Methods (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

Astrology

Astrologers observe celestial events, the stars, and the planets to draw magic from them. Because of the strong and obvious effect the heavens have on fate and life on earth, this is very powerful. Astrologers can predict fortuitous moments to do different things, but that is only the beginning of their craft. An accomplished astrologer can actually change the future or cause some event to occur spontaneously by creating a mystic link between certain heavenly bodies.

Limitation

As an astrologer you must know the current date to configure your powers. If you can see the night sky, you can instantly find the date.

Focus Condition

If you know the astrological signs governing the leader of your current group of enemies, you can focus. Knowing the birth place and location lets you calculate this, and you can use divination magic or research to find it out.

Attention

Your magic draws attention. Magic is always pretty obvious, but in your case it is more than that; your powers sends shivers down the spines of people miles away and have a gut-wrenching effect on those nearby.

Limitation

Whenever you use your magic, it is obvious to everyone in the vicinity that something odd is happening. This does not spoil illusion or invisibility; people can tell something is happening, but not exactly what or where. It is likely to make them more wary, however. Everyone within ten meters times the sum of your and their Chi attribute plus a die roll feels this sense of the unusual. There is no need to make the roll for every bystander; just assume that everyone in the vicinity notices. For characters trained in Magic this is much amplified; use the sum of your and their skill rating instead. For those who are close to you, this sense can extend all the way across the world.

Focus Condition

You may not crave attention, but when others are watching you do magic and their auras resonate with yours, your magic increases. Whenever there are a hundred or more spectators who can see you do magic you can focus.

Bane

There is something that stops you from using your powers. Whether this is psychological or an actual power drain is immaterial; in the presence of your bane, your powers fail. Some banes are common, others rare; this is balanced because the limitation and focus condition are so tightly tied. Here is a list of common banes; many others are possible.

• Holy symbols.
• Some metal (e.g. silver, gold, cold steel).
• Specific flowers or herbs (wolvesbane, garlic).
• Types of wood (ash, yew).
• Certain books (Bible, Koran, Torah, pulp novels).
• Certain weapons.
• Specific words.
• Any memento of an old love.
• The bones of a former victim.
• Direct sunlight.
• Running water.
• Dogs with angel eyes (dark circles around the iris).

Limitation

When directly exposed to your bane you cannot use your powers. It must be within ten meters and there should be no significant barriers; it it is kept in a container or behind a wall your bane does not trigger.

Focus Condition

Whenever an opponent has been using your bane against you or threatening to use it against you in the current scene, you can focus. You can also focus in scenes where your bane occurs as a natural element. You cannot focus if you or allies brought the bane to the scene; at least not until an opponent tricks you and uses it as a weapon.

Belief

Your magic is tied to belief, and your belief is tied to a code of behavior. You must follow your ethos, or your magic fails. It does not matter if you follow a god or a philosophy; what matters is that your ethos and tenets are central to all that you do. This is the basis of all divine magic; if your god actually grants you these powers, or if your faith is just a psychological crutch you use to work your magic is an open issue.

Limitation

Each magical act must be a manifestation of your belief. You cannot work magic unless it fits your picture of the universe. Your magic cannot work contrary to your code of ethics, and if you grossly violate the tenets of your religion at any time, you lose your ability to work magic until you atone. Most religion have a built-in antithesis; there are opposing gods, devils, the dark side and other negative, opposed forces in most mythologies. If you fall from the path of righteousness, you can usually pick up and continue your studies under a new master, but this will mandate a drastic change in role and personality, and may turn you into an NPC.

Focus Condition

When you are in the presence of others who share your faith who support your actions, you can focus. It generally takes about ten people to achieve this, but if you are acting directly in the interests of your faith even a single person will do.

Concentration

You are the linchpin of all your magic; when you cease to concentrate your magic dissipates. You cannot create magical effects that continue to work when you are not paying attention to them.

Limitations

If you relax, fall asleep, or become unconscious all your magical effects lapse. You can take mundane actions when your magic is running at no penalty, but you take a -1 penalty on all [Magic (Action)|Magic]] rolls you make for each magical effect you already have running.

Focus Condition

Whenever you are not maintaining any magical effects you can focus.

Echoes

Your sorcery affects the world in a very fundamental way, and this does not stop at the effects you produce consciously. Strange effects occur around you constantly, either as a result of your rampant subconscious use of magic, or simply as a form of backlash from reality.

Limitation

Echoes manifest spontaneously and outside your control. They are noticeable, and can give people in the know information they would not otherwise have. Echoes are generally funny, in a sadistic kind of way; they never obstruct the story, but can create setbacks and hindrances for you and (rarely) your friends. They are a great plot device for the GM to use when you are taking too much camera time or are using your magic for tasks that really demand role-playing. You can suggest echoes, or your game master can invent them. If you invent funny and annoying echoes, the game master will probably go easy on you with his own. In either case, it is the game master that has the final word on what happens.

Focus Condition

Whenever an echo manifests in a significant way, you can focus. Another way to put this is to say that when you focus, there is an echo, tough such player-provoked echoes are usually nastier than others, generally equal to an interaction setback.

Contagion

Contagion is the magical theorem of like attracts like. By manipulating a symbol, you can affect the real thing. You use this principle in all your magic. Generally, it is sufficient to have rough substitutes; a person is symbolized with a small doll, a rock with his name on it or a rough image.

Limitation

You need your props in order to work magic. These props are simple and easily improvised. You must also have some kind of link to your target; seeing or touching them qualifies, as does a name, image or an object belonging to the target.

Focus Condition

Whenever you have a personal object or former body part of the target to use in your magic. This is commonly the blood on a sharp weapon, a few strands of hair, nail clippings, or an article of clothing.

Costume

You have a special costume you wear to work your magic. This is distinctive, and marks you as odd; people in the know can learn things about your magic tradition from it. The exact details vary, but long robes, pointy hats, and embroidered signs and glyphs are standard. Variants include showing off extensive tattoos, complete nudity, or even a nonhuman or monstrous appearance.

Limitation

You must be in costume to work magic freely.

Focus Condition

You can focus at any time when in costume, but it costs you a Chi point to do so.

Geas

Laws hold power, and to you they are the key to the universe. Dishonest dealing and oathbreaking opens rifts in the soul and gives leverage against opponents. Unlike faith, you need not believe in or be sympathetic to the laws you use; the magical laws are as immutable as the laws of nature, and you are using them, not judging them.

Which causes are just is very malleable. Anyone lying to you or breaking a promise is fair game. It does not matter if the promise was given in jest or under coercion. Customs, even evil customs, must be obeyed. Any oath breaker can be ensorcerelled freely, as can those who have betrayed the customs of fealty or hospitality, even if the rules were unfair. Those who owe gifts or favors are fair game, as well.

Limitation

All geas magic must have some just cause; it is impossible to directly affect a character through magic if the character refuses to accept it and has done no wrong. Magic that does not directly harm a character, such as trickery and illusion, can be employed freely, and is often used to entrap a victim before more insidious magic is used to take control of him. But if the target refuses to be mislead, he cannot be directly harmed or affected by magic. This is a severe limitation, compensated by a liberal focus condition.

Focus Condition

If you fully fulfill the limitation, you can focus. It is as simple as that.

Manifestation

All your magic must manifest through a specific mechanism. This can be anything, but must be fairly specific. This prevents you from creating certain effects; you just cannot work magic outside of what the limits on your manifestation allows. It forces you to be creative in the extreme to use certain effects, and your GM may not let you get away with certain things, no matter how creative you are.

Manifestation can also serve as a clue to who worked the magic - someone who knows your magic always manifests as fire won't have a hard time identifying your work.

Examples:

• A fire sorceress who must manifest all her spells through fire; healing is the burning away of damage flesh, divination is done by staring into fire or at flying sparks. It is impossible for her to create effects relating to water.
• A druid who must manifest all his magic as aspects of nature. Blasts are flying thorns, illusions are mirages formed by heat and mist. All his magic is hindered if there is no natural phenomena nearby to cause his effect.
• A technomage who must manifest her magic as the work of devices and technology; scrying is satellite downloads or surveillance cameras, blasts are limited to reasonable weapon effects.

Limitation

You are not limited when you can work magic, but instead in which magical effects you can produce, as described above. Pick a manifestation and stick with it.

Focus Condition

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Naming

Everything has a true name, a manifestation of its true essence. Knowing this true name gives you power over the thing that it represents. Sorcery is possible for someone who know the true names of many things. If you know the true name of your enemy, you have him in your power.

Learning a true name is a difficult, often mystic experience. Visions and spirit quests play an important role, and an accomplished sorcerer can sometimes guess a true name through sheer intuition. Only intelligent creatures have individual true names; animals and objects share names with others of their type.

Naming magic is linked to magical secrets; naming magicians often have their own try name as their secret.

Limitation

You cannot target someone directly unless you know his true name. This problem is lessened by the fact that there are many "generic" true names for phenomena such as elements and objects, so a great range of magical effects can be accomplished without knowing the targets true name. But mind control, transmutation and other effects which directly and dramatically changes a person require that you know the target's true name.

Focus Condition

Whenever you know someone's true name, you can focus, but that focus is only good for affecting this person.

Possession

You are channeling powers beyond your control: sometimes these powers take you over and forces you to do wild and destructive actions. You must specify the nature of the power you are using, as this will influence how you focus and what happens when you lose control. In general, this amounts to a specific vice; focusing means tickling this vice, being possessed means losing control of it.

This might seem like a free lunch for an evil character, but when possessed you are self-destructive, evil for the sake of evil, and generally go too far for whatever sensibilities your character has. Good characters get remorse and are hurt by the very fact that they have done evil; bad people go further when possessed, often hurting their own prospects.

Limitations

Possession has no limitation of its own; instead it ups the ante on other limitations. When you are breaking whatever other limitations you have, you do not lose your magic powers; instead you risk losing control. The GM proposes an action the possessor tries to force you to do. You can agree, and do the action but otherwise remain in control. If you try to resist, make a Mind roll with your Chi as the difficulty. If this fails, you struggle with the possessor for three shots, doing nothing; you can then attempt the roll again. On a fumble, you completely lose control and have to live out the vice; the GM might take control of your character in this case.

Focus Condition

By voluntarily taking the type of action you'd ordinarily be forced to do when possessed, you can trick your possessor to release a burst of energy, allowing you to focus. As you are taking the initiative, you get to pick what kind of action to do, and you'll presumably not pick the worst imaginable ones. Still, you must be living out your vice, and the GM is the final judge on whether your action is evil enough.

Props

You use tools in your magic; a variety of gizmos, diagrams, books, wands, sigils, dried insects, eye of newt, incense and so on. Depending on your tradition, your props have a theme: the props of a technomage are distinctly different than those of an alchemist.

Limitation

You cannot use your magic without your props. You need to resupply or build new props during downtime; this is not generally a hassle, but can make for nice cut scenes. In an emergency, you can usually whip up the prop for a specific magical effect with a little scrounging and a few minutes of work.

Focus Condition

You can focus at any time by using your props, but it is a 3-shot basic action instead of a trigger action. You must concentrate, taking no trigger actions until your next shot comes up.

Restraint

Physical activity can hinder magical ability; energies that could have been channeled into the mystical are used for base physical body needs. By applying restraint, the distractions of the physical body are eliminated, which frees the mind for magic.

Restraint in an extended sense can be considered costume as well.

Limitation

You must be physically restrained in some way to practice magic. This involves at least one of the following. Note that it is possible, even encouraged, to use magic to overcome these handicaps.

• Bound arms, which prevents physical attacks and most ordinary actions.
• Bound legs, which prevents movement as a part of normal basic actions. On a full move action, you can take a normal move instead of a full move, crawling or rolling over the ground.
• Blindfolding
• Gagging, which prevents mundane speech. Make sure to enforce this strictly.
• Leashing, or being tied to another person or fixed location by a short leash which prevents movement beyond one or two meters.

Focus Condition

You can focus with three or more of the above conditions satisfied.

Secret

You have some magical secret that must not become known. A magical secret can be almost anything. It can be nonsense, such as a particular number or the name of some higher being or your own secret name. It can be some fact about you, such as that you are a woman, your exact age or that you are the descendant of Zeus. It cannot be something people would ordinarily say; people will not accidentally blurt out your secret unless the GM is using this as a plot device.

It is possible to find your secret through research or investigation, but this is always an important story development and should have its own dangers and drama. You might intuitively feel when someone is close to discovering your secret, which often leads to dramatic confrontations at the point of discovery.

Anyone who finds out your secret can use it to blackmail you and to gain dominance over you, as you cannot effectively use your powers against them. If your secret ever becomes common knowledge, you are doomed. But this should never happen if you play your cards right; the GM can invoke this as a plot device, but as long as you play along, no villain would waste the hook he has on you by publishing your secret.

Limitation

Anyone stating this secret in your presence negates your powers for the rest of the scene.

Focus Condition

Whenever your secret is in immediate danger of being discovered, you can focus. This means that an involving secret is much more useful than an obtuse one.

Talisman

You have some unique item you must have to work your magic. Talismans are reasonably large and obvious, like a staff, diadem, dowsing pin, special hat, gizmo or whatever. Without it, you are powerless. Unlike props, this is one specific item. Your talisman is a signature item; it will not disappear unless there is some plot-driven reason for it to disappear, and customs officials and other bystanders will generally ignore it. But its function is always apparent to other sorcerers and to everyone once you start using it for obvious effects. Those in the know might try to take it away from you.

This focus can be either destructible or indestructible. If it is indestructible, it cannot be replaced; you MUST get your unique item back. If it is destructible, it is still tough and hard to destroy, but it can be damaged, and you can replace it.

Limitation

You cannot use your magic without your focus item.

Focus Condition

When your focus item is directly involved in your power, such as if you strike with your staff or throw your magic diadem, you can focus.

Tantrism

Your magic is fueled by sexuality, both your own and that of your target.

Limitation

You must have regular sex to replenish your magic. You must engage is some sexual activity each day (even if it is as modest as masturbation or fantasies), and you must have a full-fleshed sexual encounter with a partner at least once a week.

Focus Condition

Whenever you manage to create sexual tension you can focus. If this is with a friend, it must be a sexual act or a noteworthy development in your relationship. If it is with an opponent, any sexually-themed stunt involving Charm or Presence is sufficient.

Vow

You have taken a magical oath, and your magic only works while you maintain this oath. Stricter vows are likely to interfere much more with your magic, but also to grant many more opportunities to focus.

• Vow of silence
• Vow of celibacy
• Vow of abstinence (from drugs, eating meat, or similar)
• Vow of poverty (entrust your upkeep to others, handle no valuables)
• Vow of fasting
• Vow against killing
• Vow against violence

Limitation

You must not have broken your vow recently to practice magic. Willfully breaking the vow negates your magic for a week. Breaking it because of coercion or necessity (and this might be frequent in case of such things as fasting) means you cannot use magic for an hour.

Focus Condition

When you would have gained some advantage by breaking your vow, and still persisted, you can focus.