Each spell or priest power takes time to prepare and cast. Generally the more powerful the spell, the more time it takes to cast. If a mage or priest is hit during the casting of a spell or power, his concentration is interrupted and he moves on to missile or melee combat.
| Order of Casting |
| O (character) (position) (spell) |
| For example: O 3 4 62 will have character three prepare to cast spell 62 as his fourth spell in the event of combat. |
Learning New Spells
A mage can practice mixing powders together to try to learn a new spell.
Basically, he picks a single powder or mixes two or three different powders together and then sees if he can cast it.
As he does not know what the spell will do, he uses a target of zero.
If the spell works, he will then be able to cast it, plus his skill may increase as he has learnt something new.
It is best to practice learning spells that have just one powder at first, then move on to those with two powders. Knowing the powders that are used in a particular spell does not guarantee success as some spells may be above the skill of the mage. Careful reading will indicate if it was a wasted experiment or if the powder combination may work in the future.
Spell powders always have item numbers of 301 to 309 and a particular spell never uses the same powder twice, however a different order of mixing the powders could be successful, e.g. spell 71 is different to 17.
| Cast Test Spell |
| C (character) (powder(s)) (0) |
| For example: C 2 346 0 tells character 2 to experiment using spell powders 303, 304 and 306 |
The Gods of Kharne
Each of the gods grant different powers and as a priest's alignment approaches that of a god, his ability to use the powers favoured by that god will increase.
At the same time his use of the powers from the other gods will decline. Greater details on the different gods are covered in the expanded rulebook.
This represents the favour (or lack of it) that your party shows towards the various gods. As you will see from the party's alignment chart, as you swing towards Baldor (good) you move away from Ythcal (evil), and vice versa. Your characters are assumed to be of neutral alignment when they enter the game (the dot is in the middle of the chart).
| Pray |
| P (0/god) |
| For example: P 5 instructs your party to pray to god 5 (Ythcal - the Lord of Death). |
Miracles
The spells used by priests are often referred to as miracles.
Unlike ordinary spells, no special incantation, movements or powders are required.
The priest simply calls upon his god for aid and the rest follows automatically.
A priest's skill represents his favour with the gods. Casting miracles will drain this and can take several turns to regain, just like magical power. Miracles are cast using the same order and in the same format as spells.
A priest's skill at using a particular god's miracles is adjusted up or down by the value shown to the right of the god's name on the party alignment chart. To use a miracle of a particular god, the priest's skill, plus or minus the bonus with that god, must be equal or higher than the points total of the miracle (shown top right of the table).
For example, a priest with a skill of 25 and a Garthrana bonus of 8 makes a total of 33, high enough to cast both the 20 and 30 point powers. However, he would need 7 more skill before he could cast the 40 point miracle.
If you have more than one priest, the miracles for the most skilled priest will be shown. For the priests of lesser ability you should check the Party Spells and Powers section. Also, as the bonuses depends upon your current alignment, if this changes during the turn, miracles that you could cast may no longer be available.
