Spellcasting
Magic is a vital element of the fantasy genre and an important part of many characters. In the Gateway setting spell casting ability is relatively rare so we require that the character choose “Caster” as their Heroic Trait.
This section contains the rules for Casters.
When a character takes Caster as their Heroic Trait, they also acquire the “Magic” as a Skill, at Rank 1. It may be improved like any other Skill (refer to the Campaigning section for details). If they chose to take both the Caster and Prodigy Heroic Traits they begin with Magic at Rank 3. It is the only way to begin with a Magic Skill higher than Rank 1.
The Magic Skill may be used to invoke the power of certain magic items. The most common instance of this is Spell Scrolls which require a Magic skill test to use.
To use Magic Skill to cast spells without a magic item you will need to take at least one of the "Discipline" Feats in the Magic Feats section. A "Discipline" is a kind of spell you can cast that has specific spell effects. The Disciplines are described in their own section.
You can only take Disciplines that suit your Tradition.
Tradition is the style of magic your character practices, which is defined during character creation. Traditions are explained HERE
Amy wants to create an Elven Mage so she begins by taking Nonhuman as her Heroic Trait. Nonhuman allows her to take a second Trait so she takes Caster which gives her the Skill "Magic" at Rank 1.
For her Tradition she decides on "gifted amateur" which she defines as having untrained powers whose source isn't clear to her. She needs to concentrate to use them so may need to make a Resolve test when distracted. Magic also tires her out and gives her strange dreams. She checks with the staff to see if this will work and they give her the go ahead.
Moving on to Disadvantages she has to take Nonhuman but has to take a second one to balance out "Caster". She chooses "Fragile" which reduces her Wound Capacity to 2. She isn't planning on doing a lot of fighting. so she figures this will be all right.
Looking over the Skills she decides Influence, Linguist, Lore, Perception, Agility and Resolve are important to her. She will start with Lore 3, Agility 2, Influence 2, Linguist 1, Perception 1, Resolve 1. She was already granted Magic 1 by her Caster Trait so she didn't need to assign a Rank to it.
Moving on to Feats she knows she wants a Form so she can use her Magic Skill to cast spells but because she only has Magic at Rank 1 she can only have 1 Form. She takes the Healing Feat which gives her access to the Lesser version of the Healing Form. She chooses Arcana as her other Feat.
She has a lot of room to grow, probably starting with increasing her Magic Skill Rank and buying an additional Form or two.
Casting Spells
Casting a spell requires a Magic Skill roll against a Difficulty specified by the Form being used. The Form will also explain the effects should the caster succeed and the consequences of failure.
Backfire
Some spells can “Backfire” which means the caster takes 1 or more Wounds if they fail the Magic skill test to cast them (all three dice are lower than the Difficulty).
There are minor magic items called “Backfire Wards” that you can expend when your character is supposed to suffer Backfire damage to take 1 less Wound than whatever was indicated.
Manna Burn
Mortal bodies are not made to channel powerful magic, and unless the user is careful they may be hurt by the power they call up. This is known as Manna Burn; many Magical Abilities require you to risk Manna Burn when you use them.
When you use an ability that risks Manna Burn, you must play Rock/Paper/Scissors against the moderator (or another player). The ability works as normal regardless of the Manna Burn result.
If you win, you use the ability unharmed by the power you channel.
If you tie, you take one wound.
If you lose, you are reduced to a single wound unless you are already at 1 wound, in which case you fall unconscious with 0 wounds and must immediately make a Death Save.