Bardic Magic
Bardic Magic can be a powerful art. It utilizes the body and the voice instead of the hands. For those Empyreans who develope Tauran hands, or Aquatic Hands, Bardic Magic can become invaluable. It is not a regiment of spells, but an alternate way of casting them.
Musc is a powerful tool. Chord can pull on the heart strings, evocing emotions, subdoing a busy mind, and setting one off her guard. Music can irritate or enchant, cause one to have energy or lethargy. Combine these natural affects with the casting of Essence and the effects can be powerful and formidable indeed.
In this class we will learn to train your voices to direct magic, and how to place words or genstures into music so that the body can remain calm.
Harmony is the most important aspect of bardic Magic. You create a field of woven Essence with music, including chords, vibrations and meaning, and form power from this net which can be manipulated like a potent fabric.
In Bardic Magic, you practise a set of notes, words, chords, etc. while performing a Spell, so that the one becomes interchangeable with the other. Then, when you perform the Music 'programmed' in you mind as an entire Spell process, the Spell effects take place without need for repeated the entire spell preparation.
Up to three parts can be combined in the casting of a spell through Bardic means. The more parts you incorporate, the more complicated and difficult to perform the spell becomes, but the more bonuses you receive to the action you're attempting.
1 Note will have a fail percentage of 30%.
2 Note Chord will have a Fail percentage of 50%
3 Note Chord will have a fail percentage of 70%
**
These difficulty values are not effected by the notes that make them up.**
However, unlike physical skills which need to reach a certain percentage or they are outright failures, you may always attempt the most complex form of Bardic composition, and roll 1d100 for all three portions (or Notes as they are called), if the number you roll on that 1 die bests 70% you have achieved the full composition. If, however, you only reach 52% you simply manage to perform 2 Notes, etc. It is important to always be clear in ordering your Notes as 1, 2, and 3 so that you know which portions (and therefore which bonuses) take affect. After 5 successful performances of a chord, it is considered mastered and the difficulty for that particular chord (and only that particular chord) is reduced by 10%. For example, a 3-note chord of A-E-G would have a difficulty of 70% normally but after being mastered, the new difficulty is 60%; however all other chords like A-B-F, A-D-C, A-E, and A all remain at their normal difficulties.
The effects of the individual notes of the chord stack. So if you perform a chord and succeed in playing/singing the notes, you
add all the individual successful note effects together. If you succeed in only two notes, add only the two that worked together; and for a single note, just take that bonus. These bonuses are then applied to the difficulty of the spell being cast, thus reducing how hard it is to cast that spell. In the case of a chord that beats its required difficult by 20% or more (ie. You roll 90 on 1d100 that was meant for a 3-note chord; or 70 on 1d100 for a 2-note chord) you gain an additional -5% bonus to your overall bonus.
To cast a spell using bardic magic, you must announce you are doing so. Bardic magic requires that you have an instrument of some sort – voice, flute, drum, etc etc – and a focus relating to the spell that you are casting. This focus is normally something from the normal casting of any spell – a component, a repeated pattern of moving, a state of mind, whatever best suits the caster and the spell. Once that focus and the instrument(s) are chosen, you perform the chord you linked to the spell. The notes
must be related to the spell in some way; a clairvoyant-related note will not be effective in a spell that is seeking to muddle an opponent’s mind, for example.
One drawback in the casting of Bardic magic is that it is delayed for a few turns as the bard needs to perform the spell before it manifests. When you have mastered a chord by successfully performing it at least 5 times, the length of casting time is reduced by one turn in addition to bonuses for mastered chords listed above. You can hasten the casting of spells by one further turn but this must be announced and the spell’s effectiveness is half of what it would normally be. It is important to remember, however, that one can move around, dodge, fight, etc etc while performing the spell but should something break the caster’s concentration, the spell is lost and must be restarted. The amount of time required to cast a spell in bardic fashion is as follows:
1-note chord: 1 turn (the spell manifests one turn from the time it was cast; spells cast with mastered chords manifest in the same turn it was cast)
2-note chord: 2 turns (the spell manifests two turns from the time it was cast; spells cast with mastered chords manifest the next turn)
3-note chord: 3 turns (the spell manifests three turns from the time it was cast; spells cast with mastered chords manifest two turns after it was cast)
Once you know the results of your chords, make a manifestation roll for the specific spell. If your roll is higher then then the required augmented (due to your chords) number then your spell is successfully cast and manifests. You make this casting roll
after your performance - refer to the casting times listed above. On a 2-note chord that is not mastered, the manifestation roll would take place on the second turn after the spell was started NOT the third turn.
Specific Notes give bonuses to specific things. They do not cause detriments if used out of context, but they are not as effective than if used for what they are most beneficial for.
A - Good for all strengthening, augmenting, defending and grounding magics. || +1 point to the spell’s effect
B - Good for all elemental based magics, and all basic spell types not covered by the other notes. || +1 unblockable damage of the spell’s elemental type
C - Good for Targeting, containment, barriers and speed-related magics. || +2 points to rolls made for actions that are effected by the spell cast with this note
D - Good for communication, especially with familiars/monsters/animals etc; also used for Summoning. || Clarity of the words and meaning of the creature or person being spoken to is increased (muddled to murmured, whispered to quiet, obscure becomes less obscure, etc etc)
E - Good for creation, improvisation, conjuring and enhancing existing qualities. || Intensity of the spell is increased, adding a further bonus (or penalty) of 2% to the target of the spell.
F - Good for tuning higher levels of consciousness, chakras, energy manipulation, and charging specific parts of the body for extra damage/healing specific wounds. || the duration of the spell is increased by 1 turn
G - Good for healing in general, clairvoyance, calming magics, and sleep inducing magics. || the strength of the spell is increased, resulting in faster healing, more relaxed meditative states, and calming and sleep inducing magics take effect 1.5 times faster.
Specific Instrument types are beneficial for specific types of magic casting as follows:
Wind instruments - Affects the breathing and the lungs, sedative and perfect for enhancing meditative states.
Brass instruments - Affects strength, stamina and body's resistance. Hightenes resilience to damage.
Lamellophones - Create a state of mind prone and ready for astral travel, fortune telling, prediction, prophecy and balance.
Percussion instruments - Affects heart rate and the body's vitality, affects movement and co-ordination.
String instruments - Affect the intellect, and instigate emotional healing, good for ether manipulation.
Voice - Good for creative endeavours, especially in creating new spells, used in intuitive attempts, such as channeling, and good for combining with instruments played with the hands.
Electronic instruments - Affects technoequips, and other electronics, with the capacity to either energize and repair, or damage and short-circuit.
Keyboard instruments - Perfect for training and splitting the consciousness of the mind, used in Geometries and Aspects of Astronomy.
Friction instruments - Affects the subconscious mind, especially used for hypnosis and implanting dreams or specific thoughts or emotions.
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