Sorcerers

Sorcery is the magical practice of balancing the collective forces of magic, in the form of Elemental Stones, against both the Will of the Sorcerer and the underlying nature of the universe. The magical energies of a Sorcerer that represents their Will are called Dweomers, and are spent to balance against spell formulae to generate magical effects, using Sorcerer’s Scales. These spells are then bound into a magical Focus for later use. Sorcerers keep a Ledger of spells, indicating the various combinations of Elemental Stones needed to produce a particular effect or set of effects.

  • Casting Style: Preparation of spells to be stored in a Focus or Foci.
  • Strengths: Offensive Effects, Elemental Source and Effect Variety, Simple Protectives
  • Weaknesses: Circles & Walls, Requires Preparation, Lack of Niche or Utility Effects
  • Casting Method: Written spells used to prepare a set of scales, weighted with Elemental Stones and Dweomer Stones.
  • Foci: Required, but may be any suitable object such as a ring, pendant, necklace, etc.
  • In-Play Verbals: None
  • Out of Play Verbals: Required, “Activate [Source] [Effect]”.
  • Soul Mark: None
  • In-Play Rituals/Books/Texts: Required, spell cards or pages.

A Sorcerer's Tale

Alexia grew tired of dealing with the other magicians in the army for they had no understanding of the balance required with magic. No realization of the impact that their magic had on the world around them when they cast and they took no precautions to limit the effects they had on everything around them. They didn’t understand the most basic rule of magic – every action has an effect, and as any good sorcerer, she made sure she had followed those actions out completely before she ever begun casting.

Alexia knew the coming battle would be fierce, so she had withdrawn herself inside her tent to prepare her magic. It was easiest for her to cast when she had quiet and could focus completely. Alexia withdrew her casting scale from its cushioned lined boxes. Her scale was very delicate as it had been crafted for her by one of the best mage smiths of all time. She would be lost without it.

She drew up her first spell and focused it on one of the two foci of the scales, at the same time focusing a second spell into the second foci. The spells weren’t exactly balancing but with this technique she only need balance out the difference with her strength of will. Bracing so she felt the push-back of the spell rather than let it loose on the world. Alexia cast for nearly half an hour until all her focus was gone.

When she had completed her task she placed her bracelet on the top of her scales and transformed the spells she had cast into her battle foci. The goblin army would not know what hit them. The other mages might be strong but the wasted effort of their spell casting could not match the efficiency of a master sorcerer. Alexia laid her head down. Just a short nap before the coming battle.

Cost Summary
Sorcerer TierPre-ReqDweomer CostAbilities
1st, 10XP1XP / DweomerCast Against the Will;
Spell Flux, 8XP each
2nd, 10XP20 Dweomer1XP / DweomerCast Against Lesser Spell,
Counterspell 10XP each
3rd, 15XP40 Dweomer2XP / Dweomer
4th, 15XP60 Dweomer3XP / Dweomer
5th, 20XP80 Dweomer5XP / Dweomer
Stones, Scales, and Spells

A Sorcerer has access to magic from all six basic elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, and Shadow. However, to utilize that magic, they must have them contained in the form of Elemental Stones. These Stones come in sets of 5 of a single Element, and a starting Sorcerer may choose 3 different sets of Elemental Stones to come into play with at no cost. Additional sets of Stones must be found or purchased in game. Tinkers may create stones at the same price as the creation of the various Wizard Blocks. See the Tinkering production list for more details.

Sorcerers have a seventh Stone they must use: Dweomer Stones. Dweomer Stones are not made, and a Sorcerer always has them available to cast with, so long as at least one Dweomer is unspent. They only manifest when the Sorcerer wills it, and cannot be stolen.

All Stones, Elemental and Dweomer, will have their phys-reps provided by Altera Staff. They are made of small tiles in various combinations.

Sorcerers use their Elemental Stones to cast spells using their Sorcerer Scales. A starting Sorcerer receives one tag for a set of Scales at no cost. More tags may be purchased or found in game. The phys-rep for Scales is to be provided by the player, the Altera Staff may have a set to loan out in an emergency.

Finally, a Sorcerer must have their spells. These are physical cards with the combinations of Stones required to generate the listed effect. A starting Sorcerer begins with two spells from the example spells below. More spells may be obtained through research in Between Game Actions, in-game spell research, as treasure, or by making a copy of a spell from another Sorcerer.  A Sorcerer may copy a number of spells equal to their Tier in Sorcery per event. See the Production Marshal on site to perform this action.

Here are the points you must follow when casting spells as a Sorcerer:

  • Casting Against the Will: Tier 1 Sorcerers can only cast one spell at a time.
  • Casting Against Lesser Spells: Tier 2 and higher Sorcerers can cast two spells in combination, one on each side of the scales. One spell MUST be of a lower Tier than the other spell, or the casting fails. Spells cannot be balanced with spells of the same Tier.
  • Once the spell is begun, the bottom parts of the scales MUST NOT touch the ground (or table surface or whatever is beneath the scales) or the casting fails, the Dweomer cost is still paid and a backlash occurs. This is called Bottoming out. Spells begin with no stones on the scales.
  • Both sides MUST balance out by count of tiles. Differences in weight between spells are made up by using Dweomer Stones, which are spent by the Sorcerer during the casting. When casting a single spell the whole amount of the spell must be balanced with Dweomer Stones.
  • Stones may be placed on the scales as carefully or recklessly as the Sorcerer desires, so long as the bottoms of the scales do not touch the ground.
  • Once all Stones are on the scales, the Sorcerer MUST release his or her hold, if any, on the scales, and let them swing freely for at least 10 seconds. The scales do not have to be perfectly balanced, so long as neither side touches the ground.

Once the spell is cast, the effects are imbued into a Sorcerer’s Focus for later release. A Focus is generally a small and portable object, such as a ring, brooch, or pendant that must be present on the Sorcerer’s person to activate spells. A starting Sorcerer begins with one tag for a Focus, and more may be found or purchased in play. A Sorcerer can have one Focus attuned to them per Tier of Sorcery. It takes 1 minute to attune to a Focus. Phys-reps for Foci are generally provided by the player.

Releasing a spell imbued in the Focus requires the Sorcerer to say, out of game, “Activate [Source] [Effect]” and then throw or use a packet to strike the target.

Starting Spells

Spell Formula Key:

  • A = Air
  • E = Earth
  • F = Fire
  • L = Light
  • S = Shadow
  • W = Water

Captured Lightning – Tier 1

1A1F → 3 x Lightning Shard 1

Bottom Out: Lightning Shard 1 to each arm

Flint Sparks – Tier 1

1E1A → 2 x Fire Shard 1, 1 x Earth Shell 2

Bottom Out: Earth Knockdown (Self)

Opposing Forces – Tier 1

1A1L → 2 x Light Wyrding vs. Shadow, 2 x Air Wyrding vs. Earth

Bottom Out: Blind and Deaf for 2 Minutes

Clouded Mind – Tier 1

1A1S → 1 x Shadow Stupefy

Bottom Out: Shadow Torment x 5 (Self)

Example Casting

Moru the Sorcerer is preparing his spells for the day, and has decided to start with some basic spells for offense and defense, in the form of some Fire Shards and Earth Shells. Further, he would like a little binding magic in the form of Ice Snare Foot. He sets out his scales, grabs some stones, and gets ready to cast.

Moru chooses the Tier 1 spell Flint Sparks since that gives a nice set of thrown spells and a protection effect. He takes out an Earth Stone and an Air Stone, as per the formula on the spell card. Air is one of the lightest stones, weighing the same as 1 Dweomer Stone, while Earth is the heaviest, weighing three times as much. Casting this by itself would cost Moru four of his precious Dweomers, but Moru thinks he can do better, as he is a higher Tier Sorcerer.

Moru fishes out a Tier 2 spell, Flows of Ice. This spell requires 2 Water Stones and 2 Air stones, but it provides 2 uses of Ice Snare Foot. A very good spell, and expensive. Water weighs twice as much as Air, so casting this by itself would cost 6 Dweomers. Moru prepares his stones.

Next to his scales, Moru lays out his spells. On one side is Flows of Ice and on the other, Flint Sparks. Moru thinks for a moment, and places two Dweomer stones next to the Air and Earth stone for Flint Sparks. This is the difference between the weights of the two spells, and now both sides weigh 6 Dweomer Stones’s worth. Moru intones “Beginning Spell” and carefully sets the stones for one spell on one side of his scales, and the other spell on the opposing side, then holds his breath as he lets the two scales swing freely. Ten seconds later, he finally sighs in relief as neither side touches the ground, being almost perfectly balanced. Moru touches his Focus and intones “Imbue 2 Fire Shard 1, Imbue 1 Earth Shell 2, Imbue 2 Ice Snare Foot, Spell Complete”.

Before continuing to prepare spells, Moru decides to go ahead and cast his Shell effect. He touches his target (in this case, himself) with a packet and intones “Activate Earth Shell 2”. Now Moru is well protected and can go about finishing his preparation. Some protective spells might have a longer casting time, but this one is fast.

Later on, during some aggressive negotiations with some ruffians, Moru decides to light up their life with some Fire. He intones “Activate Fire Shard 1”, hurls a packet at one of them, and scores a hit with it. That bandit’s arm is now scorched as the bandit takes 1 point of damage to the arm, and it falls limply to the side.

Inspiration Images

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