Casting Traditions & Sphere Drawbacks

Your magic is addictive. Whenever you spend one or more spell points, you must succeed at a Fortitude save against your addiction DC. Your addiction DC is 10, + 1 for each roll you have previously made, to a maximum of 15 + your caster level (thus, your first roll would be a DC 10, the second a DC 11, the third a DC 12, etc.). If you fail this save, you gain a minor addiction, suffering a -2 penalty to Constitution. If you already possess a minor addiction and fail your Fortitude save after spending spell points, you gain a moderate addiction. This increases the penalty to a -2 penalty to Constitution and Strength, and requires 3 saves to overcome. If you fail your save and already have a moderate addiction, you gain a severe addiction, suffering instead a -2 penalty to Dexterity, Constitution, Strength, Wisdom, and your primary casting attribute (if not Wisdom or Constitution). All penalties from your addiction are suppressed for 1 minute whenever you spend a spell point, whether or not you succeeded at your Fortitude save.

Each day you do not use a spell point, you may attempt a Fortitude save against your addiction DC. After succeeding at a save in this fashion, your addiction DC is reduced by 2. If you succeed at 2 consecutive saves, your addiction also reduces by one level (or disappears, if you only have a minor addiction). Unlike normal addictions, an addiction to magic cannot be cured with magic, although the Heal skill can be used to help overcome addictions similar to overcoming diseases.

This counts as 2 drawbacks when determining boons and bonus spell points.

_The presence of science and technology interrupts your flow of magic._

When within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 MSB) of an active Tinker sphere gizmo (or other reasonably technological or “invented” item, subject to GM discretion) you increase your wild magic chance by 25%.

Incompatible: Clarke Compliance

Your magic requires that you know the target particularly well. When you create a magic sphere, each of the targets or the targeted area must be within the area of your pathing or an area you have analyzed. Alternatively, all targets must have been successfully analyzed, scouted, or be the subject of your theories. Casting in circumstances where none of these conditions are met requires a successful MSB check (DC 20 + ½ the caster level).

Your magic interferes with your natural circulation. If you are immune to bleed damage, you lose that immunity. If you are not subject to bleed damage (such as because of your creature type), you become subject to it. Whenever you take slashing or piercing damage, as well as bleed damage from any other source, you suffer 1 point of bleed damage plus an additional point of bleed damage for every 10 points of your magic skill bonus; this stacks with all other sources of bleed damage. The Heal DC to stop yourself from bleeding increases by your magic skill bonus. Healing from magical sources does not stop you from bleeding unless the caster succeeds on a magic skill check against your magic skill defense. If you receive healing from a non-magical source (including fast healing or regeneration) you must still receive a Heal check in order to stop the bleeding.

You are mystically bonded to a single notable location such as a cave, large tree, spring, a magical laboratory or prominent stone formation and draw your magic from it. You must remain within a number of miles equal to your MSB to use your magic normally. Using magic outside this area requires you to attempt a concentration check (DC 20 + 1/2 the caster level) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. You may bond to a new site of the same general type with an 8 hour ritual.

Your magic is not yours to use, requiring a vector of some sort to function. You gain the Mana sphere as a bonus sphere with the Gift of Knowledge talent as a bonus talent. However, you cannot use any magic sphere effects except for Gift of Knowledge. Other magic talents you possess can still be passed on to other creatures using Gift of Knowledge.

Your magic is connected to another non-subordinate creature, stemming from the bond between you. You may only spend spell points while within 30 feet of the bonded creature, during which time the bonded creature must be alive. You may choose a new bonded creature in a process that takes 8 hours. You must have line of sight and line of effect to the bonded creature in order to spend spell points. You may take this drawback a second time. If you do, you are treated as if you are in a dead magic plane anytime you are not within 30 feet of a bonded creature for the purpose of any of your magic sphere abilities.

Incompatible: Center of Power, Focus Casting, Galvanized, Spell Stand-In

Without expending proper energy, it becomes difficult for you to utilize your magic. Whenever you attempt to create a sphere effect that costs less than 2 spell points, you must succeed at a concentration check (DC 15 + your caster level if the effect costs no spell points, or DC 10 + your caster level if it costs 1 spell point) or else the sphere effect fails to manifest and any actions and spell points spent on it are wasted. As part of creating a sphere effect, you may raise the spell point cost of the sphere effect to 2 if it would be lower.

When using any effect that can enhance or change a sphere effect by spending additional spell points such as (amp) effects, metamagic feats, and dual sphere feats you may include the spellpoint cost of the effect when determining the cost of the sphere effect for this drawback.

This includes the cost from spending a spell point to allow an effect to remain without concentration, but only if it is spent as part of the action to create the sphere effect.

You cannot use abilities that cost 1 or more spell points through normal means. Instead, your magical abilities are allocated to you at random, limiting what you are capable of doing at any given moment.

When your magic goes wrong, it goes very wrong. Whenever you roll a natural 1 on a skill check made as part of magic sphere effect, you automatically fail the skill check. Whenever you roll a natural 1 on a concentration check, skill check, or saving throw made as part of casting a spell, the effect fails and you lose access to a chosen magic talent you possess until you rest to regain spell points. You may not lose more than 1 talent per casting. You may not benefit from effects that let you reroll or change the result of a natural 1 for any roll made as part of a magic sphere effect.

You may only select this drawback if you possess another drawback that requires you to make a skill check or saving throw as part of using a magic sphere effect

If you possess this drawback, you may select Chance feats as Drawback feats. You regain kismet when you roll a natural 1 on a concentration check or skill check made as part of casting a spell.

You have an obvious physical feature which is the source of your magical power. Whenever you cast, any creature observing you can clearly see that your magic originates from your center of power.

If a critical hit is confirmed on you, your center is disrupted and you lose 1d4 spell points (if you have them) and are dazed for 1 round. A creature can also target your center of power with a called shot, which also causes a disruption. The center of power is considered a challenging shot (-10).

At the GM’s discretion, certain kinds of physical restraint might also make spellcasting require a concentration check (DC 20 + caster level), depending on the nature of the center of power and the restraint. An undesirable polymorph effect may also produce the same results.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Focus Casting or Galvanized drawbacks.

You must prepare a sphere effect into a charge before you can use it yourself. Preparing a charge takes 10 full-round actions (without allowing swift or free actions) in a row that provoke attacks of opportunity. If you are disrupted before you finish your charge, you must start all over to create it, but any spell points invested into its creation are not lost.

You must determine spell points that will be used as part of the charge as well as the talents, feats, class abilities, and any other modifiers or variables at the time of casting. Any temporary increase to caster level, ability score or other such modifier must be active during the entire creation process in order to benefit you when expended.

Expending a charge to use the sphere effect takes up the same action as using it regularly, and provokes (or does not provoke) attacks of opportunity as would normally happen with the effect. Spell points invested in a charge are locked and cannot be used for any other purpose until expended in the charge. A charge remains until you rest and regain spell points, but can be dismissed prematurely as a free action (this wastes the charge). You can maintain a number of charges at once equal to your magic skill bonus plus your casting ability modifier.

This drawback counts as 2 drawbacks for the purposes of determining boons. Temporary talents (such as those granted by the prodigy’s adaptation ability) cannot be used as part of a charge.

Incompatible: Diagram Magic, Prepared Casting

_Addendum_ [SM—] If you have the Charged Spells drawback, you may apply one or both of the following additional conditions. Each condition counts as one additional drawback.

Daily Power: Once you have prepared a charge that requires 3 or more spell points, you cannot prepare any charges that use the same combination of spell point cost and use of talents, feats, class abilities, and any other modifiers or variables until you rest to regain spell points. Any magic sphere effects you use that cost 2 or fewer spell points have their duration reduced to 1 minute if they would normally be higher.

Divided Power: No two charges you prepare may have the same combination of spell point cost and use of talents, feats, class abilities, and any other modifiers or variables. This does not stop you from preparing charges that use all of the same talents and feats but have different total spell point costs or preparing charges that use the same spell point cost but different talents and feats among them.

_Your magic is created or assisted through an external advanced mechanism, and as such is subject to many of the same limitations._

Your magic sphere effects are treated as both magical and mechanical for effects, whichever is more disadvantageous (such as for being countered, disabled, disrupted, resisted, or suppressed by abilities and effects that would interact with a magic or mechanical effect). Treat the gizmo level of your magic sphere effects as being equal to your magic skill bonus for the purposes of effects that depend on gizmo level.

Creatures in contact with an active Tinker sphere gizmo (or other reasonably technological or “invented” item, subject to GM discretion) receive a +2 circumstance bonus on saving throws against your magic sphere effects.

Incompatible: Age of Reason

Your effects are linked to you even after you spend a spell point to have them continue without concentration. If you fall asleep or unconscious, or are dazed, stunned, confused, reduced to animal intelligence, or otherwise unable to take coherent mental actions, all of your magical effects immediately end.

_Addendum_ [SM—] If you select this drawback a second time, you may not spend spell points to have your spells continue without concentration.

Your magic is a fickle thing, or perhaps you are simply possessed of performance anxiety. If you attempt to use magic while you know you are being observed, you must attempt a concentration check (DC 15 + 1/2 the caster level) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. If you believe you are hidden or alone, even if you are not, you may use magic normally.

Addendum: You may take this drawback a second time. If you do, observation of your magic by any creature other than yourself or a creature created by the effect negates its effects (as if they were inside a dead magic plane) for the duration that the effect or area of the effect is observed. If it has any remaining duration, the effect resumes as soon as nobody else is looking. A magic effect is considered to be observed if creatures can discern an overt effect as it is taking place (for example, a shapeshift or glamer would be suppressed if somebody is looking at it, but observing an active aegis or enhancement with no visible component would require some method of divination in order to be suppressed). [Alienist HB]

Your magic uses your own body as fuel, rapidly withering your form the more you utilize it. The first time each round you spend one or more spell points, you must succeed at a Fortitude save against a DC of 10 + 1/2 your caster level or have your body temporarily age. When you age, you suffer the penalties (but not the benefits) as if you had aged one age category.

If you are already venerable or are treated as such, you instead suffer a cumulative -1 penalty to your Constitution, Dexterity and Strength scores. Your apparent age also changes (though your size category never changes), although you may disguise your age through magical or mundane means as normal. This penalty cannot reduce an ability score below 1, and you return to your normal age and lose all related penalties when you rest and recover your spell points each day. Creatures with no physical ability scores cannot take this drawback, and effects that reduce or remove penalties due to aging have no effect on the penalties bestowed by this drawback.

You may only spend spell points as part of crafting a magic item using item creation feats. This counts as 2 drawbacks when determining boons and bonus spell points. You may select item creation feats as drawback feats if you possess this drawback.

In order to perform any magical effect, either you or your target must be entirely contained within the boundaries of a special diagram. Creating this diagram requires a full-round action for every 5-foot square contained within the diagram. Once the circle has been drawn, attempt a Spellcraft check as part of the full-round action to draw the final part of the circle against DC 15 + the maximum caster level of any effect to be performed within the circle to determine if it was done correctly. You may take 10 on this check even if in combat or stressed. You can increase the speed at which you draw the diagram but at greater risk of making a mistake. Doing so prevents you from taking 10 on the check, and for every step by which you reduce the time required to draw the diagram, increase the spellcraft DC by +5 to a maximum of +20 to draw the circle as a free action.

The diagram need not be drawn with any special materials, and can be done with sprinkled salt, paint, blood, a finger in sand, or anything else that may be on hand so long as it is clearly visible. Permanent portable diagrams are usually not possible (as any scuff to the diagram disrupts the magic), but a diagram may be made out of fixed, permanent material such as metal. If a diagram is disrupted (any amount of damage dealt to the surface it is carved upon, or sufficient force from water, wind, or any other effect that might disperse the material the diagram was created with) then any magic currently being maintained by concentration via the diagram immediately ends, and no further magic may be used until a new circle is drawn. Spells and effects created by magic within the diagram (including summoned creatures) never disrupt it even if they would otherwise.

This counts as 2 drawbacks when determining boons and bonus spell points.

Using magic saps your lifeforce. Whenever you spend one or more spell points you are dealt 1 point of nonlethal damage which cannot be avoided by nonlethal damage immunity, reduced by damage reduction, and cannot be healed through any means except rest (a full night’s rest heals all nonlethal damage caused by this drawback at once). This nonlethal damage increases by 1 point for every 5 caster levels.

Whenever you create a magic sphere effect, you gain the oblivious condition after the effect is cast. An oblivious creature struggles to pay attention to anything and is only peripherally aware of what is going on around it. All creatures and objects have positional concealment from it and it cannot spend attacks of opportunity (including on special abilities) or use immediate actions. (Creatures can always use Stealth and Sleight of Hand against oblivious creatures, and an oblivious creature has only a 50% chance of being exposed to visual effects.) Generally, when an oblivious creature attempts a Perception check to check its surroundings, it can only automatically observe things in a cone from its position, pointed in any direction of its choice (which negates positional concealment in that direction until the start of the oblivious creature’s next turn). Creatures with all-around vision are not limited to a cone.

Your oblivious condition cannot be reduced to distracted until the start of your next turn or until after you are directly attacked, in which case you become distracted by whatever is alarming you until the end of your next turn (becoming alert afterwards unless another effect would cause you to become oblivious or distracted).

Incompatible: Narcoleptic Casting

Your magic requires heightened emotional states of mind to use. When subject to a non-harmless effect that invokes an emotion (such as fear effects, demoralization, spells with the emotion descriptor, or (charms) such as Fear or Hostility) you are unable to use magic. You may use the metamagic feat Logical Spell to overcome this drawback.

Resting to regain your magic requires an increasingly expensive locus, requiring you to dedicate more and more of your wealth to sustaining your magical power. This locus, and the way you gain power from it can take multiple different forms depending on what is appropriate for the character concept; from setting up expensive runes and talismans to calibrate your astral self, requiring an expensive laboratory to process your material components, or simply sleeping on a dedicated pile of gold to get in touch with your draconic side.

Whenever you rest to regain your spell points, it must be with a locus with a cost of 50 gp x your magic skill bonus squared. The base cost of the locus increases to 100 gp at a magic skill bonus of 10 or higher. This wealth has to be dedicated purely towards fulfilling the locus, with no other utility; meaning that magic items, or equipment you possess cannot count towards this drawback.

Using magic without your locus requires you to make a concentration check (DC 20 + 1/2 the caster level) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. If a locus is lost, stolen, or broken, the caster must create a new locus by securing the necessary items of the requisite monetary value and spending 8 hours bonding with it. At the GM’s discretion, however, another caster’s locus may be used instead.

Your magic takes longer to use than normal. When using an ability gained from a sphere or talent, increase the casting time by one step: swift and immediate actions become move actions, move actions become standard actions, standard actions become full-round actions, full-round actions take 1 round to complete, and 1-round actions take 1 minute to complete. This drawback counts as 2 drawbacks when determining boons and bonus spell points.

You may take this drawback twice. If taken twice, your casting takes a minimum of 1 minute to perform, regardless of the sphere effect being used. Taking this drawback twice grants a total of 4 drawbacks when determining boons and bonus spell points.

Your magic is intrinsically linked to the realm of Faerie and shares its inhabitants aversion to iron. Any creature wearing light armor consisting of cold iron, steel or iron gains a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws against sphere effects originating from you. Wearing medium armor increases this bonus to +2 and wearing heavy armor increases it to +3. Wielding a weapon made of cold iron increases this bonus by +1. When a target under the effects of one of your sphere abilities takes damage from iron or steel weapons, that target is treated as if it had been affected by the Counterspell feat, with a magic skill check equal to 10 +1/4th the damage dealt. This Counterspell is applied at the beginning of that creature’s turn, adding together all damage suffered from applicable sources since the beginning of its last turn, and ignores all effects that do not have the Fey-Infused Magic drawback. If the target is struck by a weapon made out of cold iron, the Counterspell is capable of dispelling one additional sphere effect per 5 points of base attack bonus that the attacker possesses.

Your magic requires you to use an item such as a wand, holy symbol, ring, or staff to create magic. The focus must be wielded or equipped to be used (for example, a wand must be held, a ring must be equipped in a ring slot, etc.) Using magic without your focus requires you to attempt a concentration check (DC 20 + 1/2 the caster level) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. If a focus is lost, stolen, or broken, the caster must create a new focus by securing the necessary item and spending 8 hours bonding with it. At the GM’s discretion, however, another caster’s focus may be used instead.

If you are carrying your focus when subject to a polymorph effect that would normally meld your equipment into your new form, your focus melds into your body as well, causing this drawback to function as the Center of Power drawback for the duration of the effect.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Center Of Power or Galvanized drawbacks.

Your magic was forged by war, and is integrated with your fighting abilities. To use or concentrate on your abilities, you must be wielding a martial or exotic weapon with at least some metal components (even some metal decorations on a wooden weapon are sufficient). You must be able to attack with the weapon (it cannot be tied down or otherwise unusable), and you must have proficiency with it. The weapon itself does not need to have any special abilities, but cannot have the broken condition.

Being disarmed or having the weapon sundered counters any sphere abilities you are casting or maintaining. If a polymorph spell causes the weapon to become part of your body you lose your abilities, unless you can still attack with the weapon somehow. You can still switch between weapons while maintaining sphere abilities.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Center Of Power or Focus Casting drawbacks.

The magic of your foes adversely affects yours to an extreme degree. When calculating your MSD, you use half your casting class levels instead of your full casting class levels. Whenever a spell you create is successfully dispelled, you cannot spend spell points for 1 round. In addition, if you possess the Alien Source boon, this drawback does not apply against other casters who draw from the same Alien Source as you.

Your magic comes from a source that curses you, or your cursed condition is a side effect of your casting ability. You suffer the hindrance of a singular oracle curse, and do not get its benefit, nor the benefits that come with increased level. Use your magic skill bonus as your oracle level to determine any penalties from its hindrance. This curse is permanent and cannot be removed.

Not all curses are appropriate for this drawback, and the GM is the ultimate arbiter of which oracle curse you suffer from.

Special: If you already possess an oracle’s curse (or gain one later), then you retain this curse in addition to the other curse, but each curse must be a different type of curse and provide different kinds of benefits (even if you don’t possess the curse mastery feat).

Your magic fights against you for control. At the end of any round in which you spend 1 or more spell points you must succeed at a Will saving throw with a DC of 10 + 1/2 your magic skill bonus or enter into an enraged state at the beginning of your next turn. While enraged, you gain the antagonized condition, always treating the creature(s) closest to you as your antagonist(s).

The GM may rule that the nature of your power will make you focus specifically on your allies, or beings of great importance to you (for example power that comes from a demon bound inside you may cause you to inflict harm to those you value the most before it can be contained).

When you attempt a Sense Motive check to end the antagonized condition, the skill check is made against your own magic skill defense + your casting ability modifier (minimum DC 15).

Incompatible: Emotional Casting

Antagonized: An antagonized creature can only target its antagonist (the one who caused the antagonized condition) with hostile actions. A hostile action is any attack or effect that causes direct harm to an opponent in the form of damage, negative conditions, or any other effect that penalizes or hinders a creature. Furthermore, an antagonized creature does not threaten any opponents except its antagonist: it cannot make attacks of opportunity or be used to determine flanking bonuses against other opponents. A creature is no longer antagonized if its antagonist is helpless, unconscious, or cannot participate in combat. If an antagonized creature uses an ability that targets multiple creatures, the antagonist must be chosen among these targets. If an antagonized creature uses an ability that targets an area, its antagonist must be within the ability's targeted area.

On each round after the first, an antagonized creature may attempt a Sense Motive skill check as a swift action to realize the folly of its actions. This skill check is opposed by the antagonist's original antagonize skill check. If the creature succeeds on its Sense Motive skill check, the antagonized condition ends, but the creature suffers a -2 penalty on attack rolls and a -2 penalty to the saving throw DC of its abilities and any spells it casts for 1 minute. These penalties do not apply against the antagonist.

Your magic fights against you for control. Whenever you spend one or more spell points, you must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the ability’s caster level) or become angry for 1 round per spell point spent. If you fail this save while already angry, your anger condition increases by one step (angry to livid, livid to enraged, enraged to frenzied) and the duration is increased by 1 round per spell point spent.

The focus of your anger becomes the creature closest to you, choosing randomly if there are multiple options. The GM may rule that the nature of your power will make you focus specifically on your allies, or beings of great importance to you (for example power that comes from a demon bound inside you may cause you to inflict harm to those you value the most before it can be contained).

Incompatible: Emotional Casting

Your magic is accompanied by tell-tale signs; for example, your body glows brightly, the sound of tortured souls shriek as you cast, a deep chill affects all nearby creatures, etc. Using magic automatically breaks stealth, and whenever you use magic all creatures within 60 feet who are observing you are considered to have automatically succeeded at a Spellcraft check to know which sphere effect, talents, and casting tradition you used.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Witchmarked drawback.

Your magic requires the expenditure of specific materials: precious metals, rare components, etc. The exact nature of this material should be worked out with the GM, but as a rule of thumb, this should cost a silver piece worth of materials per caster level per ability used. A player who does not want to track the cost of such material components can instead simply spend 10 gp per caster level per month on components, which is assumed to cover his costs for spells cast and research performed. You must possess a spell component pouch or otherwise have access to your components to use your magic. The gp cost of materials listed in this drawback are certainly not the only metric that can be used to reflect the role of magic materials in a setting, and GMs are encouraged to consider what role magic materials might play in their game.

Perhaps magic in one world requires a pearl to use per spell point, and players must track how many pearls they possess. Perhaps magic is fueled by a rare mineral, the buying and selling of which is heavily regulated by powerful kings, merchants, and other world powers; in such a world, Material Casting might even be worth two drawbacks to reflect its rare usage.

Your magic requires you to have a focus that is not always possible to achieve. You normally have focus, but lose it whenever you fail a save versus mind-affecting magic, have a critical hit confirmed on you, or a condition causes you to lose the ability to concentrate (such as being nauseated or helpless or failing a forced concentration check such as from being entangled). Using magic without your mental focus requires you to attempt a concentration check (DC 20 + 1/2 caster level) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. If focus is lost, the caster can refocus by meditating as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Your magic has a pacifying effect that can lull you to sleep. At the end of any round in which you spend 1 or more spell points you must succeed at a Fortitude saving throw with a DC of 10 + 1/2 your magic skill bonus (minimum DC 11) or fall asleep standing up for 1 round. Sleeping creatures are helpless. Slapping or wounding awakens an affected creature, but normal noise does not. Awakening a creature without dealing damage is a standard action (an application of the aid another action). Creatures immune to sleep cannot gain this drawback; if a creature later becomes immune to sleep after gaining this drawback, they must immediately retrain it for another drawback or lose it, recalculating their spell points as appropriate.

This counts as 2 drawbacks when determining the number of spell points gained.

Your magic derives from a covenant created with yourself or some other powerful entity. Select an Oath you have sworn. In the event that you break that Oath, forsake it, or have no Oaths to upkeep, you lose your spellcasting abilities until you atone, or select a new Oath to be the focus for your spellcasting in a ritual that takes 8 hours to complete.

Your oaths connections to your magic leaves openings for others to exploit, even without forcing you to break your oath. Creatures that succeed at a Spellcraft check to identify your magic become aware of the Oath sworn as well as the vulnerabilities to exploit. By succeeding at a Spellcraft check as a move action, they gain a +2 bonus to AC and saving throws against your magical effects for 1 minute. The DC of this check is equal to 15 + your magic skill bonus.

The Oaths that you can select for this drawback are the following: Oath against Harm, Oath against Mercy, Oath of Loyalty, Oath of Secrecy, and Oath of Silence. These count as a number of drawbacks equal to the number of oath points they are usually worth. With GM permission, other Oaths or paladin/antipaladin codes can be selected as well.

Your magic debilitates you the more you rely on it. Whenever you spend one or more spell points, you must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 the ability’s caster level) or be sickened for 1 round. If you fail this save while already sickened, you are instead nauseated for 1 round. If you fail this save while nauseated, increase the duration of the nauseated condition by 1 round. Creatures immune to the sickened condition cannot take this drawback.

You must prepare your magic before you can use it. After resting to regain spell points, you must assign each of your spell points to a sphere you possess. You cannot spend more spell points in a given sphere in a day than you have assigned to that sphere. Class features and feats that use spell points (such as the Counterspell feat) are considered a single unified ‘sphere’ for this purpose.

Author's Note: Temporary spell points interact poorly with prepared casting. A caster with prepared casting assigns how many spell points they can spend on each sphere when they rest and regain spell points. Notably, temporary spell points would generally be spent towards this daily limit. Consult your GM if looking to make temporary spell points work with the Prepared Casting drawback.

Your magical power is restricted to a realm outside of normal reality, typically in an extraplanar or virtual existence. Choose a plane other than the Material Plane or your native plane. When you attempt to use a magic sphere effect on any other plane, you must succeed at a Knowledge (planes) check to use any sphere ability. The DC of this skill check is 15 + the ability’s caster level. On a failure, the sphere effect fails.

This drawback counts as 2 drawbacks for the purposes of determining the number of spell points gained.

You may not spend any spell points until your second turn of combat, at which point the number of spell points you may spend per round increases to 1. The amount of spell points you may spend each round increases by 1 for each successive round thereafter. You may attempt to create a magic sphere effect that costs more spell points than your limit by succeeding at a concentration check (DC 15 + your caster level + 2 for every spell point spent above your limit), with failure causing you to lose the effect. Outside of combat, your limit is considered to be 0

Incompatible: Card Casting (Mana Pool)

Only a limited portion of your magic can be diverted to its most potent or limited effects. You cannot spend more than ½ your total spell points per day on effects that cost 1 spell point. You cannot spend more than 1/X of your total spell points per day on effects that cost 2 or more spell points, where X is the spell point cost of the effect (for example, only 1/5 of your spell points per day may be spent on effects which cost 5 or more spell points).

Your magic requires intense amounts of concentration to use. When attempting a concentration check (such as to cast defensively or while taking damage), the DC increases by +10. You may increase the casting time by one step to take extra time focusing and negate this penalty.

You must create your magic through singing, drawing, or performing some other activity. Your magic is tied to a particular Perform, Profession, or Craft skill (although with GM permission another skill may be substituted). You must succeed at a skill check to use any sphere ability. The DC of this skill check is 15 + the ability’s caster level. For every 2 points by which this skill check falls short of this DC, the ability manifests at -1 caster level. If this reduces the ability to a caster level below 0, the manifested ability fails and any spell points used are lost.

A caster with Skilled Casting must be able to perform their skill to use their magic, which is similar to but not the same as possessing other drawbacks. For example, a caster who must draw to create magic must have at least one hand free, although unless he also possesses Somatic Casting he may do so while wearing any armor without a chance of arcane spell failure. Likewise, a caster who uses music to create magic must be able to speak, but unless he also possesses Verbal Casting he can do so by whispering and thus not automatically break stealth.

At the GM’s discretion, this drawback may count as two drawbacks if the skill involved requires bulky equipment or the use of both hands (for example, the Perform (strings) skill, or Craft (stonework)).

You must gesture to cast spells—a process that requires you to have at least 1 hand unoccupied. When using magic, you cannot wear armor heavier than light without incurring a chance of arcane spell failure.

You may select this drawback twice. If taken a second time, you cannot wear any armor or use a shield without incurring a chance of arcane spell failure.

Note: With GM permission, it is possible to modify this drawback so that, when taken once, the caster may wear either light or medium armor but cannot use a shield without incurring a chance of arcane spell failure, mimicking the core bloodrager.

Whenever you roll initiative, choose any number of your remaining spell points. For the duration of the encounter, you may use only those chosen spell points and not any of your other spell points. Any chosen spell points that you have remaining at the end of the encounter are lost.

In place of being able to cast spells directly, you must channel them through a summoned companion. You lose the ability to cast any sphere effect through yourself outside of summoning your companions. You gain the Conjuration sphere and the Spell Conduit talent as bonus talents, and the Spell Channel feat as a bonus feat.

Your magic is not always easily accessible, requiring additional steps in order to harness it. At the start of an encounter, you gain 2 spell tokens plus an additional spell token for every 5 points of MSB you possess. Whenever you spend any number of spell points on an effect, you must spend an equal number of spell tokens. As a standard action, you may gain a number of spell tokens equal to 2 + 1 for every 5 points of MSB you possess. All spell tokens are lost at the end of an encounter. When casting a spell outside of an encounter, the casting time is increased by 1 step for each spell token which would be required.

Incompatible: Extended Casting

Your magic manifests into tangible, corporeal substances, leaving them open to disruption. Any magic sphere effect you cast that has a duration longer than instantaneous manifests as a solid magic object that lasts for as long as the effect does.

Magic sphere effects that either target one or more creatures, or are centered and move with a creature (such as an aegis, a consecration, or a spirit ability) manifest as a worn item on the creature, such as an amulet or set of armor (which does not occupy an item slot, provides no additional benefits based on its form, and cannot be removed); summoned or polymorphed creatures appear with such an item worn.

Magic sphere effects that affect a defined area (such as a totem, ward, or entangle) appear as a Tiny-sized object, centered in the area. The object cannot be moved unless the sphere effect would normally be able to be moved (such as when using the Redeployment War sphere talent).

Magic objects created by this drawback do not block line of sight or line of effect. The magic objects have a hardness equal to your casting ability modifier, AC equal to 10 + your magic skill bonus + the object’s size modifier (+2 for a Tinysized object), a number of hit points equal to your magic skill bonus + your casting ability modifier, a Break DC of 15 + 1/2 your magic skill bonus, and saving throw bonuses equal to 2 + 1/2 your magic skill bonus. The magic object is immune to its own effects. When worn, a magic object created by this drawback can be sundered.

Magic objects can be identified as being the source of a magic sphere effect (but not what the sphere effect is) with a Spellcraft check against a DC equal to 15 + your magic skill bonus. If the object is destroyed, the sphere effect is immediately dispelled. If a magic sphere effect would already create an object (such as create or the Energy Tether talent), they are not subject to this drawback.

Incompatible: Crystalline (Protection), Manifest Totem (War).

Note: Unique to the Substantial Magic casting drawback is that it is incompatible with some sphere-specific drawbacks. Characters cannot select these sphere-specific drawbacks and, if they would possess them, cannot use those sphere effects. Characters may buy back those drawbacks as normal to regain use of those sphere effects.

_Addendum_ [SM—] If you select this drawback a second time, the item created with this drawback can be removed from its location or target as a standard action (if the target is willing to have the item removed) or a successful steal combat maneuver. Once removed from its owner or location, the item vanishes and its effects end.

Your magic requires study, rehearsal, and structure in order to be used properly. You cannot spend spell points on magic sphere effects that are not crafted spells (created using the Spellcrafting Rules) or Techniques. You may select Spellcrafting, Technique Crafting, or any feat which require knowledge of a technique as a prerequisite as a drawback feat.

Your magic draws upon the primal energy and nutrients of the terrain. Whenever you use a sphere talent or ability you must either spend an additional spell point or increase your casting time by one step, else your magic drains and corrupts your space and all adjacent squares. Terrain that has been blighted in such a manner prevents those who possess the Terrain Casting drawback from using sphere talents or abilities as if it were a dead magic zone. Areas that have had its nutrients drained are affected in different ways depending upon location (water may turn brackish or stagnant, while soil may become barren or salted); regardless of location, blighted areas will generally heal naturally after a year.

Whenever you would learn a magic talent other than the 2 gained from your casting tradition or a specific talent granted by a drawback, sphere-specific drawback, or class feature, roll a d%. If the total result is higher than your 10 + your MSB + your casting ability modifier, you fail to learn the talent and must select a different talent to learn. You cannot try to learn a talent you have failed to learn until the next time you level up. It is advised that this drawback be used in conjunction with a ruleset that allows a character to select auxiliary origin talents or skill talents in place of magic talents, so as to ensure that a character still gets the set number of talents.

You take 1 point of strain damage every time you cast a spell, plus an additional point of strain damage for every spell point beyond the first that you spend. This strain damage cannot be removed until at least 24 hours after it is taken. Strain damage gained from effects created within 1 minute of each other is cumulative for the purpose of determining if a character gains a severance.

The methods you have developed to store your magical potency are improperly practiced, dangerous, or otherwise fragile to others. You have some sort of obvious indicator of the levels of your magical reserves that alert any creature who can see you of how many spell points you have in reserve. The exact indicator varies across different casters, ranging from crystalline growths on their body that fade after magical use, to their skin color and tone draining the lower their spell point pool is.

Additionally, your spell point pool also serves as a bridge to your vitality. When you have less than 1/2 of your total capacity of spell points (rounded down), you are fatigued. When you have less than 1/4 of your total spell point capacity, you are exhausted. When you have no spell points remaining, you must attempt a concentration check (DC 15 + your caster level, +2 for every check succeeded, which resets when you rest to regain spell points) every hour and when you cast sphere effects or otherwise fall asleep. These conditions may only be cured by gaining spell points (including temporary ones) above the thresholds whether via use of Mana sphere, consumables, or rest. This drawback counts as 2 drawbacks when determining the number of spell points gained. The fatigued, exhausted and sleep conditions caused by this drawback bypass any immunities you may have. You can be woken up from sleep normally unless a different effect would prevent you from waking.

Author's Note: The exhausted, fatigued, and sleep conditions caused by this drawback bypass any immunity to those conditions. You can be woken up from sleep normally unless some other effect prevents that.

Your magic is conjured through the lifeforce of creatures you have consumed. After you rest and regain spell points, your caster level with all spheres you possess is reduced to 1 (after any bonuses, but before penalties are applied). If your caster level with a sphere was already 1 or lower, it instead becomes 0.

You may drain the blood of a helpless or willing creature within reach by spending a full-round action, which causes them to suffer a -2 penalty to their Constitution score for 24 hours, which cannot be cured, reduced or ignored by any effect. You cannot drain the blood of creatures with Hit Dice less than half your MSB, your subordinates, or creatures that do not possess a Constitution score. You may not drain the same creature more than once in any 48 hour period of time. The first time each day that you drain blood from a creature, your caster level is instead reduced by half (minimum 1, applied after bonuses but before penalties) rather than set to 1. The second time you drain blood, you suffer no penalty to your caster level.

If your caster level with a sphere is 0 due to this drawback, you cannot utilize magic with that sphere. You may continue draining blood from creatures after removing this penalty, which reduces the penalty you would gain after your next rest at the same rate, but you may not reduce the penalty of any future days beyond your next rest.

You may take this drawback a second time, if you do, your hunger for blood intensifies, and the drawback is altered in the following ways:

After draining the blood of one creature, your caster level becomes equal to 1/3 your caster level with each sphere (after any bonuses, but before penalties). After draining the blood of a second creature, it becomes equal to 2/3 your caster level with each sphere (after bonuses, but before penalties). After draining the blood of three creatures, you do not suffer a penalty to your caster level. If you attempt to utilize magic without draining at least one creature, or a full day passes where you do not drain a creature, you must make a Will save against berserking (DC 5 + 1/2 your MSB + 2 for each save made against berserking in the past week, maximum of 20 + your MSB). Failure indicates you berserk for 1 hour or until you next drain blood, losing control of your actions as your body takes every action it possibly can (including utilizing magic, which never suffers from the penalty to your caster level while berserking) in order to a drain a suitable creature's blood. If you fail your saving throw against berserking 3 consecutive times, your berserk becomes permanent and does not end when draining a creature's blood. Your berserk is considered a magical emotion effect with a magic skill defense equal to your MSD+5, and can be ended through the Break Enchantment talent or similar effects, but cannot be dispelled through the Counterspell feat. Draining creatures after removing your penalty to your caster level no longer allows you to reduce the penalty you would incur after your next rest.

This drawback counts as 2 drawbacks when determining the number of spell points gained, or as 3 drawbacks if taken twice.

You must speak in a loud, clear voice to cast spells. Using magic alerts all nearby hearing creatures to your presence and location, effectively breaking stealth. You cannot cast in an area of magical silence, or in any other situation where you are unable to speak clearly.

Your magical capabilities are directly linked to your physical state. When suffering from a condition or effect that bestows an attack penalty (or penalty, ability damage or ability drain to any physical ability score), you apply the largest penalty (counting ability damage or drain as a penalty) to your caster level. These penalties stack if you have multiple conditions, although they may not reduce your caster level below 1. Other penalties to your caster level may reduce your caster level to below 1, in which case any attempt to cast a sphere effect automatically fails, and the spell points are wasted. Additionally, you may not utilize magic while suffering from the frightened or panicked conditions.

If your caster level is brought below the requirement needed to cast certain advanced magic, rituals, incantations or to qualify for certain feats, you cannot make use of them while your caster level is reduced under the amount needed to cast the sphere effect or qualify for the feat.

Note: Under the GM’s discretion, other effects that would penalize the caster in a physical way may apply a similar penalty to their caster level.

Your magic is not entirely stable and can result in a variety of unwanted effects. You have a base wild magic chance of 10% (whenever you cast a spell or magical sphere ability, you have a 10% chance of activating a wild magic event). When you activate a wild magic event, roll as if you had activated a rod of wonder, then add that effect to those you produce with your magic. GMs may always use their own wild magic tables (such as the wild magic tables on this wiki) to determine the nature of a wild magic event.

Some aspect of your visage is a dead giveaway about your magical nature. This could be any purely cosmetic modification or sensation that is hard to hide such as a vestigial tail (or tails), glowing eyes, an aura visible to the naked eye or the stench of death clinging to you. The intensity of this trait grows proportional to your power. Anyone who sees you may attempt a Knowledge (arcana) check (DC 20 - your MSB, minimum DC 0) to learn your magic skill bonus, caster level and what base magic spheres you possess.

You may attempt to hide your witchmark trait, but doing so requires a successful Disguise check (DC 10 + your MSB, roll is hidden). Alternatively, if attempting to hide your witchmark as part of a more elaborate disguise, this gives a penalty to that Disguise check equal to your MSB. Using an illusion, shapechange, or other magical disguise to hide your witchmark automatically succeeds, but any use of magic that does not explicitly hide your witchmark instead immediately reveals your witchmark to all observers.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Magical Signs drawback.

Associated Sphere: see text Feat: any one Admixture feat

Choose one Admixture feat. The associated sphere for this dual sphere drawback is the sphere besides Destruction required by the feat. Said sphere’s abilities which can be used with Admixture can only be used in conjunction with a destructive blast and the Admixture talent (for example, a character who selects Ghostly Admixture can only use ghost strike as part of an admixture-affected destructive blast).

You may only take this drawback once even if you select multiple spheres with corresponding admixture feats.

Associated Sphere: Mana Feat: Consecrated Affinity

You cannot create a manabond through expunge or manipulation talents, only through your consecration.

Associated Sphere: Dark Feat: Event Horizon

When you create darkness, you must apply the Gravity Well talent as a (darkness) talent.

Associated Sphere: Divination Feat: Eyes of Battle

None of your divine abilities function beyond the range of your totem.

Associated Sphere: Telekinesis Feat: Forceful Creation

You cannot use the lift, bludgeon, or sustained force abilities on any targets you did not create.

Associated Sphere: Dark Feat: Shadow Cage

You may not create darkness normally, although you can still apply their effects to your ward.

Associated Sphere: Destruction Feat: Destructive Companion

You may not use your destructive blast ability on your own, only through the detonation of companions.

Associated Sphere: Nature Feat: Supernatural Elements

Your geomancing and spirit abilities can only deal damage of a type corresponding to blast type talents that you possess.

Associated Sphere: Warp Feat: Warp Burst

You must use a destruction sphere effect when you teleport yourself.

Associated Sphere: Mind Feat: Vampire’s Guile

You can only use your charm and cloud effects on bleeding targets. If the affected creature ever stops bleeding, your Mind sphere effects are suppressed when the target stops bleeding, but continue to take effect should the target resume bleeding before their duration expires.

Associated Sphere: Enhancement Feat: Might of the Grave

Your enhancement effects can only target undead creatures created through reanimate.

Associated Sphere: Destruction Feat: Destructive Radiance

You must always apply the effects of Destructive Radiance to your destructive blast.

Associated Sphere: Light Feat: Bioluminescent Transformation

You can only cause targets to glow as part of the action to affect them with a shapeshift.

Associated Sphere: Telekinesis Feat: Beam Propulsion

You can only lift a target as part of the action to make it glow.

Associated Sphere: War Feat: Tribal Mark

You may not create totems, although you can still apply the effects of totems through enhancements from the Tribal Mark feat.

Note: If you possess the Tribal Mark feat, you may apply the effects of totems in place of enhancements when using an effect or class ability that allows you to apply (enhance) talents to yourself (such as the mystical tattoos of the painted savage barbarian or the enhancer esoteric training of the sage).

Associated Sphere: Life Feat: Transpatial Reconstitution

You may only use a life sphere effect on a target as part of teleporting them.

Associated Sphere: Fate Feat: Blessed Necromancy

You may only use your word talents through your ghost strikes or through affecting undead as you reanimate them.

Associated Sphere: War Feat: Asymmetrical Warfare or Enhanced Vigilance

Only creatures which are under the effects of your glamer (for Asymmetrical Warfare) or your enhancement (for Enhanced Vigilance) can be affected by your Rally ability or be affected by your totems.

Associated Sphere: Death Feat: Baleful Storm

You cannot reanimate undead in precipitation below severity level 4, and undead you reanimate which leave an area of such precipitation immediately have the reanimate effect upon them end.

Associated Sphere: War Feat: Tribal Fortification

You may not create totems normally, although you can still apply their effects to your ward.

Associated Sphere: Dark Feat: Shade

You may not create darkness effects, although creatures within your figments or affected by your glamers still count as being in your darkness.

Associated Sphere: Mind Feat: Hypnotic Darkness

Only creatures within your darkness may be targeted by your charms.

Associated Sphere: Light Feat: Illustrious Light

Only your figments and targets affected by your glamer may be made to glow with your abilities.

Associated Sphere: Destruction Feat: Atmospheric Imbuement

You may not use your destructive blast ability if the rain or wind within your area is below category 4. Non-instantaneous blasts which leave an area of necessary weather immediately end.

Associated Sphere: Nature Feat: Sylvan Necromancy

You may not apply your (plant) geomancing abilities to plants, only to corpses.

Associated Sphere: Creation Feat: Kinetic Creation, or Shape Quintessence

You may not create objects out of normal matter, being able only to create items out of force (if you take the Kinetic Creation feat) or quintessence (if you take the Shape Quintessence feat).

Associated Sphere: Creation Feat: Fissile Creation

When using create or alter, you must always spend an additional spell point to make the object explode when it hits a target or when it takes damage (it explodes in both situations).

Associated Sphere: Weather Feat: Localized Changes

You can only use the weather sphere to affect the weather within the area of your Time of the Seasons effect.

Associated Sphere: Warp Feat: Guarded Step

Your teleport effects do not function outside of your ward (you cannot teleport out of your ward or into your ward from the outside).

Hidden within the ramblings of the insane, one word is often repeated. Some healers theorize that this word is the name of the hidden god of madness, gaining power from—and granting power to—those who surrender their minds to him. There must be some truth to this theory, because sometimes, when those with this word on their lips are displeased with their surroundings, they possess the ability to change them.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Addictive Casting, Verbal Casting, Wild Magic Boons: Easy Focus, +1 spell point, +1 per 6 levels in casting classes.

Akasha on Vandara represents a refined integration of technological and magical knowledge, a tool metaphysically sculpted onto its user to augment their abilities.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom Drawbacks: Akashic Spells, Clarke Compliance, Imbued Power x2, Incompatible Energies, Magical Signs Boons: Alien Source (Technomancy), Essence Empowerment, Essence Pool (2 drawbacks)

Apothecaries are masters of tinctures and tonics, who are capable of turning mere bottles of water or pinches of salt into potions and magic powders. Unlike the academic alchemists of the larger cities, apothecaries usually set up shop in country towns, learning as much from experimentation and tradition as they do from their teachers.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Material Casting, Skilled Casting (Craft (alchemy) or Profession (apothecary)); Special Delivery (Enhancement) Boon: +1 spell point, +1 per six levels in casting classes.

Artificers construct magical implements (known as an artificer’s focus) to direct and control their magic. Each sphere they know requires a different focus, and foci can be created by spending 8 hours in a magic lab or alchemist’s lab. While somewhat unstable, these items make directing power easy.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Focus Casting (artificer’s focus), Wild Magic Boon: Easy Focus

Bardic magic is a holistic style of magic that transforms the natural magic of music into powerful magical force. While rather physically demanding, those who have trained in bardic magic often have more power at their call than others.

Masterpieces: A practioner of bardic magic using the Spheres of Power system may spend magic talents instead of feats to gain bardic masterpieces.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Skilled Casting (Perform (any)), Somatic Casting, Verbal Casting Boon: +1 spell point per odd level in casting classes.

It is often said that music can soothe the savage beasts of the world, but the knack for doing so is a difficult, and often dangerous, skill to develop. Many practitioners develop specialties that cause them to become more comfortable with certain kinds of animals, but whether they choose to catch rats, charm snakes, or divert locusts from crops the ability to pacify, guide, or otherwise enchant animals remains the same.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Skilled Casting (Perform (any)), Somatic Casting x2; Animal Shaman (Mind) Boon: +1 spell point per odd level in casting classes.

Drawing power from the destruction of life, blighters are twisted divine casters who reduce the land around them to a desiccated echo of its former virility. Be they worshipers of blight gods or thieves of natural magics, blighters are a hazard to living things wherever they tread.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Focus Casting, Charged Spells, Terrain Casting, Verbal Casting Boons: Drawback Feat (Charged Despoilation), +1 spell point per odd level in casting classes.

Casters of the bloodletting tradition use their ornate ritual knife to make precise incisions, drawing forth trickles of blood that is smeared, thrown, or otherwise manipulated to cast their spells. Casters of this tradition usually use the Blood Price optional ritual pricing.

Casting Ability Modifier: Constitution Drawbacks: Draining Casting, Focus Casting (ritual knife), Magical Signs, Painful Magic, Somatic Casting Boons: Fortified Casting, Sanguine Empowerment, +1 spell point, +1 per 6 levels in casting classes.

One of the most dangerous forms of magic, blood magic, promises great power to its practitioners, but with a price. Blood magic is difficult, lengthy, complicated, and draining, but for its practitioners the promise of insurmountable power is worth the mere price of their life force. Blood mages are constantly performing a dangerous dance, for the closer they are to death’s door, the greater their power.

Casting Ability Modifier: Constitution Drawbacks: Draining Casting, Extended Casting, Somatic Casting x2, Verbal Casting Boons: Deathful Magic, Fortified Casting, Overcharge

This method of fast talking con artistry has been developed to the point where it is undeniably supernatural in nature. A tradition closely guarded by many thieves guilds until they can monopolize a region, it has nevertheless spilled out into the world. Only a small number of true magicians employ this style, but rogues, bards, and other dabblers in mental magic will often focus their studies on this magical tradition.

The fast-talking and wild gesticulating arm movements are similar enough to the actions of street hawkers that the magic can often go unnoticed by those who are not expecting it, and its effectiveness at the negotiating table makes the draining effect on the caster’s psyche worth the trouble.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Draining Casting, Somatic Casting, Verbal Casting; Lost In Translation (Mind) Boon: +1 spell point per odd level in casting classes.

Caffiends are an odd blend of addicts and savants who draw strength from their love of coffee, tea, or other caffeine-laden drinks. Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Material Casting (coffee or tea), Rigorous Concentrating, Witchmarked (scent of coffee or tea). Boons: +1 spell point per odd level in a casting class.

Most commonly practiced by itinerant fortune-tellers, cartomancy is the art of divining by cards. Many casters extend this to manipulating the myths the cards symbolize to empower themselves and others.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Extended Casting, Focus Casting (deck of cards), Skilled Casting (Profession (fortuneteller)); Limited Divination (sense) (Divination), Sanctified and Tongue Of Ages (Fate) Boons: Easy Focus, +1 spell point, +1 per six levels in casting classes.

Considered a subset of the monastic casting tradition, monks who train their minds as well as their body and spirit have a greater endurance for performing their techniques, though their feats of mentalism require a knowledge of an enemies’ (or allies’) pressure points and chi lines, giving them the ability to deliver crippling nerve pinches (or helpful chiropractic alterations) to impart their charms.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Somatic Casting x2; Lycanthropic (Alteration), Meld Into Dark (Dark), Deathful Touch (Death), Destructive Touch (Destruction), Bodily Enhancement and Personal Magics (Enhancement), Personal Fate (Fate), Personal Illusion (Illusion), Touch Of Light (Light), Regenerate (Life), Tactile Charm (Mind), Limited Nature x2, Limited Protection (ward), Personal Time (Time), Solo Combatant (War), Personal Warp (Warp) Boon: Easy Focus

A tradition that dates back to the long dead Cholmic civilization, the methods of their cultural magic have been lost to all but a few liches and fragments of old, rotten tomes. While the methods themselves are cursed by the very gods, that curse has also decayed over the years – while the magic would have originally hideously harmed the caster and the recipient, nowadays most of the curse decays into simple pain, grey light, and the noise of vast bells.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Addictive Casting, Magical Signs, Painful Magic, Somatic Casting x2, Verbal Casting Boons: Overwhelming Power, +1 spell point per level in casting classes.

Somewhere in the bowels of the criminal underworld, an alchemist cracked the code of magic and created Essence. This powerful, addictive powder would grant magical ability to anyone who consumed it. The crime lord who first distributed Essence sold it everywhere, eager to gain a dedicated following of addicted ‘wizards’, but he underestimated the power of the addiction— and of the addicted. The lab was destroyed as magic users descended on it to increase their supply and steal the secret of its creation. Now Essence can be found virtually anywhere people are rich enough—and foolish enough—to seek it out.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Addictive Casting, Material Casting, Wild Magic Boon: +1 spell point per odd level in casting classes.

Sometimes, those who delve into the arts of magic find themselves drawn towards dark paths, paths which lead them to sacrifice their very humanity for promises of greater power. As their condition progresses, these corrupted apostles take on ever more alien forms.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Addictive Casting, Innate Curse, Unsettling Casting, Witchmarked Boons: Drawback Feat (Witchwarped), +1 spell point, +1 per 1.5 levels in a casting class.

Defilers are a distinct type of arcanist who have discovered how to draw magic from the environment around them. However, such incredible power destroys the caster’s surroundings, making any defiler a serious danger regardless of their intentions.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Magical Signs, Material Casting, Prepared Caster, Somatic Casting (2), Terrain Casting, Verbal Casting Boons: Drawback Feat (any one Defiler feat), +1 spell point level in a casting class.

This arcane casting tradition is a subdivision of the Blood Magic casting tradition. Not surprising, the demonology casting tradition is found almost exclusively among demonologists, evil outsiders, and fiend-worshiping casters.

Classes: Sorcerers and Thaumaturges make thematic demonologists.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma (or Constitution if higher) Drawbacks: Draining Casting, Mental Focus Boons: Fortified Casting

Note: Like the Blood Magic casting tradition, a caster with the demonology casting tradition must use the blood price alternate pricing method when using rituals.

A divine petitioner gains their magic through service and prayer to a divine source, such as a deity. A divine petitioner must pray every day to regain their spell points, petitioning not only for their magic, but specifying how they intend to use it that day. Divine petitioners do everything in the name of their deity and find it difficult to even manifest their power unless they have their holy symbol in hand.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Focus Casting, Prepared Caster, Verbal Casting; Aligned Combatant (Destruction), Aligned Protection (Protection) Boon: +1 spell point per odd level they gain in casting classes.

While paladins and antipaladins have much in common with clerics, they gain their power directly from the Algod or Ungod rather than through a single divinity, and as such it is their zeal for their alignment that determines their power, rather than priestly devotion. These beings are called divine crusaders, and use Charisma instead of Wisdom as their casting ability modifier.

While divine crusaders do not answer to any one particular divinity, they are allies of either the Gods (if Good) or the Fiends (if Evil). A divine crusader can fall (or ascend), changing their alignment and allegiance (and often class), but a divine crusader loses all access to their powers if they are Neutral.

There are those who are directly empowered by their deity but exist outside the general priesthood; inquisitors, who are trusted by their deity to act in ways a usual divine petitioner cannot. These casters are trusted with direct divine power and do not need to pray for their magic nor hold their liege’s holy symbol, but as a countermeasure, often possess a more limited measure of their deity’s power. Inquisitors only possess the Verbal Casting drawback, and only gain +1 spell point +1 per 6 levels.

Dream casters are aloof individuals often viewed as extremely odd by other types of magic users. Wielding strange implements and prone to torporic trances, dream casters typically draw their power from esoteric and poorly understood spheres such as Mind and Time. Walking the far borders of reality, dream casters are able to call upon amazing strength but do so at significant risk.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Focus Casting, Magical Signs, Narcoleptic Casting Boons: Overcharge, +1 spell point, +1 per three levels in casting classes.

A druid gains their magic through communion with nature and the spirits contained therein. While many casters band together for mutual study and protection, druids take this a step further, possessing their own secret language that identifies one druid to another. The hierarchy of the druids is a very sacred thing for them, and there are only so many high-level druids in the world at any one time. Indeed, a druid rising through the ranks often times must claim their new title by taking it from another druid through a demonstration of superior magic.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Focus Casting, Prepared Caster, Verbal Casting; Animal Shaman (Mind) Boon: +1 spell point, +1 per odd level in casting classes.

Sometimes, a creature, known as a hunter, gains their powers specifically through their connection to animals, taking on animalistic components themselves. While a normal druid must meditate on druidic ever morning to determine which powers he will hold within himself, a hunter gains a more limited power, but calls upon that power without the need for preparation. A hunter loses the Prepared Caster drawback and adjust their spell points accordingly.

Scattered across the world are emissaries of the elemental planes, shamans of immense power who serve the primordial denizens of the elemental and paraelemental planes. These elemental shamans rely upon landmarks such as canyons, volcanoes, or oases for their power, and oftentimes become lost in the mighty forces from which they draw their magic.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Area Bound, Charged Spells, Material Casting, Material Focus (Creation, chosen element), Unsettling Casting, Verbal Casting, Witchmarked Boons: Atmoturgy, Drawback Feat (Environment Charge), +1 spell point, +1 per 2 levels in a casting class.

Beholden to an entity of pure destructive chaos, these cursed individuals (by choice or not) withstand great physical and mental agony to stop themselves from being overwhelmed by this entity, even for a moment. Thought to stabilize their magic even further, these entropic conduits use objects of great power or significance to ground them, and even then their magic manifests in strange, physical ways, as if to anchor itself further.

Casting Ability Modifier: Wisdom Drawbacks: Expensive Locus, Madness Mantra, Painful Magic, Substantial Magic, Wild Magic Boons: Bound Creature or Overwhelming Power, +1 spell point per odd level in a casting class.

To the fey, magic is simply a part of life - and those who study their styles often find that their emotions are a problem, but magic is stronger and easier to control.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Emotional Casting, Fey-Infused Magic, Somatic Casting, Wild Magic Boons: Easy Focus, Overcharge

There exist those who bear in their blood a touch of pure fire. Details of their origin are spotty at best, but the tale is told of a tryst between a mortal woman and the elemental spirit of fire itself, granting the power of fire to all her descendants. The flame-blooded are often as brash and volatile as the element that powers their magic; to cross one is to invite a swift and deadly response.

Casting Ability Modifier: Charisma Drawbacks: Energy Focus (fire) (Destruction), Limited Warp (requires fire) (Warp), Focused Weather (Heat) (Weather) Boons: None

Not often thought of as a mentalist or magician (even amongst themselves), gadgeteers have a knack for constructs, magic devices, and machinery. Armed with a favored tool or set of tools (such as a specially designed burin or wrench), they tinker with clockwork and other bits of artifice to transform the world around themselves and bring mental might to bear on creatures such as golems. Teammates often dislike their magic due to suddenly having clockwork gears or strange gadgets incorporated into them, but apart from that they can bring great gifts to those they assist.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Focus Casting (artisan tools), Magical Signs, Material Casting, Rigorous Concentration, Skilled Casting (Craft (mechanical)); Unnatural Transformation (gadgets and gears) (Alteration), Elongated Summoning (Conjuration), Kindred Knack (construct) (Mind) Boon: +1 spell point per level in casting classes.

Often unsettling and always mysterious, the art of hypnotism, sometimes called mesmerism, has its roots in the magic of the mind, but a flick of the wrist, sway of a pendulum, and penetrating stare of a master has allowed magicians of all stripes to unlock their truest potential. Wielding a specially prepared amulet, pocket watch, gemstone, or other lustrous item that can be held aloft or swayed with a practiced hand, hypnotists and those who use their methods to unlock magical power are often feared as insidious or enthralling masterminds, but can also be celebrated as entertainers and practitioners of skills that make the mysterious appear whimsical and mundane.

Casting Ability Modifier: Intelligence Drawbacks: Extended Casting, Focus Casting, Skilled Casting (Profession (hypnotist)), Somatic Casting Boon: +1 spell point per level in casting classes.