Sorcery: Water Spells

Sorcery: Water Spells

The College of Water contains many Weather spells, and some Air and Earth spells as well. I've converted all the Acid and Ice spells already, so let's get to the liquid water spells! Create Water and Essential Water are useful to slake thirst. Purify Water is extremely important when only saltwater is available. Destroy Water can gradually drain even a large container. Shape Water is good for sculpting ice. Seek Water is useful in deserts, and Seek Coastline is a spell for seafarers. Water Vision can reveal hidden places in ice caverns.

Create Water

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 5.5 points/level*.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Permanent.

This spell allows you to create pure water. To do so, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll vs. IQ. Success means the water coalesces in hand or within arm’s reach (for example, within a flask you are holding). Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means the creation happens, but in a way that’s inconvenient or dangerous – the GM should be creative!

The produced water can weigh up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.

Statistics: Create Water (Magical, -10%; Reduced Fatigue Cost 1, +20%) [5.5/level*].

* Calculate the total cost and round up.

Destroy Water

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 5.5 points/level*.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Instantaneous.

This spell allows you to destroy water (including ice and steam). To destroy water, you must touch it (or stand amidst it, for liquid water), take a Concentrate maneuver, and pay 1 FP. Then make an IQ roll. Success means the target is gone. This spell only affects inanimate objects.

The destroyed water can weigh up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.

Statistics: Create Water (Destruction Only, +0%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Fatigue Cost 1, +20%) [5.5/level*].

* Calculate the total cost and round up.

Essential Water

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 8 points/level.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: 10 seconds or permanent; see text.

This spell allows you to create essential water. It extinguishes any type of fire in the same proportion that ordinary water extinguishes ordinary fire. It is also three times as thirst-quenching as ordinary water – in other words, a mere quart of Essential Water will keep someone hydrated for a full day of exertion in hot climates (p. B426). To do so, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll vs. IQ. Success means the essential water coalesces in hand or within arm’s reach (for example, within a flask you are holding). Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means the creation happens, but in a way that’s inconvenient or dangerous – the GM should be creative!

The produced essential water can weigh up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.

Created essential water is unstable. It vanishes in 10 seconds unless you use character points to “stabilize” it. Each point spent stabilizes a quantity worth 10% of the campaign’s average starting wealth. (This is just the tradeoff used for Trading Points for Money, p. B26.) The GM determines the cash value per pound of matter.

Points spent to stabilize matter come from your “Creation Pool,” a number of points set aside for the purpose. You can’t apply any modifiers to these points. Points used to stabilize matter are unavailable until reclaimed – which causes the matter to vanish. If the matter is crafted into an object, the item is unmade when the matter vanishes. If the matter is mixed with other materials (e.g., alloyed), you must separate it to reclaim your points; this can be a tedious process. If it’s destroyed or transformed (e.g., eaten), you can’t reclaim your points – they’re gone. You can increase your Creation Pool with unspent points at any time.

Statistics: Create Water (Cosmic, Essential Element, +50%; Magical, -10%; Reduced Fatigue Cost 1, +20%) [8/level].

Purify Water

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 1 points/level.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: Permanent.

This spell removes all impurities from water, rendering it drinkable. To cast the spell, the caster touches the water he wishes to purify, takes a Concentrate maneuver and rolls vs. IQ. Success means he purifies it successfully. Failure means nothing happens. Critical failure means the transformation happens, but in a way that’s inconvenient or dangerous – the GM should be creative!

Purification costs 1 FP per use.

The caster can purify an amount of water weighing up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. – 10 lbs. at level 1, 40 lbs. at level 2, 90 lbs. at level 3, and so on.

Statistics: Create (Accessibility, Only to transform into drinkable water, -20%; Transmute Water to Water, +50%; Transmutation Only, -100%; Magical, -10%) [1/level].

   

Seek Coastline

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 51 points.

Casting Roll: Per. Use IQ for analysis.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

After casting, the GM rolls against the sorcerer’s Per, with a penalty based on the distance to the nearest coastline. Use the long-distance modifiers. If successful, the caster knows the exact distance and direction to the coastline, and may make a follow-up IQ roll (at no penalty) to learn basic details about it.

Any known coastlines may be excluded if the caster mentions them before casting.

Statistics: Detect Coastline (Long-Range 1, +50%; Precise, +100%; Selective Effect, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [51].

Seek Water

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 62 points or 77 points.

Casting Roll: Per. Use IQ for analysis.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

After casting, the GM rolls against the sorcerer’s Per, with a penalty based on the distance to the nearest significant amount of water. The basic (62-point) version of this spell takes standard range penalties. The improved (77-point) one uses long-distance modifiers. If successful, the caster knows the exact distance and direction to the source of water, and may make a follow-up IQ roll (at no penalty) to learn basic details about it (e.g., “it’s a bottle of water” or “it’s a pond”).

Any known sources of water may be excluded if the caster mentions them before casting.

Statistics: Detect Water (Precise, +100%; Selective Effect, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [62]. The improved version adds Long-Range 1 (+50%) [+15].

Shape Water

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 25 points/level.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Indefinite.

You can shape and move a particular mass of water (including steam or ice). The higher your level of Shape Water, the larger the quantity you can affect. You can affect up to 10 x (level squared) lbs. of water in the form of a single object or amorphous mass or a circular area of steam with a radius equal to the spell’s level in yards. For example, Shape Water 3 would let you affect a 90-lb. ice sculpture or even 90 lbs. of water in a tub.

Shape Water doesn’t work on complex, manufactured artifacts unless they’re made almost entirely of water (or ice, usually). You could affect an ice spear, but not a complex mechanism with only a few ice parts.

If your target is already under someone else’s direct control, roll a Quick Contest. You roll against IQ; they roll against IQ if using Control or Telekinesis, their skill level if using a spell, and so on. You must win to establish control. Likewise, others can overpower your spell by winning a Quick Contest against your IQ.

After establishing control, you can reshape the target. Forming a simple shape (blob, column, sphere, etc.) requires a Concentrate maneuver but no die roll. If the result is meant to be beautiful or functional, though, the GM may deem the effort a long task (see p. B346) and require skill rolls against Armoury, Artist, Machinist, and so on. You can work without tools, but you must know what you’re doing.

You can also cause the target to elongate or flow at a Move equal to your Control level. This requires constant concentration. You can make a solid ice object ooze, roll, or seep along the ground or a surface, and even reshape it in ways that defy gravity.

When you stop concentrating, you immediately give up control. Stable forms become permanent, while unstable ones collapse instantly.

Defensively, Shape Water lets you move or shape water to obstruct attacks. This requires a Concentrate maneuver. Such barriers give whatever cover the material normally provides. For instance, it might let you shape an ice table into armor with the DR of ice by making an Armoury roll.

Offensively, Shape Water is more limited. By concentrating, you can move an existing ice object to impede your enemy’s movement, like any object of that weight. In all cases, your foe can dodge.

If a foe is standing in an area where you control water, – or if you can move water onto him – you may inflict combat penalties on him. This requires flexibility on the GM’s part: Shape Water 10 might cause water if your foe is standing in water good for -10 to attack rolls. Tricks like this require a Concentrate maneuver and an IQ or Tactics roll.

Statistics: Control Water (Ranged, +40%; Sorcery, -15%) [25/level].

Water Vision

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 17 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level.

Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Gaze) to aim.

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Three minutes.

This spell lets the subject see through water (including ice, snow, and steam). Each level of this spell allows the subject to see through up to six inches of water. The subject can just barely see the outline of the substance he is looking through – not enough to impair vision in any way. This spell automatically works in conjunction with all of the subject’s other vision advantages (Infravision, Ultravision, etc.).

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Advantage, Water Vision 1, +50%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [17]. Additional levels add further Water Vision to the Advantage enhancement [+5]. Note: Each level of “Water Vision” is Penetrating Vision 1 (Magical, -10%; Specific, Water, -40%) [5].