Editing The Dark Eye (section)

==Magic==
Every culture has its own views of magic, usually seen through their religion and in different times and places different gods are said to be responsible for it. Objectively, magic is a natural phenomenon; low levels of astral energy permeate the entire world, at some places gathering and flowing in force (think ley lines). On such lines, particularly at points of intersection, spontaneous magic effects or portals to other worlds may appear. Practitioners are born with the ability to gather astral energy from the surroundings and store it within their “astral body”. Controlled release and shaping of the stored energy produces magic effects. So unless you are born with the gift no amount of studying will ever let you perform magic. On the other hand, being born with the gift is not enough. Long studies and arduous training are necessary before one can cast spells and perform rituals.

If the Gifted do not receive proper training, they become magic dilettantes. They possess some magic, but can only manifest a handful of supernatural abilities (similar to low-level spells). Mostly, they channel their magic to enhance their talents and so become supernaturally talented artists or craftsmen. Many magic dilettantes don't even realize that they are using magic and are thought to be blessed by gods or just very, very lucky.

In TDE, there are many different traditions of practitioners, everyone with their own view of magic and their own way of shaping astral energies:

*'''Witches''' see magic as a gift from their patron goddess Satuaria and as an extension of their emotions. If a spell fits to their emotional state (casting a love spell on somebody they are attracted to), they are easier to perform. Conversely, if they cast against their feelings (healing an enemy) it gets more difficult. Uniquely, witches can cast powerful ritual-curses and share their soul with a familiar.
*'''Druids''' see themselves as priests of the dead ur-giant Sumu, the living earth, and magic as the last remains of her life flowing through the world. Druids shape magic by pure force of will, literally commanding reality to change according to their needs. Their mental discipline allows them to supercharge spells to punch through magic resistance and their perfect memory makes them very good at learning and improving their skills. Druidic rituals center around voodoo-doll-like long-range domination and communing with nature.
*'''Elves''' are born with magic; for them it is a natural part of everyday life and they pity others who are lacking this ability. Elves percieve magic as music; everything in the world has its own melody. By adding their song to the ones around them, they change the cosmic harmony and so affect reality. Elven magic is very efficient and their spells are more cost-effective and have longer lasting duration. Elven rituals center around the connection between the elf and the land or his companions, mostly with restoring properties.
*'''Guild-mages''' view magic as a science. They study, learn, experiment and share their findings. Their tradition is built on observing and analyzing the astral matrices and their insight into the underlying mechanisms allows them to better modify spells, changing them on-the-fly as needed. Guild-mage rituals enchant different objects to aid them: The staff, the crystal ball, the alchemist’s bowl and the banishing-sword.

There are a number of other magic traditions like the rascals (stolen as children by fairies, very powerful but can only cast for fun), the charlatans (guild-mage dropouts who made their own traditions specializing in illusions), the Geodes (dwarven druids, friends with elementals and sometimes turning into trees) but they are rare. The most numerous practitioners are guild-mages, elves, witches and druids.

Shamans are also practitioners, although they would strongly disagree with this classification. They believe themselves to be empowered by their gods, but in truth their power is definitely astral and not karmal in nature. Shamans rarely use spells, instead performing long, religiously colored rituals. Shaman magic is vastly different from culture to culture, but mostly focuses on healing, strengthening, protection from supernatural forces and communion with ghosts, elementals and other otherworldly beings.

In-game every spell is a talent which needs to be activated and increased separately. The higher your score in the spell-talent, the better your chances of successfully casting it and the stronger the effect. Additionally, when reaching a certain proficiency, many spells allow for powerful variants (flame lance – cone of flame; telekinesis – restraining field). A spell’s parameters (casting time, range, targets, components) are not set in stone but can be modified by the caster as so-called “spontaneous modifications”, adapting spells to the situation.

A magically gifted character has a pool of astral points, from which he pays for spells. No astral points, no spells (except with “forbidden doors”, which lets you cast with your health after your astral pool is depleted. Useful, but very dangerous). Spell costs can range from 1 AsP (light) to 120 Asp (create giant Golem). Spells have different traits (flame lance: fire, damage; magic shield: anti-magic, meta-magic, force). Characters can have affinity or aversion to certain traits, making it easier or more difficult to learn these spells. The traits of a spell also govern which anti-magic spell is effective against them (flame lance: ban fire OR ban damage-magic).

Most spells exist in several representations (magic traditions), meaning that an elf will sing, a guild-mage recite a formula and a druid command the magic but they all roll the same tests and the spell mechanistically works the same. The different representations have different restrictions (elves need to sing, druids cannot be in contact with processed metals, witches need to touch the ground, achaz need crystals, …) and provide different boni (see above). Not all traditions however have access to all spells; druids excel at elementalism, witches at influence, elves at ability-enhancement and temporal magic is almost unknown except for achaz. Most traditions are quite secretive; only the guild-mages actively research and share knowledge, leading to them having access to the most diverse repertoire of spells.

Combat magic is deadly, but usually inefficient as most spells convert astral points to damage 1:1, meaning you pay 20 AsP to deal 20 points of damage. The average human has about 30 HP and a guild-mage (the most magic-focused character) starts with 36-38 AsP. That being said, there are a lot of possibilities for magic characters. Guild-mages can store spells in their staff to release them later, druids can draw life directly from the earth and all traditions can learn to cast spells with less Asp. Influence- and attribute-magic can buff your party or weaken enemies, transformation magic can take out targets or turn you into an invisible T-rex and environment-magic can dramatically change the battlefield (Light – off. Gravity – off. Fun – on)

Magic is extremely powerful but requires a lot of quick and creative thinking and some planning. If you want a fireball-dispenser, this is the wrong system for you.