Spell Construction Set?


Warning to Players: This is being play-tested during the campaing.
Rules subject to change (hopefully not a lot).


Creating new spells for Mark Chase's Atomik Magic plugin can be a daunting and often confusing task. However, with a little patience and understanding of the Fuzion rules, they can be formulated with little trouble. Additionally, the Spell Construction Set can be used in converting spells from other game systems.

Step One. Define your spell. Use the Fuzion Super Power plugin from HeroGames to construct it. In general, no limitations should be purchased for it, although adders can be useful. The Charges and Reduced Endurance type adders will not be useful to you, as these spells will be using the Magic Pool to power the spells instead of Endurance. Alternatively, you may construct the spell with Champions 4th edition and divide the total by 5 (dropping fractions) to get the Fuzion cost.

Step Two. Find the approximate starting MAGE level. To do so, simply take the total Power Point cost of the power and divide by 3 rounding up all fractions. Thus you will have 1-3 PP spells at level one, 4-6 PP spells at level two, 7-9 PP spells at level three, and so on.

Step Three. Determine the base values. Each spell level has some default values which you may use to further customize the spell. The following Time table contains the complete casting time chart. Note that the default value and the corresponding MAGE level are listed in bold. Next get the default Energy cost using the following MP Cost table in the same way. Finally, we'll get default Difficulty values for the spell.

Time
Mage Level
Time
1
1 phase
2 phases
3 phases
2
1 round/4 phases
3
2 rounds
3 rounds
4 rounds
4
1 minute/5 rounds
8 rounds
5
2 minutes/10 rounds
12 rounds
6
3 minutes/15 rounds
7
5 minutes/25 rounds
8
5 minutes/25 rounds
8 minutes/40 rounds
9
10 minutes/50 rounds
30 minutes
10
1 hour
2 hours
4 hours
5 hours
Difficulty
Mage
Difficulty
1
16
2
17
18
3
19
4
20
21
5
22
23
6
24
25
7
26
8
26
27
9
28
10
30
MP Cost
Mage
MP Cost
1
1
2
3
2
4
3
5
6
4
8
5
10
6
12
15
7
18
8
20
9
25
10
30
40
50
70
100
Step Four. Modify the spell. Now that we have the base values for the new spell, we can do some further modifications. The following are guidelines and the list can be expanded (and hopefully will!) by the GM and players.

In the table below, the first column describes what the modifier does. The second column is the modifier that is added to the base MAGE level requirement of the spell. When MAGE level is affected, you must readjust the base values for the Difficulty, Time and MP Cost. The Difficulty modifier is used to move the base skill up or down the Diffuculty chart listed on the previous pages. The Time modifier used to move the base amount of time up or down the Time chart. Finally, the MAGE Levels column indicates the minimum base MAGE level for which these modifiers can be used. Note that these spell modifiers can be taken more than once. Realize that this table is a work in progress and will likely be updated as more modifiers are discovered or created.
Modifier Description MAGE Modifier Difficulty Modifier Time Modifier MP Cost Modifier Min. MAGE Level
Takes less than the normal amount of MP to power it 0 0 +1 -1  2+
Continuing effect, rapidly diminishing (e.g. a fireball 5DC, then 3DC next phase, 1 DC final phase) 0 0 +2 0 3+
Continuing effect, diminishing (fireball that fades at rate of 5DC, 4DC, 3DC, etc.) +3 +2 0 0 4+
Spell can increase in power as the caster's MAGE level increases. 0 0 +1 0 1+
Spell can increase in power as the caster's MAGE level increases +1 -2 0 0 6+
Particularly complex magical manipulation (mending sails, creating living things) 0 0 +1 0 1+
Particularly complex magical manipulation (mending sails, transforming matter) 0 +2 0 0 4+
Extremely complex magical manipulation (creating living or animated beings) 0 0 +2 0 5+
Takes less time 0 +2 -1 0 5+
Very simple spell (concept, low campaign impact, GM discretion) 0 -1 -1 0 2+

Step five. Find the to MP Cost. The Magic Pool Cost is found when the wizard makes his final spell design roll. The base difficulty of designing a spell is 30 - 1 for each month of study and research to a minimum DV of 22. The GM does have power to modify this difficulty number up or down, at his or her discretion. The wizard then makes a roll with her INT + Thaumaturgy skill + die roll. If the wizard fails the roll, then she has failed to come up with a successful spell design and she'll have to try again, perhaps with a different angle or method (this is decided by role playing). If, however, the wizard is successful, then consult the following table to determine how many steps to move up or down the MP Cost chart. If Luck is being used in the game, it can be used here as well. My House Rule will be to modify your result to no better than a zero (0) modifier to MP Cost.

Compared to the DV Modifier
= DV +4
1 >DV +3
2 >DV +2
3 > DV +1
4 > DV 0
5 > DV -1
6 > DV -2
7 > DV -3
8 > DV -4


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