Magic Kindergarten – Magical Strain, Casting and Overglow

Unicorns and Alicorns both cast magic by channeling it from or through their horns into spells. That makes the horn an extremely vulnerable target –without it, it is almost impossible for them to cast. To cast a spell, a unicorn or alicorn must first roll magic to actually channel the energy into the spell, and then roll magic again to target the spell (if the spell requires a target). If the target is willing or the spell affects an area, the second roll is unnecessary.

The magical reserves from which unicorns, alicorns and half-breeds cast spells are not infinite. A unicorn has a set amount of magical “strain” – a sort of pool of internal magic, sometimes referred to as mana, which they tap and draw from to cast spells – determined by their attribute scores. The total amount of strain a unicorn has is equal to the sum total of their Intelligence and Endurance attribute scores, plus an additional two points.

_{(Unicorn & Half-Breed)} Magic Strain = (END + INT) + Traits/Perks/Hindrances

This amount can be increased by taking the Channeler trait. The totally amount of strain that an Alicorn has to draw from is determined similarly, but alicorns have a base pool of magical energy that is slightly larger than unicorns due to their inherently magical nature.

_(Alicorn) Magic Strain = (END + INT + 5) + Traits/Perks/Hindrances

For all pony spell casters, casting spells costs two things: Time and Energy. Casting a spell in combat costs one action unless otherwise noted, and many spells can also be cued up in SATS for multiple casts per single action. Not all spells can be cast via SATS, denoted by the fact that some have no associated cost. Spells that take longer to cast or are simply impractical to cast in combat are generally denoted with a ‘—‘in the SATS cost column.

On the other hoof, to use telekinesis as a standalone spell (i.e. levitating a piece of steel plate in the way to use as cover or picking up a boxcar) does take an action. To perform an even larger task, such as levitating themselves and multiple other objects with telekinesis (such as when Little Pip and Xenith are escaping from Fillydelphia) might take multiple actions – perhaps even multiple rounds of continuous actions. A similar principle applies for the use of overglow (see below).

Both in and out of combat, casting a spell costs a given amount of magical energy, usually referred to as ‘strain’ or ‘magical strain’. There is a slider on the back page of the character sheet, labeled “magic,” to keep track of this energy. Strain recovers naturally for unicorns and alicorns at a rate of 1 per hour in-game time, a speed which can be increased or decreased by hindrances, perks and traits, most notably the Channeler trait. A spell’s magical strain cost is denoted by its physical cost; low is 1 point of strain, medium is two, etc. A table of conversion is shown on page 240. As with the time example, telekinesis is generally assumed to cost no strain to use, unless being used independently as a spell in its own right (which is what the listed strain cost refers to).

Casting a spell in combat generally requires two separate rolls. The first roll channels magic into the spell, ensuring that the spell goes off. A success on this roll means that the spell went off as planned. A critical success (1-5) on this roll gives the player the option of channeling a single additional layer of overglow into the spell (assuming they weren’t already using three layers) at no additional strain or time cost. Failures on this roll mean that the spell fizzles, and critical failures mean that the spell fizzles and the strain was still spent.

The second roll targets the spell (if the spell requires targeting). All spells that require targeting have a range increment of 20’ (making the targeting rolls 1 MFD step more difficult for each 20’ beyond that range). Not all spells require this roll, but for those that do treat it like you would a normal targeting roll for any other type of weapon. A success means the target was hit, and a failure means you missed. Critical failures mean you missed and probably hit a friendly or hurt yourself in the process. Critical successes on this roll can apply a multiplier to damage if the spell has one listed (not all targeted spells do), or may invoke other listed effects.

Some spells require the caster to continuously feed them magical energy over time to maintain an effect. These are referred to as maintained spells, and most shields fall into this category. The caster must pay the strain cost to maintain the spell at the beginning of every round (or at the beginning of whatever time increment the spell lists) before taking their first action during that round (or other time increment), unless otherwise specified in the spell’s description.

The effects of a spell, as well as amount of energy that it takes to cast, can be increased by the use of overglow. Physically, overglow is the result of a unicorn or alicorn channeling far more energy into casting a spell than normal. This is generally visible whenever it occurs as a layer of brighter magic overlaying the normal horn-glow of a spell being cast– hence the name. In game terms, overglow doubles the numerical effects of a given spell (unless otherwise noted in that spell’s description), such as the DT provided by Shield, or the number of wounds healed by Heal, at the cost of twice the amount of strain. For spells being sustained under the effects of overglow, the cost to sustain a spell increases by one strain per round per layer.

Unicorns, Alicorns, and associated magic-capable half-breed races are capable of channeling up to three layers of overglow into any spell they can cast, multiplying both a spell’s numerical effects (or otherwise increasing its effects in a way listed) and its strain cost by up to a factor of 8 (one layer of overglow costing x2, two layers costing x4, and three costing x8). Putting more than a single layer of overglow into a spell during combat makes casting it cost an additional action to cast. This prevents SATS use with that spell. With only one layer of overglow the SATS cost of a spell triples, but the spell can still be cast in a single action outside of SATS.

Casting a spell while maintaining one of more other spells makes the new spell cost one additional layer of overglow to cast per spell being maintained. This layer of overglow does not double the effects of either of the spells being cast – it simply represents the additional strain it puts on your character’s horn to channel magic in two ways at once.

A unicorn or alicorn trying to maintain a shield would have to double the cost of any spell they tried to cast while it was up. If they were maintaining both a shield and an illusion, they would have to quadruple the cost of any other spell they tried to cast. The spells being cast or maintained do not gain the benefits of these levels of overglow, since the additional magic is going into new spells rather than going into improving the current spell. The unicorn or alicorn can certainly add extra layers to any of the spells they’re currently casting or maintaining to improve their effects, but should be aware that doing so is an extra action on top of casting a spell.

Some spells have additional costs to their maintenance other than the additional strain, denoted in their description. Maintaining a spell gives a penalty to accuracy, INT and AGI based rolls of one MFD step per spell maintained.

If any of the maintained spells already have a layer of overglow applied to them, then all current layers of overglow should be taken into account and will further multiply the cost of new spells. Remember that unicorns and alicorns cannot channel more than three layers of overglow at once!

Starting Spells

At character creation, unicorns start with basic telekinesis, one level 1 spell, and–optionally and depending on their cutie mark–a cutie mark spell. Not all unicorns begin play with a cutie mark spell because not all unicorns have a talent that is related to magic. The only guarantee that a unicorn begins with a spell related to their cutie mark at character creation is to have them take magic as a tag skill. Otherwise, the GM should decide whether or not the special talent of a character warrants a related spell. It is not recommended for GMs to allow level 2, 3, or 4 spells (or black book spells) as cutie mark spells due to player power-level balancing in the early game – instead, if a character’s cutie mark is related, give them a precursor spell and increase its potency as their character increases in level. Young unicorns do not start with the additional level 1 spell unless they take the Magical Savant or Arcane Devotion traits.

Certain traits and hindrances may grant additional starting spells. All unicorns and alicorns are capable of casting any level 0 spell they’ve seen cast or been instructed on how to cast at least once, bar those with the One Trick Pony hindrance.

Alicorns start with substantially more magical potential than unicorns, depending on their origin and position in the timeline. IMP-created Alicorns that are still part of the goddess start with spells according to their color, outlined below. Regardless of their color, all alicorns from this point are capable of Access Memory (L.1) Telepathy (L.2), Mighty Telekinesis I (L.1), and Bubble Shield (L.2). Blue Alicorns also possess Invisibility (L.3), while purple alicorns possess Teleportation (L.3) and Green Alicorns have the ability to cast Building Shield (L.4), though they cannot sustain it unless casting it as part of a group of two or more.

They’ve also been shown to demonstrate spells including, but not necessarily limited to: Heal (L.2), Extract Memory (L.2), Memory Copy (L.3), Magical Beam (L.1 or 2), Magical Arrow (L.1), Magical Arrow Barrage (L.2), Magical Arrow Rain (L.3), Alter Trajectory (L.2), and Back at Ya! (L.3).

IMP-created Alicorns after the goddess’ passing possess spells specifically depending on their mental state. Most of them have some sort of retrograde amnesia, usually only partial. They all possess the spells common to all alicorns and common to their coloration as listed below, but beyond that nothing is certain. Those with cutie mark spells frequently regain those quickly after having reasserted control over their new form, and those who specialized in a specific type of magic (like healers and doctors) tend to recall spells from their days practicing their profession shortly thereafter.

Second generation alicorns have beginning spells just as they would if they were a unicorn (without any of the bonus spells below), but are more likely to be able to learn spells on the alicorn starting list than a normal unicorn would be, regardless of cutie mark. This predisposition manifests as a bonus 20% on their learning percentage for these spells (see next section for an explanation of learning percentage).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1112