Arcane Adepts

Not every weaver of power in Alacrity bears the title “wizard.” Across the realms, you’ll find spirit-channeling shamans, divine emissaries drawing power from faith, runewalkers etching power onto stone, martial adepts focusing ki, psychic minds bending reality, berserkers tapping primal fury, and countless other folk who channel unique Effects born of their world’s diverse mysteries. What all these characters share, regardless of their power’s source or description, is adherence to the same core mechanical engine: a Narrative Anchor agreed upon with the GM, the Magic skill, Mana Points, and learned Effects.

Narrative Anchor: Defining Your Power Source

Before you touch the dice for any supernatural ability, work with your GM to define where and how your character’s specific form of power originates. Every setting has its own potential sources—ancestral spirits, divine blessings, infernal pacts, intense discipline, exposure to raw magical energy, alien consciousness, runic knowledge, blood rites, living forges—and only the GM can determine which sources exist, which Effects are available from those sources, and how they fit the established lore and feel of the campaign world.

The Unified Mechanics

Regardless of whether the character is a shaman chanting to spirits or a scholar reciting arcane formulae, the underlying game mechanics remain consistent:

• Magic Skill: Accessing any supernatural Effects requires initiating the Magic skill (costing 20 XP). It starts at a baseline percentage equal to the character’s Mind statistic and is advanced later like any other skill (1 XP per +1% up to 60%, 2 XP per +1% from 61-100%).
• Mana Points (MP): The character gains a Mana Point pool equal to their current Magic skill percentage. This pool fuels all Effects, regardless of their narrative source.
• Learning Effects: Each distinct supernatural ability (a specific prayer, ki technique, shamanic rite, psionic talent, or arcane spell) is treated as an Effect. It must first be discovered or granted through gameplay (GM approval based on Narrative Anchor and setting) and then learned by spending 5 XP.

Casting and Flavor

When you unleash an Effect, the rules for casting are identical for all users of the Magic skill: spend the Effect’s MP cost (set by the GM), roll your Magic skill percentage applying any situational modifiers, and apply the consequences for success, failure, or critical results.

The flavor – how the Effect looks, sounds, feels, and is described in the narrative – is where the diversity comes in. This is entirely determined by your character concept, their Narrative Anchor, your imagination, and the specifics of the GM’s world. Smoke‑etched runes on a barbarian’s flesh, a paladin’s glowing sigil, a howl that cracks stone, a psionic shimmer, a heartbeat echoing with spirit voices – all can be descriptions for Effects resolved using the same underlying Magic skill roll and MP cost.

Growth and Identity

An adept’s path to greater power follows the same route as a traditional wizard’s: invest earned XP to deepen their Magic skill (increasing accuracy and their MP pool) and spend XP to learn new, appropriate Effects as they are discovered. Over time, a storm‑shaper from a mountain tribe who invests in their Magic skill can potentially stand toe‑to‑toe in raw magical capability with any formally trained scholar of the arcane – provided the GM’s world contains the narrative means (teachers, spirits, sites of power, ancient lore) for them to learn potent Effects relevant to their tradition.

[ Back | Contents | Next]

File Created: 05/07/2025
Last Modified: 05/07/2025