Sorcery

Sorcery is the ability to work with the forces of magic found through out shadow. A Sorcerer can take the raw forces of magic and work them into complex patterns of energy to create nearly any sort of effect. 

Sorcery Types:

Spells come in two forms. Personal and Hung:

Hung Spells are those that are created by "hanging" a construct of energy on or within an image of power such as the Pattern or the Logrus into the right form to give the desired magical effect. The spell is created with a few missing commands called lynchpins, which will release the spell when filled. When finished the spell is stored on the image of the power used and can be cast by speaking the lynchpins to the spell. When hung on a major power such as the Pattern or Logrus, or any other power capable of providing energy, the spells can be set to draw it's power directly from the power used to hang it. It's also possible to hang a spell within an item, tattoo, etc. without a source of power and use lynchpins to give the spell access to the power of a local shadow. (As long as that power can be accessed by the Sorcerer.)

The other type of Spells are Personal Spells. They are created exactly like Hung Spells except that they draw on the Sorcerers own energies to power them, creating a great drain on the caster. Personal Spells take longer to cast then Hung Spells, but not as long as it takes to actually Hang a Spell.

The Rules:

Spell Types:

There are many types of Spells that may be created by a Sorcerer. Any other power that a Sorcerer has access to may be used in the creation of his spells. A Characters with Sorcery and the Pattern or Logrus may create spells using the abilities provided by those powers. Chaos Spells tend to be flashy and destructive magical summoning, local in effect. While Pattern magic is more subtle, and often unnoticed, but sometimes affecting large areas of Shadow.

In General, Spells fall into one of 2 categories: Direct and Indirect.

Most Physical Spells are Indirect Spells. Indirect Spells are those that shape shadow around them to create fire, move objects, etc. Shooting Fire at someone can Indirectly harm them. The Spell itself only creates Fire and sends it in a direction chosen by the caster, the target being turned into a charred corpse is just an Indirect effect of creating Fire and sending it shooting in that direction.

Direct Spells are those that Directly effect a target or object. Changing lead into gold, Stopping someone's Heart, or effecting their mind are all examples of Direct Spells.
Indirect Spells are most often used in combat and must be countered by other Indirect spells. If one Sorcerer throws a ball of fire at another, the Sorcerer being attacked will want to cast another Indirect Spell to protect himself, not a Direct one! Indirect Spells however CAN counter Direct ones.

About ten feet above her, face purple and head twisted to one side as if his neck were broken, Sharu hung in the middle of the air. To the untutored he might have seemed magically levitated. My Logrus sight gave me view of the line of force from which he hung suspended, however, victim of what might, I suppose, be termed a magical lynching.
She lowered her arms slowly, and the line of force which held him began to lengthen.
-Merlin observing Jasra, Sign of Chaos

All Spells involve 'Lines of Force' and 'Constructs of Energy.' These Lines of Force are used to channel Spells towards their target and are lines of pure magical energy. They can be blocked by Mystic Shields, or Defensive Spells, although in most cases nearly any Mystic Shield can be brought down with a single spell, and they block the casters spells as well, making them unpopular. (In most cases a Spells that's Power is spent entirely to destroy, will defeat a spell which must split Power between Strength and Duration.)

Power:

One of the most important aspects of a Spell is the Power behind it. A Spells Power determines what it can accomplish, the damage it will do, how hard it is to resist, etc.
A Spells Power is equal to the Psyche + Power Source of the Sorcerer. A Power Source is whatever the character uses to power his spells, Pattern, and Logrus are two of the most powerful, the Broken Pattern is another good source. Finally, many Constructs and Shadows themselves can provide power for spells. Most Sorcerers can tap into a shadow and gain an amount of power equal to their Psyche + Sorcery, although this may take a little study of the local shadow environment first. This is draining on the caster however as it takes a good deal of effort to direct these energies. Drawing power from Constructs or places of power is easier as the power has already been directed by the construct and only needs to be tapped into by the Sorcerer.

Hung Spells powered by the Pattern or Logrus are always faster to cast then those powered by Shadow power sources, but spells powered by constructs are just as fast.

The Power of a spell determines how much damage a spell can inflict, how powerful it can effect a targets mind, or how much a spell can lift, change, or move.

Effect:

The Effect of a spell is the final amount of Power that a Spell has after being resisted by it's target.

Most of the time, a Indirect Spell will be resisted by a Warfare (often by Dodging,) or some type of armor or protection. And a Direct one will be resisted by Psyche. Indirect Spells are resolved exactly as normal combat, the caster casts his spell and the defender either dodges using Warfare, Casts a Defensive Spell, etc. Damage for Physical Spells is based on the Power of the spell.

Direct Spells must overcome the Psyche of the Subject. Characters that know they are the target of a spell always subtract their Psyche from the power of the Spell, as they actively resist it's effects.

Characters that are able to bring up the proper defense subtract their Psyche + Power, (Sorcery, Logrus, etc. But not Trump, Shapeshifting or other non-related or non-defensive Powers,) from the power of the spell. Characters with the Pattern brought to mind subtract their Psyche + Pattern + Endurance.

The Effect of the spell is determined by however much Power is left after defenses have been subtracted. To be completely effective, the Power of the Spell must be greater then the Psyche of the target.

Partially successful spells have only a partial affect based on how close they came to overcoming the Psyche of the subject. A Paralysis Spell for example that ends up with a Power equal to half the subjects Psyche would only slow the character to half speed instead of fully immobilizing him.

Because it is so hard to overcome the Psyche of a target that is actively resisting a spell, most Sorcerers try to cast Direct spells upon their targets when they are unaware of the attack. Characters who are unaware of an incoming attack get no resistance at all, and will suffer the full effects of the spell if the Psyche + Power of the caster overcomes their Psyche.

Outcome:

Most Spells must beat some Attribute to be effective, or will have some minus or bonus that determines how successful it was.

For example, in order to give someone with a 50 Endurance a Heart Attack with a Cardiac Arrest Spell, the Power or the Spell must be higher then both the targets Psyche (In order to effect the character) and Endurance (In order to stop the characters heart.) The Psyche and Endurance of the victim are not combined, but the Power of the Spell must be greater then both attributes in order to be fully effective. So to stop the heart of someone with a 50 Endurance and 60 Psyche, the Power of the spell after being resisted would need to be at least 60.

If the victim had a 75 Endurance instead, with a 60 Psyche, then a Power 60 Spell would still partially effect the character, but because the Power is not greater then the Endurance of the victim the spell might only stop his heart for a moment or slow it down, weakening or knocking out the victim, but not killing him.

Physical Attack Spells inflict Damage equal to their Power. A good rule of thumb is that a Power 50 Spell will do as much damage as getting struck, cut, or stabbed by someone with a 50 Strength using a strong club, ax, or sword.

Spells that have one unchanging effect (such as the spell that turned Jasra into a statue,) are permanent unless broken. Spells that are directed by the caster (such as Merlin's levitation Spell,) or those that are animated (like an illusion,) last as long as they are concentrated upon and fed power.

Breaking Spells:

"Carefully then, I began exploring the construct which held her. It was not overcomplicated, but I could see that tracing all of its byways was going to take a while. All right. I wasn't about to stop now. I pushed on ahead into the spell, taking mental notes as I went."
"I was busy for hours."
-Merlin, Sign of Chaos

Breaking Spells can be done in a number of ways. The two most popular ways are to shatter the spell with more energy and power, (which releases all of the energy from both spells. Not the way you'd want to lift most spells on people.) And to unravel the spell by studying it's pattern and then dispelling it with a spell of your own. To unravel a spell the character compares his Sorcery + Psyche vs. the Sorcery + Psyche of the caster of the spell. It takes 1 hour to unravel a spell for each Circle of the spell.

"And enemies," Mask acknowledged, beginning a series of gestures I recognized immediately because I'd spent a lot of time figuring them out.
"Jasra!" I cried. "Watch out for Sharu!"
-Merlin and Julia, Sign of Chaos

Once a Spell has been broken, a Sorcerer will then know how to dispel that spell, any time he encounters it. If two allies have been turned into toads, once that spell has been unraveled, it's an easy matter to dispel both of them, the character doesn't need to go through the whole process again for the second ally.

Spell Creation: