RQ6 Hyborian Age Magic Notes

There is one form of magic - Sorcery

  • All living creatures recover Magic points at 1 point per day.

  • On reaching zero Magic Points the magician must make a successful Willpower roll to remain conscious. He is not prevented from trying to cast a new spell, but each subsequent attempt requires a new Willpower roll, at an additional difficultly penalty. Thus the second check is Hard, the third Formidable and so on. If the magician fails they collapse into unconsciousness for a random number of days up to the number of Willpower checks taken (so failing the third check would be 1d3 days of unconsciousness).

Sources of Magic Points

Sacrifice

Magic Points which are harvested from the death of a living creature. Animal Sacrifices are worth half magic points. Spells which kill the sacrifice as a result of their use cannot be used ON the sacrifice (i.e. no killing with Bone Dance to use Bone Dance on the guy you just killed with Bone Dance. Go get another person to fuel).

Considering: Normally this magical energy cannot be stored for future use, but must instead be either used by a magician as part of a ritual to cast a spell. Any surplus Magic Points are lost.

Consumption

A number of dangerous narcotics and stimulants are available in the Hyborian Age, the natural product of the diverse plants which thrive in its most remote regions. Smoking or consuming appropriate ones will recover an amount of Magic Points, but at the risk of dangerous side effects.

Spells

Below are some spells not found in the RQ book.

Extract Heart

Concentration, Resist (Endurance)

One of the deadliest magics known to Sorcery, Extract Heart rips the still pumping organ from the victim’s chest. The sorcerer can cast the spell on a target with a maximum CON of three times the spell’s Intensity. If the target fails to resist, each Combat Action they suffer damage equal to half the Intensity of the spell directly to the chest (ignoring armour). Once the chest is reduced to a Major Wound, the victim’s heart tears through his ribs and garb, flying across the intervening distance to land in the sorcerer’s hand.