Arcana and Arcane Powers

The old magic is gone. The mighty sorcerers of the past who could move mountains and kill living beings with a thought are long dead. The priests who could turn the ocean into dry land and bring the dead back to life are long gone. 

But a new magic has been born. Less powerful, perhaps, and less prevalent, but more stable and more reliable. This magic, Arcana, is given to a few individuals at birth, and it manifests in several different ways. As heroes destined to fight against Exterminis and the forces of evil, player characters have been born with this power. 

Characters have an amount of Arcana equal to their Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (player choice) score plus their Wisdom score. Beginning characters can choose any two of the following Arcane Powers. When characters start earning renown, they can use it to purchase additional powers, up to a maximum of five.

Arcane Armorer: You can spend one Arcana to magically restore 1d4 Armor Points to a suit of armor.

Bless: You can spend one Arcana to help yourself or one of your allies succeed by giving your blessing, which confers a +3 bonus to all tests for one hour. The normal limit of +8 still applies.

Dispel Magic: You can spend one Arcana to attempt to dispel a magical item or effect. With a weak success, the effect is suppressed for ten minutes. With a strong success, the effect is removed permanently.

Divine Blast: You can spend one Arcana to damage all undead and demons in a near circle around you. With a weak success you cause three wounds to all demons and undead creatures near you. With a strong success, you cause five wounds to all demons and undead creatures near you.

Feywalk: You can spend one Arcana to magically teleport yourself to any unoccupied space within Near distance.

Gambler’s Luck: You can spend one Arcana to reroll any test and take the most favorable result.

Shadow Step: You can spend one Arcana to magically teleport from one area of shadow or darkness to another within Far distance.

Sorcery: You can spend Arcana to cause damage, heal people, or change the world around you. More details are given on the Sorcery page.

Smite: When you hit an opponent with a physical attack, you can spend Arcana to add one wound per Arcana spent of elemental damage (Heat, Cold, Shock, Acid, Poison, Sonic, Psychic, Force, Radiant, or Necrotic) to the attack. If you score a strong success on the attack roll, you can add an additional 1d4 points of elemental damage.

Stunning Attack: When you hit an opponent with a physical attack, you can spend three Arcana to stun the target until your next turn. Stunned targets cannot move or attack. With a strong success on your attack roll, the target is stunned for ten minutes.

Summoning: For one Arcana, you can summon and control one Rank of Servants for up to 24 hours. So, by spending five Arcana, you could summon five rank 1 Servants, or 1 rank 5 Servant, (or any other combination totaling 5). With a strong success on your Persuasion challenge, they serve willingly and will not attack you. With a weak success, the Servants serve unwillingly and will attempt to subvert your authority every chance they get. Once per hour, you must make a WIL test to see if they remain under your control. If you fail one of these challenges, or if you fall unconscious, they will immediately attack you. 

Vanish: You can spend Arcana to turn yourself invisible and completely silent for one turn per Arcana spent. While vanished, you can move without being detected by sight or sound. However, if you take any other action besides moving, the condition ends. If you end the vanished condition by making a physical attack, you cause two wounds per Arcana spent on a weak success, and with a strong success, you cause 3 wounds per Arcana spent.