Chapter 5: Spellcasting

Spellcasting in Monsters & Magic comes from a spellcasting domain-a fundemental wellspring of magical power you learn to channel, such as Pyromancy, Restoration, or Geomancy. When you gain a spellcasting feat, you choose domains from the Arcane, Primal, Divine, or Psionic domain lists. Each domain carries specific tags that describe what kind of magic it shapes-whether it damages, if it burns or pushes or heals-and grants two effect charms core to that domain that you can cast immediately.

To cast a spell, you shape your domain’s power using charms. Effect charms belong to one of five spellcasting disciplines known as praxes:

School	Typical Effects
Abjuration	Prevents or reverses harmful effects
Conjuration	Transports creatures or objects
Enchantment	Influences minds
Evocation	Channels energy to create effects that are often destructive
Transmutation	Transforms creatures or objects

Knowing an effect charm’s praxis will give you a hint at to what kind of magical effect it produces, regardless of the domain.

Charms

If domains are the wellspring of magic, charms are the tools used to shape it. Charms are modular components that are combined to build a spell on the fly, channeled through a domain to give them an effect. There are five kinds of charms:

Targeting: Who or what the spell affects, including its range, area, or shape. All spellcasters know the Bolt and Touch charms.
Effect: What the spell does-deal damage, inflict a condition, create a barrier, or alter reality in some other way.
Trigger: Alters the circumstances with which the spell activates, allowing it to be used, for instance, as a reaction, or set it as a trap.
Augment: Rider effects that trigger when an effect charm has a specific outcome. For instance, the Move charm triggers when an attack hits a target, pushing them backwards.
Metamagic: Changes the casting itself, such as increasing its range, extending its duration, or reducing its casting time. Metamagic are only available from specific feats.

Composing a Spell

Every spell you cast is built from these components. To cast a spell, combine:

Exactly one domain you know.
Exactly one targeting charm you have available.
Exactly one effect charm you have available.
Optional: Up to one trigger charm you have avaialble.
Optional: Up to one augment charm you have available that follows an outcome produced by your effect charm.
Optional: Any metamagic charm you have available.

Except for metamagic charms, you can never use more than one charm of the same kind in a single spell. When you take the Cast a Spell technique, you pay 1 AP, plus all AP and fatigue required by the individual charms, plus any upcasts.

For instance, if you know the Pyromancy domain, you can use the Fire Mote effect charm with Bolt to attack an individual target, or you can cast it with Detonate, a targeting charm, to make it explode at a point in range like Fireball or with Spray, also a targeting charm, to shoot a cone of fire from yourself like dragon’s breath. You could then combine it with Symbol, a trigger charm, to set a trap, triggering it to go off if someone tries to pick the lock of your chest. You could combine it again with Disintegrate, an augment charm, to turn any creature killed by the trap instantly to ash.

Known Charms & Charm Pool

Spellcasters have a repertoire of domains and charms they choose when they gain their spellcasting feat. Your spellcasting feat will also tell you what your spellcasting ability is—this is referred to as +SPELL.

Domains, being branches of magical knowledge, are always known once you acquire them. Spellcasters typically ready the charms they want to take with them as part of their daily preparations. The number of charms you can ready is known as your Charm Pool. Full casters typically have a charm pool equal to their Prowess plus their +SPELL (minimum 1) plus 3, half casters typically their +SPELL (minimum 1) plus two. Always known charms, for instance from a lineage or a feat selection, do not count against your charm pool.

Casting Components

Unless otherwise stated, beyond AP and fatigue, spells require two components when cast: specific incantations (verbal components) and precise gestures (somatic components). Some charms also require specific physical foci or reagents (material components).

You must have at least one hand free to perform somatic gestures unless you are wielding a spellcasting conduit. If you are unable to perform the verbal or somatic portions of casting a spell (like you are bound or gagged, you don’t have at least one hand free, etc…), or you do not have the required material components, you are unable to cast that spell.

Conduits

When you gain a spellcasting feat, you also gain proficiency with spellcasting conduits. Conduits are special weapons that allow spellcasters to substitute their +SPELL for attack and damage rolls. Additionally, spells channeled through a conduit gain added benefits:

Orb (Extend): Applied conditions have their duration extended by 1 round.
Wand (Span): Non-touch range increased by 10 feet.
Dagger (Assail): Channel a domain through the weapon. Change its damage type to the domain’s (if it has one) and cast effect charms for that domain that have no AP cost or casting duration as a melee Strike.
Staff (Expand): Targeting charms have their size extended by 5’ in one dimension. Requires two hands.

While there are only 4 conduits, you’re encouraged to flavor these for your character. A Druid, for instance, may have a pinecone and willow branch instead of an orb and wand, or a cleric may have mace and a censure instead of a dagger and a staff. Orbs, wands, and staff can be reflavored however a character would like as long as they retain the same statistics. Any simple melee weapon can be used as a “dagger” conduit, using the simple weapon’s game statistics and granting the weapon’s conduit property.

Concentrating on a Spell

If a charm lasts while you concentrate on it, you need to use the Concentrate on a Spell technique on each subsequent turn to continue concentrating on it. You must concentrate on each spell individually.

Your concentration breaks if you are incapacitated. If you take damage, are inflicted with a condition, or are forced to mark fatigue by another creature while concentrating, you must make a Focus roll, taking a -1 penalty for each spell beyond the first you are currently maintaining:

Strong Hit: You maintain concentration
Weak Hit: Mark 2 fatigue to maintain concentration, or choose one spell to lose concentration on.
Miss: You lose concentration on all active spells immediately.

Ritual Casting

Charms that declare an explicit casting time (such as Alarm, Purify, Scrying, or Resurrection) are inherently rituals. You must spend the full casting time performing the verbal and somatic aspects of the spell in order for it to take effect, with fatigue and material costs marked and consumed committed when you begin. If you are interrupted, the casting fails and all expended resources are lost.

Any spell that lacks a trigger charm and does not already have an authored casting time can also be cast as a ritual. Doing so extends the casting time to 10 minutes per AP plus 5 minutes per fatigue (minimum 1 minute). When cast as a ritual in this manner, the spell costs zero fatigue. Upcasts and components can be added as normal.

Upcasting

You can upcast a spell to increase its potency. Charms that can be upcast list the additional resources (AP, fatigue, material components) needed to upcast it. There’s no limit to how much you can upcast a spell other than your available resources and any described rules in the charm. Upcasts often fall into one of three categories:

Repeatable Upgrades: Written as +N fatigue - Increase by +Y can be bought multiple times, paying the cost for each increment up to any stated maximum.
Exclusive Choices: Mutually exclusive options to choose from
Domain Riders: Upcasts or charm options that require the domain include a specific tag (such as radiates or burns) in order to use

Additionally, if an effect charm is cast with a targeting charm that can target more than one creature or object, its fatigue cost is doubled.

Multiple Spellcasting Feats

If you take a spellcasting feat when you already have a spellcasting feat, your original spellcasting feat becomes your primary spellcasting feat, and additional spellcating feats become secondary spellcasting feats. You gain all the normal benefits of your secondary spellcasting feat, but not its charm pool. Instead, gain +1 to your charm pool, and typically 2+Prowess charms or domains from the class’s domain list for a full caster, 1+Prowess for a half caster. Whenever you cast spells through a domain granted by a secondary feat, you use that feat’s +SPELL instad of your primary’s. You always use your primary feat’s preparation and casting rules, and it’s +SPELL for your conduits.

If your primary spellcasting feat didn’t grant you a charm pool (like a Sorcerer’s Sorcery feat), you instead typically gain a charm pool equal to your Prowess for the first secondary spellcasting feat you take, then the normal rules apply. Charms for this charm pool are readied as part of your daily preparations.

Alternatively, if you have a charm pool and take a spellcasting feat that grants you only inately known spells (like Sorcerer’s Sorcery feat), you instead typically gain a number of domains or charms from that spell list equal to your Prowess, learning at least one domain.