Combat Spells

Simply put, Combat spells bring the pain. They're what you cast to make enemies scared, unconscious, or dead.

There are two essential kinds of Combat spells: Direct and Indirect.

Direct Combat Spells

Direct Combat Spells are when you shape mana in a way that it directly pummels the opposition - the magic is the damage. When you cast a Direct Combat spell, roll Sorcery + Magic opposed by the Willpower + Intuition of the target. Net Hits on the opposed test become damage in addition to any Amp Up damage the character chose. Damage from Direct Combat spells is not resisted.

Indirect Combat Spells

Rather than having the magic do the pummeling, Indirect Combat spells create an effect that causes the damage - igniting a fireball, sparking a lightning bolt, creating an icicle. To cast an Indirect Combat spell, roll Sorcery + Magic vs. Reaction + Willpower. Damage is the caster's Magic divided by 2 (rounded up) + net hits on the opposed test + Amp Up damage. Targets roll their Body to resist this damage, as they would in physical combat. Indirect Combat spells frequently come with elemental effects.

Spell Descriptions

Range

Touch: The target needs to be touched - succeed on an additional unarmed Close Combat attack that deals no damage prior to casting the spell or make contact with a willing target to heal them, award them a sense, or otherwise connect a magical effect to an individual. If the Close Combat test exceeds the target's Defense or meets it with a tie, the spell takes effect.

Line of Sight: The caster needs a physical line of sight to the target - optical lenses such as binoculars count as physical line of sight; magical effects and digitized images such as thermographic goggles do not.

Line of Sight (Area): This means the spell has a line-of-sight range and also has an area effect which starts at a 2 Meter radius sphere.

Special: The range is defined in the write-up for this specific spell.

Duration

Instantaneous: These spells take effect immediately, then dissipate.

Sustained: These spells last as long as the caster keeps it in operation. Dropping a sustained spell requires no use of an action; the magician simply stops holding it. Each Sustained spell incurs a -2 Dice Pool Modifier as long as it is Sustained.

Limited: These spells have set endpoints that they cannot be sustained beyond but can be dropped earlier than that if desired.

Permanent: These effects do not dissipate and stay in place without any effort or focus on the part of the caster. Permanent spells simply become a full part of the world.

Type

Mana: Mana spells interact solely with the astral plane; they may affect living beings, as living beings have an astral component, but they have no effect on nonliving, non-astral entities such as drones, streetlights, or glass.

Physical: Physical spells only affect the physical realm, which means they cannot be used on the Astral, and do not affect anyone astrally projecting or spirits that have not manifested. They do, however, affect anything on the physical plane.

Drain Value

This is the base value that casters must resist to avoid experiencing Drain. It can be increased if casters use Amp Up or Increase Area to adjust their spells.

Punch

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Touch

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 2

Damage: Stun

Description: This spell smacks the target with an invisible psychokinetic force, similar to a bruising full-force punch.

Clout

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 3

Damage: Stun

Description: This spell smacks the target with invisible psychokinetic force, making the wind itself feel like a brick wall.

Blast

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Stun

Description: This spell causes an exploding gust of psycokinetic force to bloom outward from a chosen point of detonation.

Knockout

(Direct Combat)

Range: Touch

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 2

Damage: Stun

Description: This spell - as well as Stunbolt and Stunball - are often referred to by many combat mages as the 'sleep' spell because it can render a target unconcious without brain damage and actually keep them alive.

Stunbolt

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 3

Damage: Stun

Description: Stunbolt travels at the speed of thought to a target, potentially knocking them out without scrambling their brains and for a decent length of time. A quiet, stealthy spell if it actually hits with full force.

Stunball

(Direct Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Stun

Description: The friendliest area of effect spell ever cast, Stunball delivers massive amount of non-lethal energy to living beings in a wide area and has the potential of knocking out several individuals without causing grievous brain damage.

Lash

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical. For every 2 boxes of unresisted Physical damage this spell does, the target takes 1 box of Stun.

Description: Depending on the magician's tradition or personal style, Lash can manifest as a whip, tentacle, or even a stream of unbreakable water. No matter the form, it stretches across the divide from between the caster and target and strikes them with incredible - and deadly - force.

Slash

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical. For every 2 boxes of unresisted Physical damage this spell does, the target takes 1 box of Stun.

Description: No matter how Slash manifests - often affected by the magician's tradition and style - the space between the caster and the area they see becomes a tangled mass of tentacles, wires, or water that brutally dispatches all in its area.

Claw

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical. +1 Dice Reroll against armored opponents.

Description: The Claw spell manifests as sharp shards of mana resembling claws, talons, nails, spikes, et cetera that tear into the target, rending armor and flesh alike.

Barrage

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical. +1 Dice Reroll against armored opponents.

Description: Much like the Claw spell, Barrage manifests as something awful and sharp; from natural shapes like claws to artificial shapes like nails. No matter what the appearance is, it rends all matter equally on the physical plane with great efficacy.

Death Touch

(Direct Combat)

Range: Touch

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 3

Damage: Physical

Description: Destructive power channeled into a target that roasts the target from the inside, causing a radiation-like damage but without the lingering and pesky long-term effects.

Shattershield

(Direct Combat)

Range: Touch

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical. The barrier resists this spell with its Structure Rating in dice.

Description: This spell formula is a variant of the Death Touch spell, reconfigured to only damage magical barriers - and splinter them in a very satisfying manner.

Manabolt

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical

Description: Essential spellcasting - shaping mana itself to crack skulls. Who can argue with its purity? This spell targets a living organism and channels magical energy directly, causing massive cellular die-off.

Manaball

(Direct Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical

Description: Much like Death Touch and Manabolt, this spell affects living organisms only and damages them with similar effects to radiation or necrotizing fasciitis, but faster and without any continuing effects. Manaball itself is affected by subconcious targeting - that means that plants, insects, allies, and other visible creatures in the area will roast as well. No discrimination.

Magebolt

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical, Chemical. Causes Corrosive.

Description: An enterprising individual once said "why not Manabolt, but for drones?" and Magebolt came into existence. The side-effect of mana being warped in such a way is that it burns far deadlier - and the 'burning' from the mana won't stop immediately. In fact, it's been known to eat inorganic and organic tissue like exposure to Chernobyl's elephant's foot. Fun!

Mana Missiles

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 2

Damage: Physical. The spellcaster may choose to fire this spell off at a single target as normal or split their dice pool between multiple targets, suffering a -4 Dice Pool Penalty for each additional target and halving the damage for each additional projectile after the first. Additional targets roll their Indirect Combat defense and resist normally.

Description: A mote of raw mana is drawn upon transmutated into multiple projectiles which fling themselves towards the target.

Firewater

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical, Fire. Causes Burning. Fire Resistance is only half as effective unless the armor also has Chemical Seal.

Description: Combining fire and water, this spell acts to devastating effect on its target due to its thin viscosity that tends to get into every gap, under most clothes, and even in people's hair before the heat sets those items ablaze.

Napalm

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical, Fire. Causes Burning. Fire Resistance is only half as effective unless the armor also has Chemical Seal.

Description: Napalm does more than defoliate - it destroys without a care. This flaming-hot liquid resembles a drizzling magma that can find itself into any nook or cranny - which is especially devastating when this spell explodes from the point of casting.

Flamethrower

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical, Fire.

Description: Considered a classic by many combat mages, Flamethrower is an angry stream of fire, dripping with globs of materialized heat. It's doubly popular due to the fact that it only harms living organisms.

Flamestrike

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Fire.

Description: This spell fires an artificial cylinder of white-hot fire, light, and heat at a target from the caster's position.

Fireball

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical, Fire.

Description: The tried, true, and classic fire-based spell. It's been doodled, mythologized, depicted on trideo screen and in games and has a presence in most mage's 'fish stories' in the shadows. A true, proper fireball that is manifested, lands with the speed of a meteor, and expands with globs of magma and white-hot fire.

Hellblast

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 8

Damage: Physical, Fire. Causes Corrosive.

Description: With bluish hues and reeking of raw sulfur, this wicked manifestation of hell on earth will induce fear into your enemies - assuming they survive.

Scorching Missiles

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 2

Damage: Physical, Fire. The spellcaster may choose to fire this spell off at a single target as normal or split their dice pool between multiple targets, suffering a -4 Dice Pool Penalty for each additional target and halving the damage for each additional projectile after the first. Additional targets roll their Indirect Combat defense and resist normally.

Description: With an appearance not dissimilar to the crackling cinders that 'jump' off of a roaring flame, Scorching Missiles are oblong motes of flame that can split off from themselves and crash into multiple targets, so long as the magician is skilled enough to direct them.

Flame Burst

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Sustained

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Fire. On the beginning of a Combat Round while this spell is sustained, the area of the spell is buffeted with flame from the caster's point of origin, damaging everything in its path but the caster themselves.

Description: A spell for the desperate, chaotic, or uncaring. It sends sheets of flame from the caster, damaging everything in its area of effect - animate, inanimate, friend or foe.

Comet

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 7

Damage: Physical, Fire. Athletics + Strength (4) test required or else a target is knocked Prone.

Description: Taking the form of a flaming hot sphere of earth, Comet strikes an area with a shattering pyrokinetic force that sets things ablaze as well as sends people and items around the impact to the ground.

Lightning Bolt

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Electricity. Causes Zapped.

Description: A snap, crackle, and a mote of electricity that homes in on the chosen target almost as fast as the naturally occurring weather phenomena.

Lightning Ball

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical, Electricity. Causes Zapped.

Description: A large, spherical ball of lightning that lands at a specific point and expands outwards, shocking all which are unfortunate enough to be within its area of effect.

Lightning Lance

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Electricity. Causes Zapped. Lightning Lance may penetrate up to (Magic/2) targets provided they are within a direct line between themselves and the caster.

Description: This spell fires a cylinder of lightning shrouded in smaller arcs that end at a pinpoint that can pierce multiple objects, electrifying anything it touches between the caster and the target.

Electric Sweep

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Limited (2 Combat Rounds)

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Stun, Electricity. Causes Zapped.

Description: A non-lethal form of Lightning Ball which is toned down to incapacitate targets, lasting for a short duration in an area.

Thunderstruck

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Stun. If net hits are greater than the Body of the target, the target is Dazed for 1 Combat Round. Noise of the spell is centered on the target.

The target and any living creatures within the area of effect must resist the spell or gain the Deafened status for (Magic) minutes. Every 2 net hits increases the Deafened level by 1.

The Increase Area effect can be applied to Thunderstuck's noise, but damage only affects a single target.

Description: A loud and proud stun spell that is sure to attract attention with the sound of thundering cannons. Intensity of the spell can track over 100 decibels with a similar concussive force as Clout.

Hose

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Special. Causes Wet. If successful, the target is pushed back 2 meters from the caster. If the net hits exceed the Body of the target, then they are knocked Prone. Any additional net hits past that become the number of meters that the target is pushed back in addition to the first 2 meters. This additional push is resisted by the target by rolling their Body.

Description: Who needs a pressurized seltzer bottle when you have Hose? This spell creates nourishing H2O and launches it at a target with enough force to knock most metahumans on their ass.

Tsunami

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Special. Causes Wet. If successful, each target is pushed back 2 meters from the caster. If the net hits exceed the Body of the targets, then they are knocked Prone. Any additional net hits past that become the number of meters that the target is pushed back in addition to the first 2 meters. This additional push is resisted by the targets by rolling their Body.

Description: Create a manifestation of natural, sparkling H2O to flush out unwanted obstacles or attention. Cleanup is quick and easy in volumes such as this!

Ice Shards

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 2

Damage: Physical. For every 2 Net Hits, the caster may choose a secondary target within 10 meters of the original target that must make a Direct Combat spell defense or take half of the spell's damage in addition to the primary target.

Description: Manifest shards of glacial ice and fire them at an enemy in a shotgun-like blast.

Ice Spear

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Cold. Causes Chilled.

Description: Create a handheld - or flying - cylinder of raw ice which can pierce flesh or shatter upon impact, causing intensely discomforting lacerations with brittle, jagged ice that seems to freeze all it touches.

Chill

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Stun, Cold. Causes Chilled. Reduce the target's Initiative score by 1 per Net Hit.

Description: Reduce the air temperature of the target to the point where it limits their ability to move as frostbite begins to set in, stiffening their joints, making them shiver, and temporarily inhibiting their ability to breathe.

Frigid

(Direct Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Stun, Cold. Causes Chilled. Reduce the target's Initiative score by 1 per Net Hit.

Description: Reduce the air temperature in an area, causing the rapid onset of hypothermia, frostbite, and causing a frigid sluggishness to all effected.

Freezing Gust

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 7

Damage: Stun, Cold. Causes Chilled. Causes Immobilized. Can break out of the net with a Strength (3) test and the use of a Major Action.

Description: When every corp security goon starts wearing flame-retardant underwear, it's time to throw a changeup at them and hit them with another temperature extreme, blasting a target with immobilizing cold which is - hopefully - not enough to kill them.

Ice Storm

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical, Cold. Causes Chilled. Ice Storm acts as an Ice Sheet (Manipulation) spell in the area it is casted.

Description: Create a spherical area filled with frozen moisture, the likes of which are only beaten by a whiteout blizzard and buffeting any inside of the spell's area with frigid cold that causes near instantaneous frostbite.

Acid Stream

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Chemical. Causes Corrosive.

Description: Fire acid in a controlled, cylindrical stream at a target that does immediate damage, as well as leaves a caustic and acidic goo on whatever it hits.

Toxic Wave

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Physical, Chemical. Causes Corrosive.

Description: Release an acidic, chemical explosive glob that coats everything in the immediate area. The glob eats at all physical objects it touches over time as well as damages soft flesh and sensitive microelectronics alike.

Soundbolt

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Mana

Duration: 5

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Causes Deafened, Causes Blinded, Causes Dazed. Every 2 Net Hits increase Deafened and Blinded by 1 level.

Description: Fire a bolt of sonic energy and disorienting vibrations aimed at a specific target; once hit, their bodies vibrate so viciously they experience damage and discomfort.

Soundwave

(Indirect Combat)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: Causes Deafened, Causes Blinded, Causes Dazed. Every 2 Net Hits increase Deafened and Blinded by 1 level.

Description: Cause an area to experience high frequency vibrations so rigorous that it causes many to experience temporary deafness, double vision, and disorientation in addition to damage.

Shatter

(Direct Combat)

Range: Touch

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 3

Damage: Physical

Description: Cook your enemies from the inside without any desire for them to live out the remainder of their existence with a touch like that of a magical microwave scrunching a hot dog into a blackened husk.

Powerbolt

(Direct Combat)

Range: Line of Sight

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 4

Damage: Physical

Description: The harsher version of Clout, Powerbolt smacks the target with an intense psychokinetic damage which has been reported hard enough to stop pacemakers or outright cause a brain hemorrhage.

Powerball

(Direct Combat, Area)

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical

Description: Detonate a massive sphere of searing magical energy which cooks anything inside of it to a point of pure destruction, often described as "rapid onset necrosis" that destroys the moisture of its targets and transforms flesh into a wrinkled, blackened shell.

One Less [Target]

(Direct Combat)

Range: Touch

(Focus)

Range: Line of Sight, Area

Type: Mana

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 7

Can be learned as a general spell, or take specializations that only affect a specific Focus type.

If learned for a specific foci, gain +1 Dice Reroll when casting the spell.

Description: Creating an ectomagic pulse in an area causes a spherical detonation that sends out disruptive mana that damages all enchanted objects.

[Element] Grenade

(Indirect Combat, Area)

Range: Touch

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 5

Damage: Physical, Elemental Damage. Elemental Status Effect.

The spellcaster's test is treated as if it were an Athletics + Agility test to throw the grenade, with scatter rules applying to the hits on the spell test.

Grenades have an area of 16m (8x8 squares).

Description: Create a solid ball of energy roughly the size of a grapefruit in the caster's hands, then launch it in any direction you choose. This solid manifestation acts in real-time like an actual grenade, bouncing and rolling and scattering on surfaces in realistically for its shape.

Object Targeting Spells

These spells must include an object as part of the spell formula. The chosen object can be either narrow or broad. See the table below for examples of these spells and their effect on different objects.

These spells can be learned multiple times, each with a new object. Gain +1 Dice Reroll when casting the spell if the formula is for a narrow object.

Example Objects For Spell Formula

Broad Object

Armor

Firearm

Melee Weapon

Furniture

Electronic Device

Ground Craft

Narrow Object

Armored Vest

Heavy Pistol

Blades, Clubs

Chair, Table, Toilet

Commlink, Trideo Player, Camera

Car, Truck, Motorcycle

Damage Effects Of Object Targeting Spells

Object

Armor

Weapons

Wall/Barrier

Range: Line of Sight (Area)

Type: Physical

Duration: Instant

Drain Value: 6

Damage: An object targeted by this spell rolls an Object Resistance test.

If the Body of an object such as a vehicle or drone is greater than the Object Resistance, use the Body instead.

Damage is not resisted.

Description: Destruction so beautiful that it has made many a formula creator wax poetic in the margins. Like Ram and Wreck, this flashy and visible destruction of objects can create quite a spectacle - but it also leaves nothing behind but dust, which is easily dispatched with a wave of the hand. Or a pushbroom, depending on how potent your talent is.