Glossary of Spells

Second Sight

Second sight isn’t a spell and doesn’t cost any Stamina, but it’s magic all the same. To use it, roll at the risk of failing to focus your inner eye. If successful, you become briefly able to perceive magical auras, as well as to see invisible creatures and spirits. This perception only lasts for as long as you concentrate, and fades if you’re distracted.

Spells of Binding

Bind things and people with mage-weight, arresting their movements or reinforcing them against harm. Such spells can only constrain; they cannot compel. The living tend to resist being bound.

Command a creature to remain in place; arrest the movement of an object; hold a portal so it cannot be opened; reinforce a mast so it withstands the storm; shield a friend from harm.

Spells of Changing

Work temporary physical transformations upon a living creature. Subtle alterations and manipulations are easiest; the greater the change, the more difficult the working. Total transformation is especially taxing and difficult - even more so if the subject is unwilling.

Grow gills for a time; change your hands into claws; harden your skin like stone; cleave someone’s tongue to the roof of their mouth; turn your enemy into a frog.

Spells of Conjuring

Summon things and powers forth from nothing. Light is easy to conjure, airy and immaterial as it is. Physical force is straightforward, but fine manipulation is hard. Even objects can be conjured, but they always crumble away sooner or later.

Conjuring can’t be used to summon forth energies such as flame and frost. That’s the domain of the elemental disciplines.

Produce witchlight; conjure fool’s gold for a time; blast open a locked door; shove or pull an enemy telekinetically; fire a bolt of pure force.

Spells of Curing

Heal injuries and cure maladies both mundane and magical. Curing spells are slower than most, usually taking a few minutes to cast rather than a few moments. You can speed them up, but it tends to be more taxing to do so. When it comes to healing wounds, a “moderate force” is equal to 1d6 Stamina. You cannot heal yourself.

Heal a wound; lift fatigue and weakness; purge a poison; cure an illness; break a curse.

Spells of Finding

Locate something or discern its nature. Finding is sympathetic magic, and works best when you have something that resonates with the thing you’re trying to find. Without the principle of sympathy, it tends to be limited to your immediate area.

Detect the presence of living creatures; intuit the distance and direction of an object’s owner; identify the properties of an item.

Spells of Flame

Invoke the powers of fire, or keep them at bay. These spells come more easily in hot environments, but are more taxing when it’s very cold.

Protect a creature from fire; summon flame from air; make a fire grow or shrink; turn a fire to billowing smoke; fire a bolt of crackling flame.

Spells of Frost

Invoke the powers of cold, or keep them at bay. These spells come more easily in cold environments, and are more taxing when it’s very warm.

Protect a creature from the cold; turn water into ice; animate the snow; drain the heat from a flame; fire a bolt of freezing fog.

Spells of Guidance

Seek guidance and wisdom from otherworldly beings, such as the spirits of the land or the deity you serve. The kind of information you can glean depends on the source of your guidance; they cannot tell you what they do not know, and will not tell you what they are not willing to disclose.

Ask whether an action will bring weal or woe; detect the presence of traps or poison; identify the properties of an item.

Spells of Influence

Affect the minds of living creatures, manipulating their perceptions or emotions. True mind control is difficult and very taxing; it’s usually easier and safer to stick to subtle nudges and suggestions.

Become more charming; intensify anger; suppress fear; erase memories; plant a suggestion; soothe a wild beast.

Spells of Lightning

Invoke the powers of electricity, or keep them at bay. These spells come more easily when you can see the sky; they are more taxing underground. Storms amplify the power of lightning magic significantly.

Protect a creature from electricity; provide power to an alchemical contraption; fire a bolt of lightning.

Spells of Remembrance

Manipulate uncertainty, altering the past to narrate a “flashback” that impacts your current situation. Flashbacks can only fill in plausible details that haven’t already been established. You can’t use a flashback to contradict the established fiction, or to undo something that has already happened. The more unlikely and elaborate the flashback, the more taxing the spell will be to cast.

Remember to purchase an extra flask of oil; consult with a scholar about the weaknesses of a monster; convince a servant to lend you a key for the night.

Spells of Seeming

Create figments and illusions that trick the eye and befuddle the senses. These illusions don’t affect the mind and cannot cause harm, though creatures who believe in them will usually react as if they were real. They tend to last for as long as the wizard concentrates.

Create a convincing visible and audible illusion; change your features; blur a creature’s form; create illusory doubles; turn something or someone invisible.

Spells of Water

Invoke the powers of the water. These spells come more easily in the water or under it, and are more taxing when it’s very dry.

Allow a creature to breathe underwater; walk on the surface of water; purify water; produce water from nothing; animate or manipulate the water.

Spells of Wind

Invoke the powers of the wind. These spells come more easily outside, and are more taxing inside or underground. Wind magic can be used to levitate yourself or fly, but it’s very tiring and all but impossible if you’re armoured or overburdened.

Fall like a feather; call a small item to your hand; create a veil of wind to turn aside arrows; summon breathable air; knock a foe down with a gust of wind; levitate or fly briefly.