Editing Setting:Mosaic/Mechanics (section)

=Runes=

At character creation, you have a varying number of points to spend on Runes and Mastery, based on your Intellect (see table).

{| border="1"
|+ The table's caption
! Intellect !! Rune Points !! Mastery Points
|-
! 1d4
| 8 || 1
|-
! 1d6
|8
|1
|-
! 1d8
|9
|2
|-
! 1d10
|9
|2
|-
! 1d12
|10
|3
|}

One point purchases a Minor Rune (Outer ring of the rune chart).
Three points purchases a Major Rune (Middle ring of the chart).
Five points purchases a Greater Rune (Inner ring of the chart).
You may only purchase a Greater Rune with GM permission.

You may also purchase Mastery in your runes, with one rank costing one point. You may not have any mastery higher than rank 3 at character creation. For more information on the effects of mastery, see the Mastery section. 


At this point, select your Runic Source.
This source is the foundation of your magic, and serves as an implicit component in your spells (although it is not a rune and you do not roll it). The Sources are Life, Death, Matter, Energy, Knowledge and Faith, and the first Greater Rune you choose must be the Rune corresponding to your Source.

==Use of Runes==

Runes are used, either on their own or in combination with a skill, to create powerful mystical effects, beyond the power of mundane humanity.

To use your Runes in a task, select Runes which you think create a symbolic description of what you want to achieve. An important note is that the same combination of Runes can describe multiple different effects, at different times and in different contexts. The meaning of each Rune can and should be twisted, applied metaphorically, literally, et cetera, in order to create interesting and unique spells. The GM can veto any Rune if they feel its use is excessive or not properly justified.

For example, Lightning, Body and Wounds might describe a lightning based attack, specifically targeting the foe's body with intention to wound, but not kill, while Rain and Banishment might be used to dispel a storm.

For each Rune in a spell beyond the first, you must pay one power point, and you must pay one additional power point for every Major Rune, and three for every Greater Rune.

[Advanced rule- for each Rune beyond the Third, and Fifth, you must pay an additional power point. A spell may have a maximum of seven Runes]

Then, for each Rune you use in the description of the spell, add a die

For each Minor Rune (The outer circle on the chart), take a d4 and add it to your Runes pool.

For each Major Rune (The middle circle on the chart), take a d6 and add it to your Rune pool.

For each Greater Rune (the inner circle on the chart), take a d8 and add it to your Rune pool.

It is useful if you assign a unique dice to each Rune beforehand, as to keep distinct which dice is for which Rune, as this may be important later.

[If you are playing in a format where this is impossible, for example over IRC or do not have distinct dice, have the order of dice correspond to the order of your description. i.e. if you were using Lightning, Body, Wounds, the first dice you roll is Lighting, the second Body and the third Wounds]

Roll this pool, and then look at each die. Any dice which have rolled a one have failed, and that Rune is lost to the spell. Depending on the Rune, and the spell, this can have serious consequences.

Using the above example, if in a Lightning, Body, Wounds spell, the Lightning failed, the spell would be virtually worthless, as the main power of the attack is gone. However, if the Wounds Rune failed, the lightning bolt might be unintentionally fatal to its target.

After removing any Runes which have been lost, take the highest value showing in the Rune pool, and add one to it for each successful Minor Rune, two for each successful Major Rune, and three for each successful Greater Rune. This is the spells total, and is compared against the difficulty of the task.

[Possible variant- you Must take the value from the highest rank Rune in the pool, even if a lower ranked Rune has rolled higher, i.e. if you have only one Major in a pool of Minors, or one Greater in a pool of Majors and Minors, the value that dice rolls will be the base value, for good or ill]

[Advanced Rule- If a spell needs a numerical value for another factor, such as duration, area or otherwise, simply take a relevant value from the pool. In the future, a scaling chart of values should be provided, but for now, simply try and be reasonable]



==Anchors==

An anchor is a metaphysical connection between the caster of a spell, and a specific aspect of the Golden Mirror. The ability to anchor their spells is what separates trained and skilled rune users from a farmer or craftsman who can cast a rune to ease their labor... and on occasion, all that saves those fancy mages from their own spells, should their casting go awry.

The nature of an Anchor is dependent on your Method.

Anchored spells are special. Rather than coming up with them on the fly, you preselect a number of Runes for a specific, predefined purpose. When using this spell, the Anchor gives it a firmer foothold in reality, a conceptual basis or direction of intent which makes your magic easier to work. In an anchored spell, all involved runes count as one Mastery rank higher. At a most basic level, this means you may save any dice which rolls ones, increasing their value to two at the cost of one Power Point.

You may anchor a number of predefined spells equal to your Spirit value.

*[It should be noted that an Anchor is not actually a component of the spell it is used in; you do not roll a die for it. ]