I. Magic

Concept & Intent

The following magic system is an attempt to allow players to use magic as a tool, relevant to the task they have in mind, free from the strictures of defined spell lists. IN part it is an attempt to liberate the caster, but also to liberate the GM from the restrictions of defined events that might limit their imaginations. With magic available and adaptable to whatever situation may arise I am hoping that everyone will embrace the freedom and come up with some really amazing ideas.

Of course it may fail, and further it may fail for some who prefer defined roles and more rigid controls on what can and can’t be done. It may fail because the GM can’t come to grips with the liberty it presents to players to demolish carefully laid plans with a stroke of inspiration. There are lots of reasons it might fail, I intend to ignore them all and surge ahead.

Types of Arcane Casters

Swift Swords will use a free form magic system. There will be no spell lists, although some spells will become common enough that they could be made into a list of commonly used spells. Instead there will be a set a parameters that will define the values of a spell, but the nature of what the spell does will be left to the player, based around the parameters they chose and the number of successes they gain in their casting roll. More successes will allow for greater variation in your spells properties. For eg: a fireball spell is an elemental fire spell cast as a missile against one or more targets to inflict damage. This is the basic nature (description) of the casting, its intent. Once you have the intent you need to strive to achieve that with the successes and parameters listed below. With a moderate set of successes you may get a fireball that strikes a single target and does 1 or 2 ranks of damage. With more successes you may get a fireball that strikes a whole group and does many ranks of damage.

That is the intent of the system. The player puts forward their intent for the spell, everyone agrees it is reasonable, and then you go through the mechanics and sort out the detail.

Areas of Power.

There are two types of arcane casters, people who are able to use magical powers in some form or another. The most common form of caster is the Elementalist, who are able to use one or more of the primary elemental powers: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal and Light/Dark. Nearly all races have elemental casters, although some may be restricted in which elements they can use. For eg: elves are favoured with Wood, but this means they are weak in Metal, the opposing elemental power.

All Elementalists use MIND as their controlling characteristic.

Each elemental form has an Opposite and an Adjunct. If you are ‘talented’ in an element you will also be ‘limited’ in its opposite. Likewise if you wish to ‘specialise’ in an element you will generally be ‘limited’ in its opposite.

If you do ‘specialise’ in one element you can elect to ‘specialise’ in its ‘adjunct’ element, but you will then be ‘limited’ in the two opposites etc.

Opposites

Fire vs Water

Earth vs Air

Metal vs Wood

Adjuncts

Fire + Wood

Earth + Metal

Air + Water

There are also another type of caster, Spiritual Mages. Spiritual mages use power from their race energy, a magical energy produced by the amassed consciousness of the intelligent beings and their power to alter reality. Individually this power is minuscule but in sufficient numbers, and with sufficient skill to focus it, you gain Spirit Mages.

Each race tends to have some area of speciality unique to them.

These casters are generally given a defining name to match their area of power and race, as follows:

· Humans get Priests – Life/Death

· Elves get Druids – Dominate/Resist

· Dwarves get Delvers – Manipulation/Bind

· Orcs get Witches (female) – Hinder, and Dervishers (male) - Boost

· Goblins get Shadowmages – Find/Conceal

· Trolls get Shamans – Hinder/Boost

The source of this type of magic is spiritual and uses the SOUL characteristic.

Corruption magic is available to the Dark Lord only and never to players.

These areas are just the areas that a specific race is naturally superior in, elves can use Life Magic but they are not as gifted at it as Humans are.

Spells.

In Swift Swords Tactica there are no spell lists. The definition of what a spell does is left to the caster to define and then verbalise within the given parameters. The caster can say “I throw a fireball at the group in the doorway”, and that is exactly what happens. Implementing that desired effect however is what the rules will handle.

A lot of verbal descriptions can be recorded and re-used to speed play, so each caster can develop a spell list if they want, to speed up play and to clarify in everyones mind what they intend.

Take the example of the ‘throw a fireball at the group in the doorway’ as an example. Using the words and comparing them to the following rules we get: Elemental(Fire), Damage purpose, Group target, Thrown delivery. The damage (Power) can be variable as the caster wishes.

So the magic is to some extent free form, a fireball can describe a spell effect with many different parameters.

There is a small level of co-operation involved in this between the GM and the players. When anyone casts a spell it must be believable, if anyone rolls their eyes or groans in disbelief then everyone should be questioning the spell and re-thinking it.

The following rules will give you guidelines on what you can and cant do. In the end however, if everyone wants things a certain way then do it.

The real key to the system comes at the bottom end – Power. This is the guage that can be used to determine the effort or work being done. A success allocated to Power is vaguely equivalent to the work one Hero can do, I HP so to speak. So when everyone looks at what is being attempted think about how many men it would take to perform the same thing.

Properties

Magic is defined by the following properties – Form, Purpose, Delivery, Target, Power and Duration.

1. Form: the spells source of power, eg Elemental or Spiritual.
2. Purpose: the nature of the magic (class), what it does. Eg Damage.
3. Delivery: how the magic is imposed on the target: BodyTouch, Touch, Thrown, Fired, Transported, Spread, Chained, Construction. Default is BodyTouch.
4. Target: by default a spell will strike yourself, but it is possible to increase the number of targets, range or the areas of effect of the target. Default is self.
5. Duration: the time the spell will last in time units. Default is Instant. Extra successes can be used to increase the number of units involved and/or the type of units being used, eg actions, rounds, events, days, weeks, months etc. Other duration options that exists are: OneUse, TwoUse(etc), Delayed and Constant.
6. Power: how strong the spell will be, the amount of effort it can perform based on what other factors are in play. With a damage spell it would be the amount and type of damage. Default is 1.

The Nature of Magic.

Form.

All magic requires at least one digital appendage and a vocal component. For humanoid races this means one hand and their voice. The hand motions required are visually obvious. The vocal components are noticeably loud. There are skills that can be taken to reduce (but not remove) these elements.

There are two known Forms: Elemental and Spiritual. This is the source of the power used to create the spell.

The Elemental form is broken into the 7 elements that make up all the material world: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Metal, Wood and Light/Dark.

The Spiritual form is based on racial lines, with each of the races gaining mastery in one pair of magical purpose, as shown below.

Elemental spells draw from the natural world around them, with all elements present in all places. However there may be times when opposing elements may have issues. If you are at sea, surrounded by water, then your casting of earth based spells will be restricted as if suffering ‘elemental opposed’. This effect should be blatantly obvious to everyone, not just to the GM, to apply.

Spiritual magic draws from the collective racial spirit energy and is stronger where greater numbers of that race gather. Spirit casters can charge themselves up with energy by spending time in areas of concentration, allowing them to adventure into areas where there may be no one. The stored energy will be released with use, or over time, and will deplete.

Elemental Magic is visually very obvious and requires considerable skill to hide. Elemental magic will be obvious via the appearance of the various elemental forms swirling around the caster and coalescing into the final spell form.

Spiritual magic will not be as obviously visible, but the actions of the hands and verbal requirements may make it noticeable without the appropriate skills.

Purpose.

There are nine areas of magic, each in pairs. The name reflects the primary purpose of the magic. Each area consist of two opposites and a linked elemental or spiritual form of magic.

• Damage(Fire)/Protection(Water)
• Find/Conceal - Shadowmages
• Hinder(Witches)/Boost(Dervish) - Shamans
• Dominate/Resist - Druids
• Illusion(Dark)/Reveal(Light)
• Grow(Wood)/Construct(Metal)
• Summon(Earth)/Banish(Air)
• Death/Life - Priests
• Manipulate/Bind - Delvers

To gain the most from a magical purpose you must match the magical source. So to gain the best Damage spells you would need to use Fire. To be the best Healer you would need to be Human.

The following gives you guidance as to what each purpose can do. (Note: a Thesaurus is your friend).

Note that each purpose is specifically linked to a form, ie damage is linked to fire. This actually means that ONLY fire can do damage via magic. Water CANNOT be used to inflict damage in anyway. That is the nature of this game world, the Laws of Magic if you may. That is not to say that fire has to appear as a burning flame, fire can appear in many forms from flame, to heat, to burning beam of light, to a floating plasma cloud. You could even suggest that a ball of ice is a method of damage due to the removal of fire, but that is getting too complex.

Keep it simple, accept the fact that only Fire does damage in a direct manner. There are numerous collateral effects that can be considered, like a large ball of ice dropped on something, its weight would do damage, but the damage is not done as a direct attack.

Following are a list of descriptors that reflect the nature of the first Purpose (eg Damage). The second Purpose, the opposite, uses opposing descriptors. So Damage does 'damage, harm destroy', so Protection does 'stops damage, stops harm, stops destroy'. A certain degree of literalness is required in some of the areas, eg the opposite of damage might be considered to be heal, but heal is a Life descriptor and so that function remains with that purpose alone.

Damage(Fire)/Protection(Water)

Descriptors: damage, harm, destroy, break, hurt, pain, wound, blow, knockout, ruin, wreck.

All spells that seek to do any of the above are based on the element Fire. The opposite of the above are based on the protective nature of the element Water.

Find/Conceal – Shadowmages

Descriptors: camouflage, cloak, cover, cover up, enshroud, keep dark, keep secret, lie low, lurk, mask, masquerade, obscure, put in a hole, screen, secrete, shelter, skulk, slink, sneak, stash, stay out of sight, stow, tuck away, veil, wrap.

Shadowmages are masters of being unseen, which doesn’t mena invisibility, it simply means no one pays you any attention.

Hinder(Witches)/Boost(Dervish) - Shamans

Descriptors: prevent, slow down, arrest, balk, bar, block, bottleneck, box in, burden, check, choke, clog, contravene, counteract, crab, cramp, crimp, cripple, curb, debar, delay, deter, encumber, fetter, frustrate, get in the way, hamper, hamstring, handicap, hog-tie, hold back, hold up, impede, inhibit, interfere, interrupt, louse up, muzzle, neutralize, obstruct, offset, oppose, preclude, prohibit, resist, retard, shut out, snafu, stay, stop, stymie*, terminate, thwart, trammel

Dominate/Resist - Druids

Descriptors: govern, rule, boss, call the shots, command, control, detract from, dictate, direct, domineer, eclipse, handle, have one's way, have upper hand, head, hold sway over, influence, keep under thumb, lay down the law, lead, lead by the nose, manage, monopolize, outshine, overbear, overrule, overshadow, play first fiddle, predominate, preponderate, prevail, prevail over, reign, rule the roost, run, run the show, sit on top of, subject, subjugate, superabound, sway, tyrannize.

Illusion(Dark)/Reveal(Light)

Descriptors: false appearance; false belief, apparition, chimera, confusion, daydream, deception, delusion, déjè vu, error, fallacy, false impression, fancy, fantasy, figment of imagination, fool's paradise, ghost, hallucination, head trip, hocus-pocus, idolism, ignus fatuus, image, invention, make-believe, mirage, misapprehension, misbelief, misconception, misimpression, mockery, myth, optical illusion, paramnesia, phantasm, pipe dream, rainbow*, seeming, semblance, trip*, virtual reality

Grow(Wood)/Construct(Metal)

Descriptors: become larger, evolve, abound, advance, age, amplify, arise, augment, become, branch out, breed, build, burgeon, burst forth, come, come to be, cultivate, develop, dilate, enlarge, expand, extend, fill out, flourish, gain, germinate, get bigger, get taller, heighten, increase, issue, luxuriate, maturate, mature, mount, multiply, originate, pop up, produce, propagate, pullulate, raise, ripen, rise, shoot*, spread, spring up, sprout, stem, stretch, swell, thicken, thrive, turn, vegetate, wax, widen

Grow and Construct are not quite as opposites as all the other Purposes, but at some levels they are. Grow is via living things, Construct is via dead or inanimate things.

Summon(Earth)/Banish(Air)

Descriptors: call to a place, arouse, ask, assemble, beckon, beep, bid, call, call back, call for, call forth, call in, call into action, call together, call upon, charge, cite, command, conjure, convene, convoke, direct, draft, draw on, enjoin, gather, hail, invite, invoke, mobilize, motion, muster, order, petition, rally, recall, request, ring, rouse, send for, sign, signal, subpoena, toll

Life/Death - Priests

Descriptors: animation, spirit, activity, being, breath, brio, dash, energy, enthusiasm, entity, esprit, essence, excitement, get-up-and-go, go, growth, heal, heart, high spirits, impulse, lifeblood, liveliness, oomph, sentience, soul, sparkle, verve, viability, vigor, vitality, vivacity, zest, zing, élan vital, élan

Manipulate/Bind - Delvers

Descriptors: maneuver, handle physically, employ, feel, finger*, form, manage, mold, operate, ply, shape, swing, thumb, use, wield, work.

This is physical manipulation, not mental which would fall under Dominate.

Delivery.

Delivery is the method in which the spells effect is moved from the caster to the target. This is range and method based.

The basic range is SELF and the method is TOUCH.

Other delivery options are: BodyTouch, Thrown, Fired, Transported.

Other method options are: Spread, Chain, Blocks, Rays, Beams, Bolts, Balls, Cones, Blasts, Bursts, Bombs, Auras and Radiances.

BodyTouch (1):

Similar to a Touch attack but in this case the caster must make direct contact with the spirit of their opponent and for more than an instant, which is much harder. Contact with the target does not require direct contact with skin, merely a very close and slightly longer form of contact to Touch. Full body armour does not prevent a BodyTouch success.

You can imagine a body to have a Karilian aura, BodyTouch requires your auras to overlap and remain in contact whilst the spell energy is transferred.

BodyTouch contact requires a successful ToHit roll using a melee form of some kind at the same time as the casting roll is made. The method gives you a bonus +1d to your casting dice.

Touch (1):

The caster must make contact with the primary manipulative part (hands) of their body with any part of their opponent, either their body, their armour or some item in direct contact with their body (close proximity). This contact is assumed in the successful casting of the spell, so no to-hit roll is required.

This touch aspect of magic is a reflection of the origin of the magic, the spirit of the caster. To work magic against another being requires that you attack their spirit and so the souls involved must come into contact. Extra effort is required to extend the range at which this works.

Thrown Spells (2):

A spell missile that must be thrown at the target and a successful casting roll made. Thrown missiles can often be lobbed over the top of an intervening obstacle, this is their advantage over Fired spells.

The range of a thrown missile in zones and appropriate modifiers, can be found from the following:

Range

Distance in Zones

Casting Mod

Maximum

2 zones

-4d

Long

1 zone

-2d

Optimum

Same zone

0

Fired Spells (3):

A spell missile that is fired at the target and a successful casting made. Fired missiles are direct line of sight, they cannot be fired through or over any objects or creatures but have greater range.

The range of a fired spell is in zones, and appropriate modifiers, can be found from the following:

Range

Distance in Zones

Mod

Maximum

3-4 zones

-4d

Long

2 zones

-2d

Short

1 zone

0

Optimum

Sam ezone

0

Transported Spells

Transported spells travel between the caster and the target without travel through any intervening space (they teleport or simply manifest at the target). The caster must be able to see the target however.

Chain (1).

A Chained spell strikes a single first target (automatically has Other Target), and then moves on to strike extra targets. For each extra success allocated to Chain you get 2 extra targets. The targets must be within the same zone.

Blocks (1).

Blocks are normally used for Grow/Construct and Summon spells where a unit of matter is created and deployed in linear formats, like a wall. A set of blocks can be created that are connected to each other. Each use of the Block creates 6cm of blocks that can be laid down as a wall 1cm wide.

Auras (1).

Auras are cast on a target to create a force field around them that provides protection of some kind. AN aura protects the target within it from things outside it.

Radiances (1).

Similar to Aura’s but of an aggressive nature. A radiance is cast on a target and inflicts damage on anything that moves adjacent to them (in contact).

Target.

Target is whom the spell will impact on, by default this is SELF.

Other target options are: Other(1), Group(2), Groups(3), Zone(3), Zones(4) and Exclude(1).

Other can be one or many and may include self, but each 'other' costs.

A group is a combat group, a collection of targets all InContact with each other. You can join more than one group together.

A Zone is everyone in a single zone. Zones is the same but over more than one zone.

Exclude is an option to take specific targets out of a collection, so you might target everyone in a Zone excluding yourself.

Duration.

Duration is how long the spell will last, by default this is instant.

Increasing time units of duration are: Rounds(1), Event(2), Session(3), Day(4), Week(5), Month(6) and Year(7).

Other available options are: PerUse(one, two three etc)(1@), Delayed and Constant.

Instant:

The spell lasts (effective) only a very short time, such as fireballs and heals.

Rounds (1):

If Rounds is selected then the number of Rounds gained per success is equal to the Power of the spell.

OneUse, TwoUse (1+):

These spells are good for a number of uses, otherwise they last for the "event" unless otherwise specified. The spell of missile protection might be a OneUse spell and would then provide protection to the target for one missile attack, but would remain effective until that attack occurred.

Constant (3):

Some spells can be maintained CONSTANTLY. This can be done by reducing the Drain level to 0 by using extra time to cast the spell and then expending one Rank to keep it running. This reduction to 0 Drain cannot be done in combat as all spells there require a minimum of 1 Drain and 1 Time, so it can only be done outside an event where you have plenty of time and no interruptions.

This Rank lost cannot be a Stun as the effect is permanent until the spell is dropped, so you would be Stunned constantly. The Rank lost cannot be recovered, except maybe very briefly, as it is immediately expended the next time the caster has an action and they maintain it as Constant. Multiple spells can be maintained constantly, each requiring a Rank. See Spell Durations below.

The Ranks dedicated to the Constant spell are always expended, and cannot be ‘healed’ or ‘restored’ in any fashion whilst the spell is maintained.

If for any reason your (the casters) Rank total in the Domain used is reduced to less than zero then ALL CONSTANT spells using that Domain immediately fail, and no Ranks are recovered.

CONSTANT spells can be cancelled at anytime but Rank recovery can only be made via the normal methods, sleep, magic or rest.

CONSTANT spells can be maintained whilst the caster is asleep.

Damage suffered will not impact a CONSTANT spell, it is already effective, only active spells are at risk with interruption. Going to OoA or KIA however will cause all spells to fail. If the caster loses control of their mind (possession, charm etc) then all Constant spells are lost.

The target of a Constant spell must ALWAYS be targetable every round or the spell fails. In effect the spell is constantly targetted and renewed all the time, so all its requirements must be constant as well. If your target is out of sight then you cannot target it and the constant spell fails. Because of this Constant spells are mostly cast on the caster themselves.

A constant spell is constantly effective, so if you try to keep a fireball constant then it is constantly going off on you.

Delayed (1):

A delayed spell is simply one that you have achieved sufficient action dice to cast but you choose not to cast it at this time. Everytime you are eligible to act and you choose not to cast the spell you must discard a dice to continue the spell. You cannot do any other actions whilst you do this.

If time and situation permit a caster can enter an event with a spell delayed, ready to cast (they are assumed to have a full spell pool, having prepared it before entering the encounter).

Event (2):

The spell lasts for the current event, or encounter. An event is a specific period of time defined by the event occurring during that scene. This is at the discretion of the GM, who controls the flow of the events within their story. An event is usually around 5 to 10 minutes, but may vary at the discretion of the GM. There is usually a break between each event where players will revert to a higher time scale.

An event could also happen within and event, depending on the spell. One Use type spells are often used within an event, but may be an event in themselves. Basically once a spell has done what is meant to do then it will expire.

There is actually only a few minor differences between a CONSTANT and an EVENT spell. With a CONSTANT spell you cannot recover the Ranks, whereas with an EVENT spell you could (if you had the means too). GMs may allow an EVENT based spell to be cast as a CONSTANT spell if it seems appropriate and the caster wishes to do so. The spell is cast as one of the other however.

Multi-Event (3+):

The spell is the same as an Event based spell but is considered to last several hours, AND that the two events are occurring within that time frame. Generally there should not be more than one hour between the events. The GM should make it clear to players when time periods lapse, it is not intended to be used as a method to surprise them.

A Multi-Event2 would last for 2 events, MultiEvent3 for 3 events etc etc.

Day, Weeks, Month etc:

Some spells may be cast to last extended periods of time. This depends on the spell, the caster and their successes, and your GM. An event spell could be considered to have a duration of one hour, a multi-event of several hours. Moving up the time line we would have spell dirations of the following:

Half Day - Day - Several Days(3-4) - Week - Several weeks (2-3) - Month - Season - Half year - Year.

Downtime:

This is a time of resting, recovery, learning, training etc. Basically where the GM and the players stop interacting and do bookkeeping. Such times are self evident.

Power.

Power is a reflection of the amount of work that the spell may undertake. In its simplest form power is the amount of damage dice you will inflict, but it can also be how strong the spell is to being dispelled, its resistance.

Power also reflects the weight of the attack. Most magic spells have ‘medium’ weight, which means 2 points of power are needed to inflict a rank loss. Power can be used to increase the weight to ‘heavy’ (1) or worse, but this draws off successes from actual damage values, so you will need to balance it out.

Power is a reflection of work, and in easy to imagine terms one success of power is equivalent to the amount of work one Hero (1HP) can perform. A fireball cast at a target should do about the same damage that a single man could do armed with an average weapon under average circumstances. When a weight needs lifting the power of the spell tells you how many men are lifting it (armed with tools). It isn’t an exact match and circumstances need to be taken into account, but it is a good overall guiding principle.

Magic is not meant to be an atom bomb. In Tactica it is simply a loaded gun. Magic is more personal, more controlled in its energy levels such that it is a powerful tool but not the defining event. Where-ever magic is worked, it should be similar to a Hero with a sword, armour and a determined will.

Open Ended Options.

If you want you can allow Power and Duration to be open ended, or one of them to be open ended. This allows the caster to specify the values of their spell, but leave the open values un-specified. When the spell is cast and the results known they can decide how many successes they will devote to the open values. So if they don’t get enough results they can scale back the power or the duration to fit what they have.

This option is the easy one and depends on how easy you want magic to be.

Magic Ranks

Magical power that a character can expend is reflected by a Ranking system. Your magical rank can be modified by Mind and Soul as well as by Character Traits (below).

In essence you will have a ranking between 1 and 9 to reflect how powerful you are.

Magic Rank is broken into two areas of power – elemental and spiritual. Each has its own ranking that are depleted separately, although there is some cross-over.

Magical Ranks go from +9 to -3 and represent various levels of capacity. The system is an abstraction, so although a big powerful monster will be rated fairly highly, heroes can rate equivalent or better due to skill, training and morale.

You will have a Magical Rank in the two areas of power – elemental and spiritual magic. Each of the ranks are run as separate entities, depleted by spell use in the appropriate areas. There will be some crossover drain (see Crossover) between the two.

Casting Spells

To cast a spell you must have a base skill of the appropriate casting type, which gives you the base 4d in casting skills. The base 4d are modified by the primary characteristic (Mind or Spirit) relevant to the casting class and any other modifiers from Mods or Advantages.

Casting a spell takes time in the form of Action Dice, and Drain - the expenditure of Ranks (Magical). When you expend the AD to begin casting you place your 4d from skill and any bonus characteristic dice in your casting pool. This indicates you are ‘casting’.

You may increase your casting pool dice via various methods until you decide to ‘cast’, at which time you expend an AD and roll all the dice in your pool and determine successes.

A single success is all that is generally required to enact the basic properties of the spell – Purpose and Form, Delivery=Touch, Target=Self, Power=1 and Duration=Instant. Extra successes will allow you to improve these values.

With a single success you get a spell that will drain you of 1 Magical Rank. This cost cannot be removed, it can only be recovered after the fact.

Extra casting successes from the casting pool roll can be used to modify the parameters of the spell.

To generate extra successes a caster can optionally draw extra 'Magical Ranks'. As this is a mainly one way journey (depleting their ranks) there needs to be a way to either regenerate ranks (healing) or some method to avoid rank loss. This can be done by using time, the longer you spend preparing a spell the easier it will be to avoid drain. As always the first Rank lost can become a Stun unless you are already Stunned, in which case the spell has failed.

When you begin casting a spell you need simply specify which spell it is: Purpose and Form. When you decide to roll your casting pool you must specify all the remaining parameters of the spell you are attempting: Delivery, Target, Power and Duration. If your casting roll does not generate enough successes to meet your needs you must either allocate extra drain to make up the difference, or the spell fails. If the spell fails you still lose one Rank to drain.

For 1 ActionDice of effort you get to roll your spell pool. One success from your spell pool roll will give you the basic spell, and it will drain you of one rank of Magical (or optionally inflict Stun).

To increase the properties of the spell you are required to gain extra successes on the casting roll. Extra successes can be gained by increasing the dice in your spell pool and getting more successes, or by expending Ranks.

Each extra Rank drained (allocated) to the spell will generate 1 success. This is the expensive way but gets the result if you need it. Drain of ranks can be implemented at anytime during the casting of the spell, as long as you have Ranks to lose.

Extra AD can be used to increase the size of your spell pool on a 1 for 1 basis. As your turn comes up you simply discard your action dice (showing 2 or more) and add 1d to your spell pool. The spell takes longer to produce, takes extra actions, but you gain a larger spell pool to roll to gain successes.

Only 1 AD can normally be spent at a time, each time you come up in the order of actions. AD used for spell casting are simply added to your spell pool until the spell casting occurs. Any dice can be used to satisfy this EXCEPT a 1.

You can abandon the casting at anytime but all the pool dice are lost. An abandoned, or cancelled, spell does not drain any ranks, only if you make the casting roll do you lose ranks.

Extra time spent on casting can increase the casting pool dice by a maximum of the casters normal casting dice. So if the caster attempts a spell and would have 7d, then they can gain a maximum of 7 extra dice by using AD.

There is a minimum cost of 1 AD and 1 Drain for each spell unless some other factor allows this to change (an Skills). You cannot reduce the drain cost below 1 rank, so every casting will cause a Shock/InDoubt or drain a Rank.

Casting eg.

If you are casting a spell at another person who is not Bound(qv) to you then you may also have to make a successful cast. Your casting roll determines your success. To successfully cast the spell you require one success, which gives you the base values and a target. Extra spell casting successes present options to modify one or more of the spells natures.

Eg: The caster has chosen to cast a Spirit magic Heal spell, this is all they need say at the start. As they spend an AD to begin this they gain 4d(base)+2(skill mastery)+1(spirit mastery)+2 (Mod) = 9d, which are placed as a pool in front of them. They boost the casting by expending AD to increase the pool by 5d, to a total of 14d.

They decide to cast and so must define the spell fully. The spell will be: Spirit, Heal, Transported(3), Group(2), Exclude(1), healing(2), Instant. So the intent of the spell is to apply a 2 Rank Physical heal to all members of a group excluding enemies. This will require 9 successes, 1 to cast and 8 for the spells natures.

They then expend another AD to make the casting roll and get 5 successes.

So far the caster has 5 successes from the casting roll, this means they need to find 3 more or the spell fails and they lose one Rank. They elect to use a 1AD they have to shift one of the dice rolls from a 4 to a 5, making it a success. For the remaining 2 they elect to take an InDoubt status and lose 1 Rank of magic.

Casting Modifiers

Base skill

4d

Controlling characteristic

Var

Increased skill

+1,+2

Skill Mod

+1,+2

Per AD expended

+1

Zone Range mods

Var

Visibility mods

Var

BodyTouch delivery

+1

Target InContact and using Touch, Fired or Transported spells

-1

Target InContact and using BodyTouch or Thrown spells

-2

One target is InClose but not with you

-2

Spell cast while you are InContact

-3

Spell cast while you are InClose

-4

Elemental speciality

+1

Elemental opposed

-2d

Spiritual bonding

+1d

Spiritual weakness

-2d

Casting Restrictions:

Casting cannot be completed if it would drop any of your ranks to 0 (for NPCs), or to -3 Broken/Crushed for Heroic characters.

Casting cannot be started unless you have at least one positive Magical rank.

You cannot begin or continue a casting while you are Stunned/Shocked or InDoubt, any existing spell pool would be lost.

Effects of Damage whilst Casting.

If a caster suffers damage whilst in the process of casting a spell then they must elect to take it as a Rank loss as a Stun/Shock/InDoubt result cancels the spell. They must then make an immediate raw casting (Skills + Advantages + characteristic) roll at -2d and get at least one success to maintain their existing spell pool. If they fail this roll then the spell fails immediately and all allocated dice are lost. If a spell is lost you do not have to pay any Rank cost. They must still make a final casting roll to get the spell to work.

If a Stun, Shocked, InDoubt, Trauma or Massive damage result is inflicted then any casting pool is lost.

A caster is considered to be actively casting if they have any dice currently pooled for that purpose.

A caster may always abandon a casting at anytime. Action dice spent already would be lost, no Ranks are lost.

Defence vs Spells.

Touch and BodyTouch spells can only be defended against via Dodge.

Thrown and Chained spells may be dodged or blocked.

Fired and Transported spells may be dodged or blocked but at -2d as usual for fired missiles.

Once a spell attack has impacted on the target then the only thing that will stop it is Magic Resistance. There are no save throws, you have to prevent the magic from getting to you, or have a counter ready.

Spiritual Energy

Spiritual energy is related to your race, each race having their own specialised form of spiritual magic. This is not to say that other forms of spiritual magic are not available to you, just that they will be harder to cast (-2d).

Spiritual energy is also linked to population, the more people of your race type that are present the stronger the energy levels available to you. Unlike elemental energy, which is present everywhere, spiritual energy is only available in areas where your race lives in sufficient numbers. Cities are great store houses of spiritual energy.

Because of this your spiritual energy will recover when you are in areas where it is strong, and it will deplete in areas where it is weak, just like a battery. Players, and other Heroic characters, tend to be specifically strong in this area, able to store greater amounts of spiritual energy than normal beings, and thus able to go adventuring into the unknown and still carry their magical powers with them to some degree. Eventually, however, you will need to return to your people to re-charge.

Your Magic Rank reflects your energy levels in Elemental and Spiritual Magic. They will need to be monitored as separate entities. Each time you expend 1 or more ranks of SM during a single event your maximum ranks will reduce one level. This repeats u ntil your SM ranks are 0 and you are unable to use any further SM.

Eg: You begin an adventure fully charged with 5 ranks of SM. During an encounter with orcs you expend 3 ranks of SM, so you will recharge back to only 4 ranks of SM (the battery recharges, but loses one level). So on the next encounter with goblins you begin with 4 ranks, you expend only 1 rank during the encounter, but you re-charge back to only 3 ranks (4-1). On a third encounter you expend 3 ranks in casting, so you will recover to 2 ranks. This continues until you are sitting at 0 ranks, at which time you cannot use SM at all (not even to go negative).

To re-charge your SM back to full strength you must return to a significant population centre and have a ‘downtime’ there. Significant for this purpose would be 500 people in an established settlement (which doesn’t have to be stationary, a caravan of 500 people who are bonded as a community would be ok).

Spiritual energy is a by-product of intelligence and community, so creatures that do not form communities do not have it.

com·mu·ni·ty

[kuh-myoo-ni-tee]

noun, plural com·mu·ni·ties.

1.

a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

2.

a locality inhabited by such a group.

3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists (usually preceded by the ): the business community; the community of scholars.

Essentially it is up to the GM to decide if they consider a group of creatures to be a community. A raiding party of 40 ogres might be a community if it has been together over an extended period and acted as a group that tends to its members and looks after its young.

A swarm of rats, although a community is not intelligent.

Binding.

One of the most important spells, and one that needs some pre-explanation, is the BINDING spell. This is a spell that is cast to bind together a group of people so that magic will be easier to throw on those involved, plus some other advantages.

The normal version of the spell has the following effects:

A bound group counts as being in touch (or bodytouch) at all times, as long as the caster can see the target/s, allowing one to cast on all without needing to make actual contact.

You gain +1d to your casting target when casting solely onto OTHER bound members.

Magic Resistance does not work against spells cast by bound members on other members.

A caster who can make actual physical contact with another bound individual can draw Ranks from that person to cast spells with. This effect can be extended to anyone the caster can reach by a chain of physical contacts, as long as all are bound to each other. The caster may NOT drain anothers Ranks below 1.

Binding is a voluntary action only, you cannot be bound against your will.

Multiple Spells (Very Important!).

Where a spell already exists (is still effective) on a creature of a certain type (Form and Purpose are the same), and another spell of the same Form and Purpose is cast at them then the highest Power of the two spells will apply and the other is forgotten.

If the same 'effect' is created by a magical casting then always use the best result, DO NOT accumulate them. Thus a spell that gave you +1 to hit and another that gave you +2 to hit, would only give you +2 to hit, not +3. This applies even if parts of spells overlap, always use the best bonus, or best negative, of those applying. Positive bonuses are different to negative ones, thus a +2 to hit with a -1 to hit are two different effects and would result in +1 to hit.

If the same spell is cast again then it will simply extend the duration appropriately if successful. If different parameters are involved then the new spell will be dominant over the old. So if an existing +2 spell has a +1 version of it cast over the top then the +1 will cancel the old +2 spell.

In this case the reverse of a spell is considered a different spell.

Casting from Books or Scrolls.

The above casting styles assume a casting source of the casters own memory. Other sources of casting knowledge exist in the form of Books and Scrolls. In general there is no casting modifier for casting a spell from such a source, however the casting speed is greater.

In all cases the base casting time is doubled, so Rank x2, then apply any reductions.

When cast from a Book or Scroll none of the casting styles (noted below) apply, the style is Reading.

Wands, Staves and Rods.

Mages commonly use various devices, particularly Wands, Staves and Rods. To reflect this the following rules can be applied.

Wands: Do not count as a weapon but do modify all To Hit rolls via Touch attacks by 1d to the better. If any 1’s are rolled on a miss attack the wand is broken. The wand acts as an extension of the casters body for all purposes related to spell casting.

Rods: Count as Light Maces if used as a weapon. Has all the benefits of a wand. It breaks as a normal weapon. Rods can be used to Touch (but not BodyTouch) a friend from outside melee, without having to go InContact.

Staves: Counts as a quarterstaff or short spear. Gains all the benefits of a Rod.

Rod, Wands and Staves are all created via Enchantment spells.

Triggers & Spell Nature.

A large number of spells in Swift Swords allow the caster to apply one or more triggers that can be used to determine when the spell will take effect. There are also specific spells that allow for the inclusion of triggers. The fact that a spell can be aware of its environment and able to respond to events is a reflection on the nature of magic and how spells are created.

Whenever a spell is created, mana is drawn from a source and channeled through the caster, transformed into a pseudo elemental life form which is programmed to the effect required and then used. The spell creature is fully aware and committed to the task assigned it. It is able to see into the mortal plane as well, and has perception equivalent to the caster. The creature can also trigger the spell on any plane it can see into, so sneaking up on it via the mana plane wont work.

The GM has two choices here. You can take the assumption that these creatures are so temporary as to ignore them for game effects, and just say that is the nature of things. Or you can say they are a valid component of magic and therefor a target that can be used to avoid or bypass it as the players determine. This second option will cause you trouble and should only be used by experienced GMs. As a non-corporeal element life form they would be difficult to hurt, but magic weapons are one way, assuming you can get to it on the Astral Plane. They will not have a material form (other than the spell effect itself) and cannot be harmed from the material plane at all.

Spell forms being visible on the astral plane (possibly require a perception roll as they will tend to blend in with the mana clouds present) would be one way of detecting a normally invisible spell effect, such as an illusion spell. The illusion spell form would exist as a sort of cloud over the area of effect (possibly a ghostly image of the illusion it is creating on the material plane), and would have no effect on those on the astral plane (the illusion being on the material plane). Illusions have no effect on the astral plane.