Magic

General Advice

Here is some general advice that should be considered before making a spell or power.

Who is this for?

Is this spell intended for a specific Spell/Power List or is it intended for more general use? This will help determine the scope, the themes, and abilities of the spell/power. Look at spells or powers common to the specific List and see if there are common Spell Tags, themes, or effects common to them. Eternal magic is where Tonomancy Spell Tag spells can be found, and is where most pure healing spells are. Whereas Cosmic spells often allow for the user to choose the nature of the effect, granting greater control in the moment.

Also consider which Classes are expected to be casting it, if it is desired a Martial Class with spellcasting options to access it, it will need to be no more powerful than a 5th Circle spell, which in turn will limit what the spell or power can do.

Is there already a spell/power that does this?

As the question says, if a spell or power already produces the desired effect, a new spell/power should not be needed to produce the same effect. It may be however, that the effect is desired but as part of a different Spell/Power List. At which point, it should be considered why it was not added in the first place, and also look at maybe modifying a subclass’ additional spells or perhaps just deciding for this specific Campaign, it is part of that specific Spell List.

If the Damage Type is what is wanting to be changed, or the type of condition applied. This is a perfectly reasonable change and should allow the new spell to be balanced if, the new spell is mirroring the original without any other changes. Though Cosmic and Entropic damage should be something designers are hesitant to change to, as fewer entities, incling Player Characters, have protections against these Damage Types.

If no spell or power produces the desired effect, do consider why that may be. It may be that we did not consider it when working on the spells and powers, but it could also be we decided it was too powerful an effect, was not in keeping with the themes and ideas of the system, or we could not get it to work in a satisfying way. This does not mean anyone else should not try to make the spell or power to do what they are seeking, but potentially to think about it as they are writing it.

Is the spell/power too niche?

Having a spell or power to fill a niche is great, however if it is too specific in what it can do it may never come up in some Campaigns.

Some designers, may also to make the spell or power more attractive to take, despite how niche it is. Often achieving this by increasing the power of the spell/power, this is also dangerous as it means if a Campaign is based around that niche the spell/power will be too powerful and used to offset all the challenges that Campaign intended.

This is why spells and powers never tend to for example Target one specific Entity Type, unless it is being used as a limiter on the power of the spell for that Spell Circle, such as Hold Humanoid. Humanoids it should be noted are common enough, as most Ancestries are Humanoid, that it isn’t as punishing or niche as say a spell that Targets only Dragons or Undead.

Is the spell/power too good?

This is a question to consider both initially whilst designing and concepting the spell/power, and later on once it has been written. The following sections discuss our expectations and rules in terms of what damage or conditions should be applied, at what power level of spells and powers. Exceptions can make a spell or power stand out from others, but if it doesn’t have limitations compared to those of its equivalent Circle or Grade then it risks being too powerful. This can be n issue as if an option is too good, it becomes oppressive to the system, where everyone must choose that spell or power, or try to build their Character to access it, otherwise they fall behind their peers.

Many aspects of a spell can affect if it is too good, obviously if its damage or conditions are applied are stronger than comparable spells and powers of their Circle/Grade, or worse, higher Circles/Grades then it can be considered too good.

But also, designers will need to consider Range, higher damage for a melee spell is reasonable as there is risk to the caster being close to the enemy, but if a spell of equivalent Circle does the same damage 24m away that spell will be the superior choice as the damage is maintained in perfect safety.

If a spell does not have Concentration (especially with longer Durations) or doesn’t have Material Components with a GP cost or that as Consumed on use, then they will have an advantage over those that do. Often these aspects can be used to reign in the power of a spell or power, so for comparisons, see if other spells/powers with similar effects for that Spell Circle or Power Grade have these aspects or not.

Again, having a spell or power turn out too good, is not a slight on the designer. It may be on paper it looked fine, but in play with Players using it, it became too much. This should be used as a learning opportunity, the above aspects are dials that can be altered to try to bring it in line with its peers, another alteration can just be to simply increase the spell’s Circle or power’s Grade.

If this spell/power is in use in an active game, GG's should be honest with their Players, discuss the changes they are making to it, and be sure to help Players who are using it in converting to using the new version, especially if they took specific Features and Feats to interact with the spell/power. It maybe they chose not to use the new version, which is fine, give them the opportunity to change up their Character to best suit the new situation.

Conditions

Spells and powers are a wonderful way to apply conditions to opponents, granting a fantasy of a battlefield controller/support Character. A design choice we made was to not to assign power levels to any specific conditions, by which we mean Dazed is as strong in our eyes as Wide Open, this is because conditions effectiveness can depend on the situation and how Characters choose to utilise them. This means there is no set rules on what Spell Circle or Power Grade conditions will appear.

However, it should be noted at lower Circles and Grades we tend to only apply conditions with Degrees of severity, and some conditions like Exhaustion are never applied. This very much is an area where it is left to the designer’s discretion.

We would advise when starting to design spells and powers, be cautious with applying conditions, and be willing to redesign a spell or power if it is apparent that is it too powerful with the conditions it applies. Knowing what conditions feel right for the Spell Circle or Power Grade, is a talent that will develop as designer's run the system more and more, and get a better feel for it.

There is an exception to this all however, for conditions with Degrees of severity, such as Dazed, Frightened, or Poisoned, we have chosen to have strict rules of how many Degrees of the condition are applied. This allows for clear lines of progression in the power of these spells and powers and avoids the risk of a lower Circle spell or Grade power from being an auto pick choice, because it grants too many Degrees of a certain condition compared to higher level spells and powers.

Conditions applied upon reaching 5 Degrees of another condition, such as Stunned and Terror, therefor are not used unless a spell would bestow 5 Degrees of the condition appropriate condition.

Cantrips and Talents, will always if they apply a condition, have it last until the start of the caster’s next turn. If the condition has Degrees, they will only ever apply one Degree of the condition.

Some spells and powers do ignore this such as the 9th Circle spell Weird applying the Terror condition. These are deliberate exceptions as in the case of Weird, the Terror condition made sense to apply as no 10th Circle spell applied the Terror condition and Terror is not as powerful in our eyes as Stunned or Petrified. But again, these exceptions make those spells or powers stand out compared to their equivalents and should be something done sparingly. With experience designers will get a sense when this can be done and how best to do so.

Damage

Spells and powers are to a magic user, what a blade, fist, or bow are to the martial fighter. While not every spell does nor should deal damage, some have been created with the intent to cause harm to their opponents. To keep spells roughly balanced we tried to work to a framework where each Spell Circle and Power Grade have set damage they apply. There is some variance due to the nature of how average for different dice sizes work, but the frameworks give some measure of predictability and balance that you may use to work off of.

Note that the framework is split by if the spell affects a single Target or is an Area of Effect spell/power. The damage framework only applies to the spell or power at its base Circle/Grade, not what occurs with it if cast at a higher Circle/Grade.

There is also included a modification chart, as a number of factors will sway the size of die used or the number of dice, such as Range, Duration, if it has Concentration, or bestows conditions, etc.

As with all frameworks there are exceptions, sometimes where many modifications occurred with higher Circle spells and Grade powers, we may not have reduced the number of damage dice as much to still keep the impact of these ultimate spells. Again, time and experience will give designer's a sense of where to strike the balance between a balanced spell and a fun spell.

When using the Spell/Power Damage Die Table below first determine if the spell/power affects a Single Target or if it effects multiple Targets/is an AoE spell. Looking at the correct type of spell/power, check against its spell Circle/power Grade. In each Circle’s/Grade's column is the number of each damage die required for roughly equivalent damage. There is some degree of variance in the averages though, Orange Shaded Cells show the Upper Damage Band above the average, and the Blue Shaded Cells show the Lower Damage Band below the average. The average damage of AoE spells/powers is set by d6s and the average damage of single Target spells/powers is set by d10s.

If a Circle/Grade does not have a Lower or Upper Damage Band, it means that the average result formed the Lower/Upper Band.

Next once it has been determined how many damage dice the spell/power should have, we apply these modifiers based on aspects of the spell/power. For each aspect of the spell/power, if present, consult the relevant Table, with modifications being cumulative for determining the spell's/power's damage. Some will add or reduce the number of Damage Die applied to the spell by 1, others may say to prefer using the High or Low Damage Band options for that spell’s Circle/power's Grade. Other modifications ask to treat the spell/power as being a number of Circles/Grades higher or lower than what it actually is for determining the number of Damage Dice used.

As stated, before there are exceptions, sometimes where many modifications occurred with higher Circle spells and Grade powers, we may not have reduced the number of damage dice as much to still keep the impact of these ultimate spells. Again, time and experience will give a sense of where to strike the balance between a balanced spell/power and a fun spell/power.

Empowering Spells