Glossary of Magical Terms
abort: To stop the casting of a spell before its completion.
backfire: A critical failure when casting a spell.
base skill: Your unmodified skill with a spell; compare with effective skill.
basic spell: A spell with no other spells as prerequisites.
cancel: To end your own spell before it would normally be over.
caster: The person casting a spell.
class: A group of spells that use the same special rules. Three examples appear in this glossary: Melee spells, Missile spells, and Resisted spells.
college: A group of spells that deal with the same subject – fire, healing, etc.
effective skill: Your base skill, plus any modifiers (usually penalties) for range, circumstances, etc. A caster rolls against effective skill.
enchantment spell: A spell for creating permanent magic items.
energy: The “cost” to cast a spell. You may pay this in either FP or HP. Some game worlds offer alternative energy sources.
grimoire: The list of spells you know (and more generally, any book of spells).
mage: Anyone with the Magery advantage.
Magery: The advantage of being “in tune” with magic; see the Magery advantage.
maintain: To continue a spell after it would normally end. This costs more energy, unless you have high skill.
mana: The ambient magical energy manipulated by spells. Different areas (or worlds) have different levels of mana; see Mana.
melee spell: A spell that “charges” your hand or a magic staff with harmful energies that affect the first target you strike.
missile spell: A spell that summons a magical projectile that you must “throw” at the subject.
prerequisites: A requirement for learning a spell.
resisted spell: Any spell that must overcome the “power” of its subject before it works.
sapient: Racial IQ of 6 or higher.
spell: A skill that produces a specific magical effect when used successfully.
subject: The person, place, or thing on which a spell is cast.
wizard: Any user of magic, whether he is a mage or not.