The Encrypter

An Introduction

This is my adaptation of the Encrypters from the PSX title Kartia for use as an EarthDawn discipline.

 

Encrypters developed in places where astral space is so thoroughly corrupted that even the precautions of spell matrices were not enough to protect the spellcaster from the taint of the Horrors. Encrypters can be found in places such as Lasael and Jerris, where the astral taint is so severe it effects the physical plane.

 

On Encryption

Encrypters use a method of magic that uses runes and sigils, called "texts", to cast magic rather than astral threads. The Encrypter uses his thread weaving talent to carve the symbols onto card mediums they create called "kartia." Once the kartia have symbols carved onto them, they become charged with magical power. The Encrypter combines there charged kartia to create a spell-like effect. Because their magic and spellcasting is based solely in the physical plane, they almost never take spells that affect astral space or have an astral effect and rarely acquire talents that have some relation to the astral plane.

 

An Encrypter does not learn spells as a traditional spellcaster does either. The Encrypter learns spells by discovering or learning new combinations of texts. Text combinations are similar to spell formulas, although not as complex. There are some texts that do not mix well with others, and some text that mix with almost everything. There are literally millions of possible text combinations; it is up to the Encrypter to either discover or learn these combinations from older and wiser of his kind.

 

On the Nature of Encrypters

Another unique characteristic of the Encrypters is their affinity for the physical plane and its potential for raw magic. Encrypters have an uncanny grasp of tangible things. Their magical capabilities in this area are so great that more advanced Encrypters can animate objects and even create things from thin air. The downside to this affinity is their lack of perception regarding astral phenomena. Encrypters never learn spells that deal with spirits, astral space and threads, or otherworldly travel. Their physical spells, on the other hand, can become extremely potent. A high circle Encrypter can be more deadly than a Warrior or Swordmaster of the same circle.

 

This mastery of physical things through magic allows Encrypters to learn the art of animating "dolls" - small golems that follow the Encrypter's commands. Most dolls are made of clay, but more advanced Adepts of this discipline often make them out of harder things such as stone, crystal, even metals. Encrypters can use their encryption abilities to endow their dolls with special powers as well, making them effective guardians and formidable opponents in battle.

 

On Kartia

The Encrypter's bread and butter are his kartia. An Encrypter never leaves the house without some. They look similar to a deck of playing cards when viewed from a distance. A closer inspection will reveal a deck of finely crafted scrolls that have been stiffened to aid in encryption and in throwing. The kartia give the Encrypter the advantage of being able to weave spell threads in physical space, but the Encrypter only has so many. When kartia are used, they are burned up in a burst of magical energy. The Encrypter sometimes spends hours and even days just crafting kartia.

 

Kartia come in four kinds: Silk, Mithril, World Tree, and Orichalcum. Silk is the easiest to make and the most often used. All of the basic texts are written on Silk kartia. Mithril (silver) is a bit less common than Silk, but still common nonetheless. Most of the intermediate texts are written on Mithril kartia. World Tree kartia is carved from living wood, and all of the advanced texts are written on it. Wood Tree is difficult to obtain because the wood must be free of imperfections and the kartia must be crafted while the wood is still fresh. Despite its difficulties, World Tree kartia and texts are well worth the effort. The rarest of the rare is the Orichalcum kartia. Only truly powerful and legendary texts are written on Orichalcum kartia. Obtaining both the kartia and the text for this type should be an adventure or two within itself.

 

In Summation

All in all, the Encrypter is a combat mage. Their reason for existence is to survive in a world brimming with Horrors and corruption. Their drawbacks and advantages can make for an interesting, if not difficult, roleplaying experience. Gamemasters and players should feel free to alter this discipline as they see fit for their individual campaigns.

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The Encrypter

Important attributes: Perception and Willpower

Racial restrictions: Windling

Karma Ritual: The Encrypter carefully and writes out the Litany of Runes, or at least all of the runes that he knows or is aware of. After reviewing the meaning of all of the symbols, the ritual is over. If carefully and solemnly done, this should take a half an hour to an hour to complete, depending on how many runes the character knows.

Artisan Skills: Runic Carving, Calligraphy

FIRST CIRCLE
Talents
Craft Kartia (D) *
Karma Ritual
Read/Write Language
Read/Write Magic (D)
Spellcasting (D)
Thread weaving (Encryption) (D)

SECOND CIRCLE
Talents
Durability (4/3)
Item History
Steel Thought

THIRD CIRCLE
Talents
Book Memory (D)
Book Recall (D)

FOURTH CIRCLE
Rune Translation: This ability allows the Encrypter to translate magical or theoretical text and formulas into existing runes using his Read/Write Magic talent or half-magic. The difficulty and correct translation are the Gamemaster's discretion. Things such as the exact magical formula for a spell the Encrypter has seen before should be fairly easy, say a 5 or 7 for the target number. More complex or vague things such as a magical theory the Encrypter heard in a conversation should be more difficult, perhaps between 11 and 14, depending on the character's understanding of the material.
Talents
Arcane Mutterings
Lip Reading

FIFTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: +1 to the Encrypter's Spell Defense
Talents
Throwing Weapons (D)
Willforce

SIXTH CIRCLE
Physical Defense: +1 to the Encrypter's Physical Defense
Talents
Animate Doll (D) *
Charge Kartia

SEVENTH CIRCLE
Karma: The Encrypter may spend a karma point on any test involving Perception only.
Talents
Hold Thread
Lifesight (D)

EIGHTH CIRCLE
Spell Defense: +1 to the Encrypter's Spell Defense
Talents
Hypnotize
True Sight (D)

NINTH CIRCLE
Initiative: +2 to the Encrypter's Initiative Step
Talents
Arc Kartia *
Memorize Image
Range Pattern

TENTH CIRCLE
Karma: The Encrypter may spend a karma point on any test involving Willpower only.
Talents
Called Shot
Life Check

ELEVENTH CIRCLE
Karma: Raise the character's maximum karma by 25.
Talents
Casting Pattern
Shield Beater

TWELFTH CIRCLE
Physical Defense: +1 to the Encrypter's Physical Defense
Spell Defense: +1 to the Encrypter's Spell Defense
Talents
Create Kartia *
Wound Transfer

THIRTEENTH CIRCLE
Animate Intelligent: By spending 3 permanent points of damage, the Encrypter can perform a blood magic ritual that will endow an animated doll with sentient intelligence. The doll will take on the characteristics of a Name-Giver. It has a life expectancy equal to the character's rank in Animate Doll x2. While the doll's physical characteristics are determined by the Animate Doll test, the doll's new personality, including its sense of morality, sanity, and reality, is completely up to the Gamemaster. The GM may want to base its personality somewhat off of the texts that were used to create it.
Talents
Create Mundane Object *
Summon *(see comments below)

FOURTEENTH CIRCLE
Karma: Raise the Encrypter's Karma Step by 1.
Talents
Advanced Animation (D)
Multi-Throw *(Multi-Shot for Throwing Weapons)

FIFTEENTH CIRCLE
Unfaltering Will: For 2 permanent points of damage, the character can permanently increase his Willpower attribute by three steps.
Talents
Critical Hit
Effect Pattern (D)

*Indicates a new talent, described below.

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New or Modified Talents:

Advanced Animation

Step Number: Rank + Willpower Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: 2
Discipline Talent: Encrypter

This talent works the same as Animate Doll, except it allows the Encrypter to craft and animate golems. Golems are identical to dolls, except they are made of more difficult mediums such as stone and metal. The times for crafting such materials is considerably longer, taking anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the medium and how difficult it is to craft it. The Gamemaster should alter the golem's statistics as he or she sees fit. As a guide, alter the attributes based on the medium. For example, if the character animates a stone golem, it should have a higher armor and toughness rating than a doll. Note that Animate Intelligent cannot be used with this talent.

Animate Doll

Step Number: Rank + Willpower Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: 2
Discipline Talent: Encrypter

Using this talent, the Encrypter uses magic to animate sculpted clay figures called "dolls," which are created using the Craft Kartia talent. Dolls that are animated with this talent have no active intelligence or free will. They do, however, fully understand the Encrypter and will follow his commands to the letter. They will follow whatever command was last given them until they are told to stop or do otherwise. The dolls cannot understand anyone but the Encrypter.

To use this talent, the Encrypter must use three kartia, making a Thread Weaving test for each kartia used. The difficulty for these tests is the spell defense of the unanimated doll. If the three tests are successful, the Encrypter then makes an Animate Doll test to give the doll its attributes. The result of the Animate Doll test is divided equally amongst the doll's Dexterity, Toughness, and Strength steps. The Encrypter can also use certain runes to try and weight the outcome of the doll's attributes, such as using a Stone rune to give the doll a higher Toughness or using a Wind rune to give it a higher Dexterity. The Gamemaster will decide if any of the rune combinations result in a modified attribute step for the doll.

The Encrypter can only have as many dolls animated as his rank in Animate Doll at any one time.

Animated Doll

DEX: *	STR: *	TOU: *
PER: 7	WIL: 7	CHA: 6

Initiative: Dexterity Step	Physical Defense: As per Dexterity
Number of Attacks: 1	Spell Defense: 9
Attack: Dexterity Step	Social Defense: 8
Damage: Strength + 3 steps, or by weapon	Armor: 4
Number of Spells: NA	Mystic Armor: 5
Spellcasting: NA	Knockdown: Strength Step
Effect: NA	Recovery Tests: 1
Death Rating: As per Toughness	Combat Movement: As per Dexterity
Wound Threshold: As per Toughness	Full Movement: As per Dexterity
Unconsciousness Rating: As per Toughness
Legend Points: NA
Equipment: NA

Arc Kartia

Step Number: Rank + Dexterity Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: Yes
Karma: No	Strain: 1
Discipline Talent: None

The Encrypter uses this talent to arc thrown kartia around obstacles such as walls, trees, and other things that might protect a target from a ranged attack. To use this talent, the character must have seen the target in the previous round AND have won initiative in the current round. The character then uses his Arc Kartia talent instead of his Throwing Weapons talent for the attack. As long as the target is in the same spot the Encrypter assumes he is, a successful attack will hit as normal.

Charge Kartia

Step Number: Rank + Willpower Step
Action: No	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: 1
Discipline Talent: None

Encrypters use this talent to imbue their thrown kartia with raw magical energy. By spending a strain point, the character can charge one kartia being thrown that round. The character uses his Charge Kartia step number for damage instead of the normal damage step given for a thrown kartia.

If the Encrypter uses Multi-Throw, he may charge some or all of the kartia thrown, as long as 1 strain point is spent on each kartia charged. Note that this strain can result in a Wound.

Craft Kartia

Step Number: Rank + Perception Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: Yes
Karma: No	Strain: None
Discipline Talent: Encrypter

The Encrypter uses this talent to create kartia and carve dolls from materials he gathers. To craft the kartia, the Encrypter must gather the appropriate materials needed to make as many kartia as the player wants. Four ounces of material is required to make a single kartia of any type. The player then makes Craft Kartia test to shape the materials into cards. The difficulties for crafting kartia are as follows:

Silk: 5
Mithril: 8
World Tree: 11
Orichalcum: 14
Multiple kartia: add +1 to difficulty for each additional kartia added

The test takes about 15 minutes for each kartia desired. If the test is successful, the kartia are crafted and are fully useable. If the test fails, the materials are not crafted and the time is wasted. If the player results in all 1's, the material for the kartia is ruined and can never be used to craft a kartia.

To craft a doll, the character must gather up enough clay to sculpt a 4-5 foot tall humanoid figure (yes, that's a lot of clay). The character spends about 40 hours during a week carving the clay into the desired shape. The player makes one Craft Kartia test for the entire time spent against a difficulty of 9. If the test is successful, the clay will hold and the character can make an Animate Doll test at any time to animate the doll. If the test fails, the clay does not hold and the time is wasted. If the test results in all 1's, the clay is ruined and can never be used to sculpt a doll.

If the character wishes to make a more intricate design for the doll (perhaps a tiger or a larger humanoid), the Gamemaster can arbitrate a higher difficulty number for the talent test. The doll's final appearance will not change its attributes or abilities in any way.

Create Kartia

Step Number: Rank + Willpower Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: 2
Discipline Talent: None

An Encrypter with this talent no longer has to gather and craft the material needed to make a kartia. He can now simply manifest kartia through force of will. The difficulties to create the Kartia are as follows:

Silk: 7
Mithril: 11
World Tree: 15
Orichalcum: cannot be created. Must be crafted.
Multiple kartia: add +2 to difficulty for each additional kartia added Creating kartia takes about 1 hour.

Create Mundane Object

Step Number: Rank + Willpower Step
Action: Yes	Skill Use: No
Karma: No	Strain: 2
Discipline Talent: None

This talent allows the Encrypter to create an amount of any inanimate material. The material can be anything common the player imagines: food, wood, liquors, cotton, etc. The material must be one material only. For instance, the player could create some wine but could not create the glass for it in the same test. The character must have handled the material before for the talent to work. The more rare and expensive the material, the higher the difficulty will be. Here are some examples:

Cotton, rope, rice: 4
Silk, twine, spice: 7
Raw silver: 10
Raw gold: 15

Magical materials such as orichalcum and true elements cannot be created.
The character can create as many ounces of material as his rank in Create Mundane Object x2.

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Encrypter Rules

When the Encrypter chooses his starting spells, he is considered to have learned all of the texts required to cast the chosen spells.

The Encrypter texts are divided into the same categories that the kartia are: Silk, Mithril, World Tree, and Orichalcum. The category of the text determines which kind of kartia it can be encrypted onto. Silk texts are encrypted onto Silk kartia, Mithril texts onto Mithril kartia, and so on. Texts of one type cannot be encrypted onto a kartia of a different type, i.e. Silk cannot be encrypted onto Mithril and so on.

**A note on the talent Summon: Summon works a bit differently for Encrypters. Instead of weaving a thread to the spirit, the Encrypter encrypts the spirit's name onto a kartia. The encryption acts as a beacon for the spirit to follow. Encrypters summon elemental spirits in manifest form only.

‡ A note on the talent Throwing Weapons: Encrypters can used blank kartia as throwing weapons. Blank kartia have the following damage steps:
Silk: 1
Mithril: 3
World Tree: 5
Orichalcum: 7

Some Notes on Encrypter Spell Magic

When texts are encrypted and the kartia are used to cast a spell, the magical force of the spell consumes the kartia. This effect limits the amount of spell slinging an Encrypter can do. Also, only one text can be encrypted onto a single kartia. Therefore a spell consumes as many kartia as the number of texts required by the spell. Kartia are still consumed if the Encrypter fails his Spellcasting test.

An Encrypter character does not use Throwing Weapons to target someone with a spell. Spellcasting is done as it would be for any other spellcasting discipline. Throwing Weapons is used as a purely physical attack form. Thrown kartia have no texts encrypted onto them.

A note on the talent Thread Weaving (Encryption): In the Encrypter spell list, each spell is listed with a text combination needed to cast that spell. All spells require at least 2 texts to cast the spell, even if the spell has no threads. Otherwise, a spell will have a number of texts equal to one plus the number of threads the spell requires. For example, a 2-thread spell will have 3 texts. The number of texts a spell requires has no impact on the number of threads the spell has or how long it will take to cast the spell. For game mechanics, the extra text is considered to be encrypted right before the spell is cast (during the same round).

Encrypter Spell Design

In the realm of Spell Design, Encrypters have an advantage over other spellcasters. Instead of writing complex formulas, Encrypters have a "trial-and-error" style of spell design. When an Encrypter thinks that he has certain texts that can be used together to create a spell effect, he spends time encrypting the texts onto kartia and watching the result. Sometimes the magic just fizzles, and sometimes a spell is discovered. All Encrypters can use this method starting at First Circle.

To attempt discovering a spell effect from a text combination, the player should approach the gamemaster with the intention of discovering a new spell. The player then tells the GM what texts he is going to attempt to mix and what manner of effect he is hoping for. The GM should then consult the Encrypter spell list to see if the combination already exists. If it does, then the player has a chance of discovering the spell. If the combination does not exist, the GM should allow the player to try anyway. The player's time will be spent discovering that there is no spell with the desired combination.

To attempt a discovery, an Encrypter should make a Thread Weaving test against the Reattuning difficulty of the spell. (The GM should not reveal this target number, since the Encrypter does not know the spell or may even be making a futile attempt to discover a spell that does not exist.) The Encrypter must make a number of Thread Weaving tests equal to the number of threads the spell requires, with a minimum of 1. Each Thread Weaving test requires 1 day of study. If a Thread Weaving test fails, the day is wasted and the Encrypter must start over. If all necessary Thread Weaving tests are successful, the Encrypter can then make a Spellcasting test against a difficulty equal to the spell's circle x2. If all tests are successful (and there actually is a spell to discover), the Encrypter learns the spell and can add it to his Grimoire. Whether or not the test was successful, the Encrypter must still expend a number of kartia equal to the number of Thread Weaving tests he made attempting to discover a spell.

Note that Encrypters can still learn the spell design talent knack and create their own spells. This "trial-and-error" method is simply for discovering spells that already exist.

Necessary Encrypter Files

Encrypter Spell List

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