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Manipulation Spells

Manipulation spells control, animate, or transform matter and energy. There are a number of keywords for manipulation spells.

Damaging: Manipulation spells that cause damage have a Damage Value equal to their Force (unaltered by hits on the Spellcasting test) and 0 Ap. The damage is resisted with Body + Armor.

Mental: Targets resist these spells with Logic + Willpower. Keep track of your net hits, as they determine how long you can sustain the spell. While the spell is sustained, the target may take a Complex Action on their turn to resist by making a Logic + Willpower Test with a dice pool penalty equal to the spell’s Force; every hit the target gets reduces the caster’s net hits by 1. The one being controlled can take this action even if they wouldn’t get an action because of the spell. The spell ends when your net hits are reduced to zero. A victim of mental manipulation spell may roll to notice the magical effect according to the usual rules for Perceiving Magic (p. 280). Some of the less subtle mental spells (Control Actions) are pretty obvious, but more subtle spells (like Control Thoughts) can be pretty insidious.

Environmental: These spells don’t really have a target, and they don’t really affect targets directly. They just affect an area.

Physical: These spells affect physical forms and are usually defended against with a living target’s Body + Strength or an inanimate object’s Object Resistance dice pool.

Manipulation Spells Type Duration Range Drain
Animate Physical S LOS F - 1
Armor Physical S LOS F - 2
Control Actions Mana, Mental S LOS F - 1
Control Thoughts Mana, Mental S LOS F - 1
Fling Physical, Damaging I LOS F - 2
Ice Sheet Physical, Environmental, Area I LOS(A) F
Ignite Physical P LOS F - 1
Influence Mana, Mental P LOS F - 1
Levitate Physical S LOS F - 2
Light Physical, Environmental, Area S LOS(A) F - 4
Magic Fingers Physical S LOS F - 2
Mana Barrier Mana, Environmental, Area S LOS(A) F - 2
Mass Animate Physical, Area S LOS(A) F + 1
Mob Control Mana, Mental, Area S LOS(A) F + 1
Mob Mind Mana, Mental, Area S LOS(A) F + 1
Physical Barrier Physical, Environmental, Area S LOS(A) F - 1
Poltergeist Physical, Environmental, Area S LOS(A) F - 2
Shadow Physical, Environmental, Area S LOS(A) F - 3


Animate

Mass Animate

This spell causes inanimate objects to move. The object moves according to its structure (balls can roll, rugs may crawl, humanoid statues can walk, and so on). The spell imparts a limited flexibility, allowing solid objects such as statues to shamble a bit as if they had joints. You need to get net successes against the target’s Object Resistance (p. 295); larger items (over 200 kilograms) have their resistance increased by 2 for every full 200 kilos they weigh. Controlling the object takes only a Simple Action; objects can also be ordered to maintain their movement while you direct your attention elsewhere. You only have rough control over the object’s movement and can’t manipulate individual parts or components (finer control requires a spell like Magic Fingers, p. 294). The maximum movement rate for objects is (Force) meters per turn, subject to the gamemaster’s discretion. If the object is held by someone else, you need to win an Opposed Test using Force x 2 against the holder’s Strength + Body to break the object free. If it’s fastened, make this Force x 2 Success Test against an appropriate gamemaster-determined threshold. Animate affects a single non-living object; Mass Animate is an area spell that can get a number of objects moving at once (like a room full of brooms, for example).

Armor

This spell creates a glowing field of magical energy around the subject that protects against Physical Damage. It provides Armor equal to the hits scored and is cumulative with other armor. It is not included in any calculations to determine armor encumbrance (see Armor and Encumbrance, p. 169).

Control Actions

Mob Control

You control the physical actions of your target like a puppeteer pulling strings. The victim’s consciousness is unaffected, but you control the victim’s body. Use your own skills when forcing your target to perform actions. It takes a Complex Action to make the target perform any action. Control Actions only affects a single target, Mob Control affects any living targets within the area of effect. Victims of Mob Control may be manipulated individually (with separate actions) or issued the same command as a group (with a single action).

Control Thoughts

Mob Mind

The magician seizes control of the target’s mind, directing everything the target thinks. The magician mentally gives commands with a Standard Action, and the target is compelled to obey as if it were his own idea. Control Thoughts affects a single target, while Mob Mind affects any living targets within the area of effect. Victims of a Mob Mind may be manipulated individually (with separate actions) or issued the same command as a group (with a single action).

Fling

This spell psychokinetically hurls a single object of no more than (Force) kilograms at a designated target. Use your Spellcasting Test in place of a normal Ranged Combat Test for the purposes of the item hitting the target, and use your Magic instead of Strength for determining Damage Value and range. Use standard grenade ranges (see Range Table, p. 185)

Ice Sheet

This spell creates a slippery sheet of ice over the area of effect. Characters crossing the ice must make an Agility + Reaction Test with a threshold equal to the hits you score to avoid falling prone. Vehicles must make an immediate Crash Test (p. 201). The sheet melts at a rate of 1 square meter per minute at room temperature (faster when it’s hotter, slower when it’s colder, or not at all if it’s below freezing).

Ignite

The Ignite spell accelerates molecular motion in the target, causing it to catch fire once the spell becomes permanent. Against non-living targets, the magician must succeed against the target’s Object Resistance dice pool. Once the target ignites, it burns normally until it is consumed or extinguished. Against living targets, treat Ignite as a Spellcasting + Magic [Force] v. Body + Reaction Test. If successful, the spell wraps a living target in heat and flames, eventually setting the target on fire (Fire Damage p. 171).

Influence

You implant a single suggestion in the victim’s mind, like a powerful post-hypnotic command. For example, you might have your target think that FizzyFluid is the best drink on the market, or that he can’t remember his best friend’s name, or that he should let you past a locked door. The target carries out this suggestion as if it were his own idea. If confronted with the wrongness of the suggestion (like when the reality of the flavor of FizzyFluid in his mouth contrasts with his belief that it’s good), the subject can attempt to overcome it using the rules for overcoming mental manipulations (p. 292). In any case, the suggestion fades naturally after a number of minutes equal to your net hits.

Levitate

Levitate allows you to telekinetically lift a person or object and move it around. You have to beat a threshold equal to the subject’s mass divided by 200 kilograms, rounded up. The subject of the spell can be moved anywhere in your line of sight at a movement rate equal to the spell’s Force in meters per Combat Turn. If you’re trying to levitate an item held by a living being, or levitate an unwilling living being, that being can defend against the Spellcasting Test with Strength + Body. You can use this spell to levitate yourself, if you need a view from a higher perspective or desire some parachute-free sky diving.

Light

This spell creates a mobile point of light, illuminating a radius around it equal to the spell’s Force in meters. The spell cannot be used to blind a target, but it offsets darkness visibility modifiers. Each hit on the Spellcasting Test counters a –1 die penalty due to light conditions.

Magic Fingers

Magic Fingers creates a psychokinetic effect as a sort of invisible hand that can hold or manipulate items. The hits on the Spellcasting + Magic Test become the spell’s effective Strength and Agility. You can use skills remotely with Magic Fingers, replacing your inherent limits with the spell’s Force. The spell has problems with fine control, so even simple actions such as picking up a coin may require a test (at the gamemaster’s discretion). You can fight, pick a lock, or perform any other action, using the magic fingers as if they were your real hands. The magic fingers can manipulate objects within your line of sight, but only objects within a meter or so of one another at any given moment (the “hands” can’t be farther away from each other than your arm span). This spell comes in very handy (no pun intended) for disarming bombs and handling other hazardous work from a safe distance.

Mana Barrier

Mana Barrier creates an invisible barrier of magical energy. It has a barrier rating equal to the net hits scored and follows the rules for mana barriers (p. 315). This barrier does not restrict living beings or physical objects, but it impedes spirits, foci, dual beings, and spells on the plane in which you cast it (physical or astral). If cast on the astral plane, it also impedes astral forms and reduces visibility.

Physical Barrier

This spell creates a glowing, translucent force field with 1 point of both Armor and Structure rating per hit. You can form the barrier as a dome with a radius and height equal to the spell’s normal radius. Alternately, you can use it to form a wall with a height equal to the spell’s Force and a length equal to its Force x 2. Physical Barrier creates a physical wall. Anything the size of a molecule (or less) can pass through the barrier, including air or other gases. Anything bigger treats the barrier as a normal physical wall. The wall is translucent but shimmers, the equivalent of Light Fog (p. 175). The barrier does not impede spellcasting (other than visibility penalties), except for spells with physical components like indirect combat spells. The barrier can be brought down by physical attacks, but as long as you sustain it will regenerate all of its Structure Rating at the beginning of each Combat Turn. If the barrier is reduced to Structure Rating 0, it collapses and the spell ends.

Poltergeist

Poltergeist picks up all small objects (up to a kilogram in mass) within the spell’s area and whirls them around in random patterns. This creates the equivalent visibility penalty of Light Fog (p. 175). The spell inflicts 2 boxes of Stun damage (resisted with Body + Armor) to anyone in the area each Combat Turn, whacking them with flying debris. Poltergeist may do more damage in cluttered environments, or inflict Physical damage if the gamemaster feels the debris is sufficiently dangerous (broken glass and nails, for example). If there is no debris lying around, this spell doesn’t do much more than make a spooky noise.

Shadow

Shadow creates a globe of darkness with a radius equal to the spell’s Force in meters. For every two hits, increase the light penalty (p. 175) by one catagory—2 hits for Partial Light, 4 hits for Dim Light, and 6 hits for Total Darkness.