Curious Pastimes - Rules: Mage Spells

The powers of the Mage are restricted to those spells which affect objects and Elemental Powers. Thus, the Mage has no capacity for healing or spells that affect the mind or body except in his ability to direct elemental forces for the benefit or harm of others.

As is traditional, the Elemental Powers that are known at this time are Earth, Air, Fire and Water (although it has been suggested that there may be other elemental forces, perhaps of lesser significance at work within the world). In general, spells that involve objects will invoke Earth, those that involve movement or change will invoke Air or Water, while those that invoke Fire will be likely to cause injury or harm. For spells that have a general effect it is often the case that all the elements are invoked together.

It is important for Mages to understand that verbalisation is extremely important for the correct operation of a given spell and that such verbals follow a loose pattern. Thus, as new spells are discovered or new powers are sought it should be possible to construct appropriate verbals to achieve the desired effects.

Mage Rank 1 Spells

Spell cards required - One Rank 1 Mage.

Armour

By the power of the Elements I bind the Element of Earth into this person's raiment and grant them armour. Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Touch

For the duration of the spell any Physical armour worn by the recipient is 'boosted' by one point in each location. If they are wearing no Physical armour, it will act as a single point of physical protection to all locations. As with all standard Physical armour, this does not provide any protection against spells or arrows/bolts. Once a location has been hit the Armour spell is destroyed in that location only unless re-cast. A target may only have one Armour spell cast upon them at any time.

This spell will not offer any protection against spell attacks, or attacks that mimic spell effects or those that ignore Physical armour.

Identify Elemental Magic

I call upon the power of the Elements of Earth and Air, Fire and Water to reveal to me the nature of the Elemental magic within this . Duration: Instantaneous.
Range: 1 ft.

The caster will be informed of the elemental powers that are active within a single object, and also given an approximation of its effect. For example; If a sword that has been created with the Mage spell Mend embedded into it is examined using Identify Elemental Magic, the caster will be told that it is Elemental in nature and beneficial to the weapon. Close examination of the object is required before any information becomes available. This spell will require the presence of a Referee.

Magnetise

By the powers of the elements I draw Earth to Earth and magnetise that this/that . Duration: 30 seconds.
Range: 30 ft.

A single metal object will be drawn immediately and instantly to the ground and remain bound there for 30 seconds. Any item freely held or unsecured may be dropped, otherwise secured items must touch the ground prior to being removed.

Mend

By the power of the Elements I drive Air from Earth and mend this/that . Duration: Instantaneous
Range: Touch

The indicated broken item is fully repaired after 30 seconds and made usable. This spell may be used to repair breakages caused by any means, but will not repair objects that have been Disintegrated or otherwise vapourised/annihalated (see: Rank Three Spell Effects; Disintegrate). Contrary to the Default Mass rule, this spell will work on a breastplate. This spell may not be used to restore deformed/melted/reshaped items to their original state.

Open

By the power of the Elements I move Earth with Air and bid that lock to open. Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 30 ft

This spell may be used to unlock a single lock of any complexity, but not if magical in nature. Of course the unlocking process may trigger any traps that would be disarmed through the use of the correct physical key. Some magical traps may be specifically designed to counter this spell. This spell may require the presence of a Referee.

Reform

By the power of the elements I infuse Earth with Air and Water and reform this into Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Touch

This spell may be used to change the shape of an object to another of the same (or very similar) mass and approximate dimensions (e.g. no swords into ladders but ploughshares should be OK). This spell does not change the nature of the material from which the target object is made. Thus, copper may not be changed into gold, nor steel into silver.

Repel

By the power of the Elements I call forth Air to Repel thee. Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 30 ft

This spell generates an burst of directed elemental power which rapidly forces a single target away from the caster in a straight line for a distance of 10 feet. This is unless it is particularly massive or anchored in some substantial or magical fashion. If the target is a creature and cannot move this full distance due to a solid object blocking their path they must act as if Stunned for 10 seconds (see: Damage Calls: Stunned). It will work on all items provided they conform to the Default Mass rule.

Shatter

By the power of the Elements I drive Air into Earth and shatter that Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 30 ft

This spell will magically shatter a single inanimate object into several pieces. It must be dropped or its protective effects ignored if not easily dropped. It may not be used until magically repaired with the Mage spell Mend, or at a later date by mundane means (i.e. by reforging). It will work on all non-magical items provided they conform to the Default Mass rule.

Strike Down

By the power of the Elements let Air be my weapon and strike thee down. Duration: 3 seconds
Range: 30 ft

The indicated target is struck by a mighty, non-damaging blow, is knocked off their feet and cannot rise for three seconds. The target may still parry blows aimed specifically at them.

Mage Rank 2 Spells

Spell cards required - One Rank 2 Mage.

Aura of Defence

By my power and the power of the Elements I encircle myself with the Element of Air, grant me an aura of defence. Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Self

For the duration of the spell the caster cannot be affected by any normal melee or missile weapon. The caster loses all protection and the spell is broken as soon as they take any form of hostile action (simply pointing a bow has no effect nor do benevolent spells such as Healing and Purge Poison, or informative spells such as Detect Magic or Discern Nature of Undead). This may not be cast upon others. When somebody is under the effects of this spell and they are hit, they must shout "Aura of Defence" to inform their attacker as to why they are not taking damage. This call is an OOC game mechanic. Aura of defence does not work against siege weapons.

Dispel

By my power and the power of the Elements let Earth and Air, Fire and Water be gone. Dispel . Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 30 ft

This spell may be used to instantly remove the effects of any single named Rank 1 or 2 Mage spell. It works differently from Countermagic and Counterspell in that it it will remove the effects of a spell already cast, as opposed to countering a spell being cast.

Flare

By my power and the power of the Elements let the Air burn with Fire. Flare. Duration: 5 seconds
Range: 30 ft

This spell produces an instant burst of intensely bright light. It will cause three people within thirty feet, to be temporarily blinded. They must be in close order, but need not be shoulder to shoulder. The caster must select three adjacent targets and cannot 'skip' a person in a line. This effect lasts for a slow count of five, and during this time those affected must keep their eyes shut.

Heat Metal

By my power and the power of the Elements I infuse Earth with Fire and command that to burn. Heat Metal. Duration: 30 minutes
Range: 30 ft

A single inanimate, non-magical metal object is heated to white hot, rendering it completely useless for 30 minutes until it cools down. In the case of armour or a hand-held weapon this will inflict 2 points of damage to the relevant location, ignoring both Physical and Natural armour (including the spell Armour). The full damaging effect of the spell occurs within ten seconds of the completion of the verbal, and may be avoided by removal of the item within that time.

Magical Armour

By my power and the power of the Elements of Earth and Air, Fire and Water I grant thee magical armour Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Touch

For the duration of the spell the target's armour counts versus magical damage that would normally ignore the armour (and may therefore be damaged by magical means as well as by physical). This will allow the recipients armour to protect against arrows/bolts and Through damage calls. With regard to the spell Magic Missile the 'knock-down' effect is also negated, and the damage is sustained by the target's armour. In addition the target and their Physical armour (not shields/swords etc.) are immune to Rank 1 Mage spells. This cannot be stacked with the spell Armour or other protection magics, nor will it affect Natural Armour. The target must be wearing some Physical armour which must be touched by the caster.    It will not count against the damaging spells Wounding, Death Touch, Spirit Bolt, Spirit Storm, Thunderbolt, or the damage calls Corporeal/Spirit Through, Artefact, Fatal or Crush.

Magic Missile

By my power and the power of the Elements I infuse Air with Fire to strike thee with a magic missile. Duration: Instantaneous
Range: 30 ft

The indicated target takes one hit to each location (six hits in total) and is knocked off their feet. This spell ignores all Physical and Natural armour.

Magic Weapon

By my power and the power of the Elements I infuse this with Earth and Air, Fire and Water such that it may become a magical weapon. Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Touch

A single weapon is rendered 'Magical' for the purpose of the type of damage it may inflict (see: Damage Calls; Magic). For the duration of the spell it is also unaffected by spells such as Shatter, Heat Metal, Reform, Magnetise and the like. The Mage spell Dispel will stop the effect instantly.

Telekinesis

By my power and the power of the Elements I call forth Air to grasp and move that to . Duration: (up to) 15 seconds
Range: 30 ft

This may be used to move an inanimate object from a starting location to another single, named location within thirty feet of the caster, at time of casting. Each use of the spell will cause one object to move to one location (often the caster). The power provided by this spell is insufficient to break a firm grasp or to move objects that are firmly anchored. Telekinetically moved objects travel at a rate of two feet per second, and may not be used to cause damage resulting from their mass or speed.

Transmute

By my power and the power of the Elements I blend Air with Fire for change and Earth with Water for creation. Let this of undergo transmutation and become a of . Duration: 30 seconds
Range: Touch

This spell allows the caster to temporarily transform the material from which a given object is made into something different. Neither the target nor the result may be living nor does this affect magical items of any sort. Furthermore, materials that owe their particular characteristics to a manufacturing process rather than their intrinsic nature are neither affected by, nor can be created by using this spell. For example: Cold Iron's abilities are a result of the metal and the forging process. On the other hand Silver's attributes are only from its material properties. In addition, Transmute may only affect limited change. Thus, a metal cup could only be changed into a different type of metal, not wood or anything more extreme. Any attempt to change a sword into a bunch of flowers or similar will be viewed with the contempt it deserves. The object to be transformed must be touched

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.