Spellcasting

In Home Defiant, Magic describes a way for people to manipulate the world around them beyond what is normally possible physically. Using magic is a dangerous endeavor. While simple Mortal Spells can be performed without much issue, more powerful Awakened or Defiant spells can easily kill an untrained spellcaster.

Spells are predefined instructions for spellcasters to follow and produce repeatable, expected effects. Whenever you can learn a spell, you can only learn spells from your current Spellcasting Paradigm. In addition, your Magic attribute must at least equal to the tier of spell that you are planning to learn.

Spellcasting Paradigm

Different spellcasters approach magic in their own ways. Some may approach it logically while others lash out with instinctive might. These different approaches to magic are called Paradigms and as a budding spellcaster, it is often difficult to shake off the habits they built when they first cast spells. It will often take spellcasters years to look at spells in a different way and unlock the possibilities that were there the whole time.

The main Paradigms that spellcasters often fall into are:

Casting a spell

A spell has the following information:

• Name. Describes the commonly used name to describe the spell. Defiants are encouraged to rename the spells to fit their Character.
• Tier. Describes the tier of the spell ranging from 0 to 6. This also describes the amount of Deep Spiritual Wounds you may gain when casting the spell.
• Paradigm. Describes what Spellcasting Paradigm is able to produce this spell.
• Description. Describes how the spell looks like for most casters.
• Effects. Describes the function of the spell.
• Higher Tier Effects. When cast at a higher tier, additional effects for the spell may occur.

To cast a spell, the spellcaster must know the spell that is being cast and must be able to speak and have at least one hand free to perform the motions of the Spell. If the spellcaster wishes to cast the spell at a higher tier, they have to mention it here.

Then, they must roll a number of D6s equal to the Tier of the spell. For every dice result that is equal to or lower than the spell Tier, the caster will receive a Deep Spiritual Wound. If the spell that is being cast is not a part of the spellcaster's current Paradigm, treat the spell as one level higher and subtract 1 from the result of each die rolled. If the spell's original tier is higher than the spellcaster's Magic attribute, they must roll double the amount of dice.
Note that for tier 0 spells, you do not need to roll dice during spellcasting. However, when casting a tier 0 spell that is not in the spellcaster's paradigm, they will need to roll 1 die. A result of 1 will be reduced to 0 and cause a Spiritual Wound.

However, if a spellcaster has a Focus (Wands, Orbs, Staves), they may spend Potential to reduce the number of dice rolled during spellcasting. For every Potential spent, reduce the number of dice rolled by one to a minimum of 0.

Spellcasting Potential

Some spellcasters will have Skills that grant them Spellcasting Potential. Spellcasting Potential can only be used to reduce the amount of dice rolled during spellcasting. Unused Spellcasting Potential disappears at the end of the turn. However, you can take the Invoke action to keep a number of Potential equal to your Magic attribute to your next turn.