Sorcery: Spells of the Past

Sorcery: Spells of the Past

The following spells are based on Psychometry. They determine an object's or a place's past, or replay past events from the object's point of view. These spells are useful for sorcerous investigators and archeologists.

  

Ancient History

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 16 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

When cast on any inanimate object (or a 1-yard-radius section of a large object), Ancient History lets the caster get a general impression of an item’s history over a much greater time.

To cast Ancient History, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred the same day, -1 for one that occurred up to 10 days ago, -2 if up to 100 days ago, -3 if up to 3 years ago, -4 if up to 30 years ago, -5 if up to 300 years ago, and so on. The limit is 1,000 years.

On a success, you receive the general impression of an item’s history. On a critical success, you experience an actual vision. No matter how well you roll, you cannot detect magic, spirits, etc. Still, a magic item, ghostly haunt, or ritual site is likely to have an emotionally charged history, giving strong impressions.

On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Limited to 1,000 years of the past, -5%; Accessibility, Only a general impression, -10%; Active Only, -20%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%) [16].

History

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 15 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

When cast on any inanimate object (or a 1-yard-radius section of a large object), History lets the caster determine the recent past of that object, user’s personality, and so on – but no names!

To cast History, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred the same day, -1 for one that occurred up to 10 days ago, -2 if up to 100 days ago, -3 if up to 1 year ago.

On a success, you receive the general sense of emotions and events tied to the object or place. On a critical success, you experience an actual vision. No matter how well you roll, you cannot detect magic, spirits, etc. Still, a magic item, ghostly haunt, or ritual site is likely to have an emotionally charged history, giving strong impressions.

On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Limited to 1 year in the past, -20%; Active Only, -20%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%) [15].

Images of the Past

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 41 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Indefinite.

When cast on a mirror or reflective surface, this spell “plays back” whatever images it may have “seen” in the past.

To cast Images of the Past, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred the same day, -1 for one that occurred up to 10 days ago, -2 if up to 100 days ago, -3 if up to 3 years ago, -4 if up to 30 years ago, -5 if up to 300 years ago, and so on.

A successful use of this spell gives you an actual “replay” of events. On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Must be cast on a reflective surface, -20%; Accessibility, Visual Only, -10%; Active Only, -20%; Affects Others, +50%; Immersive, +100%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%; Visible, -10%) [41]. Notes: Affects Others makes it so others can see the playback of the spell. This affects any number of nearby subjects without requiring the usual multiple levels of that trait. This is a fair trade-off since this ability is so limited.

Prehistory

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 17 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

When cast on any inanimate object (or a 1-yard-radius section of a large object), Prehistory lets the caster get a very general impression of an item’s history over a period of millennia.

To cast Prehistory, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred 3,000 years ago, -1 for one that occurred up to 30,000 years ago, -2 if up to 300,000 years ago, -3 if up to 3,000,000 years ago, and so on.

On a success, you receive the very general impression of an item’s history. The age and function of an item can always be determined, but unless the item took part in an important event, age and function may be the only information available. On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Only a very general impression, -40%; Active Only, -20%; Reliable 6, +30%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%) [17].

Scents of the Past

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 35 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Indefinite.

When cast on a wall or some object, this spell releases whatever scents it may have been exposed to in the past.

To cast Scents of the Past, you must touch the subject item or location, concentrate for one second, and make an IQ roll. This roll is at no penalty for an event that occurred the same day, -1 for one that occurred up to 10 days ago, -2 if up to 100 days ago, -3 if up to 3 years ago, -4 if up to 30 years ago, -5 if up to 300 years ago, and so on.

A successful use of this spell gives you an actual “replay” of the scents. On a failure, you receive no impressions at all, and cannot attempt to read that object or place again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Psychometry (Accessibility, Scents Only, -60%; Active Only, -20%; Affects Others, +50%; Immersive, +100%; Nuisance Effects, Can be smelled, -10%; Sensitive, +30%; Sorcery, -15%) [35]. Notes: Nuisance Effect, Can be smelled, -10% is priced the same as Visible, -10%. Affects Others makes it so others can smell the playback of the spell. This affects any number of nearby subjects without requiring the usual multiple levels of that trait. This is a fair trade-off since this ability is so limited.