Divine Magic

Divine magic is magical power granted by a god, angel, demon or other cosmically powerful entity. The pious pray to their patron for magical aid and they are granted power with which to manipulate the Weave. Unlike arcane magic, which can be horribly complicated and dangerous, divine magic is relatively straight forward. There are two main branches of divine magic, that are listed below. Note that druids and rangers no longer wield divine magic, they wield Nature Magic which is a completely different thing.

Clerical Magic

Availability: Clerical magic is by far the most widespread form of divine magic. The following classes use clerical magic: Clerics, Paladins, Favoured Souls.

Spellcasting: Paladins and Favoured souls have tightly formed spell lists. There is no longer a definitive list of spells for clerics. The spell-list of each church is unique. Even different religions who worship the same god will have different spell lists. The justification for this is that gods do not grant clerics spells. Gods grant clerics the power to manipulate the magical weave to form spells. The spells are created by churches to take advantage of this power. However, the power granted by a god can only be used to create magical effects that are very closely tied to the god's area of influence. Therefore clerics of a fire god can't use their magic for much more than creating fire, controlling fire and blowing things up. As a result clerics tend to have a much smaller, but more tightly focused, spell lists. Spells can be taken from any source be they arcane or divine to create this list. See class descriptions for more information.

It should be emphasised that because of their highly specialised spell lists not all clerics have the ability to cast healing spells. In fact it is true to say that most clerics cannot cast healing spells. Only gods of healing, creation or fertility are likely to have access to such power.

Every day at a certain time the practitioner of clerical magic must pray to his patron. The prayers last for approximately one hour at the end of which the cleric receives the gift of magical power from his god. This is the power the cleric uses to cast spells. This power is represented by the cleric's spell points. At each level clerical spellcasterss gain a number of spell points as shown in the Spell Point section. Bonus spell-points are gained if the character has a high requisite stat (usually Wisdom). Ideally, a clerical spellcaster should be well-rested before praying to his god, but this is not essential and there are no game mechanics that prevent a fatigued cleric from praying.

Clerical spellcasters can freely cast any spell in their repetoire on a point for point basis - e.g. a fifth level spell costs five spell points - up to their maximum spell point total. Unlike some other spell casters a clerical spellcaster's spell points represent the absolute limit of spells that can be cast in one day. The spell points cannot be recharged before the following day except by direct divine intervention. Orisons (0-level spells) do not have a spell-point cost. The clerical spellcaster may always cast these spells even if he has run out of spell points for the day.

Gaining Spells: Spells are taught to clerical spellcaster by their church, organisation or learned mentor. At levels where access to a new level of spells is gained the clerical spellcaster is automatically taught all spells that are considered common to his religion or organisation. It is up to the GM what constitutes a common spell. Clerics and their ilk might be required to travel to holy sites, orders or temples to be taught their new spells. The spells do not suddenly appear in the cleric's mind when he gains a level.

Metamagic: Clerics and their ilk are spontaneous spellcasters. This means that they cast metamagically enhanced spells as full round actions. This means they cannot benefit from the Quicken Spell feat.

Epic Magic: Clerics can learn how to cast epic magic by selecting the Epic Spellcasting feat - as long as they meet the prerequisites and it is sanctioned by their church. Note that a cleric's available spell points do not increase beyond twentieth level. However, by selecting the epic feat Improved Spell Capacity they can increase the number of points available to them, as well as the effective level they can cast in reagrd to metamagic. Improved Spell Capacity grants +11 spell points and the ability to cast 10th level spells in the first instance, it may be taken multiple times.

Mysticism

The mystic is to the cleric as the sorcerer is to the wizard. Practitioners of this rare brand of magic are individuals who contact the divine directly without the need for a church. Each mystic is a religion of one, and it is up to the GM and the player to thrash out what the character believes and where its power is actually coming from..... and why. It is possible that all mystics share a common ancestry that allow them to tap into the divine.

Availability: Not a common magical pursuit. The following classes have access to Mysticism: Mystics.

Spellcasting: The mystic casts spells in a manner similar to the sorcerer. Spell casting is limited by the mystic's hit points. The casting of a mystic spell tires the mystic. The mystic takes nonlethal damage equal to the level of the spell being cast. Cantrips (0-level spells) inflict no nonlethal damage and may be cast indefinitely and without penalty. The mystic may continue casting spells until her nonlethal damage equals or exceeds his current hit point total, at which point she falls unconscious. A mystic may cast a spell that renders herself unconscious; in this event the spell functions normally, even if the mystic is too comatose to see it.

Mystics may cast healing spells, but these spells are significantly less effective if the mystic casts them upon himself. A penalty equal to the level of the spell is applied to the hit points restored to the mystic by his own healing spells. For example, a cure light wounds spell would restore 1d8-1 hit points, a cure moderate wounds 3d8-2 and so on. [Thinking these aren't the hit points these spells normally restore? See the section on Wounds and Healing!]

The nonlethal damage inflicted by casting mystic spells can be healed normally or through magical means, but not through Fast Healing or Regeneration. Mystics that are immune to nonlethal damage (such as deathless or undead casters) take normal damage from casting spells instead.

Gaining Spells: Mystics gain access to cantrips and 1st level spells at level one, 2nd level spells at level four, and to each successive spell level at even-numbered levels thereafter to a maximum of 9th level spells at level eighteen. Other classes that use mysticism may gain access to their spells at different levels, please see the relevent class description.

See the Maximum Spell Levels table in the spell-point section for a list of the safe number of spell levels the mystic can know. The mystic gains bonus points to this total based on her Wisdom attribute. The mystic doesn't necessarily know enough spells to fill this total, the spell list of the mystic should be agreed between the GM and the player, and should not be more extensive than a spell list granted to a cleric of comparable interests and influence. Unlike the sorcerer, the mystic cannot exceed his maximum spell levels.

At each new level the mystic gains new spells from the spell list agreed with the GM as long as the spells gained can be cast by a mystic of his level, and do not push the mystic over his maximum spell levels total.

Metamagic: The mystic is a spontaneous spellcaster. This means that all metamagically-enhanced spells are cast as full round actions. the mystic can never make use of the Quicken Spell feat.

Epic Magic: Mystics who meet the requirements can select the Epic Spellcasting feat and gain knowledge of Epic Magic. Epic Magic is not just casting more powerful mystic spells - it is something different. See the section on Epic Magic for more details. Note that the mystic's Safe Spell Levels figure does not increase after the mysticreaches epic levels. The epic feat, Spell Knowledge will increase the level each time is it taken - by +10 in the first instance, +11 in the second and so on.