----- ATTACKING -----
So... dice rolls, right? Regularly... magic will be using Wisdom. BUT... (here comes the modifiers.), in this this game, you will ... (upon further consideration) be doing the same.
If your attack consists of swinging stuff at people (e.g. spears, boulder fists, flaming sword of fire), you need a Might roll.
If you are throwing stuff/using ranged weapons (e.g. ethereal bows, throwing knifes), Agility.
If you are using direct casting (e.g. bolts of arcane energy, fireballs, spontaneous combustion), Wisdom.
Don't worry, spell success tend to be quite... lenient. Unless you are doing special-snowflake stuff like the Ascendant Greater Firestorm of Divine Incineration, which in that case would either require PP... or if you lack PP, an additional Wisdom roll for ... "meddling with the world unprepared".
Now you might think: "Why the hell shouldn't I play pure Wis? Heck, why doesn't EVERYONE play pure Wis? Or ranged, for that matter."
Reason? Firstly, casting spells require PP. Which DO recover when resting, don't worry. Secondly, the enemies are not IDIOTS. They WILL do threat assessment. If you are lobbing HUGE amounts of damage, you attract their attention, and if they can reach you, they WILL hit you. (Or die trying.) Secondly...
----- DEFENDING -----
Yes. When its your enemy's turn to attack, you can roll for defence afterwards. So, HOW do you defend?
Well, really depends on a few things. Firstly, what's in your hands right now? If there's a melee weapon? Well, congratulations, you can block (Might). Ranged weapon? Let's NOT put your preciously fragile weapon in the line of fire, shall we? Try dodging (Agility). But do try and keep up, will ya?
Now, what if you played the vanilla squishy wizard type? Your hands are empty, you are wearing your best silk robes that can barely cover your boobies (or man-boobies), and you haven't exercised for the greater part of last century? Introducing... the magic shield! Promising the same defensive capability as the other two types, it caters to the truly non-athletic magic user. Just stand on one spot, throw up your hands (which must be free and empty), and hope your PP keeps up.
*****
To sum up:
To block - Might, and you must have a melee weapon/shield/armour. Its subtractive, i.e. Damage taken = Enemy attack - Player block.
To dodge - Agility, and go nuts everyone. But you need to roll 1 more than the incoming attack.
To shield - Wisdom, and subtractive... on PP FIRST.
(+ relevant traits, of course.)
----- COMBAT SEQUENCE -----
*****
Friendly Attack Phase:
1) Player make action
2) Targeted enemy defends
3) Repeat for rest of the party
Enemy Attack Phase:
1) All enemy make action (Seriously, wait for them to finish).
2) Targeted players defends
----- SUMMON MAGIC -----
So, you fancy yourself a budding evoker/necromancer/demonologist do you? Don't even think about building an army. For one, FT mini limit. Secondly, it's OP, isn't it? Hmmmm... (--deadpan stare --)
Here's how it goes. You have ONE trait (could be starting, could be added later on as you level), that grants summoning. Yes. One. So, the maximum trait level would be... 3. Now, I'm certain at least *some* of you would like to summon more than one. We shall do it this way:
*****
Your minions, be they summons or raised undead, have ranks. Rank 1 to 3, with 1 being the weakest, and 3 being the strongest (GM's discretion). You may raise minions with total ranking equal to the level of your summoning trait.
I.E.
(Note: Trait names are for illustration purposes only.)
A Necromancer (1) can only raise a measly Rank 1 Skeleton.
A Demonologist (2) can summon two measly Rank 1 Imps, or if you are feeling naughty, a Rank 2 Succubus.
A Chaos sorcerer (3), for whatever reason you are doing in London, can summon three Rank 1 Daemonic Creatures, a Rank 3 Greater Daemon, or to mix things up, a Rank 1 Daemonic Creature AND a Rank 2 Lesser Daemon.
*****
You can only summon ONE being per turn, and the number of stars necessary is 1 more than the rank of the being you are trying to summon. After all, you are trying to subvert the being's will.
*****
And just in case it wasn't clear: Ranks are GM decisions. If I decide that your Earth golem is Rank 2, but your Frost Atronach is Rank 3, they are. Stats WILL be scaled accordingly, so don't worry. But of course, don't complain either if your Frost Atronach is weak to fire. It's a Frost Atronach. --Deadpan stare--
----- MIND MAGICS -----
*****
Is your target a spineless worm? If not, they will be trying to resist. Generally speaking, you need 2 stars to take control, and 1 star to maintain control (i.e. issue commands). Subject to circumstance, of course. I can't possibly have you puppeteering a Greater Daemon, right?
----- RITUALS -----
*****
Hmm... teamwork. Don't we all just *love* that? --sarcasm dripping--
Huge magic circle, check. 13 mages, check. Full moon, check. Menstrual blood of seven virgins, check. So, you think you can do rituals?
Good news, yes. Bad news, it's BLOODY expensive to do even one. So don't do it unless a) you have a DAMN good reason (and an equally impressive intended outcome) and b) you are actually, logically, able to organise one.
Rituals are HUGE events in magic. It's like... an AGM in terms of scale. You need space, manpower, special trinklets and thingabobbies, and most importantly, concentration. So, no on-the-fly emergency mid-battle raindances, and you jolly well have full PP. Because the ritual, will drain EVERYTHING. Yes, you heard it right. It will drain everything. Of course, seeing as you are doing it outside of battle, that won't be an issue.
Unless you get ambushed. But *that*, is a whole new ball game altogether.
----- ATTACKING -----
So... dice rolls, right? Regularly... magic will be using Wisdom. BUT... (here comes the modifiers.), in this this game, you will ... (upon further consideration) be doing the same.
If your attack consists of swinging stuff at people (e.g. spears, boulder fists, flaming sword of fire), you need a Might roll.
If you are throwing stuff/using ranged weapons (e.g. ethereal bows, throwing knifes), Agility.
If you are using direct casting (e.g. bolts of arcane energy, fireballs, spontaneous combustion), Wisdom.
Don't worry, spell success tend to be quite... lenient. Unless you are doing special-snowflake stuff like the Ascendant Greater Firestorm of Divine Incineration, which in that case would either require PP... or if you lack PP, an additional Wisdom roll for ... "meddling with the world unprepared".
Now you might think: "Why the hell shouldn't I play pure Wis? Heck, why doesn't EVERYONE play pure Wis? Or ranged, for that matter."
Reason? Firstly, casting spells require PP. Which DO recover when resting, don't worry. Secondly, the enemies are not IDIOTS. They WILL do threat assessment. If you are lobbing HUGE amounts of damage, you attract their attention, and if they can reach you, they WILL hit you. (Or die trying.) Secondly...
----- DEFENDING -----
Yes. When its your enemy's turn to attack, you can roll for defence afterwards. So, HOW do you defend?
Well, really depends on a few things. Firstly, what's in your hands right now? If there's a melee weapon? Well, congratulations, you can block (Might). Ranged weapon? Let's NOT put your preciously fragile weapon in the line of fire, shall we? Try dodging (Agility). But do try and keep up, will ya?
Now, what if you played the vanilla squishy wizard type? Your hands are empty, you are wearing your best silk robes that can barely cover your boobies (or man-boobies), and you haven't exercised for the greater part of last century? Introducing... the magic shield! Promising the same defensive capability as the other two types, it caters to the truly non-athletic magic user. Just stand on one spot, throw up your hands (which must be free and empty), and hope your PP keeps up.
*****
To sum up:
To block - Might, and you must have a melee weapon/shield/armour. Its subtractive, i.e. Damage taken = Enemy attack - Player block.
To dodge - Agility, and go nuts everyone. But you need to roll 1 more than the incoming attack.
To shield - Wisdom, and subtractive... on PP FIRST.
(+ relevant traits, of course.)
----- COMBAT SEQUENCE -----
*****
Friendly Attack Phase:
1) Player make action
2) Targeted enemy defends
3) Repeat for rest of the party
Enemy Attack Phase:
1) All enemy make action (Seriously, wait for them to finish).
2) Targeted players defends
----- SUMMON MAGIC -----
So, you fancy yourself a budding evoker/necromancer/demonologist do you? Don't even think about building an army. For one, FT mini limit. Secondly, it's OP, isn't it? Hmmmm... (--deadpan stare --)
Here's how it goes. You have ONE trait (could be starting, could be added later on as you level), that grants summoning. Yes. One. So, the maximum trait level would be... 3. Now, I'm certain at least *some* of you would like to summon more than one. We shall do it this way:
*****
Your minions, be they summons or raised undead, have ranks. Rank 1 to 3, with 1 being the weakest, and 3 being the strongest (GM's discretion). You may raise minions with total ranking equal to the level of your summoning trait.
I.E.
(Note: Trait names are for illustration purposes only.)
A Necromancer (1) can only raise a measly Rank 1 Skeleton.
A Demonologist (2) can summon two measly Rank 1 Imps, or if you are feeling naughty, a Rank 2 Succubus.
A Chaos sorcerer (3), for whatever reason you are doing in London, can summon three Rank 1 Daemonic Creatures, a Rank 3 Greater Daemon, or to mix things up, a Rank 1 Daemonic Creature AND a Rank 2 Lesser Daemon.
*****
You can only summon ONE being per turn, and the number of stars necessary is 1 more than the rank of the being you are trying to summon. After all, you are trying to subvert the being's will.
*****
And just in case it wasn't clear: Ranks are GM decisions. If I decide that your Earth golem is Rank 2, but your Frost Atronach is Rank 3, they are. Stats WILL be scaled accordingly, so don't worry. But of course, don't complain either if your Frost Atronach is weak to fire. It's a Frost Atronach. --Deadpan stare--
----- MIND MAGICS -----
*****
Is your target a spineless worm? If not, they will be trying to resist. Generally speaking, you need 2 stars to take control, and 1 star to maintain control (i.e. issue commands). Subject to circumstance, of course. I can't possibly have you puppeteering a Greater Daemon, right?
----- RITUALS -----
*****
Hmm... teamwork. Don't we all just *love* that? --sarcasm dripping--
Huge magic circle, check. 13 mages, check. Full moon, check. Menstrual blood of seven virgins, check. So, you think you can do rituals?
Good news, yes. Bad news, it's BLOODY expensive to do even one. So don't do it unless a) you have a DAMN good reason (and an equally impressive intended outcome) and b) you are actually, logically, able to organise one.
Rituals are HUGE events in magic. It's like... an AGM in terms of scale. You need space, manpower, special trinklets and thingabobbies, and most importantly, concentration. So, no on-the-fly emergency mid-battle raindances, and you jolly well have full PP. Because the ritual, will drain EVERYTHING. Yes, you heard it right. It will drain everything. Of course, seeing as you are doing it outside of battle, that won't be an issue.
Unless you get ambushed. But *that*, is a whole new ball game altogether.