Reaver Sorcery & Corruption

Sep 17

2 min read

Reaver embraces the dark and dangerous magic common to Sword & Sorcery tales and eschews 'Vancian magic' in favor of a 'roll-to-cast' system.

All spellcasting characters have a Sorcery Die that increases in die size as the character advances in levels and all spells are linked to a specific mental Attribute, called the focus Attribute.

When they cast a spell, the player checks the spell's focus Attribute and, if their corresponding Attribute is d8 or higher, they receive a positive modifier to the Sorcery Die. Spell effects and the Sorcery Die might also be modified through Resolve expenditure, possessing sympathetic objects, or sacrificing your own Attribute dice. If you roll a 4 or higher, the spell succeeds; a 3 or less indicates failure and you reduce your Sorcery Die by –1d until you complete a rest, limiting the amount of spells you can cast in a day. When your die degrades, you must also resist shadow (more on that below).

If you are unfortunate enough to roll a 1 on the Sorcery Die, not only have you failed, you have miscast the spell! A miscast means that, after harnessing the chaotic powers of sorcery, you've lost control and created some unintended effect, often to your own detriment. Every spell listing includes a short miscast table of random events inspired by the spell's intent—miscast the induce sleep spell and you may find yourself falling into slumber, miscast conjuration of the swarm and you may be incapacitated while you vomit insects for a few rounds.

Spells with the black magic tag present inherent danger and every time you cast such a spell, you must resist shadow, even if you successfully cast it.

Shadow represents the temporary influence of chaos upon a character and, while most commonly gained through sorcery, might be gained from a variety of sources—special attacks, using artifacts, reading tomes of forbidden lore, or visiting corrupt places. Your shadow resets after every rest and at the end of every session. For every 3 Shadow a character has when their shadow resets, they gain 1 Corruption. Corruption is a permanent stain on the character's humanity and soul and can lead to gaining corrupt stigmata and eventual doom—every character has a Maximum Corruption value, when it is exceeded they become an NPC. Remember that part about 'dark and dangerous' magic?