Manipulation Spells

Manipulation spells control, animate or transform matter and energy. Many manipulation spells have a Threshold; this is a number of successes required for the spell to function. If, after the Spell Resistance Test, the caster’s successes do not equal or exceed the Threshold of the spell, the spell fails. Manipulation spells can affect any target in the caster’s line of sight.

CONTROL MANIPULATIONS

Control manipulations affect the actions and the thoughts of living beings. They are resisted using Willpower and have a Threshold equal to half the target’s Willpower (round down).

Control Actions
Type: Mana • Target: Willpower • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

The caster controls the physical actions of a target like a puppeteer pulling strings. The victim’s consciousness is unaffected, but the caster controls the victim’s body. The victim uses any skills or abilities at the caster’s orders, but with +4 to all target numbers because of the victim’s resistance to the caster’s commands.

Control Emotion
Type: Mana • Target: Willpower • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

The target feels an overwhelming emotion chosen by the spellcaster, such as love, hate, sorrow and so on. The target believes the emotion wholeheartedly, but not mindlessly. Generally speaking, a target doing something in keeping with the emotion (fighting while filled with anger or hate), suffers no penalty. If doing something not relevant to the emotion (trying to drive while laughing hysterically), a distraction applies (+2 to all target numbers). If the target tries to go against the emotion (trying to shoot a “loved” target), he must make a Willpower Test against the spell’s Force in order to act. A +2 distraction penalty applies even if the test succeeds.

Control Thoughts
Type: Mana • Target: Willpower • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

The caster seizes control of the target’s mind, directing everything the target does. The caster can mentally give commands as a Simple Action and the target is compelled to obey. Commands the target is deeply opposed to can be fought with a Willpower Test against the spell’s Force, one test per command. If the caster is not present, a single success will overcome the spell. If the caster is present, roll the caster’s Willpower against the target’s Willpower. The caster’s successes reduce the target’s. One net success is all that is required for the target to resist the command and break the spell.

Influence
Type: Mana • Target: Willpower • Duration: Permanent • Drain: Sustained

This spell implants a single suggestion in the victim’s mind, like a powerful post-hypnotic command. The subject will carry out this suggestion as if it were his own idea and it will then fade. If someone points out that what the target is doing is wrong, the target can make a Willpower Test to overcome the suggestion as described for the Control Thoughts spell. The caster can also withdraw the suggestion at any time.

ELEMENTAL MANIPULATIONS

Elemental manipulation spells create matter or energy and direct it to cause damage. Unlike combat spells, these spells are treated like normal ranged attacks (see p. 109) using Sorcery as the Ranged Combat Skill. They have a base Target Number of 4, regardless of range, as long as the caster can see the target. Impact Armor protects against damage from elelmental manipulations, but at only half its normal rating (round down). The caster chooses the spell’s Base Damage Level when it is cast, which also determines the base Drain Level. Elemental spells do primary damage determined by the Damage Code of the spell. They also have secondary effects, the effects the spell has on the environment. For example, a Fireball might start fires, cook off ammo, ignite fuel tanks, and set fire to armor and clothing all over the blast zone. An Acid Stream can melt surrounding material into smoking sludge. If, after applying the primary damage of the spell, anyone is left standing and in some way vulnerable to the secondary effects, roll 2D6 to determine the effect for any non-living targets. The result must be greater than or equal to the target’s Object Resistance Rating. Add +2 to the Object Resistance if the spell has a base damage of Serious, and +4 if its base damage is Moderate. An elemental spell with a Damage Level of Light does not cause secondary effects. When dealing with secondary effects, the gamemaster will have to be selective and make some judgment calls.

Acid Stream
Type: Physcial • Target: 4 • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2) +2

These spells create a powerful corrosive that sprays the target, causing terrible burns and eating away organic and metallic material. Anyone in full-body armor treated to resist toxic materials (like a firefighter’s suit) takes no damage. The acid creates a cloud of thick, choking fumes: add +4 to all target numbers for those in the affected area for the rest of the Combat Turn. The affected area is also considered treacherous ground for the rest of the Combat Turn. Anything hit by acid can be melted into sludge by the secondary effects, or at least badly pitted and burned. Vehicle tires may flatten. Armor can be reduced by –1 to both Ballistic and Impact ratings by being melted and burned. If the spellcaster chooses to cast the spell with a Damage Code of D, even firearms can be corroded into junk. The acid quickly evaporates in the turn following the spell’s casting, but the damage remains. Acid Stream is a single target spell.

Toxic Wave
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2) +3

Toxic Wave functions the same as Acid Steam, except it is an area spell.

Flamethrower
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2) +1

These spells create flames the caster can direct. The flames flash into existence and burn out after striking the target, but can ignite flammable materials, which will continue to burn after the spell is exhausted. For highly flammable materials (gasoline, dry wood, paper, explosives and ammunition) subtract 1 from their Resistance to determine secondary effects. If clothing ignites, the wearer takes 6M damage at the end of every turn until the flames are extinguished. Treat exploding ammunition, grenades and such as a weapon hit, with armor doing nothing to reduce the damage. Combat Pool dice can help resist damage as the singed target tries to hurl the exploding material away. Vehicle fuel may explode, but a vehicle gets +2 to its Object Resistance, unless its fuel is exposed to the open air. Flamethrower is a single target spell.

Fireball
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instnat • Drain: (Force/2) +3

Fireball functions the same as Flamethrower, except it is an area spell.

Lightning Bolt
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instnat • Drain: (Force/2) +2

This spell creates and directs electricity. Lightning can short out or overload electronics (with –1 to the equipment’s Resistance) and may ignite flammable materials (like the fire spells above). Metallic armor provides no protection, but special insulation or lack of grounding (a flying or levitating target, for example) may reduce the Power of the attack at the gamemaster’s discretion. Lightning Bolt is a single target spell

Ball Lightning
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instnat • Drain: (Force/2) +3

Ball Lightning functions the same as Lightning Bolt, except it is an area spell.

TELEKINETIC MANIPULATIONS

Telekinetic spells allow the caster to exert pure magical force against physical objects to move them.

Clout
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2)

Clout creates a bolt of invisible psychokinetic force that does stun damage. It is targeted as a normal Ranged Attack, using the Sorcery Test in place of the Combat Skill Test. Impact armor protects against the damage.

Fling
Type: Physical • Target: See text • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2) +1

This spell psychokinetically hurls a single object of no more than (Magic Attribute) kilograms at a designated target with a Strength equal to the spell’s Force. The caster must touch the item to be thrown. Treat the Sorcery Test as a normal Ranged Combat Test for the purposes of the item hitting the target. Throwing weapons propelled by this spell use their normal range based on the spell’s effective Strength.

Levitate
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

Levitate allows the caster to telekinetically lift an object and move it around. The subject of the spell can be moved anywhere in the caster’s line of sight at a rate of speed equal to the caster’s Magic Attribute multiplied by the number of successes (up to a maximum equal to the spell’s Force) from the Sorcery Test in meters per turn. The target number of the Sorcery Test is increased by +1 for every full 100 kilograms of mass of the object. Objects flung into other things are considered to hit with a Damage Code of (Movement Rate ÷ 10)M Stun. Especially sharp or dangerous objects may do physical damage at the gamemaster’s discretion. If the caster is attempting to levitate an item held by a living being, the holder can make a Strength Test to resist the spell. The caster must have at least 1 net success to levitate the item away. If the caster is attempting to levitate a living being, the target may resist the spell using Strength or Willpower (whichever is higher). You can use this spell to levitate yourself, if desired.

Magic Fingers
Type: Physical • Target: 6 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

Magic Fingers creates a psychokinetic effect like “invisible hands” that can hold or manipulate items. The successes on the Sorcery Test become the spell’s effective Strength and Quickness, up to the Force of the spell. The caster can use skills remotely with Magic Fingers, but all target numbers receive a +2 modifier due to problems of fine control. Even simple actions like picking up a coin may require a Quickness Test, at the gamemaster’s discretion. The caster can fight, pick a lock, or take any other action he desires using the magic fingers as if they were real hands. The spell can reach any point the caster can see, and Clairvoyance or remote-viewing technology can be used to get a close-up of the scene as long as it is within the caster’s normal line of sight. This spell comes in very handy for disarming bombs and handling other hazardous work from a safe distance.

Poltergeist
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

Poltergeist picks up all small objects within the spell’s area, up to a kilogram in mass, and whirls them around in random patterns. This imposes a +2 Visibility Modifier on the area. The spell does a base Light Stun damage as well, whacking targets with flying debris. Targets within the area use their Quickness, not Body, for their Damage Resistance Test each turn, with a target number equal to the Force of the spell. Impact Armor protects against the damage. Poltergeist may do physical damage if the gamemaster feels the debris is sufficiently dangerous (broken glass and nails, for example).

TRANSFORMATION MANIPULATIONS

Transformation manipulation spells create, control or transform matter and energy.

Armor
Type: Physcial • Target: 6 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

This spell creates a glowing field of magical energy around the target that protects against impact and ballistic damage. One success is enough to create the magical field around the character of an Armor Rating equal to the Force of the spell. The Armor spell is compatible with all armor types and adds its rating to the rating of the physical armor being worn. This spell either works or it does not; extra successes do not add additional points to the Armor Rating.

Physical Barrier
Type: Physical • Target: 6 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

Barrier spells create glowing, translucent force fields. One success is sufficient to form a field with a Barrier Rating equal to the spell’s Force. Every two successes increase the Barrier Rating by 1. The caster can form the barrier as a dome with a radius and height equal to the spell’s normal radius. The caster can also form a wall with a height equal to the spell’s Force in meters and a length equal to the caster’s Magic Attribute. The caster can adjust the size of the barrier the same as the radius of an area spell. Physical Barrier creates a physical wall. Anything the size of a molecule (or less) can pass through the barrier, including air or other gases. Anything bigger treats the barrier as a normal physical wall. Attacks directed through a barrier have a Visibility Modifier of +1. The barrier does not impede spells, except for elemental spells, just like translucent glass. The barrier can be brought down by physical attacks. Any reductions in Barrier Rating are restored at the beginning of the next Combat Turn. If the barrier is penetrated, it collapses and the spell ends. Physical Barrier cannot be used on the astral plane.

Astral Barrier
Type: Mana • Target: 6 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

Astral Barrier functions the same as Physical Barrier, except on the astral plane.

Ice Sheet
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Instant • Drain: (Force/2) +1

This spell creates a flat sheet of ice covering a radius equalto the caster’s Magic Attribute in meters. Characters crossingthe sheet must make a Quickness (Force) Test to avoid falling prone, adding +1 to the targer number for every 2 successes, up to a maximum bonus equal to the Force of the spell. Vehicles must make a Crash Test (p. 147). The sheet melts at a rate of 1 square meter per minute in normal temperatures.

Ignite
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Permanent • Drain: (Force/2) +1

The Ignite spell accelerates molecular motion in the target, causing it to catch fire. The spell’s Threshold is half the target’s Body or Barrier Rating. The base time for the target to ignite is 10 turns, divided by the number of successes over the Threshold, limited to a number of successes equal to the spell’s force. Once the target ignites, it burns normally until it burns up or is extinguished by smothering or water. Ignite wraps a living target in flames, causing 6M damage on the first turn. The Power increases by 1 per Combat Turn. Resolve the damage at the end of each turn by making a Damage Resistance Test. Impact Armor protects against this damage. Ammo or explosives carried by a victim may explode. If flames are not extinguished, they burn out in 1D6 Combat Turns.

Light
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

This spell creates a mobile point of light, illuminating a radius around it equal to the caster’s Magic in meters. The spell cannot be used to blind, but does offset darkness visibility modifiers, each success on the Sorcery Test counters a +1 modifier, up to a maximum equal to the spell’s Force.

Petrify
Type: Physical • Target: Body • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +1

Petrify transforms living tissue into stone-like calcium carbonate. The Threshold is half the target’s Body. Non-living material—including clothing, gear and cyberware—is not affected. The target is not conscious while under the effects of this spell, and any damage suffered by the stone-like form affects the target normally. While petrified, the target has a Barrier Rating equal to Body + the Force of the Petrify spell.

Shadow
Type: Physical • Target: 4 • Duration: Sustained • Drain: (Force/2) +2

Shadow creates a globe of darkness with a radius equal to the caster’s Magic Attribute in meters. Every success imposes a +1 Visibility Modifier against targets within the area, up to a maximum of +8 or the Force of the spell (whichever is less).