Incantations

If there was one part of the Unearthed Arcana I would like to frame and hang on my wall it is the section on Incantations. Pages 174-178 of the UA present rules for ancient rituals that allow non-spellcasters with sufficient wit to cast spells. The section is extremely well-described and mechanically sound, so I won't bother reprinting vast swathes of text here.

Suffice to say, that through lengthy rituals, skill checks, the sacrifice of wealth and XP and the danger of everything going hideously wrong, non-spellcasters can attempt to invoke a magical effect. These effects are far more specific than spells and strike me as very like the spells in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu - on the most powrt you don't want to cast them.

To apply Incantations to the House Rules, non-spellcasters (or even spell-casters who go through the steps) follow steps laid down in ancient texts to cast an Incantation. They use their own life essense (experience points) to force the weave to do their bidding. This is extremely dangerous, but then all magic should have a little bit of danger attached to it otherwise it becomes mundane.

I like incantations. I have plans for them.