Magic: Time College

Magic: Time College

Time manipulation spells belong to the Gate College in GURPS Magic, but their selection is quite limited, and most of them can influence the game significantly. I have decided to look through the book again and create a Time College from existing spells and make some new ones (mostly converted from AD&D Chronomancer).

Use the following spells and prerequisites for the college of Time.

The College of Time
Spell Name	Prerequisites	Source
Accelerate Metabolism	Magery 1, Slow Metabolism	New spell
Accelerate Time	Magery 2, IQ 13+, 2 spells each of 10 different colleges	M86
Age	Youth or 6 other Necromantic spells	M154
Alarm	Tell Time	M100
Ancient History	History	M106
Backtrack	Magery 2, Minor Paradox	New spell
Beacon (time only)	Timeport	M83
Blossom	Plant Growth	M162
Conceal Temporal Anomaly	Magery 1, Detect Temporal Anomaly	New spell
Create Gate (time only)	Control Gate, Timeport	M85
Death Vision	Magery 1	M149
Decay	Test Food or Haste and Detect Temporal Anomaly	M77
Delay Image	Haste, Hinder	New spell
Delayed Damage	Magery 2, Delay Image, Time Snare	New spell
Detect Temporal Anomaly		New spell
Dimensional Dissection (time only)	Magery 3, Timeport Other	MDS13
Divert Teleport (time only)	Magery 3, Trace Teleport	M84
Echoes of the Past	Magery 2, History, Voices	M107
Fast Fire	Slow Fire	M73
Flash Forward	Magery 2, Time Walk	New spell
Great Haste	Magery 1, IQ 12+, Haste	M146
Halt Aging	Magery 2 and 8 Healing spells or Magery 2 and 8 Time spells	M94
Haste		M142
Hinder	Clumsiness or Haste	M36
History	Trace or Magery 1, Tell Time, Detect Temporal Anomaly, and Death Vision	M106
Images of the Past	Magery 2, History, Simple Illusion	M107
Long March	Magery 1 and either Clumsiness, Debility, or Hinder and Detect Temporal Anomaly	M143
Magic Manager	Magery 2, Reflexes	New spell
Mature	Decay or Season	M78
Melee Manager	Magery 1, Reflexes	New spell
Minor Paradox	Magery 2, Time Snare	New spell
Paradox	Magery 2, Minor Paradox	New spell
Plant Growth	Heal Plant	M162
Prehistory	Ancient History	M106
Preserve Food	Decay	M79
Preserve Fuel/TL	Test Fuel or Decay and Detect Temporal Anomaly	M179
Quick March	Magery 1, Haste	M144
Rapid Journey (time only)	Magery 3, Timeport	M82
Reconstruct Spell	Magery 2, History, Identify Spell	M106
Recover Energy	Magery 1, Lend Energy	M89
Reflexes	Grace and Haste	M39
Retrogression	Mind-Search, Mind-Sending	M47
Ruin	Magery 2, Weaken, Decay	M118
Scents of the Past	Magery 2, History, Odor	M107
Slow	Magery 1, Haste, Hinder	M145
Slow Fall	Apportation or Hinder and Detect Temporal Anomaly	M144
Slow Fire	Extinguish Fire or Hinder and Detect Temporal Anomaly	M73
Slow Healing	Magery 1, Frailty, Steal Vitality or Magery 1, Slow Metabolism	M153
Slow Metabolism	Magery 1, Decay, Detect Temporal Anomaly, Hinder	New spell
Slow Time	Magery 2, IQ 13+, 2 spells each of 10 different colleges	M86
Stop Healing	Slow Healing	M153
Summon Shade	Summon Spirit or Divination	M102
Suspend Time	Magery 3, Slow Time	M86
Steal Youth	Youth, Age, Steal Vitality	M158
Tell Age	Tell Time	New spell
Tell Time		M100
Temporal Disjunction	Magery 2, Time Snare	New spell
Temporal Stasis	Magery 3, Suspend Time	New spell
Temporal Wall	Magery 2, Slow, Temporal Disjunction	New spell
Time Out	Magery 3, Accelerate Time	M87
Time Snare	Magery 1, Great Haste, Hinder	New spell
Time Walk	Magery 2, Backtrack	New spell
Timeheal	Magery 2, Minor Paradox	New spell
Timeport	Magery 3, Teleport	M81
Timeport Other	Timeport	M81
Timeslip	Timeport	M81
Timeslip Other	Timeslip	M81
Trace Teleport (time only)	Timeport	M84
Youth	Magery 3, Halt Aging	M94

New spells

Accelerate Metabolism
Regular; Resisted by HT

This spell drastically decreases the length of time required between meals. Accelerated metabolism also gives him -3 to HT to resist metabolic hazards.

Duration: 1 day.

Cost: 3-4. The subject requires 6 meals per day for 3 energy points, or 12 meals per day for 4 energy points. Cannot be maintained.

Time to cast: 2 seconds.

Prerequisites: Magery 1, Slow Metabolism.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Backtrack
Blocking

When this spell is cast, the caster rewinds time for just a moment to try to defend against an attack one more time. The caster makes his active defense roll twice and uses the better result.

Cost: 3.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Minor Paradox.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Conceal Temporal Anomaly

Area; Resists Detect Temporal Anomaly

The caster splits the flow of time around a temporal disturbance. This reduces the turbulence it causes and shields it from magical detection. Detect Temporal Anomaly spell cast on the temporal anomalies in the area must win a Quick Contest of Spells with Conceal Temporal Anomaly to “see” it. This spell similarly affects other abilities that detect temporal anomalies.

Duration: 10 hours.

Base cost: 2 to cast. 1 to maintain.

Time to cast: Seconds equal to energy cost.

Prerequisites: Magery 1, Detect Temporal Anomaly.

Item

(a) Any container. It, and everything inside, is protected by the Conceal Temporal Anomaly spell. Energy cost to cast: 200 per cubic foot (minimum cost 500). (b) Any rug or area of floor; conceals temporal anomalies above it. Energy cost to cast: 300 per yard radius.

Delay Image
Regular

The subject is surrounded by a thin magical aura that bends time slightly, causing the person’s image to appear half a second behind actual motion. This gives him +1 to all active defenses, and the subject’s opponents defend against the subject’s attacks at a -1 penalty.

Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 3 to cast. 2 to maintain.

Time to cast: 2 seconds.

Prerequisites: Haste, Hinder.

Item
Jewelry. Only affects the wearer. Energy cost to create: 300.

Delayed Damage
Regular

This spell creates a field of temporal flux about the caster. This field intercepts attacks and shifts all of the effects into the future, allowing the caster time to prepare. If the attack does damage, the caster does not receive any, but when the spell ends, all accumulated damage is applied at once. If the attack produces a different effect (Affliction, for example), this effect is also delayed until the spell ends. If the effect has a duration, it does not start until it actually starts affecting the caster.

This spell gives the caster time to prepare for the delayed effects, and delays the need for heal. But the caster should be cautious, because the spell can end at any time.

Duration: 2d seconds (rolled by the GM in secret).

Cost: 4.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Delay Image, Time Snare.

Item
A staff or wand. Usable only by mages. Energy cost to create: 800.

Detect Temporal Anomaly
Regular

Makes all temporal anomalies, such as areas of the Accelerate Time, Slow Time, Suspend Time spells, other areas of anomalous timeflow, and subjects in temporal stasis, visible in the subject’s field of vision. Each such anomaly glows in proportion to its activity, if its area can be seen with your normal vision.

Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 3 to cast, 2 to maintain.

Item
Staff, wand, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 400.

Flash Forward
Regular

The caster cheats the laws of time and enters combat before reverting back to his original position. After casting this spell, the caster immediately makes a Move and Attack maneuver against an enemy he could reach with such a maneuver, and then reverts back to his original position. Any damage or conditions dealt to the caster or by the caster during this action are real and remain when he returns to his original location. The cost to cast is not reduced by high skill.

Cost: 3.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Time Walk.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Magic Manager
Regular

The subject gains Compartmentalized Mind 1 for the duration of the spell. The extra action can only be spent on spellcasting, and only if the rest of the turn’s action were spent on spellcasting. When this spell ends, the caster loses his ability to cast spells (even from magic items) for 10 seconds.

Duration: 10 seconds.

Cost: 5 to cast. Cannot be maintained.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Reflexes.

Item
A staff or wand. Usable only by mages. Energy cost to create: 1,200.

Melee Manager
Regular

The subject gains Extra Attack 1 for the duration of the spell. This extra attack can only be used if all attacks made by the subject during his turn were melee attacks, and this extra attack can only be a melee attack.

Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 5 to cast. 3 to maintain.

Time to cast: 2 seconds.

Prerequisites: Magery 1, Reflexes.

Item
(a) Any item. Always on. Rare item! Energy cost to create: 1,200. (b) Staff or wand. Usable only by mages. Energy cost to create: 800.

Minor Paradox (VH)
Regular

When this spell is cast, the caster may take back an action performed within the last second or insert an additional action if timing permits. The caster could take back something said or decide not to kiss the princess. Essentially, this is a “replay last second” spell. The caster and the GM may either work out a reasonable course of events, or they could simply replay the previous turn, if this spell was used in combat. Note that the caster cannot “rewind” time and take the exact same action he did before. For example, he cannot attack an orc’s face, miss, cast this spell, and try again, but he can cast this spell to attack a different hit location.

Cost: 6.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Time Snare.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,500.

Paradox (VH)
Regular

When this spell is cast, the caster may alter a minor event from his past that may affect the present. Such an event could be having bought a cask of ale instead of a cast of oil, or deciding that, instead of insulting the king, the caster insulted the king’s daughter (as if that would make the situation any better).

The event to be changed should not be more than an hour in duration, and it must be something that was personally done by the caster, or something the caster could have influenced. Something should always be given up when this spell is used, the caster cannot simple add or remove an action. The caster can change an event as far back as one day.

It is the GM’s call as to how the change proceeds forward, if at all. Often, things will not work out as neatly as the caster might hope.

Cost: 12. One try per day.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Minor Paradox.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 2,500.

Slow Metabolism
Regular; Resisted by HT

This spell drastically increases the length of time required between meals. The subject only requires 1/3 as much food and water, as usual, or one meal a day. Slowed metabolism also grants him +3 to HT to resist metabolic hazards.

Duration: 1 day.

Cost: 3 for 1/3 as much food and water (one meal a day) or 4 for one meal a week. 2 to maintain.

Time to cast: 2 seconds.

Prerequisites: Magery 1, Decay, Detect Temporal Anomaly, Hinder.

Item
Jewelry. Only affects the wearer. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Tell Age

Information

Tells the caster the age of the subject in years.

Cost: 1.

Prerequisites: Tell Time.

Item
A lens. Energy cost to create: 50.

Temporal Disjunction
Regular; Resisted by Will

The subject loses any sense of time. It is perpetually late, unable to function under any time restraints. This spell is merely an annoyance unless accurate timing is crucial. The subject’s Basic Speed is lowered by 4 for the purpose of determining the turn order in combat. The subject loses the benefits of Combat Reflexes and Enhanced Time Sense for the duration of the spell. If the subject takes a Wait maneuver to coordinate its action with someone else, it makes an IQ-5 roll. If the subject succeeds, it performs the action normally. If the roll has failed, the action is lost.

Additionally, the subject loses its ability to travel in time or affect time in any way. It automatically fails to cast time-affecting spells (such as Timeport, Timeslip, Haste, etc.) and use any similar abilities. It cannot be moved in time by external means too, which means that it becomes immune to Timeport Other, Timeslip Other, and other similar spells and abilities. It can function normally in areas of Suspend Time, Accelerate Time, and other temporal anomalies.

Dispel Magic cannot dispel this spell. Remove Curse dispels the effect.

Duration: Permanent.

Cost: 10.

Time to cast: 4 seconds.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Time Snare.

Item
Staff or wand. Usable only by mages; the item must touch the subject. Energy cost to create: 2,500.

Temporal Stasis
Regular

The caster forces himself outside the normal space-time continuum. Almost no time passes for him. The duration of the spell can be set for any length between five minutes and a billion years. Nothing within the normal space-time continuum can harm the caster, and caster cannot perform any actions while in stasis. The stasis cocoon is effectively invulnerable. From the outside he looks encased inside a perfectly reflecting mirror, and no sensors of any kind can penetrate into it. Velocities are retained while in stasis, so a falling caster will continue to fall. This spell is immune to Dispel Magic, but Remove Curse or an ultra-tech reality stabilizer will be able to deactivate it.

Duration: From 5 minutes to a billion years.

Cost: 8.

Prerequisites: Magery 3, Suspend Time.

Item
A staff or wand. Usable only by mages. Energy cost to create: 2,500.

Temporal Wall
Area; Resisted by Will

Creates a thin barrier composed of the temporal mist-smoke. The wall is four yards high, but may be made higher; simply scale the cost as the height (double for 8 yards high, triple for 12 yards high and so on).

This wall blocks vision, but is otherwise permeable. Anyone passing through the wall in any direction must make a Will roll. Failure means that the creature is affected by the Slow (M145) and Temporal Disjunction spells, but only for a number of seconds equal to the margin of failure.

Duration: 1 minute.

Base Cost: 3 to cast. Same cost to maintain.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Slow, Temporal Disjunction.

Item
(a) Staff, wand, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000. (b) A Temporal Wall may be made permanent at an energy cost of 100 times normal.

Time Snare
Regular; Resisted by Will

This spell creates a time loop in the subject’s mind that causes it to repeat this turn’s action indefinitely. If the subject attacked, it attacks the same person in the same exact way, if possible. If it drank a potion, it drinks from the same bottle again (if the bottle is empty, it tries to drink another instance of this potion). Even if something happens to prevent this attempt (the opponent is dead, or someone takes the bottle away), the subject still strives to repeat its last action. The victim gets a IQ roll to resist the effect every second. A successful save means that the effect is broken.

Duration: 10 seconds.

Cost: 4. Cannot be maintained.

Prerequisites: Magery 1, Great Haste, Hinder.

Item
Staff or wand. Usable only by mages; the item must touch the subject. Energy cost to create: 2,000.

Time Walk
Blocking

When this spell is cast, the caster rewinds time for a second and moves away from an incoming attack. If the spell is successful, then the attack misses, and the caster appears in any place he could’ve reached with a single Move maneuver.

Cost: 3.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Backtrack.

Item
Jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000.

Timeheal
Regular

This spell pushes the subject’s body back in time, when it was in a better physical state. This heals back damage and all other additional effects of the last wound the subject has received, if the wounding happened within 2 seconds. For example, if the subject took a poisoned arrow two seconds ago, and did not receive any additional wounds afterwards, then this spell will heal all damage dealt by the arrow and negate poisoning.

Cost: 6.

Prerequisites: Magery 2, Minor Paradox.

Item
Staff or wand. Usable only by mages; the item must touch the subject. Energy cost to create: 2,000.

Time College in Ritual Magic

Path of Time
Spell Name	Source
No penalty (0 prerequisites)
Death Vision	M149
Detect Temporal Anomaly	New spell
Haste	M142
Tell Time	M100
-1 penalty (1 prerequisite)
Alarm	M100
Conceal Temporal Anomaly	New spell
Great Haste	M146
Hinder	M36
Quick March	M144
Recover Energy	M89
Tell Age	New spell
-2 penalty (2 prerequisites)
Decay	M77
Delay Image	New spell
Long March	M143
Mature	M78
Preserve Food	M79
Slow	M145
Slow Fall	M144
Slow Fire	M73
Summon Shade	M102
-3 penalty (3 prerequisites)
Fast Fire	M73
History	M106
Plant Growth	M162
Preserve Fuel/TL	M179
Time Snare	New spell
-4 penalty (4 prerequisites)
Ancient History	M106
Blossom	M162
Minor Paradox	New spell
Slow Metabolism	New spell
Temporal Disjunction	New spell
-5 penalty (5 prerequisites)
Accelerate Metabolism	New spell
Backtrack	New spell
Delayed Damage	New spell
Images of the Past	M107
Paradox	New spell
Prehistory	M106
Reflexes	M39
Slow Healing	M153
Timeheal	New spell
-6 penalty (6 prerequisites)
Echoes of the Past	M107
Magic Manager	New spell
Melee Manager	New spell
Reconstruct Spell	M106
Retrogression	M47
Stop Healing	M153
Temporal Wall	New spell
Time Walk	New spell
-7 penalty (7 prerequisites)
Flash Forward	New spell
Scents of the Past	M107
-8 penalty (8 prerequisites)
Halt Aging	M94
-9 penalty (9 prerequisites)
Ruin	M118
Youth	M94
-10 penalty (10 prerequisites)
Age	M86
-11 penalty (11 prerequisites)
Timeport	M81
-12 penalty (12 prerequisites)
Beacon (time only)	M83
Rapid Journey (time only)	M82
Timeport Other	M81
Trace Teleport (time only)	M84
-13 penalty (13 prerequisites)
Dimensional Dissection (time only)	MDS13
Divert Teleport (time only)	M84
Steal Youth	M158
Timeslip	M81
-14 penalty (14 prerequisites)
Timeslip Other	M81
-16 penalty (16 prerequisites)
Create Gate (time only)	M85
-20 penalty (20 prerequisites)
Accelerate Time	M86
Slow Time	M86
-21 penalty (21 prerequisites)
Suspend Time	M86
Time Out	M87
-22 penalty (22 prerequisites)
Temporal Stasis	New spell