All of the following text is Open Gaming Content.
The worlds of heroic adventure are places of wonder, and part of that wonder is the arcane arts or arcana. Arcana are divided into six different arts: animism, healing, meditative, psychic, shaping, and visionary. Arcana are primarily the province of adepts, although the Wild Talent feat (see Wild Talent in Chapter 3) allows some other characters to acquire limited arcane talents.
Arcana are the province of the adept. Using various feats, adepts acquire arcane talents and learn different arcana. To learn specific arcana, an adept must have the appropriate arcane talent feat. There are six of these feats: Animism Talent, Healing Talent, Meditative Talent, Psychic Talent, Shaping Talent, and Visionary Talent. The Arcane Training feat grants access to additional arcana.
Known arcana are handled much like skills, and often have ranks like skills. An adept's rank in any known arcana is equal to (adept level +3). Mixed-role characters use only their adept level for determining their arcana ranks; it requires dedication to achieve true mastery of the arcane arts.
Whether an arcana user is an adept or not, the rules for using arcana are the same. In the following sections, a character with a Wild Talent is considered to have an adept level equal to total character level.
Wielding arcana is primarily an act of will. Adepts often gesture or speak when using their arcana, but this is not required. An adept can use arcana with nothing more than intense concentration. Using an arcanum takes a particular amount of time, given in the arcanum's description. Most arcana require a standard or move action in combat. Others require a full-round action or more. Arcana are subject to the normal rules regarding actions (see Action Types in Chapter 6).
Some arcana call for a check using the bonus of the arcanum. This is the same as any other sort of check: a die roll plus the arcanum's bonus against a Difficulty. The check result often determines the effectiveness of the arcanum. Some arcana do not require checks; they operate automatically.
Some arcana require an attack roll to affect a target, particularly in the midst of combat. This is a normal attack roll, except adepts always apply their Dexterity modifier, even for a melee attack roll to touch a target in combat (a successful touch is more a matter of agility and speed than sheer strength). Any ability requiring an attack roll also takes at least a standard action and counts as the adept's attack for that round.
Arcana affecting other creatures allow a saving throw. The Difficulty for arcana saves is 10 + half adept level (round down) + key ability. For example, the base Difficulty for the Will saving throw against the arcana of a 9th-level adept is 14 (9 divided by 2, rounded down to 4) plus the adept's key ability score for arcana. Adepts can choose to deliberately lower the save Difficulty of an arcanum by reducing their effective adept level to as low as 1. This generally makes the arcanum less effective (lowering its rank), but makes it easier to resist any fatigue it may cause (see Fatigue later in this section).
Subjects of arcana can choose to forego the saving throw, willingly accepting the arcanum's effects. This choice is made before the subject knows what that effect is! Be careful about allowing people to use their arcana on you, unless you know and trust them....
Specific limitations on the range of an arcanum are noted in its description.
Some arcana transcend space, and even time, as we understand them: they can affect targets anywhere. However, using arcana against targets out of sight and unfamiliar to the adept is difficult, effectively limiting the range of most arcana to somewhat familiar targets or things in the adept's line of sight. If an arcanum's description doesn't specify a range, assume it is line of sight.
An important factor for some arcana is how familiar the subject is to the adept. In arcanum descriptions mentioning a familiarity modifier, determine the relationship between the adept and the target on the Familiarity table and apply the appropriate modifier to the Difficulty of the arcanum check. For example, using the Mind Touch arcanum on a somewhat familiar target increases the Difficulty by +15.
| Familiarity | Difficulty | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Present | +0 | A subject visible to the naked eye or in physical or mental contact with the adept. |
| Very Familiar | +5 | A subject currently seen or sensed through another arcanum, a close friend or relative, an item made by the adept or owned and used for at least a year, a place where the adept spent at least a year's time. |
| Familiar | +10 | A subject the adept has been acquainted with for at least three months, a casual friend. |
| Somewhat Familiar | +15 | A subject the adept has been acquainted with for at least a week, reading someone else's memory of a familiar subject. |
| Casually Familiar | +20 | A subject the adept has been acquainted with only briefly, reading someone else's memory of a somewhat familiar subject. |
| Slightly Familiar | +25 | A subject the adept has only seen briefly or had described in detail. |
| Unfamiliar | -- | A subject totally unfamiliar and unknown to the adept and out of the adept's line of sight or physical contact. Arcana cannot be used on unfamiliar subjects. |
Some arcana refer to the adept being in mental contact with the subject. This involves the use of the Mind Touch arcanum (see Mind Touch in this chapter), allowing the adept to contact another character's mind. Subjects in mental contact are considered present to the adept in terms of familiarity, regardless of the physical distance between them (no increase in Difficulty). Mental contact does not count as line of sight for arcana requiring it.
Although it is easiest to use an arcanum on a single subject at a time, an adept can affect multiple subjects with the same arcanum at once: lifting multiple objects, making mental contact with multiple minds, and so forth. This requires time, skill, and effort to achieve.
A character attempting to use an arcanum on more than one subject at once increases the arcanum and fatigue check Difficulties by +2 for every additional target. So affecting three subjects at once is +4 on the arcanum and fatigue check Difficulties. If the arcanum does not require a check, then reduce the arcanum's saving throw Difficulty by 2 per additional subject. Additionally, the arcanum requires a full-round action to use. If the arcanum normally requires a full-round action or more, then it requires an additional full-round action.
The various subjects must all be within range. If the arcanum requires mental contact, then the user must be in mental contact with all subjects. The Narrator has the final say on whether an arcanum can affect more than one subject at a time and, if so, how many. The Widen Arcana feat (see Widen Arcana in Chapter 3) also allows an adept to affect more than one target with an arcanum at once.
The use of some arcana is fatiguing, putting a strain on the adept's mind and body. When an adept uses a fatiguing arcanum, make a fatigue save. This is a Will saving throw against Difficulty 10 plus half the arcanum's rank (round down).
A successful save results in no ill effect on the adept. A failed save means the adept suffers a level of fatigue (see Fatigue in Chapter 6). A few arcana cause more than one level of fatigue on a failed fatigue save.
Rapid use of arcana in a short period of time makes it harder and harder to overcome fatigue. Every time an adept uses a fatiguing arcanum within an hour's time, the Difficulty of any successive fatigue save for using arcana (of any type) increases by 1. For example, an adept uses a fatiguing arcanum, making a fatigue save against the normal Difficulty. A minute later, the adept uses another fatiguing arcanum. This time the Difficulty of the fatigue save is 1 higher. Use of certain arcana in rapid succession can tire out even the most powerful adepts.
To eliminate the cumulative fatigue save modifier, an adept must refrain from using any fatiguing arcana for at least an hour. The adept doesn't need to physically rest during that time, just avoid any further uses of fatiguing arcana.
Some arcana can be maintained; that is, their effects can continue at the same level achieved by the initial use. This maintenance requires at least a modicum of concentration on the adept's part. Maintaining an effect is a free action each round.
Using another arcanum (or another application of the same arcanum) while maintaining one or more arcana increases the Difficulty of the arcanum check and the fatigue save by +2 (regardless of the total number of arcana maintained).
An adept distracted while maintaining arcana must make a Concentration check with Difficulty 10 + 2 per arcanum the adept is maintaining.
Additional modifiers may apply for damage and other distracting conditions (see the Concentration skill in Chapter 2). A failed Concentration check means the adept stops maintaining all the arcana. Optionally, the Narrator may rule that the adept stops maintaining one arcanum for every two points the Concentration check missed the Difficulty (rounding up). An adept unable to take any actions (due to being stunned, for example) cannot maintain arcana.
Concentration: Some arcana require intense concentration to maintain. The adept must devote a standard action each round to concentrate and maintain the ability rather than a free action. Concentration checks and Difficulties remain the same as maintenance.
The arcana in this section follow the format for skill descriptions, with a few modifications. Arcana cannot be used untrained. If an arcanum causes fatigue, it's listed as fatiguing after the arcanum name. If it requires maintenance or concentration, this is noted.
A description of what the arcanum does follows, along with the game rules for the arcanum.
Each description ends with the time it takes to use the arcanum. In some cases, this varies depending on the conditions when the arcanum is used.
Meditative or Visionary, Fatiguing
You can improve your ability in combat by sensing the flow of events around you. A Battle Dance check grants you a bonus on attack rolls or Defense (see the accompanying table). Each round you can split the bonus between the two as you see fit. You can select a bonus lower than what you get on the table to reduce fatigue, which is Difficulty 10 + the bonus.
| Result | Bonus |
|---|---|
| Up to 4 | +1 |
| 5-14 | +2 |
| 15-24 | +3 |
| 25-34 | +4 |
| 35+ | +5 |
Time: Activating Battle Dance is a move action. The bonus lasts for 10 rounds (1 minute).
Animism, Fatiguing, Concentration
You forge a mental connection with an animal, allowing you to perceive whatever it perceives, using its senses. Make a Beast Link check with a Difficulty of 10, modified by familiarity. If successful, you can perceive with the animal's senses and communicate with it mentally. The animal is not under your command although, you may be able to convince it, using your other skills and arcana, to do certain things for you.
Time: Beast Link is a move action.
Animism
You encourage a Small-sized or smaller animal to go somewhere carrying a message for you. The animal cannot be one tamed or trained by someone else.
Choose an animal in your line of sight. It advances toward you and awaits your bidding. You can mentally impress upon the animal a certain place known to you or an obvious landmark. You can also attach some small item or note to the messenger. The animal messenger then travels to the designated location as quickly as possible under its own power and waits there for up to one day per adept level.
While waiting, the messenger allows other to approach it and remove any scroll or token it carries. The intended recipient gains no special ability to communicate with the animal or read any attached message (if it's written in a language he or she doesn't know, for example).
Time: Beast is a move action.
Animism, Can Be Used Untrained
You can sense the emotions and moods of beasts. This works like Heart Reading does on people, except it only affect animals.
Animism
You can communicate psychically with animals. You are able to ask questions of and receive answers from animals; although the arcanum doesn't make them more friendly or cooperative than normal. Furthermore, wary or cunning animals are likely to be terse or evasive, while the more stupid ones make inane comments. If an animal is friendly toward you, it may do some favor or service that you ask of it.
Time: Beast Speech is a free action.
Animism, Fatiguing
You can summon a nearby animal or animals. You can summon up to twice your adept level in animals, with no individual animal having a greater level than your adept level. Make a Beast Summoning check against a Difficulty of 10 + the total level of animals summoned. A successful check means the animals hear your call from up to your adept level in miles away and come to you as quickly as they can under their own power. You can choose to limit your summons to a particular type of animal (only eagles or wolves, for example) or even to a particular animal known to you. In the latter case, the check Difficulty is 10 + a familiarity modifier and the range is unlimited (although it may take the animal some time to arrive).
SUmmoned beasts are not under your control in any way and can choose to depart, if they wish. You can use other arcana to help convince the animals to aid you or perform certain tasks.
Time: Beast Summoning is a standard action. You must concentrate to maintain it until the summoned beasts arrive.
Animism
This arcanum works like the Fascinate feat except you use your arcanum rank in place of an interaction skill, and it only affects animals.
Time: Beast Trance is a standard action. It requires total concentration to maintain.
Psychic, Fatiguing
While in mental contact with another creature, you can project blissful feelings of pleasure. The creature must make a Will saving throw or be dazed for 1 round, taking no action, but defending normally. Since Mind Touch is a move action, you can make mental contact and use Bliss in the same round.
Retry: Yes, but the target gets a cumulative +1 bonus to the Will save for each new attempt in the same scene.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject.
Time: Bliss is a standard action.
Healing or Meditative, Can Be Used Untrained, Maintenance
You have great mental control over your body. You can make a Body Control check for a number of different tasks.
| Task | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Sleep normally despite distractions | 5 |
| Sleep normally despite difficult distractions | 10 |
| Slow breathing to half normal rate | 10 |
| Ignore pain or injury | 15 |
| Body awareness | 15 |
| Resist fear | 15 |
| Speed recovery | 15 |
| Slow breathing to one quarter normal rate | 15 |
| Willpower | 15 |
| Feign death | 20 |
| Overcome disease | Disease's Save Difficulty |
| Overcome poison | Poison's Save Difficulty |
Sleeping: A successful Body Control check allows you to sleep in difficult conditions, including bad weather, noise, buzzing insects, and so forth.
Slow Breathing: You can deliberately slow your rate of breathing so that you consume less air, vital in situations where there is a limited amount of breathable air available.
Ignore Pain or Injury: You can ignore the effects of pain or injury while awake or asleep. If you choose, nothing can wake you, as long as you make a successful Body Control check.
Body Awareness: You can become very aware of your body while asleep or concentrating. This allows you to sense if you are touched or moved in any way while using Scrying, for example. If you are damaged, subtract the attack's damage bonus from the Difficulty of the Body Control check.
Resist Fear: You can override your body's natural response to fear. With a successful Body Control check, you gain a new saving throw against any fear effect, with a +4 bonus.
Speed Recovery: You can speed your natural healing process, gaining a recovery check in half the normal time, so long as you spend that time in a deep, healing trance.
Willpower: With a Difficulty 15 Body Control check, you can continue to act while disabled without your condition worsening to dying. You still suffer additional damage normally.
Feign Death: By exerting supreme control over your body, you can enter a deep trance almost indistinguishable from death. A Notice check with a Difficulty equal to your Body Control check is required to determine whether you are still alive. Effects that detect life still work normally on you. While in this state, you also suspend the effects of any disease or poison in your system for as long as you remain in the trance.
Overcome Disease or Poison: By concentrating for a full round, you can substitute your Body Control check for your Fortitude saving throw against a disease or poison in your system. This usually means you can only use Body Control against the secondary effects of a disease or poison, unless it is slow acting and you are warned soon enough to use Body Control to resist the initial effects (in the Narrator's judgment).
Time: Body Control is a full-round action.
Psychic, Maintenance
You can drain intense emotion, calming those around you. The target creature must make a Will saving throw or be drained of all extremes of emotion. The creature is calm and incapable of taking violent action (although it can defend itself) or doing anything else destructive. Any aggressive action or damage against the subject breaks the effect. A successful Will save means the creature acts normally. This arcanum suppresses (but does not dispel) arcana relying on emotion, such as Heart Shaping. While the Calm effect lasts, the suppressed arcanum has no effect.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the target.
Time: Calm is a standard action. It lasts for 1 round per rank after you stop maintaining it.
Shaping, Fatiguing
You can freeze things with the arcanum of your mind. With a Difficulty 15 Cold Shaping check, you can lower the temperature of an area about a foot across, enough to deal cold damage. A targeted creature suffers cold damage equal to half your Cold Shaping rank (round down). Protective clothing has no effect.
You can freeze roughly a gallon of water into solid ice in a round. For every 2 points that you exceed the Difficulty, you affect an additional cubic foot (or gallon of liquid).
You can also decrease the size and damage potential of a fire by 1 point (and 1 square foot) for every 2 points your Cold Shaping check exceeds Difficulty 10. A fire reduced to a size or damage potential of 0 or less goes out permanently (this requires a Cold Shaping check with Difficulty 12 for a normal square foot flame). Otherwise, the reduction in the fire requires concentration.
Time: Cold Shaping is a standard action.
Healing, Fatiguing
You can heal injuries by touch. With a full-round action, you can grant a subject an immediate recovery check using your Cure check result in place of a Constitution check. If the recovery check fails, you must wait the normal recovery time for that condition or use extra effort before trying again (see Extra Effort in Chapter 6). You can stabilize a dying character with a Difficulty 10 Cure check.
You can use Cure on yourself. You can't cure your own staggered or unconscious conditions or stabilize yourself while dying, since you have to be conscious and able to take a full-round action to use the ability. You can use Cure to cure your own disabled condition, but doing so is a strenuous action. If your recovery check is successful, you suffer no ill effects. If it is not, however, your condition worsens to dying.
Retry: See above. Otherwise you can retry freely.
Time: Cure is a full-round action.
Psychic, Fatiguing, Concentration, Sorcery
You can mentally control another creature's actions. The target makes a Will saving throw. If the save fails, you control the target's actions. You can force the subject to perform any action you wish, within the limits of his abilities. You're aware of what the subject experiences via your mental link, but you do not receive direct sensory impressions from him. Subjects forced to take actions against their nature receive a new saving throw with a bonus of +1 to +4, depending on the nature of action. A successful save breaks your control.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject.
Time: Dominate is a full-round action.
Healing, Sorcery
You can drain someone's vital energy by touch. Make a Drain Vitality check against the result of the target's Will save. If you win, the target suffers a level of fatigue, while you regain a level of fatigue. You cannot drain targets once they are unconscious.
Special: You can only take 10 on a Drain Vitality check if the target is helpless.
Time: Drain Vitality is a standard action.
Shaping, Fatiguing
You can shape and move earth and stone. An Earth Shaping check can have one of the following effects:
Move Earth (Difficulty 10): You move dirt (soil, clay, loam, sand), possibly collapsing embankments, moving hillocks, shifting sand dunes, and so forth. However, in no event can rock formations be collapsed or moved. The area to be affected determines the time required and the Difficulty. Every 150-foot square (up to 10 feet deep), takes 10 minutes and increases the Difficulty by 5. The maximum area, 900 feet by 900 feet, takes an hour and is Difficulty 40.
Earth Shaping does not violently break the surface of the ground. Instead, it creates wavelike crests and troughs, with the earth reacting with glacierlike fluidity until the desired result is achieved. Trees, structures, rock formations, and such are mostly unaffected except for changes in elevation and topography. This effect cannot be used for tunneling and is too slow to trap or bury creatures unless they are helpless for the entire time the earth is moved.
Soften Earth (Difficulty 10): All natural, undressed earth or stone softens. Wet earth becomes thick mud, dry earth becomes loose sand or dirt, and stone becomes soft clay that is easily molded. You affect a 10-foot square area to a depth of 1 to 4 feet, depending on the toughness or resilience of the ground at that spot. Each +5 increase in Difficulty affects another 10- foot square. Dressed or worked stone cannot be affected. Earth and stone creatures are not affected either.
A creature in mud must succeed on a Reflex save or be caught helpless for one round. A creature that succeeds on its save can move through the mud at half speed. Loose dirt is not as troublesome as mud, but all creatures in the area move at only half their normal speed and can't run or charge. Stone softened into clay does not hinder movement, but it does allow characters to cut, shape, or excavate areas they may not have been able to affect before.
While this arcanum does not affect dressed or worked stone, cavern ceilings or vertical surfaces such as cliff faces can be affected. Usually, this causes a moderate collapse or landslide as the loosened material peels away from the face of the wall or roof and falls.
A moderate amount of damage can be dealt to a structure by softening the ground beneath it, causing it to settle. However, most sturdy structures are only damaged by this, and not destroyed.
Stonecrafting (Difficulty 10): You can mold stone into any shape you wish. You can affect 10 cubic feet of stone. Each additional cubic foot increases the Difficulty by 1 (so at Difficulty 30 you can affect 30 cubic feet). The Narrator may require a Craft (sculpting or stonecutting) check to achieve precise results. You perform stone crafts in minutes instead of the hours of normal Craft projects. A complex project, which normally takes 24 hours, would therefore take 24 minutes.
Earthquake (Difficulty 30): An intense but highly localized tremor rips the ground. The shock knocks creatures down, collapses structures, opens cracks in the ground, and more. The effect lasts for 1 round, during which time creatures on the ground can't move or attack. An adept must make a Concentration check (Difficulty 20) to use arcana that round. The earthquake affects all terrain, vegetation, structures, and creatures in an area with a radius of adept level times 10 feet. The specific effects depend on the nature of the terrain.
Time: See description.
Healing, Fatiguing
This works like Enhance Self, except you can enhance others' abilities by touch, and you cannot enhance your own abilities.
Special: The subject of this arcanum must also make a Fortitude saving throw against fatigue (same Difficulty as the adept) when its duration runs out, to represent the strain placed on the subject's body.
Animism or Meditative, Fatiguing
You can improve your Strength or Dexterity for a short time. An Enhance Self check adds a bonus to either your Strength or Dexterity score for 1 minute (10 rounds). The result of the check indicates the amount of the bonus. If desired, you can split an even bonus equally between Strength and Dexterity.
| Difficulty | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 15 | +1 |
| 20 | +2 |
| 25 | +3 |
| 30 | +4 |
| 35 | +5 |
Time: Enhance Self is a standard action. The bonus lasts for 10 rounds (1 minute). If you take 20 when making this check, you spend 2 minutes and suffer a +20 increase in the fatigue Difficulty.
Animism, Meditative, or Visionary
You can enhance your normal sensory abilities. An Enhance Senses check adds a bonus to your Notice, Search, and Sense Motive checks. It also adds to skill checks made to find or follow tracks. The result of the check indicates the amount of the bonus.
| Difficulty | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 10 | +2 |
| 15 | +4 |
| 20 | +6 |
| 25 | +8 |
| 30 | +10 |
| 35 | +12 |
Time: Enhance Senses is a move action. The bonus lasts for 10 minutes. If you take 20 when making this check, you spend 2 minutes and suffer a +20 increase to the fatigue Difficulty.
Shaping, Fatiguing
You can mentally start and control fires. You can make a Fire Shaping check to ignite a fire, to increase the size of an existing fire, or to create light but not heat.
Ignite Fire: You can set any flammable object in your line of sight on fire as a standard action with a successful Fire Shaping check (Difficulty 15). Targets must make a Reflex saving throw (Difficulty 15) to avoid taking +2 fire damage. The target must save each round. A successful save means the fire goes out; although, you can reignite it with another standard action and successful Fire Shaping check. A character on fire can automatically extinguish the flames by dousing in water. Spending a full round rolling on the ground grants a +4 bonus on the Reflex saving throw. In addition to using it as an attack, you can use the arcanum to light candles (up to a dozen candles in a 5-foot square with a single skill check), torches, hearth fires, and so forth. At the Narrator's discretion, lighting small fires, like candles, is not fatiguing.
Increase Fire: You can increase the size and intensity of a fire. The Difficulty of the Fire Shaping check is 10 + 1 per square foot of increase. Every two square feet increase the fire's damage potential by +1. The fire maintains its increased size and damage as long as you concentrate, and it can even burn in the absence of fuel; although, smothering still puts it out. While you maintain an increased flame, a victim does not get a Reflex saving throw to put the fire out (although it can still be extinguished by dousing with water), and the fire does additional damage based on your Fire Shaping check. So, an adept who makes a Difficulty 16 Fire Shaping check can spread a fire over an additional 6 square feet and it does +3 damage.
Light: You can create a glowing spot of arcane fire that sheds light but no heat, illuminating a 20-foot radius. This requires a move action and a Difficulty 5 Fire Shaping check. You can increase the radius of the illumination by increasing the Difficulty of the check; each +5 Difficulty increases the radius of the illumination by 10 feet. The point of light moves where you direct it within your line of sight, as a move action. Creating light is not fatiguing.
Time: Igniting fires and increasing flames are standard actions. Creating or moving light is a move action.
Healing, Fatiguing, Sorcery (see below)
You can shape and mold flesh as if it were clay in your hands. The subject must be either willing or helpless for the entire duration of your work (you can use Flesh Shaping on yourself). You make Flesh Shaping checks to alter a subject's physical features. You cannot change body mass or size, other than a few feet more or less in height by resizing the subject's bones. You can sculpt physical features largely at will. The Difficulty and time required for Flesh Shaping is shown in the table.
| Difficulty | Time | Task |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 1 minute | Alter facial features or other minor cosmetic features. |
| 20 | 10 minutes | Alter extensive cosmetic features or overall shape. |
| 30 | 1 hour | Extensive alterations to shape, duplicating exact appearance. |
Treat your Flesh Shaping check result like a Disguise check for purposes of determining if someone notices the change. Among other things, Flesh Shaping can provide alterations in eye, hair, and skin color, even creating tattoo-like patterns of pigmentation. It can greatly enhance or diminish physical appearance. Any alterations are permanent, unless reversed through this arcanum or the Cure arcanum, either of which must exceed the original check result.
Flesh Shaping interferes with the natural form of a creature and is a distinctly unnatural process. Using this arcanum, especially on an unwilling subject, is considered sorcery. At the Narrator's discretion, an absolutely selfless and harmless use of Flesh Shaping might provide a bonus on the check to avoid Corruption, or even no check at all, but these instances should be rare.
Special: Taking 20 increases the fatigue save Difficulty by +20.
Time: See table.
Animism
This arcanum works like Calm, except it only affects animals.
Healing, Fatiguing, Sorcery
You can inflict injury with a mere touch, disrupting the body's natural balance. You must touch the target as a standard action. Success means the target must make a Fortitude saving throw against your arcana save Difficulty, with failure read on the Toughness Saving Throw table for lethal damage. So a failed save results in a hurt condition, failure by 5 or more means the target is wounded, and so forth.
Time: Harm is a standard action.
Psychic, Can Be Used Untrained
You can sense the emotions of other creatures. A Heart Reading check allows you to determine the subject's emotional state. The target gets a Will save to resist. Whether you succeed or fail, the subject does not know you are reading his emotions.
If the target's save fails, you get a general idea of his emotions and mood. This grants you a bonus on the next interaction skill check you make against the subject within the next 10 rounds (1 minute). The bonus is based on your Heart Reading check result.
| Result | Interaction Bonus |
|---|---|
| Up to 4 | +1 |
| 5-14 | +2 |
| 15-24 | +3 |
| 25-34 | +4 |
| 35+ | +5 |
Retry: You can only use Heart Reading on a subject once during the same scene.
Time: Heart Reading is a free action. The bonus lasts 10 rounds (1 minute) or until you make an interaction skill check against the target, whichever comes first.
Psychic, Fatiguing, Concentration
You can impose emotions on others. The target makes a Will saving throw. If the save fails, you can impose any one of the following emotional states:
Despair: The target suffers a -2 penalty on saving throws, attack rolls, checks, and damage. Despair dispels the effects of hope.
Fear: The target flees from the object of its fear (chosen by you). Fear dispels the effects of rage. It also immediately ends a use of the Rage feat.
Friendship: The target's attitude shifts to the next more positive attitude (hostile to unfriendly, unfriendly to indifferent, and so forth). see Social Actions in Chapter 6. Creatures involved in combat continue to fight back normally, however. Friendship dispels the effects of hatred.
Hatred: The target's attitude shifts to the next more negative attitude (indifferent to unfriendly, unfriendly to hostile, and so forth). see Social Actions in Chapter 6. Hatred dispels the effects of friendship.
Hope: The target gains a +2 bonus on saving throws, attack rolls, checks, and damage. Hope dispels the effects of despair.
Rage: The target gains the effects of the Rage feat (see Rage in Chapter 3). They are compelled to fight, heedless of danger. Rage does not stack with the Rage feat or with itself. Rage dispels the effects of fear.
Time: Heart Shaping is a standard action.
Psychic, Fatiguing, Concentration
You can fool the senses of others. Make an Illusion check with a Difficulty based on the complexity of the illusion, consulting the table. If successful, the illusion appears to the subject. The illusion exists solely in the subject's mind, so it can be of any size; creating the illusion of something small is just as easy as creating the illusion of something huge.
| Complexity | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Illusion affects a single sense | 10 |
| Illusion affects two senses | 15 |
| Illusion affects all senses | 20 |
| Simple (random noise, static image, and the like) | +0 |
| Complex (coherent sound, moving images, and the like) | +5 |
| Very Complex (multiple overlapping sounds or images) | +10 |
Since the illusion isn't real, it cannot produce any real effects. It cannot cause damage, support weight, provide nutrition, illuminate darkness, or provide protection from the elements. Thus, characters fall through an illusory bridge or floor if they try to walk on it, and although they can appear to eat, and taste, illusory food, it has no nutritional value.
Characters encountering an illusion do not get a saving throw against it until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion. For example, if characters encounter a section of illusory floor, they would receive a saving throw if they stopped and examined the floor, poked at it, and so forth. Likewise, if an illusory monster attacks the characters, they get a saving throw because they are interacting with the illusion.
A successful saving throw against an illusion reveals it to be false, but a translucent after-image remains. For example, a character making a successful saving throw against an illusory section of floor knows the floor isn't real and isn't safe to walk on, and can see what lies below it, but he can still note where the illusion is.
A failed Will saving throw means the character fails to notice anything is amiss. A character faced with incontrovertible proof that an illusion isn't real needs no saving throw. Someone who falls through an illusory floor knows something is amiss. A character who communicates this information to others gives them a +4 bonus on saving throws against the illusion.
Retry: No. You can attempt to affect the same character after some time has passed, but not in the same scene.
Special: You must be in mental contact with a target to use Illusion.
Time: Illusion is a full-round action.
Shaping, Fatiguing
You can mentally control light. With a successful check, you can make your outline blurred and indistinct or even become invisible.
You can create realistic three-dimensional images of light occupying up to a 10-foot cube. Each additional 10-foot cube the image occupies increases the Difficulty by 5. Subjects seeing the image get a Will saving throw to realize it is not real if they have any reason to suspect it, such as the fact that the image makes no noise.
You can also create a point of light illuminating a 20-foot radius, which you can move at will anywhere in your line of sight as a move action. For each 10 feet you add to the radius of illumination, the Difficulty increases by 5.
You can create light effects anywhere in your line of sight, and they last as long as you maintain them. Creating multiple effects at once (such as becoming invisible while also creating the illusion you are elsewhere) count as maintaining multiple arcana.
| Task | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Illuminate | 5 (+5 per additional 10-foot radius) |
| Visual Illusion | 10 (+5 per additional 10-foot cube) |
| Blur (20% miss chance) | 15 |
| Blur (50% miss chance) | 20 |
| Invisibility | 25 |
Special: The basic level of illuminate (Difficulty 5) is not fatiguing.
Time: Light Shaping is a standard action.
Shaping, Fatiguing, Maintenance
You can manipulate objects at distance as if with a pair of invisible, intangible hands. Your arcanum has the same Dexterity as you, while lifting the object has the same Difficulty as Move Object, except you cannot increase the weight lifted by suffering fatigue (Manipulate Object's fatigue comes from the extra precision required).
You can use your normal skills via Manipulate Object, but you are at a -2 penalty for having to operate remotely, and you can't perform tasks at all if you can't see your target, since your arcanum has no sense of touch.
Remotely Wielding Weapons: An adept can wield a melee weapon using Manipulate Object. Picking up the weapon is a move action. Attacking with it is a standard action. Concealment is determined by the attacker and defender's positions, not the weapon's, while cover is determined by the defender and weapon's positions. The attacker makes a normal attack roll, but with a -4 penalty for the difficulty in controlling the weapon from afar, and adds his Intelligence score to the attack roll, rather than Dexterity. The weapon deals its normal damage with no modification for Strength (as if wielded by a Str 0 attacker). An adept can take the Exotic Weapon Training feat in remotely wielded weapons to eliminate the -4 penalty to hit (see Exotic Weapon Training in Chapter 3).
A remotely wielded weapon can be struck normally by sunder attacks (see Sunder in Chapter 6). Attempts to disarm the adept by knocking the weapon out of his arcane grasp are resolved by opposed attack rolls as normal or an opposed attack roll and Manipulate Object check, if the adept's Manipulate Object bonus is greater than his attack bonus.
Time: Manipulate Object is a move action. The skill use lasts for 10 rounds (1 minute).
Psychic, Fatiguing, Concentration
You can mentally probe a subject's mind for information. You must be in mental contact with the subject. Make a Mind Probe check against the result of the target's Will save.
If successful, you can ask any one question and receive the answer from the target's mind. If the target doesn't know the answer, then you know that. Especially personal or guarded information grants the target a +1 to +5 bonus on the Will save, while information the subject doesn't consciously know (because it is subconscious or forgotten due to amnesia, for example) grants a +5 to +10 bonus on the Will save.
You can continue to ask questions, one per round, for as long as you maintain your Mind Probe. Each question requires a new skill check, an additional Will save, and another fatigue save (with an increasing fatigue save Difficulty).
Retry: Yes, but the target gets a cumulative +1 bonus to the Will save for each new attempt in the same scene.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject.
Time: Mind Probe is a full-round action.
Psychic, Maintenance
You can read another creature's thoughts. Make an opposed check against the result of the target's Will save. If successful, you can read the target's surface thoughts (whatever the target is presently thinking). Mind Reading transcends language; you comprehend the target's thoughts whether or not you share a language. If you fail your Mind Reading check, you cannot read the target's mind.
If you can interact with your subject, a successful Bluff check against the target's Sense Motive check causes the subject to think consciously about a particular piece of information you're looking for, such as a password or name, allowing you to pluck it from the subject's surface thoughts.
Retry: Yes, but the target gets a cumulative +1 bonus to the Will save for each new attempt in the same scene, and retries with Mind Reading are fatiguing.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject.
Time: Mind Reading is a standard action.
Psychic, Fatiguing
Mind Shaping allows you to remove psychic influence or to alter memories and behavior. Make a Mind Shaping check, with the Difficulty determined by the task.
Remove Mental Influence: Make a Mind Shaping check with a Difficulty equal to the check result of a mind-affecting arcanum. If you succeed, that arcanum no longer affects the subject. Note this only removes the effects of ongoing arcana, not permanent aftereffects. This means you could use Mind Shaping to remove a Dominate or Illusion effect, but not to restore damage caused by a psychic attack (for that, use the Cure arcanum). You can undo the effects of Mind Shaping used to alter the subject's mind by equaling or exceeding the Mind Shaping check used to make the alterations.
Alter Psyche: You can make changes in the subject's mind. The Difficulty is based on the extent of the change you wish to make.
| Difficulty | Alteration | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Alter a single unimportant fact or brief recollection, about 5 minutes worth of memory. | 1 full round |
| 20 | Alter a single fact or an hour's worth of memory. | 1 minute |
| 25 | Alter a single significant fact, such as the name of the subject's spouse, or a day's worth of memory. | 10 minutes |
| 30 | Alter a deeply personal fact, such as the subject's name or alignment, or a week's worth of memory. | 1 hour |
| 35 | Alter up to a month's worth of memory. | 6 hours |
| 40 | Alter up to a year's worth of memory. Give the subject an entirely new personality, complete with false memories, or erase the subject's entire memory, causing total amnesia. | 10 hours |
False or altered memories can cause dissonance within the subject's mind, depending on how well they fit into the subject's other memories. If the subject notices a conflict between the false and true memories (Narrator's discretion), she gets an additional Will save to shake off the effect and regain her true memory. She gains a bonus of +1 to +4 on the save depending on how strong the dissonance is between the true and false memories.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject. Taking 20 requires twenty times the usual time. Generally, this means the subject must be cooperative, unconscious, or restrained in some way. Taking 20 increases the fatigue check Difficulty by +20 as well.
Retry: If you fail a Mind Shaping check, you must wait at least 24 hours before attempting the same task on the same subject.
Time: Removing psychic influence is a full-round action. For altering a person's psyche, see the table.
Psychic
You can establish contact with another mind. The base Difficulty is 10, modified by familiarity. If the subject has a Psychic Shield, you have to make a separate Mind Touch check to overcome it. An unwilling subject also gets a Will saving throw to avoid contact. If the save is successful, no contact is made.
If you do not want the subject to know you are making mental contact, you can make a separate opposed Mind Touch check against the subject's Sense Motive, Second Sight, or Psychic Shield check (whichever has the highest bonus). If you win, the subject is unaware of your attempt. If the subject wins, she is aware of your attempt (whether you succeed or fail in actually establishing contact).
While you are in mental contact with another being, the two of you can communicate at the rate of normal speech, hearing each other's thoughts. You can also send a single visual image each round instead of speaking. Both you and the subject can choose to lie or omit information; you're "speaking" to each other mentally, not reading each other's thoughts. Mind Touch is two-way, meaning you are in mental contact with the subject for purposes of her arcana and vice versa.
If a friendly mental contact turns hostile, the subject can make a Will saving throw or Psychic Shield check to break contact. Once the subject has failed an attempt to eject the intruder from her mind, she can't break the contact.
If your Mind Touch is broken, any other arcana you are maintaining requiring mental contact are also broken.
Mentally Aiding Others: While in mental contact with another character, you can use the aid another action (a standard action) to grant that character a +2 bonus on Will saving throws or on any skill check where your skill rank is equal to or greater than the subject's.
Mental Rapport: Two or more characters with the Mind Touch skill can enter a mental rapport with each other, an intense state of mental contact. Each character establishes mental contact with the other, each of whom must be willing. Characters in rapport are like one mind, each instantly aware of everything that the other thinks and experiences and able to share information instantly. Characters in rapport cannot deliberately lie to or deceive each other.
Deathcry: If a creature you are in mental contact with dies, you must make a Will saving throw or Psychic Shield check (Difficulty 20) to avoid being dazed for 1 round by the psychic feedback. Since mental contact is two-way, this applies to any creature in mental contact with another. A creature can deliberately avoid letting out a deathcry when it dies by making a Will saving throw (Difficulty 20).
Retry: You can retry Mind Touch freely, but retries on the same subject within an hour's time are fatiguing.
Time: Mind Touch is a move action. It requires concentration to maintain.
Shaping, Fatiguing, Maintenance
You can move objects with the arcanum of your thoughts. A Move Object check allows you to move an object in your line of sight. The Difficulty of the Move Object check is based on the mass of the object you want to move and whether or not you choose to risk fatigue. A fatiguing use of Move Object can move ten times the mass listed on the table (so 20 pounds at Difficulty 10, up to 2,000 pounds at Difficulty 40) and doubles the listed damage.
| Difficulty | Mass | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 2 lb. | +1 |
| 15 | 5 lb. | +2 |
| 20 | 10 lb. | +3 |
| 25 | 25 lb. | +4 |
| 30 | 50 lb. | +5 |
| 35 | 100 lb. | +6 |
| 40 | 200 lb. | +7 |
You can move the object a distance of 5 feet times your Move Object rank per move action. If two adepts vie for control of an object, use opposed Move Object checks. The winner controls the object for that round. If a creature is holding the object, make a Move Object check opposed by the creature's Strength check.
Grappling Creatures: You can use Move Object to grapple a creature (see Grapple in Chapter 6). If you successfully pin your target, you can treat them as an ordinary object for purposes of moving them with this ability.
Striking with Objects: You can hurl objects at opponents. This requires a ranged attack roll and the object deals damage based on your Move Object skill check, as shown on the table. Since using Move Object is a move action, you can move an object and strike with it (as a standard action) in the same round.
Moving Multiple Objects: As a full-round action, you can attempt to move multiple objects at once. Use the Difficulty of the heaviest object, then add +2 for each additional object and increase the fatigue check Difficulty by +2 for each additional object. You cannot strike a target with multiple objects as part of the same action.
Time: Move Object is a move action. The skill use lasts for 10 rounds (1 minute) and requires concentration to maintain.
Animism
You are attuned to the flows of the natural world, able to read certain signs from it. You can learn the following:
Time: See the description.
Visionary
You can read psychic impressions from places and objects, getting images of their pasts, as if you were actually present at a particular past event.
Active Object Reading: You can attempt to see the past of a particular place or object. You must be able to touch the object. This requires a full-round action and an Object Reading check. Active Object Reading is fatiguing.
Spontaneous Visions: Your ability may also spontaneously activate at the Narrator's discretion when you are in contact with an object with particularly strong psychic impressions. This requires a Object Reading check.
The Narrator should make Object Reading checks secretly so the player doesn't necessarily know if a particular vision was accurate or not.
Consult the table below for the results of a vision, based on the Object Reading check.| Difficulty | Result |
|---|---|
| 10 | A vague vision that may not be accurate. |
| 15 | A brief and accurate vision of the events. |
| 20 | A longer vision of the events, encompassing everything that took place in a particular place and time. |
| 25 | The ability to move the vision backward or forward in time to review the event. |
| 30 | The ability to track the vision backward through time and space to trace an event to its origin. |
| 35 | Near-complete knowledge of a particular past event and everything involving it. |
Impressions read from objects generally count as slightly familiar for the purposes of determining familiarity for other arcana, possibly more if the vision was long or extremely accurate (in the Narrator's opinion). see Familiarity in Chapter 4.
Time: Object Reading is a full-round action.
Healing or Psychic, Fatiguing, Concentration, Sorcery
You can inflict terrible pain on a target. You must touch or be in mental contact with the target, who makes a Will saving throw. If the save fails, the target is stunned. So long as you maintain total concentration, the effect continues. The victim gets a new Will save each round to overcome the pain. A successful Will save means your Pain arcanum stops working.
You must use it again to affect the target (with the usual increase in fatigue save Difficulty for successive use). A target gets a +2 Will save bonus for each successive use of Pain in the same scene.
Time: Pain is a standard action.
Shaping, Fatiguing
You can shape living plants and, to a degree, dead wood and other plant materials.
Plant Healing: You can heal injured or diseased plants. This requires you to touch the plant and make a Difficulty 15 Plant Shaping check. If you succeed, the plant is restored to complete health. Plants must be living and reasonably intact in order for this arcanum to heal them.
Plant Growth: You can promote rapid growth in plants, causing an area to become filled with thick undergrowth (see Hampered Movement in Chapter 6). This affects a radius equal to your adept level times 40 feet. You can also focus the arcanum on a specific area with a 40-foot radius. Plants there become so overgrown they entangle anyone in the area, who must make a Reflex saving throw. A failed save means the target is bound and helpless, needing a Difficulty 20 Strength or Escape Artist check to get free. A successful save means the target isn't trapped, but must still contend with the thick undergrowth created by the tangled plants. Finally, you can use plant growth to enrich an area with a radius equal to your adept level times 400 feet, increasing the yield and growth of crops there by 50 percent for the season.
Woodcrafting: You can use Plant Shaping like a Craft skill to shape objects out of wood. This takes minutes instead of the hours of a normal Craft project. You can therefore complete a simple woodcraft project in a minute and an advanced one in an hour. see Craft in Chapter 2 for details.
Time: Plant healing is a full-round action. Plant growth is a standard action. Woodcrafting requires time based on the project.
Psychic, Fatiguing, Sorcery
You psychically assault a target's mind. You can affect any target in your line of sight or in mental contact. The target makes a Will saving throw against your arcanum's save Difficulty, with the results read like a Toughness save against non-lethal damage (see Damage and Recovery in Chapter 6). So a failed Will save results in a bruise, failure by 5 or more in a daze, and so forth. Psychic Blast cannot cause damage past unconsciousness.
Time: Psychic Blast is a standard action.
Any Talent, Can Be Used Untrained
You can shield your mind from psychic influences. When you are the target of any arcana granting a Will saving throw, make a Psychic Shield check. The attacker must make an arcanum check using the attacking psychic ability. If your check result is higher, the arcanum fails. If the attacker's result is higher, the arcanum affects you normally, but you still get a normal saving throw. You may choose to voluntarily lower your Psychic Shield as a free action, and can raise it again as a free action. Otherwise, your shield is always active, even if you are unconscious or sleeping.
Shields and Maintained Arcana: Once an arcanum has overcome your Psychic Shield, it continues to affect you as long as the other adept maintains it. You're still entitled to your normal saving throws, if any, but your shield no longer protects you from that arcanum. Once the attacker needs to make a new arcana check, however, your shield comes into play again and must be overcome again. For arcana requiring mental contact, so long as the other adept remains in mental contact with you (inside your shield), he can use those arcana freely without worrying about your shield.
Overcoming Psychic Shields: An attacker can choose to suffer a fatigue result to automatically overcome your Psychic Shield. This is in addition to any fatigue caused by the arcanum used against you. If you also choose to suffer a fatigue result, then the attacker must still roll normally to overcome your shield. This process takes no actual time; it happens as part of the check to overcome the Psychic Shield. An attacker trying to avoid notice cannot use this option, since it makes it immediately apparent that you are under psychic attack.
Time: Psychic Shield use is a free action.
Visionary, Fatiguing, Concentration
You can sense distant events as if you were physically present. Make a Scrying check to sense a particular place, creature, or thing known to you. The base Difficulty is 10, modified by familiarity. If successful, you can observe the subject as if you were present. The vision lasts for as long as you maintain it, but your ordinary senses are overridden, so you are unaware of what is happening near you while you are observing events elsewhere. A subject observed via Scrying is considered present in terms of familiarity, but not in your actual line of sight.
Scrying creates a psychic disturbance, which creatures with Intelligence 0 or better can sense. Any such creature under observation can make a Sense Motive or Second Sight check, opposed by your Scrying check.
Creatures with no supernatural abilities get the intense feeling of being watched. Adepts and wild talents see a glowing or shadowy image of you. You also have a present familiarity for any creature that senses you for the purposes of that creature's arcana, meaning they may affect you in return.
Time: Scrying is a full-round action.
Any Talent, Can Be Used Untrained
You can sense the use and lingering effects of arcana. Make a Second Sight check to detect arcana in use in your vicinity, to sense an attempt at mental contact, or to detect and read the arcane "signature" left behind by arcana.
Sense Arcana: The Narrator makes a Second Sight check for you in secret as a reaction whenever arcana are used in your general area. The base Difficulty is 10 or the user's Psychic Shield check result, whichever is greater, and the Difficulty increases by +1 for every 10 feet between you and the user or subject of the arcanum (whichever is closer). A successful result means you sense an arcanum use. You also know the general direction and distance to the source of the arcanum and its target. If you succeed by 5 or more, you know the exact arcana used. If you succeed by 10 or more, you recognize the user, if known to you.
Sense Mind Touch: You make a Second Sight check against the other adept's Mind Touch check to know when someone is trying to secretly get into mental contact with you. If you win the check, you sense the attempt, but you might not be able to avoid it (depending on your Psychic Shield and Will save).
Sense Arcane Signature: If you have the psychic and visionary talents, you can sense old uses of arcana in an area. The base Second Sight Difficulty is 15 to detect that arcana used in the area in the past and 20 to determine what talent was used and roughly when. It is Difficulty 25 to know exactly which arcanum was used and what or whom the arcanum was used on. Sensing arcane signatures is fatiguing.
Retry: No.
Special: Taking 20 requires you to concentrate for at least 2 minutes and increases the fatigue save Difficulty by +20.
Time: Sensing psychic ability use and mental contact are reactions, taking no time. Sensing psychic signatures and psychic tracing requires a full-round action.
Psychic
You can determine the presence and location of other minds. Make a Difficulty 15 Sense Minds check to sense the presence of any creature with an Intelligence score within 30 feet of you. For every factor of 10 you extend your sensing radius, the Difficulty increases by 5.
| Difficulty | Radius |
|---|---|
| 15 | 30 feet |
| 20 | 300 feet |
| 25 | 3,000 feet |
| 30 | 30,000 feet |
| 35 | 300,000 feet |
| 40 | 3,000,000 feet |
With a successful check, you sense the presence of other minds, their approximate number, their general type (animal, humanoid, and so forth), and their approximate location. The larger the number of minds, the more general the information tends to be. Psychic Shield opposes Sense Minds. A Psychic Shield check greater than your Sense Minds check allows a creature to go unnoticed.
You can focus your attempt to Sense Minds on a particular place you can see, such as a building or island within range, for example.
Time: Sense Minds is a move action.
Psychic, Fatiguing
You can psychically put a target into a deep sleep. The target gets a Will saving throw. Success negates the effect. If the Will save fails, the creature falls instantly asleep and remains so for 1 minute per rank. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or any damage awakens them, but normal noise does not. Awakening the creature requires a standard action (an application of the aid another action). Creatures that do not sleep are immune to this arcanum.
Special: You must be in mental contact with the subject.
Time: Sleep is a standard action. It lasts for 10 rounds (1 minute) per rank.
Shaping, Fatiguing, Sorcery
You can damage other creatures internally with a crushing arcane grip. You can affect any creature in your line of sight or mental contact without any need for an attack roll. Your Sorcerer's Grasp inflicts +1 lethal damage per 5 ranks or portion thereof. The target makes a Will saving throw. Success halves the damage (but cannot reduct it below +1). Sorcerer's Grasp does not affect targets without a Constitution score (such as the unliving).
Psychic, Fatiguing
You can implant suggestions into the minds of others. The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the activity sound reasonable. Asking a creature to stab itself, throw itself onto a spear, immolate itself, or do some other obviously harmful act automatically fails. However, a suggestion that a pool of acid is actually pure water and that a quick dip would be refreshing is another matter.
If the target's Will saving throw fails, the suggested course of action is followed for up to 30 minutes per rank, or until the course of action is complete, whichever comes first. You can also specify conditions that trigger a particular course of action, in which case the duration is counted from when the triggering event occurs. A very reasonable suggestion may impose a saving throw penalty of -1 or -2, at the Narrator's discretion.
Retry: No. You can attempt to affect the same character after some time has passed, but not in the same scene.
Time: Suggestion is a full-round action. It lasts for 30 minutes per rank.
Visionary, Can Be Used Untrained
You can get visions of the future, as if you were actually present at a particular future event. The visions you receive are by no means assured; the future can be changed by the actions of those in the present.
Spontaneous Visions: At the Narrator's discretion, you may receive a vision when you are in contact with a subject or when there is a momentous event approaching in the future. This vision can occur while you are awake, yet spontaneous visions often take the form of dreams. You know when a dream is actually a vision although, you may not necessarily know what the vision means.
Danger Sense: Whenever you would normally be surprised in combat, you can make a Visions check (Difficulty 15). If successful, you receive a splitsecond warning; you are not surprised and can take an action during the surprise round.
The Narrator should make Visions checks secretly so the player doesn't necessarily know if a particular vision is accurate or not. Consult the table for the results of a vision, based on the Visions check, or choose a suitable result, based on the hero's Visions rank and the requirements of the story.
| Difficulty | Result |
|---|---|
| 10 | A vague vision of the future that may be accurate. |
| 15 | An accurate glimpse of the future. |
| 20 | Awareness of how long before a particular event occurs. |
| 25 | Awareness of the people involved in a particular future event. |
| 30 | Awareness of the time, subjects, and location of a future event. |
| 35 | Near-complete knowledge of a particular future event and everything involving it. |
Things seen in visions count as slightly familiar in terms of familiarity, possibly more if the vision was long or extremely accurate (in the Narrator's opinion).
Time: Visions is a full-round action (at least).
Psychic, Fatiguing
You can create interference with other arcana. You can affect an area around you with a radius equal to your adept level times 5 feet. Alternatively, you can choose to focus your Ward against a single creature in your line of sight.
Anyone affected by your Ward must make an opposed check against the result of your Ward check to successfully use any arcana. Arcana with results less than yours fail; although, the users of the failed arcana still suffer fatigue, if any. Adepts can choose to suffer an automatic fatigue result, in addition to the normal fatigue of the arcanum used, to overcome your Ward. If so, you can choose to suffer a fatigue result to reinforce your ward, forcing the subject to make a normal check to overcome it. This takes no actual time; it happens as part of the check to overcome the Ward.
Time: Ward is a move action. It requires total concentration to maintain.
Shaping, Fatiguing, Maintenance
You can shape and direct the flow of water.
Splash: You can cause as much as 10 gallons of water per Water Shaping rank to leap in an arc up to 10 feet per adept level. Hitting a creature with this watery arc requires a ranged attack roll. The creature must make a Fortitude save or be dazed for one round (taking no actions but defending normally). The splash also douses flames with a damage bonus less than your Water Shaping rank.
Shape Flow: You can direct the flow of currents, increasing or decreasing the speed of water vessels by 20 percent for every 5 points your check exceeds Difficulty 10 (at Difficulty 35 you can stop water vessels entirely or double their speed).
Lower Water: Waters lower by as much as 2 feet for every 2 points your Water Shaping check exceeds Difficulty 10. The water lowers within an area with a 10-foot radius per your adept level (a 5th-level adept can lower an area of water with a 50-foot radius). In extremely large and deep bodies of water, such as a deep ocean, this arcanum creates a whirlpool that sweeps ships and similar craft downward, putting them at risk and making them unable to leave by normal movement for the duration.
Raise Water: Waters rise by as much as 2 feet for every 2 points your Water Shaping check exceeds Difficulty 10. The water rises within an area with a 10-foot radius per your adept level (a 5th-level adept can raise an area of water with a 50-foot radius). Boats raised in this way slide down the sides of the watery hump created. If the area includes riverbanks, a beach, or other nearby land, the water can spill over onto dry land, causing floods.
Special: Taking 20 increases the fatigue Difficulty by +20.
Time: Water Shaping is a standard action.
Shaping, Fatiguing
Prerequisite: Water and Wind Shaping
You can shape the complex forces controlling the weather. More than just commanding the winds, you can change the weather to suit your will. A use of Weather Shaping affects an area with a diameter in miles equal to your adept level, centered on you.
It takes (30 - arcanum rank) minutes for the effects of Weather Shaping to manifest. You can call forth weather appropriate to the climate and season of the area you are in.
| Season | Possible Weather |
|---|---|
| Spring | Tornado, thunderstorm, sleet storm, or hot weather |
| Summer | Torrential rain, heat wave, or hailstorm |
| Autumn | Hot or cold weather, fog, or sleet |
| Winter | Frigid cold, blizzard, or thaw |
| Late winter | Hurricane-force winds or early spring (coastal area) |
You control the general tendencies of the weather, such as the direction and intensity of the wind. You cannot control specific effects of the weather -- where lightning strikes, for example, or the exact path of a tornado. When you select a certain weather condition, the weather assumes that condition 10 minutes later (changing gradually over that time). The weather continues as you left it for up to a number of hours equal to your adept level +4, or until you use a standard action to designate a new weather condition (which fully manifests 30 - arcanum rank minutes later). Weather Shaping can do away with weather conditions (naturally occurring or otherwise) as well as create them.
Shaping, Fatiguing, Maintenance
You can shape and direct the wind. You can make the wind blow in a certain direction and change its speed. The new wind direction and speed last as long as you choose to maintain them. Changing them requires another use of this arcanum. You can affect the winds in a 40-foot radius per adept level. You can create an area of calm air, up to 80 feet in diameter, at the center of the winds, if you wish, and you can limit the winds to an area less than the maximum possible for your level.
Wind Direction: You may choose one of four basic wind patterns to function over the area.
Wind Speed: With a Wind Shaping check, you can increase or decrease the wind's speed by one level for every 5 points you exceed Difficulty 10. Each round on your turn, anyone in the area must make a Fortitude save or suffer the effects of the current wind speed. There are seven wind speed levels:
Special: Taking 20 increases the fatigue Difficulty by +20.
Time: Wind Shaping is a full-round action.
Sorcery is the arcane art drawing upon the power of Shadow. While all arcane power ultimately comes from the adept, sorcery taps into the darkest recesses of mind and soul. Sorcery turns these things into tools of power, but at the cost of strengthening them and corrupting the sorcery. It's the mindset required to perform sorcery that corrupts the sorcerer. This is why sorcery is so dangerous and difficult to root out; only a few arcana can be clearly labelled sorcerous. There are others where it's not the arcana but how they are used that makes them sorcery.
The danger of sorcery is how it opens the wielder up to Corruption. Other heinous acts can cause Corruption as well, but only in contact with supernaturally corrupt places or items.
Characters can become corrupt in two ways: by using sorcery and by performing an act of Shadow nature in a corrupt place or while in contact with a corrupt item.
When these conditions occur, make a Fortitude saving throw for the character. The Difficulty is equal to 10 plus half the rank of the sorcerous arcanum used. For acts of Shadow performed in a corrupt place or in contact with a corrupt item, the Narrator sets the Difficulty based on the act (see the table).
| Difficulty | Act |
|---|---|
| 10 | Minor transgression (lying, petty theft) |
| 15 | Significant transgression (deliberately hurtful actions) |
| 20 | Major transgressions (murder, rape) |
| 30 | Mortal transgressions (complete betrayal of the Light, murdering a unicorn, betraying a bonded companion) |
A successful save means there is no effect (except for the consequences of the character's actions). A failed save means the character acquires one point of corruption.
Places can become tainted with Corruption over time. This is particularly true of the former strongholds of powerful sorcerers, the lairs of sorcerous cults, and similar locales. A corrupt place can spread its evil to those who spend time there. Any creature that dies in a corrupt place arises the following night as a zombie or skeleton (see Chapter 8: Adversaries) unless the corpse is consumed by fire or some other means.
A corrupt item is much like a corrupt place, except it only affect individuals in contact with the item. Anyone carrying a corrupt item is subject to Corruption checks, and an adept experiences a strengthening of sorcery and a weakening of other arcana unless the adept embraces the item's corruption (risking greater personal corruption in the bargain). A creature that dies while in contact with a corrupt item rises the next night as a zombie, which tries to kill anyone who attempts to take the item from it.
A character's Corruption score applies as a penalty to the character's Constitution and Wisdom scores. This means a character with Constitution +2, Wisdom +1, and two points of corruption has an effective Constitution +0 and Wisdom -1. These penalties reflect the impact of Corruption on the character's physical and mental well-being.
Victims of Corruption experience these losses of Constitution and Wisdom as physical and mental symptoms. Physically, they suffer fatigue, weakness, nausea, and gnawing hunger. Psychologically, they feel growing fear, anger, paranoia, and mistrust. The character geing losing control over her Shadow nature. When presented with an opportunity to regain Conviction by acting in accordance with her Shadow nature, the character must succeed on a Will save (Difficulty 10 + total corruption) to resis. Otherwise, she gives in and follows her Shadow nature for the scene. Light- and Twilight- aligned characters can spend a point of Conviction to automatically overcome this urge. The Shadow-aligned cannot.
A victim of Corruption whose Wisdom is debilitated goes mad in accordance with his Shadow nature, completely consumed by it, rather than falling unconscious. This often results in terrible crimes and further Corruption. A victim of Corruption whose Constitution is debilitated dies. The following night, he becomes and unliving shadow (see Chapter 8: Adversaries).
Eventually, Corruption will destroy even Shadow-aligned characters. In fact, the Shadow-aligned are somewhat more vulnerable, since their Conviction cannot stave off its effects (see the next section, Redemption). The victim eventually goes mad, then dies, arising as one of the unliving. There are only two ways of avoiding this fate: either finding a way to eliminate the Corruption or choosing to embrace it.
In the latter case, the character gives himself over to Corruption and the taint of Shadow. This must be a conscious choice; it cannot be forced or coerced. Embracing Corruption has the following effects:
Eliminating the taint of Shadow is a long and difficult road, so it is little wonder that many victims choose to embrace it, or simply struggle feebly until death, and unlife, claims them.
Characters with 1 or more points of Corruption can attempt to eliminate them by acting in accordance with their Light nature. Each time the character performs a Light-nature act that would grant Conviction (see Regaining Conviction in Chapter 1), she may choose to forego the Conviction point and apply it toward reducing Corruption. For every 10 Conviction points applied in this way, the character sheds 1 point of Corruption.
Note that character can still gain Corruption while working toward eliminating it, so it is often a struggle against the character's darker impulses. Characters may also find themselves in need of additional Conviction on occaision, taking an awarded Conviction point rather than applying it toward their redemption. This slows, but does not interrupt, the process.
Those who have embraced Corruption can no longer gain Conviction from their Light nature, so this avenue of redemption is closed to them. It takes a significant act of contrition in accordance with the Corrupt character's Light nature to start them on the road to redemption. The Narrator decides what is required and when the requirement is fulfilled, but is should be a quest of epic proportions to redeem so fallen a character. Even then, redemption is not assured; the character must still go through the process outlined here to eliminate his Corruption score.