Enchanting

A lamp that grants wishes, a ring that makes you invisible, a potion that heals the drinker—these and more magic items are embedded deep in the mythologies of the world. When magic returned to the world, the ability to at least simulate some of these items came into existence, though they cannot always duplicate the vast powers of myth. But when you can throw an empty bottle that explodes into an ice storm, or you can slip an executive a pencil that becomes a listening device when they pick it up, you shouldn’t complain about limitations, because awesome is in your reach.

Enchanting has two different branches - alchemy, which involves the creation of objects that store spells, and artificing, which involves making items that aid magic use. For Disenchanting, check p. 152 of the 6th Edition Core rulebook.

Alchemy

The ancient art of alchemy was concerned with turning lead into gold, brewing potions, or crafting stones that confer immortality. While some of modern alchemy’s aims are not so far different, the techniques have become more refined, and the uses are far vaster.

In the Sixth World, alchemy is about making preparations, which are objects imbued with spells. They provide a chance for spellcasters to trigger their magic in different ways. The trade-off is that the spells are generally less powerful than their cast-on-the-fly equivalents.

Preparations have three key elements: The spell embedded in the preparation, the trigger that will make that spell go off, and its Potency, which measures how its power declines over time. Each of these elements are discussed in the Making a Preparation section. Preparations are imbued with magic by their creator, and that means they carry their creator’s astral signature.

They can be recognized with a successful Astral + Intuition test. The aura fades at the same rate as a cast spell.

Choosing An Object

Making a preparation requires selecting the right object. If has to be something the magician can lift and manipulate and the process of making it into a preparation leaves a mark or change on it that can be recognized by a Perception + Intuition (3) test by someone who has the Arcana knowledge skill or something similar to it.

Balls, potions, bullets, or projectiles and small office items are some of the most aggravatingly popular objects to use in preparations.

Making a Preparation

Once you have chosen an object, you follow the four-step process below.

Step 1: Choose A Spell

If you want a preparation to trigger a spell, you have to choose the spell it will trigger.

You can only use a spell you know.

If you want to use Amp Up or Increase Area effects, choose how many of them to apply now (and remember to adjust Drain in Step 5).

The base Drain for every preparation is equivalent to the spell you've chosen.

Step 2: Choose A Trigger

If the preparation is ever going to make its imbued spell go off, it needs a trigger.

Command (+2 Drain): The individual who made the preparation can only trigger it by an act of will. The individual must be on the physical plane and have line of sight to the preparation to set off this trigger. Triggering of the preparation requires a single Minor Action. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Contact (+1 Drain): Perhaps the simplest trigger, this spell goes off when the next living material touches it. During creation, the material can be limited to specific scientific biological kingdoms such as animals, plants, fungi, protists, bacteria, or metaplanar beings. This removes the "spell goes off because of microscopic life living in dust particles" argument.

Time (+2 Drain): When using this trigger, the character selects an amount of tiem and when the creation is finished the clock starts ticking down on this time period. The time cannot be greater than the preparation's Potency in hours. If the Potency ends up being less than the selected time, the spell fizzles when the Potency runs out.

Light (+1 Drain): The light trigger unleashes the magic when the object is exposed to light greater than 80 lumens (the equivalent of a small flashlight). The creation must be done by candlelight and then stored in darkness to preserve the trigger. Requires 2 additional drams of reagents and must be made in a dim environment. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Darkness (+1 Drain): This trigger activates then the light on the preparation drops below 40 lumens (the equivalent of candelight). Requires 2 additional drams of reagents and must be made in a well-lit environment. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Specific Aura (+1 Drain): This trigger is linked to a specific target. When that target comes into contract - physical or astral - with the preparation then it activates. The creator needs to make an Assensing (3) test to create all the correct details for the aura. Not reaching the correct details leaves a potential error, which means it could fail or even activate early.

With no hits on the Assensing test, the creator knows they don't have enough information about the aura to make a good trigger. At 1, they feel confident but have a 1 in 3 chance of triggering it accidentally. Roll a 1D6 when the item is in the presence of any similar aura and on the result of a 1 or 2, the spell is triggered. At 2 hits, the chance goes to 1 in 6 and only occurs when rolled on a 1. Requires 2 additional drams of reagents. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Location (+1 Drain): This trigger links to a specific location. The location can be as broad as a building, narrowed down to a specific office in the building, or even down to a half-meter radius of a specific spot. The alchemist or spirit they have conjured must visit the location and succeed at an Astral + Intuition (2) test to assense the location.

If the test results in insufficient hits, the trigger moves from the original choice. If it was a specific spot, it becomes the area nearby. If the place was a specified area, the trigger might become a small part of it or an area near it. To make a Location trigger, the preparation must be crafted with a literal piece of the place in question.

Verbal (+3 Drain): A verbal trigger is a spoken word that can be told to activate the spell. It can also be used as a clever trap when the alchemist provides the wrong trigger to the buyer but supplies their enemies with the real command. If the word is spoken aloud within 4 meters of the preparation, then the spell activates. A Silence spell would render the preparation inert until the spell drops. Requires 2 additional drams of reagents.

Delayed Verbal (Varies): This trigger is common with area effect combat spells, in essence creating an arcane grenade. The standard verbal trigger rules are in place but a delay is put into the initial preparation design. The basic design features a 1 Combat Round delay (+4 Drain). A slightly longer delayer of 2 Combat Rounds (+3 Drain) is also present. Any delay beyond that only adds +2 Drain. Requires 4 additional drams of reagents.

Material (+2 Drain): This trigger sets a secondary substance as the activation cue for the spell within the preparation. The substance can be anything but gamemasters have the final call on how specific the substance needs to be.

Possible examples include a pill that activates on contact with saliva or stomach acid an an ointment that needs a sprinkle of cinnamon to activate the magic. Requires 3 additional drams of reagents. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Somatic (+2 Drain): This is a particular movement action that needs to be performed in order to make the spell work. The coding is built into the preparation and needs at least 1 minute of study and practice in order to perform the gesture. The gesture is a Minor Action to perform once learned. Requires 5 additional drams of reagents. This trigger can be used with Health spells.

Step 3: Create The Preparation

Once all the decisions are made, you have to actually make the preparation, which takes a number of hours equal to the total Drain of the spell (after any effects and the drain from triggers are added).

Getting everything crafted just right takes time, and precision is needed - one wrong glyph, and instead of having a vicious fireball that roasts your enemies to a crisp, you have a spell that warms them nicely on a cold day and dries out their socks. That simply won’t do.

Reagents can be used at this stage to channel mana into the preparation, putting less of a strain on the enchanter. Reagents can be used to reduce the Drain Value by the number of drams employed (up to 2).

At the end of this step, the enchanter makes an Enchanting + Magic test opposed by the Drain Value of the preparation.

Net hits on this test become the Potency of the preparation and should be recorded.

Step 4: Resist Drain

All the detailed work on the preparation, combined with the effort of channeling mana into an object, is exhausting.

The total Drain Value for a preparation is spell Drain Value (with adjustments) + trigger Drain Value – drams of reagents used (up to 2).

The enchanter uses their tradition attribute + Willpower to reduce that drain.

If the Drain Value left after rolling to reduce it is greater than your Magic rating, any Drain suffered is Physical; otherwise it’s Stun Damage.

The Finished Preparation

The spell, trigger, and Potency of the preparation should all be noted, along with any spell effects added.

The preparation maintains its full power for [Potency x 2] hours; after that, power starts to decrease.

With each [current Potency x 2] hour interval after that, the Potency of the preparation decreases by 1.

When it reaches 0, the preparation fizzles, and the magic inside is lost.

Using A Preparation

Triggering a preparation is the same as casting a spell, but also different. Instead of rolling Sorcery + Magic, roll Potency of the preparation + Magic of the enchanter. There is no additional drain when the spell is triggered; that was already handled in the creation of the preparation.

The range of the spell is also a little different, since it is based on a spell emerging from an inanimate object. Treat range as follows:

Touch: Anyone or anything in direct contact with the preparation when it is triggered is affected (if they are the type of thing to be affected by the spell, that is).
Line of Sight: If the preparation has a command trigger, which requires line of sight by the enchanter, then they choose the target when the spell is triggered. Otherwise, the spell hits the closest target with line of sight to it. The range of the spell is limited to [Potency x Magic] meters.
Area: The preparation is the center of the spell’s area, and it affects the area around the spell. The sphere has a two-meter radius, plus two meters for each Increase Area effect added.

Targets of the spell resist its effects as normal. Sustained spells remain in effect for one minute per remaining potency upon trigger.

Artificing

One branch of Enchanting is learning the technique to tap into the fundamental power latent in natural elements and imbue items with magic to aid and enhance a magician’s abilities. The act of creating a magical focus is known as artificing; more information about foci can be found on p. 154 of Street Wyrd.

Unlike a preparation, a focus is powerful, reusable, and intimately tied to its owner. A focus represents a permanent and complex enchantment built up slowly from an arcane formula and finished with Karma.

All foci follow the same basic creation process: first, a focus formula is needed, then an appropriate telesma (the material item to be enchanted) is selected. After that the enchantment proper is created, and finally the finished focus is bonded.

Step 1: Choose Focus Formula

Designing a focus requires a complex arcane recipe known as a focus formula. These formulas are too complex for metahuman magicians to memorize and must be recorded in some fashion.

You can buy focus formulas from lore stores and talismongers. All focus formulae specify the type of focus (spell, spirit, power, weapon, etc.), Force, form (wooden quarterstaff, gold ring, vibroknife, etc.), and tradition of the focus (hermetic, shamanic, etc.).

The formulas sold by talismongers typically use “traditional” forms in widespread magical traditions (wands, magical amulets, rune-carved swords, etc.) - which is why a lot of magicians commonly create their own formulas (which is advanced magic for a future book).

The focus formula must be for a Force that is equal to or less than your Magic rank - you cannot make foci with a Force greater than your Magic rank

Step 2: Obtain The Telesma

Before you can create a focus, you need to acquire an item that matches the form defined in the focus formula.

An object being prepared for enchantment in this manner is known as a telesma.

Obtaining telesma may be simple or complex - if the formula calls for a knife it may be no more difficult than buying a blade from the local Weapons World franchise, but if the formula calls for a flute carved from the bones of a California condor, you might need to do some work to track down the item in question.

Any inanimate object can serve as the telesma: a wooden wand, a jeweled charm, a weapon, a car, an oddly shaped stone, and so on.

The more unprocessed and natural the object, or the more work you performed to craft it, the easier the telesma is to enchant.

Step 3: Prepare The Magical Lodge

You'll need a magical lodge with a Force at least equal to that of the formala's Force and of the same tradition of yourself and the focus formula.

While you're there, make sure you add some amenities because you're going to be in there for a while.

Step 4: Spend Reagents

The amount you need to spend (in drams) is equal to the rating of the foci, with a minimum of (Rating) drams.

These reagents are spent at the start of the process, so they are used up even if you fail or abort the crafting.

Step 5: Craft The Focus

Next, you need to spend a number of days equal to the Force of the focus formula. You use this time to gather mana, attuning it to the telesma and working it into the material permanently. You’re actually working sporadically over the course of each day, so you can do other business during this time, but you can’t leave the lodge without ruining your crafting attempt.

At the end of the crafting time, it is time for the truly tricky part of the process: invoking the power of the focus. Make an Enchanting + Magic v. formula Force + telesma’s Object Resistance. This counts as the culmination of all your work over the days, and you can’t use Edge for this test. If you succeed, the net hits from this test (up to the focus formula force) become the actual Force of the focus.

If you glitch, you cannot resist drain in the next step. If you critically glitch, the magic spins out of your control and rips away 1 Essence from you—artificing is not for the weak or untrained.

Step 6: Resist Drain

The Drain Value is the Force specified by the focus formula, plus 2 for each hit (not net hits) rolled against you in the Enchanting + Magic test in Step 5; since the Force cannot be higher than your Magic rating, the drain does Stun damage.

If you’re still conscious after resisting drain, you can seal the deal and finish the focus.

If you fall unconscious or don’t want to keep the result, skip this or start over (probably after you’ve healed).

Foci

Foci (singular: focus) are specially crafted items made potent with a mana infusion. They are astral constructs embedded within physical objects. When active, the design of the astral construct pools mana energy so that the magician who owns it can use that energy for a specific magical task. The physical form of a focus varies: bracelets, amulets, belts, wands, walking sticks, staves, cups, bottle caps, daggers, hats, hip flasks, pens, and so on and so forth although most of the time a focus reflects the tradition of its maker. Foci have a Force rating that measures their power.

You can’t use a focus unless you’ve bonded it to yourself, and you can’t bond foci unless you’re Awakened.

Bonding a focus takes an hour per point of Force of the focus, time that is spent contemplating the object and synchronizing its astral signature to yours. Once you’ve spent the Karma and the time, the focus’ power is available to you. A focus can only be bound to one person at a time - the bonding process breaks the bond with the focus’ previous owner (if it had one). Each focus has a specific power and must be active for you to use it. Activating and deactivating a focus is a Minor Action. For a focus to remain active, it must be in the possession of the magician (worn, carried, handheld, in a pocket or pouch, etc.). Likewise, if you lose consciousness, any focus bonded to you deactivates. If you lose possession of a focus, it automatically deactivates and you lose all its benefits until you recover it and activate it again.

All foci have auras that are visible from astral space and carry your astral signature. While activated, a focus also has an astral form. If you use astral projection, you also carry the astral form of any active foci you have. If you deactivate a focus while you’re projecting, its astral form disappears. You’ll need to go back to your body to reactivate it.

You can’t bond more foci than your Magic attribute, no focus Force may exceed your magic Attribute, and the maximum Force of all your bonded foci can’t exceed your Magic x 5. Regardless of the number of bonded foci you have, only one focus may add its Force to a dice pool for any given test

Enchanting Foci

Cost: Force x ¥5,000

Availability: (Force) (Legal)

Alchemical Focus: An alchemical focus adds its Force in dice to Enchanting skill tests to create preparations.

Disenchanting Focus: When a disenchanting focus is in contact with another artifact, the magician can add dice equal to its Force to the Disenchanting test.

Metamagic Foci

Cost: Force x ¥9,000

Availability: (Force) (Legal)

Metamagic foci support initiates and the higher forms of magic they've learned. Metamagic foci add their Force to the magician's initiate grade when using specific metamagics.

Centering Focus: A centering focus adds its Force to the magician's initiate grade when they use the centering metamagic.

Flexible Signature Focus: A flexible signature focus adds its Force to your initiate grade when increasing the threshold of observers' Assensing (Astral + Intuition) tests.

Masking Focus: When resisting someone else's Assensing test, add the Force of this focus to your dice pool. It does not increase the number of bonded foci you can mask.

Spell Shaping Focus: Treat your Magic rating as if it was increased by the Force of this focus when determining how much you can shape your spells.

Power Foci

Cost: Force x ¥18,000

Availability: (Force + 3) (Legal)

Power foci live up to their name. They are very powerful foci that temporarily increase your effective Magic rating.

That means they add to your Sorcery dice pools whenever you use that skill along with any other test where Magic is involved.

Power foci can take any form, but rings and amulets are quite popular.

Spell Foci

Cost: Force x ¥4,000

Availability: (Force) (Legal)

Spell foci empower Sorcery. Each spell focus is attuned to rituals or to one of the five categories of spells (Combat, Detection, Illusion, Healing, and Manipulation) when it is created, and that category cannot be changed. There are four types of spell foci.

Counterspelling: Counterspelling foci add dice equal to their Force to any Counterspelling attempt, as long as the countered spell is in the same category as the focus. It also adds its Force as a dice pool bonus when you perform the Boosted Defense form of counterspelling.

Ritual Spellcasting: A ritual spellcasting focus adds its Force in dice to your Ritual Spellcasting Tests (whether you’re the leader or a participant). If the ritual isn’t a spell ritual, this focus can still be used, but if it’s a spell ritual of a different category than the focus, it can’t.

Spellcasting: Spellcasting foci add their Force to your Spellcasting dice pool as long as the spell is in the same category as the focus.

Sustaining: When you cast a spell through a sustaining focus, it sustains the spell for you, letting you avoid the dice pool penalty for sustaining a spell. A spell sustained by a sustaining focus cannot have a modified Drain Value (after adding any effects) greater than the Force of the focus, and the spell’s category must match the focus’s category. If a spell sustained by a focus is disrupted, it ends, but the focus is still active (and still bound to its owner), it’s just not sustaining a spell at the moment. A sustaining focus can’t be used to sustain a spell ritual.

Qi Foci

Cost: Force x ¥3,000

Availability: (Force) (Legal)

Qi foci only work for adepts and mystic adepts. They channel mana into your adept powers. A qi focus can be an object, like other foci, but it can also be worked into a body modification, like tattoos, ritual scarring, and piercings.

Each focus is specific to a single adept power at a specific level. While the focus is active, you get the power contained in it, or if you already have the power, the focus’ levels are added to your own (if it’s a power with levels, that is; otherwise there’s no benefit for you).

The Force of the focus must be four times the cost of the power it holds.

Spirit Foci

Cost: Force x ¥4,000

Availability: (Force) (Legal)

Spirit foci empower a magician’s conjuring skills. Each spirit focus must be attuned to a specific type of spirit.

Summoning: A summoning focus adds dice equal to its Force to summoning attempts as long as the targeted spirit is in the same category as the focus.

Banishing: The banishing focus gives the character a point of Edge if its Force is higher than the spirit’s Force. That point must be used on the Banishing test or it is lost.

Weapon Foci

Cost: Force x ¥7,000

Availability: (Force + 3) (Legal)

A weapon focus always has, unsurprisingly, the form of a melee weapon (it cannot be a ranged weapon). It adds magical power to the melee attacks you make with it.

When used in physical combat, it gives you its Force as a dice pool bonus on your Attack test.

You still rely on your physical attributes and skills in combat; the weapon focus merely makes you more effective. A weapon focus is effective against astral forms too, whether you’re using astral perception or projection. It adds its Force to your Astral Combat tests when you’re using it, and you can take it along while astrally projecting.

The damage of the weapon in astral combat is the same as it is in the physical world, except that you can decide between Stun or Physical damage.