Ranks: E8, I9, N9, W7 Cost: 200

The Ringing Bolt talent knack will alter the course of a single missle or beam-type spell of up to 7th ö into the shape of a ring. For simplicity, bolt will refer to any type of missile or projectile spell, such as, Eart Darts or Mind Dagger. If the pattern for the spell to ring is stored in a spell matrix, the magician first weaves the required threads for the spell and then makes a single Spellcasting Test. The magician takes 4 points of Strain for ringing the spell. The magician must achieve a Good or better success on the Spellcasting Test. If he succeeds, the spell has its normal effect. If the Spellcasting Test fails, the spell has no effect, and the magician still takes the Strain from using the knack.

When the bolt is cast, the mage chooses the point of origin as usual, and the bolt then arcs outward in a circular path. If the bolt's range is sufficient, it will form a circle with a radius of at least 20 yards. The caster has several choices when weaving the threads: 

• If the bolt's range will form a circle of more than 20 feet, then it can either be made to loop several times in this 20 foot circular path or it can be made to form a larger ring. (The GM may require that the ring's radius be made in even 10 yard increments or else the bolt will take the 20 yard circular path.)
• Also, the caster must decide the orientation of the ring. In outdoor conditions, many interesting vertical or diagonal possibilities exist, but the ring should not be made to bounce off walls--this would snap the thread's woven to the spell's pattern (unless the spell was woven in conjunction with both Bending and Ringing Bolt talent knacks), and the bolt will careen in random directions, picking a new direction every 20 yards.

However, some bolts begin from the caster's outstretched hand; in this case, the magick can be manipulated to delay the ring's firing for 1d4 initiative segments, enough for the caster (only the caster, other creatures should have no idea what is being done) to jump back out of the ring's ending point.

Note: This spell cannot extend the normal range of such bolt's. If a bolt's range is not sufficient to finish a 20 yard circular path, then it will not loop completely around.

Earthdawn is a Registered Trademark of FASA Corporation. Original Earthdawn material Copyright 1994 by FASA Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used without permission. Any use of FASA Corporation's copyrighted material or trademarks in this file should not be viewed as a challenge to those copyrights or trademarks. Except where otherwise noted, all other original material is Copyright 1997-99 by L.A. Pride, Bill Hayden, Josh Young, and Chris Brumley.