Vat:PC/Joseph/Powers

Invocations

Invocations labeled with an asterisk require the essence to come directly from the caster.

Blessing 1*

All essence must come from the caster and is not regained until the blessing is spent.

Blessing of Protection

2e per +1 [generic] or 1e per +1 [specific]

This effect protects the subject from metaphysical harm. Each Essence Point spent gives the subject a +1 bonus to resist one supernatural attack of one specific kind (Magic, the Sight, Primal Power, and so on). This protection activates whenever a hostile attack is made against the blessing’s recipient. The protection is only good against one such attack. A Blessing of Protection can also be oriented against all forms of supernatural attack at the cost of two Essence per +1 bonus.

Good Luck

3e per +1

This effect gives the recipient Luck. For every three Essence spent, the target gains a +1 bonus. The total bonuses may be applied to one Task/Test, or may be split as desired among many such attempts. Once the Luck bonuses are spent, the effects of the Blessing stop.

Success Blessing

5e

This guarantees success in some small matter involving mundane affairs, such as a business deal, school examination or sporting event, provided the recipient had a chance to succeed anyway. This effect costs five Essence.

Communion 1

One with the Land

2e per minute, 10 yds per Will, +5yds per 1e

Becoming one with the land costs two Essence Points per minute. The Magician enters a trance state in which she is aware of everything occurring in the area centered around her. The area affected has a radius of 10 yards (meters) per Willpower level of the caster. This can be increased at additional Essence cost +5 yards (meters) to the radius per additional Essence Point spent, per minute.

Once Communion is established, the caster can sense the whereabouts and emotions of every living thing in the area, including spirits and supernatural beings. The Magician can pinpoint the location of anybody entering the area, even those who are Shielded or hidden by illusions. Attempts by the caster to communicate, invoke, or awaken any spirits in the area gain a bonus of +5 as long as the Communion is active.

While the Communion is active, the Magician can also cast any Invocation (positive or negative) on anyone or anything in the area as if she was in direct contact or line of sight of them. The main drawback is that the connection works both ways. The Magician is exposed to the pain and suffering, anger, or other negative feelings of every living thing in the area. The more intense the negative emotions, the greater the danger of a psychic backlash.

When performing the Communion in an area plagued by suffering or anger, the Magician must pass a Difficult Willpower Test to avoid being harmed by the experience. Note that the entire area must be permeated with negative emotions to pose a danger. If a group of men with murder in their minds entered an otherwise tranquil forest, for example, the Magician would know of the men and their emotions, but would not be affected by them. If the Magician casts the Communion in the middle of a burning forest, a city slum, or a concentration camp, the concentrated misery and agony in such places would sear her.

Penalties to the Magician’s Willpower Test are determined by the Chronicler. Places of some misery and pain (a dirty park, a lightly polluted forest) have no penalty to the Test. A city slum is at -2 (more for really bad areas where everybody is suffering). A burning forest or a concentration camp is at -4 to -6. A serial killer’s torture dungeon would be at -8 or worse. If the Willpower Test is failed, the Magician loses D4 x 10(20) Essence Points.

Elemental Earth 2

Crumble Stone

1e per 5 [100] lbs

Stone may be crushed for one Essence Point per five pounds (2.5 kilograms) up to 100 pounds (50 kilograms). After that, it costs one point per 100 pounds.

Dust Devil

5e, 1yd radius, +1yd per 1e

Summoned 1yd*Will away, +1 yd per 1e

This effect creates a cloud of swirling dust that blocks vision and blinds people within it. The cloud costs five Essence and affects a radius of one yard (meter). Each additional yard (meter) of radius costs one Essence Point. The swirling dust can be made to appear up to one yard (meter) away per level of the caster’s Willpower, plus an additional yard (meter) for each Essence Point spent. After it is created, it can be moved as far away as the caster wants, provided she can see it directly (see p. 209). A large dust devil, conjured at minimum range, may affect the Magician!

Earth Tremor

Variable Essence

This powerful effect causes the earth to shake in a specific area. Magicians are advised to take care with this power, as it may trigger earthquakes if performed in unstable areas or fault lines. The base area affected has a radius of 10 yards (meters) times the Magician’s Willpower. Increasing the area affected costs one Essence Point per additional five-yard (meter) radius.

A slight tremor (enough to be noticed but little else) costs 10 Essence Points. A medium tremor (enough to knock small objects off shelves, make people stagger, experiencing a -2 penalty to any Task involving movement or similar activities) costs 20 Essence Points. A strong tremor (which may initiate avalanches on rocky or snowy slopes, knock people down unless they pass a Simple Dexterity Test, cause large objects to topple and fall, etc.) costs 40 Essence. An earthquake that causes structures to collapse (unless specially designed) costs 100 Essence. An Invocation that spends over 100 Essence to perform this effect triggers a real earthquake if any fault line lies within 10 miles of the effect.

This effect is powerful, and very dangerous, and always requires a separate Dismissal Task with a penalty of -1 per 20 Essence Points spent (rounded up). If the Dismissal fails, the character’s body is struck by a devastating backlash (which the Wicce refer to as “Gaea’s revenge”), inflicting D8(4) Life Points of damage for every 10 points of Essence put into the Invocation. No Random Essence effect occurs unless over 100 Essence Points are used. If the Invocation was cast maliciously, or where innocents could be harmed, normal Dismissal penalties apply (-1 per five Essence Points), and failure imposes damage on the Magician instead of a random essence effect, at the rate of D10(5) points for every 10 Essence Points used.

For example, Gina successfully casts an Earth Tremor using 50 Essence Points. A separate Dismissal Task is required. If she is careful in its placement (no innocents threatened), and was not malicious in its use, the Dismissal Task suffers a -3 penalty and failure harms her for D8 x 5(20) points of damage. No Random Essence effect occurs even with failure. If Gina was careless or malicious, her Dismissal Task would suffer a -10 penalty and failure would harm her for D10 x 5(25) points of damage.

If Gina used 100 Essence Points and was careful, the separate Dismissal Task suffers a penalty of -5, and failure harms her for D8 x 10(40) points of damage. If Gina wrecks a city, her Dismissal Task suffers a penalty of -20, and failure imposes D10 x 10(50) points of damage. Furthermore, in either case, failure results in a Random Essence effect. Playing with earthquakes is not something one does lightly.

Shift Earth

3 Essence per cubic foot per Turn

The sorcerer can move earth (such as soil, gravel, sand, and similar relatively loose and powdery minerals). This ranges from digging small holes to causing avalanches, and even engulfing man-sized and larger targets under a wave of earth. This effect costs three Essence per cubic foot (0.03 cubic meters) of earth moved, a cost that must be paid every Turn the earth is moving. The controlled matter can be moved at a speed of 10 mph (15 kph) or some 25 yards (meters) per Turn. This speed can be increased by spending more Essence: one Essence per additional mile per hour (1.5 kph) or 2.5 yards (meters) per Turn. Once the Magician releases her control over the earth, it collapses normally. This power enables the Magician to dig holes (a large enough hole, if opened in one Turn, could cause running or walking people to fall in), pile earth onto a target, and even launch earth waves that hit targets with a Strength equal to half the volume of earth in cubic feet, inflicting one point of damage times the Strength of the wave.

Stone Attack

5 Essence

This effect causes any stone within 10 yards (meters) of the Magician to fly out and strike a target. Stones must be available (even brick or concrete will do, as long as it is loose, or has been previously broken by using the Crumble Stone Invocation). Damage is D4(2) x Willpower points and the range is 10 yards (meters) per level of the Magician’s Willpower, at the cost of five Essence Points. The character can raise the Multiplier or range of the attack by one for every additional point spent. Multiple targets can be hit by spending one point per additional target.

Weaken Metal

1 Essence per pound

This effect causes metal to weaken or break for one Essence Point per pound up to 50 pounds (25 kilograms), and one point per 50 pounds (25 kilograms) after that.

Farsight 2

Farsight is the power to see into other places and to search areas by projecting a fraction of one’s Essence beyond one’s body. Failure to Dismiss the Invocation after a Focus Task failure often causes inconvenient visions and flashbacks that bother the Magician for D4(2) hours.

Farsee

5e, 100 meters per Per (+5e to change range to 1.5km/1mi per Per, +1e per additional 1.5km/1mi)

This ability allows the Magician to look into any area within range, but she must be aware of the general location of the area. The Magician decides the viewpoint of the vision, limited by the range (for example, the magician can select a bird’s eye view, to look in a specific direction, and so on), but the viewpoint cannot be changed unless the Invocation is re-cast. The base range is 100 yards (meters) for each point of the character’s Perception Attribute. This can be raised to one mile (1.5 kilometers) times Perception for another five Essence, and an additional one mile per Essence Point spent thereafter. The vision lasts up to one minute.

Find Person

Variable cost

Using Perception instead of Willpower, this effect searches for a person in the area covered by the Invocation. The Magician must know the target, either personally or by contact with her Essence signature. The more powerful the person being searched for is, the easier it is, as her Essence acts like a beacon for those with the right senses. This effect costs 10 points to search for a Mundane, five points for a Gifted person with less than 30 Essence, and two points for a Gifted person with more than 30 Essence Points. If the person being sought has used Magic or other supernatural abilities in the past few hours, all Focus Tasks gain a +1 bonus for every five Essence Points used by the target. If the Gifted character is Shielded (see p. 220), her Essence is hidden and she must be sought out like a Mundane. The base area has a radius of one mile (1.5 kilometers) per level of Perception. Each additional one mile (1.5 kilometers) costs one extra Essence Point.

Insight 2

All Gifted are sensitive to supernatural activity. Insight allows the Magician to further understand another’s true nature—even uncover its deepest secrets.

Perceive True Nature

6e

Resisted by Int + Will, blocked by Essence Shield (but reveals the shield's strength)

This effect allows the sorcerer to see a person’s true self. Those subjected to this ability resist with their Intelligence and Willpower. Basically, the Magician knows all of the character’s mental Qualities and Drawbacks, as well as her main goals and fears. On supernatural creatures, this effect (also resisted by the creature’s Intelligence and Willpower) reveals the being’s general nature (Demon, Ethereal, Nature Spirit, etc.) in addition to its goals and personality. This effect costs six Essence Points. An Essence Shield (see p. 220) blocks this power. The Insight shows the presence and strength of the Shield, but nothing else. This power comes as an instant flash of knowledge, and must be cast on each person one wishes to scan.

Sending 1

Sending

15e, no distance or duration limit, cancelled when interrupted

Sendings are magical communications. Only Gifted characters can see them. The Magician sends an image of her head or face (for more Essence, the image can look like anything the Magician wishes).

Although a Sending can reach the intended target anywhere in the world, the Invocation does not reveal to the sender the location of the subject of the message. The message works much like a radio signal tuned to a unique frequency -- the “frequency” being the individual’s Essence matrix. Therefore, the Invocation only works on people the Magician has seen before. In effect, the visualization needed for the magic to work requires some memory of the target.

The Sending usually consists of both a visual and auditory component. Only the target can see and hear the Sending. Most sorcerers send an image of their face or head to better identify themselves. Others disguise their features or make themselves look like strange creatures. Such disguise changes require one or more successful Intelligence and Disguise Tasks (in the Chronicler’s discretion). Once contact is established, the Magician can speak with the target and “hear” his responses for the duration of the Invocation.

If successful, the Magician makes contact with the target anywhere on the planet. This contact allows for conversation but very little else; magic cannot be cast by or against either the Magician or the subject. An accomplished Seer might be able to use the connection to establish a telepathic link between the two with Mindtalk or Mindsight, but it will be very difficult, with a penalty of -6 to all related Tasks.

This effect costs 15 Essence points, regardless of range. Contact takes between ten minutes and two hours, depending on how far away the target is (this gives the Magician an indication of the distance between them, but there is no hard-and-fast ratio between the distance and time). Once it is established, the Sending lasts until the caster stops it. No other actions can be taken while the Sending is being maintained, however. If the Sending is dropped, the Magician must repeat the process from scratch to re-establish contact.

Shield 1*

May be used on others, Seen with a simple Per test, Essence spent isn't regenerated until shield is gone (Another focus task to dispel)

Essence Shield

3e for Prot 10+success levels; +1 prot per add'l 1e

Any hostile Magic, Seer Power, or other supernatural or Gifted power aimed at the protected character must have a Focus result higher than the Protection Level of the Shield, or the Metaphysical effect does not work at all. The Shield works only against powers and effects that directly affect the target.

Attacks that drain Essence (like Soulfire, and the powers of some supernatural beings) can damage the Shield. Any such attack reduces the Shield’s Protection Level by one for every three points of Essence damage inflicted.

In addition to this protection, the Essence Shield blocks any attempts to sense anything about the Magician (other than the fact that she is surrounded by a Shield).

Invisible Shield

15 Essence

Any type of Shield can be made invisible at the cost of 15 Essence Points. Nobody is able to see or sense the Shield until it flares up to stop an attack. Detection Invocations and abilities sense neither the Shield nor any special powers of the character. Insistent mental probing may finally pierce the invisibility. This is a Resisted Task, pitting the character’s Willpower and Shielding Invocation levels against the Gifted or supernatural entity’s abilities or Invocations.

Physical Shield

1e for either +1 armor or 5 damage capacity

Physical Shields deflect any attack that seeks to damage the subject directly. It works against bullets, punches, and laser beams, somewhat like armor does. A Physical Shield may have an Armor Value and a Damage Capacity. The Armor Value subtracts from the damage inflicted by an attack. The Damage Capacity acts like a cushion, deflecting some of the energy of an attack, but getting weaker with every attack it dissipates. Each Essence Point used in this effect gives the character either one point of Armor Value or five points of Damage Capacity.

Damaging attacks on the character are reduced by the Armor Value and Damage Capacity of the Shield. Remaining damage is applied normally. The maximum Armor Value possible equals the character’s Invocation level times 10; no limit exists on the Damage Capacity of the Shield.

Physical Shields do not stop the effects of the Magician’s movements or actions. She can walk without bouncing off walls or people, and can shoot or attack without interference from the Shield. However, the Magician could also run into a spike and impale herself, and the Shield would offer no protection. For the same reason, Shields are of no use against falling damage.