Sorcery: Book Spells II

Sorcery: Book Spells II

Some more book spells. Compulsive Reader makes a book very addictive. Essential Paper transforms normal paper into magical paper. Illuminated Writing makes reading very immersive. Literary Hunger is a variant of the Hunger spell.

Compulsive Reader

Keywords: Buff.

Full Cost: 56 points.

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

Range: 100 yards.

Duration: Permanent.

This spell enchants a book so that a person who reads even a word inside it will feel a strong compulsion to continue studying it until he has read the entire thing. It has no effect on someone who cannot comprehend the language the book is written in. The victim gets a Will resistance roll. If he fails, he is compelled to do nothing but read until finished. He may make one an additional resistance roll if his life is in immediate danger. He will resist removing the book using his own ST, but if the book is destroyed or snatched away from him, the effect is broken.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Only on books, -50%; Advantage, Compulsive Reader, +340%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Increased 1/2D, 10x, +15%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, -15%) [56]. Note: “Compulsive Reader” is Affliction 1 (Will; Aura, +80%; Based on Will, +20%; Disadvantage, Compulsive Reading (No self-control, x2.5), +13%; Extended Duration, Permanent, +150%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Signature, +20%; Vision-Based, Variant, -20%) [34].

Essential Paper

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 4.5 points/level*.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Touch.

Duration: 10 seconds or permanent; see text.

This spell allows you to turn paper into the magical essence of paper. To do so, touch the matter you wish to transform, take a Concentrate maneuver and roll vs. IQ. Success means you transform the matter 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!

Transmutation costs 1 FP per use.

The final product 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. Note that a stack of 907 A4 sheets of paper weighs 10 lbs., so a single level of this spell is usually more than enough.

Essential Paper is three times as strong as and has twice the HP of regular paper. It is one step harder to ignite, but if lit burns three times as long. It does not become moldy even in damp, and thus is immune to the depredations of booklice and similar pests. Anyone using Writing, Poetry, Typing, or Artist (Drawing or Illumination) to compose a work on a page, book, or parchment that is made of Essential Paper adds +3 to his skill. The created work often seems unusually alive, ready to leap off the page. Paper airplanes made from essential paper fly three times as far as usual.

Essential paper is unstable. It reverts back 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 (e.g., melts naturally) 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 (Cosmic, Essential, +50%; Transmute Paper to Essential Paper, +50%; Transmutation Only, -100%; Magical, -10%) [4.5/level*].

* Calculate the total cost then round up.

  

Illuminated Writing

Keywords: None.

Full Cost: 6 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Indefinite.

When the caster reads a written work, whatever he reads comes to life in his head as if he were experiencing with all his senses. He is an observer, not a participant, so this is not dangerous, but can still call for a Fright Check. The caster does not read the words, but only experiences the writing, so he might not remember many exact wordings after he’s done with the book. Modify the casting roll for range penalties to the book (see p. B550). The caster must know the language of the book he is experiencing.

Any self-study that is performed with the aid of Illuminated Writing counts as twice as much study time as usual; any Research rolls are made at +3.

The caster can maintain this spell for as long as he wishes without further concentration. If he switches to another book, he must stop reading his current book and cast the spell again.

If he fails to cast, he may try again, at a cumulative -2 per repeated attempt on that book in the past hour. Should he critically fail, he cannot experience that book again for 24 hours.

Statistics: Mind Reading (Accessibility, Only on books, -50%; Sensory Only, -20%; Sorcery, -15%; Vision-Based, Variant, -20%) [6].

  

Literary Hunger

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 12 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: Instantaneous.

If the victim fails to resist, he takes 1d-2 fatigue damage after which he feels a longing for a good book. This FP can only be recovered by a day of reading a work of literature that the person has never read before. The spell has no effect on someone who cannot read.

Statistics: Fatigue Attack 1d-2 (Will; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Sorcery, ‑15%; Starvation, Variant, +40%) [12].