Setting:Mosaic/Mechanics

This article is related to the Mosaic project.

As of the June 2009 playtest, the rules are being kept on a Google Document [1]. They're moved back, because the Docs page only allows edits by certain people.

The mechanics that were below were antiquated, and have been moved to the talk page for clarity.

Stats

There are four stats in Mosaic

• Brawn - Physical strength and stamina

Determines Attrition and is used for many mundane skills and some physical attacks.

• Finesse - Dexterity and agility

Used for initiative rolls, Dodge checks, mundane skills and some physical attacks.

• Intellect - Mental ability

Basis for skill points, starting runes, and starting masteries.

• Spirit - Empathy and supernatural awareness

Determines Power and number of anchored spells.

At character creation, each of these stats are rated at d6, and you have two points to increase them. In addition, with GM permission, you may reduce a stat to d4 in exchange for an additional point. Stats increase in dice size as follows- d4, d6, d8, d10, d12. Without GM permission, you may not raise a stat to d12 at creation.

If a rule refers to the Value of a stat, use the highest value of the dice (i.e. 4 for a d4, 6 for a d6 etc)

You also have three pools of points:

Power is equal to 6+(Spirit*2) and is used to fuel your Runic Magic. Generally, Power is regenerated after a moderate period out of combat (10 minutes), and does not replenish naturally within a fight.

Wounds is equal to your Brawn value. These represent your well-being and are lost to serious injury. If your wounds fall to 0 or below, you are knocked unconscious, and additional damage can kill you. Wounds heal at a real-wold rate, when unaided.

Attrition is equal to double your current Wounds score, and represents your ability to shrug off attacks and endure physical hardship without undue harm or difficulty. Attrition is replenished at a rate similar to Power.

Skills

At character creation, you have 10+Int points to purchase skills. One point purchases a new skill at a rating of d4, or upgrades it (following the same die size progression as stats). You must get GM permission to have a skill at d10, and only in very rare circumstances might a GM allow a skill at d12. Skills have categories: Mundane, which are the normal skills available to all, and Magical, which are the Methods of the various Classes of Mosaic.

Mundane

For mundane skills, the character is entirely free to pick as they see fit. Skill choices should be succinct and reasonably specific - the GM may choose to penalize or veto overly broad or powerful skill choices. Some examples:

Alchemy, Crafting, Dodge, Gambling, Lockpicking, Medicine, Strategy, Riding, Trading

Pure

Pure skills are those which relate entirely to the use of magic. Regardless of what form the actions take, the skill is being used solely to channel the powers of the runes involved. Examples:

Casting (Sigilists), Dancing (Somats), Sacrifice (Bloodscribes), Engraving (Glyph Carver), Tattooing (Marked).

Infused

Infused skills channel magic, but also have a direct utility in combat. In learning to combine both the maneuvers of battle and the invocation of runes, a sacrifice of versatility is made. These skills function normally in combat, and tend to have the advantage of also dealing physical damage when used. However, when using them to perform magic in noncombat situations, they act as though they were one die size lower. Examples:

Swordfighting (Graven Blades), Martial Arts (Runefists)

Runes

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

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, etcetera, 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. ]

Mastery

There is not simply one degree of understanding for each Rune. An initiate and a Runelord are differentiated not only by how many Runes each possesses, but also how deeply each possessed Rune is understood. This is Mastery. It is gained through experience of the use of the Rune, but also through study and meditation on the purview of the Rune. You cannot gain mastery above five, but Effective Mastery may become higher than five.

Each Rune purchased begins at Mastery 0, which allows the Runes use in spellcasting; however, higher levels of Mastery give Greater benefits. The Effective Mastery of a spell can be increased in many ways, the simplest being simply to have the spell anchored. Other boons to Effective Mastery, such as increasing spells power near a large concentration of an associated element or as part of a ritual (or ritual site) are valid, but largely at GM's discretion.

[Currently, there is no benefit to increasing mastery/effective mastery above 5. There probably will be in the future though, so come up with ideas and share them if you're of the mind to specialize that deeply.]

You may add your mastery rank as a bonus to any knowledge roll where the Rune might be relevant, as your deep understanding of it bleeds over into innate knowledge. A Mastery of the Rune of Gods might aid you in recalling the names of a local Pantheon, while a Mastery of Fire might help you predict and control the spread of a forest fire.

Also, each rank of mastery has specific benefits.

• Mastery 0

You may use the rune in spells. This is the default level for runes you know.

• Mastery •

If the Rune fails in a spell (i.e. rolls a 1), you may spend a power point to upgrade it to a 2 (causing it to not fail).

• Mastery ••

You can spend a power point to increase a Runes dice size by a single rank (A mastery 2 Minor can be rolled as a d6, a mastery 2 Major can be rolled as a d8, a mastery 2 Greater can be rolled as a D10).

• Mastery •••

You can spend a power point to increase a Runes modifier to the spell total by one, empowering the spell overall and making it more likely to succeed.

• Mastery ••••

You can spend additional power points to increase a dice size by an additional rank, or increase a runes modifier to the spell total by an additional one. You cannot do both simultaneously, though you can still combine this with the abilities for ranks 2 and/or 3.

• Mastery •••••

You may use both versions of the rank 4 power simultaneously.

With all mastery abilities, you can increase a Rune roll to prevent failing, increase die size twice, and increase Rune modifier twice, for a maximum of five extra points.

You may use as many benefits of levels of mastery in a spell as you have sufficient power remaining for.

[ex: If you have an anchored spell which includes a rune that you have mastery 3 in, your effective mastery of that rune is 4. Therefore, you may spend power to gain any and all of the 4 possible boons]

Playing the Game

For mundane skill checks, first determine the most relevant stat and, if you possess one, skill to the task at hand. Certain tasks can only be attempted if you have certain skills. The GM will set a difficulty for the task, ranging from 2 (Simple) to 12 (Legendary). Roll both dice. If either dice rolls equal to or higher than the difficulty, the check is successful. If both dice roll equal to or higher than the difficulty, it is a double success, bringing additional benefit to the character.

In an opposed check, it's Stat vs Stat, Skill vs Skill. When performing opposed checks to attack:

Each participant takes one Attrition for each lost die.

If the attacker wins both rolls, one Attrition damage is increased to a Wound.

If a character takes more damage than he has Attrition, remaining damage goes to Wounds instead

When combat breaks out, initiative order is determined by a Finesse roll, possibly with situational bonuses. If there is a tie and one party has a higher Finesse value, they win; otherwise reroll.

Ideas for Modifications / Additions

- Bonuses in the quality of results when the players choose and use (correctly) more specialized skills. ex: [A character has the skill 'history', and wants to know about the roots of a conflict between Yaropan nations, so the GM gives him a general overview (they have a lot of wars.). His rival has the skill "Yaropan history", and thus would gain significant additional information, such as the names and descendants of important figures, old battlefields and vital routes, and locations involved the past wars.]

- It's been suggested that permanent investment of PP allows for runes to be activated indefinitely, but the rules were never clear on this, and it is something that requires thought.

- Idea- You can spend a total number of power points on any individual rune in a spell equal to your mastery of it. Makes it worthwhile, in certain cases, to buy masteries above 5. Doesn't matter for masteries below 3. Not a priority, but just a thought.

-Amplification. Using specifically tuned circumstance to augment the casting of a rune. Actually, there's an easy way to represent it. If a spell is cast via an extended ritual, with an area composed to resonate with and enhance a single rune, increase its effective mastery level.

- Should the current magical healing system prove too easy to break, an alternate method based on wound severity (most damaging single wound taken) could be useful for providing healing DCs.

- Attrition vs Death: Having a positive, nonzero attrition score means you are functional. A score of zero or below means you are unconscious or otherwise disabled. A score below the negative level of your brawn attribute means you are dead. That sentence is poorly written, so here's an example: [Steve the graven blade has 18 attrition, and d8 brawn. Therefore, He is awake and functional if he has 18 through 1 points of att, unconscious or useless at 0 to -8, and dead below -9.] (idea sidelined due to W/V system being awesome)