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Chi Points
Everyone has a reservoir of magical energy within them. This energy is called chi and can be used to produce magical effects in the world if channeled and molded properly. Manipulation of chi can also be used in healing, the promotion of virility, and the focusing and training of the mind and body. The amount of chi a person has is closely linked to their Constitution. People that regularly practice accessing their chi and promoting its flow tend to have larger reservoirs of chi upon which they can draw, while those who neglect their chi do not have as much.
Accessing one’s chi, drawing it forth, and molding it requires great presence of mind, and thus relies on Wisdom. The minimum Wisdom score required to draw forth chi and mold it into a spell is 10 + the spell’s level. Thus a person with a Wisdom score lower than 10 is unable to access his or her chi even though she may possess a large reservoir. The saving throw for spell is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s Wisdom modifier.
A person has an amount of chi at least equal to their number of Hit Dice x (1 + their Constitution bonus) (minimum 1 chi per HD). Those who train in the use of their chi may have more depending on the level of their ability. A person can only draw forth an amount of chi equal to their total Hit Dice per round. If a person ever uses all of his chi, she immediately loses consciousness and does not regain consciousness until her chi is fully restored to its normal maximum.
The body recharges chi at a rate of 1 chi per HD per hour of rest. A person is only resting if she undertakes no strenuous activities such as casting spells, fighting, anything that requires a Strength-, Dexterity-, or Constitution-based skill check, anything that requires a Strength, Dexterity or Constitution check, or a requires a saving throw. The person must not suffer from fatigue, stress, fright, panic, heat, dehydration, frostbite, disease, poison, or anything else that might interrupt her rest. A person may rest while walking or undertaking the minimal activity required to survive (i.e. cleaning, cooking, etc.).
Spellbooks
A magician keeps all of his spells in a spellbook. It is from this spellbook that the mage prepares his daily spells. He begins play with 10 cantrips and 3 1st-level spells plus one additional spell of either level per point of Intelligence bonus. At every new level, the magician may add two new spells of the highest level he may cast at that new level to his spellbook. This represents personal experimentation and research that she has completed over the course of the previous level.
A magician may also add new spells to her spellbook by copying them from other sources, such as scroll, borrowed spellbooks, or other places where the spell is detailed. To transcribe a spell, the magician must first be able to read the source from which he is copying. This generally requires an application of read magic, but can also be accomplished with a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the spell’s level). If this check fails, she cannot attempt to decipher the spell again until the next day.
Once a magician can read the spell, she may attempt to understand how the spell works. This is necessary so that she can properly record the way to cast it. She makes a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level). A magician who has specialized in the particular sort of spell she is attempting to understand gains a +2 bonus on this check. If the check is successful, she understands the spell and can begin to copy it unto her spellbook. A spell copied from another spellbook leaves the spellbook unchanged, but a spell copied from a scroll disappears from the scroll once it is copied.
If the check fails, the magician cannot understand and copy the spell into her spellbook. If she is copying from a scroll, the spell does not disappear from the scroll. She cannot attempt another Spellcraft check to copy that spell until she has gained another rank in Spellcraft.
Recording a new spell in a spellbook requires one full day, regardless of the spell level. A spell takes up 1 page of a spellbook per level. Cantrips also take up one full page. A typical spellbook contains 100 pages. A magician can copy her own spellbook without making any checks. A magician can also write down any spells she has prepared that day from memory.
Preparing Spells
Magicians must prepare their spells at the beginning of each day. This is merely to refresh them in their memory so that they need not think to hard later when they should be focusing on molding their chi. By preparing their spells ahead of time, they can then cast any spell previously prepared that day whenever they see fit, so long as they have a sufficiently high Wisdom score and enough chi to do so.
In order to prepare a spell, a magician must have a Wisdom score at least equal to 10 + the spell’s level. She must then study her spell book for one hour, during which she commits all of the spells she chooses to memory. She may prepare spells at any time, but it always takes at least one hour. The condition required for spell preparation is merely a quick place free of distractions.
A magician can prepare a number of spells determined by her class and her Intelligence score. She may prepare spells more than once in a day, exchanging out one set of spells for another, but this requires an hour of time in proper conditions. A spell only remains prepared for up to 24 hours, after which it is lost. Every time magician prepares spells, a new 24-hour period begins; when a magician prepares a new set of spells, any previously-memorized spells are forgotten.
A magician prepares spells from her own spellbook. She may attempt to prepare spells from sources other than her own spellbook, but she must first decipher the spell and then succeed on a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). She must repeat the check to prepare the spell again, no matter how many times she has prepared it before. If the check fails, she cannot try to prepare the spell from the same source again until the next day. (However, as explained above, she does not need to repeat a check to decipher the writing.)
Upon preparation, the magician may choose to apply any metamagic feats he wishes to his spells. Spells modified upon preparation thus do not require any additional time to cast.
Casting Spells
Casting a spell works the same way regardless of the source of the spell or how it was prepared.
First, a magician must choose which spell she wishes to cast. This spell must be selected from among the spells she has prepared for the day, although it can be any one of these spells. To cast a spell, you must be able to provide any chi, somatic, audio, foci, ritual, or any other components for the spell, and she must be able to concentrate. If a spell has multiple versions, the magician chooses which version to use when you cast it. She does not have to prepare a specific version of the spell. Once she has prepared a spell, she can cast it for 24 hours before she needs to prepare it again, so long as she still has sufficient chi.
Casting spells requires concentration. If something interrupts a magician’s concentration while she is casting, she must make a Concentration check or lose the spell. The more distracting the interruption and the higher the level of the spell she is trying to cast, the higher the DC is. If she fails the check, she loses the spell and expends chi and other components just as if she had cast it to no effect.
Injury: If while trying to cast a spell, a magician takes damage, she must make a Concentration check (DC + points of damage taken + the level of the spell she is trying to cast). If she fails the check, she loses the spell without effect. The interruption even strikes during spellcasting if it comes between when she starts and when you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to her casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action).
If the magician is taking continuous damage, half the damage is considered to take place while she is casting a spell. She must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + ½ the damage that the continuous source last dealt + the spell level of the spell she is casting). If the last damage dealt was the last damage that the effect could deal, then the damage is over, and it does not distract you. Repeated damage does not count as continuous damage.
Spell: If a magician is affected by a spell while attempting to cast a spell of her own, she must make a Concentration check or lose the spell she is casting. If the spell affecting her deals damage, the DC is 10 + points of damage + the level of the spell she is casting.
If the spell interferes with the magician or distracts her in some other way, the DC is the spell’s saving throw DC + the level of the spell she is casting. For a spell with no saving throw, it is the DC that the spell’s saving throw would have if a save were allowed.
Grappling or Pinned: The only spells a magician can cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose foci or material components (if any) she has in hand. Even so, she must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Vigorous Motion: If a magician is riding on a moving mount, taking a bouncy ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rough water, below-decks in a storm-tossed ship, or simply being jostled in a similar fashion, she must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Violent Motion: If a magician is on a galloping horse, taking a rough ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rapids or in a storm, on deck in a storm-tossed ship, or being tossed roughly about in a similar fashion, she must make a Concentration (DC 15 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Violent Weather: A magician must make a Constitution check if she tries to cast a spell in violent weather. If she is in a high wind carrying blinding rain or sleet, the DC is 5 + the level of the spell she is casting. If she is in a wind-driven hail, dust, or debris, the DC is 10 + the spell she is casting. In either case, she loses the spell if she fails the Concentration check. If the weather is caused by a spell, use the rules in the Spell subsection above.
Casting Defensively: If a magician wants to cast a spell without provoking attacks of opportunity, she must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the spell she is casting) to succeed. She loses the spell if she fails.
Entangled: If a magician wants to cast a spell while entangled in a net or by a tanglefoot bag or while she is affected by a spell with similar effects, she must make a DC 15 Concentration check to cast the spell. She loses the spell if she fails.
Overchanneling
A magician can extract chi at a rate of 1 chi per level per round. Gathering additional chi beyond what is possible in a single round requires a full-round action during which the magician provokes attacks of opportunity, is flat-footed, and cannot move (he is not helpless, however). For game purposes, additional chi is considered to have been extracted at the beginning of the magician’s turn. A magician may choose to extract less chi than her maximum amount in any chosen round.
A magician must also concentrate to hold the chi while more is extracted. Every round she holds any amount of chi without releasing it in a spell, she must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + amount of chi currently held) or lose control of the chi and take damage. If her concentration is interrupted at any point while she holds chi, she must make a Concentration check as if she were casting a spell with a level equal to the amount of chi she is currently holding.
If a magician loses control of any chi she is holding, the chi is released in a violent 5 ft.-radius burst that inflicts 1 point of force damage per point of chi held at the time of the loss of control. This damage cannot be ignored in any way by the magician who held the chi, but others may employ various forms of magical protection against it.
If a magician gathers and holds an amount of chi, she must use all of that chi in the next spell she casts. Any chi not used results in an uncontrolled burst as described above, dealing an amount of damage equal to the unused chi. A magician can release the held chi at any time in a controlled manner with a Concentration check (DC 20 + amount of chi currently held).
Counterspell
It is possible to cast any spell as a counterspell. By doing so, you are using the spell’s energy to disrupt the casting of the same spell by another character.
To use a counterspell, a magician must select an opponent as the target of the counterspell. She does this by choosing the ready action. In doing so, she elects to wait to complete her action until her opponent tries to cast a spell. (She may still move her speed, since ready is a standard action.)
If the target of her counterspell tries to cast a spell, the magician makes a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level). This check is a free action. If the check succeeds, she correctly identifies the opponent’s spell and can attempt to counter it. If the check fails, she cannot do either of these things.
To complete the action, the magician must hen cast the correct spell. As a general rule, a spell can only counter itself. If she is able to cast the same spell and she has it prepared, she casts it, altering it slightly to create a counterspell effect. If the target is within range, both spells automatically negate each other with no other results.
Metamagic feats are not taken into account when determining whether a spell can be countered. Some spells specifically counter each other, especially when they have diametrically opposed effects. A magician can use dispel magic to counter another spellcaster, and she does not need to identify the spell he or she is casting. However, dispel magic does not always work as a counterspell.
Caster Level
A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most magicians is equal to her class level in the class from which she is casting the spell. A magician can always use a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level she chooses must be high enough to cast the spell in question, and all of the level-dependant features must be based on the same caster level.
In the event that a class feature, domain granted power, or other special ability provides an adjustment to a magician’s caster level, that adjustment applies not only to effects based on caster level (such as range, duration, and damage dealt) but also to her caster level check to overcome a target’s spell resistance and to the caster level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).
Spell Failure
If a magician ever tries to cast a spell in conditions where the characteristics of the spell cannot be made to conform, the casting fails and the spell is wasted. Spells also fail if a magician’s concentration is broken and might fail if she is wearing armor while casting a spell with somatic components.
A spell that fails still drains the magician of the chi normally required to cast the spell and consumes any material components and experience components.
Spell Effects
Many special spell effects are handled according to the school of the spells in question. Certain other special features are found across spell schools.
Attacks: Some spell descriptions refer to attacking. All offensive combat actions, even those that do not damage opponents are considered attacks. Attempts to turn or rebuke undead count as attacks. All spells that opponents resist with saving throws, that deal damage, or that otherwise harm or hamper subjects are attacks. Spells that summon monsters or other allies are not attacks because the spells themselves do not harm anyone.
Weapon-Like Spells: Some spells are considered weapon-like spells and can have certain feats and abilities applied to them. These spells can benefit from combat-enhancing feats. Ranged weapon-like spells include any spell that requires a ranged touch attack or a ranged attack roll; touch weapon-like spells are any spell that requires a melee touch attack or melee attack roll. The following feats may be applied to the following feats in the following manner:
Improved Critical: Choose one category of weapon-like spells (ranged or touch spells). When you use a spell of the selected category, its threat range is doubled, so that a spell that normally threatens a critical on a roll of 20 has a threat range of 19-20. You can gain this feat a second time, choosing a different category of weapon-like spells.
Improved Unarmed Strike: You can add the damage of your unarmed strike to the damage of a touch spell by delivering the spell as a regular melee attack instead of a melee touch attack. The defender gets the full benefit of armor and shield, but if the attack hits, the unarmed strike deals normal damage over and above any damage the spell does as it is discharged. If the unarmed strike misses, then the spell is not discharged.
If the unarmed strike scores a critical hit, damage from the spell is not multiplied.
Point Blank Shot: You get a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls with ranged spells that deal hit point damage at ranges of up to 30 feet. Spells that deal only ability damage, bestow penalties on ability scores, or deal energy drain gain a +1 bonus on their attack rolls but get no bonus on damage.
Precise Shot: You can fire a ranged spell at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the usual –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Stunning Fist: When you use your unarmed strike to deliver a touch spell with a successful melee attack (as described in Improved Unarmed Strike, above), you also stun any target that fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Wisdom modifier).
Weapon Finesse: You can treat touch spells as light weapons and use your Dexterity modifier (instead of your Strength modifier) on your touch attack rolls with such spells.
Weapon Finesse: Choose one category of weapon-like spells (ranged or tough spells) and gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls made with such spells. You can gain this feat a second time, choosing a different category of weapon-like spells.
Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type do not generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonuses work. The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties or the same type applies only the worst one.
Combining Magical Effects
Spells or magical effects usually work as described, no matter how many other spells or magical effects happen to be operating in the same area or on the same recipient. Except in special cases, a spell does not affect the way another spell operates. Whenever a spell has a specific effect on other spells, the spell description explains that effect. Several other general rules apply when spells or magical effects operate in the same place:
Stacking Effects: Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves. More generally, two bonuses of the same type don’t stack even if they come from different spells.
Different Bonus Names: The bonuses or penalties from two different spells stack if the modifiers are of different types. A bonus that isn’t named stacks with any bonus.
Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths: In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.
Same Effect with Different Results: The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.
One Effect Makes Another Irrelevant: Sometimes, one spell can render a later spell irrelevant. Both spells are still active, but one has rendered the other useless in some fashion.
Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a spell that removes the subjects ability to act. Mental controls that do not remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.
Spells with Opposite Effects: Spells with opposite effects apply normally, with all bonuses, penalties, or changes accruing in the order that they apply. Some spells negate or counter each other. This is a special effect that is noted in a spell’s description.
Instantaneous Effects: Two or more spells with instantaneous durations work cumulatively when they affect the same target.
Everyone has a reservoir of magical energy within them. This energy is called chi and can be used to produce magical effects in the world if channeled and molded properly. Manipulation of chi can also be used in healing, the promotion of virility, and the focusing and training of the mind and body. The amount of chi a person has is closely linked to their Constitution. People that regularly practice accessing their chi and promoting its flow tend to have larger reservoirs of chi upon which they can draw, while those who neglect their chi do not have as much.
Accessing one’s chi, drawing it forth, and molding it requires great presence of mind, and thus relies on Wisdom. The minimum Wisdom score required to draw forth chi and mold it into a spell is 10 + the spell’s level. Thus a person with a Wisdom score lower than 10 is unable to access his or her chi even though she may possess a large reservoir. The saving throw for spell is equal to 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s Wisdom modifier.
A person has an amount of chi at least equal to their number of Hit Dice x (1 + their Constitution bonus) (minimum 1 chi per HD). Those who train in the use of their chi may have more depending on the level of their ability. A person can only draw forth an amount of chi equal to their total Hit Dice per round. If a person ever uses all of his chi, she immediately loses consciousness and does not regain consciousness until her chi is fully restored to its normal maximum.
The body recharges chi at a rate of 1 chi per HD per hour of rest. A person is only resting if she undertakes no strenuous activities such as casting spells, fighting, anything that requires a Strength-, Dexterity-, or Constitution-based skill check, anything that requires a Strength, Dexterity or Constitution check, or a requires a saving throw. The person must not suffer from fatigue, stress, fright, panic, heat, dehydration, frostbite, disease, poison, or anything else that might interrupt her rest. A person may rest while walking or undertaking the minimal activity required to survive (i.e. cleaning, cooking, etc.).
Spellbooks
A magician keeps all of his spells in a spellbook. It is from this spellbook that the mage prepares his daily spells. He begins play with 10 cantrips and 3 1st-level spells plus one additional spell of either level per point of Intelligence bonus. At every new level, the magician may add two new spells of the highest level he may cast at that new level to his spellbook. This represents personal experimentation and research that she has completed over the course of the previous level.
A magician may also add new spells to her spellbook by copying them from other sources, such as scroll, borrowed spellbooks, or other places where the spell is detailed. To transcribe a spell, the magician must first be able to read the source from which he is copying. This generally requires an application of read magic, but can also be accomplished with a Spellcraft check (DC 20 + the spell’s level). If this check fails, she cannot attempt to decipher the spell again until the next day.
Once a magician can read the spell, she may attempt to understand how the spell works. This is necessary so that she can properly record the way to cast it. She makes a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level). A magician who has specialized in the particular sort of spell she is attempting to understand gains a +2 bonus on this check. If the check is successful, she understands the spell and can begin to copy it unto her spellbook. A spell copied from another spellbook leaves the spellbook unchanged, but a spell copied from a scroll disappears from the scroll once it is copied.
If the check fails, the magician cannot understand and copy the spell into her spellbook. If she is copying from a scroll, the spell does not disappear from the scroll. She cannot attempt another Spellcraft check to copy that spell until she has gained another rank in Spellcraft.
Recording a new spell in a spellbook requires one full day, regardless of the spell level. A spell takes up 1 page of a spellbook per level. Cantrips also take up one full page. A typical spellbook contains 100 pages. A magician can copy her own spellbook without making any checks. A magician can also write down any spells she has prepared that day from memory.
Preparing Spells
Magicians must prepare their spells at the beginning of each day. This is merely to refresh them in their memory so that they need not think to hard later when they should be focusing on molding their chi. By preparing their spells ahead of time, they can then cast any spell previously prepared that day whenever they see fit, so long as they have a sufficiently high Wisdom score and enough chi to do so.
In order to prepare a spell, a magician must have a Wisdom score at least equal to 10 + the spell’s level. She must then study her spell book for one hour, during which she commits all of the spells she chooses to memory. She may prepare spells at any time, but it always takes at least one hour. The condition required for spell preparation is merely a quick place free of distractions.
A magician can prepare a number of spells determined by her class and her Intelligence score. She may prepare spells more than once in a day, exchanging out one set of spells for another, but this requires an hour of time in proper conditions. A spell only remains prepared for up to 24 hours, after which it is lost. Every time magician prepares spells, a new 24-hour period begins; when a magician prepares a new set of spells, any previously-memorized spells are forgotten.
A magician prepares spells from her own spellbook. She may attempt to prepare spells from sources other than her own spellbook, but she must first decipher the spell and then succeed on a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). She must repeat the check to prepare the spell again, no matter how many times she has prepared it before. If the check fails, she cannot try to prepare the spell from the same source again until the next day. (However, as explained above, she does not need to repeat a check to decipher the writing.)
Upon preparation, the magician may choose to apply any metamagic feats he wishes to his spells. Spells modified upon preparation thus do not require any additional time to cast.
Casting Spells
Casting a spell works the same way regardless of the source of the spell or how it was prepared.
First, a magician must choose which spell she wishes to cast. This spell must be selected from among the spells she has prepared for the day, although it can be any one of these spells. To cast a spell, you must be able to provide any chi, somatic, audio, foci, ritual, or any other components for the spell, and she must be able to concentrate. If a spell has multiple versions, the magician chooses which version to use when you cast it. She does not have to prepare a specific version of the spell. Once she has prepared a spell, she can cast it for 24 hours before she needs to prepare it again, so long as she still has sufficient chi.
Casting spells requires concentration. If something interrupts a magician’s concentration while she is casting, she must make a Concentration check or lose the spell. The more distracting the interruption and the higher the level of the spell she is trying to cast, the higher the DC is. If she fails the check, she loses the spell and expends chi and other components just as if she had cast it to no effect.
Injury: If while trying to cast a spell, a magician takes damage, she must make a Concentration check (DC + points of damage taken + the level of the spell she is trying to cast). If she fails the check, she loses the spell without effect. The interruption even strikes during spellcasting if it comes between when she starts and when you complete a spell (for a spell with a casting time of 1 full round or more) or if it comes in response to her casting the spell (such as an attack of opportunity provoked by the spell or a contingent attack, such as a readied action).
If the magician is taking continuous damage, half the damage is considered to take place while she is casting a spell. She must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + ½ the damage that the continuous source last dealt + the spell level of the spell she is casting). If the last damage dealt was the last damage that the effect could deal, then the damage is over, and it does not distract you. Repeated damage does not count as continuous damage.
Spell: If a magician is affected by a spell while attempting to cast a spell of her own, she must make a Concentration check or lose the spell she is casting. If the spell affecting her deals damage, the DC is 10 + points of damage + the level of the spell she is casting.
If the spell interferes with the magician or distracts her in some other way, the DC is the spell’s saving throw DC + the level of the spell she is casting. For a spell with no saving throw, it is the DC that the spell’s saving throw would have if a save were allowed.
Grappling or Pinned: The only spells a magician can cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose foci or material components (if any) she has in hand. Even so, she must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Vigorous Motion: If a magician is riding on a moving mount, taking a bouncy ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rough water, below-decks in a storm-tossed ship, or simply being jostled in a similar fashion, she must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Violent Motion: If a magician is on a galloping horse, taking a rough ride in a wagon, on a small boat in rapids or in a storm, on deck in a storm-tossed ship, or being tossed roughly about in a similar fashion, she must make a Concentration (DC 15 + the level of the spell she is casting) or lose the spell.
Violent Weather: A magician must make a Constitution check if she tries to cast a spell in violent weather. If she is in a high wind carrying blinding rain or sleet, the DC is 5 + the level of the spell she is casting. If she is in a wind-driven hail, dust, or debris, the DC is 10 + the spell she is casting. In either case, she loses the spell if she fails the Concentration check. If the weather is caused by a spell, use the rules in the Spell subsection above.
Casting Defensively: If a magician wants to cast a spell without provoking attacks of opportunity, she must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the spell she is casting) to succeed. She loses the spell if she fails.
Entangled: If a magician wants to cast a spell while entangled in a net or by a tanglefoot bag or while she is affected by a spell with similar effects, she must make a DC 15 Concentration check to cast the spell. She loses the spell if she fails.
Overchanneling
A magician can extract chi at a rate of 1 chi per level per round. Gathering additional chi beyond what is possible in a single round requires a full-round action during which the magician provokes attacks of opportunity, is flat-footed, and cannot move (he is not helpless, however). For game purposes, additional chi is considered to have been extracted at the beginning of the magician’s turn. A magician may choose to extract less chi than her maximum amount in any chosen round.
A magician must also concentrate to hold the chi while more is extracted. Every round she holds any amount of chi without releasing it in a spell, she must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + amount of chi currently held) or lose control of the chi and take damage. If her concentration is interrupted at any point while she holds chi, she must make a Concentration check as if she were casting a spell with a level equal to the amount of chi she is currently holding.
If a magician loses control of any chi she is holding, the chi is released in a violent 5 ft.-radius burst that inflicts 1 point of force damage per point of chi held at the time of the loss of control. This damage cannot be ignored in any way by the magician who held the chi, but others may employ various forms of magical protection against it.
If a magician gathers and holds an amount of chi, she must use all of that chi in the next spell she casts. Any chi not used results in an uncontrolled burst as described above, dealing an amount of damage equal to the unused chi. A magician can release the held chi at any time in a controlled manner with a Concentration check (DC 20 + amount of chi currently held).
Counterspell
It is possible to cast any spell as a counterspell. By doing so, you are using the spell’s energy to disrupt the casting of the same spell by another character.
To use a counterspell, a magician must select an opponent as the target of the counterspell. She does this by choosing the ready action. In doing so, she elects to wait to complete her action until her opponent tries to cast a spell. (She may still move her speed, since ready is a standard action.)
If the target of her counterspell tries to cast a spell, the magician makes a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + the spell’s level). This check is a free action. If the check succeeds, she correctly identifies the opponent’s spell and can attempt to counter it. If the check fails, she cannot do either of these things.
To complete the action, the magician must hen cast the correct spell. As a general rule, a spell can only counter itself. If she is able to cast the same spell and she has it prepared, she casts it, altering it slightly to create a counterspell effect. If the target is within range, both spells automatically negate each other with no other results.
Metamagic feats are not taken into account when determining whether a spell can be countered. Some spells specifically counter each other, especially when they have diametrically opposed effects. A magician can use dispel magic to counter another spellcaster, and she does not need to identify the spell he or she is casting. However, dispel magic does not always work as a counterspell.
Caster Level
A spell’s power often depends on its caster level, which for most magicians is equal to her class level in the class from which she is casting the spell. A magician can always use a spell at a lower caster level than normal, but the caster level she chooses must be high enough to cast the spell in question, and all of the level-dependant features must be based on the same caster level.
In the event that a class feature, domain granted power, or other special ability provides an adjustment to a magician’s caster level, that adjustment applies not only to effects based on caster level (such as range, duration, and damage dealt) but also to her caster level check to overcome a target’s spell resistance and to the caster level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).
Spell Failure
If a magician ever tries to cast a spell in conditions where the characteristics of the spell cannot be made to conform, the casting fails and the spell is wasted. Spells also fail if a magician’s concentration is broken and might fail if she is wearing armor while casting a spell with somatic components.
A spell that fails still drains the magician of the chi normally required to cast the spell and consumes any material components and experience components.
Spell Effects
Many special spell effects are handled according to the school of the spells in question. Certain other special features are found across spell schools.
Attacks: Some spell descriptions refer to attacking. All offensive combat actions, even those that do not damage opponents are considered attacks. Attempts to turn or rebuke undead count as attacks. All spells that opponents resist with saving throws, that deal damage, or that otherwise harm or hamper subjects are attacks. Spells that summon monsters or other allies are not attacks because the spells themselves do not harm anyone.
Weapon-Like Spells: Some spells are considered weapon-like spells and can have certain feats and abilities applied to them. These spells can benefit from combat-enhancing feats. Ranged weapon-like spells include any spell that requires a ranged touch attack or a ranged attack roll; touch weapon-like spells are any spell that requires a melee touch attack or melee attack roll. The following feats may be applied to the following feats in the following manner:
Improved Critical: Choose one category of weapon-like spells (ranged or touch spells). When you use a spell of the selected category, its threat range is doubled, so that a spell that normally threatens a critical on a roll of 20 has a threat range of 19-20. You can gain this feat a second time, choosing a different category of weapon-like spells.
Improved Unarmed Strike: You can add the damage of your unarmed strike to the damage of a touch spell by delivering the spell as a regular melee attack instead of a melee touch attack. The defender gets the full benefit of armor and shield, but if the attack hits, the unarmed strike deals normal damage over and above any damage the spell does as it is discharged. If the unarmed strike misses, then the spell is not discharged.
If the unarmed strike scores a critical hit, damage from the spell is not multiplied.
Point Blank Shot: You get a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls with ranged spells that deal hit point damage at ranges of up to 30 feet. Spells that deal only ability damage, bestow penalties on ability scores, or deal energy drain gain a +1 bonus on their attack rolls but get no bonus on damage.
Precise Shot: You can fire a ranged spell at an opponent engaged in melee without taking the usual –4 penalty on your attack roll.
Stunning Fist: When you use your unarmed strike to deliver a touch spell with a successful melee attack (as described in Improved Unarmed Strike, above), you also stun any target that fails a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Wisdom modifier).
Weapon Finesse: You can treat touch spells as light weapons and use your Dexterity modifier (instead of your Strength modifier) on your touch attack rolls with such spells.
Weapon Finesse: Choose one category of weapon-like spells (ranged or tough spells) and gain a +1 bonus on all attack rolls made with such spells. You can gain this feat a second time, choosing a different category of weapon-like spells.
Bonus Types: Usually, a bonus has a type that indicates how the spell grants the bonus. The important aspect of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type do not generally stack. With the exception of dodge bonuses, most circumstance bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the better bonuses work. The same principle applies to penalties—a character taking two or more penalties or the same type applies only the worst one.
Combining Magical Effects
Spells or magical effects usually work as described, no matter how many other spells or magical effects happen to be operating in the same area or on the same recipient. Except in special cases, a spell does not affect the way another spell operates. Whenever a spell has a specific effect on other spells, the spell description explains that effect. Several other general rules apply when spells or magical effects operate in the same place:
Stacking Effects: Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves. More generally, two bonuses of the same type don’t stack even if they come from different spells.
Different Bonus Names: The bonuses or penalties from two different spells stack if the modifiers are of different types. A bonus that isn’t named stacks with any bonus.
Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths: In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.
Same Effect with Different Results: The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.
One Effect Makes Another Irrelevant: Sometimes, one spell can render a later spell irrelevant. Both spells are still active, but one has rendered the other useless in some fashion.
Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a spell that removes the subjects ability to act. Mental controls that do not remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.
Spells with Opposite Effects: Spells with opposite effects apply normally, with all bonuses, penalties, or changes accruing in the order that they apply. Some spells negate or counter each other. This is a special effect that is noted in a spell’s description.
Instantaneous Effects: Two or more spells with instantaneous durations work cumulatively when they affect the same target.
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Rintaran
16 May 2006 - 06:20 PM
One incrediably important point that you appear to have forgotten to put up here, is how to determine the chi-cost for a spell.
Also, what are the effects of channelling more chi into a spell than it requires?
Also, what are the effects of channelling more chi into a spell than it requires?
Raven Bloodmoon
20 May 2006 - 05:02 PM
Chi cost for a spell is the same as a spell's Spell Point cost as given in UA. Dumping more chi into a spell than is necessary is just a waste of chi and produces no additional effects.
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