Imagination Forge

Theurgy: “High Magic”

The Magic of the Divine

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Even before the first magical schools were built in Egypt, Sumeria, Zhongzhou or Kuru, it was known that some people could work magic without aid from the spirits. These special few not only had the talent and skill to alter reality directly and survive the process, tutelary spirits confirmed that these individuals used magic the way spiritual entities did, despite existing in the physical plane and having to deal with Backlash.

The Hermetic Academies call this kind of magic “theurgy,” “the magic of the divine,” and sometimes even refer to it as “true” or “high” magic. However, most mages do not wish to constantly risk Consequences for working even the simplest effects, so most also use the Arcana and Spells of Goetic, “spirit” or “low” magic. However, even though the mage is using a spirit to perform the magical effects on their behalf, the mage may at any time choose to exert their will and modify the Spell as it takes effect. In fact, this is generally how most mages now use Theurgy, by modifying existing Spells rather than building magical effects from scratch.

Other Supernaturals and Theurgy: The concept of Theurgy is meant to create a powerful and flexible kind of magical character who generally doesn’t have other mystical abilities or qualities to rely on. However, if a player has an interesting story or a GM would like to try to blend Theurgy with a different Supernatural class, the base Theurgy Talent should take two Magical Talent slots to acquire.

Theurgy Magical Talent

In terms of game mechanics, a mage will learn individual Magical Talents (the catchall term for Arcana and Psychic Powers) with their individual Spells as normal, and then use the Theurgy Talent to modify spells. The structure of this Magical Talent is unusual in that it has no Spells to learn; each degree of Theurgy reflects your ability to change the parameters of magic at the roots of any spell.

While the extent of modifications are based on degrees of the Theurgy Talent, a mage can modify any or all parameters at each degree; the choice to modify one parameter to a different degree than another is not due to lack of skill, but a desire to keep Mana costs and Target Number difficulties from growing out of control.

Requirements: Willpower 3, at least one other Magical Talent.

  • Novice: You are able to modify spells somewhat. Spells modified at this degree cost +1 Mana, have +1 to their listed Target Number, and give 1 Backlash.
  • Expert: You have more overall control over magic itself. Spells modified by this degree cost +2 Mana, have +2 to the spell’s listed Target Number, and give 1 Backlash.  Also, you gain a Focus in the use of Theurgy.
  • Master: Your ability to control magic is impressive. Spells modified by this degree cost +3 Mana, have +3 to the Target Number, and give 2 Backlash.
  • Grandmaster: Your control over magic is legendary. Spells modified by this degree cost +4 Mana, +4 to the Target Number, and give 3 Backlash.
  • Apex: Few have ever reached this degree of ability, and you can achieve feats that will shake the world. Spells modified by this degree cost +5 Mana, +5 to the Target Number, and give 3 Backlash. 

Mana Costs and TNs: When modifying a spell, you choose one or more parameters (see below) and decide how much you wish to alter the spell’s listed effects. The highest degree of modification to a parameter adds to the total Mana Cost and Target Number of the final effect. You do not have to modify each parameter to your maximum ability; you could choose to change the listed targets at Novice level but increase duration at the Master level. The overall cost of the modified spell would then be calculated using the Master modification (+3 Mana, +3 TN, 2 Backlash). You could increase the Mana Cost further by up to +2 to avoid some or all of the Backlash.

Additional Costs: The GM may also choose to impose additional Mana Cost and TN penalty if several parameters are being modified at once. In general, every two parameters being changes might add +1 Mana and +1 TN, up to a maximum of +5 in each. This additional cost should be applied mostly to powerful spells or when a mage uses Theurgy to build an effect from scratch (without having an Arcana or Spell that fits the basic requirement of the effect).

Additional Backlash: Note that in some circumstances, the GM may assign more than the default amount of Backlash to a specific use of Theurgy. This can include working magic rips apart the Veil between worlds in front of ordinary people, allowing someone to far surpass the physical capabilities most Supernaturals enjoy, or raising the dead. In general, this additional Backlash should not exceed more than +1 point per degree of Theurgy being used.

Theurgy and Rituals

Rituals are the method by which anyone, regardless of magical talent, can call on spirits to perform magic for them. Supernaturals are naturally capable of more sophisticated rituals and paying the requisite costs, usually by virtue of having more access to Mana and more understanding of Arcana. Mages, however, can cast a ritual without using a spirit. The methods and techniques of a ritual can be used to provide insulation for the Mage’s soul as it wrestles with reality.

Using Ritual to perform Theurgy will will add Mana Cost and Target Number as usual per degree of modification, and come with base Backlash cost as given. Each degree of modification used adds one Threshold Success necessary to complete the Ritual. If you are creating a novel effect or modifying an existing spell to the maximum listed Ritual amount, you add +5 Threshold Successes per parameter being modified. So if you choose to change a single-target spell to affect an Expert-degree area, that’s two Threshold Successes, but if you choose to use the Novice-degree Duration at its maximum Ritual amount, that adds another +5 for a total of 7 Threshold Successes.

Spell Parameters

Area/Target

This is who can be affected by the spell. An effect can select specific individuals, but the Mage must be able to clearly perceive their location. (This may require Perception rolls to target. Using magic to target someone out of normal sight should be a difficult thing to achieve.)

  • Novice: +/- 1 target (can turn a self-only spell to a single-target touch-range spell), or a two meter area. Ritual: Magic Ability + Focus targets, x 5 area.
  • Expert: Choose up to Magic Ability number of targets, or Magic Ability x meters area. Ritual: Magic Ability + Focus x 2 targets, or x 10 area.
  • Master: Up to Magic Ability x 5 number of targets, or Magical Force x meters area. Ritual: Magical Force x 2 targets, or x 20 area.
  • Grandmaster: Up to Magic Ability x 10 targets, or Magic Ability  x 10 meters area. Ritual: Magical Force x 10 targets, or x 50 area.
  • Apex: Up to Magical Force x 10 targets, or Magical Force x 10 meters area. Ritual: Magical Force x 25 targets, or x 100 area.

Area Effects: These should affect everyone within the given area. The shape of an area can be chosen at will, but can’t be changed once the spell is cast. If for some reason the Mage decides to create an area effect that does not affect everyone within the region, that is considered a second modification of parameter, and the number protected from the effect is determined by the rules for individual targets. 

Also, the number of people who can be protected is based on how many targets can be chosen. This means an effect with an Expert degree area of Magical Ability meters radius, that has more the Master degree of more than Magical Ability number of protected targets, will use the Master Rank for Mana, TN, and Backlash calculations.

  • Burst (centered on target, distance is radius from center, drops 1 die in effectiveness for each area increment), sphere (radius from center, targeted anywhere within range)
  • Cone (long axis is center of cone, radius of far end is half the listed area)
  • Cubes (as plane, in three dimensions)
  • Plane (listed area square, so in two dimensions)

Range

This is how far away your magic can reach. All ranges assume you can see or otherwise have a clear idea where the target is. If these ranges need to be extended further, this parameter may be chosen multiple times (adding to Mana Costs and Difficult modifiers) to reach the proper distance.

  • Novice: Up to 1 meter x Magical Ability. Ritual: Magic Ability x 1 kilometers.
  • Expert: Up to 2 meters x Magical Ability. Ritual: Magic Ability x 5 km. 
  • Master: Up to 2 meters x Magical Force. Ritual: Magical Force x 10 km.
  • Grandmaster: Up to 5 meters x Magical Force. Ritual: Magical Force x 20 km.
  • Apex: Up to 10 meters x Magical Force. Ritual: Magical Force x 50 km.

Duration

This is how long your magic lasts. The duration of individual spells should be given within their own Talents/Arcana. If a spell’s duration is not clear, any direct damage, healing, or rapid modification is considered Instant, any effect that is meant to last for a combat is Combat Encounter (up to 10 rounds), anything meant to last for a social or investigation scene is Encounter (up to 10 minutes), Extended (30 minutes to an hour), or Sun Cycle (either sunrise-to-sunrise or sunset-to-sunset). Longer durations are usually only achieved through a Ritual. Such durations include Week (always seven days, starting at the next sunrise or sunset), Month (on the lunar cycle, not the usual calendar), Season (from equinox-to-solstice or vice versa), or Year (which is the sidereal year exactly, and not the solar year).

You may stack these alterations, such as changing a Combat duration to Encounter length (an Expert modification), and doubling that time (a Novice modification), with each modification counting as its own parameter for Mana Cost and Difficulty calculations.

Note that making a magical effect Permanent is a specific Ritual, and cannot be accomplished as a Theurgy-modified Spell.

  • Novice: Normal duration x 2. Convert Instant to Combat duration. Ritual: Convert Extended to Sun Cycle
  • Expert: Normal duration x 3. Convert Combat to Encounter duration. Ritual: Convert Sun Cycle to Week
  • Master: Normal duration x 4. Convert Encounter to Extended (consult with GM about appropriate exact length in minutes). Ritual: Convert Week to Month
  • Grandmaster: Normal duration x 5. Convert Extended to Sun Cycle. Ritual: Convert Month to Season
  • Apex: Normal duration x 10. Convert Sun Cycle to Three Sun Cycles. Ritual: Convert Season to Year

Effect

This is the basic purpose of the spell, and as such can be the hardest to describe easily within the game mechanics. Rather than going through each individual special case created by the rules, this parameter will give some common examples and we will trust GMs and players to extrapolate and negotiate the best ways to resolve using Theurgy modifications.

In general, doing more than one modification of effects, no matter the kind, counts as modifying another parameter for Mana Cost and TN calculations. For example, if you wish to increase your movement rate as well as giving yourself the ability to fly, that counts as two parameter modifications. In general, though, you should not be able to double this parameter in order to exceed the maximum modification for the Rank. This means you can’t add more than +1d6 damage as a Novice Theurge by modifying the effect parameter twice.

One specific use of this parameter would be to stitch together certain effects from different Arcana, or to generate new effects that don’t match an existing Spell the Mage knows. In general, the spell effect should be within the Mage’s Theurgy Rank, and counts as one modification of the parameter. Each effect added or removed from a spell is one modification, with appropriate Mana costs and TN calculations. The GM may decide adding certain effects together only may take place during Ritual casting.

If the effect is novel (such as transforming a blast of fire into a cloud of butterflies), the GM should consider all the other existing Magical Talents and see if it is close to something that already exists but is outside the Mage’s knowledge. If not, the GM is welcome to suggest limits that fit the Mage’s existing Ranks in Theurgy, require the use of Intelligence (Arcana) rolls, or other ways to limit what the Mage do. Every novel effect counts as a modification at the highest level of Theurgy the character possesses for Mana Cost and Difficulty calculations, even if the final effect is modest in comparison., Novel effects should probably add +1 Backlash to the normal cost. As with adding effects, the GM may also rule that some novel effects can only be introduced through a Ritual.

Novice
  • Damage/healing: Add up to +3 to damage or healing, or +1d6.
  • Possibility: Change a modifier, including difficulty to resist a spell, by up to +/- 3.
  • Movement: Increase speed or distance by Magical Ability meters, reduce difficulties to movement, 
  • Manipulate: Up to 5 kg of mass or 3d6 of energy can be reshaped or moved around.
  • Sensory: Modify an existing sense within ranges that can be found in natural world. (In other words, giving yourself the sense of smell of a dog). This also needs to be taken if you are protecting your senses using a modifier for the Range parameter.
  • Transformation: Change shape or dimensions of existing object that is less than 1 kg per Magical Ability point. May also confuse, misdirect, or mislead thoughts, up to Magical Ability in difficulty to overcome the mental alteration.
Expert
  • Damage/healing: Add up to +3d6 to damage or healing.
  • Possibility: Change a modifier, including difficulty to resist a spell, by up to +/- 5.
  • Movement: Increase speed or distance by up Magic Ability x 2 meters; allow movement not normally permitted (such as across water, along a wall, through thick forest, long-range almost-weightless jumps), but not completely impossible.
  • Manipulate: Up to Magic Ability + Focus x 2 kg of mass or 1d6 per Magic Ability + Focus of energy can be reshaped or moved around.
  • Sensory: Add a sense not normally possessed (such as being able to hear radio), or add purely magical sense (to see spirits, Mana, etc.), or modify existing sense to limits of modern technology, providing up to Magic Ability multipliers to range, area, or degree of details being gathered.
  • Transformation: Change shape or dimensions of existing object that is less than 3 kg per Magi Ability point. Can alter 1 kg or liter per Magic Ability point of one substance into a related substance (water into an acid, for example). Can alter up to 1d6 per Magic Ability point of energy to something similar (heat into light, electricity into magnetism). Can introduce new ideas, images, or memories, or temporarily remove the same from a mind, with up to Magic Ability + Focus difficulty to overcome.
Master
  • Damage/healing: Add up to +5d6 to damage or healing.
  • Possibility: Change a modifier, including difficulty to resist a spell, by up to +/- Magic Ability + Focus.
  • Movement: Increase speed or distance by up Magical Force meters; allow impossible kinds of movement, such as short-range teleportation, flight, or individuals cross the Veil.
  • Manipulate: Up to Magical Force x 2 kg of mass or 2d6 per Magic Ability + Focus of energy can be reshaped or moved around.
  • Sensory: Layering multiple senses, exceeding the common limits of technology, or seeing deep into the Spirit Lands. At this rank, any sensory spell known by the Mage can be cast as a Free Action.
  • Transformation: Change shape or dimensions of existing object that is less than 5 kg per Magic Ability + Focus. Can alter 3 kg or liters of matter, or 2d6 of energy per Ability + Focus of one substance into a substance of the same metaphysical nature (heat into lightning, dirt into concrete). Can create new memories, edit memories or thoughts, form new friendships, or alter a personality trait for some time. This rank is needed to allow a mental transformation to last longer than a Extended duration.
Grandmaster
  • Damage/healing: Add up to +1d6 per point of Magic Ability + Focus.
  • Possibility: Change a modifier, including difficulty to resist a spell, by up to +/- Magic Ability x 2.
  • Movement: Increase speed or distance by up Magical Force x 2 meters; allow movement that defies realty, such as groups through the Veil, individuals at medium range teleportation (using the Range parameter), or short-term time travel (using Duration parameter).
  • Manipulate: Up to Magical Force x 5 kg of mass or 3d6 per Magic Ability + Focus of energy can be reshaped or moved around.
  • Sensory: Seeing through time, at impossible distances, constant awareness within various Arcana. At this rank, any sensory spells not otherwise modified can be cast as Reactions or Free Actions for half-cost, round down, minimum of 1 Mana.
  • Transformation: Change shape or dimensions of existing object that is less than Magical Force x 5 kg. Can alter 3 kg or liter per Magic Ability point of one kind of matter to another type of matter (such as water into steel). Can alter up to 2d6 per Magical Force point of energy to something similar (heat into light, electricity into magnetism). Can create lasting delusions, can make years-long changes to memories, create alternate personalities.
Apex
  • Damage/healing: Add up to +1d6 to damage or healing per point in Magical Force.
  • Possibility: Change a modifier, including difficulty to resist a spell, by up to +/- Magical Force.
  • Movement: Increase speed or distance by up Magical Force x 5 meters, create permanent (or at least long-lasting) portals through space or through the Veil, or travel through large spans of time.
  • Manipulate: Up to Magical Force x 10 kg of mass or 3d6 per Magical Force of energy can be reshaped or moved around.
  • Sensory: All sensory spells known by the Mage are considered always active, and can share the full benefits of these spells with others without modifying the spell.
  • Transformation: Change shape or dimensions of existing object that is less than Magical Force x 10 kg. Can alter 5 kg or liter per Magical Ability + Focus point of one kind of matter to another type of matter (such as water into steel). Can alter up to 3d6 per Magical Force point of energy to something similar (heat into light, electricity into magnetism). Can rewrite a mind.

“Negative” Modifications

While these rules allow Mages to achieve truly impressive results at the price of higher Target Numbers, increased Mana Cost, and guaranteed Backlash, it is possible to modify a spell negatively. This represents adding limitations or weaknesses the original spell, or to not reaching the full potential of the parameter being modified. The GM should calculate the reduced cost by adding up the Mana Cost and Magic Test Difficulty for the parameters affected, and then subtracting for Limitations.

No matter how many ways you modify a spell to reduce its power, its Mana Cost cannot be lower than one point and TN difficulty cannot be less than 3. This modification will still add +1 Backlash.

If the result you’re after is roughly 50%  of what that parameter allows, you can lower the Difficulty and Mana cost by -1. If it’s less than 25% of what Rank allows, you can lower Difficulty and Mana cost by -2. For example, if you are increasing a spell’s Range with a Magical Ability of 4 and the appropriate Focus, at Novice rank you could extend the Range by 12 meters. If you instead only reach out 3 meters, which is 25% of the maximum, you can lower the Mana Cost and Target Number by -2.

Limitations

You can add another restriction not outlined in the original spell. For example, you could decide a fire spell requires an active fire as an origin point, or a transportation spell not only requires you to use a medium such as dirt and soil, but also the ground needs to have plants growing in it, or not be within sight of a man-made pathway. This is one possible way to modify what will be affected by spells in an area without having to target specific beings; if you limit a destructive spell to only harm relatively complex machines, it would count as a Limitation.

Besides these arbitrary limits, the player may reduce a spell’s capabilities not in their favor by the same degree that they could improve on them, with Novice,  Expert, and Master levels content as minor, moderate, and major reductions. A Grandmaster or Apex-level reduction may be worth even higher reductions in Mana Cost or TN, but the GM should decide whether they will permit such severe reductions to the spell.

The GM is the final arbiter of how much the Limitation is worth: most minor limits will be worth -1 Mana Cost and TN, moderate limits worth -2, and major limits worth -3 (to a minimum Mana Cost of 1, and minimum Target Number of 7). Every -2 in negative modifications can instead be applied to reduce Backlash (to a minimum of 1), if the GM permits, so long as those limitations are used to make the effect appear to be a strange coincidence or happenstance.

Rote Spells

If a Mage uses a specific modification of a Spell often enough, he can purchase it as a Rote Spell. Effectively, the Mage has shown the spirits how to work the spell in the way he wishes, which transforms it from True Magic to Spirit Magic. The effective Mana Cost and Target Number both drop by -1, and the Spell (usually) no longer automatically gives Backlash.

In some cases, such as powerful Master-rank spells or higher, the GM may rule that the Rote Spell still automatically causes Backlash, but this should be rare. In general this should only happen when the Spell combines multiple spell effects or has a very high damage potential or otherwise overwhelming power.

The Mage must have the proper Arcana for the Spell, and have a free Spell slot of the proper degree.