Death

This is the art of necromancy, the study of death, decay and undead. It is often considered evil, and indeed often is, but some learn death magic in order to know more of the enemy. Of course, the temptation is always there.

Many necromancers become pallid, ill-smelling or even physically mutated by their delving into death. If a player starts to meddle with these powers, he should be warned, then penalized by the GM. These mutations may make the sorcerer a pariah, but they rarely affect his abilities directly. Backlash causes cadaverous appearance, making social interactions almost impossible for the rest of the session.

This schtick is somewhat related to Enhancement, and many necromancers learn to control their own bodies to a great degree.

Animate Dead

You can animate corpses to become simple servants and guardians, lesser undead such as skeletons or zombies. You need corpses, and a properly purified graveyard (see Summoning) prevents animation.

The difficulty of the effect is the highest skill or attribute of the undead. The Outcome is the number of creatures animated. Each attempt costs a Magic Point. In a prepared position, such as your stronghold, you can keep a number of creatures about equal to your Sorcery.

Skeleton
Attributes: Bod 3, Chi 6, Mnd 3, Ref 10
Creature: Damage Immunity: guns (ex shotguns), influence, life.
Weapons: Club +3/6

Zombie
Attributes: Bod 10, Chi 6, Mnd 2, Ref 3
Creature: Damage Immunity (influence, life), Inevitable Comeback.
Weapons: Grapple +1/11

Ghoul
Attributes: Bod 7, Chi 6, Mnd 4, Ref 6
Skills: Creature Powers 11, Intimidation 12
Creature: Abysmal Spines, Dual Attack (paralyzing claws), Elemental Attack: Paralyze
Attacks: Claws +4/11 + paralyze 10

Awaken Undead

You can ritually create a named major undead creature. This requires a corrupt or vengeful soul willing to animate a dead body. The usual way to find these is by speaking to the dead. Somebody killed by Death Curse or ritually sacrificed can also be turned into an undead, but must often be coerced into service.

The power of a creature thus created depends on the power of the being while it was alive. Generally, they get a Creature Powers skill equal to their highest skill while in life, Damage Immunity (life) and a few other creature schticks. They may well lose a few points from other skills, and about half of the schticks they had in life. Those who have been dead a long time generally transform more radically.

Blight

Cause an area of land to become incapable of sustaining plant life. Once cast, it slowly kills all plant life existing in the zone and prevents any new vegetation from growing for the duration of the effect. The effect cannot kill animal life, but any small creatures living within the area of effect usually die or move away from lack of food.

The area affected is a diameter equal to your Sorcery result times the number of Magic points spent times ten meters. The duration is until next spring. It is otherwise similar to the reversed effect of Fertility's Germination.

Barrenness
You can make someone sterile, and prevent milk production and menstruation in females or semen production in men. The difficulty is the target's Constitution (or dodge, if aware of the effect), and the duration one day per point of Outcome. With a Magic point you can make the duration a year and a day.

Command Undead

You can invoke your will on an undead creature, forcing it to obey spoken instructions. You must be able to see the undead; the undead must be able to hear you. If the Sorcery check is successful against it's Creature Powers, the undead must obey the letter of your instructions to the best of its abilities for a number of Sequences equal to the Outcome. If you spend a Magic point immediately before the check is made, the undead must obey for a period equal to the Outcome in hours.

Death Curse

This is similar, but not identical, to the creature power Bane.

You must prepare this effect for a specific victim in advance, spending two Magic points doing this. As soon as you wound him with death-related magic or he is wounded with a specially-prepared weapon, he suffers from the Death Curse. This is a slow effect, that does not have any effect during the combat but which will, in time, kill the victim.

The target now is very difficult to heal. All attempts to recover Wound Points have a difficulty equal to your Sorcery skill, and only the Outcome reduces the victim's Wound Points. Each day, you are allowed a Sorcery roll against the target's Constitution, and the Outcome is damage the target takes. This will make him weaker and weaker, killing him in the end.

The way to remove a Death Curse can often be a mini-quest in itself, though killing you is the surest way. Healing performed by an attuned character at a Feng-Shui site or with the correct cure will remove the Death Curse.

Life Drain

You can steal life essence from a dying target. The dying includes unnamed characters recently put out of the fight and named characters who have failed a Death Test. Make a Sorcery roll against his Willpower, if successful, you can use one of the effects below on him. His condition worsens by one point. You can do this only once to each dying target. You can give the benefits to someone else whom you touch, if desired.

If he volunteers, you get three picks and his condition worsens by three steps.

The effects below are similar, but not identical, to the creature power Blood Drain.

Action Value
Choose a skill you and your victim have in common. You gain a +1 bonus to your Action Value for this skill until the end of the session; no skill can be modified by more than +3.

Attribute
You gain one point of a secondary attribute. You cannot increase your attribute past twice the victims attribute (before the current drain).

Chi
You gain one of the victim's unspent Fortune or Magic points. Has no effect on characters who currently have no Fortune points.

Life
Recover Wound Points equal to his Constitution score.

Memory
You acquire the memories of the victim. These fade at the end of the session.

Youth
You become younger, removing a number of years from your apparent age equal to his Charisma minus your Magic. You never grow older by underestimating his Charisma.

Life Link

You can tie up a portion of someone's life force in an object. As long as this object is safe and sound, he has a bonus equal to your Magic on all Death Tests, and your Sorcery skill is used to try and save him if he should fail a Death Test. This is in addition to normal healing, and has no adverse side effects. If the object is ever destroyed, he must make an immediate Death Test with a difficulty equal to your Sorcery. You can spend Magic points (but not Fortune) to increase your Sorcery rating in both these cases.

Crafting a life link demands a helpless victim, or one that agrees to your demands. It is often used upon resurrected and/or animated servants. You can make a Life Link to yourself.

Resurrection

This is a highly questionable effect, and may not be allowed in your campaign world.

You can actually raise the dead, restoring them to life. This is a very harrowing and taxing experience, and not lightly undertaken. Even trying costs a Magic Point per day or part of a day he has been dead. If the GM desires, it can involve an actual quest to the nether regions, though you can send someone else on this quest. Otherwise, it involves a spiritual quest in opposition to the powers of death itself. In this case you or your champion must win a spiritual combat against the victim, in which you each do damage equal to your Charisma +2, soaked using Willpower. The highest action value is used in this combat, but no schticks or special abilities.

If you win, your target is brought back to life, and can be nursed back to health just as if he had failed a death test but been saved. His time on earth may be limited, and his fate twisted, and there are often another price to pay as well. If he wins you are probably in dire need of healing.

Speak with the Dead

You can summon and speak to the spirits of the dead. The difficulty is the spirit's highest Action Value. This is similar to the Commune variant of the Summoning effect Invocation.

Spirits of the dead can only be summoned if the sorcerer has some kind of link to the spirit. This can be either a part of the dead persons body, a beloved object or a descendant or beloved of the dead person who is present. Spirits of the dead tend to be very self-centred. They care only about the things closest to themselves, family, personal belongings and about their reputation.

As the dead gradually lose interest in life or are reincarnated, it grows increasingly difficult to summon them over time. A person that died contentedly might be impossible to summon after but a few hours, while those who have urges tying them to this earth linger on for hundreds, even thousands of years. Many religions, especially those with a specific concept of the afterlife, make their devotee's spirits harder to summon.

Speak with Undead

You can communicate with any undead you encounter. This should be role-played, but with this effect you can use your Sorcery Action Value in place of your Charisma for such dealings. Be warned that many undead cannot be reasoned with, however, as the have Damage Immunity: Influence.