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Each mystical art is treated as a skill for game purposes. The component characteristics are listed with each. According to Belgarath, all the mystical arts are applications of the Will. To reflect this, all the arts have WI as a component.
There is nothing that prevents someone from learning more than one of the arts. It's not common, though.
Alchemy IN 4 WI 1
The art of mixing chemically and supernaturally active ingredients to change the nature of matter. Potions, salves, changing one material into another--these things and more are the stock in trade of the alchemist. Knowledge of materials, plants, etc., is very helpful. Also, Alchemy is an expensive skill to pursue.
All new alchemical research attempts start with a -100% modifier, in addition to any the GM applies. A critical success is required to actually do what was intended. Normal success improves the modifier by +10% for the next attempt (thus -90%, then -80%, etc.), and normal failure makes it worse by -10%.
A fumble probably means an explosion of random intensity, which for some reason never seems to hurt people badly, but does blow out doors. At the GM's discretion a fumble may create something totally unintended and possibly useful. (See Sorceress of Darshiva for Senji's comments on glass.)
Alchemical processes require quite a bit of time. This is entirely at the GM's discretion. Penalties may be applied for attempting to rush a job. There are no bonuses for taking extra time in research. Extra time is only valuable when following established formulae.
Alchemy is only taught at the University of Melcene. Because of the costs involved, virtually all alchemists are instructors or students at the University. And they are usually involved in research funded by a business that expects a return.
Astrology IN 2 WI 3
The art of reading the stars and planets to fortell the future. The seers at Kell live by what they learn from astrology. They've had high levels of success with it, to the point where much of their scripture comes from what they've learned in the stars. And as everyone knows, the Seers are never wrong.
Outside Dalasia, astrology is neither popular nor reliable. As Belgarath put it, the stars seem to say something different every fifteen minutes or so. To reflect this, non-Seer characters may never have more than five levels in Astrology.
Divining (Dalasian) IN 2 WI 3
From what little is mentioned of it in the books, divining is the ability some Dals have to understand the whisperings of nature. They say that the very stones whispered the name Belgarion to them, long before Torak cracked the world. When he was born, the whisper became a shout.
For game purposes, divining is only available to Dals, and only those who live in the cave set apart for that purpose in Kell. (In other words, NPCs only.) It provides less information about the future than astrology (the province of the seers), but is easier to understand.
Divining (Ulgo) IN 2 WI 3
Divining gives the ability to detect the existence of a cave through earth or stone with a class X action. For a second class X action, the diviner can then determine the structural integrity of the surrounding area.
Divining also gives the ability to walk through the earth at 1/10 normal walking speed. This costs fatigue at 4/50 segments. It takes an additional class V action where the type of earth changes significantly; i.e., rock to dirt, or granite to sandstone.
One peculiarity of this ability is that anything which does not belong in the body is removed by passage through stone. This includes viruses, poisons, etc., but does not heal actual damage. Clothing and other possessions come through normally.
A diviner can carry someone through the earth with no harm to either. This doubles the fatigue cost per person carried. Thus, a diviner carrying two people uses fatigue at 4x2x2 = 16/50 seg.
If the diviner runs out of fatigue, he takes damage at 1 hp/segment until he dies, by becoming entombed in the stone. This applies to anyone he might leave in stone also.
By rolling under half his skill % with Divining, a diviner may do ST bonus in pummelling damage to stone. The stone is considered to have no armor for this purpose. Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means the diviner takes the damage intended for the stone, to his hands. (Relg used this ability to make climbing handholds, and to pull down caves.)
This ability is available only to Ulgos, and only at the time of character creation.
Magic IN 2 WI 3
Magic is the art of summoning and controlling demons. The Demonology skill is required to purchase Magic.
A successful Magic roll allows the caster to summon a demon. The demon and the magician must then enter a battle of wills. If the magician wins, the demon must obey him. If the demon wins, it will eat the magician and return to Hell at sunup or sundown, whichever comes first.
To summon a demon, the magician first draws a pentagram on the ground and stands within it. This takes two class X actions. Drawing the pentagram in fire is only one class X action, but requires a critical success with Magic separate from the summoning. Either way, the GM should make the skill roll for the player in secret. If the circle is drawn incorrectly, the magician will not be able to control the demon. Taking extra time with this skill roll is common as a result.
Summoning a demon requires three class X actions. The first is the chant that starts the process. The second is the actual summoning. The third is in forcing the demon into the imagined shape. Only one Magic roll is required to accomplish all three steps.
A critical success with the summoning means the demon is automatically bound by the magician's will. Normal failure means no demon is summoned. A fumble means the didn't form the shape properly in his head, didn't muster sufficient will to control the demon, or made some other mistake. A demon is summoned, and it automatically wins the battle of wills.
To have a battle of wills, both the demon and the caster make WI attribute rolls. The magician may subract one-tenth the Magic skill roll difference, rounded down, from his roll. The battle always takes one segment, with the winner the one who succeeded by the most. If they tie, the battle continues at one segment per roll until someone wins.
A dominated demon will do as the summoner demands, but unwillingly. The magician must continue the incantations to control the demon. If the opportunity presents itself, the demon will eat the caster and return to Hell as though the magician had lost the original battle of wills. It is possible to outrun a demon. Fast horses help.
Note that demons will deal in some cases, in which case the demon is more willing to do as asked. An initial battle of wills is still necessary, though.
The only way to learn magic is from a magician. Such deals usually involve a lifetime of servitude and a curse. The only release is the death of one of the parties involved.
Necromancy WI 3 IN 1 CH 1
The art of raising the spirits of the dead. A successful roll allows 10 segments of communication for every point of the skill roll difference, with a one-question minimum for any successful attempt. Anyone can pose the questions, but a necromancer will know better what to ask and how.
Local midnight is the preferred hour for necromancy. For every hour away from midnight, there is a -5% penalty to the skill roll.
The spirits of the dead always speak the truth. Questions must be couched carefully, for the dead are sometimes confused.
Only the Dals (including Perivor) and the Melcenes study this art. Necromancers are the only Dals who do not wear white, but black instead.
Sight IN 3 WI 2
This gives the ability to see through the surface to the true nature of things. Disguises and aliases mean nothing to someone with Sight. It doesn't provide names or similar specifics, but a person's race and true occupation are obvious to Sight. Someone with Sight is never surprised, either.
Sight also provides a limited ability to prophesy about a person, in direct proportion to the importance of the prophecy to the person's nature. ("Thy doom shall be upon thee today.") It does not allow someone to see into the past.
The GM controls all use of Sight. He decides when it takes effect and what information it provides. Because of this, the GM should make all Sight rolls. On the other hand, he should not ignore it either. If it makes plots too transparent, it can always be denied to PCs.
The drawback is that Sight leaves a person physically blind. Colors, shapes, textures--all these are lost to one with Sight. A Sighted individual may move around normally, but faces, artwork, colors, etc., have no meaning.
The only recorded instance of this talent was Martje.
Sorcery IN 1 WI 4
Sorcery (or the Will and the Word) is the use of the will to affect the world. It relies heavily on knowledge of how natural laws work, so it helps the sorcerer to have a skill related to the task at hand. (Actually, sorcerers don't call themselves that. They don't really have a name for themselves. Torak and Aldur both have disciples, and that's how sorcerers refer to themselves.)
Each use of Sorcery tests the knowledge and ability of the sorcerer. Thus, the actual skill roll is made with either the Sorcery skill, or the skill related to the task at hand, whichever is less. Bonuses and penalties are then applied. This does not apply to feats of sorcery that would normally be accomplished on a purely physical level, such as moving objects.
Example 1: A PC wants to build a tower from a pile of rocks. He has Sorcery at 65% and Architecture at 37%. The base skill roll for the attempt is 37%, before any skill modifiers are applied.
Example 2: The same PC wants to throw one of the rocks across a field. Regardless of his ST, the base skill roll for the attempt is 65%.
(Before you ask, Belgarion is different. The Necessity created him and gave him power and ability specifically for the tasks he had to perform. His understanding and mastery of sorcery was unique in all the world.)
The difficulty of the task at hand determines the speed class. A penalty of 0% means the action is Class I, -1% to -10% is a Class II action, etc.
Sorcerers can work together. One is designated as primary. The others' skill roll differences--positive or negative--are applied to the primary sorcerer's skill before he rolls. Negative skill roll differences can be ignored if the sorcerers have the Hierarch's Ruby.
This can also go the other way. One sorcerer (or several) may use the Will and the Word to try to suppress another sorcerer's act. In this case, the skill roll differences are subtracted from the skill of the sorcerer being suppressed. Negative modifiers are ignored.
For a few moments after unleashing his Will, a sorcerer's mind is vulnerable to direct attack. This time is (30-WI) segments.
What one sorcerer has accomplished cannot be reversed by another. It can be negated by a different action, but not directly reversed.
Almost anything can be accomplished with Sorcery. Any attempt to unmake, though, destroys the sorcerer who tried it. Even the Gods cannot do this, for if they were to try the whole universe might be destroyed. With a mortal sorcerer, the energy mustered has nowhere to go, so it rips the sorcerer apart. (This does not prevent breaking things, just attempting to deny their existence.) As a result, it's far safer to kill someone with physical force. There's less chance of saying or doing something that will backfire so immediately and finally.
Sorcery is very draining, using fatigue at 1 per segment. Once the Will is committed to an action, that action must succeed. If the sorcerer runs out of fatigue before the action is completed, he starts losing 1 Health per segment. He either succeeds or dies trying.
Sorcerers who survive long enough stop aging at about 60. Sorceresses stop aging sooner, around 40. The player may choose to alter this either direction by one year per point of IN. Once the player has chosen a final age, the GM should add 1d12-6 (that is, -5 to +6) to it for the actual year at which aging stops. If the Sorcery talent manifests after the specified age, aging stops then.
The Sorcery skill % is also the percent chance of hearing the noise made by another sorcerer using the Will and the Word. Bonuses can be applied for particularly loud noises, which are caused by untrained, fast or powerful actions. Note that a character must have the Sorcery skill to hear these noises, no matter what the bonus assigned by the GM is.
To quiet these noises, a sorcerer may take multiple actions. The skill % of theperson trying to hear the noise is then divided by the number of actions used, taken as a multiple of the number actually required.
Example: A sorceress wants to shape shift to a familiar form without being heard. The GM rules this is a class IV action. The person she's trying toavoid has Sorcery at 40%. She takes five class IV actions to make the shift. The % chance the other sorcerer has to hear her is (40/5) = 8 %.
On very rare occasion, sorcerers fight. When they do, it is considered bad form to use the Will and the Word. So long as no one starts with it, the contest will remain purely physical.
For a thorough discussion of sorcery, including philosophical and scientific underpinnings, see Magician's Gambit.
Witchcraft IN 1 WI 2 CH 2
This talent allows a person to summon and control the spirits that inhabit the natural world. Because it is an inborn talent, not truly a skill, Witchcraft must be purchased at the time of character creation, except as noted below.
Nature spirits know everything that is going on in the world, which makes them very useful for gathering information. Their control over it is limited to natural phenomena such as controlling plant growth, changing the weather, etc. One advantage of using spirits for weather control is that they aren't going to change the natural order with their tampering, something other arts might do.
Nature spirits are temperamental and capricious, and they have very short attention spans. Witches (almost all female) thus must cajole spirits, unlike the domination required to do business with demons. Persuasive skills, bribes, etc., are all helpful in convincing spirits to do what the witch asks. The amount of time controlling a spirit takes is a function of persuasion, and so is entirely up to the GM. Though it is a mystical talent, not a pure skill, certain implements and compounds (which are never described in the books) can help.
Witches age at the rate of one year apparent for every five actual, starting with puberty. The witchcraft talent does not manifest before then, and so does not need to be purchased until its onset. However, most people are superstitious about witches, and a mob may try to burn one at the stake when her talents manifest.
Wizardry IN 2 WI 3
Has something to do with enchantments and curses. It's how the Seers kept Grolims out of Kell. Sailors sometimes blame unexpected storms on wizards.
There was also a Grolim who faced down Polgara. He muttered and made gestures. She told him to be careful, that if he didn't get it right it would blow up in his face. Wizardry? She brushed aside whatever he threw at her. The fight ended when Durnik hit the Grolim in the back of the head with an axe handle, so we don't learn much from it.
Original material © Patrick Clark
1999/2001
Everything else is either © Tai-Gear Simulations or © David & Leigh
Eddings
Last updated 21 November 2001