide better on what you want to do. The fact that game stuff is here adds also a strategy and suspense element to it as you wonder "Did my attack succeed" or "will my character make this jump" as you wait for me to post your character's fate. It makes it all the more exciting. So if something says its listed by something else and it isn't listed here, I most likely have it listed somewhere if you must know it. Like I say, you guys worry about what you want to do, I will worry about the numbers and dice rolling. ^^
The proof is the answer to this question. "Which Rule is the Longest Rule". I will give you a hint, it is not his rule.
The first part of the game is to create your Character. To create your character you must decide the following listed below:
- Attributes: Your character's natural attributes. You get 40 Character Points to apply to these 8 different major attributes.
- Sub-Attributes: These special attributes are determined all by your character's main stat scores.
- Race: Choose what Race you will be. Your Race changes your Attribute scores a slight bit and may give you a few bonuses and abilities.
- Culture: Choose the culture of the race you have selected. This grants various bonuses and other sorts of abilities.
- Abilities : You get 10 Ability Points (AP) for purchasing these special talents at Character creation.
- Traits: You get 5 Trait Points (TP) for purchasing these special passive traits that your character can have. You can only purchase up to 3 Traits at Character Creation and cannot purchase anymore after Character Creation unless stated otherwise.
- Flaws: You can take Major and Minor Flaws at Character Creation to gain bonus AP and TP.
- Skills: Gain 20+INT Score Skill Points for learning and leveling up Skills at Character Creation.
Your characters natural Attributes. These scores modify all Checks and are also used when you need to perform an Attribute Check, which is just a roll for completing a task that just involves raw ability rather than skill or finesse. At Character Creation you get 40 Character Points (CP) to put into your Attributes, but you cannot have them below 1 or above 10 after Racial and Cultural modifiers have been applied.
This Attribute determines the natural physical ability and basic physique of your character. It helps with any Checks or Skills that use large amounts of physical strength to succeed. Your Strength also modifies your Body and Vitality Sub-Attributes. It also helps with Melee Weapon Proficiency Skills and is also the Base Damage for your Unarmed Strike. This Stat is highly recommended for any Melee combatant. Raw STR Checks are made whenever you need to do something that would require simple brute force. Breaking down a door or pulling a stuck lever are just a few examples. Strength also determines your Physical Defense.
This Attribute measures just how hardy your character is. It helps determine your Body and Vitality sub stats and in Attribute Checks it is used to resist effects that would harm your body like Poison. Your CON Score helps determine both your Vitality and Body Sub Attributes. This Stat is recommended for all characters due to being the main determine to two of your most important Sub Attributes. Raw CON Checks are made to resist affects that would give you bodily harm like Poison.
This Attribute measures your coordination and reflexes. It helps determine your Initiative and Evasion Sub-Traits and helps with special Skills like the Projectile Skill. This Stat is recommended for lighter melee fighters who lack in the defense department and ranged combatants (which includes Magic and Spirit users). Dexterity also helps with finesse based skills like Riding, and Stealth. Raw DEX Checks are made when you need to show some measure of coordination, balance, or reflexes in a situation.
This Attribute measures the general quickness of your character. This Stat helps with the Movement, Initiative, and Evasion Sub-Attributes in terms of its functions in combat. This Attribute also helps with Skills that require quickness outside of Combat such as Acrobatics. This Stat is especially recommended for unarmed fighters, but is also best with just other melee fighters as well or anyone else who just doesn't want to get hit by any attack. Raw AGI Checks aren't usually made as AGI is usually always used in accompaniment with something else.
This Attribute measures the general knowledge of your character. This Attribute helps with the Arcania and Sorcery Magic Artes Skills in terms of combat functionality. Outside of Combat this Attribute is very useful for the Lore, Crafting, or other such Skills that require a defined knowledge of anything. This Attribute is recommended for the Magic user or other scholarly type character. Raw INT Checks are made when you don't have the necessary Lore Skill or other knowledge based Skill to understand something in a certain situation.
This Attribute measures your character's mental strength. This Attribute helps determine your Vitality, Essence, and Initiative. This Attribute also helps with all of the Magical Artes Skills and some Spiritual Power Skills. This Attribute is highly recommended for anyone who wishes to use Spiritual Powers or Magic. Raw Will Checks are made when you need to resist some harmful mental affect. Will also determines your Magic Defense.
This Attribute determines the strength of your character's spirit. This Attribute helps determine your Essence and Favor Sub-Attributes. It also helps with the Spiritual Power Skills. This Attribute is highly recommended for those who wish to use Spiritual Powers or even those who want to use Magic due to this Attribute helping with your Essence score. Raw Spirit Checks are made whenever you need to resist harmful affects that would damage your Spirit or affect you in some other negative way through spiritual means. Spirit also determines your Spirit Defense.
This Attribute determines how attractive and persuasive you are. This Stat helps with Favor and social Skills like Persuasion and Performance. This Attribute also helps with the Magic Artes (Summoning) Skill, some Spiritual Power Skills, and even has a small effect in Magic Artes (Arcania). This Stat is recommended for those who tend to use the Magic or Spirit Skills it helps with, those who tend to do alot of negotiating, those who just want to be viewed as attractive and charismatic, or those who have the intention of making a very high good (or maybe even bad) reputation for themselves. Charisma also helps with your Reputation (see Reputation Section).
These are your Sub Attributes that your other main Attributes determine. These Sub Attributes cannot be increased with AP, but as you Level Up they can be improved with Sub-AP that you will acquire as your character grows stronger throughout your journey in this vast world of Ithelia. Each Sub Stat will list the equation for determining it in ( ) next to its name.
Your Body Score is essentially how tough your character's body is or, for better terms, how much punishment they can take before they drop. Whenever you are dealt Wounding Damage from anything your Body Health (BH) decreases. Your BH isn't just your basic health but the physical condition of your character as well. Every time your BH is reduced by 25% you get a -1 on any and all Checks you make. Each penalty will go away once you recover your Body Score back up above each point. For more details on bodily injury, see the Injury and Death section.
Your health recovers at a much slower rate than your stamina does. When you sleep for a full eight hours you regain an amount of BH equal to half of your CON Score. Certain Items, Skills, Traits, and Abilities possess means for either helping you replenish your BP faster or replenish it without the need of resting. Since your Body is the most important score (as it keeps your character alive) it is always recommended to at least carry around a healing potion or something with the ability to replenish it since you never know when you may need it. After all, it is a dangerous world out there.
Your Vitality Sub-Attribute represents how long you can keep going or essentially how much energy or stamina you have. When you perform physically taxing actions like using certain Abilities, fighting in combat for extended periods of time, or traveling for long stretches of time. Performing these taxing actions drains your Vitality or Vitality Points (VP). When you take any form of Damage it is always taken as Vitality Damage, which reduces your Vitality, as getting beat up can be pretty exhausting as well. For more details on Vitality reduction, see Injury and Death.
Recovering Vitality is not that difficult. When you sleep for eight hours you recover all of your Vitality. Sleeping for less than eight hours (which is called Resting) restores only 1 Vitality for every two hours that you have rested. Certain Items, Abilities, Traits, and Skills also possess means for replenishing your Vitality as well without the need for Sleeping or Resting. When your Vitality is reduced to the halfway point you suffer a -2 on all Skill Rolls due to being somewhat exhausted. When you reach this point it is highly recommended to at least get some rest or find some way to recover Vitality as soon as possible.
Essence is the energy that dwells within the spirits of all beings. Whenever you use any Ability that requires Essence you use up some of your EP based on the cost listed in the Ability’s description. Certain Items and Abilities can also reduce an opponent’s Essence as well. When your Essence hits 0 you will be Staggered until you regain at least 5 EP.
Your EP cannot be decreased below 0 through any means, so nothing will happen on that regard since it cannot happen. EP can also be recovered in a few ways. Every hour that you Rest you recover 2 EP and if you have a full Sleep then you will recover all of your EP. Certain Items and Abilities can also restore your EP as well, like the Meditation Talent for example. Unlike Vitality or Body you do not receive negative effects as you lose EP.
Favor shows how much faith you have in the Divines which, in turn, shows how much they favor you. If you have the Atheism Character Weakness then your Favor Points (FP) will always be 0 since you have no belief in the Divines and thus no Favor with them. FP can be used for several things.
For starters Prayers from the Divine Prayer Skill are fueled by FP. There are also a few Actions you can use FP for without knowing these Skills, but you must known the Pray for Grace Ability to accomplish these. FP also goes down as it is used. When you run out of FP you cannot use any action that either requires FP or doesn’t require FP, but still involves the powers of the Divines.
If you do not have the Divine Prayer Skill then the only way you can recover Favor is by praying at a shrine, temple, or other sacred ground. For every hour that you pray you expend 1 VP, but also gain 1 FP back in return. Your FP also doesn't return when you rest unless your sleep happened to be in sacred ground, which if that is the case then you regain 1 FP after that sleep. Note, this only applies if you do not have the Divine Prayer Skill.
Your Movement determines how fast you can move. In Combat this is how many Units you can move with 1 Move Action, so by doing 2 Move Actions on your Turn you could actually move double your Movement. Movement also helps when running away from things as well, but if something moves faster than you do it is bound to catch up eventually if you don't do anything else besides running away from said something that is chasing you.
Your Evasion is how quick you are on your feet to move out of the way in time. While it mainly relies on speed, your reflexes also play a good role in your Evasion. You can use this as one of the Defense Rolls for avoiding attacks in Combat. You may also need to use this Roll to avoid other hazards as well.
Your Initiative determines your Combat readiness. At the beginning of each Combat, after the Surprise Round if there is one, everyone currently participating rolls an Initiative Check. It is whoever has the highest score that gets their Turn first. For more details on Turn Order and Surprise Rounds see the Combat Section.
The next thing to choose is your character's Race. Your Race grants you some Attribute bonuses (and penalties), Racial Abilities, and a few other things depending on which Race you choose. Once you choose your Character's Race you then choose which Culture you want your character to be a part of. Each Race has several different Cultures that exist within different regions of Ithelia.
The most common, and sort of the youngest, Race within all of Ithelia. The Humans were the last to be born after the fall of the Vanari yet are the most widespread and widely known of all of the Races that exist. Humans are known for their ability to adapt to any sort of environment or situation, their short lifespans (and fast-lived lives), and their tenaciousness. Humans have a pretty decent standing of magic, spiritual, and other sorts of supernatural abilities with the expertise in them varying from culture to culture.
+1 to any Attribute of your Choice.
+2 Skill Points at Character Creation
+1 Ability Point at Character Creation
Humans are the most widespread of Races, which has caused many different cultures of humans to form in different regions of its vast expanse. Each of these cultures is very different in its own regard with different traditions, fields of expertise, and other such things.
Rulers of the Asoden Islands Empire, the Asoderians are a proud, chivalrous, and militaristic people with a very strict moral code.
Native to the country of Calistre, these people are a more peaceful culture. While they do train warriors to defend their country, this place takes pride in its scholars, farmers, and craftsman. Its main craft though is the craft of Alchemy. The Calistrenians have been known to produce some of the greatest Alchemists and create many of the finest potions. The kingdom of Calistre has very fertile, green fields which produce some of the world's best crops and also are useful for producing great herbs for Alchemy as well. The Clearwater Forest, which is not to far from Calistre's capital, has also provided them with great herbs for Alchemy as well. Only the Forest Elves living in the Forests of Sion have been known to producing herbs that are on par with the herbs produced by Calistrenians, but they do not use those herbs for Alchemy.
The Calistrenian people have also produced some great Magic users as well as those who study Alchemy often study in the field of Magic as well. Of course, their magic users are not what they are really known for since it is the Alchemy that they are more known for.
Despite being a rather peaceful people the Calistrenian people have also been known to have small conflicts with the neighboring country of Jilgadra, which is home to the Jilgren Dark Elves. These conflicts are usually started by the Jilgren Dark Elves, who have a rather large amount of contempt for Humans, as the Calistrenians usually have no desire to fight with anyone. They have many allies spread out as many different countries trade with Calistre for their great Alchemic goods or their high quality crops and other fine products that Calistre has been known to produce.
Physically standing the Calistrenian people are usually around 5'8" (5'6" for the females) with slim builds. Those who grow up as farmers or train as warriors tend to be a bit more lean than others who spend their lives as scholars. Calistrenians tend to have either brown or dirty blonde (more closer to brown) hair with either blue or green eyes. They either wear simple green tunics with leather pants, if they are farmers, or robes with cloth tunics and pants beneath them if they are scholars or alchemists.
Calistrenians have been known to worship Boccob, God of Knowledge and Magic, and Elrune, Goddess of Nature; praying to these divinities for their prosperity in Alchemy, Farming, and Magic. Priests, or other wielders of spiritual powers, who often worship these Divines (mainly worship of Boccob) also have been known to use magic as well since Magic is more predominant in Calistrenian culture than religion is, but days of prayer and even a few festivals are held in honor of these two Divines (and the other Divines in general as well). They do not have an official named religion, but still pay homage to the Divines through the prayer and festivals nonetheless.
Calistrenians generally tend to become adventurers to find out more about the world. Due to being rather peaceful and being a more knowledge based culture they generally may adventure to gain more knowledge. Of course, due to being peaceful some Calistrenians, mainly warriors or those who train in the art of combat, will also venture to either grow stronger, find battle elsewhere, or find some other form of excitement to escape from the mundane life of peace that they would live in Calistre if they did not leave. After all, a warrior without a battle can become a very bored individual.
These are the different bonuses and other things you get with this Culture.
+1 to either INT or CHA: The Calistrenians are well known and sort of liked by many. They also are known for their vast knowledge in fields of Magic and Alchemy.
+2 on all Skill Checks when dealing with anything related to Calistrenian Alchemy (as in Alchemical goods made in Calistre).
Pay 1 less AP for the following Abilities.
Pay 2 less AP for the following Abilities.
You can take the following Skills as your Favored Skills at Character Creation (see Skills for more details).
Pay 1 less TP for the following Traits.
Get an extra AP or TP when you take these Flaws
The Sindarians are a desert people that reside within the Scion Desert. The Sindarians are a very crafty sort. Due to living in the desert survival is pretty tough so they often have to do some less than honorable things to survive. The Sindarians are also a very spiritual people, often praying to the Divines and spiritual entities dwelling in the desert to aid them in their survival in their homes. Sindarian warriors are often known for being "thief" warriors. Rather than boasting physical strength they are known for being very quick and stealthy, preferring to end combat very quickly and knowing how to do so.
Sindarians mainly try to gather their villages around an oasis or near other sources of water since water is more valuable than gold in the desert. Casters or Spiritualists that are able to harness or conjure water are very respected people and if you happen to enter any Sindarian village with this type of capability you will most likely be treated like royalty if you use your powers to aid them. Desert Fey also are known to reside in some of these villages as well. The Sindarians and Desert Fey have one main city that is considered to be the capital of what could be called the "kingdom" of the Desert of Scion. This city is known as the City of Sands and is made around the largest oasis in the entire desert known as the Crystal Pool.
Sindarians are known for worshiping the Minor Divines Izanagi; God of Storms, Tezmera; Goddess of the Desert, and the Greater Divine Gaia, Goddess of Nature. The priests of the Sindarian religion known as Sindran that pays homage to these three Divines does so to pray for water and the continuation of life in the desert. The religion of Sandra is one that supports survival and endurance when conditions are not fit for survival and also being thankful for what is given to you. While not all Sindarians support the second belief, there are many who support the first one. Some of the more zealot people of this religion take this belief to heart and use it as an excuse for thievery.
Physically the Sindarians have very tanned skin due to the sun of the desert. They are quite tall, average heights being 6' 6" for males and 6'3" for females. They are also very thin due to not eating as much and not spending as much time with more muscle based work due to such activities not being practiced much in the desert sun. Despite their usually thin physiques, the Sindarians have alot of endurance and great resistance to the heat due to always dwelling and working in the hot sun. The Sindarians also wear very light clothing that is mainly white to make it easier to sit in the heat. Often their clothes do not cover all of their bodies and some may often be seen wearing turbans.
Sindarians often leave the desert to get away from the desert. While they can live in the desert, some may get tired of doing so and go off to venture in different places where water is a much more easily attainable resource. Sindarians usually don't possess general reasons for becoming adventurers, their reasons usually being specific, personal ones. So the main general reason they all would possess would be to simply get out of the scorching hot desert to get to places that aren't as...hot.
Skills are the general talents or abilities that characters possess that rely on both basic training in them and the attributes of their user. This section covers how learning and leveling Skills work and gives the list of general Skills. The Magic and Spiritual Artes Skills are listed elsewhere since a bit of separate description is needed for all of them as a whole, but the info on Skills listed here pertains to those Skills as well.
At Character Creation you gain a number of Skill Points, or SP. Every SP you put into a Skill increases its Level by 1 (both during and after Character Creation). At Character Creation you can have a Skill be at Level 3 since we wouldn’t want characters getting too powerful at character creation. Every time you Level Up and gain SP you can only put one SP into a Skill per Level. So even if you were somehow to gain SP between level ups you cannot put it into a Skill you leveled up at the previous Level Up.
Now Skills are general talents, so naturally there are many things that can be done with a Skill. For instance with the Survival Skill you could track, forage for food, make fires, and etcetera. Every specific thing you can do with a Skill is a possible Skill Focus (every Skill will give you a list of possible Skill Focuses, but note that there are always usually a lot more than listed. Just ask the DM if you want a special focus for something you want to do specifically with said Skill).
You gain a Skill Focus at every 3rd Level of the Skill. When you possess a Skill Focus you get +2 on your Skill Rolls when using the skill in any situation that pertains to the Focus you have (although some special Skills have special focuses that are a bit different). Note that some situations may have to do with multiple aspects of a Skill and thus multiple focuses. You would not get a +2 Bonus for each Skill focus that you have that is used in the situation unless stated otherwise.
All Skills possess Skill Synergy. Since Skills are general abilities they also can possess links to other Skills or Abilities as well. When you reach the Level of a Skill listed in the Synergy then you gain that achievement. Note that if the Skill Synergy says to gain something that you already have at that Level then you can either take a free Skill Focus in that Skill or, if it says to get a Skill Focus for a different Skill, take a free Skill Focus in that different Skill.
Note that with Skill Synergy it will not Level Up a Skill unless you already have at least 1 Level in that Skill. Instead the “Level” is just a +1 Bonus to Rolls made with that Skill when you don’t have any Ranks in it. The moment you do gain a Level in that Skill any +1 Bonuses you have in that Skill from Skill Synergy increase your Skill Level by 1 and the +1 Bonuses then go away after that.
Your specific Culture (or Race, just depends) has certain Skills that they are best at. These are known as Favored Skills and are listed in the Culture’s, or Race’s, description. You can take up to 3 at Character Creation. When you take a Favored Skill you get 1 free Skill Focus in it (choosing from a specific set listed), +1 on all Checks with said Skill, and for the price of one AP you are able to add an additional SP to your Skill between levels. So at a Level Up if you spent an AP you could add 2 SP to the Skill’s Level instead of one.
Note that every Skill Focus for a Skill represents a common task you can perform with said Skill. If you wish to know the FR for said task, ask the DM (but in this case it won’t really matter since the DM is doing the rolling, but if you want to know, ask anyway). Not every Skill Focus is listed either since there are a lot of them. If you want to take a more specific one, ask the DM whether or not the one you would want to take exists.
You can also take a Skill Focus twice. This is known as a Skill Specialization and can only be done with Focuses from a Favored Skill that you took at Character Creation. What a Skill Specialization does is it allows you to succeed by 2 more. Essentially speaking if you made a Roll with a Focus you are Specialized in and got an 18 and succeeded, you would have succeeded by 20 instead. Skill Specializations also allow you to tie with the FR of a task and count it as a Success, which would then increase the result of your Roll by 2.
Acrobatics is a skill that has to do with any form of quick, agile, or fine movements. Movements such as jumping, balancing, and tumbling are a few examples. There are plenty of other specific actions as well, like dancing or juggling, that are influenced by this Skill.
A special combat maneuver you can perform with this Skill is Tumbling. Tumbling takes 2 Actions and allows you to only move half of your Movement. With Tumbling you are able to move past or around opponents without provoking a Chance Attack. The FR for Tumbling is either your opponent’s Melee Weaponry Roll if wielding a Melee Weapon, a Fisticuffs Roll if unarmed, or a DEX Roll if wielding a Ranged Weapon.
If the opponent is performing a Roll with a melee attack then this Roll counts as a Chance Attack if you fail with the Acrobatics (Tumble) Roll being your Defense Roll. If it is a DEX Roll that beat your own then they simply just stop your movement and thus end your Turn. Upon success you move around the opponent in whatever way you desire, even moving past them if it is a narrow corridor (narrow corridors usually giving the foe a bonus to their Roll). Tumbling is a sort of tiring action, so performing it takes a Vitality Point.
Time Needed: 2 Actions for most uses, including Tumbling. Escaping from something takes at around 5 Rounds (30 seconds). Other time allotments depend upon the action and situation.
Skill Focuses: Vertical Leaps, Long Jumps, Balancing, Tumbling, Escape Artist, Dancing, Agile Maneuver, and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: +1 to Climbing Level
Level 6: +1 to Movement
Level 9: +1 to Fisticuffs Level
Level 12: +2 on all Melee Weaponry Rolls made with Light Melee Weapons
Alchemy is the knowledge, identification, and the creation of special substances or potions. With this Skill you can manufacture special substances or powerful elixirs or be able to identify what they are with basic examination. Note that creating any alchemical or mystical concoction does require an Alchemist’s Lab to be present unless you want to attempt to do so without a lab, which gives you -10 on all Alchemy Checks (but you must have an Alchemist’s Kit on you that would have the materials needed inside of it).
Time Needed: Basic examination of a concoction or substances takes at least 30 seconds. Proper examination takes at least ten minutes (this is done with an alchemist Lab and gives you +10 on the Roll to successfully identify it). Creating something can take from 1-12 hours depending upon how tough it is to create (taking more time to create simple things can give you bonuses to the Roll)
Skill Focuses: Potions, Acids, Powders, Flammables, Oils, Poisons, Mystical Concoctions, Elixirs, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: +1 to the Skill Level of a Crafting Skill that you have SP in.
Level 5: +1 to Herbalism Level
Level 7: Learn the Alchemist Theory Ability (if you do not meet the requirements for it then you will learn it the moment you do).
Level 10: Get +2 when using Transmutation Spells.
With this Skill you can handle different animals or even tame and train them to make them your pets or companions. This Skill is especially useful in the wilderness since trying to calm a wolf down may be better than having to fight it and risk getting your face eaten off (which would be Handling). Any creature that has an INT of 1 is considered animalistic. Using this Skill on anything that has an INT above 1 will give you -5 for each point it is above two and will probably really offend the creature as well regardless of the result. You also cannot tame or train creatures with an INT above two since they are smart enough to do things on their own.
Time Needed: Mounting takes 1 or 2 Actions depending upon the beast while wrangling an animal may take either one minute or even an hour if you don’t use any tools. Training an animal takes from two weeks to a month depending on how many commands you are trying to teach it.
Focuses: Different kinds of animals (ask the DM), Handling, Mounting, Breeding, Herding, Taming, Training, Wrangling, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: +1 to your Riding Skill Level
Level 5: Gain the Hunting Skill Focus for the Survival Skill
Level 8: Gain the Bestial Communication Focus in the Nature's Voice Skill. If you already have it then get any other Skill Focus in any other Skill or this Skill that deals with animals or a specific kind of animal.
Level 11: Another +1 to your Riding Skill Level
Appraisal is the knowledge of finding the basic value of objects or goods in the common currency of the land known as Ilseni or iL, which is the common silver coin currency for Ithelia. The FR for any usage of this Skill depends upon how rare or exotic an object you are appraising is and how close to the exact value you are trying to determine for the object, or objects, you are trying to appraise.
Using the Appraisal Skill will also allow you to determine some basic information about the object. This will include its quality, where it came from, and other such information.
Time Needed: Basic appraisal to determine the general value takes about half a minute while trying to find out the exact value of an object may take 1-5 minutes depending upon the objects rarity.
Skill Focuses: Any type of good or object you can think of like Weapons, Gems, Jewelry, Mystical Items, etcetera. Just ask the DM if something can be applied as a Skill Focus.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to the Skill Level of a Crafting Skill that you have SP in
Level 6: Gain the Identification Skill Focus for the Alchemy Skill
Level 9: Gain the Sense Power Skill Focus for any Magic Arte or Spiritual Arte Skill that you know.
Climbing is the skill to scale different objects or surfaces like trees or rocky mountainsides. The FR for a usage of this Skill depends on the surface, the conditions you are climbing in, and whether or not you are using proper tools (like a Grappling Hook or Climbing Spikes). Climbing up something takes 2 Actions and every successful Climbing Check you make lets you move up the surface a number of Units equal to half of your Movement.
If you fail a Climbing Check you may just become unable to move if the failure was by 5 or less. By anymore then you will fall and take fall damage, taking 3 points of Body Damage per 10 feet (your Defense Rating able to protect you). Making a Reflexes Roll (FR 25) allows you to prevent yourself from falling as you managed to react just in time to stop yourself from falling.
While you are on a wall and you take damage you must make a Climbing Check again. The FR in this case would be 15 + the amount of Damage you took (both Body and Vitality). For every round that you are climbing you use 1 Vitality Point (or 2 if climbing in bad conditions) as Climbing is tiring. Also while Climbing you have a -5 to your Defense Rolls and the only Defense Roll you can use is Dodge.
Time Needed: 2 Actions lets you move half of your Movement while Climbing
Skill Focuses: Climbing Spikes, Grappling Hooks, Belaying, Mountains, Trees, Cobblestone Walls, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Acrobatics Skill Level
Level 8: +1 to Vitality
Level 11: Now when Climbing you move your full Movement instead of Half if your STR is 5 or greater.
This Skill represents mental training or natural focus to keep one's concentration. While this Skill is mainly used to resist Action Interruption, there are some other situations that a Concentration Roll can be used in. One example is continuing a single task for a long period of time or doing a task that requires alot of concentration in a situation that could interrupt said concentration (like using special powers on a swaying ship).
Time Needed: All uses are an Instant Action since it is usually used in accompaniment of another action for helping to keep an action going.
Skill Focuses: Magic, Spiritual Artes, Divine Prayer, Mystic Artes, Action Interruption, Rigorous Movement, Getting Attacked, and other forms of Action Interruption are all viable Skill Focuses.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: Get the Meditation Ability
Level 7: +1 to your Observation Skill Level
Level 10: +1 to the Skill Level of any Will based Ability that you know except for Concentration
There are many different Skills which allow you to craft different things. While these Skills are all different Skills, they all essentially do the same thing so are sorted into this category. So when you want to learn a Crafting Skill you simply pick from the list below and learn and level that individual Skill. Any Crafting Skill requires 3 INT to level up.
The FR when using any Crafting Skill depends upon what type of object you want to make and the quality you want to make it (Poor (-5 to FR), Average, Great (+5 to FR), and Excellent (+10 to FR)). Also not using the proper tools or space will add 10 to the FR while using high quality tools or an excellent space will decrease the FR by 5 (10 if you have both).
With a Crafting Skill you are also able to repair objects that go with your desired Skill as well. The FR depends on the quality (see above) of the object and how complex it is. For instance it is easier to sew a rip in a cape with Tailoring then it is to repair a sword with Blacksmithing. As goes with making an object, not using the proper tools or space to repair said object increases the FR by 10 and using high quality tools or an excellent space will decrease the FR by 5.
You can also use a Crafting Skill to determine the quality of an object that relates to it and some other basic information about it as well. Also making or repairing anything with Crafting may cost a Vitality Point per hour spent crafting. Each Crafting Skill listed below will have sample Skill Focuses that go with said Skill listed with it. As other Skills go, ask the DM about any ideas you have for a Skill Focus.
To make anything with a Crafting Skill requires you to purchase the materials from a store, the cost varying upon how complex the object is, the quality you are trying to make it, and the Skill you are trying to make it with. Most stores will have common materials for making common objects, but if you want to use a rare material to make a rare object you may have to either hope they have said material (which may cost a lot of iL) or be able to provide it yourself. If you provide it yourself then you won’t have to pay for it. You may also need to pay someone to rent the space or the tools required if you do not have either. Repairing an object seldom costs anything unless the object needs a couple of materials to repair it (in the case of more complex or heavily damaged objects).
Note that the Crafting Skills listed below are just the common ones that are the most practical for adventurers. If you do not see one in there that you would like to learn ask the DM about it and define what it is and the DM will decide whether or not you can learn that specific Crafting Skill. Getting someone to help you may also reduce the FR or time needed to make or repair an object.
Time Needed: Repairing objects can take anywhere from a quarter of an hour or half a day. It simply depends on the Skill you are using and the object you are repairing. Creating an object with any Crafting Skill typically takes a number of hours equal to 1/4th of its FR. Some objects, however; may require a number of days equal to said number. These are usually very complex or large objects (like ornate boxes or large statues).
Skill Synergy: This is the “Crafting Skills” Skill Synergy, so you can only get these with one Skill.
Level 4: +1 to your Appraisal Skill Level
Level 7: Get one Skill Focus in the Lore Skill dealing with Architecture, Construction, Engineering, and etcetera. (These three terms listed here are available Skill Focuses)
Level 10: +1 to Alchemy Skill Level
This Skill relates to making or repairing metal objects. Requires a Smith’s Forge to make anything and repairing anything may not be possible without one depending upon how much the object is damaged.
Skill Focuses: Bladed Weapons, Blunt Weaponry, Body Armor, Shields, Helmets, Basic Tools, etc.
This Skill relates to making good, or just healthy and edible, food. The tools required depend upon what meal you are trying to make. For some meals you may not need any tools and just a good fire (like roasting fish you just caught for an example). If your meal is good enough it may even give some small temporary bonuses to those who eat it or may replenish their Vitality.
Skill Focuses: Outdoor Cooking, Kitchen Cooking, Fish, Chicken, Beef, Stews, and etcetera. Essentially different methods of cooking, different ingredients, or different meals.
With this Skill you can not only cut gems, but make them into jewelry as well. Cutting a gem simply requires a Hammer and Chisel (the FR for the Roll pending upon the Gem). Making jewelry requires a Forge since you need to melt the metals and all that stuff. Note that the materials usually cost a lot for this Skill, so it is best to simply provide yourself if you can. You can also make simply jewelry from simple metals as well. Repairing Jewelry is also a little difficult. Note though that Jewelry can be Enchanted if it is Good Quality instead of just Excellent Quality.
Skill Focuses: Gold Jewelry, Silver Jewelry, Gem-Cutting, Diamond, Garnet, Ruby, Emerald, Earrings, Rings, Bracelets, Circlets, etc.
This Skill relates to making or repairing leather goods. This can be anything from leather armors to simple decanters. The tools needed are a simple Leather Crafters Kit (which can be purchased in a General Goods Store). You can also use Leather Working to skin animals for hides and then turn those into Leather at a General Goods Store that happens to have a Tanner, which you could either have them do (for a small price) or do yourself (which still may cost something if you are renting the equipment).
Skill Focuses: Skinning, Hard Leather, Soft Leather, Tanning Hides, Leather Armor, Leather Clothing, etc.
This Skill deals with the carving and cutting of stone. It can include sculpting large statues or just carving small trinkets from stone. The only Tools required are a simple Hammer and Chisel. You don’t have to pay anything if you are just using common stone, but you may have to pay for rare or exotic stone like marble or limestone if you decide to procure it. You can also use this Skill to mine Ore from a vein with a Pickaxe and to examine Ore as well.
Skill Focuses: Mining, Ores, Sculpting, Carving, Statues/Sculptures, Trinkets, etc.
This Skill deals with weaving and sewing to make different cloth goods or clothing. You can even weave thread to make cloth with this Skill or you could even make rope with Tailoring. You can basically use a Needle as a tool to make cloth goods from thread (or your hands from weaving twine into rope). To make thread from certain materials, however, you will need a spinning wheel which you may have to rent from a General Goods Store (it may just honestly be easier to purchase the thread or cloth premade).
Skill Focuses: Weaving, Sewing, Spinning, Rope Making, Basket Weaving, Clothing, etc.
This Skill deals with making or carving things out of wood. So you could make combat gear like wooden shields or bows, or you could just carve simple wooden tools or trinkets. For this Skill you need either a Hammer and Chisel or a Knife (or a Dagger). If you use wood you find then it is free, but you could also procure rare or exotic wood from a place that has it (for instance wood from a Serebis Tree in the Forests of Scion can make a very good bow or staff).
Skill Focuses: Bows, Shields, Staves, Clubs, Trinkets, Statues, Tools, etc.
This Skill relates with giving anyone, including yourself, a false appearance. This could be anything from imitating someone’s voice to acting or appearance changing. If you want to give someone a different appearance you must have different clothing or other things to do so. A Disguise Kit, which can be purchased from a General Goods Store, has a good number of disguises in it. The result of your Disguise Roll becomes the FR for people to roll Observation Rolls to see through the Disguise.
If you are trying to act using your Disguise Skill Roll then you must roll an FR based upon the type of character you are trying to portray. A simple character will have a low FR while a complex and more developed character will have a higher FR. Note that the higher the FR of your Disguise Roll in this scenario, then the more likely the audience will be impressed with your character if your Performance Roll to successfully act out the character works.
Note that the result of your Disguise Roll for making a disguise may be decreased if the person you are disguising has an appearance that...stands out.
Time Needed: 1 minute for a simple disguise, or even longer if you want to make the disguise more elaborate.
Skill Focuses: Acting, Voice Imitation, Costume Disguise, Cross Dressing, A certain Race or Culture, Personality Imitation
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Acting Skill Focus in the Performance Skill
Level 6: +1 to your Performance Skill Level
Level 8: The time for making most disguises is now just 3 rounds instead of a full minute (for more complex Disguises the time is decreased as well by some).
Level 10: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
This Skill is the mystic ability to connect with the world around you in order to find things out through your spirit that you wouldn't normally find out through just your five senses. To learn and use this Skill you must either possess Level 3 in any Magical Arte or Spiritual Arte Skill, have Level 3 in the Divine Prayer Skill, or possess the Clairvoyance Trait. You cannot use this Skill untrained. The FR for Divination depends on what you are trying to find out, and you can attempt to find out virtually anything (ask the DM).
Time Needed: Divination requires a lot of concentration and it takes at least one uninterrupted minute of such concentration. Spending an hour with some sort of special item like a crystal ball, bowl of clear water, or a mirror will grant you a +5 bonus on your Roll. Any use of Divination takes 1 EP and 1 VP since it is straining on both your body and spirit.
Skill Focuses: Predictions, Scrying, Information Gathering, Identities, and etcetera. Essentially anything you can “divine” could be an applicable Skill Focus.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Observation Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Lore Skill Level
Level 10: +1 to either the Skill Level of a Spiritual Arte you know or to your Level in the Divine Prayer Skill
This Skill is the knowledge of how to mend wounds, cure ailments, and perform other various forms of medical treatments to help people get better. Note that to use this Skill properly a Healer’s Kit is required. For some situations you can do without (like using cloth strips to bandage a wound), but for others a Healer’s Kit is necessary. You can purchase one at a General Goods Store. Just note that they have limited uses.
If you perform First Aid on someone who just got wounded (as in within at least two Rounds) then you can possibly restore BP to them if your check succeeds by enough. With First Aid you can make someone heal BP a little faster through resting if you successfully treat their old wounds. Some Status Ailments can also be treated with this Skill, see the Status Ailments Section for more details.
Time Needed: It depends upon the situation, but quick uses such as treating fresh wounds, stabilizing someone, treating poisons, etc all require two Actions. Other uses such as treating or diagnosing a disease may take anywhere from one to ten minutes. Treating different Status Ailments can take different amounts of time.
Skill Focuses: Wounds, Burns, Fractures, Disease, Poisons, Mental Care, and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Healing Skill Focus in either Alchemy or Herbalism
Level 6: +1 to your Herbalism Skill Level
Level 9: +1 to your Survival Skill Level
Level 12: +1 to your Arcania School (Continuance) Skill Level
This Skill shows ones knowledge of herbs and allows a person to not only identify them, but even apply them for their basic purposes. When you have a Herb you can use it for its basic application, making a Herbalism Check with the FR listed in its description to do so. This could be anything from a basic healing herb to a cooking spice.
This Skill is also used to identify Herbs and see if you can figure out what that specific type of Herb does. The FR is low (around 15) for common herbs and can be really high for the more rare or exotic herbs (up to 35 max). You can also attempt to search for herbs while in the wild with a usage of this Skill. The Herbs you identify can also be used to make special concoctions with the Alchemy Skill if you know their applications.
If you happen to have one, a Herbal Reference Guide can be used to give you a 5-10 bonus on all Herbology Rolls as long as you are not in Combat and thus can take your time to look through the book.
Time Needed: Identifying a Herb can take anywhere from 5 to 10 Rounds. Foraging for them in the wild can take anywhere from a single hour to six hours, 1 Vitality Point being spent for each hour you search. Applying a Herb takes an amount of time that depends on its application (but most only take 1 or 2 Actions). If you know the application then you know how long it takes (will be listed in the description.
Skill Focuses: Locating Herbs, Herb Identification, Cooking Herbs, Healing Herbs, Poisonous Herbs, Roots, Flowers, Preservation, etc.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Herbal Concoction Skill Focus for the Alchemy Skill
Level 5: Gain the Herbal Applications Skill Focus for the First Aid Skill
Level 8: +1 to your Survival Skill Level
Level 11: +1 to either your Alchemy or First Aid Skill Level
This Skill has to do with the reading, writing, and speaking of different languages. Whether you are trying to communicate with someone through a language barrier or deciphering ancient script on a wall, this Skill has its many uses. While there is a common language in Ithelia known as Ithesian, not everyone speaks this language as many people prefer to simply learn the common language of their homeland.
So you may find yourself attempting to communicate your own language to someone. To do so you make a Language Roll and subtract that from 40. The result becomes the FR for them to be able to understand you with their own Linguistics Roll. Depending upon how successful they are they may not have to make a language roll for a bit due to understanding the basic meaning of what you are saying. The same goes if they try to communicate their language to you.
In order to read or write any language you know with no penalty you must have an Intellect that is greater than, or equal to, 4. Also having the Low-Borne Flaw can change make you illiterate as well. Thus a Linguistics Roll is required to try and read or write if you are illiterate, the FR being 10 if it is a language you know. You can only write a Language you know.
You can also try to speak in “code”, this adding 15 to the FR of any Linguistics Roll for anyone to understand it. Also any time you get two Levels in this Skill you can learn another language and make it a known language. Note you must choose from a provided list as your circumstances may make it unjustifiable on how you could speak a certain language.
Time Needed: Speaking is an Instant Action if little is said, or can take longer if more is said. Speaking in “code” to an ally takes 1 Action while writing can take anywhere from 30 seconds to an hour. Deciphering or encrypting writings or trying to read languages you don’t know can take anywhere from five minutes to a couple hours.
Skill Focuses: A specific language (ask DM for a list) or a specific action (Writing, Reading, Deciphering, Encrypting, Forging, Codes, etc).
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Get the Decipher Skill Focus for any Magic or Spiritual Arte you know.
Level 5: Get the Encryption Skill Focus for either any Magic or Spiritual Arte you know.
Level 8: +1 to your Lore Skill Level
Level 11: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
This Skill represents either someone’s general knowledge of all things or someone’s specific knowledge of a certain subject. The FR for any Lore Roll depends upon what kind of knowledge you are trying to either remember or understand about something. If the knowledge is something less known then the FR would be higher than trying to dredge up or understand knowledge of something more known. An INT of 3 is required to learn this Skill.
You can also use a library or some other form of written knowledge in your Lore Roll. This source will grant you a +2 to a +10 Bonus based upon what kind of knowledge is in the source and how much it pertains to the subject you are researching. In some situations a successful Lore Roll may give you bonuses to other Rolls in that situation since you would be able to use your knowledge of that subject to your advantage to help you succeed. This bonus could be from 2 to 5, the bonus pending upon how successful you are on your Lore Roll.
Time Needed: Recalling anything is usually an Instant Action, but using some form of written knowledge or a library may take anywhere from five minutes to a few hours based upon how much you are researching or reading.
Skill Focuses: Arcane, History, Folk, Local, Religion, Spirits, Demons, Mystic Creatures, Animals, Songs, Traps, Dungeoneering, Geography, Planes, Wilderness, a certain Race, a certain Culture, Nobility, Heraldry, Military, Runes, a specific Place, and etcetera. Basically any specific subject of knowledge is a viable Skill Focus for this Skill.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Linguistics Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to the Skill Level of any Spiritual Arte or Magic Arte Skill that you know, or +1 to the Skill Level of the Divine Prayer Skill.
Level 10: +1 to the Skill Level of any Skill that you know based upon what Focuses you have in this Skill (for instance the Arcane Skill Focus would be +1 to a Magic Arte or the Wilderness Skill Focus would give you +1 to your Survival Skill Level).
This Skill is the ability for tampering with the inner workings of mechanical devices or complex objects like locks or traps. The FR for any usage of this Skill depends upon what you are trying to use this Skill on. It is also wise to not practice this Skill in public as it is often a Skill used by thieves to pilfer things from locked places. Without the use of a Thief’s Kit (which are not sold in general goods stores, but instead in black market areas or in more shady general goods stores) you get a -5 on all Rolls with this Skill.
Time Needed: It depends on what you are interacting with, but it usually takes from 30 seconds to five minutes.
Skill Focuses: Chests, Doors, Padlocks, Mystic Locks, Traps, Mystic Traps, and etcetera. Essentially any form of mechanical device is a viable Skill Focus. Ask the DM.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Lock or Trap Skill Focus for the Blacksmithing Skill
Level 6: +1 to your Sleight of Hand Skill Level
Level 8: Gain the Mechanical Devices Skill Focus for the Lore Skill
Level 11: +1 to your Stealth Skill Level
This Skill represents any training or experience you have had wielding Melee Weapons in general. Without any Ranks in this Skill you get a -4 on all Attack Rolls you make with Melee Weapons. Rolls for this Skill are also used in the Parry Defense Roll to block oncoming attacks. The FR for any Attack is your opponent’s Defense Roll (with bonuses to the Defense Roll if you are trying to execute some special maneuver).
Now with this Skill you are not automatically proficient in all Melee Weapons. Instead when you first learn this Skill you choose one Weapon Type from the Skill Focuses and you gain Proficiency in that Weapon. If you try to use something you do not have proficiency in you are not only unable to perform any maneuvers with said Weapon, but also you get a -2 on all Rolls made with said Weapon. Every time you get a Skill Focus in a Skill you can choose to learn another Weapon instead. You could also get just a Skill Focus in a Weapon you know to get that +2 Bonus.
Time Needed: Parrying is always an Instant Action and using any form of Attack takes 1 Action. Also drawing your Weapon from its sheath or wherever it is On Person takes an Action.
Skill Focuses—
Proficiencies: Longsword, Broadsword, Shortsword, Bastard Sword, Spear, Polearm, Halberd, Glaive, Spear, Longspear, Short Spear, Greatsword, Club, Light Mace, Heavy Mace, Battleaxe, Greataxe, Pickaxe, Daggers, Scimitar, and Great Maul
Maneuvers: Any Maneuver learned from a Combat Ability, Tripping, Disarming, Parrying, Feint, and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: Gain the Quick Draw Ability
Level 7: +1 to your Fisticuffs Skill Level
Level 10: Gain a special Thrown Weapons Skill Focus (+2 with all Thrown Weapons). You can only gain this Focus through this Synergy
This Skill represents someone’s ability to perceive things with their five senses in the area surrounding them. It also represents someone’s ability for deduction and someones basic intuition for maybe seeing the truth about something. For instance this Roll is commonly the FR of Disguise and Persuasion (Bluff Skill Focus) Rolls.
Time Needed: Most main uses are an Instant Action while a little more precise observation is considered an Action. A thorough observation of an area or object may take about thirty seconds or more depending upon how thorough you want to be.
Skill Focuses: Searching, Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch, Empathy, Deduction, and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
● Level 4: +1 to your Appraisal Skill Level
● Level 7: +1 to your Stealth Skill Level
● Level 10: +1 to either your Divination Skill Level or your Disguise Skill Level
This Skill relates to the basic ability to perform in different ways to entertain whether it is weaving an epic, playing an instrument, or singing a song. Some uses of Performance also require a use of a different Skill. For instance if you wanted to perform a difficult dance you would first need to make an Acrobatics Roll to perform the dance, then a Performance Roll to make it impressive and entertaining to your audience.
Time Needed: This simply depends on what you are doing in your performance and how long you are trying to perform. Longer performances may require multiple Performance Rolls.
Skill Focuses: Singing, Storytelling, Instruments (Lyre, Harp, Lute, etc), Mystic Shows (using Magic, Spiritual Artes, or Divine Prayer to be entertaining), Acting, and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
● Level 4: +1 to your Disguise Skill Level
● Level 7: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
● Level 10: Get the Mystic Song Skill Focus in one Magical or Spiritual Arte that you know
This Skill relates to negotiation with people, convincing them of something, or influencing a person in some way. This could be done through skilled diplomatic negotiations, brute intimidation, cunning bluffs, inspiring speeches, and etcetera. This Skill also has some Combat usage as using Persuasion (Intimidation Focus) can actually cause the Afraid Status or the Persuasion (Bluff Focus) can be used with the Feint Ability.
Time Needed: Just depends, most uses could be considered an Instant Action since speaking does not take that long while other uses which use more speaking could take anywhere from an Action to a few minutes.
Skill Focuses: Bluff, Intimidation, Haggling, Investigation, Diplomacy, Speeches, and etc.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Disguise Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Performance Skill Level
Level 10: +1 to either your Summoning Skill Level or Divine Prayer Skill Level
This Skill represents a person’s training in the usage of projectile weapons. These could be anything from bows to javelins. The FR for this is always the opponent’s Defense Roll. Also note that certain Projectiles are harder to parry and thus those parrying them get a penalty on their Parry Roll to do so. Note that using this Skill does provoke Chance Attacks.
Like with Melee Weaponry you must pick a single Weapon Type to be your Proficiency when you first learn this Skill, then with each Skill Focus you get you could either put a Skill Focus into a Weapon you know or learn a new Weapon. You get a -6 on Attack Rolls to use this Skill without Ranks, using a Weapon without having its Proficiency gives you a -3 on Rolls made with it and you cannot perform any Maneuvers with said Weapon.
You can also throw small objects like rocks, grappling hooks, or potion vials with this Skill, without incurring penalties on Checks if you have no ranks in this Skill or do not have the Small Object Proficiency. Essentially it is a Proficiency you already know and getting a Skill Focus in it would just be like getting a Skill Focus in anything else.
Time Needed: Ranged Weapons take 1 Action to prepare (or 2 if it is not on hand) and 1 Action to fire. Certain Weapons (like Crossbows) need to be reloaded and doing so takes 2 Actions unless stated otherwise. Thrown Weapons like Throwing Knives do not need to be prepared if you already have them in your hand, they can just be thrown with one Action. If they are not in your hand then you would need one Action to draw them if they are On Person and then another Action to throw them. Preparing a Ranged Weapon provokes Chance Attacks.
Skill Focuses—
Weapon Types: Sling, Shortbow, Longbow, Light Crossbow, Heavy Crossbow, Javelin, Spear (Throwing Only), Throwing Axes, Small Objects (See above), Boomerang, Throwing Knives, Shuriken, and Kunai
Maneuvers: Any Maneuver learned from a Combat Ability
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: Gain either the Quick Shot Ability or the Quick Draw Ability
Level 7: Get the Quick Reload Ability and get the Thrown Weapon Focus for the Melee Weaponry Skill (only attainable with this Synergy)
Level 10: Gain the Throw Weapon Ability and with said Ability you can now throw Heavy Weapons, but at a -5 penalty.
This is the basic training for riding or mounting different beasts like horses or different vehicles like chariots. The FR for this Skill depends on the environment you are riding in, the type of beast or vehicle you are riding, and even performing other actions while riding like shooting a bow or using a lance.
If your mount is not combat trained or have natural combat instincts you must either make an Animal Handling or Riding Check with an FR of 20 to prevent it from running away since it would not want to be near such a frightening thing. Also If you fail a Riding Check by too much in any situation your mount may throw you off causing you to suffer Vitality Damage based on your Roll’s failure.
Time Needed: Mounting can take 1 or 2 Actions depending upon what you are mounting and you spend 1 Action to have the creature, or vehicle, move its full Movement.
Skill Focuses: Different beasts or vehicles that are rideable count as a Skill Focus.
Skill Synergy:
● Level 4: +1 to your Animal Handling Skill Level
● Level 7: Gain the Mounted Combat Skill Focus in either the Melee Weaponry or the Projectile Skills, if you already have this Focus in both of these Skills then get it in this Skill, if you have it here then get any other Riding Skill Focus of your choice.
● Level 10: Another +1 to your Animal Handling Skill Level
This Skill shows how good one is at using their hands to fool people or be discreet about something like using it to pick pockets or perform parlor tricks. The Observation Rolls of others is often the FR of this Skill and vice versa for this Skill Roll being the FR of Observation Rolls to spot the sleight of hand.
Time Needed: Most uses take one or two actions, and these would be things like picking pockets or concealing Items. Using it to perform parlor tricks takes more time depending on how long of a show you are putting on.
Skill Focuses: Pick-Pocketing, Stealthy Pilfering, Palming, Hiding Items, Parlor Tricks, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Manipulate Device Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Stealth Skill Level
Level 10: Either get another +1 to your Manipulate Device Skill Level or the Light Weaponry Focus for the Melee Weaponry Skill (only attainable through Synergy).
This Skill is the basic talent of sneaking around or doing things undetected. As such your Stealth Roll result becomes the FR of anyone’s Observation Rolls to see what you are doing. Depending on what you are doing you may receive up to a -10 penalty to your Stealth Rolls to do it secretly. You can also make camouflage that will give you up to a +5 Bonus on Stealth Rolls while wearing it if prepared properly with the right materials and enough time.
Time Needed: Most uses of Stealth like hiding quickly, secretly taking something, or sneaking (moving a fourth of your Movement, moving half gives you a -10 penalty) take 1 Action. At Level 7 this Penalty is reduced to -5 and it goes away at Level 10. Not only that, but at Level 10 you can move at your full Movement with a -10 Penalty.
Skill Focuses: Hiding, Sneaking, Camouflage, Stealing, Stealthy Action, Snow, Urban, Forest, Desert, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Disguise Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Observation Skill Level
Level 10: You get the Secret Strike Skill Focus for this Skill.
This Skill represents one’s knowledge of how to live and survive in the wild and employs such skills like tracking, hunting, foraging, fire making, and other such survival skills. The FR depends on what you are doing and, sometimes, the environment you are in.
Time Needed: This purely depends upon what you are doing. A use of Survival could take anywhere from a minute for scanning tracks to an hour if you are hunting or foraging.
Skill Focuses: Tracking, Foraging, Hunting, Forests, Snow, Sea, Mountains, Fire-Making, Desert, Shelter Construction, Dungeons, and etcetera. Essentially Survival methods and places where one would try to “survive” are applicable Skill Focuses for this Skill.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Wilderness Skill Focus for the Perception Skill
Level 5: +1 to your Herbalism Skill Level
Level 8: +1 to your Perception Skill Level
Level 11: +1 to your First Aid Skill Level
This Skill is the basic training for moving through water or simply treading it to stay above it and keep yourself from drowning. It could also have to do with just crossing shallow or gentle water. This Skill usually does not use Vitality, but treading calm water can cost 1 if you fail a CON Roll (FR 15) after the first hour. Every hour afterwards costs 1 Vitality Point. In a storm it costs 1 VP per ten minutes you swim and you are able to hold your breath for a number of Rounds equal to 5 + your CON Rating.
After that amount of time you begin to drown, losing 3 VP and 3 BP every Round you remain underwater. If your VP gets to 0 then you faint and can be brought back with a First Aid Roll (FR 20). If your BP gets to 0 then you drown and die.
Time Needed: Basic swimming or movement through water takes 2 Actions and you only move half your Movement (you can move at 1/4th in one Action). You can dive underwater at your full Movement if you are carrying more than 30 lbs. of gear. You can only swim upwards a number of Units equal to a fourth of your Movement.
Skill Focuses: Different bodies of water, Stormy Waters, Crossing, Diving, Treading, etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: Gain the Sea Skill Focus for the Survival Skill
Level 7: +1 to your Sailing Skill Level or gain the Water Skill Focus for the Acrobatics Skill
Level 10: Gain the Aqua Skill Focus for the Sorcery Skill
Magic is one of the three great powers that has been in existence since the dawn of Ithelia while the other great powers have been the Spiritual Powers and the Divine Powers. Magic, unlike the other two powers, is the power that is most accessible to mortals and is the very lifeblood of Mystic Beings. Unlike Spiritual Powers which harness Essence; the force of spirit, and Divine Powers; which draw strength from a person's faith, Magic draws its powers from a different force.
This mystic force is known as Mana. Mana is a powerful force that is known to cause all sorts of physical and metaphysical phenomenon. Whether it is the creation of a tornado or the currents in a river. Mana is responsible for all of the tangible phenomenon that occurs within Ithelia. With the usage of Magic one can control Mana to create different physical and metaphysical phenomenon whilst harnessing different powers.
Mana, however; doesn't naturally dwell within the humanoid races of Ithelia and only dwells within Mystic Creatures. Thus to use Magic you must use your Essence. Mana is naturally attracted to Essence, so by channeling your Essence and your will into said Essence you can gather the Mana to you, channel your will and commands into it, then unleash it to create magic and initiate different mystical phenomenon.
So to essentially use Magic in game terms you spend an amount of EP and Actions listed in the spell or power's description and roll a Skill Roll for the Magic Artes Skill that you are using. Upon success you use it. If you fail then you do not and still spend the actions and lose the EP you would have spent on the spell or power.
Magic does require intense concentration though. So if you ever find your concentration being interrupted you must roll a Concentration Skill Roll. The FR depends on what is interrupting you, but upon success you continue to use your Magic. Upon failure your Magic is interrupted and it is just like failing to cast the Spell with your Magic Artes Skill Roll for the Skill you were using.
Note that the Armor Penalty applies to all of these Magic Arte Skills. Also there are a few other Magic Arte Skills that are hidden due to being hidden knowledge only known to certain groups or people.
While each Magic Arte Skill is different, they are all still magic so there are some similar tasks that can be done with all Magic Artes Skills. You can pick any one of these tasks as a Skill Focus for any Magic Artes Skill that you know. This is what they are:
You can sense concentrations of magical energies known as Mana Pools. This takes 2 Actions and has an FR of 15. Upon success you know the general location of any Mana Pools in the area. If you rolled a 20 you gain general information about any Magic that the Mana Pool is creating (like with Arcane Items). If it is a 25 or higher you sense what the magic does. Note that these higher Roll cases can only be done if you are touching the object. Upon a Critical Success you can sense all of these things about any Mana Pool that isn't even near you. Note that the max radius that Detect Magic extends to is around 40 Units.
By tapping into the Mana Pool of an Arcane Item you can activate its abilities. This is usually an automatic success once you learn any Magic Skill, but some Items may be harder to control. The FR for activating the Magic within these Items is listed in the Item's description. Sometimes in the event that you succeed once you may not need to try again, but that just depends on the Item. This takes 1 Action unless specified otherwise.
Many Magics can be resisted with special Stat Rolls or the usages of certain Skills. This can sometimes be hard though, so the best way to resist any Magic is with Magic. Instead of making the Resistance Roll the Magic needs the target to make you can make any Magic Artes Skill Roll to resist it instead. Note that you receive a -2 penalty if you are using a different Magic Artes Skill than the one that the attacking Magic comes from. Upon success you do resist, but this doesn't cancel the Magic. Instead this only protects you from the Magic, so if it has an AOE that targets multiple people then those people will be affected if they do not resist on their own. This is a type of Defense Roll, so no actions are taken. The FR is the result of the Roll made to create and use said Magic.
By rolling any Magic Artes Skill Roll of your own you can determine the exact nature of Magic the caster is using. This is an Instant Action that can only be done if you are not participating in melee combat. The FR is equal to the result of the Roll made to use the Magic. Upon success you determine the exact nature of the Magic and get a +5 to Resist or do anything else against that Magic if there is anything else you could do as an Instant Action.
Anyway, here are the different Magic Artes Skills that you can learn. These Skills are able to be learned like other Skills, but there is a catch to learning them. Only by possessing certain Traits or Abilities are you able to learn Magic since some Traits and Abilities represent the hard training, innate skill, or immense studying needed for learning Magic. Without any of these Traits or Abilities you are not able to learn Magic in game or at Character Creation until you get them. You can acquire the needed traits or abilities in game, but doing so may be difficult.
Created by the Magi Librium near the end of the Dawn Age, Arcania is a powerful Magic that involves the creation of different mystic formulas made to create different arcanic phenomenon. These "formulas" are what establish the commands put within the Essence that flow within to the mana. These magical formulas are often called Spells as is all magic by the less knowledgeable masses.
The usage of Arcania is simple. You pay the EP, Actions, and any other cost listed in the description, roll an Arcania Roll and beat the FR, then you follow the instructions in the Spell's description. Despite this simple use, Arcania has quite a special way that Magic is learned.
Since Spells are magical formulas created by Arcanists, when you learn Arcania you create your own Spells. You decide on the Spell's affect(s) and the DM will determine its FR, EP Cost, and School based on the affects of the Spell. At Level 1 and every odd level afterwards you create a free Spell with automatic success and not having to spend any iL. Note that some Spells may not be creatable under normal circumstances if the affects you want them to have are considered to be really powerful.
You also must learn specific Schools of Magic. At Level 1 you can pick 1 School to base your Spells on. These Schools are listed below. Every time you acquire a Skill Focus you can use that Skill Focus instead to learn another School. If you try and Resist Magic that comes from this Skill, but from a different School than you know then you still get the -2 penalty to Resist.
Here are some Tasks you can do with Arcania:
You can try to create Spells in-between these times, but doing so is difficult. To do so you must pay an amount of iL equal to the Spell's decided FR. More powerful Spells may even require additional iL, as the iL is spent for the exotic materials and other research equipment needed for the creation of your Spell. The FR to create the Spell is the same one that the DM decides will be the FR to cast the Spell. You may not be able to create Spells through this method if the Spell you are trying to create has a very powerful affect.
An Arcanist can also attempt to learn a Spell from another Arcanist or from just arcanic writings in general. The FR for this is the same FR as to cast the Spell, but being successful lets you learn it and use it as your own Spell. An Arcanist teaching you the Spell can add +5 to your Roll to learn the Spell, but only if they taught you of free will. Note that you cannot learn a Spell that is not a part of a School you do not have.
Time Needed: The amount of time needed to perform Arcania is listed in the description of every Spell you use.
Skill Focuses: Any Spell you know, Learn another School, any School you know, Creating Spells, Learning Spells, and other magical things are all viable Skill Focuses
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Arcana Focus in the Lore Skill. If you have it, choose a different focus.
Level 6: +1 to Skill Level in Alchemy
Level 8: Take one of the following Language Skill Focuses (Encryption, Deciphering, Writing, or Reading)
Level 11: +1 to Skill Level in Lore.
These are the different Schools of Arcania. When you create your Spells or learn them from someone else, you can only do so if you know said School that the Spell you are trying to create or learn comes from. When you first learn Arcania you learn one School. Every time you get another Skill Focus in this Skill you can learn a different School instead of putting a Skill Focus into something.
Note that some Spells you can create or learn are actually useable by multiple Schools, so if you know one of the Schools that a Spell uses then you can use and learn that Spell freely. If you manage to learn more than one of the schools used for that Spell then you get a +2 to use it.
Abjuration is the school of repulsion, repelling, deflecting, and protecting. What Abjuration Magic focuses on is creating powerful wards and barriers that either keep something out or in. This Magic also focuses on shielding spells to provide protection to a target from certain forms of attack or damage. All in all Abjuration is considered to be the school of defensive Magic.
Spells from the Continuance School have to do with the sustaining or continuing of life. An Arcanist who uses and creates Spells from the Continuance School is one who creates Spells that heal wounds, cure ailments, or use other magics that help sustain life. While Magic is usually not accepted in some places, Continuists (those who practice Continuance) are actually some of the few mages who are openly accepted everywhere since their Magics deal with saving lives.
Spells from Elementalism are capable of manipulating the elemental forces themselves. So whenever an Elementalist creates a Spell they create one that manipulates one of the five natural elements, these elements being Air, Water, Earth, Fire, and Lightning. Elementalism Spells have a wide variety of uses and often are actually Spells that can come from multiple Schools (like a spell that protects a person from fire would be Elementalism and Abjuration). All in all, an Elementalist can perform magics that are useful in almost any situation.
The school of Mentalism holds spells that affect the mind and can perform various mind based feats like make enemies more friendly, make your allies courageous, or even read the thoughts of other people. Those who practice Mentalism are called Mentalists. Mentalism is a very useful magic since it could be used to make negotiations go into your favor, turn enemies against one another, and etcetera. All in all Mentalism has its uses when dealing with just about anyone.
The school of Mysticism holds magics that relate to the very principles of magic itself. The magics of Mysticism hold spells that manipulate the energy known as Mana and perform other special tricks that affect the world around you. With Mysticism you could manipulate an object from a distance or inscribe mystic runes on a surface that activate some other magic when read. Mysticism is a very useful school that has some of the most versatile magic within it. Mysticism practitioners are called Mystics.
The school of Necromancy holds within it the magics of death itself. This powerful, and often forbidden, school of Magic is well known for being practiced by dark magi or Necromancers as they are officially called. While Necromancy is frowned upon by many (and actually illegal in several places), it is still very powerful. Necromancy holds magics such as summoning the undead, wounding a foe without even touching them, calling forth dreadful plague, and etcetera. A Necromancer in any adventuring party has a great number of positions they could fill, so it is wise to never underestimate a Necromancer.
The school of Transmutation holds spells that alter or change things physically in the world around them. Often called the Arcanic Alchemy, the school of Transmutation was created about five years after Alchemy was discovered and both have been used to further advance each other ever since. Transmutation spells are capable of many useful feats including enhancing ally abilities, turning stone into sand, changing a creature's shape, and etcertera. In any adventuring party Transmutationists are useful in just about any situation since Transmutation, next to Mysticism, is one of the most versatile schools of magic.
The school of Trickery holds spells that trick people by showing them images that aren’t there or have them feel fake sensations in order to confuse them. Although those who practice it call themselves Illusionists, they are often called Trickster Magi, Deceptionists, and cowards by those who would rather fight their foes then deceive or confuse them. If you are an Illusionist it is often best to not reveal yourself openly as one. Despite the somewhat poor treatment Illusionists are very useful. A few good examples are sending a large group of foes into disarray by showing them a false, yet terrifying, image or to sneak out of a tough spot by disguising yourself or turning yourself invisible.
Demonia is magic that harnesses demonic power in all of its spells. This dreadful magic came to Ithelia when Demons tempted Arcanists with the prospect of a more powerful magic. Using their demonic power the Demons helped Arcanists who bought into their temptations to create Demonia. Demonia, despite having been a mostly mortal made power, is still a magic of demons and thus very dangerous and difficult for mortals to use.
You cannot learn Demonia without acquiring some form of demonic power. At Character Creation this can be attained from certain Traits, Abilities or Flaws. In game though certain Items are capable of granting you demonic power, but the most common way though is to contract the help of a Demon in order to request their power so you can learn and use Demonia.
Of course, this contract is never free and since Demons will trick mortals in whatever way to get them contracted the contract is often never good for the mortal who takes it. Also to contract with a demon you would have to either find one willing to negotiate or figure out how to summon one. You must also possess a SPI Score of at least 4 to use Demonia.
To use a Demonia spell you do so in the same manner as you would any other Magic. You make a Demonia Skill Roll with the FR being in the spell’s description. If you succeed, then you use it, if you don’t you fail. Failing to cast the Spell will cause you to lose half of the EP you were going to invest into it if you succeeded in casting it. And whether you fail or succeed you still suffer the Backlash for casting a spell of demonic power (if you are a pure mortal that is). You also learn one Demonia Spell upon taking this Skill and another at every odd Skill Level.
As mentioned before with the term “Backlash”, Demonia is a dangerous arte. Whenever a mortal uses Demonia they suffer a Backlash listed in the Spell's description as the spell also damages its user since they are unable to handle the Demonissence (essentially demonic essence) that a Demonia Spell harnesses that all Demons have. Also any Resistances you would get against any Damage that Backlash inflicts on you is ignored. There is a way to resist said Backlash though.
You can spend 1 EP to attempt a SPI Score roll to attempt to negate the Backlash, the FR for the Roll to resist the Backlash being the same FR to use the Spell. You can spend additional EP after 1 and every additional EP you spend gives you a +2 bonus to negate the Backlash. The max amount of additional EP you can spend to resist the Backlash is equal to your Spirit Score.
Here are some special things you can do with just Demonia alone:
You can use your powers of Demonia to actually resist any power a Demon tries to use on you or any other Demonic power that anyone else uses on you. To do so you simply make a Demonia Roll with the FR being whatever the assailant Rolled to use said Power. Essentially instead of rolling the standard Resistance listed in the Power's description, you roll a Demonia Roll instead.
You can also use Demonia to resist holy powers. This is exactly the same as Resist Demonic only instead of resisting demonic powers you resist holy powers instead. This can also be used to resist any spiritual power as well (as not all spiritual powers are holy or demonic).
Just like the Learn Spell task with Arcania, only instead of learning Arcania Spells you use it to learn Demonia Spells instead. Note that doing this can be sort of difficult since there aren't many people who would openly teach Demonia and texts containing anything on this Arte are often considered evil objects and thus are often destroyed.
Time Needed: The time needed to perform Demonia is listed in the description of every Spell that you use.
Skill Focuses: Any Spell you know, Resist Demonic, Resist Holy, Learn Spell, and any form of Demon are all viable options for Skill Focuses. Ask the DM if you have other ideas.
Skill Synergy:
Level 1: Learn to speak, read, and write the Demonic Language.
Level 4: Gain +1 to Lore Skill Level
Level 7: Gain +1 to Alchemy Skill Level.
Level 10: Gain +2 on any and all Skill Rolls dealing with Demons or anything Demonic (Magic Artes, Spiritual Artes, and Divine Prayer are excluded from this bonus).
Unlike Arcania, there are no individual Schools of magic for Demonia. Also while you have the ability to create Demonia Spells if you get the Demonia Research Ability, the Spells are very hard to create. So there are not that many and thus you choose Spells you want to learn when you Level this Skill from the following list below.
Note that these are not all of the Demonia Spells in existence, but just the commonly known ones amongst Demonists. There are still other Spells hidden away in different places or coveted by certain individuals or orders that you could learn if you are lucky enough to stumble upon them. You can also create your own Spells if you so desire.
Here is what a listing for a Demonia Spell looks like:
Requirements: What special requirements you need to meet in order to use and learn this Spell.
FR: This is the FR for the Demonia Roll you need to make to successfully cast the Spell.
EP Cost: How much EP the Spell Costs.
Casting Time: How long it takes you to cast the Spell.
Backlash: The backlash affects of each Spell. Getting a Critical Success on the Roll to use the Spell automatically negates the Backlash. A Fumble doubles the Backlash and increases the FR of the Roll to resist it by 5.
Range: The max distance that the target of your Spell can be at in order for you to target them.
Area of Effect (AOE): What or who the Spell affects
Affect: What the Spell does and the game mechanics of its effects.
Duration: How long the Spell lasts
Resistance: Any Rolls the target can make to resist the Spell
Requirements: CON 6, Will 6, and either Demonia Level 5 or know either Attribute Drain or Soul Consume
FR: 30
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Get a -2 on all Rolls for an hour after the Spell ends
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll you use the demonic power of soul consumption to absorb some of the strength of the target. Upon a failed Roll you decrease their highest Stat Score by 1 and increase that same Stat Score of yours by 1. Also you gain the ability to use a number of spells or powers that they have or know equal to a third of your success over their Resistance. If you succeed by high enough (as in a very high Critical Success) then the affects may become permanent, but this is decided by the DM and is unlikely to happen.
Duration: 1 Hour (after that the Spells you gain and the Stat Score increase you gain will disappear and the owner will regain their powers, spells, and recover the stat damage)
Resistance: CON Roll
Requirements: STR 4, CON 6, Demonia Level 3
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 2 Stat Score Damage of the selected Attribute once the Spell wears off
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Select an Attribute. Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll you deal an amount of Stat Score Damage to the selected Attribute equal to half of your success over their Resistance. A high enough Critical Success may make half of the increase permanent (DM's discretion)
Duration: 1 Hour
Resistance: CON Roll
Requirements: Will 5, Persuasion 3
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Get the Afraid Status once the Spell wears off
Range: Self
Area of Effect (AOE): All creature's 5 Units from caster
Affect: Exude an aura of despair that causes all to become afraid of you. Anyone who fails their Resistance Roll gets the Afraid Status. Failing by 10 or more gets them the Terrified Status. Getting either a Fumble on the Resistance or failing by 20 or more causes them to faint.
Duration: 1 Minute
Resistance: Will Roll
Requirements: Demonia Level 3
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 Wounding Damage if you succeed in casting the Spell. If you fail then you become the target of this Spell and take an amount of Wounding Damage equal to the amount you failed to cast the Spell.
Range: 10 Units or Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature or 1 Weapon
Affect--
Weapon Affect: Wrap a weapon in dark, demonic lightning. When this Weapon hits a target they will cause the Weapon to deal an additional amount of Damage equal to your success over the FR of the Spell.
Bolt Affect: Throw a bolt of black, demonic lightning at a foe. If this Spell hits then it deals an amount of Wounding Damage equal to the failure of their Dodge Roll.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Dodge Roll only
Requirements: CON 5
FR: Target's Resistance for a single target, 25 for an AOE
EP Cost: 2 for a single target, 3 for an AOE
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 point of CON Score Damage (or 2 if you used the AOE version)
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): Either 1 Creature or your target and all of those 3 Units away from your target (including allies)
Affect: On a successful Fisticuffs Roll on your target you drain life force from your target(s). The amount of Body Health you drain is equal to the failure of their CON Roll to Resist.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: CON Roll to resist Affects
Requirements: Demonia Level 5 or the Corrupted Flaw
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: You suffer 1 SPI Score Damage
Range: 3 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 mortal creature
Affect: You attempt to corrupt someone's mortal soul with dark and demonic powers. This will give them the minor version of the Corrupted Flaw if they fail to resist.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Will Roll to resist
Requirements: Demonia Level 5
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take 5 Damage
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You inflict the target with a strong curse that causes them great pain. Every time the target does something they take 1 Vitality Damage and have a -5 on any Rolls they make at that time.
Duration: 1 Hour, a Critical Success makes it last for a whole day
Resistance: SPI Roll to resist Spell, CON Roll to resist affects each time they hit
Requirements: Lore Level 5 and either Demonia Level 5 or Summoning Level 3
FR: 20 for a Minor Demon, 25 for a Lesser Demon, 30 for a Greater Demon, and 35 for an Archdemon
EP Cost: 2 for Minor, 3 for Lesser, 4 for Greater, and 5 for an Archdemon
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take Spirit Score Damage based on what you tried to summon. 1 for Minor Demons, 2 for Lesser Demons, 3 for Greater Demons, and 4 for Archdemons.
Range: 2 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): Self
Affect: Summon a powerful demon or demonic entity to your side. The demon will simply kill any foes you may have, but if you try to make it do anything else a Persuasion Roll may be required depending on what it is. Offering things to the Demon may help in this case.
Duration: 5 Minutes
Resistance: None
Requirements: Demonia Level 7, INT of 6
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2 for Minor, 3 for Greater
Casting Time: 1 Minute
Backlash: Take 2 Will Damage when Spell ends
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 10 Units around target
Affect: You create a strange mystic circle around a target point that creates a strange space in the area around that point that causes the space to temporarily become a place within the Demon Realm. Anyone who enters the circle is also teleported to this space in the demon realm as well. This spell is very dangerous as anyone inside of it, even the caster, is viable to get attacked by demons or harmed by whatever demonic forces lurk within the depths of the Demon Realm.
Duration: 1 Minute or until the caster takes Damage
Resistance: A STR Roll is needed if you want to leave the circle
Requirements: INT 6 and Will 6 and Demonia Level 3, or have Flames of Destruction known
FR: 25
EP Cost: 3 EP
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take 1 CON Damage and 2 Wounding Damage
Range: 20 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 5 Units around target
Affect: Conjure forth a large mass of demonic flame that burns all within it. This will burn all flammable materials, including living flesh. Every Round that someone remains inside the burning inferno they take 1 CON Damage. Any Armor they have will protect them from the damage for a number of rounds equal to half of the Physical Resistance the armor gives.
Duration: 1 Minute
Resistance: None
Requirements: CON 6, SPI 6, and either having Demonia Level 7 or knowing the Transmutation School and having Demonia Level 5
FR: 25 for a Minor Demon, 30 for a Lesser Demon, 35 for a Greater Demon, and 40 for an Archdemon
EP Cost: 2 for Minor Demon, 3 for Lesser Demon, 4 for Greater Demon, and 5 for an Archdemon
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take 2 SPI Score and 1 CON Score Damage
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): Self
Affect: Turn yourself into a mighty demon for a short period of time. Your INT and Will stay the same, but all of your other Stats will change to match a Demon of the rank you chose and any Skill Levels, Abilities, Traits, and Flaws a demon of that Rank would have are added to your character. If you wish to know the Stats given based on the ranks of Demons ask the DM.
Duration: 1 Minute
Resistance: None
Requirements: CON 6, Will 6, SPI 5, Demonia Level 7, and know Demonic Polymorph
FR: 30 for a Minor Demon, 35 for a Lesser Demon, 40 for a Greater Demon, and 45 for an Archdemon
EP Cost: 5 for a Minor Demon, 6 for a Lesser Demon, 7 for a Greater Demon, and 8 for an Archdemon
Casting Time: 1 Hour
Backlash: Gain the Corrupted Flaw. If you already have it then permanently lose 1 Vitality and take a permanent point of SPI Score Damage.
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 dead creature
Affect: Using great demonic powers and strong magic you cause a once dead being to be reborn as a Demon. This is the same as Demonic Polymorph, only the affects are permanent as they are permanently reborn as a Demon.
Duration: Permanent
Resistance: Will Roll if the target is unwilling
Additional Info: You can get people to help you, giving you a +2 on the Roll for each person and, if alot of people help, then even larger creatures that couldn't normally be targeted by this Spell could be targeted.
Requirements: Skill Level of 3 for the target Weapon
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: -2 on all Weaponry Rolls made with said Weapon after the Spell wears off, this affect lasts for a minute. If you use this on your fists then you take 1 CON Damage after the Spell wears off.
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): Caster's Weapon
Affect: You turn your current Weapon into a powerful demonic weapon. This make it deal an additional amount of Damage equal to the caster's success over the FR (this amount is halved if you are using it on your fists). This Damage is considered "Demonic" Damage so it goes through Physical Resistance
Duration: 1 Minute or until Weapon hits an enemy (or just 1 minute if used on fists)
Resistance: None
Requirements: Demonia Level 3 and either First Aid Level 3 or knowing Transmutation
FR: 20 for Minor Disfigurement, 30 for Major Disfigurement
EP Cost: 2 for Minor Disfigurement, 3 for Major Disfigurement
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: 1 CHA Score Damage
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll you cause the a terrible and ugly disfiguring in a person's body, granting them either the minor version of the Disfigurement Flaw or the greater version.
Duration: Permanent until Spell is broken
Resistance: STR Roll
Requirements: Will 5, CON 5, SPI 4
FR: 25
EP Cost: 3
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take 1 Point of CON Score Damage and 1 Point of SPI Score Damage
Range: Self
Area of Effect (AOE): Area 10 Units around the Caster and all who are in it
Affect: You literally open your mouth and begin to draw in Essence from the area and people around you. From the area you drain a number of Essence equal to half of your success over the FR. From all creatures in it you take a number of Essence equal to half of the failure of their Resistance Roll.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Will Roll
Requirements: First Aid Level 1
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 2 Wounding Damage.
Range: 5 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): Any wounded target that is capable of bleeding.
Affect: You cause the target's wounds to begin to bleed. They gain the Bleeding Status that will not go away until they heal 1 point of BH. First Aid cannot stop the Bleeding.
Duration: Until the bleeding is stopped.
Resistance: CON Roll to resist Spell
Requirements: INT 5 and Will 5, Demonia Level 3
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 CON Damage
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature or Object
Affect: Create a demonic flame that continues to burn until the target is turned into ash. Upon failure to avoid the Spell the target will 1 CON Score Damage per Round until either the flame is put out or until the target hits 0 CON, upon which the target's entire body will be turned into ash and all flammables they have on them burned as well. To put out the flames the target must be fully doused in water all at once, so the target better hope that either a bucket or someone who can call forth water is nearby. Your Armor will protect you from the flames for a number of rounds equal to half of its Physical Resistance that it gives you, after that you will start to take the CON Damage and your armor's quality will be reduced until it is repaired.
Duration: Until it is put out or the target hits 0 CON
Resistance: Dodge to avoid, Block to still take 1 Damage. Any form of Roll you can make to resist demonic powers or flame can be made each Round after you take the CON Damage to negate the Spell.
Requirements: Demonia Level 5, CON Level 6
FR: 25 for Touch, 30 for Ranged
EP Cost: 2 for Touch, 3 for Ranged
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Take 1 CON Score Damage and 1 CHA Score Damage once the spell wears off
Range: Touch or 5 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You attempt to steal someone's very form to gain all of their powers and abilities. Upon success over their Resistance you transform into them, all of your Stats changing to their's (your Will and INT remaining unaffected) and you gaining any Abilities, Traits, and Flaws, and Skills that they have (losing any of your own Skills unless they are INT or Will based). If you succeed over their Resistance by 5 or more then they are rendered unconscious. If you succeed by 10 or more over their Resistance then they take 1 CON Damage, 1 Will Damage, and 1 CHA Damage. If you succeed by a very high amount (with a very high Critical Success) then it is somewhat possible (although unlikely, DM will decide) that you permanently gain the ability to shapeshift into that person and if this happens then the original owner of that form may die. Note that you do not have that person's gear or clothing, you will still have your own.
Duration: 1 Hour, or 1 Day if you get a Critical Success. Can be cancelled at will.
Resistance: CON Roll to resist
Requirements: SPI 5
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 2 Wounding Damage.
Range: 5 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): Any 1 Creature
Affect: Using demonic forces you inflict heavy wounds on a target. The target takes an amount of Wounding Damage equal to your success over the Spell's FR. Physical Resistance can reduce the damage.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: STR Roll halves the Wounding Damage you take.
Requirements: Will Score of 4
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 1
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 2 Damage
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You focus a dark will and demonic force onto your opponent inflict a great amount of pain on your target. The target takes 1 Damage equal to the failure of their Resistance. If this Spell succeeds by 10 or more then half the Damage is turned into Wounding Damage, but only if you chose it to be Physical pain. If you chose it mental pain then succeeding by 10 or more gives them a -5 on all Checks for the next Round.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: CON Roll (for physical) and Will Roll (for mental), this is set by the caster
Requirements: Will Score of 5
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 3 Damage and suffer a -2 to all Rolls for the next round
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You focus a very dark will and a very demonic force onto your opponent to inflict a continuous torment onto them. The target will continue to take 1 Damage every round that the Spell lasts and, if they fail by 10 or more and you chose it to be physical torment then all of the damage will be Wounding Damage. If you chose it to be mental torment then they will suffer -5 on all Checks for the duration of the Spell if you succeed by 5 or more and succeeding by 10 or more will give them the Stunned Status for 1 Round.
Duration: A number of Rounds equal to half of your success over the FR.
Resistance: CON Roll (for physical) and Will Roll (for mental), this is set by the caster
Requirements: Alchemy Level 3
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 CON Score Damage
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 5 Unit Radius around the target
Affect: The caster conjures a deadly miasma that corrodes all inside of it. All inside the mist take 1 Wounding Damage per round that they are in it and have a -2 on all Rolls. If you are inside of it long enough then your gear may be damaged as well.
Duration: 1 Minute
Resistance: CON Roll to just take 1 Damage instead of taking 1 Wounding Damage while in the Miasma.
Requirements: 5 INT, Alchemy Level 1
FR: 20 for Weak Poison, 25 for Deadly Poison
EP Cost: 1 for Weak Poison, 2 for Deadly Poison
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 CON Score Damage
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): Either 1 Creature or 1 Weapon
Affect: Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll or a successful Weapon Skill Roll if you put it on your equipped Weapon you give the Poisoned Status to the target and the FR for any Rolls anyone makes to deal with the Poison is the same as the result of the Roll to use this Spell. The Weak Poison causes them to take 1 Wounding Damage every Round and 1 CON Damage when first poisoned. The Deadly Poison causes them to take 1 CON Damage every Round. If the target has any wounds on them already then they get a -5 on the first roll to resist since the poison would seep into their wounds and go directly into their blood to become much harder to resist.
Duration: Poison lasts for 1 Minute
Resistance: CON Roll to resist initially, CON Roll every Round to resist affects if affected
Requirements: SPI Score of 5
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 point of Spirit Score Damage
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll against your target you begin to drain their soul or spiritual force if the target is a spiritual entity. You restore an amount of EP to yourself equal to your success over the FR. Also the target takes 1 Spirit Score Damage. If this reduces the target's SPI Score to 0 then you not only take all of their Essence, but you gain +1 to the Stat Score that was the highest of their Stat Scores since you have technically consumed their entire soul and gained some of their strengths. You can only get the target to a SPI Score of 0 if you get a Critical Success, otherwise they won't take any SPI Damage if their SPI Score is 1. Note that consuming their entire soul will give you the Corrupted Flaw.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: SPI Roll
Requirements: Spirit 6, Will 4
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 2 EP
Casting Time: 1 Action
Backlash: Take 1 SPI Score Damage
Range: 15
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You bombard the target's very soul or spirit with demonic forces. They take 1 point of SPI Score Damage equal to half of their Resistance Roll faliure.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: SPI Roll
Requirements: Demonia Level 5 and either have Persuasion Level 3 or know Mentalism.
FR: 30
EP Cost: 2
Casting Time: 2 Actions
Backlash: Get the Afraid Status for 2 Rounds and be unable to use Demonia during that time due to being afraid of it.
Range: 6 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You call forth a fear in the target's soul deep enough to try and scare them to death. Upon failing to resist by a 10 or more the victim has a heart attack and dies. Failing to resist by 5-9 gives them the Terrified Status, and failure by 4 or less gives them the Afraid Status.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Will Roll
Sorcery was discovered and created during the Age of the Hero by the Magi Librium with the aid of the knowledge and mystic artifacts Dungeon Explorers brought from Dungeons. Sorcery is a lot different from all of the other Magic Artes. It does not involve individual spells or borrowing from other powers. Sorcery is the very Arte of controlling and harnessing the powers and principles of Magic itself to its fullest in order to gain incredible power. Despite how incredible it seems, Sorcery is still a young Arte and thus has its limitations.
Sorcerers use their advanced control of Magic in order to create Arcane Powers. Arcane Powers are special powers that allow a Sorcerer to perform magic without the need of learning individual spells or borrowing magic from other sources. In terms of Game Mechanics, Arcane Powers are “Spell-like Powers” that a Sorcerer can give themselves for a period of time and they are useable like Spells until the time they last runs out.
At the beginning of each day a Sorcerer can create one Arcane Power without failure, the power only able to be of the “Average” Rank. After that a Sorcerer can attempt to create more Arcane Powers, having a number of attempts equal to their Sorcery Skill Level to do so. To create a Power you describe what it does and what “Force” you want to use. The DM will then determine the “Rank” of that Power based on what you wanted it to do. You then roll a Sorcery Skill Roll to see if you create the Power and upon success you create the Power that you can use any time you desire for the whole day, the Power having an EP Cost based on its Rank.
You then can create, or attempt to do so, more Arcane Powers based upon how many attempts you have left after that. You can only do this at the beginning of the day when you wake up since it requires you to be at peak condition. You lose half of your attempts if your BP is lower than half when you wake up since having a weakened body makes it harder to handle the arcane energies that Arcane Powers store within their creators.
The base FR for the Average Rank is 15 and the EP Cost for using the power is 1. For Arcanic the base FR is 20 and EP Cost is 2. For Mystic, the highest rank, the base FR is 25 and the EP Cost is 3. Trying to create more complex powers (as in those with multiple effects or those with very intricate effects) may increase the FR or EP Cost. Trying to create a power that is considered to be very strong will also do the same.
When you do create Arcane Powers the Sorcery Roll result to make the Power is kept with that Power. It becomes the FR to Resist said Power when you use it on enemies. Despite Arcane Powers only consuming 1 Action, unless said otherwise, you can only use a single Arcane Power in a round since they are a bit taxing. Also the FR for using any Arcane Power at anytime is the same FR that was needed for its creation.
When you create Arcane Powers you keep them maintained within your very Essence with a steady stream of subconscious mental concentration. When either your Essence drops to 0, you fall Unconscious, or you go to Sleep you lose all of your Arcane Powers that you had created for that day and you must wait until the next morning after Sleeping to create more.
Sorcery is limited though due to it not being around for too long and thus not many advances having been made in it. Sorcerers have only found out how to create Arcane Powers that harness the physical and metaphysical forces in the world. So when creating an Arcane Power you can only have them use the Forces from the Force List. However you cannot just create a Power from any of the Forces.
When you first learn Sorcery you can choose one Force and thus can now use that Force with this Skill. Every time you have the option of taking a Skill Focus you can choose to learn another Force instead and are able to create Arcane Powers using this Force.
Here are some special tasks you can do with Sorcery:
You can attempt to use Resist Sorcery to resist anything that harnesses any of the Forces that you know. So if you know Aqua and someone is using a water based ability against you then you could roll to resist that ability. The FR of this task is the same FR needed to resist said Ability that should be listed in its description.
You can attempt to resist other Arcane Powers used by other Sorcerers against you. The FR for this task is equal to the FR of the result of the Roll that the person made to create said Power.
Time Needed: Using Arcania Powers takes 1 Action, creating them takes 1 Hour.
Skill Focus: Any Force from the Force List, Learn a Force from the Force List, Resist Force, Resist Sorcery, or you can put your Skill Focus into an Arcane Power you have made in the past, getting +2 to create that specific Arcane Power.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to Crafting Level
Level 7: +1 to Lore Level
Level 10: +1 to Alchemy Level
These are the “Forces” you can make your Arcane Powers based off of. For some examples of Arcane Powers that each Force can make, ask the DM (I can easily give you a few).
Air: This force represents the element of wind that flows through the world.
Aqua: This force represents the element of water that exists within rivers, oceans, the air, and even storms. By taking a Skill Focus in Aqua you automatically learn Frost.
Death: This force is the force that ends life and causes pain. Using this force can also allow you to harness powers that can even interact with the dead.
Electricity: This force represents the element of energy known as lightning that comes into existences on certain occurrences.
Flame: This force represents the element of fire that is both a sustainer of life and cause of destruction.
Frost: This force represents the element of ice that was originally water, but now in a form where it is without heat and thus frozen. Can only be learned by taking a Skill Focus in Aqua after learning Aqua.
Life: This force can be used to create powers that can sustain or even enhance the life force that people all have within them.
Mana: This force is the mystic energy that is responsible for all arcane phenomenon and powers all magic. Using this force lets you create Arcane Powers that harness this mystic energy.
The first type of magic to ever be wielded by Ithelians. It is believed that Summoning was granted to the Ithelians by the Divines years ago during the Dawn Age (which is the furthest back that anyone has any known records of). Of course, the truth is that the original Divine gave the magic to the Vanari through Bahamut, the first Dragon. With the passing of time, the fighting of wars, and the discovery of new magics Summoning has become a mostly lost and forgotten arte. There are very few people who still practice Summoning so learning it is very difficult and you must give me a good reason in your background on how you could have learned it.
Summoning is a special magic that involves summoning mystical beings to aid you in one of two ways (you can only have one of each kind active at one time). When you go to perform any Summon you must name the species of creature you wish to Summon (you may have to make a Lore Roll if you are trying to name a creature that is less known). Note that Summoning only summons Mystic Creatures; not Spiritual Entities or Non-Mystic Creatures (some Non-Mystic Creatures can be summoned with Summoning, but you would have to make a Lore Roll to find out which ones).
Here are the individual tasks you can do with Summoning, essentially the three kinds of Summons. Note that the FR for Battle Summon and Spell Summon is the creature's Will Roll. It is different for Contract Summon. You can only have one Battle Summon and one Spell Summon active at a time.
The first way to Summon Mystic Creatures to your aid is through a Battle Summon. This summons the Mystic Creature to a point of your choosing at least 3 Units away from you and within your line of sight. The summoned creature will aid you in battle to the best of its ability (and is controlled by the DM). If you want it to do something else then you would need to make a Persuasion Roll against it.
A Battle Summon will stay either until the Battle Summon expires or until it takes too much Damage, upon either case the being will simply vanish and so will any Items it brought with it unless those Items were given to you personally. A Battle Summon will perform a number of Actions equal to half of your Success over the creature's Will Roll. So if a Battle Summon has 6 Actions then it will stay for about 3 Turns unless it does something to give itself more Actions in a Turn. A Battle Summon consumes 2 Actions and costs 2 EP to use.
The second type of Summoning is a Spell Summon. All Mystic Creatures have a special kind of Essence known as Mana-Essence, which is essentially an Essence that is infused with Mana that allows Mystic Creatures to be more proficient with Magic Artes or use magical abilities. Using a Spell Summon doesn't Summon the creature to you, but summons some of that Essence to you to temporarily become a part of your own.
You gain an amount of Mana-Essence from the creature equal to your success over the creature's Resistance and access to all of their magical abilities. Each time you use one of their abilities you use up some of the borrowed Mana-Essence. Once you use up all of the Mana Essence then the Spell Summon expires and you lose all of the magical abilities granted to you from said creature. The Spell Summon will also expire after 10 minutes of not using it. A Spell Summon consumes 2 Actions and costs 3 EP to use.
The third type of Summoning is known as a Contract Summon and is different from the other two. It essentially allows you to Summon a creature to try and perform a Contract with them to gain some form of special aid. It takes 1 Minute to perform and costs 3 EP. The FR of a Contract Summon is still equal to their Will Score, but that is just to Summon them to you. You will then have to make a Persuasion Roll against another Will Roll of theirs to get them to consider the contract as you essentially negotiate with them.
There are three kinds of Contracts you can attempt to make with the summoned Creature. Note that only intelligent mystic creatures can be Contract Summoned since some degree of intelligence is needed on both sides for a negotiation. Also no Non-Mystic Creature can be contract summoned either.
The first kind of Contract is an Aid Contract. This Contract simply makes Battle-Summons easier for summoning that specific creature (you will learn what it calls itself in the negotiation). This contract is the easiest to perform and has a Contract Value of 1. Essentially you get +10 on the Summoning Roll to perform a Battle Summon with that creature.
The second kind of Contract is a Power Contract. The Power Contract is a more complex version of a Spell Summon. Essentially the creature will permamentnly infuse a small bit of its Mana-Essence with your own and grant you one of its Magical Abilities (it chooses how much Mana-EP and the Ability). Your own EP will be increased by the amount of Mana-Essence it gives you. You will also be able to use that Ability as if it was your own, using all of your EP to use it since your own Essence will become somewhat like Mana-Essence since the Mana-Essence fused with your own.
This type of Contract is a bit trickier than others. Its Contract Value is 2 and the price of the contract may be a little higher than the other two kind of contracts since they are literally giving you a part of their power.
The third kind of Contract is a favor Contract. This Contract essentially involves the summoned creature doing one favor for you and it ends once that favor is complete. The price you have to pay for this contract simply depends on the favor you want the creature to perform. Since a Favor Contract lasts only for a brief time, there is no Contract Value.
Depending upon the success of your Persuasion Roll to negotiate the Contract and the kind of Contract you are performing the creature will have you do something for them since nothing is free. The bigger the contract you want and the lower your success of your Roll is over theirs then the higher the price you will have to pay. This price could be anything from certain favors to literally giving them Items, it just depends on what they want.
When the price is agreed upon you will then enter the Contract Period. You have a number of days decided by the Mystic Creature to do whatever they wanted of you. Once you complete said favor then you can automatically Contract Summon them again to complete the contract and form it. If you fail to succeed at the endeavor they gave you then the contract is off and you will have to restart from the beginning (hopefully not getting that exact same creature when you Contract Summon them again).
Now a something called a Contract Value was mentioned. A Contract Summon is essentially a linking of two spirits. Having too many Contracts will put a huge burden on your spirit, so you have a max Contract Value, which determines how many Contracts you can make. Your max Contract Value is equal to your SPI Score and you cannot increase it beyond that. You can end a Contract at any time you desire. A Contract will also end if the creature you were contracted with happens to die, so hope that doesn't happen. And also note that the creature you contracted with can also end the contract at anytime, although usually they won't.
Time Needed: Battle Summons and Spell Summons take 2 Actions, Contract Summons take 1 Minute.
Skill Focuses: Any Species of Mystic Creature, Contract Summon, Spell Summon, and Battle Summon are all viable Skill Focuses for this Skill
Learning the Summons: You do not know all three types of Summoning in the beginning. At Level 1 you can use either Spell Summons or Battle Summons. At Level 3 you can learn either Contract Summons or the Summoning you didn't learn last time. And at Level 6 you can learn the Summoning you did not learn at Level 3.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to Persuasion Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to Lore Skill Level.
Level 10: Gain the Persuasive Summoning Ability.
Spiritual Artes are special Skills that involve connecting your very spirit to the world around you, mentally, physically, and spiritually. The different Spiritual Artes let you use an array of powers that deal with harnessing and controlling forces that are not just physical, but also metaphysical or even spiritual. These different powers are very useful, but also a bit strenuous as they all use EP and if you use them too much they could drain your EP quickly.
Spiritual Artes, while easy to use with proper training, do require intense concentration though. So if you ever find your concentration being interrupted you must roll a Concentration Skill Roll. The FR depends on what is interrupting you, but upon success you continue to use your Spiritual Arte. Upon failure your Spiritual Arte is interrupted and it is just like failing to use the Power with the Spiritual Artes Skill that you were using.
To use or learn a Spiritual Arte Skill you must have a SPI Score of 4 or a Will Score of 6 since these artes require either a strong spirit or will that you can use to connect to the world around you. You must also possess certain Traits or Abilities since, just like magic, Spiritual Artes do require alot of training or innate ability to use. Different Spiritual Artes do different things, so the essentials of how they work will be listed in their individual descriptions.
Note that the Armor Penalty applies to all of these Spiritual Arte Skills. Also there are a few other Spiritual Arte Skills that are hidden due to being hidden knowledge only known to certain groups or people. Here is what you can do with any Spiritual Arte Skill. Note that you can get these tasks as a Skill Focus for any of your Spiritual Artes Skills. Failing any Spiritual Arte Roll will cause you to still have to pay half of the EP that they would have had to pay normally.
With this ability you can sense any form of Essence, so essentially any object that holds Essence or anything with a spirit or anything that is a spirit. The FR for this is 15 and you sense anything that has a “pool” or slightly larger quantity of Essence (as a person or mystic Item has a more concentrated pool of essence then say a rock or the grass). By getting a 25 or higher you can sense how much Essence there is and by getting a 30 you can evaluate the basic nature of all that you sense. This takes 1 Action.
By tuning your spirit with the essence held within a Mystic Item you can determine what kind of powers it has and even its exact function. This takes about half a minute and costs no EP or VP. By successfully examining a Mystic Object you will be able to activate its abilities without having to use any form of Check. The FR is from 25-30, with getting in that range telling you the kinds of powers it has and getting above that range allowing you to see its exact powers. Spending a good hour examining the object in complete peace will give you a +10 on the roll. Note that you cannot activate a Magic Item (an Item that is enchanted with Magic) unless you have Level 1 in a Magic Arte.
If you do not know what the powers are of a Mystic Object you can attempt to activate it on your own by spending 1 EP. This takes 1 Action and the FR is 30. If the object is a Magic Item then you automatically fail unless you have Level 1 in a Magic Arte, in which case the FR is 35. Of course, you won’t know whether its Magic or Spiritual until you properly examine it. If you activate it successfully you get a +5 on your Roll to examine it again.
When you normally need to roll a SPI Roll to resist something you can roll a Spiritual Artes Roll with a Spiritual Arte you know instead. This is an Instant Action since it is technically a “defense”.
Here are the different Spiritual Arte Skills that you can learn.
This Spiritual Arte involves channeling the wills and powers of Spirits that dwell within either the Spirit Realm or the Life Coil to affect the world around you. Since this Arte involves channeling the wills and powers of Spirits from either the area within the Life Coil where you currently reside and the part of the Spirit Realm that connects to it, this power can be a bit circumstantial. Despite that one limitation Channelers are able to perform incredible feats with this Power.
To use this Arte you first select the type of Spirit you want to call (only Spirits can be conjured, Demons and Celestials, although spiritual beings, are not technically Spirits). You can decide between Minor, Lesser, and Greater (there is a fourth “rank”, but you are only able to pick it once you have gained the ability to through in game means).
The Rank of Spirit that you pick will determine the EP Cost of your use of Channeling. Minor Spirits cost 1 EP to channel, Lesser Spirits cost 2 EP, and Greater Spirits cost 3 EP (the fourth rank costs 4). The FR to channel any Spirit is a Will Roll from the spirits. The EP also may change if the area has a large spiritual presence or a small spiritual presence.
After picking the Rank you then choose a “Desire”. This is, essentially, what kind of power you want to borrow from the Spirits. This is always one word, but is an essential and basic word that is usually a simple command like Attack, Heal, or Protect. There are other words as well; if you want more examples ask the DM. You do not get to choose the exact Spirit you are summoning since it always changes based upon your location and Desire. Instead a random one is summoned based upon your Rank and your success in your Roll.
Once you have decided the Rank of Spirit you want to reach out to and the Desire you want to channel you then roll a Channeling Roll. If this Roll beats the Will Roll of the Spirit you managed to reach out to then the Spirit will heed your call and perform your desire based upon what powers it has. If you failed then nothing will happen, although a Fumble may cause the spirits of both the Life Coil and Spirit Realm to curse, attack, or perform other nefarious actions against the caster. The result of your Channeling Roll is the FR of any Rolls that people have to make to resist the powers used by the spirits you call.
Time Needed: All Channeling takes 2 Actions unless the area has a large presence of spirits in it. In that case it only takes 1 Action (use Sense Essence to find out).
Skill Focus: Deserts, Forests, Caves, Mountains, Volcanos, Attack, Protect, Heal, etcetera. Essentially different places or different “Desires” can be focuses for this Skill.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Spirits Focus for the Lore Skill
Level 6: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
Level 9: +1 to your Observation Skill Level
Level 11: +1 to your Soul Channel Level
This Spiritual Arte was created by priests for the sole purpose of combating spirits or other beings that are native of the Spirit Realm and sending them back there. This can be used on any living being that has a soul, but they get a +3 on any Rolls to resist any Powers you would use on them since the powers of Exorcism are meant for combating spiritual beings.
Note that most Powers can be resisted with a SPI Roll from the target and the FR to use each Power is listed in the description. The EP Cost is listed in the description of the power. Your specific Style of Exorcism may change the EP Cost of a Power be either increasing it or decreasing it. It may also increase or decrease the FR and add some other additional effects to the power.
When you first learn Exorcism you pick one of the three Styles and learn one Power. You can learn one Power at every odd level and use it with your specified Style. While the powers are basic, whichever Style you pick is what changes them. There are several Abilities that let you do more with each individual Style as well, these Abilities being applicable Skill Focuses for this Skill if you know them.
These are the three common Styles, note that there are other hidden ones out there that could be taught or you could create your own. While each Style is technically not an individual Skill, they can be called as such for the purposes of “Powers” learned “through them” as taking a new Style lets you learn a Power and when you have the option of learning other Powers you can pick which Style you learn it through. You can also learn the same Power through multiple Styles. Some Styles may let you use any Powers you have learned with any Style, while others may not.
By spending one hour and 2 VP after you wake up you can construct a number of mystic Sutras equal to 3 + your Exorcism Skill Level. During this hour you can imbue any Exorcism Powers you know into your sutras, this being you simply use them on your Sutras at half EP Cost. The result of your Roll to make the Sutra is kept as the FR to resist its Power. You also get a +5 on your Roll to use the Power when making Sutras.
Since Sutras are also considered Spiritual Items with an amount of Essence in them equal to the original EP Cost of the Power you put in them you can enhance or change them in any way you could do any other Spiritual Item with any other Ability, Skill, or Trait that you possess that does such things.
Once you have your Sutras created you can use them at anytime like a Thrown Weapon to hit your opponent. You can also get Sutras as a Projectile Proficiency with the projectile Skill, but only if you have this Skill. Note that any penalties that would apply to normal thrown Weapons due to your target having a Resistance or bonuses on Defense Rolls against physical weapons does not apply to Sutras.
At Exorcism Level 3 you can also apply a Sutra to a weapon with one Action. This will cause the next target the Weapon hits to be affected by the Sutra. You can also apply them to your own fists or someone else’s fist, but only if they have Level 3 Fisticuffs.
At any Level you can also apply Sutras to objects, the Sutra hitting anyone who touches the Object. A successful Manipulate Object Skill, the FR being the same result of your Roll to create the Sutra +5, can be used to remove the Sutra from the object if they see it. Note they cannot use their hands to remove it, so tools that can remove it without touching are required. If they fail the Roll the sutra will go off, automatically hitting the one who tried to remove it.
This also allows a Sutra to be applied to Armor causing a fifty percent chance for the Sutra to go off if the person is hit with a Melee Weapon and the Sutra to always go off if the person is hit with an Unarmed Strike. Note that a Sutra applied to anything can only be removed by the Exorcist who applied it. After a day though it will automatically fall off the object it is applied to and then vanish. Only one Sutra can be applied to a single object at a time.
When you run out of Sutras you can recreate the same amount you made earlier (or less if you so desire), spending ten minutes per sutra created. Only this second time you make the Sutras you must spend 1 VP per Sutra created. You can also use a Power with its base effects (each Power being written as if it was being used without a specific Style). The amount of Sutras you can possess at any time is equal to the amount you can create at the beginning of each day and your Sutras will never vanish until you use them.
Sutra Skill Focuses: Grant bonuses based on their descriptions.
Throwing Sutras: Get a +2 on the Projectiles Roll to throw the Sutra
Applying Sutras to Weapons: The Weapon the Sutra is applied to gets a +2 to hit
Applying Sutras to Objects: The Sutra gets a +2 to its Creation Result once applied. This bonus fades from the Sutra if it is removed from said object though.
This powerful form of Exorcism isn’t really meant for Combat, but simply for the purpose of performing simple, yet incredibly powerful exorcisms. With this you use any Powers you know as Rituals, causing their Usage Time to be equal to 3 times their FR, but you get to roll an additional +10 on your Exorcism Roll to use said Power. Once your Ritual is complete your power doesn’t immediately go off though.
Instead of the power just having the normal effect it will have the “Ritual” Affect. Each Exorcism Power has a Ritual Effect, which is a much more powerful version of the standard effect. Also once you hit Level 3 you can store the ritual you use into a object that has some sort of spiritual symbolism (this object must have at least a value of 5 iL), another Exorcism Check with the same FR as the one to use the Power being needed (with no +10).
With this object you can invoke the completed Ritual at any time, this costing 1 Action. Once the power in the object has been invoked the object will then break due to not being able to handle the power of the ritual more than once unless it is something that can do so. You could store this in a Spiritual Item as well, but you risk a 50% chance of losing the Spiritual Item, so it is not recommended.
You can still use the other Powers you have learned normally, but instead you get a -2 on your Rolls to use them since you have focused on learning them for their ritual purposes and thus do not have a full grasp on using them for their regular purposes. This penalty only applies to Powers you have learned through this Style. Of course, this also means that you can only use Rituals with Powers you have learned with this Style.
Ritual Exorcism Specific Skill Focuses: Storing a Ritual in an Object
While its name can say that you aren’t taking a Style, this is still technically a Style. This type of Exorcism simply focuses on using and strengthening your basic powers as an Exorcist. This means that since you are just focusing on strengthening your abilities rather than finding new ways to use them then you just use the Power’s base effect, but you do get a +2 on all Exorcism Rolls to use any Powers you have learned with this Style. This Style also increases your EP by half of your Exorcism Rank. There are no Skill Focuses to be gained with this Style.
Here are some basic tasks that can be attempted with an Exorcism Roll:
You can use an Exorcism Roll as the Resistance Roll to resist any form of spiritual power used against you instead of the standard Roll listed in that power's description. You actually deflect the power back if you get a Critical Success.
You can attempt to learn a Power from either a writing or someone who teaches it to you. The FR to do so is the same FR to use said Power if it is in writing form. If someone teaches it to you then their CHA Score is added to your Roll to learn the Power, the FR for this Roll still being the same FR to use the Power.
One of the basic talents of an Exorcist is to create charms that ward spiritual powers. This requires an hour of time and 5 iL of materials. The FR for doing this is 20 and upon success you make an Item that grants a person a +1 on all rolls to resist spiritual, holy, or demonic powers. This charm can also be used in Ritual Exorcism to store the Ritual within it.
Exorcism Skill Focuses: Any specific Exorcism Power you know, any Ability that pertains to Exorcism, or any form of spiritual entity that you can think of (ask the DM).
Exorcism Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain any one Skill Focus pertaining spiritual beings for the Lore Skill.
Level 6: +1 to your Observation Skill Level
Level 10: +2 to resist Powers used on you by spiritual beings or entities.
Here is the basic listing for an Exorcism power and the description of each term in the listing.
Requirements: What special requirements you need to meet in order to use and learn this Power.
FR: FR of the Exorcism Roll needed to use this Power.
EP Cost: How much EP the Power Costs.
Usage Time: Number of Actions needed to use this Power
Range: How many Units away a potential target can be for your Power
Area of Effect (AOE): Who, or what, is affected by the Power
Affect: The Power’s basic game mechanics
Duration: How long the Power lasts.
Resistance: Any Resistance Rolls that can be made by the target(s) to resist the affects. The FR will always be the result of the Roll for using this Power.
Ritual Affect: If using Ritual Exorcism this is the effect of the Power. If there are any other changes to the Power besides the affect when using the ritual, those will be described here.
Requirements: 4 Will
FR: 15
EP Cost: 1
Usage Time: 1
Range: 5
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Spirit or spiritual being (no effect on mortals or soulless beings unless they were summoned)
Affect: A basic power commonly used. This power simply unleashes a spiritual force that damages and repels a spirit. Upon failure to resist the target will take a point of Body Damage equal to half of the difference between your Roll and theirs. Failure to resist will also push them back 3 Units. If it depletes their Body Health to 0 then they are successfully and banished back to the Spirit Realm. Can also be used on a summoned or conjured creature to send them back to where they came if they fail to resist, but this deals no damage in that case.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Spirit Roll
Ritual Affect: Automatic banishment upon a failure of 5 or more to resist. Otherwise takes 1 point of Body Damage for every point of failure.
Requirements: SPI 6, Exorcism Level of 4
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 10
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: A circle of spiritual power is created below the target and then binds their spirit in place, rendering them Immobile. A creature can attempt to resist once on their Turn. If the target(s) make a successful AGI Roll to resist the power they can step out of the way 1 Unit and be unaffected.
Duration: 1 minute
Resistance: STR Roll from mortals to break free, SPI Roll from spiritual entities to break free
Ritual Affect: Circle drains 1 Vitality Point from the target for every attempt they make to break free. Also this Power now affects all hostile beings an amount of Units away from the target equal to half of your Exorcism Level. No AGI Roll can be made to resist unless the affected target(s) are on the outside edge of the circle.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 7 or Exorcism Level 5 and knowing the Abjuration School
FR: 25
EP Cost: 3
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You bless the target with a powerful spiritual force that you imbue within them. This force will protect them from one Power of any spiritual, holy, or demonic origin automatically (unless stated otherwise, if otherwise then they just might get a +10 to resist)
Duration: 1 Day
Resistance: SPI Score if you must
Ritiual Affect: After the protection breaks, the target still gets +5 to resist any spiritual, holy, or demonic powers for the next hour.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 4, Spirit of 6
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 spiritual entity
Affect: Upon failure to evade the Power by the target, the target will be wrapped in chains of etheral, spiritual force and be anchored to anything within the vicinity of the Exorcist's choosing. While bound by the chains they are not allowed to move 20 Units away from what they are anchored and upon doing so they will be shocked by a spiritual force and take 1 point of Body Damage. It is by trying to move away though that they can attempt a STR Roll to break free, suffering a -5 to said roll due to being shocked during the attempt. Every time they try to attempt again they are shocked once again. This shock will not kill them though.
Duration: Until the chain breaks or the Exorcist falls unconscious due to damage or fatigue
Resistance: STR Roll to break chains, Dodge Roll to evade power initially
Ritual Affect: It can now affect a mortal creature
Requirements: Exorcism Level 4 or Mentalism Level 2, also a Will Score of 6
FR: Target's Resistance (If the target is willing then success is automatic as some spiritual entities have been known to serve mortals who they consider to be extrodinary)
EP Cost: 3
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 2 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Spiritual Entity
Affect: You create a circle that begins to force the target into a contract that will bind them to you. If this Power is successful then they will do whatever you say, but during times when you fall unconscious they may attempt to strike you down if they succeed on another Will Roll to resist this Power. Also the spiritual entity under the contract may attempt another Will Roll to disobey any orders you give them.
Duration: 1 Year, then the contract must be renewed otherwise it will break, to renew it use the Power again only with a +5 to your Exorcism Roll to succeed
Resistance: Will Roll
Ritual Affect: It can be used on mortals or give the target spiritual entity a -5 on their Will Roll to resist.
Requirements: SPI Score of 6, Exorcism Level 7
FR: 30
EP Cost: 3
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 10 Units
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: This doesn't banish a spirit, but destroys it. If the target is a spiritual entity and fails their resistance then they take an amount of Body Damage equal to the failure of their Resistance. If the target is a mortal then they lose an amount of EP equal to their failure to resist. They also take an amount of SPI Score Damage equal to a third of that amount. If the Spiritual Entity's Body Health gets to 0 by the result of this Power then that Spiritual Entity is destroyed. This power can reduced a mortal's SPI Score to 0, see Stat Score Reduction.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: SPI Roll
Ritual Affect: With this Power spiritual entities now take double the normal Body Damage and mortals take double the amount of EP damage and instead of the SPI Score Damage being a third of the amount they failed by, it is now a half of the amount they failed by.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 4 or Necromancy Level 1
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 2 EP
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Spiritual entity
Affect: You drain the spiritual force from a target on a successful Fisticuffs Roll. You drain 1 EP from the target equal to their failure on the Resistance Roll.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Will Roll
Ritual Affect: The Range of this Power becomes 5 Units
Requirements: Exorcism Rank 3 or Transmutation Rank 1
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 being
Affect: Empower the spirit of one being. This increases all of the Stats of a spiritual entity by 3 and gives them +2 on all Rolls. For mortals it increases their SPI Score by 2 and their EP by an amount equal to the success of the exorcist's Exorcism Roll over the FR.
Duration: 1 Hour
Resistance: A SPI Roll if you really do want to resist being empowered
Ritual Affect: All empowerment affects are doubled
Requirements: CHA of 5 and Exorcism Level of 3
FR: Wisp’s Will Score
EP Cost: 1 for a Minor Wisp, 2 for a Lesser Wisp, and 3 for a Greater
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 1 Unit
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Wisp
Affect: Help a spirit achieve peace and pass on to the next life. Only works on the spirits of mortals (also known as Wisps). If they fail to resist then you have persuaded them to achieve peace and successfully free them from their regrets and allow them to pass on to the Spirit Realm.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Will Roll
Ritual Affect: Your Persuasion Level (or straight up CHA Score if Persuasion is 0) is added to the Result
Requirements: CHA 5, Exorcism Level 4
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time:
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Spirit or spiritual being
Affect: Heal the wounds of a spiritual entity. You heal 1 point of Body Damage, plus an additional amount equal to your success over the FR.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: SPI Score if you must resist
Ritual Affect: This power can be used to heal SPI Score damage on a mortal or restore their Essence if their SPI Score is fully healed
Requirements: First Aid Level 1
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Use your spiritual powers to restore the bodily health of a person. You restore an amount of Body Health equal to a third of the success you have over the FR.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: A CON Roll if you really want to
Ritual Affect: It is now half of the success you have over the FR and you also restore Vitality equal to half of the health you restore. It also restores any 1 point of Stat Damage in every Stat.
Requirements: None
FR: 20
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: You envelope the target in an aura of spiritual force, protecting them from all other spiritual forces. They get a +5 on all Rolls made to resist anything a Spirit, spiritual being, or a Spiritual Arte does to them.
Duration: 10 minutes
Resistance: SPI Roll if you must
Ritual Affect: Duration becomes an Hour and failure by 10 or more on a Roll from anyone using any form of spiritual power on the target will have their power deflected back at them as if they are the target of it.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 7, SPI Score of 6, Will Score of 5
FR: Target's Resistance
EP Cost: 3
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 5
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: This powerful power allows the Exorcist to seal the spirit of a being, essentially cutting them off from their Essence. This means that they are unable to do anything that uses EP. The target gets additional attempts to resist once per day. Their SPI Score is also reduced by 2 while they are under the seal (it cannot hit 0).
Duration: 1 Week
Resistance: SPI Roll for spiritual entity, Will Roll for a mortal
Ritual Affect: Also reduces all of the stats of the target by 1.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 5, INT 5
FR: 15 for Small Shikigami, 20 for Medium Shikigami, 25 for Large Shikigami
EP Cost: 1 for Small, 2 for Medium, 3 for Large
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: 1 Unit
Area of Effect (AOE):
Affect: Create a Shikigami to fight alongside you in battle. Ask the DM for Stats on the Shikigami.
Duration: 1 minute or until the Shikigami is destroyed
Resistance: None
Ritual Affect: The Shikigami you create is capable of using one of your known Exorcism Powers (your choice, must decide when you perform the Ritual)
Requirements: Exorcism Level 5 and Necromancy Level 1, also CON 5
FR: 20 for targeting Spiritual Entities, 25 for targeting Mortals
EP Cost: 2
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Upon a successful Fisticuffs Roll against your target you are able to unleash a coroding force onto your target that slowly corrodes away at their spirit. Spiritual entities will take 1 point of Body Damage per round while mortals will have their SPI Score drained 1 point per two rounds. This Power can be resisted each round with a SPI Roll from mortals or a CON Roll from spiritual entities
Duration: A number of Rounds equal to half of the success over the FR
Resistance: Defense Roll to dodge, SPI or CON Roll to Resist corrosion
Ritual Affect: It's Range is now 3 Units and you no longer have to succeed on a Fisticuff's Roll, but the target can make that first SPI or CON Roll to negate the power entirely on the first try at a -3 to do so.
Requirements: Will of 5
FR: 15 for Minor, 20 for Lesser, 25 for Greater
EP Cost: 1 for Minor, 2 for Lesser, 3 for Greater
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Self
Area of Effect (AOE): The Exorcist using it
Affect: Create a barrier of spiritual force over yourself. A Minor barrier protects you from just spiritual powers. A Lesser barrier protects you from spiritual and magical powers. A greater barrier protects you from spiritual, magical, and physical things. Your barrier gives you a +5 resistance against the things it protects you from.
Duration: 10 Minutes
Resistance: None
Ritual Affect: Duration is increased to 30 Minutes and your barrier gives you a +10 Resistance
Requirements: SPI of 5, Exorcism Level of 6
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: Self
Area of Effect (AOE): 20 Units around the user
Affect: Creates a ward around the user that prevents all spiritual entities from entering or leaving the ward.
Duration: 1 hour
Resistance: A Spirit Roll overcoming the result of your Roll to use this Power lets them breach the ward, whether it is . A spiritual entity that is deemed friendly by the user can enter or leave freely.
Ritual Affect: Gives the ward an additional affect. All hostile spiritual entities get a -3 on all Rolls while within your ward.
Requirements: None
FR: 15
EP Cost: 1
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: 9
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: This simple power is the basic combative power used by all exorcists. It simply conjures a spiritual force that the Exorcist launches at the target to deal damage, dealing 1 Vitality Damage equal to the failure of the target's Resistance Roll. If this succeeds by 10 or more then it is a Wounding Blow.
Duration: Instant
Resistance: Defense Roll
Ritual Affect: This Power is automatically a Wounding Blow and cannot be Parried
Requirements: First Aid Level 3, 6 SPI
FR: 25
EP Cost: 3 EP
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 being
Affect: Restore 1 EP per Round that the Power lasts on the target.
Duration: A number
Resistance: SPI if you want to, Defense to evade the Touch.
Ritual Affect: If you succeed in creating the ritual, the result increases by 5. Also it restores any Spirit Stat Score damage that you have, restoring 1 point per round of Essence regeneration.
Requirements: Exorcism Level 5, SPI 6, Will 5
FR: 20 for Small Object, 25 for Medium Object, 30 for Large Object
EP Cost: 2 for Small, 3 for Medium, 4 for Large
Usage Time: 2 Actions
Range: Touch
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 non-living and non-intelligent object
Affect: As an Exorcist you know how to exude your own spiritual force, or Essence, into the world. Thus you know how to put a very piece of your Essence into an object and control it as if was a second body. You can perform all of the functions of the object at will, the object getting its own Turn in Combat with Stats depending upon the object. If it is an object incapable of movement then it will float.
Duration: 5 Rounds
Resistance: None
Ritual Affect: This Power can be used on corpses now to manipulate them with all of their abilities intact if the corpse is less than a week old.
Requirements: SPI of 5
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Usage Time: 1 Action
Range: 6
Area of Effect (AOE): 1 Creature
Affect: Unleash a powerful spiritual force that heavily wounds the target. The target takes 1 Vitality Damage for every point of failure to resist and it is automatically a Wounding Blow if they fail to resist. A mortal target has their SPI Score drained instead by 1 for every 2 points of failure on the roll to resist (mortals take no damage though).
Duration: Instant
Resistance: A SPI Roll
Ritual Affect: The damage ignores any Resistances the target may have
This special arte was developed during the Great War in order to combat demonic priests or magic users. This special skill allows a person to channel their very Essence into the will of their souls to harness special powers from the limitless potential that a mortal soul possesses. It is a lot like Channeling; only instead of borrowing the powers of other spirits you harness the powers of your own.
This special Skill involves a special ritual, so it can only be learned before game if you have the appropriate Background Trait(s) or during game if you find someone capable of performing the special ritual. This special ritual opens a channel between the Soul and the Mind, allowing the user to harness the Essence of their own spirit to harness the powers of their own Spirit with the usage of their own mental will.
Using Soul Channel is a lot like using regular Channeling. You mentally focus on what you want to do, stating a Will that you channel into your soul. This Will could be any one word or two word phrase. So it could be anything from “Create Fire” to “Heal”. All Soul Channeling has an FR of 20 to perform, the result of your Roll being the FR of any Rolls targets must make to resist or evade your powers.
The EP Cost of Soul Channel is a bit different though. It always costs 2 EP to perform any use of Soul Channel. The only difference is this time is that you can increase the amount of EP you use. For every additional point you put in you get a +1 Bonus on your Roll. So putting 5 EP into a usage of this Skill will get you a +3 on your Roll since you put an additional 3 EP into the usage of the Skill.
Note that some phrases may be interpreted as having stronger powers. If this ever happens to be the case the FR will be increased by at least 5 and the base EP you need to put into the usage of the Skill will increase by at least 1 and at most 3.
Time Needed: All uses of Soul Channel take 1 Action unless it is the special case where the power you are trying to harness is a bit stronger. If this is the case then 2 Actions are required.
Skill Focuses: Specific commands can become your Skill Focuses (ask the DM)
Skill Synergy:
Level 5: +1 to your EP
Level 8: +1 to your Concentration Skill Level
Level 11: +1 on Rolls to resist anything that affects your soul
This powerful Skill involves praying to the Divine(s) you worship to borrow their power to aid you in various situations. Unlike the other forms of supernatural Skills which are powered by your Essence, this Skill is simply powered by your Favor. Whenever you use a Prayer you expend an amount of Favor listed in the description of the Prayer and failing to use a Prayer still causes you to lose half of the Favor listed in the Prayer's cost.
Each Divine has a number of Prayers that are used for harnessing and calling upon specific powers of that Divine. So when you learn this Skill with the usage of just the Blessed or Acolyte Traits you learn 1 Prayer that you meet the requirements for from the list of Prayers for that Divine. If you are a Priest of a certain Religious Sect that worships multiple Divines then you are able to learn 1 Prayer from each Divine that your sect worships when you first take this Skill.
If you were to become a Priest or Priestess in Game then you would learn 1 Prayer from each Divine (or Divines) that you do not have Prayers from yet that your Religious Sect worships. At every odd Skill Level you can freely learn 1 Prayer from any Divine that you worship. Of course, there are some other ways to acquire Prayers as well, like from other users of this Skill or there are even rumors of hidden away shrines paying homage to different Divines that grant someone special Prayers to those who pray at them if that person worships that Divine.
With the Divine Favor Skill you can also regain your Favor at the beginning of each day. By praying for at least one uninterrupted hour you regain all of your lost Favor, restoring your Favor back up to its full amount. You can only do this right when you wake up at the beginning of the day and, if it is interrupted, then you can not attempt it again. Doing this morning prayer at a temple, shrine, or other ground or structure that is sacred to the Divine(s) that you worship may also give you a +2 on all Divine Prayer Checks when using any Prayers from the Divines that find the place you are praying in sacred to them.
Also Divine Prayer also requires alot of concentration. So if you happen to face Skill Interruption you must make a Concentration Skill Roll, the FR being the same one as using the Prayer and failing this Roll will be the same as failing your Divine Prayer Roll to use said Prayer as you faced Action Interruption and thus failed any attempt to use the Prayer.
Here are the special tasks that you can perform with the Divine Prayer Skill:
During the day you can pray at a shrine, temple, or any other structure or ground paying homage to the Divines to try and regain your Favor. The FR is 30 and you gain 1 point of Favor equal to half of your success over this FR. You can only attempt this once at any sacred place, trying to do it multiple times in the same place may incurr the wrath of the Divines as it could show arrogance. Also you can not attempt this more than once per hour, any more times in that same hour may also invoke the Divines' wrath onto you. This takes 1 minute.
You can attempt to pray for divine protection from other divine powers. Anytime you are hit with a Prayer or any other form of divine power then you can try to pray for protection with a Divine Prayer Roll. The FR of this is the result of whatever Roll was made to use said power or Prayer. You can also make this same Roll to resist any form of other supernatural power, but you must pay 1 Favor and are at a -5 on your Roll to resist.
Time Needed: The time needed to use this Skill is listed in the description of each Prayer you use.
Skill Focuses: All Prayers that you know, Paying Respects, Divine Protection, any Abilities you have relating to Divine Artes, and also any Divines you worship are all viable Skill Focuses.
Skill Synergy:
Level 3: Gain the Religion Skill Focus in the Lore Skill
Level 6: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
Level 9: Gain the Miracle Ability
Level 11: Get +2 Favor
These special Skills are secret knowledge coveted by certain groups of people. While someone of this said group could teach an outsider these Skills, doing this would take some time and would probably go against the group's wishes, so usually that will not happen. To put points into these Skills you must reach the appropriate Rank in the appropriate Order. See Guilds and Sects for more details on the Orders that teach these Skills. Some hidden Skills (as there are more out there than those listed here) are not taught by orders, but instead created by individuals and coveted by them. A journey to the Outerlands may find you many hidden Skills that you have never seen before, and so may meeting someone from the Outerlands.
Most of these Skills are rare Mystic Artes. A Mystic Arte is a strange arte that uses combinations of Magical, Spiritual, and even Divine powers in their execution in order to harness great powers. The other Skills are just other simple, yet coveted, Skills.
Any Mystic Arte is just like any other Magic Arte when it comes to Concentration. Since they require alot of Concentration you must make a Concentration Roll when making difficult Rolls and they also provoke Chance Attacks unless stated otherwise. All Mystic Artes use Divine, Spiritual, or Magical powers, so they could use Essence, Favor, or both. Failure to use any Mystic Arte (either through Action Interruption or just failing the Skill Roll) will cause you to lose half of what you would pay normally for a success.
Also a Mystic Arte is enhanced by Abilities that enhance Divine Prayer, Magical Artes, or Spiritual Artes as well, the Abilities that can be used with them depend on what the Arte is. If the Arte uses Divine and Magic then it can be enhanced by both Divine Abilities and Magic Abilities.
This dark Mystic Arte combines negative spiritual forces with darker magics and those who use it have been called Shamans, Witches, and Warlocks. While no name has been officially given (as Black Sorcerey is just a name people have sort of dubbed it with) this Mystic Arte allows a person to cast powerful curses and jinxes and allows the creation of strange items known as Hexes that possess strange or dark properties. There is no order that teaches this Skill, you must find someone who can out in the world.
When you first learn this Skill you learn 1 Jinx. Jinxes are strange Spells that place their target under temporary bad affects whether it causes them to be inflicted with madness or suddenly become worse at Combat. Once you hit Level 4 you gain the power to turn your Jinxes into Curses. This increases their FR by 10 and their EP Cost by 2, but causes the affects of the Jinx to be permamnent as they gain the Cursed Flaw until they can find a way to break the Curse if they fail to resist it. A Curse may also have additonal affects as well.
With this Skill you are also capable of creating Hexes if you have at least Level 3 in your Alchemy Skill. To create a Hex you need an hour of time and an amount of materials amounting to at least 3 iL (note that with a good Herbalism or Survival Roll you could find these materials in the wild). To begin making the Hex you first must prepare the materials. You perform an Alchemy Roll and, upon success, create the base for the Hex. You usually make the base within a pot of sorts.
Once the base is made you go on making the Hex. You decide what form you want it to be in and the powers it will possess. Note that Hexes generally involve simple bad affects that bring some form of harm or misfortune, so their affects must be based on such. The FR on any roll to resist the Hex is equal to the result of your Nevoolim Roll to create it.
The FR of said Roll is dependent upon how strong the powers you want it to have are and the form you want it to be in. Note that some Hexes may require special materials (like Voodoo Dolls requiring the hair or blood of the target), the DM will tell you if that is the case. Trying to make the Hex will cost you 3 EP and failure by 5 or more will destroy your base. Note that a Hex is an Item you can keep forever once you create unless the Hex you create happens to have an expiriation date. The DM will have the final decision on the Stats and Powers of your Hex once it is finished.
Note that there are no other "special tasks" that can be done with this Skill.
Time Needed: All Jinxes cost 1 Action and Curses cost 2 (cannot use more than 1 per Round). It takes an hour to create a Hex.
Skill Focuses: Specific Jinxes you know, certain "forms" of Hexes (edibles, powders, dolls, etcetera), and any other Ability useable with this Skill are all viable Skill Focuses for this Skill.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to Alchemy Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to Lore Skill Level
Level 10: Either learn the Necromancy School or +1 to your Demonia Skill Level
These are the different Jinxes that can be done with the usage of this Skill. These are not all the known ones though, but these are the ones you can learn through common Skill Level Up. You learn 1 Jinx at every odd Level as a representation of your knowledge and research into this Skill. Here is a Jinx listing. Note that Jinxes always affect one person, so they do not have an AOE. The good thing about Jinxes is that they don't have many requirements, don't really have many ways to be resisted, and are relatively easy to use, which does make up for their weakness. Only 1 Jinx, from you, can be active on a target at a time. You can put as many Curses as you want on a target though.
Requirements: Any special requirements for learning this Jinx.
FR: The FR for using the Jinx
EP Cost: The amount of EP you pay for using the Jinx.
Range: The distance you need to be from something in order to target it
Duration: How long the Jinx lasts.
Affect: What the Jinx does
Curse Affects: Any additional affect(s) it may have when you use it as a Curse.
Resistances: What Rolls can be made to resist and negate the Jinx and its affects. The FR is usually the result of the Nevoolim Roll to use the Jinx/Curse.
Requirements: SPI 7, Will 6, Black Sorcerey 7
FR: 35
EP Cost: 3 EP
Range: 5 Units
Duration: 1 Hour
Affect: The target temporarily loses all memories, meaning they become unable to use any Skill they had before except those based on STR, AGI, or CON and they lose the ability to use any Abilities or anything that they can do with their Traits.
Curse Affects: The target takes two points of INT Score Damage
Resistances: Will Roll
Requirements: Bad Luck, Nevoolim Level 3, SPI 5.
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 5 Units
Duration: 1 Hour
Affect: Causes the target to be enveloped in an aura of misfortune. The target, and all of those at least 3 Units away from the target (that aren't your allies) get a -1 on all Skill Rolls.
Curse Affects: Bad things may begin to happen to the target and those around the target
Resistances: None
Requirements: None
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1 EP
Range: 10 Units
Duration: 1 Hour
Affect: Causes the target to have bad luck. -1 to all Skill Rolls on the target.
Curse Affects: Bad events may begin to happen to the target
Resistances: None
Requirements: Black Sorcery Level 5
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 10 Units
Duration: 1 Minute
Affect: The target goes on a rampage. They can only use Melee Attacks and attack whatever or whoever is closest to them. Also the target gets a -5 on all Defense Rolls while in this state.
Curse Affects: Instead of the normal affect, every time the target enters into Combat or any other heated situation they must roll a Will Roll (FR being the result of the Roll to use this Curse) or they will go into a blood rage. The rage always lasts for a Minute.
Resistances: Will Roll
Requirements: CON 6, Black Sorcery level 5
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 5 Units
Duration: 5 Rounds
Affect: The target is inflicted with the Exhaustion Status and loses an amount of VP equal to their failure to beat the Black Sorcery Roll Result with their Resistance Roll.
Curse Affects: Cannot be used as a Curse
Resistances: CON
Requirements: CHA 5
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Range: 10 Units
Duration: Instant
Affect: The target gets the Afraid Status with you as the subject of their Fear.
Curse Affects: The target gets the minor version of the Phobia Weakness with your culture, race, or just you as your Phobia (depends on how much you succeed by).
Resistances: Will Roll
Requirements: CHA 6
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 10 Units
Duration: 1 Day
Affect: The target is enveloped in an aura that makes them hated by all. They get a -5 on all CHA based Rolls and a Critical may cause those who don't closely know the target to attack them.
Curse Affects: The target has a -1 to their CHA Stat and they cannot gain any Positive Reputation
Resistances: None
Requirements: None
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Range: 10 Units
Duration: A number of Rounds equal to half of your success over the FR.
Affect: The user launches a small orb of flame that, upon contact, causes the target to be enveloped in a dark power that causes a flame to burn them every Round. They take 1 CON Damage every round.
Curse Affects: This cannot be used as a Curse
Resistances: Dodge Roll to avoid
Requirements: Any Magic Arte or Spiritual Arte Level 4, Will 5, SPI 5, Black Sorcery Level 5
FR: 30
EP Cost: 2 EP
Range: 5 Units
Duration: 1 Hour
Affect: You put a dark power on the target that seals their Essence within them. They become unable to use anything that is powered by EP.
Curse Affects: None
Resistances: SPI or Will Roll Resists
Requirements: Black Sorcery Level 5
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1
Range: 5 Units
Duration: 1 Minute
Affect: The target becomes unable to speak due to a dark power you put over their mind.
Curse Affects: None
Resistances: Will
Requirements: Black Sorcery Level 5
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 10 Units
Duration: 1 Minute
Affect: The target gets a 50% Vulnerability to a single type of damage of the caster's choice
Curse Affects:
Resistances: CON Roll
Requirements: CON 5
FR: 20
EP Cost: 1 EP
Range: 10 Units
Duration: 1 Minute
Affect: Temporarily reduce strengths of your foe. They take an amount of STR Score Damage equal to half of your success over the FR if they fail to Resist.
Curse Affects: STR & CON Score reduced by 1
Resistances: CON Roll
Requirements: CON 6, Black Sorcery Level 3
FR: 25
EP Cost: 2
Range: 5 Units
Duration: A number of Rounds equal to half of your success over the FR
Affect: The target's body begins to wither away under the dark power. Every Round the target takes 1 Wounding Damage. Of course, using the Resistance Roll they can resist the affect every time it happens.
Curse Affects: The target gets a -1 to STR, CON, and AGI and as a Curse the target takes 2 Wounding Damage every hour instead of every Round.
Resistances: CON Roll
This secretive magical Arte involves imbuing objects with your magics to create Magic Items (or Demonic Items if you are using Demonia). To use this Arte you first need to make an Enchanting Recipe. To do this you decide on what kind of power(s) you want your Magic Item to have and make sure that you are able to perform Magic that goes along with said power, this is the Recipe. The cost of the Recipe is equal to the FR of the Magic(s) you are using in it while the FR is dependent upon the power you want the Item to have and the FR of the Magic you are using (DM decides). The amount of EP needed for any attempt at Enchanting is equal to the amount that you are using for your magics plus 3.
When you go to make your Recipe the Item you are Enchanting must be of Excellent Quality and the enchanting requires that you have purchased Enchanting Materials from any place dealing in mystic or magical goods equal to the cost of the Recipe. After that you must spend at least 6 hours (more or less depending upon the difficulty and complexity of your Recipe). There are a few other tasks you can do with this Skill besides enchanting Items, and this is what they are:
You can essentially destroy a Magic Item to gain the materials that went into it. The FR for this depends upon how strong the powers in the magic Item are. Depending upon how much iL the materials cost you can use them in your own Enchantments or you could use them for something else (like making things with Alchemy). Note that failure by 5 or more will damage the Item by 1 degree and failure by 10 or more will still cause the Item to be destroyed anyway, but you won't get any materials. Doing this requires one hour and 5 EP.
You can improve upon the powers of a Magic Item. If you have any magics that match the power(s) of a Magic Item then you can make those stronger. You need an amount of materials that costs a number of iL equal to half of your magic's FR, one hour, and the amount you are using for the magics in the empowerment +2.
Time Needed: 6 Hours for Enchanting, 3 for Empowerment, and 1 for Disenchanting.
Skill Focuses: Empowerment, Disenchanting, different Magic Artes, different kinds of Items (swords, armor, necklaces, etcetera), and etcetera.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to the Skill Level of any Crafting Skill of your choice
Level 7: +1 to Lore Skill Level
Level 10: +1 to the Level of the Magic Arte of your choice that you know.
One of the most intricate, yet less common, Crafting Skills in Ithelia. This Skill requires vast amounts of knowledge (needing Lore 3 and INT 6) since it involves the creation of special mechanical devices that have very intricate functions. Usually only those admitted to the Engineer's School in the Crafting Guild ever learn this Skill, but it has been known to have been taught by those who know it to those they take as apprentices.
With this Skill you can create all sorts of mechanical devices like complex traps, strong locks, clocks, powerful crossbows, and etcetera. Of course, the materials for this Skill also being a bit expensive and requiring that you also have at least Blacksmithing Level 4 if you want to make the parts you need for any devices you would make with Engineering. If you decide to buy them then you must spend an amount of iL equal to the FR of the device you are trying to make.
Time Needed: It takes 6 hours to a day to make anything for Engineering, it just depends.
Skill Focuses: Traps, Locks, any other mechanical device you can think of, architecture, and anything else that requires Engineering are all viable Skill Focuses.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Blacksmithing Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Lore Skill Level
Level 10: +1 to your Manipulate Device Skill Level
This Mystic Arte combines the powers of Magic with the connection to the world one has through Spiritualism in order to communicate with the forces of nature. By using Essence you can focus your will and spirit into the nature around you to perform different powers whether it is communicating with animals or mending damage.
With Nature's Voice you are able to perform 3 special powers known as Communications. The FR and EP Cost of each Communication varies upon how strong you want it to be. For instance a weak Bestial Communication would only allow you to talk with a weak beast, while a strong Flora Communication will allow you to communicate with even the tallest of trees. These are the different kinds of Communications. Note that any form of Communication will automatically end if you take Damage if you do not succeed a proper Concentration Roll.
You can attempt to communicate with animals or anything other form of creature that has animalistic intelligence or is unable to speak your language. By expending 1 EP you can attempt a Nature's Voice Roll to begin to communicate verbally with said creature, the FR for establishing a verbal communication so that they can understand what you are saying is 20. By expending 2 EP you can attempt the same Roll with a +5 to the FR to make this communiation telepathic. This takes 2 Actions no matter which kind of communication you try to perform and you must be within 3 Units from the creature and able to make eye contact. This communication lasts for 1 minute or until the beast leaves.
Once your communication is set up then you can talk to the animal and it can talk back to you. Only you can understand the creature, so anything it says you may have to relay back to others. Note that anyone with this Skill can try a Nature's Voice Roll to link in to your communication, the FR being +5 the FR you had to try and beat. If they succeed you can attempt a Will Roll to kick them out, the FR being a Will Roll of their own. You can attempt to talk to it in anyway. Whether you convince it to join you or aid you in some other way. Note that the usage of Persuasion Rolls may be required for this to work (in Combat these Rolls may take Actions to perform).
If you have the Animal Companion Trait then by spending 2 EP and at least 1 hour after successfully rolling a Nature's Voice Roll with an FR of 30 you are able to establish a permanent link of verbal communication between you and your Animal Companion. For the FR of 35 and cost of 3 EP this permanent link becomes telepathic. So essentiallly the purpose of this Skill is to talk to animals and have them try and aid you.
You can try to communicate with the natural elements of nature: Air, Water, and Earth. For this Communication to work you must have a large sample of the element at least 5 Units away from you. So while Air may be everywhere, if you are in a place devoid of water or earth then you cannot communicate with those Elements and issue commands to them. Whether you command water to create a tidal wave to wash away a foe or earth to form spikes beneath someone's feet.
The FR and EP Cost for this Communication depends upon the 1 command you are going to give the element you are communicating with. For a Simple Command (like stirring up a gust of wind or having water douse a flame) the FR is 15 and the EP Cost is 1. For a Moderate Command the FR is 20 and the EP Cost is 1 (this could be something like having jagged chunks of earth fly at a foe or sending a burst of water at a foe). For a Complex Communication the FR is 25 and the EP is 2 (this could be anything from having the earth grasp someone's ankles to having water form a wall).
With this Communication you can attempt to converse with the very force of life itself. The first thing you can try to do with this communication is Healing, which heals an ally or cures of them of an ailment have. The FR for this is either 20 for Healing (healing 1 BH equal to half of your Success), or the same FR of a Roll to resist said ailment to cure said ailment with a usage of this Skill. This costs 2 EP no matter what you perform.
The second thing you could try is Life-Moving. You can attempt to communicate with the life in either different non-intelligent things or breath life into something. To communicate with a non-intelligent something that possesses life (like plants or a construct) you must expend 2 EP and the FR is equal to 25 (30 for telepathic). Once you have established this communication it lasts for 1 minute or until you command what you are communicating with to do one thing (if you are communicating with vines then you could make them wrap around something or you could have a construct aid you with no additional rolls needed).
You can try to breath life into something as well as long as you are touching it and said object is made from natural things. This has an FR of 30, Costs 3 EP, and on Objects at least twice your size or more the FR and EP Costs are increased. For every point of EP spent the life breathing lasts that many Rounds. You can make the object do whatever including attack a foe with some form of appendage if it has such means, move, or use its own functions. If it is an object incapable of self movement then it is able to float along the ground, but only if it is a small object. The Object goes on your Turn and commanding it to do 2 Actions costs 1 Action of your own.
Time Needed: Listed in the Communication descriptions
Skill Focuses: Specific Plants and Animals, Water, Earth, Air, and essentially any other specific thing or kind of thing (like a kind of object) that you can perform this Skill on are viable Skill Focuses.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Animal Handling Skill Level
Level 7: +1 to your Persuasion Skill Level
Level 10: Gain the Nature Skill Focus for the Persuasion Skill (only attainable through this Skill).
This special Magic Arte uses the various magics you can perform with other Magic Artes to create mystic runes capable of performing different magics. Essentially with this Skill you can enscribe Runes using any specific power that you are capable of performing with a Magic Arte. The FR for most usages of this Skill being the same FR needed to use those powers. Learning this Skill also lets you learn the Dwarvernic, the ancient runic language of the Old Dwarves used in Runecraft today. You can only learn that language through this Skill if you aren't a Dwarf.
Here are the various things you can do with Runecraft:
You enscribe your magic in a mystic Rune onto a surface, which could be anything from a spot of earth on the ground to a tree. The FR for this is the same FR as the Magic you are using for this Rune with no additional EP Cost. The Rune will activate either when you command it to as an Instant Action that takes 1 EP (only capable if you are within 5 Units from the Rune) or when someone touches the same surface that the Rune is on.
Upon activation it will usually cause the Magic to target the closest enemy, its result and FR for any resistance being the same one as the Runecraft Roll made to enscribe it, but there are some cases where the effect of the Magic is changed based on the surface it is enscribed upon or the fact that the spell is in the form of a Surface Rune. Note that if the Magic has a Range of Touch then it can only be activated when someone else touches it. If the Magic has a Range of Self then it cannot be used at all as a Surface Rune.
You enscribe your Rune into an Item of Average Quality or higher (Poor Quality Items will usually break under this process). The FR for doing this is 5 + the FR for the Magic you are using. Using a Great Quality Item will eliminate the 5 while using an Excellent Quality Item will give you a +2 Bonus on the Runecraft Roll. The EP Cost of the Magic is also increased by 1.
Upon success you enscribe the Rune on the Item where it will stay until removed, used, or the Item is damaged. If the Item is damaged than the Rune will disappear and the Item will be unharmed as the Rune took the damage in place of the Item. An Excellent Quality Item can have up to 2 Runes on it at a single time, but only one can be activated at a time.
To activate a Rune a command word from the holder of the Item that the Runecrafter sets is necessary. Once activated the Rune will give the Item a special property or power based upon the basic properties or powers of the Magic in the Rune. This Rune will stay active for a number of Rounds eqal to half of your success over the FR. Note that activating the Rune also takes 1 EP as well unless the Item is a Mystic Item, then no EP is needed.
You can enscribe a Rune into someone's body that will give them some special power(s) based upon the affects or properties of the Magic you are using. The FR for doing this is 5 + the FR of the Magic and the EP Cost of the Magic is increased by 2 in this scenario. Upon success you inscribe the Rune onto their Skin somewhere, the Rune getting a number of "Uses" equal to half of your success over the Magic's FR.
Note that some Magics may grant powers that activate as soon as their Runes are inscribed and stay active for a number of Rounds equal to the Uses. Other Magics may actually cause something to happen to the target when the Rune is inscribed into them. You can only have a number of Runes inscribed into a person equal to half of their CON Score. Activating a Rune takes 1 Action and costs 1 VP to do so. Note that for the person to activate it a command word set by the Runecrafter is needed.
Essentially a Person Rune highly depends on the Magic you are using, so be careful. You can attempt an INT Check with the FR being the same FR as the Magic you want to use to see what said Magic will do as a Person Rune.
You can learn Magic you do not know or even know the appropriate Arte for as a Rune that you can use. The FR for doing this is the same FR of the Magic + 10. If someone is teaching it to you then their CHA Roll will add to your own Runecraft Roll. Once you know this Magic you can only use it as a Rune until you learn the Skill that said Magic goes with.
By spending 1 EP you can try to erase a Rune someone else made. The FR of this Roll is the result of their Runecraft Roll to make the Rune. Upon success the Rune is removed from whatever it was inscribed into. If you fail by 10 then the Rune will actually go off on you. If you get a Fumble then it may explode.
Time Needed: 2 Actions to inscribe a Rune onto anything. 1 Action to activate a Rune.
Skill Focuses: Any Magic Arte Skill you know, any specific Magics you know with those Magic Artes Skills, the Sorcery Forces, Learn Rune, Person Rune, Item Rune, Erase Rune, and Surface Rune are all viable Skill Focuses for this Skill.
Skill Synergy:
Level 4: +1 to your Lingustics Skill Level
Level 7: Get +2 on other Skill Rolls having to do with Runes
Level 10: Get +1 to your Lore Skill Level
Throughout your journey you will encounter many different kinds of people and creatures. Unfortunately, some of those that you encounter may be enemies who desire no more than to harm you. This section talks about when those combat situations happen and the game mechanics that operates them. Also reading this will indeed help you survive as well if you know what you are doing in the Combat.
Every Combat Round is divided into Turns. Every player gets 1 Turn in a Round to act in the Round. The Turns that combatants have occur in a special order that is determined through Initiative Rolls. Everyone in the Combat rolls an Initiative Roll when Combat begins and the Turn Order is from highest result goes first to lowest result who goes last.
When people enter late into the Combat they are put at the end of the Turn Order automatically. When a group of combatants enter they all roll Initiative Rolls to determine their order at the back of the already existing Turn Order. Leaving Combat and then reentering it somehow will drop you out of the Turn Order and then put you back in the end no matter where you were in the Turn Order beforehand.
Everyone gets a single Turn in a given Combat Round. On your Turn you have 2 Actions which you can use to perform other Actions. Different Actions you perform consume a different number of Actions. So you could perform either one Action that takes 2 Actions in your Turn or a different combination of 2 Actions that only require one. So you could perform two Melee Attacks (a Melee Attack takes 1 Action), Move twice, move and attack, move then use an Item, and etcetera.
There are a few ways, such as spending Destiny or the Swift Strike Talent, to get a third Action on your Turn. On your Turn you can also perform Instant Actions as well that take no Actions at all (see Instant Actions). There are a few Actions that take more than two Actions (see Multi-Turn Actions) and your Actions can also be interrupted by other people as well (see Action Interruption).
Some certain Actions you perform take very small amounts of time. These types of Actions which consume none of the Actions you have for your Turn are called Instant Actions. Instant Actions can be anything like just dropping something on the ground or speaking a few words (speaking more may cost an Action).
So in your posts make sure your character doesn’t do too much extra stuff (aside from the one or two different actions you may use in your Turn) since the DM may consider a lot of Instant Actions to cost a single Action. Some Instant Actions you can do can even be done out of Turn, but Actions like these are conditional.
To make posting easier, I will ask you in the OOC if you want to do said conditional Instant Actions in response to something (like performing a Chance Attack or Counterspelling).
Some Actions may take more than two Actions and thus not performable in a single Turn. While there aren’t many Actions that do this (as the main Actions that take more than two Actions are usually very complex Spells or techniques from Spiritual Artes). Regardless of the small number of Multi-Turn Actions, how they work must be discussed since they are here.
So say you are using a very powerful Spell that takes 3 Actions to use. Now if you were to somehow gain a third Action in your Turn then you could use it in one Turn, but for now we will assume that you don’t gain one. We will also assume that you are using the Spell on the first Action of your Turn for this example.
So when you would begin to use the Spell the two Actions in your Turn would be consumed. The time between your current Turn and your next Turn would be considered “Preparation Time” for your Action. During this time you are vulnerable to Action Interruption from anything that could cause it, so it is recommended that you have a good way to defend yourself from such interruption if you are going to be using a Multi-Turn Action.
When it would get to your next Turn the third Action of your Spell would be used by the first Action of your Turn (assuming that your Action was not interrupted during the Preparation Time). This would bring the remaining needed Actions of your Spell down to 0 and this means that your Spell is finished and you can finally use it as your Action.
So while Multi-Turn Actions may be incredibly effective in Combat depending on what they are, they are also very risky to perform since you are very vulnerable to Action Interruption during the Preparation Time between Turns. Also while you are in the Preparation Time if you use any form of Instant Action your Multi-Turn Action will be automatically interrupted and the Preparation Time ended (which would also mean that you will still be able to use both of your Actions on the next Turn.
You could be in the middle of casting a spell, nocking an arrow on your bow, or drinking a potion when suddenly you are hit by a sword and stopped from doing so. Action Interruption can happen to any type of Action and can be caused by just about anything that is considered to be an interruption like intense weather, incredibly loud noises, or getting struck.
Now not every type of “Interruption” works on every kind of Action. For instance; while an incredibly loud sound may interrupt spellcasting since it requires a lot of concentration, it would not interrupt firing a bow which doesn’t require the same kind of mental concentration that spellcasting requires.
To resist Action Interruption you have to roll a Concentration Skill Roll with the FR depending on what is causing the Action Interruption. Upon success you resist the Interruption and can continue with your Action. Upon failure you lose the Action and one half of whatever you would have spent on your Action (VP, EP, BP, etcetera). Also if you were using an Item you may lose the Item depending on what you were using.
Here is a sample list of interruptions and their FRs (If you want to know more, ask the DM):
Getting Struck: 20 + Amount of Body and Vitality Damage taken
Intense Weather: Varies upon the weather
Falling Prone: Automatic
Rigorous Movements: 15-25 (Depends on degree of movement and action you were performing)
The ultimate example of Action Interruption. A Chance Attack is a simple melee Attack done out of Turn at an opportune moment when your opponent is performing an Action that makes them open while Close Range to you (which is 1 Unit from you, see The Combat Map for details). While a Chance Attack is classified as an Instant Action, you can only perform one of them between your Turns unless you have the Opportunistic Trait.
A Chance Attack is a regular melee Attack performed with your currently equipped weapon. You only can perform one Attack with a Chance Attack. Any Ability that is a “Melee Attack” can be used in place of the regular Attack in a Chance Attack. If an Ability that is a “Melee Attack” says that it cannot be used as a Chance Attack then it cannot be used as one (as there are a few that cannot be used as Chance Attacks).
Chance Attacks are only performable at Close Range and out of Turn. Anyone who is Close Range to someone while performing the following Actions gets a Chance Attack against them (unless something they have prevents said Chance Attack):
Casting a Spell or using any other form of Spiritual, Divine, or Destiny ability.
Using an Item
Falling Prone
Attacking with a Ranged Weapon
Performing a Chance Attack against a different foe
As mentioned as the final item in the list, you do get a Chance Attack against someone else performing a Chance Attack. This is due to them leaving themselves open to you as they prepare to attack someone else. If you successfully strike them then their Chance Attack is automatically interrupted with no Concentration Roll to resist Action Interruption.
Combat and just everyday life can be dangerous. There is always a chance that you can be severely injured whether you are on or off the field of battle. There are two types of damage that you can receive. These two types are regular Damage and "Wounding" Damage. While regular Damage just reduces your Vitality, it is the Wounding Damage that is more serious.
Whenever you are hit by any harmful affect or attack you take Damage. The amount of Damage you take makes you lose VP. Taking Wounding Damage also is the same as taking Damage, so when you do take Wounding Damage you also lose an amount of VP equal to the amount of Wounding Damage you took. Any Resistances you have to the Damage or Wounding Damage you take will reduce the amount of VP you lose.
Wounding Damage doesn't just drain VP, but also BH as well. Wounding Damage is more serious damage that actually wounds your body and can be anything from a deadly sword slash to being burned by flames. If you have Resistances that can be applied to the Wounding Damage then it will reduce the amount of BH you lose from the Wounding Damage (see Resistances and Damage Types for details).
When your Vitality gets to 0 you become Fatigued (see Status Effects) and take 1 Wounding Damage. When your BH reaches 0 then you actually fall unconscious. If you fell Unconscious due to an actual wound caused by an Attack then you are considered to be unstable unless the cause of your unconsciousness wasn't actually something that would cause bleeding.
You will regain consciousness once your Body Score reaches 1. While you are Unstable you are considered to be bleeding out and you must roll a CON Roll (FR 20). Upon succeeding the roll you automatically stabilize and begin to recover slowly (at 1 point an hour). If you fail then you take an amount of Body Damage equal to how much you failed by.
If you take enough damage to where it is lower than double your CON Score then you are considered dead. An ally can attempt a First Aid Roll to stabilize you (FR being 20 + your BP amount below 0). Also if an ally uses something on you that heals your BP by any you will automatically stabilize then as well.
Note that while either stable or unstable (as both mean unconsciousness in this case) you are very vulnerable. Anyone can attack you and taking Body Damage from an attack will make you unstable. So make sure when in Combat that you careful and don’t fall unconscious due to injury as it may well lead to your demise.
There are ways to protect yourself against damage through other ways than just beating up your foes. Your Resistance reduces the amount of Vitality and Body Damage that you take. Now you do not have just a single Resistance. Instead you have multiple Resistances since there are plenty of things that can damage you.
Here is how Resistance works. Lets say you are wearing a piece of leather Armor that grants 4 Physical Resistance and you take a well placed slash from a sword that deals 6 Wounding Damage. Your Resistance would reduce the amount of VP and BH you lose by 4 so you would only lose 2 VP and 2 BH since your armor was able to protect you from the majority of the wound.
Now there are other types of Damage as well. For instance, say you are fighting a Fire Elemental that has a 50% Frost Resistance. This means that all Damage taken from ice based abilities is reduced by half. So while some Abilities may actually only deal certain types of Damage, what they use can also be resisted (for instance if you had a spell that throws an icy spear then it would technically be an ice based ability, but the damage would be physical since the spell would be piercing a foe with an icy spear) as some Resistances also cover damage from certain Abilities as well. So something might not be a “Damage Type” (like Wind, it is not a Damage Type), but certain beings may have a Resistance against Wind based Abilities.
There is also Vulnerability as well. Some creatures are more vulnerable to certain kinds of attack. For instance, a Skeleton has a 100% Blunt Vulnerability. This means that all Damage from Blunt Weapons is multiplied by 2 since skeletons are made of bones and thus more vulnerable to being smashed by large hammers. Some creatures may have special vulnerabilities as well. Like Shades who are harmed when light is shined upon them or Werewolves who can only be wounded by Silver weapons. While there is no “Light” or “Silver” Damage types, these are still vulnerabilities that cause them to either take damage from something or take more damage from something.
Combat can be very stressful and tiring. As such participating in Combat for a long time can get quite strenuous and reduce your stamina quickly. For every minute (ten Rounds) that you remain in Combat you lose 1 Vitality. If you have taken Wounding Damage within the last hour and remain in Combat for 2 minutes then you will also take a point of Wounding Damage (this is highly unlikely to happen since that would mean you had spent twenty Rounds in Combat).
Combat is not just stand in one place and take turns attacking one another. One can move around the field to get closer to an opponent, flee from an opponent, find advantageous spots to take out opponents from afar with a bow, and etcetera.
In this forum setting for the RP distances in Combat will be measured in “Units”, which is just basic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on and so forth. So at any time in the OOC you can ask how many Units you are away from something (as you will get a description of field around you and I will have a map pulled up for my own use).
Also many Actions that “target” something have a Range. This Range is also measured in Units. For instance Spells all have a Range of which they can target things and they cannot target anything outside of that Range. Ranged Weapons and other forms of Powers also work in the same way. Also Melee Attacks can only be done to enemies who are 1 Unit away from you unless you posses a reach weapon like a Longspear that has more than a Range of 1.
The following section shows the different actions you can perform on your Turn and the game mechanics behind them.
Attack with either your current Weapon or use an Unarmed Strike. An Attack only costs 1 Action and possesses no other cost. When you Attack you make a Skill Roll with the appropriate Skill (Projectiles, Melee Weaponry, or Fisticuffs). If this Roll trumps the opponent’s Defense Roll then you successfully hit your opponent and deal Vitality Damage equal to the difference in results.
If the Weapon is capable of Wounding Blows then you will also deal the amount of Body Damage upon the Roll’s success listed in the description of your Weapon as well. Note that most Weapons are capable of Wounding Blows, but some may only actually be Wounding Blows if you deal enough Vitality Damage (as this would be just how “great” your attack was).
If your Roll fails then your opponent evades the attack. Upon a Critical Success you will deal the “Critical Damage” for your chosen Weapon and upon a Fumble you will grant your opponent a Chance Attack.
There are three different kinds of Defense Rolls. These Rolls are known as Blocking (a Shield Use Skill Roll), Dodge Roll (Evasion Sub-Stat Roll), and Parry (Melee Weaponry Skill Roll).
Using Ranged Weaponry may take another Action though depending upon your Weapon. For a Crossbow you have to reload it after firing, which takes 2 Actions. For a Bow you have to nock an arrow, which takes 1 Action (unless you have the Quick Draw Ability). Taking out a throwing weapon would also take an Action (unless you have the Quick Draw Ability or already have the Weapon out). Using Ranged Weaponry provokes Chance Attacks unless stated otherwise.
Within Ithelia there are three means of using special powers. These are Magic Artes, Divine Prayer, and Spiritual Artes. Using them takes a number of Actions listed in the description of whatever you are using from your specific Arte and any other cost is listed in the description as well. Since these actions usually require concentration and leave yourself open, you provoke Chance Attacks unless stated otherwise.
So to use a Power you simply have to succeed on a Skill Roll of the Skill that said Power is from. If you succeed then you use it, if you fail then you lose half of what you were going to pay for the Power and you do not use it. Also Action Interruption in this event counts the same as failing to use the Power.
Some “Powers” that you use may not necessarily be “Powers”, but just special talents granted from Skills, Traits, or Abilities. These would be things like trying to Intimidate someone using the Persuasion Skill or sensing magical auras using a Magic Artes Skill. In cases like these Chance Attacks are usually not provoked unless they say they are.
You may also have in your possession Items that can aid you in Combat as well in various ways. Whether they are healing potions that you drink to heal your wounds, mystic Items that you activate to use their powers, or caltrops you lay on the ground around you to make those who want to get close to you have to move a little slower; Items have many uses in and even out of Combat.
In Combat you can use any Item that you have On Person (see Character Inventory) for 1 Action (unless stated otherwise). Also using Items will always provoke a Chance Attack (unless stated otherwise as some Items do not). If you want to take an Item out from your belongings that is not on Person that will usually take 2 Actions, which also provokes a Chance Attack. Then you would use the Item next Turn for 1 Action (or more if it is specified).
If your usage of an Item is interrupted you may lose the Item depending upon what it is. But if you do manage to use the Item then what will happen depends on the description. Ask the DM if you have any questions about Item usage.
There may be times when you need to move around either to get away from an opponent, get closer to an opponent, or even just find a more advantageous point in the field of battle. Regardless of the case, movement works all the same in battle. You can move a number of Units equal to your Movement Sub-Stat towards or away from something. Moving also costs 1 Action, so you could move twice in a single Turn.
Since there is no “actual” Combat map present (since this is a forum setting) you just state in the OOC how many Units you want to move towards or away from certain things (in the IC just posting that you are simply moving towards or away from whatever). Just ask the DM at anytime how close or far away you are from whatever. It does sound confusing, but this is the best way to do this in the “forum” setting. If you have any questions, just ask the DM.
There may be instances though when the area is difficult to move through. This could be due to either low to no visibility or difficult terrain. Whatever the case whenever you are in a area where movement is difficult your Movement is cut in half. If there are two inhibitors on Movement (as in low to no visibility and tough terrain) then it would cost 2 Actions just to move a number of Units equal to half of your Movement.
You can also “Charge” in Combat. A Charge allows you to move triple your Movement for the cost of 1 Vitality Point in one Action. Note with a Charge you can only move in a straight line towards something. Also when you charge towards an opponent you do not provoke a Chance Attack when you charge towards an opponent and wind up Close Range to them. You can perform any other Action you desire at the end of your Charge, but until your next Turn you suffer a -5 to all Defense Rolls.
Grappling is a special action that allows you to grab and take hold of your opponent, effectively stopping their movement and making it much harder for them to act. In order to enact a Grapple you must first succeed in a Fisticuff Skill Roll against your opponent’s Dodge Roll. Upon success you put your foe in a Grapple. Attempting to put your foe in a Grapple takes 1 Action.
Once you have your foe in a Grapple there are several things you can attempt to do. Your opponent can also attempt to do the same things to you as well. So while a Grapple can be advantageous, it can also be a bit dangerous since one can easily be turned upon the one who started it if they are not careful.
Also for every time you take a Turn while in a Grapple you use a point of Vitality. When it says a “Grapple” Check it simply means a STR Roll with your bonuses in the Fisticuffs Skill added to it. The FR of any Grapple Check is the opponent’s Grapple Check. One more thing to note is that every Action performed in a Grapple takes 2 Actions unless stated otherwise.
While you are in a Grapple your AGI is reduced by 3 and your Movement is cut in half. Also an combatant who tries to attack someone in a Grapple has a -5 on their Attack Roll to hit the target. Upon missing there is a small chance (randomly determined by the DM) that the attack may instead hit the other target.
If you are currently holding a Light Weapon or have Fisticuffs Rank 3 then you can attempt to attack a foe whilst in a Grapple. This Attack Roll has a -5, but the only kind of Defense Roll the opponent can attempt is a Dodge Roll. Also you cannot perform any Combat Abilities while in a Grapple unless they say you can use them in a Grapple.
You can also attempt to break the Grapple as well. If the opponent doesn’t try to stop you then you can do so freely. If they do try to stop you then you must succeed in a Grapple Check to free yourself.
You can simply keep the Grapple going in order to exhaust your opponent or keep them in place. This requires no Checks whatsoever, but still takes 2 Actions and costs a Vitality Point.
You can attempt to move yourself and your opponent for a number of Units equal to your reduced Movement. To do so you simply need to succeed in a Grapple Check.
You can attempt to put your opponent into a Pin. To do so you need to succeed in a Grapple Check. For more details on how a Pin works, see the “Pin” section.
You can take off an Item that is loosely worn by the opponent. Examples would be loosely worn helmets, loosely tied mantles, or necklaces. To do this you simply need to make a Grapple Check that is at a -5. If you are wielding a Dagger when doing this you can use your Dagger Skill Level in the Grapple Check’s bonus as well, but only when dealing with something that you can remove by cutting a string or rope of some sort. You can also only steal the Item if you have a place to store it On Person (see Character Inventory).
You can also attempt to attack your opponent with their Weapon as well. To do so you make a Grapple Check and upon success you take their Weapon and strike them with it. You can only do this if you do not have a Weapon currently equipped and the opponent’s equipped Weapon is a Light Weapon. If you succeed by 5 or more then you can a make a Chance Attack against the opponent with that weapon in that Turn, but you get a -10 on the Melee Weaponry Roll to hit the opponent. Even if you do not attack with the Weapon on that Turn, you can still do so on the next Turn or do whatever you want with the stolen weapon.
From a Grapple you can pin your opponent. When someone is pinned they are completely immobilized. Their AGI is reduced by 5 instead of 3 and their Movement is reduced to 0. Also they cannot perform any form of Action other than an attempt to break the Pin, which doing so takes 1 Vitality point. When the Pin is broken the Grapple still remains though.
If you are the one pinning your opponent what you can do is severely reduced. Here is what you can do while you are Pinning someone. Doing any of these Actions, like in a Grapple, consumes 2 Actions and costs 1 Vitality unless stated otherwise.
You can still Attack like you can in a Grapple, but only with Fisticuffs. Only this time you do not get a -5 to the Roll.
You can attempt to pin someone to the ground. To do so you must succeed on a Grapple Check. Once they are Prone you get +5 on all Grapple Checks against them unless stated otherwise. Doing this costs 2 Vitality instead of one due to it being very strenuous to put someone in that kind of position, but it only takes 2 Vitality if their STR Score is either the same as your’s, higher, or one less than your own.
You can attempt to steal or remove an Item your opponent has equipped (if it is removeable) with the usage of a Grapple Check. This would even include Items a little harder to get off like Rings. Also if the opponent has things like Belt Pouches you can even try to remove those if you have a Light Slashing Weapon equipped (like a Dagger). Or you could reach inside of them to take something out. You can do one of these things and doing any of them requires a successful Grapple Check (with your Melee Weaponry Skill Level added to the Roll if you are using a light slashing weapon to remove something).
Last edited by Renose; 12-12-2012 at 12:18 AM.
Darkness and Light are always balanced within. When one upsets the balance, Chaos is born, the Chaos; which is what does not belong, corrupts the force that upset the balance, and thus Corruption is born.
So as a warning to you all; tread carefully when wielding the powers of Light or Darkness, for if you are not careful, Corruption will surface within. The Corruption will then grow and as it continues to grow it will contaminate your very soul until you are turned into a beast of Chaos that will obliterate all of those you know and love.
And with their blood on your hands...well... you will never return to being Pure again.
You have been warned.
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