Technological Spells

This page has not been finished up!

Traditionally, most magical settings are TL4 or below – pre-industrial. Introducing magic to a post-industrial setting, however, can create fascinating new developments for players and GMs to explore. In a setting where high technology and magic coexist, spells that manipulate and support the tools and features of the mechanized world must logically arise.

Unlike other spells, many Tech spells are technological skills and must be learned at a particular TL. When a mage is expert with magic designed to interact with TL10 technology, he is at a penalty when trying to power a TL11 blaster or trying to drain the energy from a TL7 flashlight battery.

These penalties also affect prerequisites. To use a Tech spell as a prerequisite, you must have it at the level associated with spending one character point on the spell. Thus, a mage trying to learn Reveal Function/TL9 must either know Seek Machine/TL9 at IQ-2, Seek Machine/TL10 at IQ-1 (to compensate for the -1 penalty), or Seek Machine/TL8 at IQ+3 (to compensate for the -5 penalty).

Machine Spells

For the purpose of these rules, a machine is a tool that in some way uses, stores, or transforms power in order to do its job. Thus, a hand drill doesn't qualify, but an electric drill does. A spring-powered pocketwatch is a machine, while a sundial is not. The GM has final say regarding any gray area.

In some cases, it may be important to assign an attribute to a machine for purposes of determining spell resistance. For most purposes, the machine's HT is appropriate for this purpose; most machines have HT 10, unless specified otherwise.

Machine spells are intended for use on machines without sapience or free will; as a rule, they should not affect any being that would ordinarily be built as a character. They should affect most machines with IQ 5 or less, and some machines with the Automaton meta-trait. AIs and other sapient machines should be controlled with Communication and Empathy or Mind Control spells (though the GM may wish to assess a -4 penalty for controlling an "alien" mind). At the GM's discretion, the more physical Machine spells, like Glitch or Malfunction, may work on sapient machines.

Seek Machine/TL

Information

Identifies the direction and approximate distance of the nearest machinery of any sort. The caster can also specify that he is looking for a specific sort of device; lasers, computers, light sources, etc. Any known examples of technology may be excluded if the mage specifies them before casting. Use long-distance modifiers.

Cost: 3.

Time to cast: 10 seconds.

Item

Staff, wand, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 100.

Reveal Function/TL

Information; Resisted by spells to conceal magic

Reveals the functions of the subject machine. If the subject has more than one function, the spell reveals them in order of complexity (simplest first), and tells the caster "there are more functions." Later castings will reveal the remaining functions, one per casting.

The spell can also be used to reveal how to activate known functions (i.e., which button to press); the caster gets one try, at -5! If successful, the caster can then use the machine with the appropriate skill (or IQ-6) at a penalty of only -1 for unfamiliarity.

Cost: 8.

Time to cast: 10 minutes.

Prerequisite: Seek Machine.

Item

Staff, wand, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,500.

Machine Control/TL

Regular

Control the actions of one machine (anything under IQ 6, of any size) or a swarm of small ones, up to about 1,000 machines or 100 pounds total. The caster must be aware of the machine's functions to control it. The spell does not supply the skill to use the machine – the caster must use his own skill at Gunner, Computer Operation, Driving, and so on. Concentration is required.

The spell acts through the machine's triggers and controls, mechanical or electrical. A mage could use the spell to make a camera snap a picture, a robot strangle its evil creator, or a gun discharge all of its ammunition. He could not aim the object, or move it, unless it was self-aiming or self-propelled (at least without adding an Apportation spell). If something else has control (an AI in a vehicle or a human operator at the driver's seat, for instance), then he/it may dispute control of the machine every second with a Quick Contest of the caster's effective skill vs. the operator's skill (or Will+TL for cybernetic control).

A mage who knows this spell may use the Rider or Rider Within spells on machines; note, however, that a machine's sensory apparatus may not be readily intelligible to a human being!

Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 6 to cast. 3 to maintain.

Prerequisites: Reveal Function, Locksmith, and Lightning.

Machine Summoning/TL

Regular

Call one machine of a named type (anything under IQ 6). Range does not matter for this spell. If the spell is successfully cast, the caster knows the location of the closest machine of the type and how long it will take for that machine to come to him. It moves towards the caster as fast as it can, until the spell ends or the machine reaches the immediate vicinity of the caster.

Of course, the machine may not be very good at finding its way, or it may run out of fuel or power, etc. For example, a TL7 refrigerator would be unable to move at all. A TL7 car would proceed in a straight line at top speed, unaware of (and thus unable to avoid) obstacles such as pedestrians, ditches, lampposts...

Once the machine reaches the caster, it stays nearby, without attacking, until the spell ends. The spell is broken if the caster or one of his companions attacks the machine.

Duration: 1 minute.

Cost: 4 to cast. 2 to maintain.

Time to cast: 4 seconds.

Prerequisite: Machine Control.

Item

Staff, wand, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 500 for an item that summons one particular machine type, 1,000 for an item that can summon any machine.

Item

Staff, wand, headgear, or jewelry. Energy cost to create: 1,000 for an item that controls a specific type of machine, 2,000 for one that will control any machine.

Energy Spells

TODO

Radiation Spells

TODO

Metal and Plastic Spells

TODO