Casting Examples

The Rising of Chaos Wiki Magic Casting Examples

The words Pilgrim, Preacher, Disciple set us apart from the common folk and sit like the weight of the contract they are upon our shoulders. They are responsibility and we are responsible. Responsible for the flow of power that is the cycle begun by prayer and maintains the articles of our faith.
Inquisitor Munro Flame, Preacher of Ekimelahw

How to Cast Transcendental Magic

When you are casting Transcendental Magic there are two types of spell that you can cast:
- Guided / Nestored – These spells are not yet familiar to the caster and represent efforts that require the guide to be present.
- Unguided / Buoyed – These spells are very familiar to the caster; their guide will not need to be present to cast these spells although they still carry a link to their power. If any of your spells are Unguided your will have been informed by the system.
Casting a Transcendental effect that is not a Buoyed spell is key to the concept of magic in RoC.
It relies on the idea that the brief of your realm should give you a sufficient overview to inspire casting to affect a scene in a way that follows that brief and comes directly from your imagination.
The casting sequence is entirely intuitive and only relies on your having a system ref in the form of a guide with you when you attempt it with a sequence of casting being as follows:
Remain In Character at all times.
Gather a clear idea in your head of what it is you are trying to achieve.
Check to see if you have a ref around and if it is a Nestored spell, summon your Nestor.
Begin your casting by following your casting brief
Using the action of Casting describe what you are trying to achieve using your Realm and then your supporting transcendental words.
This will give the ref/Nestor an idea of what kind of MAG the spell you are looking at is to cast.

Full Casting Example

As a Focus Caster, following the Deity Naed, God of Liberty and wishing to cast a transcendental effect that will free ten people that are chained in unbreakable bonds before your enemy comes back it might go like this.
Spot a ref and summon your Nestor
Explain to them your effect through the act of prayer first of using your Realm Word and your casting Style
- “I cast now the remembrance of the call of my flock to the heavens: Naed, Focus of my words, I remind you of the promise of freedom that you have given to your people and to the promise that I have given to you and them that I will fulfil your will and break the chains of these imprisoned folk!”
Here you are saying to your Nestor – I am going to call out Naed and through the realm of Focus to free these people
At that point maybe the Nestor is thinking – CASTING MAGNITUDE: 4, taking into considerations all the factors of the Priests experience, the fact that they are a Naedite and the magical nature of the chains they set an INITIAL MAGNITUDE of 10
The Nestor and the Priest communicate the difficulty ahead and the Priests calls out their power and attempts to create their spell without killing themselves.
“I Call to you Naed! I reach out and invoke the Freedoms (8 Mags thinks the ref) which he grants us, I channel the promise of Chains broken (6 Mags thinks the ref) and I bring the strength of Hope from his will (Not relevant thinks the ref).”
- At this point the Nestor can communicate that the effect is now around MAG 6 but could be lower – This would be through roleplaying using in character terms and avoiding the use of mechanical terms.
Lacking further words but needing to free the people the Priest can chose to complete their casting at 6 MAG at which point finish as follows:
- “Then through his strength and the will of those that carry his word across the land I fulfil his promise and command these chains be shattered!”
Now the ref will describe the chains shattering and the people will go through the actions of being freed.
The Priest must draw Backlash at 6 MAG before the end of the next scene.
Alternatively the Priest could decide that this is too much for their frame to handle and drop the spell rather than allow it be cast:
- “Forgive me Naed, the promise I have made you cannot be fulfilled through this frame, it is too weak and I feel your power fade….”
At which point they get on with their roleplaying and try and break those chains with their hands!

And that is Transcendental casting.

Suggested Thoughts on Casting

What follows are some ways in which you could process situations from various realms to demonstrate how to approach situations using Transcendental Magics. These examples go through some simple processes of how we might work but ignore several of the key considerations with that being how well the system knows you:

Your personal journey will always be a large factor in the INITIAL MAGNITUDE of the Casting as will the environmental modifiers of the event itself and the writing that goes into and around specific events. For example – In the Speak to Dead example in this text it may be more difficult if the person that you are calling to has been dead for a long time or is extremely powerful.

Regardless these basic guidelines should give you an overview of what we are looking for.

This (non-magical, simple) door is locked

I am a Priest of Terref.
I know the words Travel, Luck and Journey which I try to incorporate into the spell
I want to unlock it.
Without setting off any traps

Immediately the Ref would know that unlocking a simple door is 1 CASTING MAG but lets say that the ref has added a complex trap and ups that to 3. So unlocking a door is pretty straightforward. A Priest of Terref’s description and portfolio would set the INITIAL MAGNITUDE at around 8. The addition of Travel and journeys would bring it down by perhaps 1 each and the luck would give us a bonus of 2 with some well worded casting. This leaves us at a CASTING MAG of 4. Not too shabby.

This person is dead, and I want to speak to their spirit to ask questions of them.

I am a Priest of Notelexus.
I know the words Death, “Wisdom from Beyond the Grave” and Murder which I try to incorporate into the spell
I want to ask 3 questions
I want the spirit to be compelled to answer
I want the spirit to be compelled to tell the truth
I want to have a full conversation, not just 3 questions
I want my teammates to be able to participate in the conversation

The basic CASTING MAG for speaking to a dead person with three questions will pan out at 1 and through interaction you may achieve the other ends that you want but if you are in a rush we would add on 1 for each compulsion and 1 for everyone being involved in a full conversation so 4 MAGS at the end. A Notelexian is going to kick off at 6 with Wisdom from beyond the grave being a the bonus to get them to 6 MAGS. Other words that would have got people there would be truth and compulsion but the Notelexians affinity with the dead is the big win in this example.

We are about to fight some monsters, which we know use venom-coated blades.

I am a Source Caster from the College of Ice and Vapor.
I know the words Cleanse, Freeze and Armour which I try to incorporate into the spell
I.want to protect our Fighter from the venom.
I want to protect 3 of us from the venom
I want to protect everyone in our group from the venom

This is an example of prepping for combat and using the Transcendental spells to swing a battle in your favour. Efficient scouting, Lore gathering and the like can lead you to being able to use Transcendental Magic in this way.

Protective spells tend to allow you to resist the effects of damage that is thrown at you so a Guide is likely to offer that to the caster. “You may ignore the effects of this damage for the duration of the spell (which is likely to be a rollover)” This would be a CASTING MAG of about 3 and would need to be cast just before the opening of combat. To protect more people would be 1 more MAG for an additional 2 people.

Being a sourcerer of Ice and Vapour has some credence for their mastery over liquids which could apply to venoms but would start at 10. Their expertise with Armouring would be addressed by the Guide and coupled with the concept of Cleansing would probably drop the MAGS by 4 to around 6. The ref on the day would make choices for whether Freezing would affect the spell depending on environmental conditions and possibly bring the MAG down by another 2 making the CASTING MAG 4.

The book which we have been sent to recover is encased in a strange, magical, crystal.

I am a Psionicist
I know the words Understanding, Crystal and Insight which I try to incorporate into the spell
I want to investigate the crystal, to learn about what it does
How it can (safely) be removed.
What any repercussions of removing the crystal are

In this scenario the crystal is designed to protect the book, allowing only the right person to read what is written within and will erase the words in the book if the wrong person picks it up. However the crystal is not designed to overly hide this information so the CASTING MAG, the ref decides, sits at 3. With the player being a psionics it investigating a psionic crystal the INITIAL MAG is only 6 with each of the words that they have dropping the spell by 2 MAGS but still not taking it below the allocated CASTING MAG of 3.

We are undertaking a mission for the Iron Table, but have run into a complication and are not sure of how to proceed. I want to establish contact with the person who briefed us (who is many miles away).

I can simply send 1 message and receive 1 reply
I can have a brief conversation with that person
Everyone in my team can join in the conversation

The basic, set, CASTING MAG for a communication spell is 1 over a very short distance, communication spells vary in difficulty dependant on whether the recipient is well known to the caster, whether the person receiving the communication is willing to talk, asleep or even well; all factors of which will be determined over the event.

In this example the concept that the recipient is many miles away would probably add 6 MAGS to the CASTING MAG, having more people involved in the conversation would probably add 1 MAG per 2 people however: The Iron Table is a powerful governmental organisation which would have Psionic Messaging Hubs, reducing the MAGS by 8 to a minimum of 1.

We think there is significance to the ancient writings engraved around the entrance to the tunnel. I want to understand their meaning / purpose.

In this example we will explore how different casters with different words might affect the outcome of this spell. In the example the words were carved as a warning, by a powerful Daemon, to other Daemons that area beyond is harmful to their kind but that a Lord of their house is imprisoned within. The initial cost to break the magic and understand the words is 4.

Example 1

I am a Melkar
I have no words that I believe will be relevant

The Melkar has no involvement with Daemons and their magic is in no way geared to understanding what this is. Their INITIAL MAG is 15 and they have no words to reduce this cost which means that they cannot translate this text directly.

Example 2

I am a Priest of Bethylak
I have the words Insight, Lore and Writings which I will try to incorporate into my casting.

The Bethylakian Priest’s magic is all about insights into such thing even though Daemonic Knowledge is not directly involved. Their INITIAL MAG is 10 and with the words that they have the difficulty is dropped by 2 MAGS per word leaving them at the CASTING MAG intended of 4.

Example 3

I am a Source Caster of the Shadowreaver College
I have the words Flame, Spark, Insight and Illumination which I will try to incorporate into my casting.

All Sourcerers have intrinsic knowledge of the Daemonic world and the magic that was used here was specifically Source. If this were a Sourecrer of Morrigun College the difficulty would probably stand at for their INITIAL MAG at 8 however this is a caster from Shadowreaver which is slightly different so a ref might approach the difficulty at 9.

The word insight would give them a drop of two and ref could drop the MAGs by 1 for Illumination to 6.

Example 4

I am a Bard
I have the words Legends, Myths, Weave, Epics and Ballads which I will try to incorporate into my casting.

Bardic Magic is very dependant on the path that is followed but for the sake of this description we will say that they have limited knowledge of Daemons but that their knowledge includes locked away beings of power which starts their INITIAL MAG at 12. The first three words: Legends, Myths, Weave all give them a 2 MAG decrease to CASTING MAG dropping them down to 6 – The same as the Sourcerer.

There is a magical barrier, preventing our progress.

I am a Source Caster, from the Morrigun collage
I have the words Control, Power and Nexus which I will try to incorporate into my casting.
I want to remove it
in a way which will not trigger any traps
or warn anyone that we’re coming.
But only for our team, so anything trapped inside will remain trapped

This is a very specific manipulation of the power of the spell that is in front of them and would demonstrate a lengthy interaction with their Nestor. To facilitate the scenario the Barrier was cast at 6 Magnitudes and incorporates a 4 MAG effect that will damage those that manage to pass through it or disable it and a warning spell that will tell its Sourcerous caster that someone has done this at 6 MAGS.

The barrier was erected to imprison a powerful Daemon that the Sourcerer intends to use to destroy their enemies in traditional and most diabolic style.

A Sourcerer from Morrigun College is built to control and manipulate power of this type so they would be matching their opponent at identical MAGS. However the result that is desired would mean that they would be building their own spell to sit within the Barrier. This would need to match the power of the enemy: A total of 16 MAGS taken into account by the ref but with the bonuses of 3 MAGS for both control and Power and 2 Mags for the Nexus.

The Spell that the Player has crafted to achieve what they want is 8 MAGS which has not dropped them below the initial 6 MAGS of the barrier, which would have been the refs target for CASTING MAG and would be cast against the barrier eliciting roleplaying and response from the ref.

My teammate is about to undertake a task, but they are not confident about their proficiency. I want to bolster their chances of success.

Variants of this could apply to anyone, undertaking any feat sheet. For this specific example it’s a Venator trying to track a specific person in a town.

I am a Melkar,
I have the words Hunter, Prey, “Keen Senses” and Civilisation which I will try to incorporate into my casting.

Immediately with the concept of casting the spell to enhance hunting on a person: The aspect of the Melkarr would make this easier as the dominance of the Wyld would prevail in the favour of hunting. Equally all of the words would give a +2 Bonus in usual circumstances and depending on casting and what is known of the prey this could be a +3 bonus to MAGS.

I want to add 1 suit to their chance of success, for a single pull from their Omni-Deck, when using their Venator skill.

This would be a 2 CASTING MAG Spell with the Melkar starting at an INITIAL 4 MAGS so they easily get to the two of casting.

I want to add 1 suit, for every pull form their Omni-Deck this scene, when using their Venator skill

This would be a 4 CASTING MAG Spell with the Melkar starting at an INITIAL 6 MAGS so they easily get to the four of casting.

I want to add 2 suits to their chance of success, for a single pull from their Omni-Deck, when using their Venator skill

This would be a 3 CASTING MAG Spell with the Melkar starting at an INITIAL 5 MAGS so they easily get to the three of casting.

I want to add 2 suits, for every pull form their Omni-Deck this scene, when using their Venator skill

This would be a 6 CASTING MAG Spell with the Melkar starting at an INITIAL 8 MAGS so they easily get to the six of casting.

I want to give them the ability to re-draw their card should they fail their Venetor check, once this scene.