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Sample Spellweaver:
Vadim Ardovich |
| Spellweavers (SPELL WEAVE-ERS) run the gamut of
abilities, and many use their master of Spell Skills to enhance their abilities in
some other line of work, and thus they are an extremely diverse and capable
bunch. |
| Focus |
| Spellweavers are excellent
complements to most adventuring groups,
adding an array of functionality, adaptability, and flexibility to a party's
capabilities.
|
| Compared to other professions Spellweavers
are somewhat complex and require a high degree of
knowledge of the HERO System Power creation rules on the part of the player
and a certain mental limberness on the part of the GM. |
| A player can
expect their Spellweaver to start off somewhat sketchy, but their
powerbase is easily grown wider (by buying more Spell Skills) and a
Spellweaver can mature into a very robust Magic User with patience. Spellweavers tend to be more tool-box oriented
rather than concentrating on raw power, but have neither a graded Spell Level
or set Spell effect mechanic and thus lack the straight-jacketing some other Magic Systems
rely on as a control mechanism. |
| Means to Power |
| Spellweavers learn to cast
Spells, often making use of props such as
incantations, gestures, etc. to assist them in the
casting of their Magic. Spellweavers go through various
levels of understanding and capability as they advance. As they gain
experience, their ability to manipulate the metaphysical Laws of Magic
broadens, as the mental endurance required to focus their will
increases.
Essentially, as they progress their ability to cast more
Spells and cast them more often improves (assuming Experience Points are
spent to increase them). |
| CASTING
MODEL |
| Spellweavers don't learn set Spell effects,
instead they learn how to work magic in a broad, theoretical way which they
apply to whip up specific effects as needed. Their Spell Skills are
effectively like open-ended VPP's, but only for effects designed using one
base Power. However, the more powerful the effect (as measured by Active
Points), the harder it is to successfully cast such an effect, and further
stiff penalties are assessed for trying to do such a thing in the midst of
combat. |
| The specifics of how this all works are discussed in the
Spellweaving System
document. |
| TRIGGERED EFFECTS |
| Because Spellweavers are at their best when they can
take their time and not have to worry about getting attacked or disturbed,
they make very good use of Triggered effects. Players of Spellweaving
characters should read the Trigger rules thoroughly and understand their
use. |
| SPELLWEAVER RELATIVE STATUS |
| What exactly indicates "Master" Spellweaver
status might vary from setting to setting, or even from region to region
within the same setting, and overall capability as an Spellweaving is
difficult to measure, and in many ways is unimportant. |
| However, as a general rule of thumb an Apprentice should
have at least 15 points spent
on Spell Skills and know at least 5 different Spell Skills, a Journeyman
should have around 30 points spent on Spell Skills and know at least 10
different Spell Skills, a Master should have around 50 points spent on Spell
Skills and knows at least 15 different Spell Skills, and an Archmaster
should have around 80 points spent on Spell Skills and knows at least 20
different Spell Skills |
|
SPECIALIST SPELLWEAVERS |
| Spellweavers do not have a concept of "Specializing" in
a formal sense, though Spellweavers with different selections of Spell
Skills have a high degree of variation. For instances, a Spellweaver with a
lot of Spell Skills for Mental Powers will play out very differently from a
Spellweaver with a lot of Spell Skills for Attack, Defense, and Movement
Powers. |
| ENDURANCE RESERVES |
|
This option is not available in my campaigns. |
| By default Spellweavers may not use a Magic Endurance Reserve
to power their Spell effects. |
| However, a GM might want to adjust the overall combat
functionality of the Magic System to better fit their campaign, and an easy
way to do that is to allow an Endurance Reserve. If such an approach is
taken, it is still recommended that a cap be enforced, such as the following
limit on how many actual points can be spent on such an Endurance Reserve
and its Recovery. |
|
Scaling Capacity Point Cap = Total Character Points / 25 |
| EXAMPLE: A Character with 250 total points
could spend up to 10 of those points on a Spellweaving Endurance Reserve. This
could consist of 50 END and 5 REC or 90 END and 1 REC or anything in between
with a Real Cost of 10 points or less. |
| MAGESIGHT |
| Spellweavers may take the Mage Sight Talent
as described in Fantasy HERO for 5th Edition, or an equivalent ability,
to make it easier for them to sense and interact with Magic. |
| LONGEVITY |
| During Character Creation
a Spellweaver character may take Life Support (Longevity) up to any level
the GM allows (including none). |
| DISTINCTIVE FEATURE |
| Spellweavers have a recognizable aura that is detectable by
those with appropriate senses. Spellweavers should take the following
Disadvantage. |
|
DF: Spellweaver (Not Concealable; Always Noticed and Causes Major Reaction;
Detectable Only By Unusual Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures) |
| Disadvantage Value: -5 points |
|
Learning New Spell Skills |
| Spell Skills can only be learned from
other Spellweavers who know that Spell Skill or from rare and highly prized
texts called Codeci plural, or a Codex singular. Codeci are explained in
more detail below under Creating New Magic Items. |
| Often when a Spellweaver teaches a
Spell Skill to another Spellweaver, that other Spellweaver will teach them a Spell Skill
as well concurrently. However, any form of accommodation can be reached
between two Spellweavers for the teaching of a Spell Skill, and is often
purely commercial in nature; the would-be mentor sets a price and the
would-be student pays it if they want to learn the Spell Skill. |
|
Example: Lezentae wishes to learn a Spell Skill for the Running Power,
allowing him to cast Spell Effects that grant improved Running ability. On his
journeys he has inquired of other Spellweavers if they can teach this Spell
Skill to him, and eventually was directed to seek out a Spellweaver thought to
know it. |
|
Lezentae finds the Spellweaver named Gorja and the two reach an
accomodation; Gorja will teach the Spell Skill of Running to Lezentae and
Lezentae will teach him the Spell Skill of EGO Attack. |
| RESEARCH AND EXPERIMENTATION |
| For a Spellweaver to learn a new Spell
Skill they must first have enough character points to pay for the Spell
Skill, must have
a source to learn it from (a mentor or a codex) and must conduct a period of Research and
Experimentation (R&E). |
| It takes 30 - the Spellweaver's INT in Days of dedicated
study to learn a Spell Skill. At the GM's discretion a Spellweaver may study
in less than dedicated fashion (say, while on the road or adventuring if
their mentor accompanies them or they have a codex), or if they are
splitting time teaching a Spell Skill to another Spellweaver while being
taught in turn. In an case, it takes
twice as many Days or more at the GMs discretion to learn a Spell Skill in
such circumstances. |
| At the end of this period
of R&E the Spellweaver character pays the
Character Points and adds the Spell Skill to their character sheet. |
|
Example: Lezentae has a 20 INT, and Gorja has an 18 INT. Gorja is
teaching the Running Spell Skill, and Leznetae is teaching the Energy Blast
Spell Skill. Normally it would take Lezentae 10 Days and Gorja 12 Days to learn,
but since they are splitting time teaching each other it will take both twice as
long to master the Spell Skills. |
|
In 20 Days Lezentae is able to add the Running Spell Skill to his Character
Sheet, paying 3 character points for the basic Skill. After 24 Days Gorja is
able to add the Energy Blast Spell Skill to his Character Sheet, paying 3
character points for the basic Skill. |
|
Improving Known Spell
Skills |
| A Spellweaver may improve their Spell Skill
roll at any time simply by paying 2 character points per +1 with the Skill roll. This
has no affect aside from raising their
probability of success when casting Spell Effects with that Spell Skill. |
|
Creating New Spell Skills |
| There is a Spell Skill for each
non-Special base Power (save any Power the GM wishes to exclude), and thus there
is no need to create new Spell Skills. Creating Spell Effects with Spell Skills on the other hand can be done at any time
as if the Spellweaver has a Cosmic
Variable Power Pool for Spell Effects based on base Powers they have a Spell
Skill for, unless the GM puts restrictions upon it for the sake of
easing game play. |
| It is quite reasonable for the GM to
insist that all Spell Effects be written up between sessions and approved by
the GM in advance, particularly for Spell Effect that are more complex.
Along those same lines, the player of a Spellweaver should keep a physical
copy of each Spell Effect that they use, so that over time they build up a
repertoire
of Spell Effects for which the various penalties and bonuses have already
been largely precalculated. |
|
Creating New Magic Items |
| Spellweavers do not create Magic Items;
their Magic is far too personal for that. |
| However, Spellweavers can and do make
Codeci (Codex singular), which are arcane texts describing what is
possible with a particular Spell Skill, and a comprehensive treatment of how
to apply it. These Codeci are not Magical in and of themselves, but have
equivalent value among Spellweavers and are difficult to create similar to
Magic Items. |
| These Codeci are the only other means to learn
Spellweaving other than learning directly from a mentor and thus they are
highly prized by Spellweavers. |
| Codeci are a powerful bargaining chip, and a valuable
commodity in areas where Spellweavers are common. They are often traded as
currency or as payment for favors, or as direct swaps (my Codex for your
Codex) between Spellweavers, and they are also a powerful enticement to gain
the services of a Spellweaver as payment for a Codex. |
| SCRIBE CODEX |
| A Spellweaver may write a Codex for a single Spell Skill
that they know, but it is time consuming and difficult to do so. To write a
Codex a
Spellweaver must have a separate INT Based Knowledge Skill called "Scribe
Codex", and it takes (3d6 x 3d6) days of uninterrupted (8 hours per day)
scholarly work and writing before the Spellweaver is able make their Scribe
Codex Skill Roll to see if they succeeded in creating a Codex. The Scribe
Codex Skill
roll suffers no penalty, but if the Spellweaver fails the roll their
scribblings are confused drivel and of no use to anyone. |
| LANGUAGE DEPENDENT |
| Spellweavers don't have any mystic language or the like,
so Codeci are language dependent; if a
character can't read the language a Codex is written in it is of no use to
them for learning a Spell Skill. As a consequence to this most experienced
Spellweavers tend to learn at least the basics of other major languages so
that they can make use of more Codeci. |