General Sorcery Rules

Sorcerers all belong to some mystic tradition, that defines how he works his magics. Every sorceror must choose or create a magic tradition to work within, and accept the limitations of that tradition. The default magic tradition in Feng Shui is Chinese Sorcery.

Casting Spells

Casting a spell is an action with a shot cost of 3, and this cannot be reduced by making a snapshot. It requires a task check against the spellcaster's Sorcery skill. Difficulties for various magical actions are listed in the magic schtick descriptions given later in this section.

Example: Yuan Guo is casting a Movement spell, Chucking Things About. According to the Movement description, the Difficulty of the spell depends on the Body of the object being moved. In this case, he's moving a rock with a Body of 10. Yuan's Action Value for Sorcery is 12. He rolls a +5, yielding an Action Result of 17 and an Outcome of 7. According to the schtick description, he can move the rock with a Move equal to the Outcome, in this case 7.

The rituals required for spellcasting are not so exacting that a few extraneous movements will spoil them. It is possible to passively or even actively Dodge while spellcasting. As with other actions, it is possible to shave shot costs on Sorcery checks by taking a negative modifier on your Action Value – see Snapshots.

Instead of dividing magic up into dozens of minutely detailed little spells, Feng Shui gives sorcerers a few basic types of effects to perform: each is a schtick. Each schtick lists a variety of special effects. These are broad sub-categories that define what spells look like and how they behave. A character can use any of the special effects given under a schtick he has: they are more like guidelines and suggestions rather than individual spells you have to learn and so they're all available to you. The one exception to this rule is for the Blast schtick: you have to learn each effect of that schtick separately, see the schtick description for details.

As a player with a sorcerer character, when you want to use your Sorcery skill to do some thing you should first look at the schticks you have chosen for your character. If the desired effect is explicitly listed in the schtick description, there's no problem, even the Difficulty of the spell will be ready and waiting for your GM. If it is not listed – and many common and useful effects will not be – figure out how your schtick could be used to create the effect you want. Then convince the GM that the desired effect falls within your schtick. You have to be able go do this in a straightforward sentence or two: Feng Shui leaves no time for complicated wrangling between you and the GM. If the GM buys your line of reasoning, she'll secretly assign a Difficulty to the attempt and tell you to make a Sorcery task check. If she doesn't, she'll tell you that the attempted effect is impossible given your schticks. If you prove particularly argumentative, she'll pretend to be assigning a Difficulty to the attempt and tell you make a task check, even though she's decided that the attempt will be an automatic failure. This is especially risky if you roll boxcars, since such failures still allow for Backlash – see below.

GMs should use the examples provided under each schtick to arrive at sample Difficulty numbers. When you do this, you might want to jot down notes on what you just did and consider that to be a new special effect that you can readily use during future games. If so, then consult with your GM after the session and make sure you both agree on how this new special effect works. This doesn't cost you any experience points, since the character just figures a different way of using something he already knows.

Again, though, the Blast schtick is different: you can always do a basic blast without any special effects, but you can't make up a new Blast special effect on the fly.

Example: Peter and Avis are both playing sorcerers. Both of them want to persuade a distrustful bartender to reveal some information.
    Peter's character's schticks are Blast, Heal, and Movement. Avis' PC's schticks are Blast, Influence, and Weather.
    Peter says: "Movement should apply to the desired effect because I want to move his opinion."
    The GM says: "Nice try, but Movement is about moving physical objects. Won't work."
    If Peter persists, the GM – instead of slowing down the game by getting involved in a lengthy session of rules-lawyering, can let him make a Sorcery check that secretly has no chance of success.
    Avis then says: "I'll use the Suggestion special effect of Influence to give the bartender the idea that he trusts us and can tell us what we need to know."
    The GM figures that this is right on target, and assigns the standard Difficulty rating for this kind of spell, as given in the schtick description: the Willpower or Dodge rating of the affected character. In this case, the bartender is surprised and cannot use Dodge, and the Mind rating of the bartender is 4. He also assigns a -5 modifier to the Action Value because the effects are always harder than obvious ones. (See the Spellcasting Difficulty Modifiers).
    Avis makes a Sorcery check for her character, who has a rating of 12 in Sorcery. This is modified by -5 for a subtle spell, to 7. Her roll is a -4, giving her an Action Result of 3. The bartender isn't agreeing, though he still has no clue what is happening.
    Peter is antsy. "I'm going to use Blast to knock the guy against the wall, and I want it to leave him feeling wooy and willing to talk.''
    Again, the GM says no. Peter can Blast the bartender and hope that's persuasive enough by itself, but he can't tack on the willingness-to-talk effect onto his Blast: that's really a new special effect, and he can't make up a new Blast special effect on the fly.
    Peter tries again. ''I'll use a gout of fire to cause the glass he is wiping to explode, unnerving him.'' The GM thinks this is a fair stunt, and assigns a -2 modifier (because the glass is so small). Again the bartender is surprised, so he uses his Agility as Dodge, giving the blast a difficulty of 4. Peter comes up with a 14, minus two equals 12. That's an Outcome of 8, half of which the GM thinks Peter deserves as +4 modifier on subsequent Intimidation. Way to go, Pete!

Some magical effects will fall between the definitions of the various schticks. Sorcerers can combine the schticks they know to create complex effects. Again, how well this works depends on the player's persuasive powers and the GM's judgment. The GM may allow for partial successes when one part of the combination seems much harder to attain than the other.

Example: Peter wants his sorcerer character to reanimate the corpses of some dead henchmen he wants to interrogate. This doesn't seem to fall directly within any of the schticks he knows. But he proposes to use both Heal (to bring the corpses back to a semblance of life) and Summoning (to retrieve their souls and consciousness from their journey to the underworld) together to create the effect. Peter's GM buys the argument and lets him try it. However, she thinks it should be pretty tough to bring characters back from the dead. She decides that he needs a 15 on his Sorcery task check to get the corpses moving again, and a 20 to get the right souls back in their bodies. If he gets an Action Result above 14 but under 20, the GM decides that the revived corpses will simply stumble about mindlessly, causing trouble for the PCs. Since Peter has mentioned nothing about Influencing the reanimated goons, the GM also decides that the spirits of the henchmen will be considerably less than cooperative even if Peter's character does get them stuffed back into their old bodies.

GMs have to come up with Difficulties for Sorcery checks off the cuff. They should determine what all of the relevant factors are and then mush them all together to get a final Difficulty rating.

Magic Juncture Modifiers

Magic is easier to work in some junctures than others. In some junctures, factions or individuals hostile to the use of magic control most of the feng shui sites. In game terms, this means a penalty to your Sorcery Action Value. If the balance of feng shui control shifts in a juncture, these modifiers will change as well, at the discretion of your GM. For example, if the Ascended get control of the 69 or 2056 junctures, the modifiers for those junctures will become the same as the 1850 and contemporary ones. On the other hand, if a group that relies on magic (like the Lotus) takes control of the later junctures, those junctures will match the modifier of the 69 juncture.

The Sorcery check modifier of the Netherworld changes too, to balance out the modifiers of the open junctures. The total Action Value modifier of all open junctures plus the Netherworld is always 0. If another juncture changes its modifier value, the modifier for the Netherworld is whatever number is needed to make the total of all juncture modifiers equal 0.

Example: The 69 juncture changes to a -2 Sorcery Action Value modifier. The total of all open junctures is: -2 -2 -2 +1 = -5. The modifier for the Netherworld is now +5 to make the total equal 0.

For some reason, various theories have been proposed to explain it, contemporary Hong Kong and the New Territories is not subject to the usual Sorcery Action Value Modifier. Its modifier is 0. We suggest Hong Kong as a starting point for Feng Shui series. Among other things, this cuts the sorcerers in the group a little slack to start out with.

Mana Level

Another game mechanic useable to alter the power level of sorcery is to change the Mana Level of an area. The most important way to do this is to limit/encourage the use of certain blatant sorcery schticks, but other game effects can also apply.

High Mana		Special Rules
High		Area Blasts gain additional power by increasing the area; Magic points be spent on a Desperate Effort also increase the diameter of the effect (diameter = Magic Attribute • Magic Points Spent).
Very High		As above, plus that all Magic points are recovered faster; after each scene or even fight. Snapshots with spells are allowed.
Absurd		As above, plus that any spell cast can be made Permanent at the cost of three Magic points. There are often special rules that limits the power of sorcery, so that customs, laws and strange geasa limit the power of magicians.

This is not intended as an absolute chart of Mana effects; rather, it is a benchmark table the GM can use to construct his own rules for his own game worlds.

Sorcery Stunts & Modifiers

Sorcerers, like fu experts and gun maniacs, can achieve useful results by employing stunts as they make Sorcery checks. This is most relevant to spell effects that have an obvious, physical result.

Multiple Targets:
Sorcerers can hit multiple targets, at an Action Value penalty of -1 per target.

Called Shots:
Like other forms of attacks. Sorcery attacks allow for the use of Called Shots. This can be used to feint and distract, ignore armor, disarm and all the other funky stunts you have come to know and love.

Ancillary Effects:
Sorcerers can create funky additional effects as well. For example, you might want to ignite a drum full of gasoline, creating a big fireball. The Action Value penalty for such attempts will not typically exceed –2.

Environment:
Blast is affected by range, visibility and cover just as a gun is.

Casting Time:
Snapshots with sorcery work just as with spells; shaving off one shot gives a -2 AV penalty, shaving off two shots gives a -5 AV penalty.

Tradition Limitations:
Each magic tradition has its own set of limitations and strictures, and breaking these incurs a -5 AV modifier. This stacks if you break several strictures. In some cases, the GM may figure your violation so blatant that the spell automatically fails.

Repetive:
Many sorcery effects are do-or-die; you either get that piece of information or fly over the chasm between builings, or you don't. But some sorcerers don't get the message, and will try again when fate, as manifested by the dice, denies their petition. Repeated attempts at doing the same thing suffer a -2 AV modifier, or possibly fail automatically if particularily booring or mundane.

Power of the Script:
Becaue of its flexibility, Sorcery has a unique ability to disrupt he GM's carefully laid plans. This does not work. The in-game motivation is that sorcery is highly tied to fate, and fate twarts any attempt by a sorcerer to slip out of its grasp. The real motivation si that a watertight set of sorcery rules, that could not derail most any plot, is almost impossible to write. By way of compenasation, sorcerers get positive AV modifiers if they advance or add value to the plot. This is usually a ±2 AV modifier, but may cause automatic success or failure.

Defending with Sorcery

Sorcerers with the Blast schtick can passively or actively Dodge using their Sorcery value as the Dodge score. They do so by erecting a barrier of magical energy around themselves; it serves to deflect incoming attacks directed at them. Juncture modifiers to your Sorcery Action Value also apply to sorcerous dodging.

Certain schticks allow spellcasters to use their Sorcery skill as the basis for a Parry attempt- general rules on parrying appear on p. 153. Characters with the Blast schtick can fire counter-blasts which intercept incoming ranged weapon attacks, spells, and hand-to-hand blows. Characters with the Movement schtick can interpose large, solid objects as shields against ranged weapon attacks and incoming spells. Needless to say, such objects must be available to the sorcerer. Characters with the Illusion schtick can displace their location to make themselves hard to hit. Parrying with a spell has a shot cost of 1.

Magic Points and Desperate Efforts

Spellcasters usually draw on the chi energy of the world around them to power their supernatural effects. However, it is possible to put extra energy into a spellcasting effort by expending your own personal mystic energy. Sorcerers can spend points of their Magic secondary attribute during combat to increase their Sorcery Action Values.

For each point of Magic that you expend, you may increase your Sorcery Action Value by 1: this applies to one task check only. You may expend multiple Magic points on one check.

Some spell effects require the expenditure of Magic points; these do not count as Desperate Efforts in determining Action Value. If such a spell is to affect somebody else, that person can pay the Magic point.

Obviously, you cannot spend more Magic points than you have. You still use your current full Magic attribute to calculate the result of spells and other effects, not your current Magic points. Magic points return to normal at the beginning of each game session.

Example: Yuan Guo is really PO now, so on his next shot against his rival, he decides to spend a Magic point to increase the Action Value of a Blast attempt, he adds 1 to his Action Value, so that it goes from 15 to 16. This roll is a +2, for an Action Result of 18. That oughta singe his opponent's robe! He is still at his normal Magic rating of 7, but has only six more Magic points to spend this session.

Action Value and Effect

When the effect of a given Sorcery effect is based on the Action Value of the sorcerer, that is always the final Action Value, after modifiers for juncture, circumstances, desperate efforts, snapshots and such. Normally, this is the same as the sorcerer's skill, so the game master need not write down the Action Value of every ward and protection circle in a sorcerer's tower, but in some special circumstances (a demonologist's summoning circle), a higher modified Action Value may apply because he worked hard to produce some impressive AV modifiers.

Backlash

Magic is a means of forcing chi energy to obey your will, and chi energy does not like to be forced. Sometimes a sorcerer ends up channeling more energy than he can handle. This makes magic inherently dangerous in a way that using fu powers or firing guns is not. When a character fumbles any Sorcery check, he suffers a magical Backlash. Backlash effects vary from schtick to schtick, and are explained in the schtick descriptions later in this chapter.

If your fumble was the result of a boxcars failure, backlash is the only side effect. If it happened because your Action Result was below zero, your spell also goes awry, with the usual GM-determined fumble effects.

Example: Yuan Guo is casting a Blast spell at a rival sorcerer. He makes a Sorcery check with a Difficulty of 13. His Action Value is 15. He gets boxcars on his first roll. He then rolls a -3, for an Action Result of 12-a failure. This failure following double sixes means that he suffers a Backlash. In the case of a Blast spell, that means that he suffers 10 Wound Points.

Learning Sorcery

Characters with the Sorcery skill can acquire new magic schticks at a cost of (16 + x) experience points per schtick. X = the number of magic schticks they will have when they gain the new one. Learning a new schtick requires no time on-stage during the game. It is assumed that sorcerers have been studying the tricks of the schtick between scenes while accumulating those experience points.

When you learn a new magic schtick, you automatically can use all of the special effects for that schtick unless it's Blast. New special effects for other schticks don't cost anything and can be created on the fly. If you know Blast, you also learn a new Blast effect.

Single-Schtick Sorcerers

A sorcerer who knows only a single schtick is known as a single-schtick sorcerer or an adept. This includes healers, seers, animal masters and quite a lot of other fantasy archetypes. When a character learns the Sorcery skill, he also automatically learns one Sorcery schtick for free. If such a character later wants to learn a second Sorcery schtick, he must pay the full cost of both the first and second Sorcery schticks, a total of 35 experience points.