Mage

Overview

Mages are people who make their living with the study and use of magic. Magic is a difficult, demanding mistress and achieving great skill with the mystic arts precludes great skill in other demanding disciplines. Student Mages are not encouraged to waste their time with trivia like 'armor' or crudities like 'weapons'. For a mage, magic is weapon, armor, shield, and comfort. Even small branches out into other areas of study frequently relate back to magic. Mages can excel at creating potions and runes without sacrificing a great deal of their magic. Mages tend to analytical minds and this makes them fine engineers, if they can be persuaded to sacrifice a bit more of their raw capability.

Armor Proficiency: Moving under stress in armor is a trained, physical activity and not something Mages are taught. Mages may wear Costume Armor without spending precious resources to learn better.

Weapon Proficiencies: Mages are skilled in the use of magic implements: Daggers, Staves, and Wands.

Mana: Mages may purchase mana without limit up to 120 because of haters, although their efficiency suffers a bit past the efficient limit of 100. This more than anything is what distinguishes a Mage from a dabbler.

Class Features:

Second Breath: A Mage may reset his spell pool without cost, count, or announcement once per reset.

Overcast: A Mage up against the wall may burn one base Body point to immediately generate 10 Mana, to the limit of his base Body points. A Mage that does this cannot use their magic for ten minutes per Body spent, and Mages cannot Overcast more than their base Body in any given reset. This damage cannot be healed with magic, although they may heal it with chemical or natural remedies. Overcast is a weapon of last resort; Mages loathe being severed from their magic, but when things are bad enough, Overcast provides one last hope. (I've had it observed, correctly, that this is basically a second, possibly very large, mana pool, and I need to rethink it. What I wanted was a last-ditch heavy burn when all hope was lost and I'm still noodling on how to present that without incurring routine Overcasting.)

Practiced Practitioner: Through use of mental review of their situation, a Mage may call back the energies from a spell they cast that missed the target doing so will return the mana spent but not any associated Ley Energies. This can be done once per reset at 1st level and again once every 4 levels after that (1,st, 5th, 19th, etc) Note: This is not for any spell that was defended against, only those where the mage just missed their target completely, hitting nothing. Any Defense or hitting of an unintended character will not be able to trigger this effect.

Mage Skills

A note about Spells: The SP cost listed for spells below applies if your Mage wants to teach him/herself a spell without a scroll. If you have a scroll available, you can read that into memory and avoid the SP cost entirely; the SP cost is available as a means to ensure that your Mage can acquire spells even a given scroll is elusive, or overpriced, or just sold by someone you can't get along with.

Category	Skill Name	Prerequisite Skills	SP Cost	Use Cost
Magic
	Mana (1-100)	-	1/2	Fuel
	Mana (101-120)	Mana (100)	1	Fuel
	1st School	-	0	Passive
	2nd School	1st School	10	Passive
	1st level spell	1st School	1*	1 Mana
	2nd level spell	1st School, 1st level spell	1*	2 Mana
	3rd level spell	1st School, 2nd level spell	1*	3 Mana
	4th level spell	1st School, 3rd level spell	1*	4 Mana
	5th level spell	1st School, 4th level spell	1*	5 Mana
	6th level spell	1st School, 5th level spell	1*	6 Mana
	7th level spell	1st School, 6th level spell	1*	7 Mana
	8th level spell	1st School, 7th level spell	1*	8 Mana
	9th level spell	1st School, 8th level spell	1*	9 Mana
	Spell Pool 1	None	0	See Below
	Spell Pool 2	Spell Pool 1	5	See Below
	Spell Pool 3	Spell Pool 2	10	See Below
	Spell Pool 4	Spell Pool 3	15	See Below
	Spell Pool 5	Spell Pool 4	15	See Below
	Spell Pool 6	Spell Pool 5	15	See Below
Metamagic
	Ley Point 1-20	1 Mana	2	Fuel
	Hasten Spell	-	2	1 Ley Point
	Natural Spell	-	2	2 Ley Points
	Penetrating Spell	-	3	2 Ley Points
	Arcane Spell	-	4	3 Ley Points
	Revitalize	-	5	See Below
	Elemental Spell	-	3	2 Ley Points
	Mana Shield	-	10	5 Ley Points
	Siphon Mana	-	2	1 Ley Point
	Aura Emulation	-	4	2 Ley Points
	Storm	-	5	3 Ley Points
Miscellaneous
	Cancel Magic	-	6	None
	Chain Spell 1-5	-	4	None
	Mirror Image	-	4	Daily
	Portal Manipulation 1-5	-	4	Varies

Mage Skill Descriptions:

Magic Skills:

Mana: Mana is the fuel by which spells are generated. Spells are leveled 1-9 and every spell costs an amount of mana equal to its level to cast. Mages pay 1 SP to get 2 mana until they reach 100; after that, additional mana is available at 1 SP per mana point up to 120 (although this limit may rise as the game progresses). Collectively, a Mage's available mana is referred to as a pool, despite the confusing overlap with the unrelated "spell pool" used for linear magic delivery. Mages on every world refer to things like the "depth" of their mana pools. It's an odd idiosyncrasy of the cosmos.

Schools: Schools are variously referred to as Paths or Disciplines or Flavors at various places on various worlds. Whatever the name, a School is just a grouping of spells related to each other in some way. Learning a School allows your mage to acquire and cast spells from that School. Far and away the most common Schools are Evocation and Spirit; these are the first two taught at every accredited magic school and every Mage can learn the workings of those Schools without significant trouble. Other Schools do exist; Shadow is known (and feared) across the worlds. Others tend to be so narrow in purpose that they're not useful outside of their niches, or so carefully guarded that learning them is a massive, epic task. Nature may or may not be a School of magic. Scholars have debated this as far back as anyone can remember; the use of mana and the general similarity in the casting process argues that Nature is a School. The fact that no Mage yet has managed to learn to it argues that's a magic-like philosophy and so different from "normal" mana manipulation that it's not actually a School so much as it is a perspective, one incompatible with Magery.

Spells 1-9: Broadly speaking, Mages may learn spells in one of two ways. The easiest is simply transcribing a written formula into memory, and Mages prefer this where the option is available. In order to do this, all your Mage needs is a scroll of the relevant spell and enough time to read it and learn it. Spells learned in this way cost no Skill Points, further endearing it to the Mages of the worlds. Where this isn't possible (some places have outright banned Evocation magic from the lower classes, for example), it's possible to gut it out and teach yourself the spell. Doing this has no monetary cost, but it does incur a cost in skill points instead.

Spell Pool: Mages can step out of the way of their own spellcasting process and instead elect to just push unshaped mana. Doing this is faster and less stressful than formal spellcasting. One point of spell pool generates 1 point of healing (if you're trained in Spirit) or elemental damage (if you're trained in Evocation) or other flavors (if you're trained in weirdo schools of magic, they'll specify their pool flavors), to a limit of 10 points at a time at Spell Pool I. This is cast as "Magic X <healing | damage type>" and packet delivered. Every rank of Spell Pool adds 25 points of usable pool and increases the 'spell cap' of the amount used of your pool you can use at a time by 5. Thus, With spell pool 1 your cap is 10 points per use and with Spell Pool 6 you may use 35 points of pool at a time. Spell Pool must be delivered in increments of 5. Spell Pool can be refreshed with five minutes of uninterrupted time, or immediately refreshed via the 9th level spell Evocation

Starting Spells: Your Mage enters play with their character level + 1 in spells from the first school, and character level exactly in spells from their second school. Further schools down the road may or may not come with a starting set of spells.

Metamagic:

Metamagic, as the name implies, is magic that affects magic. Metamagic effects modify spells in some way, or modify some other aspect of magic in some way spells cannot. Metamagic is fueled by Ley Points, and there are as many arguments about what Ley actually is as there are people making them. Mages purchase Ley Points directly, at 2 SP each, and a Mage cannot buy more than 20 total.

Hasten Spell: A Hastened Spell is delivered without a formal incant; this is called as "Magic <Spell Effect>". Hastened Spells bypass a number of usual spellcasting restrictions; they do not require incants and hence may be delivered while Silenced or otherwise deprived of speech. Hastened Spells may also be cast while confined. Hastening a spell costs 1 Ley Point.

Natural Spell: A Natural Spell is the closest Mages have gotten to Nature magic. Shaping a spell in this way eliminates the incant as Hasten Does, but is called as "Natural <Flavor> Effect>" and thereafter obeys the rules of the Natural delivery vector. Full details are available under Effect Delivery but briefly, Natural effects are stopped by shields, resisted with Resist Natural instead of Resist Magic, and affected by whatever nonsense 'magic' Callers use. Natural effects tend to be easier to stop than Magical effects, but some creatures are painfully resistant to magic and easily victimized by Natural effects. The existence of the Fae alone guaranteed that some Mage was going to develop this.

Penetrating Spell: Penetrating Spell shapes mana such that it punches right through armor; Penetrating Spells are cast as normal but have the call "body" appended to the incant. Unlike most metamagic, Penetrating Spell can be applied to Spell Pool. The cost must be paid separately for every application of Spell Pool and this can get expensive, but against heavily-armored targets with frail physiques it can also be lifesaving. Healing Pool can be delivered this way despite normally being desirable and normally affecting Body to start with; this is the means by which Mages attack undead and other life-hating monsters.

Arcane Spell: An Arcane spell functions much like a Natural spell, delivering an effect without incant or motion. Arcane Spell is called as "Arcane <Flavor> <Effect>", where Flavor can be any usual Elemental Flavor for Evocation effects and Spirit for Spirit Effects. Arcane is comparatively rare in the worlds and defenses to it are much less common than Resist Magic.

Elemental Spell: Elemental Spell is a similar modification to a spell, called as "Elemental <Flavor> <Effect>" . Elemental Attacks are very powerful against opposing-element targets and some creatures that are vulnerable to certain elements.

Revitalize: Revitalize breaks down Ley Points into raw mana, which can then be channeled to cast spells as usual. Revitalize costs one Ley Point to create 5 mana, and can only be used over the course of a given event to replenish a volume of mana equal to your base mana pool. This means, under normal circumstances, that you can generate no more than 120 extra points of mana per event, at the cost of losing your use of Ley Skills for that event.

Mana Shield: Mana Shield wraps your mana around you in a shell, hopefully one that wards off enough damage for someone else to come and save you. This is called as "Mana Shield" and as soon as that call is made, incoming damage is applied to your Mana pool instead of your armor or body. Damage to a Mana shield is considered Body damage for the purposes of carriers and other "must do body" effects. If you have damage reduction in some flavor, it does not apply to a Mana Shield. You may continue to cast spells with an active Mana Shield, if you can track a resource being depleted from two sources, but you might consider talking to a Fighter about the wisdom of burning your protection while someone is trying to kill you. Mana Shield is cast before entering combat and translates mana points directly into armor points. Mana Shields cannot be reset or refitted like real armor can. While your Mana Shield is active, your mana pool is reduced by the amount spent for armor - if you spend 50 out of your 100 mana on a Mana Shield, your mana pool stops at 50 until the armor is depleted or the effect is dismissed (this is intended to prevent loops from forming - I spend 100 mana on Mana Shield, drink some potions to get back up to 100, then dump another hundred on mana shield, drain some buddies to get back up to 100 again, and stroll out on to the field with four full fighter's worth of armor and 100 mana to throw). (Also, I am aware that this differs in mechanics from the more familiar mana shields of video game fame. I am not necessarily opposed to a more traditional function, but I need to see what the real impact of high-armor mages is, and then I'll start dipping toes in the water to see how realistically people can track one pool for incoming damage and outgoing fuel at the same time.)

Siphon Mana: This allows your Mage to drain Mana from a willing donor into your own Mana pool. This costs one Ley Point per transfer and may transfer only enough mana to return your pool to full. (Editor's Note: I have been and been up against enough bad guys to understand how fluid the definition of "willing" gets. When I say 'willing' here, I mean 'would do absent any pressure outside one's one will', not 'more willing to give mana than have a couple teeth drilled through' or 'more willing to give mana than watch the orphanage burn down'.)

Aura Emulation: As practiced by Mages, this allows for mana to reflexively retaliate against a melee strike. This is called as "20 <Flavor> Aura" in response to being struck. Aura Emulation allows for any of the four usual elemental flavors and Spirit. Other Auras are known to exist but those are not readily available and learning them can be a chore.

Storm: This skill allows the character to enter a stance by planting their right foot and announcing, “Spell Storm”. This effect will last until the player falls unconscious, moves their foot, or uses any other Active Skills. While active, the player can throw an infinite number of packet attacks called as “Magic 10 <Flavor>”. <Flavor> is determined by the Mage's Schools - a Mage with Evocation can throw any of the classical elements (Water, Stone, Fire, Wind), a Mage with Spirit can throw Spirit, and other Schools will have their Storms defined in their release. (Spirit here throws Spirit by design - Spirit casters throwing unlimited Healing sets a chain of events into motion that no one likes - consider what Plot has to do to present a challenge to a literally bottomless infinite healing loop and how bad that is for people not fortunate enough to have that loop available).

Miscellaneous Mage Skills:

Chain Spell: Chain spells delivers one beneficial spell to one extra target per level of Chain Spell. A Mage with 5 levels of Chain Spell can cast Magic Shield (for example) on a total of six targets. The spell is cast normally for the first target; successive targets are called as "Chain Spell <Effect Name>".

Cancel Magic: This skill allows the character to end the duration of any spell that they encounter. The time it takes to cancel the spell depends on the spells duration: if the spell’s duration is in minutes, it takes 1 minute of concentration; if the spell’s duration is in hours, it takes 10 minutes of concentration; and if the spell’s duration is in days, or is a lasting effect, it takes 1 hour of concentration.

Portal Manipulation: Portal Manipulation is the means by which Mages use portals to move between worlds. The cost for a given manipulation depends on the portal in question and the desired result of manipulating it. Portal Manipulation generally requires a marshal present to adjudicate the outcome.

Level One: This skill alerts the Mage to the presence of portals within his usual sensory range - it does not highlight portals behind closed doors, underground, or around corners. Using this in Nexus is usually a waste of time (it's like Detect Air) but it can be extremely helpful far from home.

Level Two: Opens a portal for which the Mage has/does/knows the gate key. Also allows for closing that portal. This takes ten minutes of work, or can be rushed at a cost of one mana per minute.

Level Three: Allows a Mage to use planar shortcuts to travel between places on the same plane. This acts as a Hasten Travel effect, but only between places for which a planar shortcut exists (see your marshal).

Level Four: Allows for minor adjustment of a portal's exit location. This is the means by which Nexus Mages open portals directly onto their couches after a hard adventure. A Mage can alter the facing of the exit and the location by up to one hundred yards for free, and may extend out to two hundred yards at a cost of one mana per ten yards of adjustment.

Level Five: Allows a mage to change the exit plane of a portal long enough for his party to pass through it. This has no mana cost, but isn't guaranteed; no portal can be adjusted to exit into Acheron (for example) and some portals are connected in distances or ways that exclude links to certain other places. Importantly, Nexus can always be used as an exit node; no matter where you are, if you can find any portal going anywhere, you can always get home.

Some further thoughts on Mages

Spellcasting 101 is a quick, high-level look at the mechanics of magic.