(c)1996, Paul Mason
There is no clear distinction between priests and sorcerers, as in most cases the same person will perform both functions. The extent to which a sorcerer concerns himself with religious matters, and a priest is interested in magic is entirely a matter for the individuals concerned.
In general, a person who uses magic may be of any religion. There are some magical effects (particularly talismans) which require the user to observe certain religious strictures, and the Buddhist magic is unlikely to be accessible to anyone but a Buddhist, but apart from these restrictions the choice is free.
There are basically two forms of ability use connected with magical powers. The first is the use of abilities related to magical powers and the worlds of spirits, but not requiring Cosmic Breath. The second is the creation of magical effects, in other words, casting spells.
Chanting is also used by Buddhists as a method of casting certain spells. This is explained later in this chapter.
Characters with positive OCCULTISM and/or MAGIC bonuses may be able to detect spirits (in other words, beings from the Otherworld which are manifesting energy or physical form in the Mortal World). In the case of spirits, the ease of detecting a spirit is a basic 6 (though some spirits may take precautions to evade detection). To the basic ease, a character should add his MAGIC and OCCULTISM bonuses, and any bonus in EMPATHY.
In both cases, the degree of success of the roll indicates the amount of information gleaned about the Cosmic Breath or spirit. A low result simply alerts the character to its presence. A high degree of success tells the character about the type of spirit or, in the case of Cosmic Breath, its nature and source. If Cosmic Breath is connected with a spell, a very high degree of success will reveal the spell.
It is important to understand the mechanism by which this works. Existence is interconnected. Taoists call this interconnection the Tao. Buddhists might refer to it as Dharma. Although the world we experience is full of complexity and difference, it can be understood at a simpler level by means of the systems of astrology and divination which were developed by the Ancients. The relationship between these systems and the physical reality they reflect is not just one-way: the systems themselves can have an effect on reality.
This has a very important consequence: the future is never fixed. Although there is such a thing as Fate, it is by no means inescapable.
Player characters may attempt to use these arts to predict the future. The basic method is to make a roll with an ease of 0, to which should be added the following ability bonuses: DIVINATION, ASTROLOGY, INTUITION and MAGIC.
A successful roll means that the character has obtained a valid result. The player may then predict what will happen in the game, in as much detail as they like.
It is then up to the referee to steer matters in that direction. It is not necessary for the referee to 'fix' things so that the prediction comes true, but it should be clear that the prediction has had an influence on events. The simplest way to do this is that the degree of success obtained by the character who made the prediction may be used to help matters along. It can be applied as a bonus to a roll that is crucial to the fulfillment of the prediction.
Warning bells will no doubt already be ringing in most referees' minds, worried about the possibilities this opens up for abuse by power-crazed players. You shouldn't worry, though. The referee already has enormous power: players who attempt to use divination to undermine the referee and spoil the game can be quite easily dealt with. Those who overuse the ability are sure to attract enormous quantities of bad joss, for example.
Instead, you can regard this system as an opportunity to extend the collaborative nature of the game. It provides players with an opportunity to shape events in a manner other than the personal actions of their characters, and it encourages them to have a firm belief in the supernatural powers of prediction possessed by the talented.
A character who consults the Book of Changes will do so by one of two methods: casting yarrow stalks or tossing coins. A player whose character uses the Book of Changes (in other words, who has a DIVINATION bonus) may consult the I Ching for an actual reading. Copies of the I Ching are cheaply available at most bookshops. A summary of the I Ching symbols and their basic meanings is also provided in the chapter on Beliefs.
Another problem with performing a divination is that it attracts the attention of spirits. Characters will acquire a point of bad joss each time they perform a divination. If they attempt to perform more than one divination on the same theme in a single day, they will suffer 3 points of bad joss for the second time, 6 for the third time, 10 for the fourth time and so on.
If you get confident, you can achieve even more radical things with divination. Gamers who want to explore new avenues might consider allowing a diviner to 'hijack' the role of referee at certain points.
The skill of ELEMENTALISM may be used to gain information about the flow of Dragon Veins in a particular area. If used on its own, the information derives from inferences drawn from the terrain. Characters with MAGIC bonuses may also use their psychic ability to sense the flows directly.
The results possible with geomancy are relatively minor compared to the Dragon Veins spell, but may at least allow geomancers to diagnose cases in which characters are suffering from large doses of bad joss.
For those who are interested in this subject, books about feng shui are available at specialist bookshops.
Spells are rated just like other specific skills, with a bonus. The bonus may be used to modify the chance of casting the spell, and also limits the effects which are possible with that spell.
The bonus that a sorcerer has in a spell limits the effects that the sorcerer is capable of. The effects of each spell are listed according to the bonus required to achieve them: a sorcerer may cast an effect which has a bonus higher than their bonus in that spell, but at a penalty of -2.
In the case of spells which only have low level (+1, +2) effects associated with them, sorcerers may continue to learn these spells. A higher bonus will make the spell easier to cast. It is also possible that they may create effects of their own.
One disadvantage of learning a spell from a master, is that a disciple must cast the spell the way he has been taught. In other words, he may not employ any bonuses in the casting of the spell that were not used by the master. Also, it is impossible to gain a spell at a higher bonus than that possessed by one's master.
Books usually give complete understanding of a spell, but the referee has final say on how much a character can learn from a particular book.
The most basic, and the only method available to characters who don't possess a MAGIC bonus and a focus, is to use the body's innate Cosmic Breath, which is represented by the energy score. One point of energy, if expended as fatigue, produces one point of Cosmic Breath which may be used in a spell. This takes one action, does not require a roll, and may be freely combined with another action.
Characters using their own energy to produce Cosmic Breath will quickly tire. Thus sorcerers instead channel Cosmic Breath from sources outside them. There are several different methods, described below. All require the use of a magical focus, and constitute one action (which may be combined with others if the sorcerer has enough free energy).
Cosmic Breath is produced or channelled in the central dantian ('cinnabar field') near the heart. Characters without a MAGIC bonus must use the Cosmic Breath immediately, or it will dissipate. Sorcerers (characters with a MAGIC bonus) may 'hold' Cosmic Breath, storing it in the dantian until it can be used.
There are three disadvantages to 'holding' Cosmic Breath: the first is that a sorcerer 'holding' Cosmic Breath is rather easy for other sorcerers and supernatural beings to detect. The second is that a sorcerer may only store as much Cosmic Breath as they have free energy: any excess must be used, or it will dissipate. The third is that since the Cosmic Breath is consciously held by the sorcerer's hun spirits, if he loses consciousness or falls asleep the Cosmic Breath will be lost.
A character casting the +2 version of Spirit Sending may make a roll to channel Cosmic Breath every 6 rounds.
A roll of snake-eyes gained when channelling Cosmic Breath from the Otherworld means that the sorcerer has acquired a point of bad joss. Also, if the Cosmic Breath used to power the Spirit Sending spell is Yin (ie if it derives from the Otherworld), the sorcerer will acquire one point of bad joss per point of Cosmic Breath channelled.
The advantage of Dragon Veins is that they provide a continual flow of channelled Yang Cosmic Breath for as long as the sorcerer continues to concentrate on channelling (concentrating does not prevent him from moving or performing other actions).
The spell Dragon Veins is used to tap the elemental energy. Half the degree of success of the spell is the number of points of Cosmic Breath which can be channelled by the sorcerer every 6 rounds.
If the Cosmic Breath used to power the Dragon Veins spell is Yang (ie if it derives from Dragon Veins), the sorcerer will acquire one point of bad joss per point of Cosmic Breath channelled.
Once the sorcerer starts to channel the Cosmic Breath he may continue to do so as long as he concentrates (or sets up a Supervisory Servant to do the job for him). Channelling Cosmic Breath in this way requires free energy just like using an ability bonus. The number of points channelled every 6 rounds is the number of points of energy used to do so. This energy is not lost to shock or fatigue, but it cannot be used for anything else. If for some reason the sorcerer's energy falls below the number necessary, the flow of Cosmic Breath will cease.
The sorcerer may continue to draw Cosmic Breath from a Dragon Vein as long as he remains 'in contact' with it. Dragon Veins tend to flow along ridges in the ground, so it is usually relatively easy to maintain an unobstructed flow, even at some distance (or from the air!). The sorcerer can even maintain the flow while travelling a considerable distance as long as he follows the course of the Dragon Vein across the land. If, however, a man-made structure comes between the sorcerer and the source of his Yang Cosmic Breath, the flow will be cut off. Furthermore, a taijibagua mirror interposed between the sorcerer and the source of Cosmic Breath will also cut the flow.
Having succeeded in casting the spell, the priest must spend at least 3 rounds chanting. At the end of this time roll with an ease of the degree of success of the spell plus half the number of points of motivation the character has in Enlightenment, Mercy or Purity. The degree of success is the amount of Cosmic Breath which may be bestowed upon the priest. As long as the roll is not failed, if the priest is not satisfied with the amount obtained he may continue chanting another 3 rounds and roll again, using the new degree of success instead of the old one. He can continue doing this as long as the roll is not failed: if it is, then no Cosmic Breath may be obtained today.
The priest will normally be expected to 'pay back' the Buddha later with a good work, a period of fasting or meditation, a ceremony or the like. Failure to do so will result in bad joss. Similarly, if the Buddhist uses the magic in a manner which transgresses Buddhist principles (see Beliefs) he will suffer a loss of bad joss.
Having gained control of the victim's energy the sorcerer merely needs to transfer the Cosmic Breath to his own body. This requires a roll of ease 10 plus the character's MAGIC bonus. The degree of success is the number of points of Cosmic Breath transferred in one round. Another roll may be made the next round. The energy is lost to fatigue.
If a roll is failed, the sorcerer acquires a point of bad joss. If a sorcerer sacrifices a person to obtain their energy, they will normally become a hungry ghost, and will gain control over any bad joss the sorcerer has (this is further explained in the Games chapter). Thus sorcerers who perform human sacrifices are advised to take precautions against spirits, and minimise their bad joss.
Constructing a focus can be a difficult business. One possibility is to obtain a relic, a device which is already magical. In this case it should only take a few weeks for a sorcerer to attune himself to the object. Alternatively a new focus can be made. This will require a variety of esoteric ingredients, and will usually also require rituals to be performed on propitious days. Referees wishing to make something of this may like to decide on the necessary ingredient and rituals, and make the construction of a focus the subject of a series of scenarios. It will usually take several months to complete the focus successfully. Player character sorcerers who start the game with the ability to cast spells are assumed to already possess a focus.
Buddhists generally employ prayer beads or a staff (though a sword is not unknown).
Sorcerers who cast their spells in unusual ways may employ more unusual focuses. For example, a sorcerer who casts his spells using the music of a flute will probably make the flute his focus.
A final option is available to sorcerers with a bonus in TALISMANS. In this case a talisman may be used as a focus. One advantage of doing this is that the sorcerer may, at a pinch, draw a talisman in his own blood on his palm and use that as his focus.
Meaning is provided in the form of a ritual of some kind. In this case 'ritual' has a very broad meaning, as it will depend on the skill(s) employed by the sorcerer in order to cast the spell. It can include a song, a gesture, an act of meditation, the writing of a talisman, a dance, a chant and so on.
The ritual employed to provide a spell with Meaning takes at least an action to perform.
Time Spent Casting Bonus up to 3 rounds 0 up to 30 rounds +1 up to 5 minutes +2 up to 50 minutes +3 up to 8 hours +4 over 8 hours +5Note that this preparation time must be uninterrupted. If anything distracts the sorcerer from his spell, all the accumulated bonus is lost, and he must start again.
Incorporating 10 characteristics into the ritual gains a bonus of +2, while 15 (extremely difficult!) would gain a bonus of +3.
Referees should be quite strict in interpreting what constitutes a genuine application of a characteristic.
Some spells have no elemental affinity. These spells cannot be enhanced using elemental affinities.
Element Wood Fire Earth Metal Water Direction East South Centre West North Colour Blue Red Yellow White Black Season Spring Summer Late Summer Autumn Winter Numbers (yin) 8 2 10 4 6 Numbers (yang) 3 7 5 9 1 Climate Windy Hot Humid Dry Cold Mountain Tai Heng (S) Song Hua Heng (N) Planet Jupiter Mars Saturn Venus Mercury Spirit-Emperor Fu Xi Shen Nong Huangdi Shao-hao Zhuan Sound Shouting Laughing Singing Weeping Groaning Major Animal Dragon Phoenix Ox Tiger Snake Minor Animal Chicken Horse Cow Dog Pig Viscera Liver Heart Spleen Lungs Kidneys Orifice Eyes Ears Mouth Nose Anus/Vulva Tissues Ligaments Arteries Muscles Hair & Skin Bones Flavour Sour Bitter Sweet Pungent Salt Odour Rancid Scorched Fragrant Rotten Putrid Fruit Plum Apricot Date Pear Chestnut Grain Wheat Sticky Rice Millet Rice Pea
Some characteristics of spell effects are quite standard. The duration for which a spell lasts is explained further in the next section. The bonus of a spell effect determines its sophistication and complexity. Its scope, or physical area depends on the amount of Cosmic Breath used to create it. In the case of a durational spell, this scope may be modified in some cases by altering the supply of Cosmic Breath. For example, a Wall of Fire produced with the Master of Fire +4 effect, using 4 Cosmic Breath would be 4 yards long. A sorcerer who wished to extend it need only supply the spell with more Cosmic Breath. Alternatively, if he runs short of Cosmic Breath, he can reduce the scope of the spell.
A spell's intensity is determined by the degree of success of the casting roll. The meaning of intensity depends on the nature of the spell.
The way in which a spell manifests may be affected by the skills used to create it. For example, a sorcerer who uses ILLUSION in the creation of a cloud of sand (with the Master of Earth spell) may be able to create the impression of shapes moving within the cloud.
His solution is a combination of both. But to perform two spells he will need quite a lot of Cosmic Breath. Urging his compatriots to continue fleeing, he stops. He can see the cavalry charging down the road towards him. He has only a few moments to cast his spells.
First he casts a Spirit Sending spell. It costs him one point of Cosmic Breath, which his own energy supplies. His basic chance is 2 (half the power level of the game), from which is subtracted the bonus of the spell effect being used (+1). He has a bonus of +2 in this spell, so he adds that to the chance, along with +5 for his bonuses in OCCULTISM, CALLIGRAPHY and TALISMANS. He hasn't time to exploit the spell's elemental affinities, or spend extra time preparing, so he just takes his chances with a chance of 8.
With a 3 and a 4, Jin just makes it, with an ease of 8 provided for channelling Cosmic Breath from the Otherworld. To this, he adds his +2 MAGIC bonus, and +3 for his bonuses in OCCULTISM and MEDITATION. He makes a bonus roll, getting a double 3 for a total of 6 points of Cosmic Breath.
This has all taken two rounds. The cavalry are very close, now. He quickly throws up a cloud of sand (a small cloud with a radius of 5 yards is sufficient, so it only costs 1 point of Cosmic Breath): chance is 2, -1 for the spell effect bonus, +3 for his bonus in the spell, plus ELEMENTALISM +2, ILLUSION +3 and MEDITATION +2 for a total of 11, which he easily makes.
As the dust cloud begins to swirl in front of the cavalry, he casts Master of Earth again. Two points of his Cosmic Breath go to powering the spell, and his chance of success is 2, -3 for the spell effect bonus, +3 for his bonus in the spell, +7 for the bonuses mentioned above. With a chance of 9, he rolls a 5 and a 1.
Being able to move 200lb of earth 5 yards is enough to scoop out two large ditches.
As he suspected, the crack troops of the Flying Devils are not to be put off by a mere dust cloud, and they charge into it. The first rank stumbles in the ditches, and the horses crash to the ground. The successive ranks pile into them, and soon the road is a mass of writhing horses and cursing armoured soldiers.
Jin Wen Zhao, having bought enough time for a getaway, hurries after his friends, pleased that he has managed to avoid breaking the promise he made his patron, the Feather-Robed Master of Yaoshan, to avoid killing.
Some magical effects may be set up as independent effects, which don't require supervision by the sorcerer, just a continuing supply of Cosmic Breath. Unless otherwise noted, however, all spells require the sorcerer's concentration.
Additional bonuses in resisting magic may be obtained using talismans or other means of magical protection. Characters also suffer penalties if they are outside their element: a spirit manifesting physically, or as energy in the Mortal world suffers a -2 to the roll, as does a Mortal in the Otherworld.
The basic decision to resist magic is made by a person's po spirits, which will ordinarily resist magic as a matter of course. The po may be consciously overruled by the hun spirits, however, in those cases where a character actually wishes to be affected by magic. This requires conscious volition on the part of the character. In other words, an unconscious character will always try to resist magic-even healing magic!
When a sorcerer opposes a spell, he must use as much Cosmic Breath as was used to create the original spell. Furthermore, most spells have affinities with the Five Elements, and in order to dispel an enemy sorcerer's magic, it is essential to use a spell with the appropriate affinity. The Five Elements are related as shown below.
As the chart shows, each element 'produces' another element, while it is in turn 'conquered' by a different element. In order to dispel magic you must employ a spell with an elemental affinity which conquers the affinity of the spell you are attacking. If you instead use a spell with a different affinity, there will be no effect, unless the spell has an affinity which produces the affinity of the magic attacked. In the latter case, the original spell will be reinforced! Half the degree of success of the second spell will be added to its effect.
Not only must the spell used have the correct affinity, you must also be able to provide an explanation for how the spell you are attacking is dispelled. If this is achieved, and the spell is cast correctly, then the degree of success of the roll is subtracted from the degree of success of the spell being dispelled. If this means that the degree of success is reduced to 0, then the spell disappears entirely. Otherwise the effect of the spell is reduced according to the reduction in degree of success.
Not all spells have a single simple affinity with an element. Some spells have no affinity, and special methods must be used to dispel such magics. Other spells have multiple affinities. More details are given in the spell descriptions.
Different effects produced by the same spell may have different characteristics: they may be instantaneous (spells which have a single effect) or durational (spells which last as long as they are supplied with Cosmic Breath, or until the sorcerer ceases to concentrate on them). The applicable skills which are used in the chance of casting the spell may vary. With all spells a bonus in a particular skill is necessary to the casting of the spell-casting the spell without having a bonus in that skill incurs a penalty of -2. In other cases, skill bonuses may be exclusive: for example, it is not possible to combine both CHANTING and SINGING.
Spells are organised according to their elemental affinities, which affect how they interact with other spells, and may have other effects on their casting. Buddhist magic which has no elemental affinity, spells which have multiple affinities, Curses, and Talismans are listed separately.
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
The recipient gains a bonus of +1 on any roll where Buddhist purity may be of assistance. Thus it could be used to persuade an abbot, but will be of no use in combat. Once given, the blessing will last until used, or for 49 days, whichever is shorter.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, THEOLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per person affected
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The recipient gains a bonus on any one roll to resist evil (which includes curses, any non-Buddhist magic, or spirits) of half the degree of success of the spell roll. Alternatively, the blessing will reduce the acquisition of bad joss by one point. Once given, the blessing will last until used, or for 49 days, whichever is shorter.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, THEOLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per person affected
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The next occasion on which the recipient acquires bad joss, the bad joss is reduced by half the degree of success of the spell roll. Once given, the blessing will last until used, or for 49 days, whichever is shorter.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, THEOLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 4 per person affected
Bonus +1: Durational.
The priest may use this spell to achieve personal peace. For the duration of the spell he will be free from all violent urges, and in tune with his Buddha-nature. As a side effect, this allows a Buddhist to channel Cosmic Breath, as explained in the section on Magical Energy.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, THEOLOGY, WIT
Cosmic Breath required: 1 /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Durational.
Any sentient being who can hear a Chant of Peace is subject to a strong compulsion to abandon fighting, sit down and pray to the Buddha. Anyone who does not resist will automatically follow the compulsion. Characters who resist may do so. They may use one bonus from WILL, MEDITATION, ILLUSION or WIT. However, their bonus in EMPATHY must be subtracted from their chance of success.
Failure indicates that the character must immediately cease fighting. Success indicates the character may continue to resist, but they will have to make a new roll after 6 rounds. Characters who can block their hearing receive a bonus of one or two to their roll to resist (depending on how thoroughly they block their ears). After the chant ends, characters who failed to resist will continue to pray to Buddha for seven minutes after the chant ends, or until they are shaken by someone else.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, PRESENCE, THEOLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus: +1: Instantaneous
The spell must be directed at an individual within earshot, and is always chanted. The victim has a chance of resisting the spell. His chance of success is improved if he cannot hear the chant clearly (blocking your ears with your hands or cloth gives a bonus of 1; more radical measures may have a greater effect at the referee's discretion).
Failure to resist causes the victim to immediately make a bad joss roll (explained in the Games chapter).
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, THEOLOGY, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 4
Bonus: +2: Instantaneous
The spell must be directed at an individual within earshot, and is always chanted. The victim has a chance of resisting the spell. His chance of success is improved if he cannot hear the chant clearly (blocking your ears with your hands or cloth gives a bonus of 1; more radical measures may have a greater effect at the referee's discretion).
Failure to resist causes the victim to immediately expend their bad joss. The bad joss is converted to damage. Energy may be used to absorb this damage but instead of becoming shock, such damage is treated as fatigue. Any excess damage is suffered to the body.
The process is extremely painful, but the victim's bad joss is dissipated by the spell.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, THEOLOGY, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 5
Bonus +4: Durational
The spell must be directed at an individual within earshot, and is always chanted. The victim has a chance of resisting the spell. His chance of success is improved if he cannot hear the chant clearly (blocking your ears with your hands or cloth gives a bonus of 1; more radical measures may have a greater effect at the referee's discretion).
Failure to resist this version of the spell transports the victim's hun spirits to the Court of the Underworld. Here, one of Yen Lo's functionaries will read a list of the victim's crimes in the Mortal World, and once completed, punishment for those crimes will commence.
For as long as the spell is maintained, the victim's body will be unconscious, while their hun spirits suffer torment. Furthermore, for every second which passes in this world, the victim will suffer an hour of torment in the Underworld.
Once the spell is cancelled, the victim will wake up. The effects of this spell are usually rather traumatic. It often effects a conversion to Buddhism, and a far more spiritual view of life. A side-effect of the spell in rules terms, however, will be that the victim loses not only all their bad joss, but all points of motivation accumulated to date, apart from points in the motivations of Enlightenment, Mercy, Purity or Justice.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, EMPATHY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, THEOLOGY, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 5 /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
Identify a lie, penetrate an illusion. Once an illusion is penetrated, the priest is immune to its effects. To be penetrated, the degree of success of the roll must be equal to or greater than that of the illusion.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, CHANTING, EMPATHY, INTUITION, MEDITATION, PERCEPTION
Cosmic Breath required: 3 to identify a lie. For penetrating an illusion, should be equal to the Cosmic Breath of the illusion.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
Learn the true identity of any person. Identify a spirit as a spirit. Recognise the level of motivation of a person and identify their motivation. Gauge how much bad joss someone has accumulated.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, CHANTING, EMPATHY, INTUITION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, PERCEPTION
Cosmic Breath required: 4.
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
Gain perfect knowledge about a person. This gives full information about all their abilities, and even extends to their cycle of reincarnation.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, CHANTING, EMPATHY, INTUITION, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 5.
Bonus +1: Durational
Prevents the approach of spirits in the form of energy only, such as hungry ghosts. This includes sorcerers' travelling hun. The degree of success is the number of points of energy lost per round by a spirit which attempts to approach the priest.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per person protected /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Durational
Prevents the approach of spirits and physical projections. The latter include demons and creatures such as stiff corpses, as well as physical projections of sorcerers (created using the Forge of Shao spell). The degree of success is the damage per round inflicted on a spirit or physical projection which attempts to approach the priest.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per person protected /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Durational
Provides physical protection for the priest and anyone else under his protection. The degree of success is applied as a minus to any attempt to penetrate the warding, and it is also subtracted from any damage inflicted.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per person protected /6 rounds
Bonus +4: Durational
Insulates the priest and anyone under his protection from all spirits or their physical projections, all magic, and even the physical approach of Taoist sorcerers! The degree of success is the amount of damage per round suffered by any of the above trying to penetrate the warding.
Applicable skills: CHANTING, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 4 per person protected /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
Dispel any spell with earth affinity.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, WILL, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The sorcerer causes an earth tremor at a location within his field of vision. The radius of the affected zone depends on the Cosmic Breath used. Anyone in the zone will be thrown about and must make a roll of ease 9 plus their GRACE, minus the sorcerer's degree of success, in order to retain footing. Anyone who fails this roll will fall, suffering one die of damage (armour gives no protection, but energy may be used as a shock buffer for up to 5 points). The earth tremor will cause damage to items within the zone; a degree of success of 4 or greater will bring down ordinary walls, 6 or greater will bring down fortifications.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, WILL, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per 5 yards radius
Bonus +1: Durational.
Enables the shape of wood to be altered, and its properties to be changed. The wood can be shaped in a particular way, hardened or weakened. Hardened wood will increase the quality of a weapon by one step. Once the spell finishes the wood will quickly revert to its previous form and nature, however any external changes (such as a weakened door which has been smashed down) will remain. The sorcerer must touch the wood to affect it.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ART, ILLUSION, PLANT LORE
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 10 pounds of wood /6 rounds.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous.
Enables the same effect as the +1 version, except that they become permanent (though they may be reversed by another sorcerer's spell).
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ART, ILLUSION, PLANT LORE
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 2 pounds of wood
Bonus +3: Durational.
Plants may be controlled. They may be ordered to restrain a person, attack them and so on.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, PLANT LORE, SINGING or CHANTING, WILL, PRESENCE
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per square yard of plants /6 rounds.
Bonus +5: Instantaneous
Enables transmogrification-the permanent transformation of a human into a plant (usually a tree). This may be done by the sorcerer on himself, or on any other person (who may resist it). When transformed, the person is capable of perceiving their surroundings, but may not speak or act in any way. The spell may be reversed by being dispelled, or when the sorcerer who cast it wills it (this requires another roll at the same value as was used to cast the spell, but no Cosmic Breath is necessary. One roll may be made per round until successful).
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, PLANT LORE, SINGING or CHANTING, OCCULTISM, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 8
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
The sorcerer scoops his hand into a river or pool, and withdraws it with a number of fish. The number of fish caught is half the degree of success of the spell.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, FISHING, INTUITION, PERCEPTION, CO-ORDINATION
Cosmic Breath required: 2
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The sorcerer may set a trap for small game. The trap is not visible, and has the property of attracting game to it. The degree of success indicates the ease against which the sorcerer should roll for every five minutes the trap is left unattended (the trap will not catch game if there is a human within 200 yards of it). Once this roll is successful, the trap disperses. The degree of success of the successful roll gives an indication of the size of the game caught by the trap.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, TRAPPING, INTUITION, ANIMAL LORE, ANIMALS
Cosmic Breath required: 4
Bonus +3: Durational
This spell produces a net of silvery strands, which the sorcerer may throw at a target. If he hits the target, it is entangled by the net. The net is thrown just like a normal missile weapon. Its details are:
Use 10 Damage none
Dist 10 feet Evasion ease 0
A target struck by the net does not gain a roll to resist magic, but he may try to break free. The ease of this is 7, minus the degree of success of the sorcerer's roll plus the target's STRENGTH bonus. The net may be used to restrain the target for as long as the sorcerer maintains the spell. The target may continue to struggle, rolling once each round, but will suffer a point of fatigue for every three rounds spent struggling.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, FISHING, PUPPETRY, TRAPPING
Cosmic Breath required: (3 + target's size) /6 rounds (min 1)
Bonus +3: Durational
The sorcerer and/or companions' appearance is masked by magic. The extent to which they are invisible is determined by the degree of success of the roll. A result of 2-4 indicates that a blurry shape can be perceived, while 5 or greater indicates full invisibility. In both cases they may be detected by physical give-aways such as tracks, smells or sound. Invisible characters cannot be seen except under the noonday sun-if exposed to its light they will become visible. Also, if exposed to Autumn sunlight at any time, or if they tread on rice, 3 is subtracted from the degree of success. If this results in it being less than 2 then the characters become fully visible. Attempts to fight an invisible person are subject to a situational modifier of the degree of success of the sorcerer's roll.
Applicable skills: SNEAKING, ART, DECEPTION, ILLUSION, WILL, (minus PRESENCE)
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds for the sorcerer, 5 /6 rounds for anyone else.
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
Provides a bonus of twice the degree of success of the spell to the degree of success of a leap. If the leap roll fails, the character is neverthless flung into the air, and suffers an additional penalty of -2 to landing. The degree of success is also subtracted from the landing roll.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, CHANTING, WILL, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 3 plus the size of the recipient.
Bonus +2: Durational.
The recipient gains a bonus of twice the degree of success of the spell to the degree of success of a RUNNING or SWIMMING roll. Even if the roll is failed, a character subjected to this spell will still move involuntarily.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION , CHANTING, WILL, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: (2 plus recipient's size) /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
Temporarily increases the energy score of the recipient . Note that the sorcerer must make physical contact with the bare skin of the recipient of the spell in order for it to work. The Cosmic Breath of the spell (which must be specified in advance) is simply transferred to the recipient. The process is not always efficient, though. Divide the degree of success by 10 and multiply the Cosmic Breath by the result to find out how much energy is gained by the recipient (minimum: 1, maximum: Cosmic Breath used). The effects of the spell last ten minutes. Any fatigue acquired under the influence of this spell will continue to affect the being once the spell runs out.
Applicable skills: MEDICINE, WILL, CHANTING or CALLIGRAPHY, ILLUSION
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired
Bonus +3: Durational
For the duration of the spell, the recipient acquires the ability to regenerate energy lost to shock. All such energy lost may be completely replenished in a round. The character can still be stunned, but suffers no fatigue effects until the spell duration is over.
Applicable skills: MEDICINE, WILL, CHANTING or CALLIGRAPHY, ILLUSION
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per person /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
Dispel any spell with metal affinity.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +2: Durational.
Protects against weapons made of metal. The sorcerer must keep a small flame alight in order to maintain the effect of this spell.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, SINGING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous.
Melts metal. The metal must be touched by the sorcerer.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, SINGING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 0.5lb affected
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
The sorcerer may create a source of fire equivalent in strength to a candle.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, WIT, CALLIGRAPHY or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1
Bonus +2: Durational.
Given an ordinary source of fire of whatever size, the sorcerer may create a cloud of smoke. The radius of the cloud depends on the Cosmic Breath used. The sorcerer is immune to the effects of the cloud, but anyone else caught within it will suffer a -4 situational modifier to combat. Anyone remaining in the cloud for more than ten rounds will start to suffer 1 point of damage for every round they remain within it (energy may not be used as a shock buffer).
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, WIT, MEDITATION, CALLIGRAPHY or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 5 yard radius /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous.
Enhance an existing source of fire to cause a blast of fire which stretches a number of yards equal to the number of points of Cosmic Breath used. The fire will ignite any inflammable objects in its path. If it strikes a living being, it will cause damage equal to one die plus the degree of success of the roll. This spell may be resisted.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, WIT, MEDITATION, CALLIGRAPHY or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per yard range
Bonus +4: Durational.
Create a wall of fire. Anyone coming into contact with the wall suffers fire damage equal to one die plus the degree of success of the sorcerer's roll.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, WIT, MEDITATION, CALLIGRAPHY or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per yard /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
Penetrate the wall between the Mortal World and the Otherworld for an instant. This enables spells which have a physical effect to harm spirits, which, being composed only of energy, would normally be immune. However, by using this spell to pierce the veil separating the Worlds, a spell may be projected into the Otherworld, or Cosmic Breath drawn from the Otherworld and channelled through the sorcerer's body.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, WIT, WILL, CALLIGRAPHY, TALISMANS
Cosmic Breath required: 1
Bonus +2: Durational
Open a portal between the Mortal World and Otherworld, allowing the passage of energy (and therefore spirits) between them. The sorcerer should take care that nothing unpleasant comes through the portal.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, WIT, WILL, CALLIGRAPHY, ILLUSION, TALISMANS
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Durational
Enables the sorcerer to project his hun spirits from his body. The hun are invisible to the naked eye. They may travel at a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour (that's 10 yards per round) and are constrained by physical objects: they may not pass through walls, doors, etc, though they may slip through any crack or hole that is greater than two inches wide.
While the sorcerer is projecting his hun spirits, he may choose to perceive the world from either his hun spirits or his po spirits (ie his physical body). However there will usually be a difference in the perception of the two types of spirit: the hun are relatively dispassionate and rational, and will perceive the physical world in a rather abstract way (and may therefore not recognise the significance of physical objects); the po are more emotional and physical, perceiving the world in very concrete, physical terms. This difference may affect the accuracy of the sorcerer's perceptions and cause confusion, if he is unwise enough to shift back and forth between the two points of view.
During the spell, the sorcerer's energy score must be divided between the physical body (ie the po) and the travelling hun. The sorcerer may decide what proportion of energy accompanies the hun, but it must be more than 1 point.
This spell can be very dangerous-if the spell is somehow interrupted (for example, Cosmic Breath is exhausted while the hun is still separated from the body), then the psychic connection is severed. The hun is left wandering bereft, and will be unable to find its way back to the body without assistance. Needless to say, a sorcerer without a hun spirit is utterly incapable of sorcery (in fact he's barely capable of speech).
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, WIT, WILL, CALLIGRAPHY, REASONING
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds
Bonus +4: Durational
Enables the sorcerer to send his hun spirits from his body, as +3 above, but with a stronger psychic connection. The sorcerer may transfer energy and/or Cosmic Breath along the psychic link (requiring a roll of ease 10, plus the character's MAGIC bonus, with the degree of success being the number of points which can be transferred per round).
The sorcerer is also able to cast spells. His body must perform the ritual as normal, but the spell may be projected by his travelling hun. Obviously this means that any spell involving physical contact (such as Blood of Shen Nong) cannot be projected by the hun.
Another trick possible with this effect is for the travelling hun to enter and animate a sleeping body.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, WIT, WILL, CALLIGRAPHY, REASONING
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds
Bonus +5: Instantaneous
Reunite Spirit and Body. This spell will return a dead character's spirits to his body. It may also be used to reunite the hun and body of a person if they have become detached by other means (such as an accident while projecting the sorcerer's hun).
This spell cannot call back a dead person's hun if they have ascended to heaven, or if they are undergoing punishment in Yen Lo's Underworld or have been reincarnated. Most spirits will be unreachable 49 days after death for one or other of these reasons.
It is possible to restore only the po spirits to a body, but this will create a stiff corpse, which must be carefully controlled to prevent its natural tendency to go berserk and attack indiscriminately.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, WIT, WILL, EMPATHY, CALLIGRAPHY, REASONING, ILLUSION
Cosmic Breath required: 10
Bonus +1: Durational
Enables levitation. The sorcerer may rise in the air at a rate of 3 feet per round.
Applicable skills: GRACE, CHANTING, ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds, plus 1 per additional 50lb lifted.
Bonus +3: Durational
Enables the sorcerer to fly. The only way anyone other than the sorcerer can fly is if the sorcerer lifts them, but this drastically increases the Cosmic Breath requirements of the spell. The speed of this spell is measured in feet per round travelled vertically, or yards per round travelled horizontally. For combinations of both, use the feet per yard speed: there's no need to calculate vectors!
Applicable skills: GRACE, CHANTING, LEAPING, ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: minimum 2 /6 rounds (which provides a speed of 2). Add 1 to the minimum per additional 50lb carried. Each point of Cosmic Breath on top of this doubles the basic speed.
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
Dispel any spell with water affinity.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous.
Stops any rain (natural or sorcerous). The sorcerer must scatter soil around to cast this spell.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 4
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
Dries up a body of water. The sorcerer must throw a handful of soil into the water have the effect. May be used on a body of water of any size, but if the amount of water removed is less than is present, the water level will simply be lowered.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 1/1000 cubic yards of water
Bonus +1: Durational
The sorcerer causes a cloud of sand to rise from the ground and swirl in the air for the duration of the spell. The radius of the cloud depends on the Cosmic Breath used. The sorcerer is immune to the effects of the cloud, but anyone else caught within it will suffer a -3 situational modifier to combat. Anyone remaining in the cloud for more than twenty rounds will start to suffer 1 point of damage for every round they remain within it (energy may not be used as a shock buffer).
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DILIGENCE, MEDITATION, SINGING or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 5 yard radius /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The sorcerer can cause earth to move as he directs. The degree of success indicates the number of yards moved by the earth.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DILIGENCE, MEDITATION, SINGING or CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 100lb of earth
Bonus +4: Durational
The sorcerer (and one or more companions) may travel through the earth in a manner akin to peristalsis. The earth opens before him and closes behind. The degree of success of the roll indicates the number of yards covered in one round.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DILIGENCE, MEDITATION, SINGING or CHANTING, SWIMMING
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds for the sorcerer, plus 3 /6 rounds per companion
Bonus +1: Durational
The sorcerer may communicate with any spirits in the immediate area, or with whom he has established a psychic link. This includes both spirits entirely in the Otherworld, and those projecting energy into the Mortal World. The spell effect manifests as a form of possession. The sorcerer's thoughts are communicated directly to the spirit, and the spirit will then reply through the sorcerer's mouth, or by guiding the sorcerer's hand to write the answer.
This effect may be used to inflict curses on victims, as explained in the section on Curses, below.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, SINGING, PERCEPTION, WIT, EMPATHY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The sorcerer may establish a psychic link with any spirit whose name he knows, as long as the spirit still exists outside of Heaven. Once such a psychic link is established, the sorcerer may then cast another spell to enable communication with that spirit.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, SINGING, PERCEPTION, WIT, EMPATHY, INTUITION
Cosmic Breath required: 3
Bonus +3: Durational
The sorcerer may establish a psychic link with the inner spirit voices of a living human whose name he knows, and listen to what they are saying. He can listen to either the hun or po at any one time, but may switch between them as he wishes. In a sense this is a form of mind-reading, but it is by no means foolproof, as the voices of the hun and the po are not always easily comprehensible. The hun and the po will normally resist this spell, though as they do so unconsciously, the referee should make the roll. The degree of success of this spell indicates how strong the psychic link is, and therefore to an extent how clear the spirit voices are. This spell may also be used by the sorcerer to 'talk' to someone, but because peoples' minds are so busy, the sorcerer's voice will often remain unnoticed. If the target is expecting it and concentrating hard, it should be clear, though.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, SINGING, PERCEPTION, INTUITION, WIT, EMPATHY
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds
Bonus +4: Durational
The sorcerer may directly address a divine entity, or the heavenly assembly as a whole. The spell by no means guarantees that the divinities in question will be interested in what the sorcerer has to say, but at least it ensures their undivided attention for the spell duration. Sorcerers may like to note that gods are rarely less greedy than humans, though Buddhist deities' greed tends to be expressed more in terms of a desire to spread Enlightenment throughout existence. If they want a deity to assist them, they should either petition one who is likely to be passionately interested in the object of the petition, or be prepared to offer the deity something it values.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, THEOLOGY, SINGING, CHANTING, WIT, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
The recipient of the spell gains a bonus to their STRENGTH for one action only.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CALLIGRAPHY, WILL, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per point of STRENGTH
Bonus +2: Durational
The recipient of the spell gains a bonus to their STRENGTH for the duration of the spell.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CALLIGRAPHY, WILL, MEDITATION
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per point of STRENGTH /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
The degree of success of the roll may be added to a character's chance to resist a disease.
Applicable skills: MEDICINE, OCCULTISM, ILLUSION, PLANT LORE, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 2
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The degree of success of the roll may be added to a first aid roll, or recovery roll of a character who has sustained body damage.
Applicable skills: MEDICINE, OCCULTISM, ILLUSION, PLANT LORE, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 4
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The degree of success of the roll is the amount of healing provided to an injured or diseased character. This may be used to heal different kinds of wounds or disease damage (see the Action and Combat chapters for details).
Applicable skills: MEDICINE, OCCULTISM, ILLUSION, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 6
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
Dispel any spell with wood affinity.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +2: Durational.
Protects against weapons made of wood. The sorcerer must hold a small knife in each hand in order to maintain the effect of this spell.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous.
Breaks a single wooden object, or kills vegetation. The sorcerer must touch the wood.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 50lb wood or vegetation.
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
The sorcerer creates a distraction affecting the target or targets for one round. Multiple targets must be closely grouped together to be affected. Half the degree of success of the spell is applied as a situational modifier to their actions in the round. It is up to the player of the sorcerer to describe the nature of the distraction.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CHANTING, MUSIC, WIT, ART
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per target
Bonus +2: Durational
The sorcerer may produce duplicates of himself. The accuracy of the duplicates depends on the degree of success of the sorcerer's roll. The duplicates will mimic the sorcerer's actions exactly. If struck, however, a duplicate will disappear in a flash.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CHANTING, MUSIC, WIT, ART
Cosmic Breath required: 3 per duplicate /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Durational
The sorcerer may produce apparitions of fearsome creatures such as huge snakes, insects or vermin. Before casting the spell, he must prepare paper cuts of the apparitions he wishes to create. When the spell is cast, the caster specifies a point within his field of vision from which the apparitions will emerge, spreading out to the maximum radius at a rate of 2 yards per round. The apparitions will attack anyone caught within the area of effect, inflicting damage of half the degree of success for every round the victim remains in the area of effect.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CHANTING, MUSIC, WIT, ART, PAINTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 2 yard radius /6 rounds
Bonus +5: Durational
The sorcerer can create an illusory world around his targets. Within the world the sorcerer controls reality. Effectively this world is like a miniature Otherworld, into which the victims' senses are projected. Thus it does actually exist in some ways. While they are in the illusory world, the victims' real bodies will be unable to take conscious action, though since it is only their hun souls which are affected, they are still capable of breathing, unconscious reactions and so on.
One condition of the illusory world is that the sorcerer must exist within it himself. He may disguise his appearance, but experience shows that sorcerers are rarely able to disguise themselves absolutely (it's an ego problem). Whatever form he appears to have in the illusory world, the sorcerer actually maintains his own abilities and characteristics, as do the victims.
The referee is at liberty to run this spell as he wishes. In theory, it might even be possible for a player character sorcerer who casts it on other player characters to take over the role of referee!
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, SINGING or CHANTING, MUSIC, WIT, ART, PAINTING, DECEPTION
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per victim /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Durational
Enables the shape of metal to be altered. The metal can be shaped in a particular way. Once the spell finishes the metal will quickly revert to its previous form, however any changes which result from the altered form will remain. The sorcerer must touch the metal to affect it.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ART, ILLUSION, MUSIC
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 2lb of metal /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Durational
Enables the characteristics of metal to be altered. It may be made harder or softer, and even changed into liquid form (this requires a degree of success of 4 or over). Affecting the hardness and softness of metal weapons will have an effect on their quality: for every point of degree of success, the quality may be altered one step. The sorcerer must touch the metal to affect it. When the spell finishes, the metal will revert to its previous characteristics, but any changes to its shape which resulted from the spell will remain.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ART, ILLUSION, MUSIC, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 2lb of metal /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The same as the +1 and +2 variants, except that in this case the change is permanent (though it may be dispelled by another sorcerer).
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ART, ILLUSION, MUSIC, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per 1lb of metal
Bonus +4: Durational
Enables the sorcerer to magnetically polarise his body, so that ferrous metals may be attracted or repelled. He is able to exert quite fine control over the magnetism, and may change its characteristics instantly. However, the magnetic field created is not directional, and so will act equally in all directions (including those in which the sorcerer is not able to see). If used to repel ferrous weapons as a form of protection, an attacker will suffer a situational modifier of the degree of success of the spell to their chance to hit. If they loosen their grip on their weapon for any reason it will fly out of their hand.
The degree of success of the spell indicates the maximum power of the magnetic field. As a rule of thumb, it indicates the maximum weight in pounds of a metal object which will be made to move by this spell. Items of lower weight than this will move at greater speed the lighter they are.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, MUSIC, LEARNING
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Durational
The sorcerer may alter his appearance and/or that of a companion. They will remain roughly the same size, and human, but they will acquire the appearance and clothing of another person. If the sorcerer attempts to impersonate a specific person, the degree of success of the spell is used as a situational modifier to peoples' chances of spotting that it is a deception. In this case, the chance of seeing through depends on how well a person knows the person being impersonated. If they are a close member of the person's immediate family, the chance of seeing through the deception has an ease of 10. For friends the chance drops to between 6-9. For mere acquaintances, the chance will usually be less than 6. Bonuses in EMPATHY, PERCEPTION and INTUITION may be used.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WIT, ART, DISGUISE, WILL, EMPATHY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds for the sorcerer, 3 /6 rounds for anyone else.
Bonus +3: Durational
The sorcerer may actually change his form to that of another creature. Usually the specific creature or creature(s) to which a sorcerer may transform himself are limited, depending on how he acquires the spell. Typical examples would include a dog, a crane, a tiger and so on. Since the sorcerer physically becomes the creature, he loses any abilities which are dependent on possessing human form-including the power of speech. He is therefore unable to cast spells while transformed. However he gains the abilities of the creature into which he is transformed.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WIT, ART, ANIMALS, ANIMAL LORE, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds for the sorcerer, 3 /6 rounds for anyone else.
Bonus +4: Instantaneous
A victim may be permanently transformed into animal form. The sorcerer must make eye contact with his victim in order to transfer the spell. If the victim fails to resist its effects, he will become whatever animal the sorcerer names. To reverse the spell, the same spell may be used, with the sorcerer uttering the name of the victim. Alternatively the spell may be dispelled in the normal way, with a spell of fire affinity.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WIT, ART, ANIMALS, ANIMAL LORE, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 8
Bonus +5: Instantaneous
The sorcerer may transform another person's appearance, subject to the same limitations as the +1 variant. In this case, however, the change is permanent unless dispelled by another spell. Although the person's appearance is completely altered, of the person's abilities only PRESENCE may be affected. The sorcerer may choose to alter this bonus by one point.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WIT, ART, DISGUISE, WILL, EMPATHY
Cosmic Breath required: 10
Bonus +3: Durational
The sorcerer may create a physical body. This artificial body can be made to resemble the sorcerer, but if he wishes it to resemble someone else, he will have to use a Skin of the Tiger spell. The body will obey the sorcerer's commands fairly well (as it follows his intention, it is not prone to literal interpretations), but is incapable of acting on its own initiative in any way. However, the sorcerer may inhabit the body with his hun spirit, using the Spirit Sending spell, in which case the artificial body acquires almost all the mental and spiritual abilities of the sorcerer (it will not gain his bonuses in INTUITION, WIT, WILL, PRESENCE or MAGIC unless the +4 Spirit Sending is used, in which case these bonuses are 'shared').
The body score of the form depends on how much Cosmic Breath is used. Its energy score is determined by the amount of Cosmic Breath the sorcerer feeds it every 6 rounds (the sorcerer may vary this number, but it must be 1 or more). The degree of success indicates the number of points of specific physical skills possessed by the form (it always has a bonus of 0 in basic skills).
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, ILLUSION, ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION, REASONING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per point of body to create the form. To maintain the spell, the sorcerer must expend a minimum of 1 point every 6 rounds. See also above.
Bonus +5: Durational
Enables the sorcerer to transform his body into energy, and then back again into physical substance. This enables him to become insubstantial, and he may therefore pass through any physical barrier with ease. While in the form of energy, however, he is unable to use any physical skills (he may move at a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour/10 yards per round), and may not speak or cast spells. If, for some reason, the sorcerer has insufficient Cosmic Breath to retranslate himself from energy back into physical form, then he will remain in the form of energy, unless something is done to restore him to his former state. Sorcerers therefore tend to be quite careful in casting this spell.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, ILLUSION, ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION, REASONING
Cosmic Breath required: 6 (plus size) to transform into energy. 2 /6 rounds to maintain the spell while in the form of energy. 6 (plus size) to return to physical form.
Bonus +1: Instantaneous.
Dispel any spell with fire affinity.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous.
Put out a fire.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 5 cubic yards of fire
Bonus +3: Durational.
Protects against fire. The sorcerer must keep a small cup brimful of water to maintain the effect of this spell.
Applicable skills: WILL, ELEMENTALISM, DANCING, SINGING, MUSIC, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
This spell is used to utter a single command to a being. The victim must hear the command and be able to understand it. In cases where there may be some ambiguity, the referee should assess how easy the command is to understand ('Kill Zhuang Yu' would rate a 10, for example) and make the victim roll (in addition to normal resistance), adding any bonuses for REASONING, CHINESE or the like. Victims who are controlled will obey the command until they complete it, until they pass out of sight of the sorcerer (which may be maintained with a Spirit Sending +3 or +4), or until a number of minutes equal to the degree of success of the spell pass, whichever comes first.
Applicable skills: WILL, OCCULTISM, CHANTING or SINGING, PRESENCE, INTIMIDATION
Cosmic Breath required: 5
Bonus +3: Durational
This enables the sorcerer to obtain control over an animal. It doesn't allow communication, but the sorcerer's wishes are transmitted to the animal magically. This means that sophisticated control is impossible: the animals are simply not capable of understanding such things. The control exists only as long as the sorcerer is 'in contact' with the animal. This contact may be by eyesight, or via a Spirit Sending.
Applicable skills: WILL, OCCULTISM, CHANTING or SINGING, MUSIC, ANIMALS, ANIMAL LORE
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds
Bonus +4: Durational
The sorcerer may control normal human beings. If they fail to resist, they will obey his wishes. He may communicate these wishes by speaking, or by means of the Spirit Voice spell, for control at a distance. The victim may roll again to resist the spell at any time the sorcerer orders them to do something which they would ordinarily strongly dislike doing. He may implant commands affecting the person's behaviour after the spell finishes, but in such cases the victim gets to make another resistance roll when the command comes into effect. Success at the resistance roll means the victim becomes fully aware of the fact that they have been controlled.
Applicable skills: WILL, OCCULTISM, CHANTING or SINGING, MUSIC, PRESENCE, DECEPTION, WIT
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +5: Durational
The sorcerer may control heroes and supernatural beings as in the above effect.
Available skills: WILL, OCCULTISM, CHANTING or SINGING, MUSIC, PRESENCE, DECEPTION, WIT
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Durational
The sorcerer causes a cloud of fog or mist to rise slowly from the ground and hang in the air for the duration of the spell. The radius of the cloud depends on the Cosmic Breath used. The sorcerer is immune to the effects of the cloud, but anyone else caught within it will suffer a -2 situational modifier to combat.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, MEDITATION, CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 10 yard radius /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Durational
The sorcerer raises a storm, causing wind to blow and rain to fall. It will affect an area of radius 200 yards, centred on a point within the field of vision of the sorcerer. The degree of success indicates the strength of the storm. See details on weather in the China chapter for more about this.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, MEDITATION, CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The sorcerer may issue a single command to a body of water. This means he may, for example, order a river to change course, focus a waterfall into a single blast, cause a wave to strike a ship and so on. The spell is instantaneous because the command is issued once. The permanence or otherwise of the effect depends on the nature of the command: a river which has had its course changed will usually revert to its former route.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, MEDITATION, CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 7
Bonus +4: Durational
The sorcerer may exert continuous control over a body of water. Thus he may, for example, walk on water, by ordering it to support his weight. He may also breathe water. The spell does not allow the water to do unreasonable things: it can't assume human shape and walk on land, for example. It can, however, exert force, and such effects as waves will be very easy. It is up to the referee to determine how powerful a given body of water will be, taking into account the degree of success of the spell.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, MEDITATION, CHANTING
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +1: Durational
For the duration of the spell, the recipient gains a bonus of the degree of success of the spell to his body score. Note that the sorcerer must make physical contact with the bare skin of the recipient of the spell in order for it to work. Any injury acquired under the influence of this spell will continue to affect the recipient once the spell runs out, but its nature (flesh wound, bad wound, and so on) will be unchanged.
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WILL, MEDITATION, MUSIC, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 3 /6 rounds.
Bonus +3: Durational
Provides a more specific form of protection, hardening the recipient's skin to make it very resistant to blows. This means they effectively gain the benefit of armour of value equal to the degree of success of the casting roll. This does slightly restrict the user, but only requires energy equal to half its protection value (round down).
Applicable skills: ILLUSION, WILL, MEDITATION, MUSIC, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 4 /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
When the weather is cloudy, the sorcerer may cause a bolt of lightning to descend. Although he may specify a target, this is not an accurate spell, and the referee should roll randomly to choose from all the potential targets within 20 yards of that specified by the sorcerer. The target struck by lightning will suffer one die of damage plus the degree of success of the spell. Anyone within three feet of the target will also suffer damage equal to the roll of the die. Energy may be used as a shock buffer to absorb up to two points. Body lost to a lighting blast counts as a bad wound.
Targets who are indoors cannot be struck by lightning. Proximity to a tree, or a large metal object or other potential lightning conductor provides protection: roll a die and subtract the result from the damage.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 6
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The sorcerer may generate a bolt of lightning from within his own body and aim it at a target of his choice. This is done in the same way as using a normal missile (see the Combat chapter). The roll for casting the spell replaces the 'readying' roll. A successful cast creates a nimbus of electrical energy which plays about the sorcerer's hands. The bolt may be flung on the round immediately after the spell is cast, or held at a cost of 1 point of Cosmic Breath per round. The attack roll to fling the bolt may be combined with an aiming roll, however, if the sorcerer wishes. The bolt's characteristics are:
Use 10 Damage see below
Shock 2 Dist see below Evasion ease -1
The damage of the bolt is equal to the degree of success of the casting roll plus the degree of success of the attack roll. The unit of distance used for the spell depends on the amount of Cosmic Breath used by the sorcerer.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ILLUSION, DANCING, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per yard of distance.
Bonus +4: Instantaneous
The sorcerer makes an object a receptacle for Cosmic Breath. When he does so, he must specify a Word of Binding, which must be a single, one-syllable word. This word is used to retrieve the Cosmic Breath from the object. However, the process is not foolproof, and sometimes the Word of Binding may be pronounced incorrectly. Thus, to retrieve the Cosmic Breath bound into an object, a person must roll with an ease equal to twice the degree of success of the Binding roll. One attempt may be made per round until successful, but if at any point a snake-eyes is rolled, the Cosmic Breath dissipates from the item and is lost.
Storing Cosmic Breath in an item works like buying a skill: storing one point requires the sorcerer to expend one point. Two points stored cost 3, three points cost 6 and so on.
Applicable skills: MEDITATION, OCCULTISM, MAGIC, CALLIGRAPHY, ASTROLOGY
Cosmic Breath required: As much as desired.
Bonus +4: Instantaneous
A gout of dragon flame spews from the sorcerer's mouth. The damage caused by this will affect anything: even items normally unaffected by fire. Damage done is double the degree of success of the spell.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, FOLKLORE, MEDITATION, ART
Cosmic Breath required: 2 per yard range
Bonus +1: Instantaneous
The geomancer can perceive the flows of energy in the surrounding area, and, to a limited extent, channel them through his body. This enables a fairly accurate geomantic reading of the surroundings to be taken, which will establish the predominant flows, and enable the sorcerer to identify where Dragon Veins are the cause of bad joss afflicting someone. The effect whereby Cosmic Breath is channelled is explained further under Magical Energy, above.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION, ASTROLOGY, MAGIC
Cosmic Breath required: 1
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The geomancer may actually alter the direction of the Dragon Veins. A huge alteration is not possible, but even a slight change is usually enough to alleviate bad joss affecting someone because of the Dragon Veins. An alternative use for this spell is to alter a Dragon Vein so that it causes someone bad joss.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, MEDITATION, ASTROLOGY, MAGIC
Cosmic Breath required: 3-7 according to extent.
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
This spell creates a momentary rift between the Worlds. It can therefore be used by the sorcerer to place some object out of reach, or even to make a person enter the Otherworld. The sorcerer must touch whatever it is he wishes to send to the Otherworld.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, ASTROLOGY, INTUITION, THEOLOGY, WILL, FOLK LORE, DANCING, CHANTING, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 20lb
Bonus +4: Durational
The sorcerer can maintain the rift between the worlds for much longer, and therefore create a portal through which people can pass. The portal is created near the sorcerer but is immobile and invisible once created. The sorcerer may maintain it, but to do so he must remain near it, or use a Supervisory Servant to maintain its effect. A problem with this spell is that returning is by no means a simple process. As mentioned elsewhere, the topography of the Otherworld is extremely complex. Creating a portal a mere few yards from the correct spot may lead to a difference of thousands of miles in the point to which the portal leads.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, ASTROLOGY, INTUITION, THEOLOGY, WILL, FOLK LORE, DANCING, CHANTING, CALLIGRAPHY
Cosmic Breath required: 5 /6 rounds
Bonus +2: Instantaneous
The supervisory servant must always be provided with a supply of Cosmic Breath; the servant can then be instructed to regulate the destination of the Cosmic Breath, and 'look after' a durational spell, relieving the sorcerer of the necessity of doing so. The purpose of the servant is determined when the spell is cast, and cannot be changed later. The sorcerer may release the servant at any time, and it is automatically freed if it runs out of Cosmic Breath.
Supervisory servants are usually animal spirits, but since they exist in this world only as energy, they are invisible. The spell simply locates and binds the nearest available spirit. It is possible that a spell maintained by a servant may be 'coloured' by the servant's nature, but the servant must always faithfully obey the instructions it has been given.
In return for performing its duties, the servant must be provided with the Cosmic Breath listed below. It may be allowed simply to take this from the supply with which it is provided. If for some reason it is unable to do so, the servant is freed, and the sorcerer acquires a point of bad joss.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, MEDITATION, REASONING, CHANTING or SINGING, DANCING or CALLIGRAPHY, WIT
Cosmic Breath required: 3
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
A slightly more intelligent servant may be bound along with Cosmic Breath using the spell of Binding. The servant may be given instructions on when to release the bound Cosmic Breath. This enables sorcerers to create 'self-activating' magical devices and talismans. The degree of success of the spell indicates the level of intelligence of the servant, which should be taken into account in interpreting how well the servant obeys its instructions.
Applicable skills: OCCULTISM, MEDITATION, REASONING, CHANTING or SINGING, DANCING or CALLIGRAPHY, WIT
Cosmic Breath required: 4
Bonus +3: Instantaneous
The spell produces five streamers of light from the sorcerer's focus (or hand), corresponding to the five colours of the elements. They may be used to cancel any other spell effect, of any (or no) elemental affinity. Alternatively they may be used offensively, detonating upon impact. The sorcerer may only specify one target, and the thunderbolts will aim for this target. Roll a die for each bolt: on a 1 or a 2 the bolt has struck its target. On a 3, 4, 5 or 6 the bolt has gone astray, detonating a number of feet from the target equal to the number rolled (the referee may have to decide whether this means the thunderbolt has detonated within three feet of anyone else). Anyone struck by a detonating thunderbolt suffers damage equal to the degree of success of the spell roll. Armour provides no protection.
Applicable skills: ELEMENTALISM, ASTROLOGY, ILLUSION, MEDITATION, CHANTING or SINGING, MUSIC, WILL
Cosmic Breath required: 1 per 10 yards of range. Additional Cosmic Breath must also be supplied in order to dispel magic.
An inevitable consequence of inflicting a curse is that the spirit must be empowered to act in the Mortal World. Thus in almost all cases, the sorcerer will be required to allow the spirit the use of some of his energy (depriving him of its use). This is risky, as the spirit must be persuaded to relinquish the energy at some stage.
The skill of OCCULTISM is necessary to inflict a curse. The sorcerer must also know the appropriate spirit. This requires a minimum of +1 FOLKLORE.
Curses may be resisted (usually unconsciously). The basic ease is 4, to which bonuses in MAGIC, ILLUSION, ELEMENTALISM, OCCULTISM and FOLKLORE should be added. Additional bonuses may be obtained by using talismans, charms, or obtaining blessings from priests.
The effect of a curse is to inflict bad joss on the victim. The power of the curse is the number of points of bad joss inflicted per week. For every point of power, the sorcerer will have to provide the spirit with the use of one point of his energy. He may not use this energy until he lifts the curse, and persuades the spirit to relinquish it.
Curses last until lifted, or until the death of the cursing sorcerer. Curses may be lifted by the sorcerer who inflicted them, or by dealing with the spirit inflicting them. They may also be released by the blessing of a divinity, which may be obtained in several ways (such as going on a pilgrimage to a Holy Mountain). The referee may use this latter possibility as a source of adventure ideas.
The second kind of talisman draws its Power and Meaning from the sorcerer who writes it. This kind of talisman employs Cloud Script, a special magical form of calligraphy using ideographs unreadable by all but those knowledgeable in the Talismanic arts.
Both kinds of talisman are, in principle, capable of being used by people with no knowledge of the magical arts.
The selection of talismans listed here are given a bonus, just like a spell bonus. This affects their chance of working successfully. This is only a selection, of course (mostly based on real talismans). The referee may allow players to suggest other talismans designed along the lines of these.
With a talisman, the roll to see if it works successfully is not made until the power of the talisman is actually tested. The chance of a talisman working is calculated as follows. The basic ease is 4, modified as follows:
The above roll must be made every time the power of the talisman is tested. Unless otherwise noted, talismans may continue to be used until the roll is failed. As soon as the roll is failed, the talisman has lost its power and is useless.
When bad joss is suffered, if it does not exceed half the degree of success of the talisman, then the amount suffered is reduced by one point. If the bad joss does exceed half the degree of success of the talisman, then the power of the talisman is broken.
Ritual: the talisman is placed on the recipient's family altar, and incense must be offered to it. If the talisman is removed from the family altar then its protection is lost.
While in mountainous territory, this talisman provides the wearer with the equivalent of a bonus to WILDERNESS LORE of the degree of success of the roll.
Ritual: an oblong plaque or paper strip, on which enlarged characters are written, must be worn prominently on the body.
Effective against human ghosts in non-corporeal form (including hungry ghosts, but not stiff corpses). Half the degree of success of the talisman is subtracted from any offensive action the ghost takes towards the person protected.
Ritual: for personal protection the talisman should be worn prominently on the body. Alternatively it may be affixed to the door of a room to provide protection for the room's occupants.
The user of this talisman may add half the degree of success to a PILLOW ARTS roll.
Ritual: the user of this talisman must spend a hour seated naked facing North, chanting. The talisman is then folded 8 times and inserted under the tongue. It must be kept there in order to maintain its effect.
The wearer will not be attacked by a tiger as long as he is wearing this amulet. The amulet does not bestow any ability to control the beasts, however.
Ritual: A 2" square amulet, carved from jujube pith, and worn on the chest.
Provides a bonus of 1 to any roll to resist the effects of poison.
Ritual: after burning incense for the spirits, the talisman should be folded up and swallowed.
Provides +1 NIGHT VISION and PERCEPTION for a number of minutes equal to the degree of success of the roll.
Ritual: the charm is burned, and the ashes smeared on the eyelids.
Half the degree of success of the talisman may be used to defend against argument, intimidation or other forms of spoken aggression. These may include the skills of INTIMIDATION, COMMERCE, DECEPTION and RHETORIC. The talisman doesn't help attack, it simply protects.
Ritual: formal bows should be made in four directions, and then the talisman ripped cleanly down the middle. Each half is then crumpled up and one inserted into each ear.
The degree of success of the roll should be subtracted from any fire damage suffered. This protection applies to magical fire as much as natural fire, but provides no protection against Dragon fire.
Ritual: The talisman is burned and the ashes swallowed by the person who requires protection.
Each talisman protects from Curses launched from the direction over which the spirit has control (up and down in the case of the Master of the Centre), and from Elemental sorcery with an affinity which is conquered by the affinity of the talisman. Thus, East conquers Earth, South conquers Metal, Centre conquers Water, West conquers Wood and North conquers Fire.
The degree of success of the talisman is added to the roll to resist a curse or spell.
Ritual: Each talisman must either be hung in a particular location, or burnt, wine and homage offered to the Master, and the talisman's ashes smeared on the body.
This talisman guards against illness. Half the degree of success of the talisman is subtracted from a roll to catch a disease. If used on someone who already has a disease, it adds 1 to their roll against the disease.
Ritual: the talisman is inscribed on paper or silk of various colours, burned, then the ashes eaten by the person requiring protection.
Half the degree of success of the talisman roll may be used as a bonus in a single influence attempt.
Ritual: once written, the talisman must be carefully rolled and held in the left (yang) hand throughout the influence attempt. If it is released at any point, or comes into contact with the right (yin) hand, the bonus is lost.
Any bandits who attempt to attack or steal from the user of this talisman will feel an uncomfortable prickling sensation. If they proceed in spite of the warning, they will acquire bad joss equal to the degree of success of the talisman.
Ritual: the talisman must be consecrated at the temple of the City God in the home town of the user, to whom incense must be offered. It should then be affixed to the user's goods or possessions.
This talisman may only be invoked once. It provides a bonus to a single roll of half the degree of success.
Ritual: the talisman is worn affixed to the belt. In order to be invoked, the wearer must touch it, and call on the spirit for aid.
The user of the Talisman may contact and converse with any spirit related to Earth. This includes demons and the inhabitants of Yen Lo's Underworld, but it excludes Immortals and deities dwelling in Heaven or one of the Paradises. The degree of success is the number of minutes of contact which are possible. Note that the power of the talisman is such that the spirits contacted may not refuse, and must answer.
Ritual: the talisman is a magic board, on which the user must place their hands while calling the name of the spirit.
Half the degree of success of the talisman roll may be added to the body recovery roll of a character suffering from bad or serious wounds.
Ritual: the talisman must be written while continously chanting the Yellow Emperor's healing charm. It is then applied directly to the injury, and tied in place with two red strings. It must be kept in place for a whole week to be effective; if it is dislodged no benefit is gained.
As it is worn, the talisman provides a bonus to energy of half the degree of success of the roll. If the talisman is damaged or removed, however, the bonus is immediately lost.
Ritual: The Invigorator is written on black paper in red ink. After bowing three times, the user must affix it firmly to his chest.
The degree of success of the talisman is used to resist any Buddhist magic. It will also provide a bonus of +1 to resist any magic cast by a Buddhist.
Ritual: the talisman is unusual in that it is inscribed on the forehead, using five different colours of ink. Unfortunately, the user may make use of no other talismans while bearing the Jade Emperor's Pledge, as this would cause the Jade Emperor to lose face.
This will render the user's skin resistant to wounds. Half the degree of success is the number of wounds which the talisman will protect against. When the user suffers wounds, cross them off the talisman's stock of wounds, not the user's. Note that the talisman protects against wounds only: it has no effect on shock damage. When the Red Spirit's stock of wounds is exhausted, the user will start to suffer damage as normal.
Ritual: the talisman must be written in red cinnabar on vertical strips of yellow paper. The user must introduce himself to the Red Spirit by name, bow three times to the West, then affix the talisman to his body.
The degree of success of the talisman is subtracted from the duration of a disease being suffered.
Ritual: the patient (or his representative) must approach an image of the Yellow Emperor, burn an offering of incense and bow formally four times. Then the writer of the talisman must recite a water incantation, a cinnabar incantation, an ink incantation, a brush incantation, a paper incantation, a writing incantation and an incantation for summoning the spirit connected to the disease. The talisman should then be written and placed on the altar. Three drops of water are sprinkled on it, and then the writer must spray a mouthful of water over the talisman. He should then click his teeth three times, bow formally, take the talisman, wrap it in white paper and give it to the patient. The patient may then use the talisman at any time, burning it before his family altar to send its message to the spirits.
The degree of success of the talisman is subtracted from the virulence of any poison already at work in the body.
Ritual: This talisman should be burned and the following incantation uttered: 'The Spirit of Uncleanness is already dissipated, exhausted in the three places to be guarded. The turbid torrent has been cleansed by the Golden Tower and the Illuminated Royal Apartments. Go high above to contact the Primordial Lord, the Twenty-four True Ones, all in the form of Divine Spirits, to ascend mysteriously from the darkness. Without delay, as the True Order commands.'
Spirits coming into contact with the Spirit Ward will suffer a loss of energy equal to the degree of success of the roll, each time they touch it. They will also be unable to approach the talisman directly closer than two yards (though they can come on it from the side).
The talisman may also be affixed to the head of a stiff corpse, in which case the corpse becomes subject to the will of the person who wrote the talisman.
Ritual: written on yellow paper with red ink, and including a picture of Zhong Kui the devil catcher. After writing the talisman, the sorcerer must bow to each of the four directions and to heaven. This is usually worn by a person or pasted to a door. It may be affixed to an unconscious person to protect them.
While using the travel magic talisman, a character may cover 200 miles a day. They gain a bonus of twice the talisman's degree of success to RUNNING and the degree of success to LEAPING. In combat, however, it causes a penalty of -3 to all manoeuvre rolls.
Ritual: the user must write the talisman, chant a short incantation, then affix the talisman to the user's legs (this may be done for somebody else). The user must eat no meat while using the travel magic.
Half the degree of success of the talisman is applied as an additional negative modifier to the attack roll of anyone who attacks the person named on the talisman. However a new roll must be made every time the power of the talisman is tested. Once the roll is failed, the power of the talisman is gone.
Ritual: This talisman is written on a 6" by 3" wooden plaque made of peachwood, using five colours. It is then placed on the gate or door of the user's house.
This talisman does not create a Portal to the Otherworld. Rather, it enables its user to locate a naturally occurring gateway. The best known gateway, leading directly to Yen Lo's Underworld, is known to exist somewhere in the West, perhaps not far from Chengdu. There are others to be found, especially in the mountains. Some of these are permanent, though most are temporary. The degree of success of the talisman provides the referee with a guide to how close and easy to find a gateway is. Most gateways are very well hidden, being behind waterfalls, in deep caverns, or thick forests.
Ritual: the talisman must be activated with an offering of incense, and rice wine should then be spilt on the ground to satisfy the Earth Spirits. The person holding the talisman will then start to hear voices, coming from a certain direction. The voices will become louder the nearer the talisman gets to the gateway.
Half the degree of success of the talisman is subtracted from the character's accumulated total of bad joss. This talisman may only be used once every 49 days.
Ritual: This talisman should be burned and the following incantation uttered: 'Spirit of the Divine Ruler of the Red Palace, Energy of burnt offerings, follow the light and fly to purify. Come to the cottage-wall of the Taoist so that weariness has no place in his mind. Under the peaceful morning sky the sweet dew sets quickly to form red jasper. Follow without delay the commands of the True Order.'
The victim of this talisman is held in place by unseen spirits. The effect lasts 6 seconds for each point of degree of success. The victim may attempt to resist the effect as if it were a normal spell. Note that there is no physical restraint placed on the victim, so they can be moved by others. Rather, the spirits prevent the victim's qi from flowing, so that they remain in the position they were in when first affected.
Ritual: the talisman must be clearly shown to the victim while the spirits are invoked. The victim doesn't need to be literate to suffer from its effects.
Producing such a talisman will normally require the casting of several spells in order to ensure that the talisman is provided with both power and meaning.
A Cloud Script talisman is written as follows.
All but the latter require the sorcerer to store a spell in the Talisman.
Yin Cosmic Breath is derived from a spirit inhabiting the Otherworld. The sorcerer should cast the spell of Spirit Sending, making a note of the degree of success, which will be used when the talisman is activated. He will also know the name of the spirit which supplies the Cosmic Breath. This spirit must be entreated in order to activate the talisman.
Yang Cosmic Breath is derived from the Dragon Veins. The sorcerer should cast the spell of Dragon Veins and make a note of the degree of success, which will be used when the talisman is activated. He must also specify a method by which the talisman is activated: for example affixing it to the forehead, burning it and eating the ashes etc.
Bound Cosmic Breath is stored in the talisman. The sorcerer must cast a spell of Binding.
At this point the sorcerer may add additional meaning, such as a Supervisory Servant spell to make the talisman self-activating.
Other talismans must be activated by the person using them, according to a ritual specified by the writer of the talisman. To a certain extent, the ritual will depend on the method employed to supply Cosmic Breath to the spell effect of the talisman.
Yin and Yang talismans are activated as described above, with an invocation of the spirit involved or the specified ritual. The basic ease of activating the talisman is 4, to which should be added the degree of success of the Meaning Component, the degree of success of the Power Component, and from which should be subtracted the number of points of Cosmic Breath required to cast the spell. A successful roll means that the spell has been cast with the specified amount of Cosmic Breath.
Talismans with Cosmic Breath bound within, and those which derive their power from the user, have an ease of activation of 5, plus the degree of success of the Meaning Component roll. A successful roll indicates that the spell has been cast. In the case of talismans which derive their power from the user, the Cosmic Breath is derived directly from the user's energy score (the points are lost to fatigue). Characters who find themselves being drained of energy in this way may make a roll to prevent the process: the ease is 4 plus bonuses in MAGIC, WILL and MEDITATION. Half the degree of success is subtracted from the energy supplied to the talisman's spell (note that this will reduce the effect of the spell, and may prevent it working altogether).
Most of these items are produced in the Otherworld, and possess supernatural powers. Some, it is true, are produced by mortal sorcerers, who manage to permanently attune an object in such a way that it acquires magical powers. Such skills are rare, though, and were mainly possessed by the Ancients.
Referees have a free reign to introduce magical items of any kind into the game, and can easily base their effects on those of spells or talismans. In very high-power games, they can even exceed such effects, as they are the product of beings of transcendent powers (Deities, Taoist Immortals and Buddhist Lohans).
Examples include flying swords which can be manipulated by their wielders at a distance, armour which provides the bearer with supernatural speed and protection, and bottle gourds containing a number of trapped spirits which can be induced to perform spells on request. Then there are Dragon Bones of five colours (Blue being the most useful) which can assist with healing, magic peaches and fungi which bestow longevity upon the person who consumes them. This sort of magical item rarely appears in the Water Margin story. In that, the Heavenly Books of Strategy given to Song Jiang by the Mystic Queen of the West are one of the few magical items. And, to be honest, although they are useful, in the end they prove to be inadequate to the task of defeating the sorcerer Gao Lian, and Gongsun Sheng has to do the job himself, with the spell The Five Heavenly Thunderbolts.
That's why there is no list of magic items in this edition of Outlaws of the Water Margin.