Magic

Metaphysics

The natural world is defined in Harath by various things: Natural Laws (i.e. physics, mathematics) and by Metaphysicical Laws (magic, paranormal, etc.). All things in Harath have symbologies attached to them. These symbols exist in the common psyche of the universe. Each object has a unique symbol or rune attached to it.The runes however, are not identical between people. Rather than thinking of a rune as a fixed symbol denoting the object, think of the rune as the union of the global unconscious and each individuals personal interpretation of that object. This makes runes a richand diverse group upon which there can be no communication. No two people have the rune set, though most of the runes are very closely related. This manipulation of the runes by ones mind is commonly called casting magic.

Manipulating the runes (hereafter called spell casting and spells) in Harath is accomplished by combining an action rune with an object rune. For example, to heal a comrade the caster would cast the Heal Rune and might focus it with the Human rune. Keep in mind that these rules are the metaphysics of what is happening, not necessarily the caster’s explanation of what is happening. Casters can lean “spells” in one of two ways; they can learn an action rune thoroughly (Create, Heal, Break, etc.) or they can learn an object rune (Weapon, Human, Elemental, etc.).

For a player’s character to cast a spell they need to define the spell’s volume and shape, the distance the center of that volume is from the character and the effort put into the spell. These numbers are then looked up in the Spell Casting Tables. These three things are added together to determine the potential drain of the spell. For example, a spell with a range of 2, a radius of 3, and an effort of 10 would have 15 potential drain. The caster then rolls their rune skill. Each success will reduce the drain by one. The resulting number if then subtracted from the character’s Mental Fatigue.

Felcia cast the spell above with range of 2, a radius of 3, and an effort of 10. This adds up to 15 potential drain. She rolls her casting skill and received 8 successes. She will want 7 [15-8=7] drain. She had 10MF. After casting this spell, she has 3 MF. Later, she casts another spell. This time the spell only had 5 potential drain. Once more she rolls 8 Ss on her spell casting drain. She takes no more drain from this spell.

Spell Failures

There are two ways that a caster can create a spell failure: The caster can take more drain than they have or they can roll 0 successes on their spell roll. Each has different results. If they are able to cast the spell, but the spell takes more drain than they have mental fatigue. When the caster reaches -MF, they will pass out and potentially burn out the mage. They will have to roll a Mana roll with a target number of 5 and achieve a number of successes equal to the number of points below -MF. For each unmet success, their Mana will be reduced by 1. If a character is reduced to 0 Mana they’re brain will be fried and they no longer retain the ability to put thoughts together. They character will continue to live through autonomic processes, but is in a coma-like state. Heal spells may restore this loss, but each Mana restored will take 10 Power. Healing spells of this type are resisted by the character’s Con. The spell will still occur, however, it’s effects are reduced. The total potential drain of the spell is reduced by the amount of missed successes. First points are taken from Intensity, until that reaches 1, then from the radius of the spell, and finally from the range of the spell.

If the character, however, fails to achieve any successes, then they have not released the spell at all. The Magic is left uncontrolled through the character’s body. This is a bad thing and is treated the same way as if the character went below -MF. However, they need to achieve one success for every point in the spell.

Example 1: When Appolonius cast is Heal Human spell he used a total of 10 potential drain (Range: 0, Radius: 0, Intensity: 10). When he cast the spell he had 1 MF left out of 6 MF. Unfortunately, for him, he only 1 success, thus reducing the drain to 9. This left him with a total of -8 MF, 2 below his -6 MF lower limit. The first thing to happen is that Appolonius passes out from the fatigue. The second thins is that he must roll a Mana roll (TN: 5, Skill 6) and obtain 2 successes. He only obtains one success, therefore two things happen. first, he permanently loses 1 Mana point, reducing him to 5. Second he could not complete the spell as planned. The total potential drain of the spell is reduced to 9. This lost point is taken from the intensity of the spell.

Example 2: If Appolonius had not achieved a success with his Heal Human roll, then he has lost control of the spell and was unable to push it out of his body. He now must roll a Mana roll (TN: 5, Skill 6), but now he must obtain 10 successes. Surprisingly, he obtains 5 successes, therefore reducing his Mana by 5. He is left with a Mana of 1. He is alive, but will have a tough time in everyday life. Certainly, his days as a mage are over.

Centering Skills

Where appropriate, a player can name one skill a Centering Skill. This means that while the caster is casting the spell, they must be performing the centering skill. Each success (target number of 5) on the centering skill acts as bonus dice to the spell roll. For example, Georghe the priest picks chanting as their centering skill. They have Chanting 6 and roll 2 successes. When Georghe rolls his dice for his prayer he will add two bonus dice. Fighting skills can be used as a centering skill, but not to attack someone. this might be a kata or pre-defined set of practive moves that the caster uses. Some popular centering skills are Meditation, Play [Instrument], Singing, Chanting, and Rhyming.

Resisting Spells

Almost all magic is resisted (even healing spells). To resist a spell, the victim rolls on an appropriate statistic (or skill), against a target number of 5. Each success is multiplied by the resisting statistic. This number is then subtracted from the power of the spell. If there is any power left, then the spell affects the victim. Note, that if the GM wishes to speed things up, they can use the average amount of success for this roll for NPC’s. To do this use the following equation or table:

Attribute	Power	Attribute	Power	Attribute	Power	Attribute	Power
1	0	6	12	11	44	16	96
2	0	7	14	12	48	17	102
3	3	8	24	13	65	18	126
4	4	9	27	14	70	19	133
5	10	10	40	15	90	20	160

Spell Temporality

Runes can either be permanent or temporal.

• Permanent runes, notated with a [P], make a permanent change and, therefore, “holding” a spell cannot be done. Examples of this type of rune are Break and Heal.
• Temporal spells must be held to be of use. Examples of these runes are Hold and Strengthen. Holding a spell takes lot of concentration. The caster will lose one point of MF for a period of time equal to 120 minutes divided by the total amount of drain plus 1.

In addition, holding a spell takes concentration. Each 5 points of spell being held adds a penalty die to any skill rolls. If hit, the caster needs to make a Will roll with the number of Ss equal to the damage done divided by 4.

• A spell which took no drain would cause a caster to lose 1 MF every two hours: 240/(0+1) = 240/1 = 240 minutes
• A spell which took 4 drain would cause a caster to lose 1 MF every two hours: 240/(4+1) = 240/5 = 48 minutes

Types of Magic Users

In Harath, there are several ways of creating magic. They each have their own way of interacting with the runes, and consequently have different advantages and disadvantages.

Divine Magic

Priests and Priestesses users do not cast magic directly. Instead they use the Theology skill to pray to their Gods and/or goddesses for the spell via a prayer. The god or goddesses ability to answer this prayer depends on where (or when) the caster casts the spell, and the godd(des)’s own predilections. The divine magic-user’s only skill is in Theology, and this skill can be concentrated in magic use, thus allowing bonus dice to every spell that the priest or cleric casts.

Sorcerous Magic

Sorcerers cast magic by combining magical elements with power words. This is the witch of Shakespeare or Disney, Merlin, Gandalf, or any of the “typical” sorcerers of legend; complete with eye of newt and tongue of bat. Sorcerers are generally the most magically knowledgeable of the three types. They are required to learn the Magical Theory skill.

Spirit/Shamanic Magic

Shamans are similar to Divine casters in that they do not actually cast magic themselves–other than a form of the Summon rune, called Conjuring. While Shamans don’t actually cast runes, they don’t worship Spirits or Gods either. Rather, they revere them and believe that Spirits are part of the natural whole. They work magic by giving favors to the Spirits and asking them for support. Whereas a priest will ask for a God(dess) for a boon and that boon may appear, the god(dess) themselves do not appear. Shamans see the spirits that perform services all the time. Shamans are on a much more personal basis with the spirits than a priest with a god(dess).

Psychic Magic

Psychics cast magic through force of will. They unconsciously force the runes into action by their minds only. They do not need to learn any extra skills, but sacrifice the most amount of drain of all the magical types.

Physical Adepts

Physical Adepts (often shortened to just Adepts) are characters who focus magic internally to develop to their utmost potential; physically, mentally, and spiritually. As Adepts unlock new abilities, they become honed physical machines, using their magic to enhance their close combat abilities. There are four schools adepts in which can be initiated:

Comparison Betweein the Schools

Below is a side by side comparison of the four types of magic types:

Area	Priest	Psychic	Sorcerer	Shaman
Potential Drain	Range + Radius + Intensity
Drain Taken	Potential Drain – Ss on skill roll
Skill used	Theology	Rune	Rune	Conjuration
Power multiplier 1	Successes	Will	Magic Theory	Astral Theory
Limitations	Must be in God’s domain	Cannot use unknown runes	Must use spell components	Can not cast magic per se; totem limitations
Advantages	Can use any spell that their God can cast; bonuses on holy ground	Can use totems	Can use Spell Abilities and cast spell using unknown runes	Can conjure spirits that cast spells; limited drain; totem advantages
Ritual Magic Use	Yes	No	Yes	Yes [2]
Primary Skill	Theology (God)	None	Magic Theory	Theology (Pantheon)
Secondary Skill	Ritual Magic	None	Ritual Magic	Conjuration
Tertiary Skills	Astral Theory, Leadership (Religious)	None	Meditation, Astral Theory	Astral Theory, Meditation, Ritual Magic
Other Skills	Meditation	None	Craft Skills, Science Skills	Craft Skills
Spell Skills	None	Runes	Runes	None

¹ Power = Effort x Power Multiplier

² Since Shamans don’t cast spells, they cannot specialize in Spell Ceremonies, Enchanting, Anchoring, or Alchemy.

Spell Examples

To get a feel for the magic system and how a spell caster select Effort in spells, we will walk through four common examples:

• Heal Human
• Break Human [Magic Missile]
• Project Arrow
• Create Fire [fireball spell]

We will consider two spell casters: one a novice psychic and one an experienced sorcerer.

Attribute	Pychic	Sorcerer
Power Skill	Will	Magic Theory
Skill Level	4	8
Mana	6	8
Spell POW	Effort x Will	Effort x Magic Theory

Determing Effort

Determing the level of effort in a spell depends on a number of factors:

• The amount of potential drain allocated to Range and Radius
• Risk Tolerance for going to 0 or -Mana MF
• POW level required

Potential drain allocated to Range and Radius

This step is straightforward. The range to the center of the effect is looked up in the Spell Casting Table to determine the range and radius. Keep in mind that within the area of effect a caster can identify a number of specific targets equal to their Quickness.

POW Level Required

The caster may desire the maximum POW they can acheive or some lower value dependsing on the circumstances. Step 1 and 2 will determine the maximum level possible. To see if lower POW levels, the caster should consult the noun runes charts. Below we have a comparison of the four skills.

Please note that caster with higher levels of their power skill will result in higher spell POW levels than caster with lower levels. For example, if each caster above uses 4 effort:

• The Pychic will cast a spell of 24 POW [4 Effort x 4 Will]
• The sorcerer will cast a spell of 32 POW [4 Effort x 8 Magic Theory]

Risk Tolerance for going to 0 or -Mana MF

The results of casting a spell can be:

• No drain taken
• Drain taken, but no ill effect. Resultant MF is greater than or equal to 0.
• Drain take with ill effects. Resultant MF is less than 0.
• Death. Resultant MF is less than -Mana.

Since the caster is unaware of how much drain will actually be take, the caster needs to determine their tolerance for risk of results #3 and #4. For example, The Psychic can reasonably expect to roll 2-3 success.

1. Any spell with less than 3 spell points can expect to be in result band 1—no drain taken.
2. Any spell with less than 8 spell points can expect to be in result band 2.
3. Spells with between 8 and 13 spell points will likely result in result band 3.
4. Spells with more than 15 spell points will most likely result in death

Factoring into this decision is the current situation. When starting out a scenario, choosing option 4 it not likely. However, when fighting the Boss in a scenario, the caster may very well select option 3 or 4.

Spell Details

• Heal Human heals 1 HP/POW, but is resisted by the recipient's CON
• Break Human causes 1 HP/POW damage, but is resisted by the recipient's CON
• Project Arrow: Arrows (~300 grams or 0.3 KG) typically fly at around 70 meters per second, thus flying at 21 KG-m/s
• Create Fire creates fire with:
  • temperature equal to 20°/POW
  • 1 HP/5 POW/full minute [Much different than AD&D which allows instantaneous damage]
  • 1 point of pain/10 POW.For each missed success the character adds one penalty die to all rolls.

POW	Heal / Break	Project	Fireball
10	Heals/Destroys 10 HP	No effect	1 pain; 2 HP Dam/min
20	Heals/Destroys 20 HP	No effect	2 pain; 4 HP Dam/min
25	Heals/Destroys 25 HP	Fires 1 arrow	2 pain; 5 HP Dam/min
30	Heals/Destroys 30 HP	Fires 2 arrows	3 pain; 6 HP Dam/min
35	Heals/Destroys 35 HP	Fires 6 arrows	3 pain; 7 HP Dam/min
40	Heals/Destroys 40 HP	Fires 12 arrows	4 pain; 8 HP Dam/min
50	Heals/Destroys 50 HP	Fires 48 arrows	5 pain; 10 HP Dam/min
60	Heals/Destroys 60 HP	Fires 195 arrows	6 pain; 12 HP Dam/min
70	Heals/Destroys 70 HP	Fires 780 arrows	7 pain; 14 HP Dam/min
80	Heals/Destroys 80 HP	Fires 1,560 arrows	8 pain; 16 HP Dam/min
90	Heals/Destroys 90 HP	Fires 12,483 arrows	9 pain; 18 HP Dam/min
100	Heals/Destroys 100 HP	Fires 49,932 arrows	10 pain; 20 HP Dam/min