Editing Ironclaw (section)

===Magic===
The setting for Ironclaw is supposed to be low-to-medium magic, <strike>so the wizard-types are pretty gimped.  While this is disappointing for most knigh/tg/uys and ca/tg/irls, at least it's not dominating the game like every other system out there.</strike> The magic powers in this game can sometimes be rather broad, especially with spells like create/destroy elements. As a result, a clever roleplayer can pull some amazing left-field shit on a GM who's not expecting it. Of course, this assumes the GM is running a roleplaying-based game where the player can pull dirty tricks out of combat. The average player is probably lucky if his enemies think to run from a fight because most GMs like to make all their badguys suicidal derp goblins, though (for example, a good GM understands that, on a dry day, a create fire spell could sow enough confusion and panic to really tip the scales of a fight. An average GM just assumes that if the fire isn't doing direct damage then it's a pointless nuisance). So basically, Ironclaw's magic is gimped in straight, mindless combat at the lowest levels, but pretty damn ridiculous with a little bit of thought when it comes to actual problem solving.

The fluff describes why sorcerers are so rare: magic used to be even more broken than the Mystic Theurge class in D&D 3.5. (Wait, so completely gimped and not broken at all?) (Broken doesn't just mean powerful, it also means flat-out unbalanced.)  There were three or four immortal kings called "Autarchs" roaming around and basically using the world as their playpen.  Once the Autarchs finally fell, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and the arts of magic were feared and hated for centuries.  Magic knowledge wasn't just lost but exorcised from public knowledge.  In recent years magic was picked up again, but it is still mistrusted and in its infancy.  All this is for the sake of realism (stop laughing) in what is supposed to feel like a pre-renaissance Europe. 

The magic system comes [[GURPS]] flavoured, with each wizard having an inventory of practiced rote-spells, bought in "lists."  Spellcasting is like any other skill roll, using Mind dice + (wizard career dice) + skill dice, and must buy a separate skill for each unique spell.  Spellcasting uses up a personal resource of "magic points."  Once a magician has raised their skill level for casting a spell to match the spell's power level (becoming an "adept" at that spell), the magician no longer needs to roll each time to see if it fizzles.  (ie.: Level 1 spells are easy right away, but Level 3 spells you need to go d4->d6->d8 before you stop rolling to see if you fumble it).

The starting book mentions four flavours/careers of magic:
* Elementalism, the easiest, is your typical LIGHTNAN BOLT! LIGHTNAN BOLT! spells.  Starts out as generic conjuration & evocation pew pew type, but wizards eventually have to specialize in one of the four classic elements. 
* White magic, your typical holy miracle stuff, only available to members of the church. Abjuration and heal spells.
* Green & Purple magic (one flavour, two colours) is your bardic type stuff, with enchantments & charms, little bit of divination. 
* Thaumaturgy feels more like a D&D magic-user class, with the heavy academics, metamagic and supernatural stuff.
* Outside of the core rulebook, there are a number of pagan traditions that are not widely available outside of their native priesthoods. Of these, the most widespread are Druidic Magic, which is practiced by the druids of Phelan, and the Blessed Ways, which is only really accepted among the worshipers of Lutara, the mother-goddess of the Dolareaux. Unlike most other forms of magic in the game, The Blessed Ways have very few actual limits, but in a nod to a number of real life magical/religious traditions (most notably Wicca), using it to harm others tends to cause it to backfire on the wielder threefold. There is also Charisms, which are extremely rare divine powers wielded by some saintly members of the Church.

There's also Atavism, which is when the furries get all tribal and shit and stop pretending to be half-human.  It means being a scary fucking beast, but also means being a dumb animal; you always add your own Mind dice to the difficulty dice against any Atavist power you're trying to pull off.  Almost all of these powers give you some serious RIP AND TEAR shit.  Even the passive advantage makes you a scary customer: any effect that would make give an Atavist the "confused" condition gives them the "berzerk" condition instead.