There are four powers which make up the full range of magical abilities:
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In my view, magic, though it can be very versatile, is very weak compared to any of the major powers (Pattern, Logrus - if it exists - or Trump). The touch of any of them under the wrong conditions can easily destroy or disrupt a magical effect. This includes bringing the Pattern to mind or accepting a Trump call while having a long-term magical effect (such as Invisibility or a Personal Shield spell) in place; in either case the spell is instantly dissipated. Note that making a Trump call does not have this effect; this is because in making a call the Trump energy is in the Trump card, but in receiving a Trump call ones entire body is filled with Trump energy, which has bad effects on any magic present. For these reasons, no magic of any kind works next to any of the Patterns or from one shadow to another, and it is essentially impossible to incorporate any kind of real power into any kind of magic.
Magic is an entirely unReal, that is shadow-based set of powers, it's type and form being entirely dependant upon local shadow properties and very vulnerable to any Real power.
Cost : 10 points
Full Sorcery can only be learnt by beings with power over Shadow in one way or another. Though others can learn more than one form of magic, because they cannot sense the magical properties of shadow, they have to learn shadow-specific magic by rote instead.
This discipline is the science of making things that shouldn't happen, happen. It is time consuming, boring, and mentally challenging to use sorcery. But it has its advantages - such as being able to blow things up with fireballs!
Sorcery does not work between shadows, and in general requires some kind of line of sight to work. However, it is possible to create spells which are to a great extent 'self-targeting' (i.e. they can be 'told' to 'go round that corner, attack the men in red robes'). This is very complex and spells using such abilities take much longer to cast/hang than normal spells (at least four times longer than a spell without that capability). The effectiveness of this self-targeting ability depends on the Warfare of the caster.
Racked spells do slowly deteriorate over time. After a couple of days they become unreliable, and most spells will be completely unusable after about a week. This deterioration can be countered by performing daily spell maintenance, which amounts to from one to five minutes per spell per day; similar maintenance should also be performed after shifting though shadow (though a longer time may need to be spent after particularly rough shadow shifting).
There is no generic Magic Drain spell (as, in my opinion, it is just too powerful), instead it is replaced by a Dispel Magic spell, with the magical effect to be negated as a lynchpin.
Note that healing magic cannot regenerate the limbs of Amberites; the magic will not last long enough to overcome their intrinsic reality to that extent, though it will last long enough to boost their recovery from injuries which require only healing rather than regeneration or re-growth (this explains why Benedict did not simply have his arm regenerated after Lintra cut it off).
In Amber Sorcery works, but only to about the level of power words. That is, it takes as much time and effort to rack, maintain, and cast a spell in Amber as it does anywhere else, but the resulting effect will never be more than that which would result from a broadly similar power word (e.g. a lightning bolt would become roughly the same as the Spark power word; a healing spell would have the same effect as a Life Force power word).
Note that spell casting times can be reduced by luring ones target into an area of ones own choosing, so that one can use spells without the 'Magic of Shadow' lynchpin while ones target still has to include it.
Depending on how magic works in a given shadow, the 'Magic of Shadow' lynchpin can cause side effects. For example, if a shadow has magic which only runs off life force, then casting a spell there might well suck the life out of plants, animals and people nearby; the more powerful the spell, the larger the area over which life force might be sucked out of things and people.
The power divides into the following sections, which must be brought in order:
There are also a number of new spells which have been developed, mainly by myself. For reasons of space they are listed on a separate page. There are also some Rebman Mirror Magic Spells which also have a page of their own.
Cost : 5 points
Identical to Grand Sorcery, but with spells and effects limited to a single area of specialisation (e.g. Fire magic, Scrying, Healing, Illusion-casting, Necromancy, Mental Contact), though, like Grand Sorcery, within that area they are as versatile as the casters imagination allows.
Specialised Sorcery can be upgraded to full, Grand Sorcery with extra time and study (and points!).
In general, within its area of specialisation, this is as powerful as Grand Sorcery; however, because of its specialised nature there are fewer Shadows where this specific type of magic will work.
Note that spell casting times can be reduced by luring ones target into an area of ones own choosing, so that one can use spells without the 'Magic of Shadow' lynchpin while ones target still has to include it.
The power divides into the following sections, which must be brought in order:
Cost : 10 points
This power replaces the power of as Conjuration defined in the Amber rule book, on the grounds that in my opinion Conjuration as it stands has absolutely no basis in either series of books. Anything that could be taken as Conjuration I would say is actually use of either the Pattern or Logrus. Empowerment is the enhancing of creatures and items with magical energy in a similar way to the 'Empowerment' part of Conjuration. However, it takes roughly ten times longer than Conjuration to perform - having it as fast as in the rule book makes it much too unbalanced, in my opinion.
See the Creatures and Items Creation Page for details on the Qualities and Powers which can be empowered, and the times needed to do so.
In some games I also use the power of Real Empowerment to represent the ability to create truly Real items of greater power than those created using normal Empowerment.
Also, here are some of my thoughts on the relative merits of Empowerment as against the use of Pattern and Logrus to acquire things with Qualities and Powers.
Cost : 10+ points
These are the only form of magic which works as well in Amber as it does in Shadow. However, even Power words do not work directly adjacent to any of the Patterns.
Note that, as it says in the Amber rulebook, power words do not have to words as such; they can be gestures, snatches of song , hand signs or anything else of a similar nature.
For beings with power over shadow, power words are non-species-specific, i.e. the same word works on all species. However, for beings without power over shadow, each species generally requires a different power word (though related species may well be affected to different degrees by the same word).
The Chaos, Pattern and Trump negation power words, plus the Resume True Form word, can only be learnt by beings with that power, though generally Psychic Disrupt acts as a lesser version of the same thing. Generally they don't affect the power itself, but more the way of thinking associated with it.
Adding the name of the target when using the power word does not give any advantage to the attacker. A victim of Power Words becomes acclimatised to their repeated use; however, this acclimatisation does wear off in time.
The is no Defensive Luck power word, and no Psychic Defence word (this is covered by the Burst of Psyche word). Also there are some additional Power Words:
The cost of Power Words varies as one buys more and more of them, in the following manner:
Cost : No extra points need be spent
There are four possible combinations of magical powers:
Unless those involved have worked very closely together to 'attune' their magics together to one another, only people who have all of the magical powers required can combine their powers in the ways described here.
A mage who knows both Sorcery and Power Words can rack a Power Word as part of a sorcerous spell, and have the two go off in such a manner as to support one another (usually the Power Word first, then the spell, which takes advantage of the effect caused by the Power Word). This is quicker than speaking a Power Word and then the lynchpins of a spell, though not faster than speaking a Power Word on its own. Adding a Power Word to a spell takes 10 minutes per Power Word, and adds 5 minutes to the casting time of the 'Target' lynchpin.
There are a number of ways in which these combinations can be useful, for example:
Note that knowing the Magic Negation Power Word allows the mage to incorporate protections against it and similar Power Words into their spells.
These two powers may be combined in three different ways. Note that only Grand Sorcery, with its control of all types of sorcerous energies (not just those associated with, say, fire) can be so combined.
Racked Empowerments - this is the racking of Empowerment magic in a spell rack in the same way as racking a normal sorcerous spell, to create an Empowerment spell which empowers the target with the desired Qualities and/or Powers. The magic for either single-shadow or cross-shadow Empowerments can be racked (though obviously the latter takes ten times longer), depending on the type of Empowered item to be created. The following lynchpins can be added to the racked Empowerment, taking ten minutes per lynchpin:
- Magic of Shadow
- Target
- Length of Time the Empowerment Lasts (optional)
- Dispel Word (optional)
The time taken to add lynchpins to a racked Empowerment is not affected by any multipliers on time taken to create the Empowerment itself (i.e. they take ten minutes each for a single-use, single shadow Empowerment and for an unlimited-use cross-shadow Empowerment, and for anything in between).
Note that only single-item Empowerments can be racked; the simultaneous empowerment of Named And Numbered or higher quantities of empowered items cannot be racked.
Also, while it is possible to rack an Empowerment which includes one or more hard-wired Empowerments of the same type (so the Empowered thing could itself Empower more than one copy of itself each of which would also have the hard-wired Empowerment and which could thus lead to the numbers of the Empowered thing increasing exponentially and very quickly) the power and magic has to be provided for each replication. That is, racking something which could replicate infinitely in this manner would take an infinite amount of time to cast, and ten replications would take the same amount of time to cast as ten normal Empowerments of that type.
Empowered Spells - this is the adding of Qualities and Powers to sorcerous spells to give them extra abilities, such as creating spells which are to a great extent 'self-targeting' (for example, they can be 'told' to 'go round that corner and attack the man in red robes'). These spells are more complex than normal spells and spells using such abilities take longer to cast and hang than normal spells.
The Empowerments which can be added to spells are of the single-shadow variety (as spells do not work and cannot be cast through shadow), so they take a tenth the time of the equivalent cross-shadow Empowerment. Empowering a spell also adds 5 minutes to the time to cast each of the spells normal lynchpins. See the Creatures and Items Creation Page for details on the Qualities and Powers which can be empowered, and the times needed to do so.
The time to add single-shadow Empowerments to spells is as follows:
- 1 point Quality: 10 minutes
- 2 point Quality: 20 minutes
- 4 point Quality: 40 minutes
- 1 point Power: 1 hour
- 2 point Power: 2 hours
- 4 point Power: 4 hours
Spells which can 'hunt' independently of the caster require at least the 'Able to Speak' Quality if they are to hunt with normal senses (10 minutes to add), or the 'Ranged Psychic Sensitivity' Quality if they are to hunt for a psychic imprint (20 minutes to add). They may also have enhanced senses added if required. These spells also require Warfare if they are to hit a moving target. How much warfare is up to the caster (the default is Human ranked).
For spells which operate independently of the caster, particularly attack spells, it might be sensible for the caster to add a 'Dispel Word' lynchpin, or a 'Length of Time The Spell Lasts' lynchpin, so that the spell can, if necessary, be controlled once it has been cast.
If cast with only these Empowerments, the spell will operate once, and then be gone (although it will tend to last indefinitely if it is 'hunting' or similar, sustaining itself from the magic of the shadow). However, for the equivalent of adding a 2 point Quality the spell can be Empowered to last 'Named and Numbered' times (i.e. it can act for up to 12 times before it is gone). By adding the 4 point Quality 'Self-Charging' the spell will never run out of power (though it can only act every few seconds due to its need to re-charge) and will continue to act according to the instructions it has been given until it is dispelled or its time runs out.
Wardings - these make use of the 'Hard-Wired Spell' Power to implant a spell which affects (for example) intruders. As Wardings are generally immovable things used to protect places, only the single-shadow version of the Empowerments used is required. A Warding could be built in the following way:
- THE 'HARD-WIRED SPELL' POWER (240 minutes to Empower for a single shadow) - to house the desired spell.
- THE 'SELF-CHARGING' QUALITY (40 minutes) - so that the Warding can operate indefinitely, recharging between uses.
- THE 'MAGICALLY NEUTRAL' QUALITY (20 minutes) - so that the Warding is hard to detect and hard to remove.
- THE 'ABLE TO SPEAK' QUALITY (10 minutes) - so that the Warding has the intelligence to sense intruders and trigger the spell against them.
For a total time of 310 minutes (5 hours 10 minutes) to Empower, plus the time to cast the spell which the warding will use.
Enhanced or psychic senses might be added to make the Warding harder to fool with things like invisibility spells.
The Warding above assumes that the spell it holds is an area-effect one which does not require Warfare to hit its target. For spells which do require accurate targeting, it would be wise to Empower some Warfare into the Warding too.
Power Words may be Empowered into items if the Empowerer also knows Power Words. Only Power Words known to the Empowerer (or person with whom they are working if they are sufficiently closely attuned) may be put into items. See the Creatures and Items Creation Page for more details and the time needed to do so.
Note that knowing the Magic Negation Power Word allows the mage to incorporate protections against it and similar Power Words into things they Empower.
It is quite possible to combine all three types of magic into a single magical working. There are two main ways in which this may be done:
The conventional Spell Rack, as defined in the ADRP Rulebook has, in my opinion, a problem. It limits the spells which can be stored in it purely on number rather than the complexity of or energy put into the stored spells. That is, as far as the conventional spell rack is concerned, there is no practical difference between storing twelve spells each of which took fifteen minutes to cast and twelve spells each of which took four hours to cast.
I have come to the conclusion that I do not like this. Instead, perhaps spell racks could work on the total complexity of, or the energy expended on, the total of all of the spells stored within them. This would make them more like a battery with a limited energy storage capacity, or a hard disc with only so much memory space.
The easiest way to measure how much energy or complexity a spell contains would seem to be how long it takes to cast or store in a spell rack. Assuming the average spell takes roughly ninety minutes to cast (one hour for the spell plus three lynchpins at ten minutes each). Twelve spells would therefore require roughly eighteen hours of storage space; the spell rack is, in this case, something like a tape recorded with only so much tape.
For simplicity, it would probably be easier to say that a normal spell rack (the 2 point version) can store up to one day's worth of cast magic. A smaller 1 point spell rack would store up to two hours worth of cast magic.
Note that the following really only applies to The Last Enemy setting, but it should act as guidelines for other settings too.
Non-Amberites cannot sense the Magic of Shadow directly. Instead they have to learn multiple forms of magic, one per shadow. Which of these forms of magic to use is done entirely by knowing where one is. If the shadow sorcerer doesn't know where they are they have to figure it out by trial and error.
Unless they have an Amberite-style Spell Rack (which would tend to be rare for a non-Amberite) they will also need multiple spell racks to ensure that they have one which works in all the different shadows whose magic they know. Note that this also means that non-Amberites regardless of their spell rack(s) cannot have spells which are not destroyed by moving across shadows, either by shadow paths or by following someone with the Pattern.
For non-Amberites, Sorcery is learnt in the following manner:
This means that non-Amberites have to pay more for a less useful, less easy to use power, but they can still learn magic which may be used in more than one shadow.
Precisely how much the laws of magic vary from shadow to shadow is something which would no doubt vary from campaign to campaign (e.g. does knowing Named and Numbered forms of magic mean one can use magic in exactly those twelve shadows, and those twelve only, or is it that twelve really means twelve types of shadow in each of which magic essentially is the same).
Note that shadow mages learn Specialised Sorcery in a similar manner to Grand Sorcery, but at costs of:
They still need multiple spell racks, as a Grand Sorcerer does.
Empowerment is learnt in a similar manner to Sorcery, individually for each shadow. However, it is possible for non-Amberites to learn how to create magical items which are stable across shadow (though these are never quite as good as similar items created by Amberites). As the non-Amberite cannot sense the magic of shadow, this learning is done by rote, but it can be done, and is the sort of thing which might have leaked out of Amber long ago.
Thus non-Amberite Empowerers learn the power as follows:
Power Words also have to be learnt individually for each shadow, but as no ability to sense the magic of shadow is involved in them, they get no cost reduction.
Thus, for non-Amberites Power Words are learnt as follows:
Note that the following really only applies to The Last Enemy setting, but it should act as guidelines for other settings too.
Non-Amberites cannot sense the Magic of Shadow directly. This means they would normally have to learn multiple forms of magic, one per shadow. Which of these forms of magic to use is done entirely by knowing where one is. If the shadow sorcerer doesn't know where they are they have to figure it out by trial and error. This applies to all of Sorcery, Empowerment and Power Words. However, it is possible that one could, with help, get around this. If one has an item containing the 2-point Mould Shadow Environment item Power, with the moulding which is done such that it maintains a constant magical environment around its owner, then the mage does not need to learn multiple forms of magic, but only one which the item then allows to work everywhere. This applies to all of Sorcery (Grand and Specialised), Empowerment and Power Words.
In fact, this might even give the shadow mage an advantage over Amberite mages, as they could then cast their spells faster as they would not require a 'Magic of Shadow' lynchpin.
The only limitation on this is that items containing the Mould Shadow Environment Power can only be made by people with cross-shadows powers such as Pattern and Logrus, i.e. by Amberites or Chaosites. Therefore this particular form of non-Amberite magic is only likely to be found in the hands of agents of the great powers of the universe...
Some optional rules for Advanced Magic | Real Empowerment
Creativity - an alternative to both magic and technology.
Beltaine's Harmonic Magic - from 'The Last Enemy' game.
Go to the Pattern, Logrus, Alternatives to Logrus, Shapeshifting, or Trump Pages.