Greg Stolze: Forums

Here's my second attempt at a Reign magic school. What do you think?

Shadow Hand

Domain: Illusion

Method: Shadow Hand uses a complex language of arcane hand symbols to create the phantasms that they are known for. An illusionist’s ability with this form of magic relies heavily on his facility with this magical language of gestures. Shadow Hand Illusionists can and do use this language as a form of communication.

Associated Skill or Stat: Language (Shadow Hand Gestures)

Society and Beliefs: According to the secret tales they tell each other, the school of Shadow Hand contains a terrible secret. Some say the root of the secret is in the spells that play with illusion, expectation, and desire and skirt the boundaries of mind and emotion control, claiming that lost high-Intensity Shadow Hand spells were capable of true mind control. Others believe that the secret lies with those Shadow Hand spells that create semi-real phantasms and claim that Shadow Hand magic actually summons its illusions from another world; that high-Intensity spells summon terrifyingly powerful , deeply malicious, and horribly real entities. More practical Shadow Hands simply point to their school’s potent abilities to deceive and agree that their magic can be deadly in the wrong hands.

Whichever story she believes, all Shadow Hands agree on one thing: their magic once led them – and perhaps the entire world – to the brink of destruction, and while it should not be abandoned, it cannot be trusted. Thus, most Shadow Hands live in obscurity. They practice their art in secret, and while they are not above using it for personal gain, they try to avoid the temptation to seek greater and greater power for fear of accidentally uncovering the secret. Few Shadow Hands take royal appointments or become part of a nation’s military.

A single school of Shadow Hand magic coexists with the tiny nation of Salk on the Maemeck/Opetka border. The Shadow Hands created Salck’s legendary illusionary wall. In return, the Librarian-Kings of Salck allow the school to remain unmolested within their borders. Most Shadow Hands do not receive their initial training at this academy. Instead, they are usually trained one-on-one by a master of the art. However, all Shadow Hand Illusionists who have heard of the Shadow Hand Academy aspire to study there some day.

Required Knowledge: In order to successfully imitate a phenomenon, a Shadow Hand Illusionist must have a clear idea of what it is like. A Shadow Hand who has never seen a lion is going to be hard-pressed to make his illusion realistic. When using one of the flexible illusion spells to create the likeness of something he has never personally seen or experienced, a Shadow Hand’s dice pool is capped by his Language (Shadow Hand Gestures) + Relevant Skill (usually Expert). As a result, many Shadow Hands cultivate many varied interests.

Special Note: Many Shadow Hand spells are maintained by the caster’s concentration. As soon as his attention lapses, the spell ends. Taking any other rolled actions while maintaining a Shadow Hand spell imposes a -2d penalty on the other action.

Petty Fantasy
Intensity: 1 (+1 Area, +1 Effect: Dice, +0 Duration, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: One minute
Duration: Width Minutes
Attunement: No

Effect: With a few dramatic passes of his hand, the caster renders himself capable of spontaneously creating minor illusions. He can easily conjure faerie lights, the sound of silver chimes, or the smell of cinnamon. All this comes with one major limitation: nothing this spell produces can be mistaken for reality. Onlookers might not know that what they are looking at is magic, but they can tell that it’s fake. This spell’s illusions are for entertainment value only.

That said, Petty Fantasy is good at entertaining. A magician who uses a few well-placed illusions to enhance his performance can add +1d to a Jest or Performance roll.

Witchlight
Intensity: 1 (+1 Area, +0 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Width Minutes
Attunement: No

Effect: With a moment’s concentration and a snap of his fingers, the caster creates a ball of light about the size of a golf ball. The caster can set the color when he casts the spell and can’t change it without dispelling the original spell and trying again. The light cast by this spell has roughly the intensity of a candle (about a five foot radius).

Illusionary Swarm
Intensity: 2 (+2 Effect: Followers, +0 Duration)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Width Minutes
Attunement: Yes

Effect: The caster makes a gathering gesture with both hands, then draws his dominant hand into a fist and throws it towards his opponents, opening it as he does. A swarm of horrible creatures emerge from his hand. They can be beetles or bats or more fanciful creatures, like winged scorpions or fanged eyeballs with butterfly wings. Whatever it looks like, the swarm fights like a number of Threat 1 Unworthy Opponents equal to the casting roll’s Height. The swarm has one limitation: it deals no real damage. Their “hits” still penalize their victims’ dice pools, since having an enormous beetle snapping at one’s eyes is pretty distracting. On the other hand, the illusionary creatures don’t have lives to be concerned about and are immune to Morale attacks.

Lesser Severance
Intensity: 2 (+1 Target, +1 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -3 Flaws)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Width Minutes
Attunement: Yes

Effect: You wouldn’t think that a spell with a name like “Severance” would be a good thing, but it is. With a sharp gesture, the caster cuts himself off from any illusion spell he is currently concentrating on. The spell continues with the duration of Severance, but it is no longer under the caster’s control. He can run off, cast another spell, go to sleep, whatever he likes, and the spell goes on. If the caster is ambitious, he can even take a multiple action to cast the initial spell and Lesser Severance at the same time.

There are several limitations. First of all, the caster takes one Shock to all his limbs as the spell steals a small portion of her life force to seal the enchantment. Secondly, if the caster is severing a dynamic illusion like Shadow Sound or Greater Shadow, he has to specify exactly what the severed illusion is going to do for the rest of its duration. Finally, if the caster fails to cast Lesser Severance, the effort disrupts whatever illusion he was maintaining, ending it prematurely.

Lesser Severance cannot be detected with Eerie.

An Intensity 3 version of this spell, Severance, is the same in every way except that it extends the duration of the newly-independent illusion to Width hours. Greater Severance is Intensity 4 and lasts for Width days. True Severance is Intensity 5 and lasts for Width years. Finally, Epic Severance is also Intensity 5, but it lasts forever and deals one Killing to each limb.

Mask of Shadows
Intensity: 2 (+0 Target, +2 Effect: Dice, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Width Minutes
Attunement: No

Effect: The caster covers his eyes with the middle fingers of his left hand and wraps a protective cloak of shadows about his form. He gains a +2d bonus to all Stealth rolls.

Empty Room Invocation
Intensity: 3 (+0 Target, +1 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: The caster passes his hand over his face and removes his presence from the world. As long as he focuses on remaining unseen (and stays still, and maintains concentration on the spell) he is completely invisible.

Empty Room Invocation cannot be detected by Eerie.

Foxfire
Intensity: 3 (+1 Target: Creature, +3 Effect: Damage, -1 Misc. Flaw)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Instant
Attunement: Yes

Effect: With a violent slicing gesture the caster unleashes a terrible magical attack. The specifics vary depending on the caster’s imagination: a gout of boiling acidic bile, a cloud of razor-winged obsidian butterflies, or just a plain old burst of magical flame. It isn’t real, but it hurts to the tune of Width + 3 Shock Damage; waste dice deal Shock Damage, too, to whatever locations they indicate. This shock damage is special, however, in that it’s all in your head. Instead of only half of it disappearing at the end of combat, all of it disappears at the end of combat. Your victims should mark it differently on their character sheets so they don’t get confused.

Knowing the attack isn’t real doesn’t help. It still hurts.

Mask of Beauty
Intensity: 3 (+1 Target, +0 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: By making a flowing gesture with the first and second fingers of his left hand, the caster makes any individual he can see into a paragon of beauty. The illusion affects all five senses, replacing unpleasant breath with the scent of fine perfume as easily as it removes blemishes. The individual gains the benefit of Beauty equal to the Height of the caster’s roll. The illusion persists for as long as the caster concentrates on his spell.

Mask of Beauty cannot be detected with Eerie.

Mask of Beauty
Intensity: 3 (+1 Target, +0 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: By holding his fist over an object with his thumb pointed down and slowly rotating it until the thumb points up, the caster makes any object he can reasonably hold in his hands appear to have great value. The illusion affects all five senses. The object’s apparent Wealth value increases by the Height of the caster’s roll. The illusion persists for as long as the caster concentrates on his spell.

Mask of Beauty cannot be detected with Eerie.

Shadow Caress
Intensity: 3 (+2 Area, +1 Effect, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Three Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: The caster makes a complex series of gestures, almost too fast to follow, and creates a simple, unmoving tactile illusion affecting a fifty foot radius. Anyone who walks into that area feels whatever the caster sets them up to feel. Though perhaps unpleasant, this illusion isn’t powerful enough to cause serious pain (or dice penalties). Its real use is in deception, not combat. Shadow Caress only lasts as long as the caster concentrates on his spell.

Shadow Caress can’t be detected with Eerie.

Word of Deception
Intensity: 3
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: One Spell
Attunement: No

Effect: This is Shadow Hand Illusion’s temporary attunement spell, and the only spell that requires the caster to speak aloud. The caster says a single word in a long forgotten language and is considered attuned to the school for the purposes of the next spell he casts.

Misperception
Intensity: 4 (+0 Area, +4 Effect: Armor, +0 Duration)
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Height Minutes
Attunement: Yes

Effect: With a warding gesture, the magician causes his image to blur and shift. Although it’s not hard to figure out his basic location, or even his identity, in the rush of combat it’s pretty hard to aim a sword or a bow at him. Mechanically, this means that the spell’s sets act as Gobble Dice against all physical attacks, which the caster can apply regardless of timing. The only limitation is that he’s stuck with the sets he rolled when he cast the spell. They reset each round, but he doesn’t get to roll again, so if he rolled poorly he has to either deal with it or try casting the spell again.

For reasons that are unclear even to Shadow Hand masters, Misperception doesn’t protect against magic.

Shadow Image
Intensity: 4 (+2 Area, +2 Effect, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Four Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: The caster makes a complex series of gestures, almost too fast to follow, and creates an unmoving visual illusion. The illusionist has about fifty cubic feet to play with and can make whatever he wants. The illusion lasts for as long as the caster concentrates on it.

Shadow Image can’t be detected with Eerie.

Shadow Sound
Intensity: 4 (+2 Area, +2 Effect, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Four Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: This spell works just like Shadow Image (down to being immune to Eerie checks), except instead of making an illusionary image, it makes an illusionary sound seeming to originate from anywhere within a fifty foot radius.

Simple Glamour
Intensity: 4 (+1 Target, +2 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -1 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Four Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: By passing his hands over an object, the caster seems to transform it. The illusion is effects sight, hearing, smell, touch and, should it become relevant, taste as well. However, the illusion only lasts as long as the caster concentrates on it.

Simple Glamour cannot be detected be Eerie rolls.

Ammon’s Bluff
Intensity: 5 (+5 Effect: Dice, +5 Area, -2 Casting Time, -2 Duration -1 ingredients)
Casting Time: Six Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: No one remembers who Ammon was or why he was bluffing, but this spell is the most common in the school. Some magicians who have never heard of “Shadow Hand Illusion” still know and use Ammon’s Bluff.

Unlike most Shadow Hand spells, Ammon’s Bluff is easy to detect with Sense + Eerie. In fact, it grants a Master Die to the roll, practically guaranteeing that the spell will be detected. The area of effect is huge – everyone in a ten mile radius can feel the power Ammon’s Bluff draws in. Once the six minute casting ritual – dramatic hand waving over a silver bowl filled with pure water and a pinch of earth – is begun, the spells lasts for as long as the caster continues the ritual, continually drawing in more and more power.
The trick is this: Ammon’s Bluff doesn’t actually do anything. All it does is draw in power until the caster stops the ritual or passes out from exhaustion.

It’s a dirty trick, but terribly effective. Besieged cities and approaching armies have broken down and surrendered or dropped their weapons and run away out of fear of what the caster was preparing to unleash on them.

Greater Shadow
Intensity: 5 (+2 Area, +3 Effect, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Five Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: No

Effect: This spell is effectively a combination of Shadow Caress, Shadow Image, Shadow Sound. With a complex series of hand gestures, the caster can build any illusion he likes. The illusion has visual, auditory, and tactile elements (and fools smell and taste, too, as a bonus). Like Shadow Caress, it is insufficient to deal damage. More importantly, this illusion can move. It still only lasts as long as the caster concentrates.

Most importantly, Greater Shadow cannot be detected with Eerie.

Mask of Expectation
Intensity: 5 (+0 Target, +3 Effect: Abstract, +1 Duration, +3 Extra, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Five Minutes
Duration: Width Hours
Attunement: Yes

Effect: Until the spell wears off, everyone sees you as whoever they most expect you to be. This is entirely context-dependent and not always a good thing. This spell can lead to different people seeing you in different ways, and whoever someone expects you to be isn’t necessarily who you want them to think you are. It’s best to find someone influential and get that person to start loudly and publicly treating you as whomever they expect you to be so that everyone else starts adjusting their expectations appropriately.

In situations where someone doesn’t expect to see anyone, you will probably be seen as exactly what you are – an intruder. However, in situations where someone doesn’t much care who he sees – when he expects to see everyone – this spell actually acts as a form of invisibility. Everyone sees you as just another face and ignores you.

Of course, Mask of Expectation can’t be detected with Eerie rolls.

Oath of Deception
Intensity: 5
Casting Time: Nine Hours
Duration: Permanent
Attunement: No

Effect: This is Shadow Hand Illusion’s permanent attunement spell, and one of the only two spells that requires the caster to speak aloud. The caster recites a nine-hour long chant in a forgotten language. If he recites the chant successfully, he becomes attuned to Shadow Hand Illusion magic.

Glamour of Desire
Intensity: 6 (+1 Target, +5 Effect: Abstract, +0 Duration, +3 Extra, -1 Misc. Flaw, -2 Casting Time)
Casting Time: Six Minutes
Duration: Special
Attunement: Yes

Effect: The caster gestures around a single object no bigger than a human torso, cradling it as though it were of great worth. For as long as the caster concentrates on the object, everyone who sees it will perceive it as whatever he most wants right now. The illusion effects all five senses.

Imagine that the illusion is intelligent. It knows what you want. It knows enough about what you know about what you want to be convincing. So, for example, if you are an exiled noble who most wants to return home, Glamour of Desire can make a piece of vellum look like a letter from your king welcoming you home. The spell knows your king’s handwriting, his manner of speech, and all the seals and stamps necessary to make it legit – or, if you don’t know these things, it knows what you expect it to look like and adjusts itself accordingly.

The spell doesn’t know anything its victim doesn’t know. So, for example, if the king turns out to have died since your exile, you’re in for quite a shock when you find out that not only was the letter a lie, the king wasn’t even alive to have written it.

Flawless Shadow Hand Attunement
A perfectly attuned adept of Shadow Hand Illusion’s senses become generally sharper; he adds 2d to his Sense stat. He also grows a third eye in the center of the palm of his non-dominant hand (for some reason, ambidextrous illusionists always grow an eye in their left hand). This eye is usually gold, violet, silver, or some other unlikely color. In addition to the various potential uses of an extra eye in an unlikely place (for example, people usually think to blindfold someone’s hand), this eye has the power to pierce illusions. When he uses his third eye, a Shadow Hand Illusionist can add his Scrutinize to his Sense + Eerie when trying to tell if something is real or false. Of course, most people are going to react strangely to a guy with an eye in his hand, so it’s prudent to keep the new organ covered. Although the eye’s lid is made of tough, flexible skin so that hand’s use isn’t impaired, the presence of a relatively fragile organ costs the limb one wound box.

Imperfect Shadow Hand Attunement
Like a flawlessly attuned adept, an imperfectly attuned Shadow Hand Illusionist grows a strangely-colored eye in the center of his non-dominant hand. While this eye can see, it has no particular ability to see through illusions and still costs a wound box. The lid of an imperfect eye is no thicker than the lid on the adept’s natural eyes, which means that any actions using the effected hand take a -1d penalty.