Arcana reflects your grasp of magical principles, esoteric theory, and ancient lore related to supernatural forces. It represents study, memorization, and pattern recognition—not innate spellcasting power, but the mental toolkit for understanding it. With Arcana, you can interpret runes, detect magical residue, or identify the properties of an effect, object, or symbol you’ve observed.
Typical Uses:
- Recognizing a spell being cast or identifying its school/purpose
- Analyzing magical traps, glyphs, circles, or symbols
- Identifying the function of an enchanted item or relic
- Sensing areas where the Veil between worlds is thin
- Recalling details about magical traditions, orders, or constructs
- Uncovering how to disrupt or dispel a persistent magical effect
Situational Modifiers:
Use the standard difficulty ladder to reflect clarity of evidence, rarity of the magic involved, and available context:
- Trivial (+50%): Spotting an active enchantment in broad daylight.
- Effortless (+40%): Identifying a common spell cast right in front of you.
- Easy (+30%): Reading clearly written glyphs from a known tradition.
- Routine (+20%): Identifying a familiar item or spell you’ve seen before.
- Favorable (+10%): Consulting a partial text or previously deciphered symbol.
- Everyday (0%): Reading unknown glyphs, identifying low-level enchantments.
- Challenging (–10%): Analyzing subtle spell residue from an unknown caster.
- Hard (–20%): Interpreting glyphs damaged by time, fire, or tampering.
- Very Hard (–30%): Decoding a hybrid ritual combining multiple schools.
- Extreme (–40%): Identifying the shattered remains of an ancient ritual.
- Near-Impossible (–50%): Understanding pre‑Veil war magic or forgotten runes.
Working Without Training:
Attempting Arcana untrained is rarely fruitful:
- Base chance is half Mind, rounded down
- All rolls step one difficulty rung harder
- GM may rule many tasks outright barred, especially those involving Veilwork, high-order enchantments, or magical constructs
Companion Skills:
Arcana often works hand-in-hand with:
- Perception (to notice faint glyphs or aura flickers)
- Magic (to activate or cast identified effects)
- Lore (to identify origins or cross-reference magical schools)
Narrative Examples:
- A wizard studies a glowing rune etched into a cave wall and mutters, “It’s a trigger ward. Likely fire.”
- A bard flips through an old court ledger, recognizing a noble’s seal as an arcane sigil of binding.
- A cleric examines a broken relic and whispers, “This once held consecration against the undead.”
- A rogue spots a floating shimmer over a chest, then calls in the party mage for confirmation before touching it.
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File Created: 04/30/2025 Last Modified: 04/30/2025