Sorcery: Psychic Spellcasting

Sorcery: Psychic Spellcasting

Sorcery can be modified to represent psychic spellcasting from Pathfinder. When Occult Adventures for Pathfinder have been released, at first, I was not very pleased with the system, but I have grown to like it.

First, psychic spells are purely mental. The sorcerer does not have to wave his arms around or chant, so he is forced to pay FP. Alternative Rituals are out of question. On the other hand, a psychic spellcaster must have full control over his thoughts and emotions to cast spell. He cannot cast spells if he is berserk, if his emotions or thoughts are being externally controlled, if he is suffering a shock penalty, and 5 seconds after getting stunned or frightened. This is equivalent to the Nuisance Effect, Cannot cast after having emotions tampered with, -5% limitation that is applied the Psychic power modifier for spells. Since we have to replace the Magical limitation that is included with Sorcerous Empowerment, we have to include an additional limitation to have the cost of the advantage remain unchanged. Let’s make it Costs Fatigue, 2 FP, -10% only for Sorcerous Empowerment – improvisation costs 2 FP.

Second, FP cost should not be always 1 FP. This will add a bit of bookkeeping, but is useful for balancing powerful spells, such as Teleport. The same applies to casting times.

Third, the caster’s spell repertoire must be limited to psychic spells. As psychic magic covers interactions between minds, souls, connections, spirits, and so on, this is roughly equivalent to four colleges – Communication and Empathy, Knowledge, Mind Control, and Necromancy with a sprinkle of Movement spells for telekinesis. This applies the Limited Scope, Psychic, -10% limitation to Sorcerous Empowerment.

The psychic spellcaster’s need for deep concentration is also represented by applying the All-Out, -25% limitation to all spells, but not the Sorcerous Empowerment advantage. This replaces required Attack maneuvers with All-Out Attack, and Concentrate with All-Out Concentrate.

After all adjustments, Sorcerous Empowerment (Psychic) costs 18 points for level 1 + 9 points/additional level, and the Psychic power modifier has a -30% value.

SPELLS

Ancient History

Keywords: Information.

Full Cost: 6 points.

Casting Roll: IQ.

Cost: 1 FP.

Casting Time: 1 minute.

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 minute, 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%; Costs 1 FP, -5%; Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, -30%; Sensitive, +30%; Psychic, -30%) [6].

Hallucination

Keywords: Resisted (Will).

Full Cost: 30 points.

Casting Roll: Will.

Cost: 1 FP.

Casting Time: 1 second.

Range: Unlimited.

Duration: 1 minute.

The subject hallucinates (p. B429) for 1 minute.

Statistics: Affliction 1 (Will; Based on Will, +20%; Costs 1 FP, -5%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Hallucinating, +50%; Malediction 2, +150%; No Signature, +20%; Psychic, -30%; Reduced Duration, 1/3, -10%) [30].