What is Magic?

The universe contains both normal and spiritual matter. They interact weakly, as the electromagnetic and nuclear forces do not touch spiritual matter at all. They do interact gravitationally, but this has little practical effect: magical artifacts are often heavier than their mundane components would justify, magic is (slightly/somewhat/very) limited in inter(planetary/stellar/galactic) space, and stars orbit their galaxies faster than expected due to the gravity of spiritual matter.

Spiritual matter does interact with other spiritual matter in complex ways in accordance with spiritual forces. The full complexity of spiritual chemistry is understood about as well as actual chemistry was in the 1850s, which is to way, not very well but still well enough to do many things. The discovery is hampered by the difficulty in collaborating with no clear analog of pointing at an object (fingers are, after all, baryonic) and by the fact that indivisible units of spiritual matter (known as engrions) are more complex than their baryonic equivalents. The process is made somewhat easier by the fact that many things about engrionic chemistry are oddly intuitive. There is a reason for this.

Humans are dual organisms. Just as the human body is a special type of ape composed of a nonillion baryons, the human soul is a special type of loa composed of a septillion engrions. It was common for early hominids to summon loas to possess them in times of difficulty. When loas became common enough that most humans were possessed most of the time (~12kya), this triggered the agricultural revolution. When it became common for a single loa (a soul) to possess the human from birth to death sometimes sharing with others (~6kya) this allowed the construction of cities and empires. When souls became strong enough to mostly resist all competing loas (~3kya), this triggered the bronze age collapse, but also set the stage for modern civilization.

Engrionic chemistry is intuitive because it’s the soul’s native environment. If something feels like a fundamental thing, that’s probably because it corresponds to a fundamental engrion or simple engrionic compound.

How is the possession of an animal by a spirit possible? Because spiritual forces can affect and be affected by baryonic matter if the matter is organized into a shape that resembles the inherent nature of an engrion. The potential to influence engrionic matter by baryonic matter this way is extremely limited, and would be better thought of as “spiritual entities can perceive baryonic matter in limited ways”. Even human brains, which are extensively evolved to pass information to souls, have a bandwidth less than a kilobaud, and only have noticeable effect at all because souls are similarly evolved to receive that data.

(Evolution is not the best possible optimizer of such things. With complex nanoassembled materials, it is possible for baryonic matter to have a large effect on engrionic. This is the literal “technology indistinguishable from magic” that is the hallmark of Galactic Age civilizations.)

Spellcasting

So what is a magic spell? It is an engrionic construct assembled by a spirit (usually a soul) designed to affect either spirits or baryonic matter. The effects on matter are limited to objects and substances with engrionic correspondences, and learning to assemble spells that exploit a single correspondence is significant effort, hence the limited and specific spell schools.

To cast a spell, first a would-be mage must learn to manipulate engrionic matter directly. Most souls, having spent their entire lives attached to bodies, forget their native capabilities. Direct contact with a magical artifact designed to be easy to perceive, coupled with a visible diagram of what it should look like, can help with this. The native capabilities are also atrophied as souls evolved to be embodied (excepting hybrids with non-soul spirits among their recent ancestors), such that working spells usually requires either the emotion of determination or awe.

Then, the mage needs to learn to assemble spells, which can be fairly complex. Until completed, spells are unstable, so it is necessary to mentally hold all the bits in place until they snap together. The more bits, the harder this is.

Some casters use verbal, somatic or material components to help pin bits of incomplete magic into place. These are not intrinsic to magic, but are specific to the caster. The important motions are mental, but sometimes a physical analog helps in keeping everything straight and precise. This does not make the motions arbitrary, as they are meaningful to the caster, and an observer with a basic understanding of psychology can deduce what mental actions they likely correspond to.

Spirits and Summoning

A spirit is any life form composed entirely of engrionic matter. They cannot be seen or touched, but can be detected with Soul Sight or other magic. Many spirits can do magic at no or minimal cost, including using Shadows and Light to present a visible appearence.

A spirit can operate a body if magic forms an interface. Some spirits can cast this spell themselves, but even those mostly cannot gather appropriate materials without assistance.

Many spirits are natives of other planes. Some of those are structured to be easy to pull into ours. Summoning spells do three things: pull a spirit from its native plane to the caster’s location, control it, and connect it to a suitable body. Interplanar travel mostly makes mockery of distance, so there’s no need to worry about whether a suitable spirit is “nearby”. If the constructed body is rendered non-functional, the magic holding the spirit on this plane will also be broken.

Sometimes spirits that are natives of other planes will be on ours for more permanent reasons, and some spirits are native here. These spirits can be compelled and/or offered bodies using similar magic. Though any compulsion targetting a specific spirit allows a will save (generic summoning spells that are saved against simply grab a different spirit of the same species).

Bodies for weak spirits usually require these materials:

• Celestials: Feathers and tears
• Elementals: The substance they are named after
• Fey: Leaves
• Infernals: Claws and blood
• Abberations: Scales, teeth and tentacles

Bodies for more powerful spirits may require rarer or more specific materials.

When a spirit summons itself, it can be considerably less picky about materials, provided they resemble the requirement in some way. A determined infernal could summon itself into an iron sickle that had been left out in the rain, and many a half-blood grows to fear farming equipment for this reason. A third-party summoner, even a fellow infernal, cannot make use of this class of shortcut.

Spirits, Bodies and Reproduction

Most animals, including human bodies, reproduce via sex. Most spirits, including human souls, reproduce via love. Most of the time, a child’s biological parents and soul parents are the same. Human instincts encourage this: finding those we love more sexually attractive and those we have sex with more romantically attractive. But the system isn’t perfect. Unensouled fetuses tend to self-terminate around five monthes post-conception. Unembodied souls can stick around for longer, sometimes attaching to a parent and sometimes floating free.

When we speak of magical ancestry, it is the soul’s ancestry that is relevant. When surprisingly powerful sorcerers who can’t quite fit in are born in the middle of nowhere, it is usually to body-parents who don’t love each other. This results in a combination of vast magical power, inadequate emotional support, a not-exactly-human perspective being pressured into a human role, and frequent monster attacks. A combination that tends to go badly for all involved. This is part of why casual sex is stigmatized in so many cultures. (This is also why you cannot become a sorcerer via genetic engineering)

Magical Materials

Magical materials are a combination of baryonic and engrionic matter. Mithril, for example, is an alloy of beryllium and hardness, which forms when water rich in beryllium salts passes through a highly magical environment.

Casting a Spell

A spell is a combination of effects from a single magic school and (optionally) metamagics. Each effect and metamagic has a rating, and the sum of all the ratings is the spell’s rating.

To be able to cast the spell, you need:

• Knowledge of the school
• A magic source compatible with the school (if you have multiple compatible sources, pick one)
• A total modifier to the school’s linked skill at least as high as the spell’s rating
• To pay the cost
• If the spell has duration, to not already have too many spells active
• To make a spellcraft check dc 10 + 2 X rating.

The number of active spells a caster can maintain is equal to their intelligence modifier or two, whichever is higher. A caster who has reached this limit can still cast instantaneous spells, but cannot cast anything with a duration.

The default spellcraft dc is based on using verbal and somatic components (i.e. speaking at a normal volume and gesturing emphatically with at least one hand) but not material components. It is also based on a standard action casting time. Modifiers are available (though check if your magic source affects these):

Note that these are modifiers to the DC, not the rating. They do not affect cost.

Material components, like verbal and somatic, are personal and meaningful to the caster. Gathering components for a spell from a well-packed component pouch takes a standard action.

Assisting in a spell requires a DC 10 spellcraft check and is only possible in ritual casting. A 1 minute ritual can accept one assistant, whereas a 1 hour can take assistants equal to the primary caster’s wisdom modifier.

Scrolls

A scroll is a magic item that can shape raw magical energy into a specific spell. Each scroll has one specific spell (selection of effects and metamagics) on it. You can cast from a scroll without knowing the school. You still pay the cost and need the relevant skills..

Scrolls weigh 0.1lbs per rating of the spell plus the (usually neglegible) mass of the materials.

Crafting a scroll requires ability to cast the spell, a dc 10+rating spellcraft check and rating hours of work. Note that the “ability to cast” may be based on having another scroll (which you are essentially copying). While this is a shaping of magical energy, it is more self-contained than an active spell, and does not count against the active spell limit. Similarly, scrolls cannot be disspelled, though destroying the physical object will also destroy the magic.

Scrolls are not expended by use.

If you’re looking for a more complete casting aid, see Shaman Tokens.

Spellbooks

A spellbook is not a magical item. It is simply a text describing magic. In high tech settings, casters routinely carry a set of spellbooks on their pocket computers. A standard spellbook describes one school of magic.

A spellbook can substitute for knowledge of a school in hour-long ritual casting, wizard preparation, or crafting of a scroll. It cannot be used in other casting contexts, as finding, understanding and applying each relevant paragraph is simply too slow.

Learning Magic

Learning Spellcraft

To begin learning spellcraft, you must have some contact with raw magical energy and some idea of what the energy is.

• If this is a teacher who is themselves a caster, no check is required.
  
• If this is a well documented enchanted item, eight hours of study and a DC 10 wisdom check is required. (It is common for introductory spell craft textbooks to hold permanent durability enchantments explained within the text for this purpose.).
• For an undocumented item, 40 hours and DC 15.
  
• To learn from being the target of an instantaneous spell, DC 20
• To learn from accidentally casting a spell under intense emotion, DC 15
• To learn from natural background magic, one year and DC 25, but a +2 circumstance bonus for each additional year spent

Once you have a rank in spellcraft, additional ranks can be learned like any skill.

Note that a magic source is not required. Someone with spell craft and no magic source can perform all non-spellcasting applications of spell craft, including counter spelling, and they’ll have a useful head start if they expect to gain a magic source soon.

Learning a School

To learn a new school, a caster needs one of:

• A teacher who knows the school
• A spellbook of the school
• General knowledge regarding the school, a dc 25 spellcraft check and 40 hours of research
• A dc 35 spellcraft check and 80 hours of research

The first three options result in knowing all the standard effects in the school, but the true from-scratch option grants a single proof-of-concept effect. Additional effects can be researched according to the Researching New Effects rules.

It should be presumed that any civilized high-magic setting has spellbooks available.

Researching New Effects

Most magi go their entire careers without inventing or improving upon a spell effect, or do it once, badly, as a student and never again. The process is similar to a programmer writing an operating system kernel.

Nevertheless, effects came from past researchers, and unusual circumstances can happen.

To research a new effect, you must already know the school the effect will be a part of, that is, the correspondence of organized mundane matter and intrinsic spiritual force that you plan to exploit. To research a new school takes 80 hours and a DC 35 spellcraft check, and, of course, for the correspondence you want to exist in the first place.

Effects come into being in stages (with the spellcraft to to reach each from the previous):

• Reason to believe it’s possible (0)
• General idea of how it works (15)
• Bare minimum proof of concept (20)
• Inefficient and unreliable (25)
• Basically usable (30)
• Polished and optimized (35)

Jumping two steps at once increases the DC by 5. A general idea only helps if you know it to be correct, and it cannot be confirmed by experiment, so this step must usually be skipped.

Research standardly takes a week. Each doubling of the time adds a stacking +2 circumstance bonus.

All effects in the book are polished and optimized.

Once an effect is researched, it can be taught to others or written in spell books just like a mundane discovery. A single effect makes a rather short book, but it is still referred to as a spell book (researchers often put together several related effects for publication, add practical notes about how to make the effect most useful, or simply pad the word count with gratuitous ego stroking). In high magic settings, there may be libraries filled with spell books of mostly useless, highly situational effects of varying quality.

There are always rumors of brilliant, beyond-optimized effects written in hidden tomes the brave might extract. Most of these rumors are false. Though the entire Boost school was the secret of an ancient empire until a shaman from a recently conquered province seduced it out of an occupying officer and spread it, so it is possible.

Example Effect Progression

Bare minimum proof of concept: painful but not damaging electric shock strikes both caster and target (rating +4)

Inefficient and unreliable: 1d4 electric damage to target (95% probability) or caster (5%) (rating +4)

Basically usable: 1d4 electric damage to target (rating +2)

Polished and optimized: 1d6 electric damage to target (rating +1)

Magic Sources

Under most circumstances, souls are so specialized in possessing bodies that they cannot directly manipulate engrionic matter with any efficiency. As such, most humans cannot cast spells. Those who can are those with a magic source. The source determines the cost associated with spellcasting and which schools the mage can cast. Each source also comes with a special benefit and drawback.

A magic source has both a deep nature and an activation requirement. A mage who has not activated their powers is known as “latent”. For some magic sources, latent magi experience the special benefits and drawbacks, but mostly not.

Latent mages can on rare occasions cast spells using improvised (inefficient and unreliable) effects under extreme stress or intense emotion. This cannot be done deliberately, and generally goes badly for all involved, but it is how some latent mages learn what they are.

A mage with multiple sources must choose which to use for each spell they cast.

In high-magic games, each character starts with a (possibly latent) magic source based on their magic priority. Outside of chargen, or in games not using magic priority, gaining a magic source requires a deep spiritual undertaking or other extraordinary intervention.

Costs

The cost of a spell is paid when the spell is attempted, regardless of whether it succeeds.

Spellpool

A spellpool is an explicit reserve of magical energy. Its size is the product of a characters spellcraft ranks and character level. Attempting to cast a spell costs spellpool equal to the spell’s rating. Refilling the spellpool takes eight hours, though eight hours of what depends on the magic source. Characters with multiple spellpool magic sources have a single spellpool, but multiple ways to refill it.

Increasing…

If a cost is increasing, add the total number of spells (including this one) cast since the last good night’s sleep to the rating of this spell. This gets you the Accumulated Level. Then either make a will save against that dc or roll d20+AL on the appropriate table, as the cost specifies. A good night’s sleep is eight uninterrupted hours. Characters with multiple magic sources with increasing cost track a single combined number of spells, but spells from non-increasing-cost magic sources don’t count toward it.

Gaining a Magic Source

Many magic sources require a mystical connection, unhealthy obsession or deep commitment. If you do not start the game with one, the first step is to live the belief: treat the subject with utmost respect. Then, immerse yourself in the subject. If you wish to become a druid, you should probably live in a wilderness with minimal technology for several months. Similarly, to become a paladin, fight for your ideal no matter the cost. Finally, embrace mindfullness and become deeply aware of what you’re doing.

This last step is particularly tricky, because the primary reason to do it is to unlock the magic, but if you go into the entire process with the primary goal of obtaining magic, the initial mental state will be corrupt and improper. If you can view the potential for magic as a tool in service of the primary obsession, this resolves the paradox nicely. Failing that, some form of actionless action, or at least of precommiting to a course of action, deliberately forgetting why, and going on with it anyway may be needed.

Ultimately, there is no guaranteed path to magical power, except at chargen. Rule negative one applies.

The Magic Sources

Half Blood

Source: Magical ancestry
Activation: spell craft, 1 rank
Cost: spell pool, regenerates with rest
Compatible Schools: any
Pri: 1
Extra Ability: spellcraft a class skill for all classes
Restriction: frequent monster attacks (~1/week, cr 1d6)

Obtaining magical ancestry if you are not born with it is nearly impossible. In theory it could be achieved by killing a powerful spirit and grafting pieces of their soul onto yourself, or maybe given by an even more powerful being, but these are legends, not known techniques.

Half-blood souls are extremely nutritious to demons, so once a half-blood activates his powers, demons will spontaneously attack. Most will simply summon themselves in and attack immediately, but some will attempt subtlety. When a half-blood child is expected, the parents may hide all information about spellcraft from them to prevent them from activating before they master some non-magical defenses. Alternatively, schools for half-bloods may be placed in highly defensible pocket dimensions where infernals can’t directly target their conjury spells.

In addition to rest, half bloods can refill their spell pool by eating magic gems (see wizards).

Druid

Source: Mystical connection to nature
Activation: survival +10
Cost: mana
Compatible Schools: elemental *, boost, healing, metamorph, second sight, summon elemental , summon fey
Pri: 1
Extra Ability: can take cross class ranks in spell craft provided survival is higher
Restriction: cannot cast while wearing inorganic armor or clothing

A druid’s casting is activated by their total survival modifier (excluding any bonus from tools or circumstances), but their ability to take ranks in spellcraft requires that the ranks in spellcraft be less than the ranks in survival.

Mana

A mana caster pays no cost directly, but draws on the energies of surrounding life. Such a caster takes a bonus or penalty to their casting check and available rating based on their local environment (roughly 100ft circle):

Every thousand rating’s worth of spells cast from a place decrease its modifier by 1, and said modifier recovers by 1 point per day. It is usually not necessary to track this.

Artificer

Source: Mystical connection to crafts
Activation: craft (any) +10
Cost: spell pool, regenerates with crafting
Compatible Schools: elemental air/Earth/wood/metal, materialism, transit
Pri: 2
Extra Ability: duration extending metamagic 1/2 cost (round up) on targets you created
Restriction: save DCs -2

The restriction applies to the save DCs your targets experience on spells you cast, if you cast spells that allow saves.

Monk

Source: Mystical connection to martial arts
Activation: any attack +7
Cost: vitality
Compatible Schools: boost, elemental fire, force manipulation, healing, second sight, transit
Pri: 2
Extra Ability: spell craft class for full bab
Restriction: cannot still-cast

A monk treats any class with a full attack bonus as having spellcraft as a class skill. While this is not true of latent monks, it is true retroactively, so newly activated monks can take many ranks in spellcraft at once.

The total attack bonus includes all of your relevant abilities, but not bonuses from circumstances or from the weapons you use.

Vitality

A monk spends vitality equal to the rating of the spell. Vitality recovers normally.

Bard

Source: Mystical connection to music
Activation: perform (any music) +10
Cost: spell pool, regenerates w/ performance
Compatible Schools: boost, enchantment, phantasms, telepathy, summon fey
Pri: 2
Extra Ability: can take cross class ranks in spellcraft provided perform is higher
Restriction: cannot silent-cast

A bard’s casting is activated by their total perform modifier (excluding any bonus from their instrument), but their ability to take ranks in spellcraft requires that the ranks in spellcraft be less than the ranks in perform.

Wizard

Source: Deep understanding of magic itself
Activation: spell craft +15
Cost: preparation
Compatible Schools: any
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: can create and use (even when latent) magical gems
Restriction: cannot quick cast

The mathematics underlying magic is considerably more complex than the simple differential equations that govern most baryonic matter. And simply being skilled at manipulating symbols will not make one a wizard. But if one works with the mathematics long enough, one may develop a true intuitive understanding of the underlying principles. With this understanding, it is possible to build spells slowly out of the magical side effects of ordinary thoughts, and store them almost-finished for later use.

Mathematicians who gain this understanding without ever learning spellcraft (a rare occurrence, even in low-magic societies) often develop a strong but unrooted sense that they have discovered some important physics. For example, believing that Lie Groups can be used to predict proton decay (they cannot).

A mad scientist who directs a fugue at investigating magic will likely become a latent wizard.

Magical Gems

A magic gem is a crystal infused with usable magic. Any crystal will do. Quartz is commonly used because it’s cheap, pretty and durable. In high-magic communities, it is often common to use colorless quartz for rating 1 gems, rose for rating 2, all the way through amethyst for rating seven, but this is only convention. Infusing a sugar crystal and eating it delivers disorganized magic into a person’s body, which can refill spellpool equal to the gem’s rating for half-bloods or sorcerers.

The crystal must be at least 1cm on a side. Note that this makes it 3 grams for quartz. The magic masses an additional 10 grams per rating.

A wizard, including a latent wizard, can use a magic gem as the cost of a spell. The gem’s rating is decreased by the spell’s. Once the rating is reduced to zero, the gem reverts to being a mundane crystal and the spell that created the gem counts as completed.

An active wizard can create a magic gem using a spell. The spell’s rating is 1.2 times the rating of the gem to be created, rounded up. By default, the gem lasts one hour, though a shorter time may be chosen at no additional cost. Gems empowerments count against the limit of active spells.

In theory, magic gems could form without spells given the right combination of natural magic and precipitation of crystals, most likely in a plutonic intrusion. Most worlds do not have these.

Preparation

To cast a spell as a wizard (without using gems), you must first prepare it. The required time is the spells rating divided by your spellcraft ranks in hours. When you cast the spell, the preparation is expended. You can hold a number of prepared spells equal to your intelligence score, and can drop a prepared spell at any time.

A wizard can prepare and cast-from-prepared a spell of a school he does not know using a spellbook. He cannot use a spellbook and gem to cast spontaneously.

Sorcerer

Source: Distant magical ancestry
Activation: spell craft +5
Cost: spell pool, regenerates with rest
Compatible Schools: any, max 2
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: can take spellcraft cross class for double cost
Restriction: cannot ritual-cast

The child of a half-blood and an ordinary mortal may be a half-blood or a sorcerer. The child of that child and an ordinary mortal will almost certainly be a sorcerer.

Sometimes two parents whose magical heritage is too small to notice will conceive a sorcerer, simply because the magical equivalent of genes shuffled correctly.

In addition to rest, sorcerers can refill their spell pool by eating magic gems (see wizards).

Psyker

Source: Touched by the chaos beyond reality
Activation: knowledge(planes) +5
Cost: increasing warp phenomena
Compatible Schools: summon aberration plus 5 random schools (roll at chargen or when touched)
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: can overreach: add 2 to max rating, 4 to casting check, 8 to effective rating for purposes of warp phenomena
Restriction: cannot assist or receive assistance in magic rituals except with other psykers

The primordial chaos beyond reality is extremely dangerous. It is said that only the mad would seek it out, and that those who find it inevitably go mad. If this contradiction bothers you, you are not ready to embrace the primordial chaos.

Nevertheless, it can be sought out. There are places where the veil runs thin. There are ancient tomes which describe how to summon chaos beasts. Meddle in such things long enough and survive and you are likely to become a psyker. Or you can find a powerful psyker and anger him – that sometimes works.

Warp Phenomena

When casting a spell, roll d20 + Accumulating Level and look up the result on this table:

If this table becomes too predictable, the DM should replace items on it with stranger effects of roughly equal danger, without warning the player.

Effects last 4d10 minutes, unless otherwise stated. Ongoing effects centered on the caster’s location remain centered on location at casting time, and do not move with the caster.

Astrologer

Source: Unhealthy obsession with stars
Activation: knowledge (astronomy) +7
Cost: increasing risk of rejection
Compatible Schools: augment senses, elemental air/fire, second sight, shadow and light, transit
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: 1/day may preroll d20 for one planned action that day
Restriction: cannot cast during new moon (or when too far from Earth for this to have meaning)

To use the preroll ability, an astrologer must specify a plan in which a single d20 roll (skill check, attack roll, save…) has particular importance. They then roll the d20 and mark the result. If they go ahead with the plan, when that step comes, they must use the prerolled value. To not use the value, the astrologer must avoid doing anything that meets the specification of the plan. If the plan is not used by the next sunset, the preroll effect vanishes. This is not a spell, just a separate ability all astrologers have.

Rejection

If an astrologer casting a spell fails their will save against the Accumulated Level, they become repelled rather than attracted by gravity for the next 24 hours. For each 5 points they fail by, the effect of gravity is doubled. If they fail a save while already effected, add the anti-weights. Note that many ceilings do not make very strong floors.

Mad Biomancer

Source: unhealthy obsession with biology
Activation: knowledge(biology) +7
Cost: increasing risk of insanity
Compatible Schools: boost, healing, metamorph, second sight
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: duration extending metamagic 1/2 cost (round up) on living targets
Restriction: cannot use reagents

Insanity

A mad biomancer who fails their casting save enters a fugue state in which they only care about researching the mystery in front of them. They can care about other things (such as survival) only insofar as it supports solving the mystery. This last 1d4 hours or until the mystery is solved. While in a fugue state, the mad biomancer can use magic at no cost (including spells cast this way do not count against spells-since-sleep).

Mad Scientist

Source: Unhealthy obsession with physics
Activation: knowledge(physics) +7
Cost: increasing risk of insanity
Compatible Schools: augment senses, force, materialism, shadows and light
Pri: 3
Extra Ability: can deliberately enter fugue state and roughly aim it
Restriction: cannot use reagents

A mad scientist’s fugue state is like a mad biomancer’s, except that if they enter the state deliberately, they may choose what mystery to investigate.

Paladin

Source: Deep commitment to a righteous cause
Activation: knowledge(planes), 1 rank
Cost: cast from hp
Compatible Schools: summon celestial, healing, others based on the cause
Pri: 4
Extra Ability: can project unforgeable aura of righteousness
Restriction: lose powers if betray or abandon cause

A paladin’s cause must be righteous in their own eyes. Furthermore, it may not be to champion their own family, country or other such group, even if they believe that diminishing circles of concern are morally proper. However, there is no absolute morality checking these causes. A man who sincerely believed that strict patriarchal gender roles were best for everyone could become a paladin of that.

Anyone perceiving a paladin’s aura of righteousness will intuitively recognize it, but only those with knowledge of paladins will be confident it could not have been forged. When a paladin truthfully states his cause while showing his aura, the aura flares in a similarly unforgeable way.

Casting from HP

Whenever a paladin casts a spell, they lose HP equal to the spell’s rating. There is no need for them to cause any injury – the spell simply tugs at their life force. The process is painful, but less painful than a mundane injury of that severity.

Shaman

Source: Made a pact with a powerful spirit.
Activation: knowledge(religion), 1 rank
Cost: spell slots
Compatible Schools: relevant summoning, others based on patron and pact
Pri: 4
Extra Ability: enchant warlock tokens
Restriction: must obey patron’s orders (even when latent)

Contacting a powerful spirit can be both difficult and dangerous. Often the best way is with a shaman token of Contact Patron. Alternatively, you can seek one out where it dwells, or try to catch its attention. Regardless, the being is under no obligation to make a pact, or, more generally, to refrain from cursing you.

A pact carries obligations to serve the patron’s interests in the material world. Different spirits may demand more or less concrete promises, and also offer more or less assurance of what is acceptable.

In any case, if your performance falls short of your promises, however vague, your patron has the ability to issue you orders on how to correct it. You will obey these orders. You have no choice in the matter. This applies even if latent.

Usually a shaman is eligible for two or three schools that reflect the patron’s nature (not counting summoning), but others are possible if a patron is willing to put in additional effort.

Example Pacts

A pact with Mammon, archfiend of greed, might require that the mortal cause at least five other mortals a week to steal something they otherwise wouldn’t have and grant internal summoning, hexing, necromancy, and phantasms.

A pact with Avon, spirit of that river, might require the mortal to protect the river from pollution and damming, and grant fey summoning, elemental water and metamorph.

A pact with Ra, elder fire elemental, might require the mortal to uphold order in the world in accordance with ma’at, and grant elemental summoning, elemental fire, shadows and light, and healing.

A pact with Raphael, archangel of healing, might require the mortal to diligently strive to prevent war, and also to act with kindness and honor at all times. It might grant celestial summoning, healing and boost.

A pact with Shub-Niggurath, the infamous black goat of a thousand young who dwells beyond the universe, might require the mortal to aid any aberrations who find their way into the material universe, and to act with bissonomy at all times. It might grant aberrant summoning, necromancy and transit. Note that “bissonomy” cannot be translated into any language mortals can speak, so no sane mortal would promise it. Also, repeated mental contact with Shub-Niggurath will eventually count as being “touched by the chaos beyond reality” and make the shaman a (possibly latent) psyker as well.

Shaman Tokens

Since shamanistic magic is at a remove already, it is easier for them to put it at an extra remove. A shaman can take a spell, including one that targets the self, and enchant a token with it. Anyone who possesses the token can then activate the spell, even if they have no magic source or spellcraft ranks. A used token is no longer magical. A token normally lasts one minute, but the usual meta magic to increase duration applies.

Spell Slots

A shaman’s highest rating spell slot is his knowledge(religion) ranks. He has one slot at this rating, 2 at the next highest, 3 next, etc to a maximum of his wisdom modifier. For example, a shaman with 6 ranks and a wisdom modifier of +3 would have 3,3,3,3,2,1 spell slots. A shaman without a positive wisdom modifier has one slot at each rating. Temporary changes to wisdom do not affect spell slots, but long term (day or longer) do, starting when the slots are refreshed.

A shaman refreshes slots by making mental contact with his patron. This may be done once a day, at a symbolically appropriate hour (usually dawn) and takes ten minutes.

To cast a spell, a shaman must spend a slot of equal or higher rating.

Classes

Mage

A mage is someone who focuses on mastering their magic to the exclusion of almost everything else.

Vitality d4
Skills 2+int
Class Skills: Spellcraft, Knowledge(arcana), Knowledge(planes), Knowledge(religion), key skills for known schools (retroactive if needed), skills that activate your magic source(s) (retroactive if needed).

Bonus Feat: Gain one feat with the [Magic] tag for which you meet the prerequisites

Specialization: At the indicated levels, choose an additional school to specialize in. Then assign the bonuses in the table to the specialty schools. Gain this bonus on spellcraft checks to cast from that school.

Houngan

A houngan learns the art of stepping aside from themself to allow other loas access to their body, while preserving the fundamental soul-body link so they can go back to being themselves afterwards.

Vitality: d6 Skills: 4+int Class Skills:

• Mental: Knowledge(religion), Knowledge(planes), Listen, Spot
• Physical: Balance, Climb, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Swim, Tumble
• Social: Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information, Intimidate, Perform, Profession, Sense Motive
• Technical: Craft, Heal, Repair

Invite Loa: Ask a nearby loa to take over your body briefly. The loa will address your current problem in a way it finds appropriate. You can end the possession at any time, but if you part on bad terms, this particular loa will be reluctant to possess you again.

Hybrid Mind: You can ask a nearby loa to join you in operating your body. You remain in overall control, but the loa will express opinions, and depart if you do anything it deeply opposes. You can add its abilities to your own up to a limit of your Houngan level (for numeric abilities).

Multiple Loas: You can invite multiple loas to join your hybrid mind simultaneously and enjoy the benefits of all of them. The number of loas is capped by your wisdom modifier.

Other Spirits: You can invite non-loa spirits, and intermediate between them and your body to allow them to act like loas.

Extraplanar Spirits: Any spirit which can be summoned, you can invite into yourself. This is not restricted by location, but most such spirits will leave if your plans don’t suit their interest.

Schools

Schools are as in dragonfire, except:

• Summoning requires suitable raw materials for a body
• Element schools cannot conjure a 5’ cube (see Elemental Conjury feat)
• Telepathy is now a magic school (with approximately the same abilities as the psionic feat)

Feats

Spell School

You know a spell school and all its standard effects. You may take this feat multiple times. Choose a new school each time.

Multi School

Prerequisite: two known schools
You can combine effects from different schools in one spell. All schools must be compatible with the spell’s magic source.

Fluid Caster

Prerequisite: 6 ranks spell craft.
Treat your spells as one rating smaller for purposes of cost. You may take this feat multiple times and its effects stack, but no cost can be reduced below zero. (Note: for Increasing costs, a rating zero spell can still be dangerous to cast.)

Soul Sight

Prerequisite: any active magic source, knowledge (religion) +5
Make a DC 10 knowledge(religion) check to activate soul sight for the next hour. If you fail, you cannot retry until the hour is past. With soul sight active, you can detect all souls and soul-like spirits within 10 * wis mod meters of you and how they relate to your magic source. If you are a paladin, this means the extent to which they support or oppose your particular cause. This does not require line of sight, but it can be blocked by invisibility magic, darksteel or the Quiet Soul feat.

Quiet Soul

Prerequisite: knowledge religion 1 rank.
You can hide from Soul Sight if your concentration check or will save exceeds the seer’s knowledge(religion) check to activate his soul sight. Make a fresh check once an hour if you remain nearby.

Deceptive Soul

Prerequisite: Quiet Soul.
You can appear as aligned as you choose to a Soul Seer’s magic source if your bluff check exceeds their knowledge(religion) activation. You must know what magic source you are faking.

Elemental Sight

Prerequisite: any active magic source, two elemental schools
You can sense elements whose schools you know within 10 * wis mod meters of yourself. Elements which are parts of the bodies of ensouled beings don’t count. Line of sight is not required, but invisibility magic or darksteel block this effect.

Word Sight

Prerequisite: any active magic source, telepathy school, spellcraft +6 You can sense the meaning of all words spoken or signed within 10 * wis mod meters of you with intent that you understand them. This works regardless of language or audibility. You can suppress or restore this ability as a free action.

Combined Reset

Prerequisite: Spellpool and an Increasing cost.
Whenever you do eight solid hours of whatever refills your Spellpool, you also reset the count of how many spells you’ve cast for Increasing cost purposes.

Rapid Recovery

Prerequisite: Spellpool.
Your Spellpool refills at twice the regular rate, going from empty to full in only four hours.

Graceful Failure

Prerequisite: Half blood or sorcerer.
When you fail a spell craft check to cast a spell, you may remove effects or meta magics to decrease the rating until you passed the check by as large a margin as you originally failed by. The spell now succeeds. Note that this is after you paid the cost based on the original rating, and that is not refunded.

Mana Reach

Prerequisite: druid.
You can pull Mana from somewhat farther away. Treat yourself as being somewhere within a mile of your actual location for purposes of Mana cost. As a side effect, you can sense Mana levels within a mile radius.

Natural Spell

Prerequisite: druid, metamorph School, knowledge(nature) +8
You can use verbal and somatic components normally even if a metamorph effect denies you your normal limbs and phonemes, provided you can move and make noise at all.

Stable Enchanter

Prerequisite: artificer, mad scientist, mad biomancer or wizard; spellcraft 6 ranks.
Your spell forms are especially stable and require less effort to maintain. You can have twice as many ongoing spells as normal.

Perfectly Stable Enchanter

Prerequisite: artificer, stable enchanter, spell craft 9 ranks.
You can structure your spells into completely stable forms, separate from yourself. Treat this as a meta magic effect with rating +5. Spells cast with this do not count against your ongoing spell limit.

Arcane Strike

Prerequisite: Monk or Holy Warrior.
You may cast a spell and make an attack as a single standard action. The spell and attack must have the same target. If the attack misses, the spell is wasted (but still paid for).

Determined Caster

Prerequisite: monk, Bard or paladin.
If you fail a spellcasting check, you can immediately try again (to cast the same spell) as a swift action. The casting dc is unchanged.

Emotive Caster

Prerequisite: Bard or paladin.
Add your charisma bonus (if positive) to your maximum castable spell rating and to any save DCs from the spell.

Musical Duration

Prerequisite: Bard, perform (any music) +10.
If you cast a spell with a duration while performing music, you may set the duration to “as long as the music lasts” at no cost.

Checklist Caster

Prerequisite: wizard.
You can take 5 on spell craft checks to cast spells. This includes non wizard spells, if you are a multi caster.

Improved Checklist Caster

Prerequisite: Checklist Caster.
You may roll 5d4 instead of 1d20 on spell craft checks to cast spells.

Extra Preparation

Prerequisite: wizard.
You may prepare twice as many spells as normal.

Disciplined Caster

Prerequisite: psyker, iron will, NOT Embrace Chaos.
When rolling for warp phenomena, you may roll twice, look at the table, and choose which happens.

Embrace Chaos

Prerequisite: psyker, knowledge (planes) +7, NOT Disciplined Caster.
When warp phenomena affect everyone or everything in a radius around you, you may choose for this to exclude you. Similarly, when the phenomena affect you specifically, you may choose to have a random other person within 50 feet affected.

Multiple Portents

Prerequisite: astrologer.
You may consider up to three plans a day and pre roll one d20 for each of them. The plans must be substantively different.

Lunar Caster

Prerequisite: astrologer, spell craft 5 ranks
On the night of the full moon, treat your spells as five rating lower (minimum 1) whenever this is beneficial to you.

Body and Soul Specialist

Prerequisite: mad biomancer, knowledge(religion) +10.
When casting a spell on an ensouled being (including yourself) you can anchor the spell to the target’s soul and not to your own magic. The spell does not count against your ongoing spells limit. The target can have as many spells anchored this way as their wisdom modifier.

Techno Mage

Prerequisite: mad scientist, craft(electronics) +10.
You can use electronic magic boosters. Each booster provides a specific effect or set of effects. These effects do not count as part of the spell’s rating for cost or max rating purposes, though they do for casting DC and any other purposes. A booster costs 1000 money and consumes 1 mega joule per squared rating of the effects delivered.

Holy Warrior

Prerequisite: paladin, soul sight, spellcraft 5 ranks, Bab+3.
When you make an attack against someone who you know strongly opposes your cause, gain a +2 morale bonus for every 5 spellcraft ranks you have.

Holy Trickster

Prerequisite: paladin, soul sight, spellcraft 5 ranks
When you make an opposed skill check against someone who you know strongly opposes your cause, gain a +2 morale bonus for every 5 spellcraft ranks you have.

Signature Spell

Prerequisite: shaman, knowledge(religion) 4 ranks.
Pick a specific spell of rating no more than one quarter your knowledge(religion) ranks. You may cast it at no cost. As your knowledge(religion) increases, you may add effects to the spell.

Human Sacrifice

Prerequisite: Shaman, knowledge(religion) +5.
If you kill one or more ensouled beings immediately before casting a spell, you may add effects with rating equal to the square root of the number of people killed. This does not affect the rating of the spell.

Multi Source Caster

Prerequisite: two active magic source, spellcraft +10.
When you cast a spell from a school both magic sources support, you may split the cost between them, as if you had cast two spells, one from each source, whose ratings sum to the original rating.

Elemental Conjuration

Prerequisite: knowledge(the planes) +5, any elemental school, any summoning school
You can pull normal matter from the elemental planes. For each elemental school that you have, add an effect to conjure one cubic meter of that element. You may specify the general nature of the matter conjured, but not precisely. Conjured fire is a burning hydrocarbon froth, and conjured metals must be cisferric (or iron). This effect costs 5 rating.

Spells of Skill

Choose a school or descriptor. Gain +4 on spellcraft checks to cast such spells.

Spells of Power

Choose a school or descriptor. Increase save DCs from those spells by +2.

Familiar

Prerequisites: Druid or any other active magic source and handle animal +5
You have lightly connected your soul to a single animal. The animal gains an intelligence score equal to half of yours, and becomes fanatically loyal to you. You can communicate telepathically. You may count your position as being the animal’s for magical purposes provided it is within 100 meters.