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| Spell Side Effect Table
Roll D10 and add to the Spell's Power Level. Roll Total Result 4 or less Phew! Lucked out, and the spell still works. 5-7 The spell is delayed. It appears the spell failed, but it will work normally at a time of your choosing (ideally, a dramatically appropriate time). 8-10 The spell works, but it’s less effective than expected. The duration, damage or effect is halved (if not applicable, then the spell is delayed as above). 11-13 The spell works, but the caster is damaged by its energies. The magician takes five Life Points of damage per Power Level of the spell. 14-15 The spell affects the wrong target (you decide who gets to be the lucky recipient). 16+ Spell has a completely unexpected effect. The magical energies run rampant, often causing physical damage to the area or summoning dangerous entities from beyond our reality. This can also happen if the spell is disrupted during a critical point. If the roll results in Success Levels equal to or greater than the spell’s Power Level, all’s well and the spell works. Unless, of course, the spell takes an unexpected turn no matter how many Success Levels were rolled. In some cases, a spell might work too well. But no good and true Director would do something like that, now would they? Multiple Casting Every successive spell cast without a significant period of rest (at least two hours per spell Power Level) suffers at least a cumulative -2 penalty. So, the second spell of the day is at -2, the third at -4, and so on. Only powerful Witches can cast multiple spells in a row, and even then they’ll probably have to burn some Drama Points to keep it up. Even worse, using the same spell more than once adds an additional -1 to the penalties above. Example: Suzi, a White Hat Witch, attempts a relatively simple warding ritual to protect a young girl from the forces of darkness after her. The Ward has a Power Level of 3, which with Suzi’s Base Spell Modifier (Willpower 4 plus Occultism 3 plus Sorcery 3 equals 10) should be a cakewalk. Unfortunately, Suzi has already cast two spells in helping free the girl from the Big Bad’s clutches, so she’s at -4 for this third spell of the evening. So instead of cake, we have very difficult pie. She needs to match the Power Level in Success Levels, which means a final score of 13 or better. She rolls a five, for a total of 11. Good enough for something to happen, but not necessarily what she was intending. You roll a 12 and compare that result to the Spell Side Effect Table. For a spell with Power Level 3, this means the Ward takes effect, but the energies also rebound on Suzi, causing 15 points of damage. Ouch! Dispelling Some spells have continuing effects (curses, for example) or may even be permanent (some transformation spells). Cancelling their effects requires access to the spell itself (ideally taking it directly from the magician's own books) and a spellcasting roll as above with the effective Power Level of the spell reduced by one (it’s easier to undo a spell and return nature to its natural state). There is another way to stop an ongoing magic effect — find the caster of the spell and get her to stop the spell, say by cutting off her head or turning her into a sports trophy. Either way, continuing spells stop working, but permanent ones may not. For this reason, and others, wholesale slaughter is discouraged. Quick Casting Most spells require the caster to recite a formula or incantation out loud, or perform some type of ritual. All that hooha takes time. Witches can cast some spells almost instantly, with only a single word or phrase, or even just a simple gesture. This won’t work on spells that require a very specific ritual and cannot be speeded up, but some can be cast in a few seconds (as an action in a Turn). Whether a spell can be quick cast or not is detailed in that spell’s description. Telekinesis Witches can move objects with the force of their will. To use this power, the Witch rolls and adds her Willpower and Sorcery levels. Each Success Level in the roll becomes a point of "Strength" for the telekinetic effect. So, if the roll results in five Success Levels, the Witch could move an object as if she had a Strength 5 — good enough to pick up a grown man and slam him against a wall. Lifting and tossing things around requires no additional rolls, but precise tasks (guiding a key into a keyhole, staking a vamp) require a Perception and Dexterity roll, or a roll using Dexterity and an appropriate Skill (staking the vamp would use Getting Medieval). These tasks have a -1 penalty because the Witch is manipulating the object at a distance. Tossing small objects at someone also requires a Willpower and Sorcery roll, and must overcome the target’s defense roll. The damage value of such an attack is two times the Success Levels rolled. |