Magic in Taranth

"From the north it comes. Bred of an evil unseen, empowered by the mind, the scourge cometh...Conceived on the mountains of Asguard, Sae Darrin is born and shall deliver the world from the scourge which cometh from the north." — The Annals of Life

Magic is the bonding agent used by the Creator at the time of creation to bind the world together. Both the physical and the spiritual are bonded with a force that is equal in source, but different in nature. This dichotomy has been the source of a great deal of discussion, often heated, about who can and cannot control the magical forces of nature not to mention what this force is.

One thing that all are agree on is that Aer designed magic with a purpose in mind. As the Annals of Life say: "And everything created existed lifeless. When Aer saw that his world had no life, he established within it that mysterious power as manifested in the physical, spiritual, and personal. And as he is, so it was — three in one essence. And behold! It was alive!" With the power of the life forces in hand, the Creator added a great deal of responsibility. Any one person can control only so much at any one time and only certain people could effectively control specific areas of power.

There are three types of magic in Taranth: elemental, spell, and psionic. Each is controlled by certain energies placed by the Creator to be used in service to all the people of Taranth. Elemental magic is the energy that binds the physical world, spell magic is supplied by the spiritual energies - those that bind the unseen world together. Psionic energy is what binds living organisms, specifically sentient life. All of these work together, they are inseparable and can theoretically be harnessed by anyone, but because of the state of sentient life on Taranth, no one has had the ability to do so. Some monsters and inhumans, it is rumored, can employ two or all three types of magic.

Because of the prophecies surrounding a coming scourge from the north, magic has been held under suspicion for the past thousand years. While most places openly employ cerite and marseal, on the whole, they are looked on with caution at best and feared at worst. There are those, however, who feel that magic is of great value to life and actively pursue it, although this is usually reserved for those who actually have an understanding of it. If there was ever a time to be magically inclined, this is not it.

How Magic Works

Each type of magic is controlled by an energy that binds or controls different aspect of creation. As noted earlier, psionic abilities come from a personal energy from all sentient life. Marseal use magic based off of elemental powers of creation, thus divided into earth, air, fire, and water. The cerite study spells controlled by the spiritual energies — the unseen creation, thus they are constantly carrying around large volumes of books.

Using magic is similar to the Palladium system, but doesn’t use a P.P.E™ . system. Ley lines are nowhere to be seen on Taranth, and as a result, P.P.E™ . is non-existent. Each magic user in Taranth calls on and harnesses the energy of their chosen path. While all people are born with the ability to control magic, few actually take the time to learn how to use it and develop the skill. In game terms, this means that each magic user has a Control Level (C.L.) Instead of P.P.E™ .

All magical O.C.C.™ in the Palladium system other than warlock, wizard, and psionic are not found in Taranth. However, the spell list for these particular classes has been modified and expanded to make for a more powerful, yet balanced character. Many of the spells in this world are new, most of them exist in different fantasy novels and short stories.

The amount of C.L. a character expends effects their actual physical performance. Once ½ of their C.L. has been used, the character is -2 to all combat rolls, and -5% to all skills. After the character has expended 3/4 of their C.L., the characters are ½ everything except attributes. If a character expends all their C.L., they fall unconscious and will remain like that until their C.L. goes back up again. A character can spend up to their P.E. attribute below 0 in their C.L. but it takes twice as long to recover and there is a 20% chance of removing the ability to control magic completely! The character will still drop out of exhaustion at 0 C.L.

Magic Combat

The success of a spell depends greatly on several factors. The level of the castor, the ability of the target to resist magic, and the amount of magical energy used to cast the spell. Unlike the Palladium system, a spells success does not depend on a d20 roll, but rather a percentage determined by these factors.

When a character casts a spell, the target rolls to save on the following chart: the top column is the level of the castor, the left-hand column is the level of the target.

The willingness of the target is the most important factor in resisting a magical attack. A character who is willing to have a spell cast on him/her will always be effected, do not even bother to roll on the chart. This is true no matter what level of spell is cast or the level of the character casting it.

If a character is casting a spell with a level higher to his own, he then suffers a minus 5% per level above his own. For example: Jasmin, a 4^th level marseal, wishes to cast an 8^th level spell on a 6^th level knight, she would have a 22% chance of succeeding.

The characters ability to resist magic also affects the success of a spell. If a character has bonuses to save, take the bonus and add it to his level! Thus, if a 6^th level Cerite has a +2 save vs. spells, then he saves as an 8^th level character! The level of the character makes a difference also, please see the above chart. If they are more susceptible to magic, thus with a penalty, the character moves down levels equal to his penalty.

In similar fashion, the castor may also have bonuses or penalties to spell casting. In this case, the level of the castor moves up or down one rank depending on the bonus or penalty. Thus, if a 6^th level character has a bonus of +1 to spell casting, he then casts as a level 7 character to a maximum of level 15. A penalty moves the rank down the appropriate level.

There is always a chance of a spell working, no matter what the levels are. No character can save higher than a level 15 character! However, a character can cast higher than level 15 in several ways: fist of all, with the aid of a magical item. Second, by spending more C.L. points to increase the power of a spell. The power of a spell increases 5% every 10 extra C.L. spent on casting the spell. Therefore, if a character wishes to cast a Blind spell, he can spend 18 C.L. on it and increase the spells effectiveness by 5%. The spell effect remains the same no matter how much C.L. is spent on casting it. Increasing the C.L. only affects the chances of succeeding.

Casing Spells
When a character casts a spell, it is assumed that he knows all that goes into casting and has the ability to perform it. This all takes place in the imagination. The player doesn't have to do anything to make his character cast a spell. All the player has to do is tell the G.M. that his character is casting a spell on a specific target - that is it. For example, Karen's character is Jasmine, a fourth level marseal. Karen wants Jasmine to cast a Hold spell on a Dark One. She tells the G.M. Jasmine is casting a Hold spell on the Dark One. That is it.

In game mechanics, Karen must determine how much C.L. she is using to cast the spell. She then looks up the spells level (in this case it is a level 3 spell) and is going to spend an extra 10 C.L. for a total of 18 to cast it, thus adding 5% to the chance of success.. The G.M. knows that the Dark One is 7th level and has a +2 save vs. spells. Using the chart, Jasmine has a 38% chance of success.

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