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Special Considerations

Notes on Conjuring and Summoning

Construct is the term wizards use to describe stuff made of magic, primarily conjure creations and summons.
A base-level construct has an unnaturally generic feeling to it that most people pick up immediately. Adding details to make a construct feel natural is possible, but quite difficult for most people to cast (i.e., the suffer Disadvantage on casting checks). The GM may also rule that it takes longer than normal to finish a spell making a detailed construct while the caster irons out the details in hir mind.
Also, constructs are constrained to the caster’s presence. For a creation, that usually means that the caster has to hold or possess the object physically or else it vanishes into thin air. For summons, and for creations conjured by trained wizards, the construct can leave the caster’s possession but has to remain within hir line of sight. Otherwise, it vanishes within a few seconds.
Summons are dumb. They can understand any languages the caster knows at the same level as the caster. They follow orders stupidly and mechanically, though, and they’re very prone to failure if they encounter any unforeseen obstacles. A caster can spend time detailing a script or web of responses for the summons to follow to make them act more intelligently, but that’s difficult and often takes time. It is possible, with practice, to define a static script and then work the same set of reactions into summoning spells quickly and simply.
Finally, summons obey the caster. The caster can transfer control with a command. I love summoning contests, so I recommend letting players take control of bad guys’ summons with a summoning spell of their own. Of course, if this is possible, reinforcement would protect against this the same way it would against dispelling.

Notes on Dispelling

Almost everybody in the entire world knows how to dispel magic. They may not be very good at it, but for them it’s a lot like eating with chopsticks is for us. It’s an important life skill that looks harder than it really is and that only takes a few minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master. (Because, apparently, I’m talking about some serious chopstick fu now...)
Dispelling doesn’t stack. You can’t overcome reinforcement by repeated casting, only more powerful casting. Graft Power forms onto the same spell to achieve this.
For a spell using the Targets form, treat each separate target as a unique instance that has to be dispelled individually. For a spell using the Area form, a caster can dispel any area of the effect to nullify the entire spell.

Notes on Divining

Divining isn’t a radar--it doesn’t tell the caster exactly where the target is. That’s why it doesn’t need a range. Rather, Divining leads the caster to the target. The caster receives an impression of which direction to go to find the target. The strength of the impression indicates how close the target is. With practice, a diviner can use magic to locate things quickly and unerringly, but ze has to concentrate on the spell as ze walks, runs, or rides to the location of the object. If the object is far away, this can take days.
If this seems too powerful, you can choose to limit the range of Divining in your game. I recommend either limiting Divining to the visible horizon or to about the size of a sports field, as you prefer. If you do this, though, you should let wizards improve the range of their Divining spells with the Area form.
Also note that you can’t use Divining to find a living creature, although you may be able to use it to find an object the creature is carrying or wearing. The only exception to this is if you have a material component of the target, like a lock of hair or a fingernail or a drop of blood. If you have such a component, you can focus the spell through it to locate the individual, just as with any other Divining spell.

Notes on Illusions

Phantom is the term wizards use to describe sensory ephemera called up by magic, mostly by illusions.
At its base level, an illusion calls up one image, sound, smell, touch, taste, or other impression. In order to add senses, the caster must graft the Power form onto the spell. Note that It’s very difficult for a caster to spoof convincingly a sense ze doesn’t have.
Also, as with constructs, base phantoms are uncannily generic. Adding more than simple details makes it much more believable, but difficult to cast. The GM may also rule that it takes longer to finish casting.
Illusions can move or interact as long as the caster focuses on them. A caster can add a script or routine to a phantom to make it play once or on a loop, but this is considered one of those aforementioned difficult details.
Unlike other spells, illusions don’t target an individual but can be seen by everyone. If a caster wishes, ze can target a single individual with an illusion spell instead.

Notes on Necromancy

Necromancy is intentionally fuzzy—but what would high fantasy be without zombies, right?
Generally, a base necromantic construction spell creates a bit of life force to animate a single body, which can take 1 Wound before being destroyed or used up. You define what that means—personally, I like using the heart as the focus for undead consciousness. The head seems dumb to me. So for me, you can cut off arms and legs and heads and it doesn’t actually hurt the undead thingie, but if you can stab it in the heart (deal 1 Wound, as it were), it’s dead for real.
Otherwise, treat necromantic creations the same as summons: they’re dumb. They have to stay where the caster can see them. They understand languages.
You can allow other necromantic effects, too, like soul traps and death spells, and healing spells. Resurrection. Cloning. Necromantic homunculi. Ultimately, it’s up to you.

Notes on Scrying

Scrying is incredibly powerful, but it does have limits. As always, if you don’t like any of these rules, or if you need to add rules in your setting, do it!
First, you need a scrying surface to channel your senses. This can be any surface capable of holding a re- flection, not just a mirror. If you’re going to be casting impressions--that is, if you’re going to be projecting images or sounds from your location to another--there has to be a scrying surface in the target location. You can both cast senses and impressions with the same spell.
Second, you can’t usually target a location you’ve never seen before. There are exceptions to this. Enchanted scrying glasses are magic items that are set up as conduits for scrying spells. As long as you have a detailed picture of a scrying glass’ location, you can target it even if you’ve never seen it. Also, You can also cast a scrying spell on a surface that moves, letting your spell travel into places you’ve never been.
Third, you can’t cast scrying spells into active wards, nor can you sense through active wards with a scrying spell. Obviously, the ward has to be targeted against you or a group into which you fall.

Notes on Wards
Wards also deserve some additional consideration:
First, wards do block ranged attacks--or more precisely, they prevent targeted creatures from making ranged attacks into or through them. This works both ways. It does not form a physical barrier, so missiles don’t bounce off it; rather, the caster takes aim and then finds hirself un- able to fire, or ze thinks ze’s shooting an arrow into the ward and instead finds hirself firing at the ground. Both such instances are common occurrences.
If the ward caster closes the line of the ward ze’s drawing, it instead becomes a shape. If the caster draws two combined shapes, a process known as extruding, it instead becomes a 3D solid. (Commonly, trained ward casters often use different combination shapes to achieve different effects: they use a union of a shape plus a circle to represent a hemisphere, or a shape plus a square to represent a cube, or a shape plus a triangle to represent a cone. It ultimately doesn’t matter as long as the caster holds the desired shape in hir head while casting.) This can be done with figures that are already drawn: in this case, the caster draws a shape or shapes beforehand and then simply touches the figure while casting. Ze can also use figures drawn or engraved by other people, like a permanent warding circle.
By default, a ward affects one creature. A caster can increase this to target a group of creatures or everyone by grafting a power form onto the ward.
Since wards are compulsions and not barriers, they’re extremely prone to breaking if anyone on the safe side of a ward takes an overt hostile action against any target. When a ward fails, it fails for everybody—not just against a single target.
Approaching someone is not hostile, but it doesn’t force them to back up, either.
Also note that although wards are not subject to defeat through simple force of will, they can be dispelled like any other magical effect. This is usually the fastest method for defeating a ward.