(TFT) Enviromental Magics in TFT

[Pasha and or Rick Smith <pnrsmith@istar.ca>]

Hi everyone,
Here are the rules for enviromental magics.  Ty, you are
welcome to put this up on your web site.

Environmental Spells
By Rick Smith (C) 1995

Environmental spells are a group of area affect spells that affect all magic in there area and are shown in the spell list with an 'E' before them.  These spells change the magical environment, changing how mana works within their area of effect.

These spells are the most poorly understood of all types of magic.  Additionally they have long durations and as the years pass they may mutate (or "Wander" as it is commonly known to most wizards) in effect. For example:  an area with an environmental magic may have a spell that only lasts for  a year or so.  However it may mutate so the effect becomes permanent, changes in effect or lasts a shorter than normal amount of time.  The wandering of effects is left totally up to the GM.

Any region with strange magical effects would likely be believed to be the responsibility of one of these spells.

Since the enviromental magic changes the basic rules for a region, Spell Shields do not prevent the
effects of them.  If within a region all spells have their maintenance costs increased by one, then this is
the local rules (and a Spell Shield's maintainence cost is likewise increased by one).

The maximum range of the spells is the wizard's ST in megahexes (so a wizard with a ST of 12  could cast  environmental magics 12 megahexes away or less).  The DX modifiers for range is -1 DX for each megahex distance the target is away from the wizard. 
(Note that some of these spells affect very large areas. This maximum range lists how far the center of the affected are can be 'thrown' from the wizard, and does not say anything about the area affected by the spell.)

Series of environmental spells will be found in multiples of 5 IQ above each other. (Currently none exist...)

An important environmental spell is Rune Stones that creates a magical break or cleavage plane in the magical continuum.  No environmental spell can be cast on the opposite side of rune stones and the effects of an environmental spell will never cross a rune boundary.  

Environmental magics can not be cast on the opposite side of a magical pentagram.  However if the pentagram is completely surrounded by an environmental magic the effect will 'percolate' thru in 1 minute.  The reverse is not true,  an environmental magic cast inside a pentagram will use the pentagram as its boundary.  When the pentagram is removed the environmental magic will be destroyed over a period of time if it is one that requires a boundary.
Individuals and items protected by spell shields WILL be affected by changes in mana caused by an environmental magic.  These affects are not a spell that the spell shield stops, rather they are a change in the 'magical ground rules' that the spell shield must work within.

In environments with strange magical effects, many spells will behave in unexpected ways.  The GM is the sole judge as to what happens.  In particular, a spell may work one way on one day and a different way the next.  

Environmental spells are the GM's most powerful tool for making the TFT magic system less mechanical.  GM's who want magic to be an awesome and terrible force, not properly understood by the foolish wizards who meddle with it, will have powerful, and wide spread environmental magics.  GM's who are happy with the current system of predictable spells may do without these spells or keep them small, limited in scope, and of short duration.

When GM's are creating new environmental effects,  try to choose effects that would logically follow from changes in how mana works.  In particular the effects should affect all people equally.  Effects that "do this to the caster and that to everyone else" are right out.  (Of course most effects that affect magic use will have little impact on your typical fighter.) 


Random Notes:
The Invoke Demon spell uses a short duration environmental magic to make it almost impossible for a demon to appear locally.  Because the effect takes time (around a minute) to penetrate a pentagram, the only place the demon can appe& Ý&hp pentagram. !|`s is how a wizard is able to "summon" a demon on the other side of a pentagram.

Tho it is not widely known, there is a second way for environmental magics to form.  If a powerful spell is cast, it may some how combine with a local spirit.  This will create a very small environmental magic.  Occasionally, this type of environmental magics is mobile (but it could never cross a rune stone barrier).


IQ 7
E	Mana Leak  Within this spell's area of effect all spells cost one extra mana to cast.  Maintenance costs are unaffected.
Magic items that are on when they enter the area of effect (or have it cast over them) are not effected, but to start any magic item operating will cost an extra 1fST.
This spell will affect one Mh for one minute for 6 fST, however if the casting cost is multiplied by 5 it will last for one day (tho this sometimes varies slightly).
For more information see Environmental Magics in TFT.
Cost:  6 fST or 30 fST

IQ 13
E	Uement's Defence  Within this spell's area of effect Thrown spells can not target living things.  Aid, Blur, Freeze, Sleep, Stone Flesh, etc. will not work but Thrown Spells that only affect inanimate objects (such as Sticky Floor) can work. (Tho, a Stone Flesh that targets a non-living item like a door would be OK for example.) Thrown Spells that affect both living and non-living will fail.  Thrown spells already on a living creature will fail if they enter this area.
Magic items that have the effect of a thrown spell will stop functioning if they enter the area but they will begin working normally again once they leave the Enviromental Magic's area.
This spell will affect one Mh for one minute, however if the casting cost is mulitplied by 5 it will last for one day (tho this sometimes varies slightly).
For more information see Enviromental Magics in TFT.
Cost:  6 fST or 30 fST

IQ 21
E	Virshaa's Mana Vacuum  This spell destroys all mana within an area centered around the Mega hex the spell is cast into.  The range & duration depends upon the amount of fST spent.  Within the Mana Vacuum, no spells work,  spells already working fail, pentagrams are destroyed, all types of creations are destroyed, trapped and bound spirits escape (note: many spirits are destroyed)  and magic items cease to function (but they will start to work again when they leave the area). Note: when a magic item is first exposed to a no mana zone, it is stressful to that item. The GM may roll to see if the items are damaged or destroyed. This happens on a 17 or 18 on 3 dice.
This spell takes 12 turns to cast, and the fST is spent on the first turn.  This fST is lost regardless of the success or failure of this spell.
Cost & Range:  Take the amount of fST you wish to spend and multiply by 10 meters.  This is  radius of the spell.  Thus if you spend 12 fST, the spell will cover a radius of 120 meters.  (A radius of 1 hex is just the center hex,  a radius of 2 hexes is a Mega Hex, etc.) 
Cost & Duration: Take the amount of fST you wish to spend and square it.  This is the duration measured in turns.  Thus if you spend 12 fST, the spell will last 144 turns.  
When the fST is spent at the start of casting, a 'shiver' flows thru the mana which can be sensed by any wizard within the radius of effect. The wizard does not know where this spell is being cast from.
Critical Rolls:  On a roll of 3 or 4 not only is the radius is tripled or doubled but the effect lasts for much longer periods of times. (Typically years (for triples) and weeks (for doubles.))  GM secretly sets actual time.   On rolls of 17 or 18, the wizard loses his ability to do magic for the normal duration of this spell (for a 17) or 25 times the duration of the spell (for an 18).  These effects are in addition to the normal catastrophic spell failures for rolling that high for this IQ level of spell.
This spell can not be maintained, it must be recast.  No magic item can be made for this spell,  however repeatedly casting this spell on an area can 'permanently' burn out the mana there (permanently means hundreds of years or more in this case).
This environmental magic does not require a border.  It destroys any environmental magics that existed in the area previous to it being cast.
Since this spell can not cross rune stones, a double ring of rune stones with this spell cast in between them can create a moat of magically dead space.  This is sometimes done around the inner keep of fortresses.
Cost:  10 or more fST



Rune Stones in TFT
By Rick Smith (C) 1995

Rune stones is a powerful and unusual environmental magic in TFT.  It is also an enchantment and requires a wizards chest.  If a magical laboratory is available, the enchantment becomes more efficient and cheaper to preform.

There are two parts to this spell.  The first is creating the rune stones.  This is a magical enchantment that is cast on (potentially) a great number of stones.  The second part of the enchantment is to set the stones in place.  Note that all the stones do not have to be made and emplaced at once.  However the more stones there are, the more powerful they become.  Also lines of rune stones that are closed curves (like polygons, circles and ellipses), are more powerful.  

Rune stones do not have to be set in straight lines.

The effect of rune stones is to make a cleavage plane in the magical continuum.  Spells and magical effects have trouble crossing rune stones, magical creatures usually are unable to cross a rune stone.  

The break in the magical environment extends into the ground and high into the air.  If a line of rune stones is 100 meters long, the effect will extend 100 meters vertically (50 meters above the stones and 50 meters below them).  If the stones curve and close encircling some shape, the effect will close forming as close to a sphere as possible.  For example a path 1000 meters long and 4 meters wide is enclosed.  The effect will extend 2 meters into the air and look like a long cigar if it was visible.

Environmental magics can not cross a line of Rune Stones.  Other spells are also affected. 
Missile Spells will lose one half (round up) of the power put into them as they cross (this usually will cause spectacular pyrotechnics as the extra energy bleeds off).  The GM may rule that low IQ missile spells are simply stopped out right.
Thrown Spells are the least affected.  They normally require one extra fST to cast and work normally.  If the extra fST is not paid, (the wizard can sense that a little extra energy is needed and pay it during casting) the spell will work but will be reduced in effect by 20 to 50%.  Very expensive spells (for example, Dissolve Enchantment) are affected less than cheap ones.  Thrown spells can be maintained at normal cost on the other side of a rune barrier.
Creation Spells cost double to cast or maintain on the other side of a Rune barrier, If a creation tries to cross a rune barrier, it may be destroyed.  Images are destroyed 2/3 of the time, Illusions and Phantasmals are destroyed 50% of the time, and creations are destroyed 1/3 of the time, when they cross.
Invocation spells are treated like creation spells.  They cost double to cast across a Rune barrier (not pentagrams).

Magic items, when they are brought across a rune barrier, under go magical 'stress' as they move from one magical continuum to the next.  Roll for each enchantment on the magic item.  On an 18 the enchantment is destroyed.  On a 17 the enchantment becomes weaker some how and will stop working for about an hour (for example, Razaz the rich takes a Stone Flesh ring across a rune line. The GM secretly rolls a 17, and rules that the Stone Flesh only stops 3 points of damage from now on and that it won't work at all for 3 hours). On a 16 the enchantment will stop working for 5 or so minutes.  
Note that this roll is done by the GM so it is not affected by any Charms or Curses on the player.  If the particular item is Cursed or Charmed (that is, the item was the target of a Curse or Charm, not that it holds a Curse or Charm enchantment and casts it on the wearer) the item will get the penalty or benefit of the Curse or Charm.

Magical spying is very difficult across a Rune Line. The exact effect is up to the GM but it is suggested the at least 3 dice more must be rolled to learn anything on the other side of a rune barrier, and perhaps 50% of the time, no information can cross regardless of any rolls.


There is a second and more subtle use for Rune Stones.  Environmental magics can grow and spread.  Placing a Rune Line will limit the spread of environmental magics.  Also, if an environmental magic is cast within an area that is enclosed by a Rune Line, it will usually grow to fill the area enclosed by the Rune Line.
Rune Lines are the best and only way to give environmental magics borders.  They are one of the few tools that allow Magicians to manipulate environmental magics. 

Creating the Rune Stones:
The first rune stone is created.  The first enchantment on a Rune Stone must be the Rune Stone Enchantment.  Other enchantments may then be added (remember to double the cost of each subsequent enchantment up to the maximum of 5).  In particular Glyffs and the various spells that modify Wards are common choices to be placed on rune stones.  
The first Rune Stone created is called the Key Stone.  Once it is created further stones can be build using it as a template, for 1/100 the cost of making the Key Stone.  (So if it took you 6 weeks to make the Key Stone, you could make 100 more in the next 6 weeks).  The Key Stone must be in the laboratory to be used as a template.  If later you wish to expand the territory covered by the rune stones, the Key Stone must be dug up and returned to the lab.



Emplacing the Rune Stones:
The rune stones are placed in a line approximately 5 meters apart.  If they are farther apart, the rune line may collapse more easily, if they are closer together, they are more resistant to aging effects (q.v.).  In any case the Rune Stones should not be placed more than 10 meters apart, or the Line may not form.  The spell does not begin until the Key Stone is placed.  Once it has been put into the line, the Rune Stone Line begins.  It may take a while for the environmental magic to establish itself.  Generally it takes 1 day + ((the length of the line in meters / 100 meters ) * 1 day) tho this varies widely.  However, closed Lines rarely take more than the time given in the formula above. Once this period is done, it is said that the Rune Line has established itself.

Rune Stones, once they establish a Rune Line, are extremely resistant to damage.  Even if the Rune Stones are dissolved in Universal Solvent, the Line will remain (tho the missing stones make the line more vulnerable to collapse).  However if the Key Stone is damaged or removed there is a 50% chance the Line will collapse at once.  Thus the Key Stone is often hidden amongst the other stones, or in some cases it is set in a place where it may be easily guarded.  If the Key Stone is removed, and then replaced, the Line will quickly reestablish itself.
Using a Wish for a question can pick out the Key Stone, most other forms of Magical Divinations will not find the Key Stone.

Life Cycle of Rune Stones and Rune Lines:
When the Rune Stones are first placed, the Line is very dependent upon them.  Damage to the stones (especially the Key Stone) can hurt the Line and destroy or permanently weaken it.  Moving the Stones during this period will move the Line, and it is easy to add more Stones and expand the area or distance the Line covers.

However if a Rune Stone Line lasts for one or more centuries, the Environmental magic of the Rune Line, begins to become independent of the Rune Stones.  The Key Stone loses its special properties, and becomes just another stone.  Stones may be removed or destroyed and the Line will remain.  The Key Stone may no longer be used as a template for more Rune Stones.  If the Stones are moved the Line will remain where it is and a new Line will not form in their new location.  In summary, the Rune Line slowly becomes independent of first the Key Stone, and then independent of the stones themselves. 

Eventually the stones will have so eroded that any enchantment has been destroyed.  Some stones may have been deliberately destroyed, others will have slid down slopes and are now out of the Rune Line.  In short the Rune Line is missing the majority of the Rune Stones.
In this case the Line may or may not collapse.  If the GM likes the line it can remain indefinitely (it has become a true environmental magic).  Or the GM may rule the first time some powerful magical blow strikes the Rune Line it may collapse.  An important consideration should be how close together the stones were originally laid.  If they were closer than 2 meters apart the chances of the Line becoming permanent should be very good.  If they were farther apart than 5 meters, the chances of the Line becoming permanent should be very low.
Permanent Rune Lines are more often Closed Lines (Lines that circle back and rejoin themselves).  Within these closed lines many have unique environmental properties.  It is thought that a strong environmental magic inside a Rune Line helps to stabilize the Rune Line.


The Rune Stone Enchantment:
The Lesser Magic Item Creation Spell is needed to make Rune Stones. The Rune Stone Enchantment is actually made up of two interrelated enchantments. The first holds the properties of the Key Stone, and the second binds the Key Stone to the later, normal Rune Stones.  Thus Rune Stones take up 2 of the 5 enchantments that may be put on an item.  (This is version 1 of the enchantment below. It already includes the doubled cost for the second enchantment.)
However a far more expensive version of the Rune Stone Enchantment exists, which combines the two halves of the enchantment into just one enchantment. This leaves room for 4 glyffs or other enchantments. (This is version 2 of the enchantment below.) So unless you wish to place 4 other enchantments on each stone, wizards are well advised to use the first version.)

If multiple enchantments are being placed on the Rune Stone, the Rune Stone enchantment MUST BE CAST FIRST, otherwise the other enchantments do not get the 1/100 cost for subsequent stones. 

This spell may be created using only a wizard's chest. It will cost exactly the same per week (what is saved in lab rental is made up by needing more expensive ingredients), however 9 weeks are required instead of 6. Thus the price will increase by 150%.  The advantage is, of course, that wizard's chests are far more portable and can make the stones in secret, remote locations.

The costs below are for the Key Stone. Subsequent stones cost 1/100 as much so 50 could be made in 3 weeks, or 16 made in 1 week.  The only items required are a number of closely similar stones to be enchanted.

Magic	 Price   Notes	Weeks	fST / 	Cost / Week
Item		  $			to make	Day		of ingredients
Key Stone	
(version 1)	   4,000	-	6 weeks	  50 fST	$   167 ci / week.
(version 2)	 15,000	-	6 weeks	275 fST	$ 1,550 ci / week.



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