Magic
Magic exists in the world of mythology so just like any monster it requires explanation. magic works separately from matter, its default form is invisible and can pass through objects as if they werent there, the only exception is intelligent life. magic will react to intelligent life in a similar way that water reacts to a sponge. magic when adsorbed into an individual will stay with that individual wherever they go unless they have enough magic that the magic they have on themselves pushes new magic away. magic that you have in you already is referred to as "mana" and the max mana you are able to get into yourself is "mana capacity". going over capacity will cause magic to leave you slowly over time or quickly if your high enough over capacity this process is called "magical decay".
magic that has labeled itself as "yours" can be controlled like an invisible limb but if the magic your moving doesnt connect back to you it may become subject to magical decay. usage of magic for spells is a process that requires imagination, intelligence, comprehension, and concentration.
imagination because if you cannot visualize what you want magic will not know what you want of it and the spell will fail. if you have imagined half of what you wanted then your spell may even fail catastrophically exploding in your face or worse depending on what your doing and where your imagination failed.
intelligence because magic requires an understanding of what you want done to be powerful, if you want a fire ball and you imagine "fire erupting in a circle" it will be far less effective then imagining "focus the methane in the air into a single point and ignite it then spread the resulting flames all over a 20ft diameter"
comprehension because when you have imagined a spell you want cast the magic will "speak" the 'words' it tells you are what it wants you to say to cast the spell what it tells you is random gibberish nonsense that a caster can either say in its base form or adjust it to be whatever they want it to be that something however must be of equal length for shortening a chant requires practice and completely removing a chant requires so much practice that a human cannon do it in his lifetime. adjusting a chant to somthing of equal length is a highly debated concept some say that making a rhyming or poetic chant makes it slightly more powerful, some created a special "magical language" that they insist when used to cast spells makes them slightly more powerful , some do it because it helps them remember the chant, and some even do it to make themselves look cool.
and finally concentration you are not only imagining what you want to happen your also explaining how you want it to happen, listening to what the magic wants you to say, possibly adjusting what your saying, saying what was told of you or what you changed from memory, and controlling the magic to go off where you want. if you are distracted by anything like combat, being hit, somthing scaring you, a woman, losing your footing, etc. then the spell will fail and concentration will remedy that problem.
the reason that casting without a chant is enticing to any caster is because of all the time you save, low level spells suddenly fire off like they were fired from a gatling gun and high level spells suddenly can be cast multiple times in a round. but just like anything else it comes with a downside. the chant is important because it allows you to command some of the surrounding magic to aid you, lowing the mana cost of spells if a spell cost is normally 20 then there may be a 30 mana cost to the surrounding area that you dont need to pay but without the chant you must pay the full 50 mana cost yourself. the second most obvious downside is just how long it takes to be able to learn to do this even the oldest high elves alive are only able to cast low level spells without chanting. to come across a being that can even cast powerful spells without chanting is to live a life of a wild pig then casually stroll into a slaughter house.
The Lords of Destruction
Lord Bane, Lord of Death
the oldest of the four lords, lord bane's backstory is only known due to how much of a boisterous ass he is. how he originally came into existence is unknown even to him but he came into being way before even the creation of planets and life, while the gods planned lord bane grew eventually seeing the creation of the universe first hand. as he wandered he eventually found his way to our planet. as he lived here, yes LIVED he wasnt undead yet, somthing big happened and that thing fractured whatever bits of sanity that he had. after this event lord bane would eventually invent the process of becoming a lich, the process to become an archlich(soon after renamed to demi-lich), and finally he invented and kept to himself how to become a 'Lich Lord' and as the only lich lord he became known as "Lord of Death". how he got his name however is unknown
Lord Antharg, Lord of Disease
Long ago a certain mountain wasnt a mountain, it was a plain. but as years went by that plain started to rise as plate tectonics shifted more and more. eventually the top of that hill became too high, it started to get cold the creatures around as it started to snow more and more all died due to freezing. but no one had any way of know that they were also diseased. the virus inside all these creatures had died with them. all, but, one. That single virus hibernated, during which hours turned to days which turned to years which turned to centuries. the hill became a mountain and that mountain...attracted the dwarves. as the dwarves tunneled through this old mountain they cracked open an ancient fossil that spewed a noxious gas all over them. seconds after the dwarves started screaming as their skin melted bubbles formed in the liquidating flesh and started to pop spreading acid around until all that was left was a pool of "dwarves" in this pool that disease fed and grew until that single cell was the size of a human and had obtained sentience. this cell called itself Antharg and everyone else called him "Lord of disease"
Lord Melkor, Lord of Famine
In the world of mythology evolution is commonly second fiddle to various forms of creationism but in one race of ants somthing unique happened. ants in this area were evolving to become bigger and bigger and bigger until they were big enough to give the largest dogs a run for their money these ants evolved "psionics" or the ability to communicate telepathically. no longer was a ant colony a variety of ants working for a common goal, now they were a single being with various limbs made of ants. this being would eventually become smart enough to start forcing other insects into its hivemind and eventually it gained sentience this being called itself "Melkor" and he was dubbed "Lord of famine"
Lord Sartek, Lord of War
Child of the cretan bull and a demi-god sartek was the first minotaur as a child he was locked away in a labyrinth but his captors thought he died to Theseus so he eventually found his way out. after making his way to what was to become the realm of war he took on the name "Sartek" because as far as he knew his parents never named him. he lived a comfortable life in the realm of war and, being the only one with divinity in his veins among the four lords making him the most powerful of them, grew arrogant. this arrogance came back to bite him when he betrayed lord bane who had relied on him in a major war he had declared on the high elves turned into a failure. for an enraged lord bane then marched up to sartek and challenged him to a fight to the death. sartek accepted and ultimately lost and now he is nothing more then an enormous sentient skull wheeled around by his servants
Lord Kforpalulu, Unofficial Lord of Calamity
Ugh, this guy. so uh, he calls himself "the fifth lord of destruction" but no one else really does. the other four lords are so immeasurably powerful that no matter how strong a party of adventurers gets they will die of old age before they even stand a chance against one of them, let alone their armies. Kforpalulu may make up various plots and goad plenty of followers out of the monsters of the land but given enough time any random band of adventurers can defeat him. he is indeed powerful however, strong enough to kill 20 or so average liches and vampires by himself. but he talks like a hyena on helium and his personality is eccentric and annoying so no one really considers him a real threat to the world. his backstory however is not known even to the actual lords of destruction
Forms of damage
just like in real life not all damage is the same, armor will make you almost entirely immune to slash damage and resistant to pierce but will do nothing to guard you from blunt. here are all the forms of damage and explanations for them:
Slashing-the most dangerous of physical damage slashing is from swords and axes. because of its danger it is also the easiest to guard against and anyone wearing plate armor is immune to it.
Bludgeoning- from maces, clubs, sling bullets, and flails the bludgeon is a powerful hit that very few are able to boast specific immunity towards. it is also the least dangerous of the forms of damage so anyone who survives the hit will likely heal without any lasting damage
Piercing-this form of damage is only doable from a jab or projectile of some kind. it can be dealt via daggers, spears, arrows, darts, and (in case it comes up)gun bullets. Armor is highly resistant to piercing so an arrow or dart that isnt aimed at the eyes may very well bounce off. and daggers or spears will have to be carefully guided into armor weakspots to deal any damage.
Magical- this damage is only used on its own when a spell is cast such as magic missile. otherwise it is always dealt alongside other forms of damage. it is the 'limit-break' of damage allowing damage that normally would bounce off armor instead go through it like butter. when paired with slashing it can cut through armor to damage the person underneath and require the armor to be repaired to be used again properly. magic damage is countered by magic protection of a similar or greater level, in the case of spells magic protection will simply increase your armor class in rolls
Fire- found commonly in the form of a torch pushed into your face it is also the damage dealt by the breath of some dragons and (in case it comes up)lasers otherwise it is normally paired with 'magic' damage as a spell
Lightning- this damage is encountered by being stuck by lightning, the breath of some dragons, or from (in case it comes up)sticking a fork in an outlet. besides that it will be found in the same way as fire and cold
Cold- outside of dragons breath or somone dumping liquid nitrogen on you your not going to come across cold damage too often on its own. it will be found in a similar way to fire and lighting
DoT- this covers bleed, poison, burning, and acid damage. all 4 can be caused by the damage above in some way but these are effect that last after the blow has already passed. poison damage in particular is also the kind of damage you take from diseases that deal damage. for every turn that goes by of bleed damage they must save vrs disease or the injury becomes infected, if splashed with acid(melting status effect) they must roll vrs poison or become poisoned, poison may have additional effect dependent on the type, burning causes additional damage but no other effects
Holy/Unholy- this is a 'damage modifier' damage that has this modifier deals additional damage to undead and the unholy(Holy) or to non-holy intelligent creatures(Unholy) and reduced damage to holy(both) and the innocent(Holy)
some weapons have built-in ways to deal other forms of damage, for example: swords, save the scimitar, have tough pommels so that a swordsman can wield the blade of his sword and use the pommel as a blunt weapon. in addition a swordsman can grab ahold of his blade and carefully guide it into enemy armors weakpoints as piercing. it should be noted however that these alternate damage usually do not compare to the normal weapons damage and a weapon specializing in that form of damage will usually deal more.
Life Force
"what is life force?" is a question you will hear from the mouths of beginner mages and ancient immortals alike, it is more then just what keeps you alive because that is easily surrendered to become a lich. no it is what allows you to connect to the mortal world. without life force a soul cannot remain on the prime material plane. for most races life force is expended in order to continue living but for some, such as high elves or liches their life force either is set at birth to never change or affixed that way forcefully to avoid death. but life force never ceases to be the thing attaching you to this world, if a lich loses his life force his soul will even detach from his phylactery and he will pass on
Types of Magic
Arcane- the wizards and sorcerers of the world use arcane magic in every spell, arcane magic is the easiest to acquire someone need only exist and they will naturally gather it. what sets a person apart from a skilled magician is a magician acts as a combination of a sponge and a magnet for magic while a layman will be only the former, the latter, or neither. the greater you are in being both the more talented a mage you are
Blood(Forbidden)- blood magic is the most self-destructive magic and the most powerful. a beginner blood mage in full-on combat could even give a lord of destruction a hard time. the downside is one must use their own life force in order to use it, master blood mages do not exist and its sole usage is in the form of kamikaze attacks when somone thinks they're about to die and want to take their enemy with them
Divine- the most difficult magic to obtain, the most easy magic to borrow. divine magic is the magic of gods, false gods, and their priests. divine magic is the only one that doesnt need immense amounts of magic to do a heal or revive and doesnt cause horrible pain in the process. to get divine magic you must either borrow it from a god by becoming a cleric or you must be worshiped by many, belief manifest is divine magic if gathered in enough quantity
Elemental- the only real difference between elemental magic and arcane is how its used. it is used by mages and is obtained in the same ways as arcane but it is immediatly converted into an element so as to simplify your purpose with it. the elements go as such air, earth, water/ice, fire. the main reason somone would become an elemental mage over a arcane wizard is arcane requires a life of dedication to magic to truly obtain its power while a elemental mage is powerful in only a year or two. this difference is why elemental mages are the preferred mages in war, else the magic division of an army would be no different then an elderly home. that said all magic divisions are lead by a master of arcane. in addition an elemental mage is able to use alternative forms of magics without needing to make an all new spell, for example turning the fourth level 'ice storm' into 'fire storm'
Infernal- used exclusively by demons infernal magic is obtained forcefully from souls. the reason that demons always barter for ones souls it to increase their own power by using your soul as an eternal battery, needless to say this process in unimaginably painful. the power they obtain is a unique form of magic that allows them to use the fires of hell against their enemies. for individuals that use souls to obtain magic but arent demons this results in a corrupted mimic see 'Fel'
Necromatic- magic pushed through a strainer of corruption. necromancers use necromatic magic to summon and control the dead. first invented by lord bane necromatic magic was invented to mimic divine magic. the result was he twisted magic into a new form. this form can be used in similar way to divine magic and arcane but in a far more twisted way. ice lance becomes poison bolt and heal becomes meld flesh(if that sounds painful thats because it is)
Fel- used by warlocks and witches fel magic is the attempt to make magic mimic blood magic by taking the life force of others this corrupted magic was successful and is able to take the life force of others and use it as magic but this, while powerful, isnt even close to the full power of blood magic and can easily be countered by a cleric of equal level. what most warlocks, witches, and necromancers dont realize is fel magic is exactly the same as necromatic magic, both being a corruption of normal magic, so should they ever try to use magic of the 'other type' they will find it surprisingly easy to use.
Runic- used exclusively by dwarves runic 'magic' isnt actually magic it is strange symbols that pretend to be magic users and magic is absorbed into it without outside input required. because of this runic symbols exists as long as they remain undamaged, are easily repaired, and do not require recharging like magical inscriptions. the knowledge of how to make runes is the most guarded secret of the dwarves, a dwarf would bite off his own tongue before speaking even the most minor of its lessons
Shamanistic- also known as 'Naturalistic' based off who you ask shamanistic magic is magic acquired from nature spirits. nature spirits are born from the life force produced by the death of plants this life force is gathered by nature spirits or if there are none gather by itself into a small area until a nature spirit is born from the concentrated life force. those that please the spirits may be granted this life force as magic they can use to command nature or can act similar to divine magic
The Taint and Dungeon Cores
necromatic, fel, and non-demon soul harvesting all result in the same thing: corrupted magic. corrupted magic, even when used, does not cease to be corrupted. it simply disperses. corrupted magic is not like normal magic it doesnt get attracted to mages in fact it is repelled by them the only way to attract corrupted magic is with other corrupted magic and when corrupted magic has no necromancer, warlock or witch then it instead is attracted to other random particles of corrupted magic. when it gathers on top of itself enough it will stop randomly floating about and seek out concentrations of death and suffering, such as cemeteries or castle dungeons. when these concentrations meet and become large enough they form into a small writhing branch or stem. these are referred to as 'taint shoots' and are highly sought after by necromancers. should one be willing to deal with such people a common quest would be to gather taint shoots. taint shoots left unattended will naturally cause the dead to rise most of the time these dead will be zombies, skeletons, or a rare ghoul or 2 but if there is a large enough concentration even a wight, flesh slime, or flesh/bone golem can form
Dungeon Cores are alot like the taint, but are made up from when Arcane magic gathers instead. when arcane magic gathers and there is no mage to be attracted to or magical 'flow' (via magic being casted at some point in a large radius) the magic will instead seek out a clear crystal such as quartz once the magic gathered into this crystal it will become a 'dungeon core' dungeon cores will slowly passively terraform the stone and dirt around it over months to create a dungeon, albeit simplistic in design it is still a dungeon. the core also gives off a strange signal that lures violent creatures to it. dungeon cores, once found, can be 'bonded' with simple by staying with it for a long period of time individuals that do so are called "dungeon masters". becoming one grants them a power boost and the ability to command the creatures that are attracted to the dungeon and terraform the dungeon to your will over weeks instead of months into whatever you can imagine (within reason). if one dungeon master is killed another can take his place simply by remaining nearby the dungeon core. dungeon cores are somtimes called 'dungeon hearts' since if you put your ear to one you will occasionally hear a noise that can only be described as a "heartbeat". dungeon cores are highly valuable, liches can use one as a phylactery, mages can use them for mana storage, merchants can use them to unearth metals and gems with minimal effort, etc.
Status Effects
there are many afflictions that somone can face just by living a normal life, but they are far more common when one commonly engages in combat. so it is important to know what they are so that you can properly label what is wrong with you.
Bleeding/Melting/Burning- see 'forms of damage' above
Charmed- parties minotaur saw a dark elf wiggle her ass now he wants to kill his friends. interrupts channeling, until duration ends will attack allies
Cursed- varies based off of what curse was used, a curse of silence wont allow you to cast spells(or talk), a curse of blindness will make hitting things difficult(as well as admiring the ass on that dark elf), etc
Dazed- knocked upside the head this person is still conscience but needs a second to gather his bearings. interrupts channeling, unable to move or attack during its duration
Diseased- drinking from a well that smells like an outhouse will normally result in this. reduces stats based off what disease you have, may cause additional status effects
Impaired- maybe starting a fight while inebriated wasnt a good idea? massive negative to intelligence and dexterity, increased constitution, unable to channel, prone to bad decision making
Panicked- for some reason this guy cant seem to remember anything and hes taking it out on anything he can. interrupts channeling, until duration ends will attack anything nearby possibly even himself
Paralysis- you are entirely aware of your surroundings but you body is unable to even twitch. interrupts channeling, turns are skipped until status ends. frozen enemies are paralysed
Petrified- you have been turned to stone. effectively dead. can only be reversed by a stone-to-flesh spell
Poisoned- maybe eating random plants in the forest wasnt a good idea? take damage until you are cured or die
Prone- someone or somthing knocked you down and now you need to get up...unless you dont want too. spend a turn getting up or deal reduced damage, interrupts channeling unless you started while prone, many spells cannot be cast while prone
Rooted- somthing is holding you down and until you escape it your staying where you are. as long as whatever is causing this effect is around you cannot move from your location
Sleep- in the midst of combat an enemies decides to sing you a lullaby and rolls a critical success. interrupts channeling and you stay asleep until duration ends, you take damage, or DMs discretion
Stunned- trying to catch a tree with your face has consequences. interrupts channeling, turns are skipped until stun ends
Terrified- a stubborn zombie refuses to die to your turn undead attempt but you sure did put the fear of god into him. interrupts channeling, will run away from whatever is causing this effect. if cornered and unable to run treat this as a 'panicked' status effect
Planes of existence
planes or dimensions exist like clouds and much like clouds there is space inbetween them this space is where pocket dimensions or demiplanes are (see attached image). the difference between a pocket dimension and demiplane is size with pocket dimensions being like sacks that hold varying amounts based off the quality of the spell that made it but generally hold about what you can fit into a 10 foot square and demiplanes are triple that being rooms that one can summon that are 30 foot squares.
in a pocket dimension any intelligent creature can be a god, without the need of magic a person can create non-living non-magical items at will. however these items only exist within the confines of the pocket dimension and if taken out will cease to exist. when non-intelligent creatures(dogs for example) are inside of an pocket dimension they will fall into a deep sleep needing neither food nor drink and ceasing to age.
pocket dimensions are normally attached to an item in one of the planes and once that item is destroyed all the 'real' items in the pocket dimension will be forced out. but for demiplanes their existence remains as long as there is someone aware of it and there is at least one 'real' thing inside it. if there are real items left in a demiplane and the last person to be aware of that demiplane dies then the demiplane will crumble but the items inside will find themselves in a limbo where they exist but are inaccessible by all means until they eventually float aimlessly into the 'Dump Dimension' term coined by the first one to discover it and study it: Lord Bane. while many demi-liches know about this pocket dimension no one dares to try to steal from the most powerful of the four lords of destruction
The Greater Plane
also known as 'heaven' it is the dwelling of angels, goodly gods, and those deceased blessed by them
The Lesser Plane
also known as 'hell' it is the home of demons, evil gods, and those deceased cursed by them
Elemental Planes
consisting the 4 elements the elemental planes house genies, elemental, and; strangely; horses as well as the occasional other odd creature
The Astral Plane
a place made entirely of thoughts and dreams. the creatures that inhabit this place are of a purely metaphysical nature nothing may enter with a body, few can leave without one
The Ethereal Plane
a place purely physical in nature vision holds no purpose here since the mind that would process such information is left behind in another plane. it is said that people who enter this plane occasionally bump into somthing, but no one knows what it could be since even truesight cannot reveal a creature entirely in the ethereal plane.