Rat's Nest 1/ratsnest1.iso/incoming/rqkamaa.arj/RQ_MAGIC

Internet Message Format | 1995-01-28 | 54KB

From: [e-mail] (Michael Derry)
Subject: Variant RuneQuest sorcery system

I've worked up a variant sorcery system for my RuneQuest game, and
decided I'd done enough on it to post it. I'd appreciate any comments
anyone has, especially any suggestions for improvements. I've
currently got 72 spells and expect to write about 70 or so more before
I start playtesting it. My campaign will be set in Dragon Pass, with
the players living in Black Horse Country under Sir Ethilrist. The
game is RuneQuest 3; I'll probably start people with 8-10 years of
previous experience.

I'd also like to hear from anyone who's run a Gloranthan game which
involved Sir Ethilrist. Anyway, here goes. Please excuse any
formatting errors; I originally did this in MS Word on the Mac and had
a hell of a time fixing things in VI on my UNIX system.


Rune-Based Sorcery for RuneQuest

copyright (c) 1991 by Ken McKinney

Rune Based Sorcery is a variant set of sorcery rules for the RuneQuest
fantasy roleplaying game. It is intended to completely replace the
RuneQuest 3 sorcery rules, but does not affect the mechanics of the
other magic systems.

Rune Based Sorcery is inspired by the current crop of "advanced" magic
systems in games like Ars Magica and Torg. When designing this system
I set the following goals:

1.    Sorcerers should be encouraged to specialize, as this will distinguish
    them from each other and make for more interesting characters. They
    should be able to cast more powerful spells more easily in an area
    of expertise.

2.    Spontaneous magic (i.e. spells made up on the fly) should be possible,
    though often only at great personal risk.

3.    Rare and mystical ingredients should aid in both the casting of spells
    and the creation of magical artifacts.

4.    The existing hierarchy among sorcerers (student,apprentice,adept,magus)
    should be kept. There should be a new set of criteria for admission
    to each category.

5.    There should be new rules for familiars, as well as innate magical
    shielding and magical dueling rules.


Rune Based Sorcery

Each rune in the Gloranthan cosmology is designated as either an
empowering rune or a form rune. Empowering runes are like verbs. They
define an action which your spell performs. Likewise form runes are
like nouns, and define the recipient or scope of your action. Each
combination of empowering runes and form runes defines a unique
category of spells, and every spell fits into exactly one category.

The Runic Skills

Each Rune in Glorantha has an associated sorcery skill. The Runes
which sorcerers have learned to use are listed below. All runic skills
are magic skills with a base percentage of 00%, and can only be
increased through training or research.

Manipulation Runes

These runes facilitate the manipulation of a spell's strength,
duration, or range. They replace the skills of intensity, duration,
and range. Manipulating a spell using the Chaos rune taints one with
Chaos, so most sorcerers prefer to use the Law rune. Law and Chaos
cannot be combined when manipulating spells; one must use one or the
other. Some spells can only be cast using the chaos rune; these are
spells which introduce chaos into Glorantha.

Manipulation runes can increase the affect of a spell; this is
specific to each spell and is included in the spell description. The
duration and range of a spell can also be increased, at a cost of 2
Law/Chaos pointsper step. Duration and range increase according to the
following progression.

Duration: There are 9 duration steps. The first step is free on all
spells. The cost to increase duration by additional increments varies
by spell.

    10 minutes
    30 minutes
    1 hour
    until Yelm rises or Sets
    until Godday
    until Truth week
    until Sacred Time
    until Caster's Death
    Forever

Range: Range cost is fixed.

0    10 meters
2    50 meters
4    100 meters
6    500 meters
8     1 kilometer
10    5 kilometers
12    10 kilometers
14    50 kilometers
16    100 kilometers
18    500 kilometers
20    1000 kilometers
22    Anywhere in Glorantha

LAW

The Law rune is invoked by sorcerers who wish to manipulate their
spells without violating the laws of Glorantha or the tenets of the
Invisible God. Since Law is the underpinning of sorcery it can be used
to augment or extend the effect of sorcery spells. Each point of Law
can increase a spells range or duration by one step, or increase its
effect as specified in the spell description.

A sorcerer may put as many points of Law into a spell as his Law
percentage divided by 5.

CHAOS

The Chaos rune can be used to augment or extend the effect of a sorcery
spell through the warping effect of Chaos. Since Chaos can violate the
physical laws of Glorantha, more powerful spell manipulations are
possible than with Law. A sorcerer may put as many points of Chaos
into a spell as twice his Chaos percentage divided by 5. However, use
of Chaos is not without its price. If a spell manipulated with Chaos
is not successfully cast for any reason, the caster must roll on the
Spell Fumble Table. In addition, using the Chaos rune to manipulate a
spell permanently taints the caster with Chaos.

Example: Sliggoth the Necromancer, a broo sorcerer, has Chaos at 40%.
He can put 16 points of Chaos into the spell (40/5 times 2), but must
roll on the spell fumble chart if he misses his roll. Note that a
96-00 is always a miss, so casting spells using the chaos rune is
inherently dangerous.

Some spells also use Chaos as a form rune.


Empowering Runes

These runes define what a spell does. For example, a spell which
creates something out of nothing and then causes that thing to do
something it would not normally do requires the Infinity rune (for
creation) and the Mastery rune (for control). The effects of the
various empowering runes are listed below.

INFINITY

The Infinity rune allows the creation of something out of nothing.
Spells which bring objects or elements into being from nothingness use
this rune.

DEATH

The Rune of Destruction. Spells which wound or kill directly use this
spell. The target of the spell doesn't have to be living for the rune
to apply; a spell which caused a stone wall to crumble to dust would
use Death and Earth. Conversely, a spell can kill without invoking
Death. For example, a FireBolt spell Mastery (to direct the bolt to a
target), and Fire (the Form to be manipulated). While death might be
the result of the spell, it would be a secondary effect. As far as
the spell is concerned, fire is being manipulated, and could just as
easily be shot into a pond as directed towards a living target.

MASTERY

The Rune of Control. Spells which inhibit free will or cause an
element to do something complicated or unnatural use the Mastery rune.
A spell which let the caster direct the movements of a Troll like a
marionette would use the Mastery rune, as well as the Man and Darkness
runes (Trolls are tied to both the Man rune and the Darkness rune). A
spell which called down Thunderbolts from stormclouds would use Mastery
and Air. Spells which use Mastery cannot bring something new into
existence; there is no single spell which, for example, summons up a
ball of fire and hurls it at an enemy. A mage with no fire source
would have to use an Infinity spell to create the fire, and then use a
Mastery spell to direct it.

TRUTH

The Truth rune allows the perception of things. A spell which detected
magic would use Truth and Magic. A spell which allowed one to see in
darkness would use the Truth and Darkness runes. Note that the Truth
rune will not create information out of thin air; you cannot design a
spell to tell you the answer to a question that no one knows. Even the
gods are limited to what they can perceive.

ILLUSION

The Illusion rune allows the user to alter or inhibit the perception of
things. For example, a spell which made all of a person's speech
incomprehensible would use the Illusion rune and the Man rune.
Illusion can also be used to change the appearance of something. A man
could be made to look like a troll, or a cow could be turned orange.
Note that sorcery illusions, unlike divine magic illusions, aren't real
or substantial, and cannot directly affect things in the real world.
You can't be harmed by an illusory sword or fireball, but you might be
tricked into walking over an illusory bridge. You can cause a person
to experience illusory pain which may temporarily incapacitate them,
but they take no damage. In general, Illusion spells should trick or
deceive rather than directly harm.

DISORDER

The Disorder Rune changes things from one form to another. A spell
which changes a man to a frog would use Disorder, Man, and Beast. A
spell which changes lead to gold would use Disorder and Earth. All
Disorder spells have limited durations unless made permanent through
enchantment.

If you change something into something unnatural to Glorantha (i.e.
change a person into a gorp, or give a person an extra arm growing out
of their forehead) you must use the Chaos rune to manipulate the
spell.

Form Runes

These runes define the target or immediate effect of a spell. For
Infinity rune spells they define the nature of the substance created.
For mastery spells they define the target of the spell. Disorder rune
spells (spells which alter or transform) require form runes for both
the intended target of the spell and for the nature of the
transformation, though these may be the same. A spell which
transformed a man into a frog would need the Man rune and the Beast
rune as form runes. A spell which transformed a troll into a tree
would need man, darkness, and plant.

BEAST

The Beast rune is the rune of the children of Hykim & Mikym. Spells
which affect or involve animals use the Beast rune. Sometimes it is
necessary to combine the Beast rune with the Man rune, as when casting
a spell which affects ducks or lycanthropes.

MAN

The children of Grandfather Mortal possess the man rune. Any spell
which directly affects a human being must use it. A spell which
indirectly affects a human, such as an earth spell that buries one
alive, doesn't need to use the Man rune. Spells which affect Trolls
must use both the man rune and the Darkness rune.

DARKNESS

Spells which involve darkness, or darkness creatures, use this rune.

Since Darkness has no fixed volume, spells which involve mastery of
this element can call forth a great amount of it from a small source,
though they are typically more difficult to cast than spells which
require a large amount to begin with.

FIRE

Spells which deal with the realm of fire must use the fire rune.
Spells which affect Agimori must use both the Man rune and the Fire
rune.

Like Darkness, Fire has no fixed volume. Therefore spells can (and do)
exist which call forth a huge gout of flame from a single torch.

AIR

The Air rune governs the wind and storm, as well as secondary effects
such as lightning. Since air is a common element it is rarely
necessary to create more of it, and most Air spells are Mastery
spells. Since lightning is a secondary effect of storm, a spell which
uses lightning to do the same damage as a fire spell will be more
difficult to cast than its counterpart.

WATER

Spells which deal with oceans, rivers, or aquatic creatures use the
water rune.

ICE

Spells which deal with coldness. Spells which use Himile's Ice rune
can lower the temperature in an area, and are also useful for dealing
with ice demons.

PLANT

Spells which deal with plants, including elves.

SPIRIT

Spells which affect spirits use this rune. Sorcerers are on shaky
ground in the spirit world, and many Spirit spells are extremely
difficult to cast.

EARTH

Spells which affect earth, including stone and metal.

MAGIC

Spells which deal with other spells, or which open gates to other
realms, such as the spirit or hero planes.

UNDEAD

Spells which deal with beings outside of the cycle of death and rebirth
use the Undead rune.

DRAGONNEWT

Spells which affect dragonnewts use this rune. Spells using this rune
cannot duplicate dragon magic, which stems from the Dragon rune.

Hardly anyone in Glorantha knows much about this rune. Its study was
common during the Empire of the Wyrms Friends, but practicioners and
texts were almost completely destroyed during the Dragonkill War.

MOVEMENT

Spells which merely move things from one place to another use the
Movement rune. It is not necessary for such spells to include the form
runes of the target. This rune is almost always used in conjunction
with the Mastery rune.

STASIS

Spells which freeze a thing in one place. This rune has nothing to do
with time. Stasis spells can make an unbalanced building stay up when
it should fall, or freeze a person in place.

OTHER RUNES

Not all Gloranthan runes have been incorporated in this system. All
other runes, if applicable at all, are form runes. Some runes, like
the Trade rune, represent abstract concepts and don't make good form
runes. Others, like the Dragon rune, are beyond even the knowledge of
the God Learners.


Sorcery Spells

Each spell is a magic skill. Spells have a base percentage of 0% but
can be increased by training, research, or experience. Each spell also
has a difficulty level, which reflects how difficult that spell is to
cast. Thus a spell which causes a wound will be easier to cast than
one which kills someone outright. Difficulty levels are the primary
mechanism for maintaining play balance, and the gamemaster should take
care when assigning them to new spells. The standard duration of all
sorcery is 10 minutes and the standard range is 10 meters. Both of
these values can be increased using Law or Chaos; see the section on
spell manipulation for details.

Free Int

Sorcerers no longer need Free Int to manipulate their spells. They
cannot, however, manipulate their spells with more points of Law than
their Law skill divided by 5 or more points of Chaos than their (Chaos
skill divided by 5) times 2. Remember that any unsuccessful casting
of a Chaos manipulated spell requires a roll on the Spell Fumble
table! Each spell a sorcerer has memorized takes 1 point of Free Int.

Learning Spells

There are 3 ways to learn a spell. The best way is to learn from
another sorcerer. It takes 1 week (50 hours) to learn a spell from a
teacher. At the end of this time, a roll of INT times 3 must be made
to learn the spell correctly.

The second way to learn a spell is via a written text containing the
spell. It takes two weeks and an INT times 3 roll to learn a spell
from a text.

The third way is to research the spell yourself. To do this, you must
possess all runic skills associated with the spell at a level as high
as the difficulty of the spell. After a season of work, roll your INT
times 3. If you succeed, you have created the spell, and automatically
get a percentage in it equal to 5% plus your magic bonus. If you
fail, you have pursued a wild goose chase. If you fumble, you have
had a lab accident; roll on the spell fumble table.

Spell Difficulty

Each spell has a difficulty which can be as low as zero and has no
upper limit. This difficulty is a gauge of the power of the spell;
more difficult spells are harder to cast. When recording a spell on
your character sheet put its difficulty in parentheses after the spell
name and before your percentage. The spell difficulty subtracts
directly from your chance to cast the spell.

Casting Spells

When casting spells roll percentile dice. If the total is equal or
less than the following formula, the spell has been successfully cast.

(Least of runic skills) + (skill in spell) - (skill difficulty)
- (encumberance)

Ceremony can be used to increase this roll. A 96-00 is always a
failure. Fumbles require a roll on the Spell Fumble Table, as do any
unsuccessful castings when using the Chaos rune.

Casting Multiple Spells at Once

Normally a sorcerer casts one spell at a time. A spell takes as many
strike ranks to cast and costs as many magic points as the number of
Law/Chaos points in the spell. After spending the strike ranks,
percentile dice are rolled to see if the spell is successfully cast.
If the roll is a critical success, the spell costs no magic points. On
a failure, only one magi point is spent and the spell fails (unless
using Chaos to manipulate the spell, in which case a failure is
treated as a fumble. On a fumble, consult the spel fumble table,
making adjustments for the appropriate manipulation rune (Law or Chaos)

It is possible for a sorcerer to cast multiple spells at once. For
each additional spell to be cast after the first, the chance to cast
all spells is reduced by 25%. Each spell is rolled separately, so
some may succeed while others fail. The spells all go off on the
strike rank of the spell which costs the most magic points. Spells may
be targetted at multiple targets, and multiple spells may be targetted
at the same person, with each spell being treated separately for the
purpose of overcoming magical defenses and armor.

Improvised Spells

You do not have to know a spell to cast it. You can cast any spell in
the book at a percentage chance equal to your lowest applicable rune
percentage minus the difficulty level of the spell. But if your chance
to cast is zero or negative, you have no chance at all of success; this
is an exception to the rule that 01-05 is an automatic success.

If you achieve a critical success when casting an improvised spell, you
gain an immediate percentage in that spell equal to 5% plus your magic
bonus.

The Spell Fumble Table

Sorcery spells cause an (often small) change in the nature of
Glorantha. Time and the Compromise naturally resist this change. When
a spell is fumbled, the forces involved in the spell go out of
control. Sometimes the spell is warped or reflected on the caster, and
sometimes a backlash of mystical energy occurs. Chaotic spells are
more likely to cause this, and typically cause worse effects.

The following table is consulted whenever a spell is fumbled (and
whenever a simple failure occurs, when the Chaos rune is being used to
manipulate the spell) . If Chaos is only used as a form rune, normal
failures do not result in a roll on the Spell Fumble Table.

Note that the table is numbered from -9 to 110. If the spell in
question used Chaos for manipulation or as a form rune, add 10 to the
roll. Otherwise, subtract 10.

Dice        Result

-9 to -5    How fortunate! You control the backlash of the spell
        with only minimal effects. Lose 5 Fatigue points and 1
        personal Magic point.
-4 to 0        You suffer a minor backlash. Lose 10 Fatigue points
        and 2 personal Magic points.
01 to 05    As -4 to 0, but lose 15 Fatigue points and 3 personal
        Magic points.
06 to 10    As -4 to 0, but lose 20 Fatigue points and 4 personal
        Magic points.
11 to 21    You fail to cast the spell and immediately pay its full
        cost in Magic points, which may be taken from any
        available source.
22 to 28    As 11 to 21 but lose twice the spell's Magic point
        cost.
29 to 32    As 11 to 21, but lose 3 times the spell's Magic point
        cost.
33 to 34    As 11 to 21, but lose 4 times the spell's Magic point
        cost.
35        As 11 to 21, but lose 5 times the spell's Magic point
        cost.
36 to 45    If the spell was targetted on someone else, it affects
        you instead. You get no POW roll to resist it. If it
        was targetted on you, it affects an enemy if one is
        nearby or a random person if no enemies are near. You
        pay normal MP cost for the spell.
46 to 55    As 36 to 45 but pay twice the normal MP cost for the
        spell.
56 to 60    Your spell affects a nearby friend instead of its
        intended target. Pay normal MP cost for the spell.
61 to 65    as 56 to 60 but double the Law points in the spell,
        increasing the spell effect if possible and otherwise
        increasing the spell duration. Caster pays for this
        double cost if he has the Magic points.
66 to 70    Spell fails and sucks all personal magic points from a
        nearby friend of the caster (roll randomly)
71 to 75     Caster loses all personal and stored Magic points.
76 to 80    Magic points in spell are converted to poison, which is
        matched versus the caster's con for half or full damage
        to total hit points.
81        Caster goes blind for 1d10 weeks.
82        Caster goes blind for 2d10 weeks
83         Caster goes blind for 3d10 weeks
84        Caster goes mute for 1d10 weeks, and cannot cast
        sorcery.
85        Caster loses half his personal magic points; they do
        not regenerate for 1d10 weeks.
86        Caster goes catatonic for 1d10 weeks
87        As 86 but permanently lose 10% from the spell
        percentage in question.
88        As 87 but also lose 10% from Law Rune percentage
89        As 88 but also lose 10% from each Form Rune involved.
90        As 89 but also lose 10% from Empowering Rune. Roll
        POW times 5 or die on the spot.

(note: 91 to 110 are effects that can only happen from Chaos spells)

91 - 95        Spell fails, and caster gains an immediate permanent
        Chaos Feature ( 75% curse of Thed, 25% chaos feature
        chart). Caster increases his Chaos percentage by 1d10
        points.
96        Spell fails and caster gains immediate Curse of Thed
        feature. Caster increases his Chaos percentage by 2d10
        points.
97        Caster affected by the Pochargno Corruption spell,
        which caster may not resist. Caster increases his
        Chaos percentage by 3d10 points.
98        Caster opens permanent Chaos void in area; void is 3d6
        meters across and 1d6 chaos horrors emerge from it each
        day until it is magically sealed or until the next
        Sacred Time. Caster and all persons nearby must make
        POW times 5 rolls or be destroyed by its appearance.
99        Caster loses 1d6 POW
00        Caster loses all POW, and becomes a vampire, but
        without the entrancement ability or the ability to turn
        into mist.
101        Caster permanently loses all skill in the spell in
        question.
102        Caster permanently loses all skill in the Empowering
        rune of the spell fumbled.
103        Caster permanently loses all skill in all form runes
        used in the spell, except for the Chaos rune.
104        Caster permanently loses any skill in the Law rune.
105        Caster permanently loses all sorcery skills.
106        Caster transformed into a gorp of equivalent size.
        Caster retains INT and POW, but probably goes insane.
107        Caster transformed into a broo. If already a broo,
        caster transformed into a gorp instead. See 106.
108        Caster explodes, doing 4d6 damage to all within 3
        meters.
109        Caster affected both by the Pochargno Corruption spell
        and by 5 Curse of Thed features. Increase Chaos
        percentage by 5d10 points.
110        Caster totally obliterated by Chaos. Even the memory
        of him/her is erased from the world.


An Example

Let's look at an example. We'll create the skills of Tim the
Enchanter, a PyroMancer. Tim would need 4 sorcery skills (Intensity,
Duration, Range, and Multispell) in standard RQ3 sorcery. With this
system he needs at least 3, and will need more if he wants to be
anything but a very narrow specialist.

Tim the Enchanter
Encumberance: 12 enc

Runic Skills                Spells

Law 60%                Tim's Circle of Fire(60) 65%
Mastery 40%            (Difficulty 60%)
Infinity 60%            Empowering: Mastery. Form: Fire.
Fire 75%            This spell creates a circle of flames around
                the caster, who has to possess a source of
                fire. The flames are1 meter wide, 3
                meters high and do 1 point of damage to
                anything passing through them. Each point
                of Law can increase the damage by 1 point
                or increase the diameter of the circle by 1
                meter. This damage works like a
                salamander's fire; the total is matched against
                the victim's best armor on the resistance
                table and half or full damage is taken.

Tim's chance to cast circle of Fire would be
(Least of runic skills) + (skill in spell) -(skill difficulty) -
(encumberance) = (40) + (65) - (60) - (12) = 33%.

Since his Law skill is 60%, he could make the flames do up to 12 points
of damage, or make the circle 12 meters wide, or do any combination of
these things. He could also use some of these 12 points to extend the
duration of the spell past the standard 10 minute duration fo Sorcery
spells.

Note that Tim's chance to cast the spell would be 20% greater if he
learned the Mastery skill to 60%. Also, any increases he makes in his
spell percentage directly increase his chance to cast. If Tim were
casting a simpler spell, say Tim's Ring of Oily Smoke (Difficulty 20%)
his chance to cast would be 73%.

Obviously, the two things that balance spellcasting are the Spell
Difficulty and the number of Runes associated with the spell. Spells
with more runes are harder to master since you need more runic skills.
Likewise the more powerful the spell, the more difficult it should be.
Tim's Spell of Instant Immolation should have a difficulty of at least
90; you want a sorcerer to have to master both the appropriate runes
and the spell to have a good chance of casting. An easier spell, like
Tim's Spell of the Guiding Light (a simple light spell )might have a
difficulty of around 10,making it easy to cast for anyone with a
reasonable amount of skill. If Tim knows this spell at 40% (he doesn't
practice it much) , his chance will be (assume the spell uses only
infinity and fire) 60 + 40 - 10 = 90%.


Spell Descriptions

Infinity Spells

Infinity / Beast

Infinity/Beast spells create creatures connected to the Beast rune.The
creation spell does not impart any loyalty on the part of the created;
Animals created will need to be controlled with appropriate
Mastery/Beast spells.In general, it is easier to create a dead animal
than a live one, a small animal than a large one, and much easier to
create a non-magical animal than a magical one. Note that some
creatures have multiple runic associations, and all must be used in the
creation spell.

All creatures created with the infinity rune die when the spell
expires. When this happens the body magically rots away within
minutes. Magically created creatures are sterile. Some creation spells
have a duration of Instant; their effects are permanent.

Create <type of animal pelt> (10)
Law Points : Avg SIZ of animal /5
Duration cost : 2

This spell creates an animal pelt. It will last until the spell's
duration expires.

Create <mundane beast> (50) Infinity,Beast,Spirit
Duration cost : 2

This spell creates a creature of the appropriate type.The caster must
supply as many law points as the creatures SIZ divided by two.

Create Basilisk (100) Infinity,Beast,Death,Spirit
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 2
Chaos Points: 20

This spell requires a rooster's egg. It creates a basilisk with stats
as listed in the RuneQuest creatures book, with a death glance which
acts as a 3 point divine spell. Since a Basilisk is a chaotic
creature, the Chaos rune must be used to manipulate this spell. When
the spell's duration expires, the basilisk dies and rots.


Create Man(150) Infinity,Man,Spirit
Touch, Passive, Instant
Law Points: 40

This spell creates a full grown human being. Stats are rolled
randomly. The newly created person has no memories and has skills as
per a character with no previous experience. Note that the duration of
this spell is instant.


Mastery/Beast

Control Mundane Beast (50) Mastery,Beast
Ranged,passive,temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell allows the caster to control the actions of a mundane
animal. The spell must have as many Law points as the creatures SIZ
divided by two, and the spell must overcome the POW of the beast.

Control Magical Beast (70) Mastery, Beast
Ranged, Passive, Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell is the same as Control Mundane Beast, but works on magical
beasts.

Transform Man to Pig (70) Disorder, Beast, Man
Ranged, Passive, Temporal
Duration Cost: 2

This spell transforms an adult human being to a large sow, or a child
to a piglet. The spell must have as many Law points as the POW of the
person effected, and the person's magic points must be overcome.
Transformed beings retain their own minds and may still use divine
magic, though it may be difficult to regain it as a pig. Spirit magic
use will be difficult because of the need for focuses, and sorcery is
impossible. Accounterments of the target can be transformed if the
appropriate runes for them (usually earth and plant) are use as well.

Transform <species> to <species> (70) Disorder,<all involved runes>
Ranged Passive, Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

Transform Man to Pig is a specific instance of this spell. Other
variations (say transform troll to tree, which requires the man,
darkness, and plant runes) are possible. Any such spell which involves
a chaotic creature on either side of the transformation requires the
use of the Chaos rune. Chaotic features possessed by a target remain
in the new form.

Attract <mundane beast> (20) Mastery, Beast
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 1
Law Points : 3

This spell will call a beast of the named species to the caster, if one
is in range. The animal will move towards the caster for the duration
of the spell. When the animal comes within 5 meters of the caster, the
spell ends.

Befriend <mundane beast> (20) Mastery,Beast
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 1
Law Points : 3

This spell will cause a single beast to befriend the caster.The animal
will not act against its nature, but will travel with and aid the
caster for the Spell's duration. If the animal is mistreated, it will
flee or attack, depending on the situation.

Eyes of the Cat (50) Disorder,Beast,<forms of caster>
Caster Only,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell transforms the eyes of the caster, which become catlike with
slitted pupils. The caster can see in any available light, as per the
Yelmalio Catseye RuneSpell. The caster is color blind for the duration
of the spell.

Plague of Locusts (80) Disorder,Beast
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3
Law Points : 10 / square mile of farmland

This horrible spell transforms all of the insects in an area into
locusts, which will swarm and destroy nearby crops. The duration of
the spell must be at least one hour for the crops in the areas affected
to be destroyed. If the duration is increased, the locusts will spread
to nearby farms and devour the crops their as well. When the spell's
duration expires, the insects revert to their original form.

Rain of Beasts (100) Disorder,Wind,Beast
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3
Law Points : 10 / Square mile affected

This spell can only be cast during a rain storm. It causes rain
droplets to transform into cats and dogs, some only partially formed,
as they hit the ground. The animals flop around, run around, howl,
whine, and cause confusion in the area. Anyone trying to fight or
travel during the storm must roll DEX times five each round or fall.
Anyone trying to dodge must roll DEX times 4 each round to avoid
tripping. The animals dissappear when the spell's duration expires.
Thanks to David Nalle's Ysgarth system for the idea for this spell.

Rain of Gorp (100) Disorder,Wind,Chaos
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3
Chaos Points : 20 / Square mile affected.

This spell can only be cast using the chaos rune, during a storm. It
causes some of the rain droplets to transform into small gorps as they
fall. Anyone exposed to the rain will be hit by 1-3 miniature gorps
per round. A hit does 1 point of acid damage to a random location.
The gorps are not very mobile once they hit the ground and can be
avoided if the terrain doesn't conceal them. Note that the Chaos rune
is also used as a form rune in this spell.

Curse Herd (70) Death, Beast
Ranged, Instant
Law Points : 15

This spell will cause all of the pregnant beasts in a herd to
miscarry.

Infinity/Fire

Notes on Fire Damage: Fire spells do not need to overcome the target's
power to be effective unless otherwise specified. Armour protects
against fire damage from a given spell for the first round only, after
which it it is no longer effective. Since most attack spells are
instant, fire protects against them normally. Anyone hit by a fire
spell must roll a luck roll or be set on fire in a random location,
taking 1d6 damage there per round until it is put out.

Ignite Torch or Lantern (10) Infinity,Fire
Ranged,Passive,Instant

This spell will ignite a torch or other small flammable object.

Create Fire (20) Infinity,Fire
Ranged,Passive,Instant

This spell creates 1 cubic meter of non-magical fire which burns for
1d6 damage per round.. Each Law pont spent manipulating the spell will
increase the size by 1 cubic meter; Each 5 points will increase the
damage done by the fire by 1d6. This spell cannot be targeted on a
living being. The fire will go out in one round if there is no fuel to
feed it.

Create Magical Fire (60) Infinity,Fire
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 2

This spell functions like Create Fire but no fuel is necessary. The
fire will last until the spell's duration expires.

Immolation (80) Infinity,Fire,(Runes of Target)
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : special

This spell Immolates a living target, whose runes must be incorporated
into the spell as form runes. For example, if targetting a human being
the runes would be Infinity,Fire, Man. If the spell gets through
defensive magic, the spellcaster overcomes the power of the target, and
the spell has as many points of Law devoted to intensity as the SIZ of
the target, the target will begin to smoulder and burn from the inside
out, taking 1d6 damage the first round, 2d6 the 2nd round,3d6 the third
round directly to total hit points until the spell expires. The spell
will last for 1 round plus one round for each Law point devoted to
extending the spells duration.If the spell is dispelled before the
duration expires no more damage will be taken.

Fire Bolt (60) Mastery,Fire
Ranged,Instant

This spell causes a bolt of flame to spring from a nearby fire source
towards a target. The fire source must be within 3m of the caster, but
can be as small as a lit candle, and cannot be enclosed. The bolt does
1d6 damage per 5 Law points to a random missile/spell location. Armour
in the affected location protects normally, as do any spells which
block damage. Countermagic or similar spells have no effect. The
target must make a luck roll or have his clothing catch fire, doing
additional damage. Targets which are on fire take 1d6 additional
damage each round, until they spend a round doing nothing but putting
the fire out.

Fire Ball (100) Mastery, Fire
Ranged, Instant

This spell causes a flaming ball of fire to spring from a fire source
towards the targetted area. The ball explodes, doing 1d6 damage to
every hit location of all within the radius for every 8 Law points in
the spell. Armour protects normally against this damage. Flammable
objects in the area will catch on fire and be consumed unless the
flames are doused. The spell affects an area with a 3m diameter; each
Law point devoted to increasing the diameter does so by an additional
meter.

Eyes of the Fire (50) Truth,Fire,Movement
Ranged,Passive,Temporal

This spell lets the caster project his vision out of any fire within
the range of the spell. When doing so, he can see normally from the
perspective of the fire and can rotate his vision 360 degrees, but
cannot hear or use other senses. He can switch randomly from fire to
fire once per round, and can choose any fire he knows of to be his
vantage point. While the spell is in effect small fires can be seen
burning in the caster's pupils, and anyone being spied on who makes a
critical scan roll will see red eyes in the middle of the flames.

Extinguish (10) Death,Fire
Ranged,Instant

This spell extinguishes fires.It takes 1 Law point to extinguish a
torch,two to extinguish a campfire, and three to put out a bonfire.
Larger fires or magical fires are not affected.

FlameBane (80) Death,Fire
Ranged,Instant
Law Points: 10/square kilometer

This spell puts out all fire in a large area.For every 10 Law points
put into a spell, all fires in a 1 kilometer area will go out.

Douse Salamander (60) Death,Fire
Ranged,Instant

This spell only affects salamanders. It does 1d6 damage per 2 Law
points directly to the hit points of the salamander, whose POW does not
need to be overcome.

FlameBlade (40) Disorder,Fire,Earth
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell causes the blade of a metal weapon to burn. Each 5 Law
points increase the damage done by the weapon by 1d6. If this spell is
used on a weapon with a wooden haft, the weapon will char and be
useless in 1 round. The wielder of the weapon must wear heavy
gauntlets or take 1d3 damage to his arm(s) from the heat each round.
The blade is not consumed by the spell.

Ward against Fire (100) Mastery,Fire
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

The target of this spell will be protected from fire. Each round roll
1d6 for each 5 Law points in the spell. This is the number of points
of fire damage the spell will absorb that round in every hit location.
Small fires within 1 meter of the caster will be put out by the spell.

Hide Fire (50) Illusion,Fire
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell makes a fire invisible. Each 5 Law points in the spell will
make 1 cubic meter of fire invisible. The fire's fuel will still be
consumed as normal, and the fire will still give off heat, though it
will cast no light.

Infinity/Darkness

Create Magical Darkness (40) Infinity,Darkness
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 2

This spell creates an area of magical darkness which will persist in
the presence of a light source. each 5 points of Law will create a 3m
by 3m cube of darkness, which will remain fixed in location until the
duration of the spell expires. Light sources which enter the darkness
can be seen but will illuminate nothing. Normal vision will not
function in this darkness, though POW auras of creatures can be
discerned with second sight or soul sight. Darksense is not affected.

Create Icy Darkness (60) Infinity,Darkness,Ice
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 3

This spell creates an area of darkness with the same attributes as that
of the Create Magical Darkness spell. In addition, the Darkened area
is ice cold. Each person in the darkened area takes 1 point of damage
to a random location each round per 1 Law points devoted to that
purpose. For example, a spell with 12 Law points could create a 3m by
3m area of darkness which did 7 points of damage per round to a random
location of anyone trapped in it, or a 6m by 3m by 3m area of darkness
which did 2 points of damage per round to its occupants. Non-metal
armour (including natural armour) protects against this damage, which
occurs on strike rank 10 of each round after the round in which the
spell is cast, but metal armour does not.

Affix Darkness (70) Mastery,Darkness,(Runes of Target)
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 3

This spell centers an area of darkness around an object or person. If
the object/person is moved, the darkness moves with it. The spell must
have 1 Law point in it for each 5 siz or 30 Enc of the target. Each
point of Law devoted to increasing the radius of the darkness does so
by 1 meter.

Destroy Shade (60) Death,Darkness
Ranged,Instant

This spell does damage to Shades and other darkness elementals. The
spell does 1d6 damage to the shade for every 2 Law points put into it,
and doesn't need to overcome the shade's POW.



Infinity/Air

Skin of Life (40) Infinity,Air,(Runes of Target)
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 3

This spell provides air to a living creature, which must be capable of
breathing normally. It will allow the target to breathe in hostile
environments (underwater, in smoke, in poison gas clouds, etc. The
target breathes through its mouth while holding its mouth shut. The
spell must have 1 Law point for every 5 SIZ possessed by the creature.

Create Air (10) Infinity,Air
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 1

This spell creates air. Each Law point will create enough fresh air to
sustain one person for one day. Since the air dissappears after the
spell's duration expires, spellcasters commonly increase the duration
of this spell.

Infinity/Water

Create Marine Creature - as per the create beast spells, but with the
water rune.

Create Water (30) Infinity,Water
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 1

This spell creates water. Each Law point will create 4 liters of
water.

Create Acid (80) Infinity,Water,Earth
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 2

This spell fills a glass container with acid. It takes 2 Law points
per potency level. The spell requires a vial large enough to hold 1
dose of acid created.

Create Poison (40) Infinity,Water,Plant
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 2

This spell fills a glass container with systemic poison. It takes 1
Law point per potency level. The spell requires a glass container
large enough for 1 dose of poison.

Infinity/Ice

Freeze (60) Infinity,Ice, (Runes of Target)
Ranged,Instant

This spell causes a random hit location to freeze. The spell does 1d6
freezing damage per 5 Law points in the spell. If there are more Law
points in the spell than hit points in the affected location, the
location is frozen solid and immobilized. Immobilized limbs take 10
minutes to thaw and cannot be healed until they do so. Frozen hit
locations do not suffer blood loss. The caster must overcome the POW
of the target for the spell to take effect.

Summer Snow (80) Infinity,Ice,Air
Ranged,Passive,Instant
20 Law points

This spell creates clouds which then snow over an area 5 kilometers in
diameter. 3 inches of snow will fall, plus 3 more inches for every 5
Law points used after the first 20. The area's temperature is not
affected and the snow will melt if it would normally do so.

Freeze Pond (80) Infinity,Ice,Water
Ranged,Passive,Instant
16 Law points

This spell freezes a medium-sized pond solid. Anything big enough to
be called a "lake", "marsh", etc. is too large to be affected. The
pond will melt normally if the temperature is not cold enough to keep
it frozen.

Chill Drink (5) Infinity,Ice
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 1

This spell chills liquid. it takes 1 Law point to chill a flagon, and
5 Law points to chill a cask. Anything larger is too big to be
affected. The liquid will be very cold (but not cold enough to freeze)
for the duration of the spell.

Infinity/Plant

Sprout (20) Infinity,Plant Touch,Passive,Temporal Duration cost : 1 2
Law points This spell causes a small bush to sprout up from the earth
at the caster's fingertips. The caster has no control over what type
of plant he gets; the spell creates plants local to the terrain in
which it is used.

Grow Tree (60) Infinity,Plant
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration cost : 1

This spell causes a sapling to spring forth from the ground and grow 6"
in diameter. The type of tree created depends on the locale.

Create Healberry Bush(70) Infinity,Plant
Touch,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 1

This spell causes a magic bush to sprout and grow to maturity, yielding
magic berries. The bush will have 1 berry for each Law point thus
spent. When the duration of the spell expires, the bush will die and
any unused berries will die. Each berry will heal 1 point of damage
to a hit location if smeared on the hurt location, or one point of
total hit point damage if ingested.

Infinity/Spirit

Release Intelligence (80) Infinity,Spirit,Beast
Touch,Passive,Instant
Law Points : 25

This spell replaces a creature's fixed INT with normal INT. The
creature is no longer ruled by (and no longer has access to) instinct.
If the creature's fixed INT was 5 or more, it gets a nonfixed INT of
3d6. If the fixed INT was 4 or less, it's new INT will be 2d6. Any
offspring the creature bears will have fixed INT. A version of this
spell which allowed the creature to breed true would be difficulty 150.
and would require 40 Law points. The caster must overcome the POW of
the creature if it is unwilling (this will almost always be the case).

Fix Intelligence (80) Infinity,Spirit,Beast
Touch,Passive,Instant
Law Points : 25

This spell fixes the INT of a creature. The creature is now a beast
and cannot use any knowledge skills, magic skills,or spells.It gains
instinct and can live off of the land. If the creatures INT was 3d6 or
better, it gets a fixed INT of 7. If it was less than 3d6, it gets a
fixed INT of 4.

Transform POW to INT (80) Disorder,Spirit
Self,Instant
Law Points : 25

This spell transforms the caster's POW into INT. Each casting of this
spell reduces the POW of the caster by 3 and increases his INT by 1.

Enhance Species Max Pow (100) Disorder,Spirit
Self,Instant
Law Points : 30

This spell increases the caster's POW species maximum. Each casting of
the spell decreases the caster's POW by 3 and increases his species
maximum POW by 1. Increasing one's species maximum POW makes it easier
to make a POW check and makes it possible for one's POW to climb to the
new level.

Destroy INT (80) Death,Spirit
Touch,Instant
Law Points : 20

This spell destroys the INT of the target, whose POW must be overcome
by the caster. each casting of this spell destroys 1d6 of the
target's INT.

Tap POW (80) Disorder,Spirit
Touch,Passive,Instant/Temporal
Chaos Points : 25 + 5/d6 POW
Duration Cost : 1

This spell transforms the target's POW into magic points or fatigue
points, which are added to the caster's totals. The POW loss is
Instant, but the magic point gain is only Temporal. Magic points are
added to the caster's personal magic points and can go as high as twice
the caster's POW. Fatigue points can go twice as high as the caster's
normal fatigue.This spell can only be cast using the Chaos rune.

Tap INT (80) Disorder,Spirit
Touch,Passive,Instant/Temporal
Chaos Points : 25 + 5/d6 POW
Duration Cost : 1

This spell works exactly like Tap POW, except that it affects the
target's INT.

Telepathy (40) Infinity,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell creates a mental link between the caster and one or more
people, allowing them to hold mental conversations with each other.
One person besides the caster can be in the link for each point of Law
devoted to the spell for that purpose. If multiple people are in the
link, everyone in the link can hear what everyone else says over it.

Mind Meld (80) Infinity,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell creates a mental and spiritual link between the caster and
one other person. The effects vary with the number of Law points put
into the spell (not including Law points devoted to duration and
range). At 10 Law points, both participants in the meld can use each
other's personal magic points. At 15 Law points, both participants can
use each other's spells. At 20 Law points,both participants can use
each other's bound spirits and familiars as if they were in direct
contact with them. Other skills do not transfer. All effects are
cumulative. Spells which target the mind of a participant in a mind
meld affect both participants and bypass any defensive magic the
secondary participant possesses, though both targets get to resist with
their current magic points. Participants in a mind meld can
communicate telepathically and read each other's surface thoughts.
Anyone participating in more than one mind meld at once must roll INT
times 3 when it ends or go insane for 1d10 weeks, losing 1-3 points of
INT permanently.

Fear (40) Mastery,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell causes intense fear in the target. The spell must have 1
Law point for every 3 full points of POW that the target possesses. If
the caster overcomes the target's magic points with his own, the victim
is affected as per the Shade Fearshock Table.

Demoralize (20) Mastery,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell demoralizes the target. The spell must have 1 Law point for
every 5 full points of POW that the target possesses. If the caster
overcomes the target's magic points with his own, the victim is
Demoralized as per the spirit spell.

Stupefy (60) Mastery,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell causes the target to sit in a dreamlike state until the
spell's duration expires. The spell must have 1 Law point for every 2
full points of POW that the target possesses.If the caster overcomes
the target's magic points with his own, the victim is Stupefied for the
duration of the spell. This spell has no effect on fixed-int
creatures.

Dominate <Creature> (80) Mastery,Spirit,<forms of target>
Ranged,Active/Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 3

This spell must be learned separately for each creature type. It
allows the caster to completely control the actions of the target.
Simple directions (ie. attack all trolls on sight, attack that thing,
etc. can be given and will be carried out without the active
concentration of the caster but more complex actions must be actively
controlled by the caster, who can do nothing else. Dominated creatures
talk in a dead tone when speaking and their eyes become glazed over.
Dominated creatures have no access to their own knowledge or magic
skills, and cannot enter into mindlink/telepathy type spells with other
beings. As is always the case with Spirit spells, the caster must
overcome the target's magic points with his own for the spell to take
effect.

Mind Blast (80) Death, Spirit
Ranged, Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell drives the target completely insane (i.e. catatonic) for the
duration of the spell. The spell must have as many Law points as the
target's INT. This spell has no effect on fixed INT creatures

Mind Blast (60) Lunar, Death, Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost: 2

This spell is identical to the previous Mind Blast spell but requires
the Lunar rune as a Form rune.

Madness (70) Death,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell forces the target to role on the Lune Madness table. The
spell must have as many Law points as the targets INT divided by two,
rounded down.

Madness ( 50) Lunar,Death,Spirit
Ranged,Passive,Temporal
Duration Cost : 2

This spell is identical to the previous Madness spell but requires the
Lunar rune as a form rune.


Infinity/Earth

Infinity/Magic

Infinity/Undead

Infinity/Movement

Infinity/Stasis


Previous Experience for Sorcerers

This section replaces the previous experience charts for sorcerers,
which are not compatible with this system. The GM should exercise
control over which form and empowering runes a sorcerer may study,
since this learning is dependent on the availability of sorcery texts
and the knowledge of his fellow sorcerers.

Brithini Zzabur (Arolanit)
The Zzaburs are sorcerers and religious functionaries. They are the
only Brithini caste which can use sorcery. Many have lived since
before time and are among the most powerful sorcerers in Glorantha.

Skills: Any Lore (Sorcerer's choice) x6, Read/Write Own Language x3,
Ceremony x4, Enchant x3, Summon x3, Law Rune x5, 1 Empowering Rune x4,
2 Form Runes x4, and Spells x10

Magic: 1d4 sorcery spells plus a 1 point increase in POW per year.


Apprentice Sorcerer, Civilized

Acceptance: Western cultural restrictions take precedence over these
acceptance criteria when applicable.

1.    Have a magic skills modifier of at least 10 percentiles
2.    Know Read Own Language, World Lore, and Law Runeat 25% or
    more.
3.    Cast all Divine magic spells, if any.
4.    Roll d100 equal to or lower than the characters POW x 3.
5.    Sacrifice 1 point of POW to the applicant's master or familiar.

Skills: Throw x1, Orate x2, Speak Other Language x1, Craft a specific
substance x1, any 1 Lore x3 or any 1 Ritual skill x3, Read/Write Own
Language x3, Devise x2, Law Rune x4, 1 Empowering Rune x3, 1 Form Rune
x3, Spells x10 (divide as desired), Dagger attack x1, 1H Weapon Parry
or Shield Parry or Dodge x1. Magic: (Sorcery) 3 spells upon
acceptance. All apprentices receive 1 sorcery spell per year, chosen
w/ regard to the runes they know well.

Adept Sorcerer, Civilized

Acceptance: An apprentice qualifies to become an Adept if he/she has a
minimum 75% ability in the Law Rune 1 Empowering Rune, 1 Form Rune,
and 2 Spells.

Skills: Fast Talk x2, Orate x2, Speak Other Language x2, Evaluate x1,
Any 1 Ritual or Any 1 Lore x3, Read/Write Own Language x2, Devise x2,
Law Rune x2, Any 2 Form or Empowering Runes x 4, Spells x10, 1H Weapon
attack x1, 1H Weapon Parry or Shield Parry or Dodge x2. Magic:
(Sorcery) 1d3 spells and a 1 point increase in POW per year.

Becoming a Magus

While any sorcerer who dares to can call him/herself Magus, in the West
more formal distinctions apply. An Adept who publicly proclaims
him/herself a Magus may, for a period of 1 year and 1 day, be
challenged freely by any other Sorcerer to Wizard's Duel. (See rules
for Wizard's Duel). Any Sorcerer who bests the self-proclaimed Magus
at Wizard's Duel may, at his or her discretion, strip the bested
Sorcerer of the title of Magus and require a year of service from the
beaten Sorcerer. Powerful Magi will often allow a beaten Sorcerer to
retain the title of Magus if they feel it is deserved, and in such
cases no debt of service is incurred. If the challengee wins the
Wizard's Duel, the loser owes no debt of service.

Typically a candidate for Magus knows Law and at least 4 other Runes, at
100% or more.