Shift in the Magics and You

Good day, my fellow adventurers.

As some of you may know, one of the efforts to which I have devoted my attention for the past four and a half years is the study of magic in the Realms, as the raw power that is readily accessible here is out of reach in the lands of my people to the far West.

We have reached the time of year that I have come to call the Vernal Flux, as the shift in magics tends to occur around the time of the Equinox. Many of us have felt the changes begin to take effect, so I have been performing magical experiments with a significant amount of help from Apprentice Ezra Chandler’s prowess as a Seer. I believe we have worked out what sorts of power we can expect to have at our fingertips in the coming days as the magic of the Realms settles down until next year. A summary of our findings is transcribed below, I hope that it will prove useful to you as you prepare to adjust your magical repertoires.

Sincerely,
Squire Wisakatchekwa Redwing of Clan Rua Thar Cinn

With the Vernal Flux of 1015 the Realms will experience a large surge of magical potential similar to that of 1013, enabling those who are capable of harnessing the energy to rapidly re-attune their magics to that of a different nature if desired, but it appears that an individual may safely do so only once between now and the Flux of 1016. An interesting phenomenon to be anticipated is that some of this surge will not dissipate entirely, and should linger throughout the year. This will allow spellcasters to acquire control over new types of magic more quickly than was previously possible. While the most magic a person can manage to control at any one time still seems to be eighteen spells, the ambient magical potential will allow any given spellcaster to learn as much magic as he or she is capable of at any time.

WARNING: To prevent likely disaster from improper control and understanding of new magic, I must recommend that any person learning more than one spell in a short period of time garners additional supervision of their ability to manage the accompanying power safely. Specifically, no spellcaster should teach another spellcaster more than one spell in quick succession, and each additional spell that a person learns in a shortened timespan should be overseen by an extra knowledgeable party who can verify the safe use of the magic in question. (For example, if I attend Feast of Chimeron intending to learn 3 new spells, I should expect to find one person to teach me the first, two spellcasters to teach me the second, and three to teach me the third, resulting in six individuals helping me to acclimate to the additional magical potential that I would be attempting to control.)

In addition to the aforementioned surge, it appears that individuals who maintain their competence of six or fewer spells should be able to tap that amount of magical potential with less effort, and I expect this change will allow them to arm themselves as a light skirmisher without losing control of their tether to the Realms magical potential.

There will be very large changes in the magics that are protective in nature, and the spells are re-attuning to different magical natures.  The strength of several protective spells is waning, in particular those that offer protection from melee weapons and magic. They will soon be inaccessible through the normal use of magic. It seems that the magic that we use to defend against a boulder impact, or blows of similar strength, will be easier to access and will not be attuned with a particular magical nature. The magical methods of defending from magic missiles and mundane weapons have merged, and are becoming attuned with arcane magic (sorcery). Regenerative magic to restore oneself from scalping is attuning with natural (shaman) magic, which makes sense given the natural nature of regenerating from death. The magic that once allowed protective specialists to defy any damaging assault is also attuning to a Shamanic specialization, and should be available to those of that inclination who do not Transform.

Abjurers will gain access to a new form of magic that will nullify enhanced attacks (magical, silvered, diseased, electrical, poisonous, or armor piercing) and reduce them to inflicting normal mundane damage upon the spellcaster. This intriguing spell can be cast on oneself indefinitely, and it may also be cast multiple times simultaneously if the spellcaster dedicates an appropriate amount of power to it. This allows for nullification of successive attacks without needing to re-cast in between.

In addition to this new nullifying spell, specialized Abjurers who cast rituals designed to banish extra-planar entities can now use the spell to weaken a powerful entity when it is on its home plane. This change is one that I am least certain about, but it strikes me as a more powerful enfeebling spell when cast in this way.

There has been a slight change in magic used to detect and identify magical items. In particular, while a spell to identify magical objects could be cast on a living being to determine the whereabouts of possible items of interest, this will now result in spell failure. Instead, using a spell to detect magic on a being (living or dead) will indicate one magical item in its possession. If performed repeatedly on the same being, it will detect a different magical item with each casting unless all detectable items have already been revealed.

It seems that the effects of spell disruption are changing a small amount this year, as a circle spell is merely suspended for five minutes when it is the target of a successful disruption. If, upon resuming, the circle can no longer satisfy the requirements of the spell (uncrossed rope, weapons in a Circle of Healing, etc.) the spell will be ended as normal. As before, a spellcaster whose circle or chanting spell is disrupted in this way will be unable to cast the spell again for that same five minute duration, unless he or she has learned how to cast the spell twice.

On the subject of circle spells, Circle of Protection spells are no longer strong enough to achieve a circumference of thirty feet. Unless enhanced by the use of other magic, a Circle of Protection will at best be able to empower a circle formed by ten feet of rope. A Circle of Protection can only be broken by physically uncrossing the ends, either by the spellcaster who powered it, one of the spellcasters who powered a group Circle of Protection, or an individual who is not enchanted.

Specialized healers who are able to use Seed of Life will be able to halve the time it takes to heal their target by maintaining contact with the target using both hands and chanting the incantation for the spell for a full 60 seconds. When you consider the time involved to cast a slow Raise Dead spell in a questing environment (removing weapons, moving the body at least ten feet from weapons, and a thirty word incantation), Seed of Life will now be a comparable alternative for those who are willing to maintain the focus of chanting and who can forgo the use of both hands for that time. In cases where the healer’s chant is interrupted or removes one or both hands from the target before sixty seconds have passed, the more powerful healing will end and the target will fully regenerate after the typical two minutes have passed.

Sorcerers have two adjustments to look forward to, in addition to the change with missile and magic missile protection. First, when a sorcerer with a familiar uses a magical implement to enhance the abilities bestowed upon the sorcerer by the familiar, those abilities may be entirely distinct and different from those granted normally without the implement’s presence. If the familiar is using this augmented set of abilities and the implement is not in the sorcerer’s possession, the familiar will no longer be able to grant the according abilities until the implement is restored. The other change will effect sorcerers who are advanced enough to channel and “throw” lightning, though it seems to be purely cosmetic in nature. Ezra has seen that in the near future, such lightning will still carry the primarily white light one would expect, but that the arcs of individual spellcasters may be tinted with various colors. I can only assume that this is some result of changes in the properties of the lightning as it interacts with each sorcerer’s particular magical and chemical properties.

Finally, there is a bit of upheaval in the necromantic magic of the Realms. I am not sure what the cause is, but I will say that I am concerned it may lead to an increase of practitioners. Previously, attempts to create a lesser undead could be thwarted by the simple strength inherently possessed by adventurers, but that is no longer the case. Those who are turned into lesser undead will lose access to spells and armor will be rendered useless, but lesser undead spellcasters will still be unable to use weapons they would be unable to use in life. Greater undead will have access to their original spellcasters’ spells and can properly use armor. In both cases, undead who are left unattended will attempt to locate their controlling necromancer, or die trying. Previously, unattended undead would simply wander off and die. Given many necromancers’ ability to regenerate to undeath, this means that their horde may be able to buy enough time for them to fully regenerate. The most concerning development, however, is the change in a necromancer’s ability to create a greater undead minion to do their bidding. Now, such a minion is able to create and marshal undead forces of their own, while still retaining all spells and abilities that would have been possessed in life. Each of these new undead will have the strength to maintain a following of up to three lesser undead indefinitely, in addition to their natural abilities. This abomination, given its capabilities, could be considered an undead General, as it has lesser undead forces reporting to it. I must strongly recommend that adventurers protect their souls from necromantic magic, and those of their non-magical compatriots until we can determine exactly how much of an impact these increases in necromantic power will have on the Realms. The one upside that I am aware of is that these undead Generals will be particularly vulnerable to magical attacks, such that any damaging magical blow to an undead General will be instantly fatal, regardless of where the blow was dealt. This being the case, weapon enchantments and the Masterwork Hammers of blacksmiths should be carefully proliferated through adventuring parties in the future.

OOC:
Here is a quick and dirty version of the spell system changes for this year, to compliment the IC version above!
-Pat

• Grandfathering: This year (as was the case two years ago), any character who was played at an event before March 1st will be able to create a legal spell build with up to 18 spells to match the current Omnibus. This build and the player’s spellbook must be checked and signed by the Event Holder or a designated Magic Marshal at the first event that character is played at in the 2015 season. Spells learned in this way may be added to the spellcaster’s “Spell Mastery” section, in addition to the legal spells they previously knew.
• A character can now learn multiple spells per event. This can be accomplished by obtaining the signature of a teacher or Magic Marshal verifying complete understanding of the first new spell, two different signatures for the second new spell, three for the third, etc. If a character knows a spell or has a spell in their spell mastery, they may count as one signature for that spell. A teacher or Magic Marshal may only provide the signature for a single spell per player per event. (This means that a fighter with no spells can become a full 3-path caster in a single event with a measly 171 different signatures, though all of those signatures but two must come from a character who has the relevant spell in their spellbook and can legally cast that spell at the event. The other two signatures can come from the learning caster using Spell Mastery and the Magic Marshal, one apiece.)
• The signature requirement resets at each new event, so that the first spell learned at each event only requires one signature.
• 1-Path spellcasters may use light (1-point sectional) armor at no cost.
• Protection from Boulder
• Moved to the 1st-Circle Pool of spells
• Still protects equipment carried by the protected individual
• Protection from Magic Missile
• Removed from the Abjury path, is now Protection from Missile in 2nd-Circle Sorcerer, and will protect against arrows, javelins, and Magic Missiles.
• Aura of Protection
• Added to fill the gap in 2nd-Circle Abjurer
• Makes damage from a single attack of Magic, Silver, Disease, Armor Piercing, Lightning Bolt, or Poison deal damage as though the attack was a normal sword blow.
• Unlimited uses, 1 at a time per casting (effect is stackable if the spell is learned multiple times).
• Protection from Melee Weapon, Protection from Missile Weapon, and Protection from Magic
• Removed from the Protection path.
• Protection from Magic was also removed from Familiar.
• Regenerate the Scalp
• Now a 6th-Circle spell option in the Shaman path
• Removed from Protection path.
• Resist Death
• Now a 7th-Circle spell option in the Shaman path.
• Active component is to kneel or lie on back, with no weapons in hand.
• Resist Death does not prevent damage to the spellcaster’s equipment.
• So, yeah. Protection isn’t a path anymore.

• Zombies are now Lesser Undead
• Create Lesser Undead will work on any PC but can be refused by NPCs. A casting is not spent if refused by an NPC.
• Lesser Undead created via the spell system must have a sash or tabard clearly labeling the target as Lesser Undead, or a mask that makes it obvious.
• Lesser Undead left unattended will attempt to find the spellcaster that created it.
• A Lesser Undead is unable to use spells or armor, but must adhere to their weapon restriction if applicable.
• Undead are simply Undead
• Undead may use spells and armor as would normally be possible while alive.
• Create Undead may still be used on PCs or NPCs.
• Create Undead Minion is no more, but instead we have Create Undead General.
• A spellcaster may only have one Undead General at a time.
• Undead Generals may cast Create Lesser Undead as an unlimited effect, but may only control 3 Lesser Undead at a time (and must be given the 3 material components by their creating spellcaster). The General must retrieve the material component for the spell from a previous target to cast the spell if all 3 material components have been used.
• Undead Generals have access to all their regular spells and armor, and must adhere to their weapon restriction if applicable.
• Undead Generals will die if damaged by a magical blow, regardless of hit location.
• All Lesser Undead, Undead, and Undead Generals must act in the best interests of the spellcaster that created them. All forms of Undead are not immune to Poison, and can be created if the target body is Diseased, but this does not heal the target of Disease.
• Disrupted spells are now suspended, and will resume after 5 minutes if they continue to satisfy the requirements of the spell.
• Ritual of Banishment
• Can weaken creatures on their home plane since they can’t be Banished
• Familiar
• Must have a defined alternate build listed in the spellcaster’s spellbook adding up to 6 points if the spellcaster uses Implement to augment the Familiar’s abilities.
• The Familiar’s abilities are suspended if the spellcaster is using this alternate build but is not in possession of the Implement.
• This alternate build can only be changed by learning or unlearning Familiar.
• Circle of Protection
• Changed from up to 30 feet of rope to up to 10 feet of rope.
• Is only broken when the ends of the rope are uncrossed.
• When cast as a group Circle of Protection, the entire circle may now also be broken by one of the contributing spellcasters.
• Identify
• No longer works on a living body.
• Detect Magic
• Will detect magic items in the possession of a living or dead body.
• When used in this way repeatedly, will not re-identify a magic item until all distinct magic items have been detected.
• Seed of Life
• Only requires 60 seconds if the spellcaster continues the verbal component and maintains contact with the target using both hands for the entire count.
• Still requires 120 seconds if the above condition is not satisfied.
• Lightning Bolt
• Can be constructed using the arrow or javelin construction guidelines.
• Must be primarily white, but can include other coloration as well.