Magic
What would a fantasy RPG be without the art of magic? A lot of different games have used different magic systems -- spells by levels, spells learned from books or scrolls, spells from enchanted equipment, even spells stolen from enemies. But there was one important thing I wanted to do with magic in Metharism -- I wanted to give players the chance to experiment with magic and create their own spells! Only one magic system I have ever seen has had the potential for this, and that is the system of having different syllables used in magic spells that could be combined in different patterns for different effects.
In Metharism, each spells is a combination of a series of magical syllables. All spells start with a syllable for power, and then a syllable for alignment. After that, any other syllables can be combined in any order in as long a sequence as you like to cast a spell.
Additional information regarding magic, including detailed information on each syllable and tips for spell construction, can be obtained by purchasing one of several books on the subject for your character during character generation.
Power: | NUL |
LO |
BAL |
QUO |
PI |
HA |
MON |
JI |
Alignment: | KAR |
ZAR |
RAL |
COS |
OR |
KAS |
||
Form: | OH |
SAP |
RA |
SHA |
FRA |
CAL |
NAN |
|
Substance: | WAH |
BI |
AQ |
FUL |
VEN |
VO |
ZO |
|
Function: | SOR |
AR |
TI |
IZ |
OM |
BRO |
LES |
HI |
Properties: | BE |
AS |
CHI |
PHI |
MEH |
TAH |
IX |
The syllables with a colored background can only be used after studying them in the game or purchasing the advantage "advanced magical studies" for your character.
The following spells are widely-known throughout Metharism. All other spells can only be learned or discovered during the game (they will not appear on this web page). Additional spell lists are available in various books that your character can purchase off the equipment list during character generation.
Note that you will need to insert a power syllable at the start of any of these spells in order to use it, but the power syllable only changes the strength of the spell, not its effect.
Create Water | kar-aq | ||||
Healing Potion | kar-aq-as | ||||
Cure Poison | kar-ven-bro | ||||
Circle of Protection | kar-sha-bi | ||||
Destruction Beam | zar-sap | ||||
Poision Dart | zar-ven-fra | ||||
Fireball | zar-ful-fra | ||||
Dissolve | zar-fra-oh | ||||
Light Shroud | ral-oh-ful | ||||
Running Light | ral-oh-ful-fra | ||||
Open Door | ral-fra-vo | ||||
Open Wall | ral-sap-vo | ||||
Dark Shroud | cos-oh | ||||
Patch | cos-vo-sha | ||||
Seal | cos-fra-bi | ||||
Mute | cos-fra-phi-wah | ||||
Aero | or-wah-sap | ||||
Stasis Net | or-fra-oh-phi-sha | ||||
Flash | kas-ful-ra | ||||
Buffet | kas-fra-oh-wah-ra |
Of course, this is a way to get better at casting particular spells with practice. If you use a certain spell (at a certain power level) twenty-five times, you memorize it. Once it has been memorized, you know how to cast it without thinking about it, so you can give the spell a name and use that name to cast it instead of the syllables. For example, you could tell the Gamemaster "I'm going to cast Fireball," instead of "I'm going to cast 'lo-zar-ful-ra.'" Obviously, this should make using magic a lot easier for you.
After you have the spell memorized, every 10 times you cast the spell the amount of mana you must expend to cast the spell is reduced by one (to a minimum of zero). So if the spell cost you 7 mana to use when