PoE- Essences

Sometimes, energies converge. These may be cosmic energies of fate or time, or they may be the result of wayward magic, or even extreme emotion. One could say that in every specific move of a dancer, there is a greater or lesser passion- in the same way, a single being at a single time may break a boundary of energetic convergence. In such circumstances, these beings have reached a certain breaking point and, for the safety of reality, they are trapped within crystal.

Beings trapped in essences are no longer normal. They may be violent monsters in the heat of a rage, or a monk in the midst of a harrowing realization. Regardless of the reason; they were trapped by the Gods for a REASON and releasing them from this prison is very dangerous.

Essences are released if you attempt to break them out, as the prison is unstable and liable to be broken. Simple pulling or cracking the crystal with a weapon is enough to free them. They can also accidentally be freed- if you are fighting in a room with monsters trapped in essences, there is a 1 in 6 chance somebody bumps into one enough to free it. If your hunting dog sniffs it, that's another 1 in 6 chance, etc.

Essence Monsters
For an essence monster(s), roll a random encounter. Then, describe the monster(s) frozen in place, either in the middle of an action or simply standing around. The players can clearly see the monsters, what they are and what they're armed with and so on. This gives the chance for the players to strategize with how they are going to fight these monsters.

When the monsters are released, they will spring to action. Once one of the essence monsters is broken free, all of them in the group will be busted out at the same moment. The essence monsters may be headed by an elite.

Roll on this table to determine what power the essence monsters have. Some essence monsters may have multiple powers for added challenge.

Essence Power Table - Roll 1d6
[1] Potence- These monsters are surrounded by a power aura, and are modified. Roll once on the Monster Modifiers table to determine what power they have collective gained as a result of being supercharged with energies. The head monster (or only monster if there is just one) also gains +1 HD, +1 to hit and ac, and increases the damage die of its attack(s) by one size larger.

[2] Arcane- This monster knows a random spell. The maximum level of spell it can know is equal to its HD as a Magic User of the same level could know; so no Essence Goblins knowing Disintegrate or anything like that. In the event of multiple monsters, only the head monster knows the spell, but can cast the spell once per each monster that was trapped in essence alongside it.

[3] Negative Energy- Swirling energies of chaos surround these beings. The first attack roll against them automatically fails and counts as a roll of 1. If applicable, the first casting of Turn Undead against them also automatically fails, but this will consume the aura and make them vulnerable. This power is on every monster trapped in essence, but the head monster is consumed by negative energy. On an attack roll of 20, the victim must save or have one level drained vs the head monster.

[4] Combat- These monsters have a magical power they can use in combat. Each monster has one copy of the power. Roll on the Azurite Monster Powers table.

[5] Hysteria- Every round, a random character (player character or hireling) will be overcome with a sensation, emotion, or have some chaotic shit happen. No matter how many monsters are trapped in essence, there is only one of these effects per round.

Hysteria Subtable- Roll 1d6

1. Rage. Character must save or attack the nearest living thing.
2. Sadness. Character starts crying. Disadvantage on ranged attack rolls from their tears.
   
3. Laughter. Character laughs; cannot cast spells or speak.
4. Spasm. Save or fall to the ground. Takes one round to get back on your feet.
5. Fear. Morale check or the character flees. If a PC, consider Charisma damage instead.
6. Darkness. Lowers the light level by one, or extinguishes one torch.
   

[6] Elemental- This monster is charged with elemental power. Becomes resistant to a single element, taking half damage from that element. It also deals +1 damage of that element with all attacks. If the creature was already resistant, make it immune. If it was already immune, it now heals if it takes damage of that element, and so on. You can roll the same element on this table multiple times.

Elemental Subtable- Roll 1d4

1. Fire
2. Ice
3. Lightning
4. Acid

Art @SkintickeT5 (reddit- couldn't find any other sites)

Essences as Loot
Once you have defeated an essence creature, they will drop an essence. This is the solidified power they were once charged with, in a small and mostly stable form. This energy "feels" roughly as the type of power the essence creature had, so if you hold it in your hand you can feel roughly the same emotion or intense waves of energetic power that was present in the creature.

Essences can be used to magically enchant items. Living creatures are too unstable; the power within these is what got the monsters trapped within crystal in the first place. But inanimate matter can be infused with the power in these essences.

Whenever you kill a head monster infused with an essence, it drops one essence. It looks like a cool glowing symbol thing that can be used on an item to give it magical powers. Only the head monster will drop an essence, but will drop multiple essences; one for each essence power the monster possessed.

Essences are still very chaotic. Whenever you apply an essence to an item, roll on the following table to see what happens. You can also sell them quite a bit to mad scientists and arcanists alike.

Essence Crafting Table-  Roll 1d8
[1] Cursed- The chaotic power is malign in nature. It becomes a 2 HD animated object, stats fitting the object, with the same essence-power that the monster had. Aggressive. If you want, you could make this Essence crafting roll a secret DM roll- make the item animate the moment when it is used for its intended purpose, but otherwise seems like it's magically enchanted by the essence.

[2-3] Minor Empowerment- Object is infused with magical energy and counts as a +1 magic item. Any damage or aging of the object is fixed.

[4-6] Essence Empowerment- The object gains a minor power, equivalent to the Essence. Using an elemental essence on a piece of armor will make it grant some resistance or protection from that element. If it is a Hysteria essence and it is put on a weapon, then grants a similar effect of Hysteria on a target it strikes, once per day. Etc.

[7-8] Greater Empowerment- As Essence Empowerment, but grants the full effect of the power to the wearer. The number of items you have enchanted with essences can count as the "number of monsters" for the description of essence powers above, but for your own abilities. Also, the enchanted item is counted as a +1 magic item.

6 World-Wide Enchantments

[1] Stolen Strength

This spell must be cast by a very powerful Sorcerer. Typically it is cast with ritual reagents including the blood of giants, magical stones, and powdered flesh of rare and exotic species to name a few. Once the spell is cast, the “magic” must be bound in an object or location that relates to imbibing food or drink. All who drink at that table or drink from that chalice restore damage to their Strength score, and over the course of each meal or feast you will gain an additional point of Strength.

If the eating continues; treat those who use this spell as with “Giant Strength”, meaning they win all Strength contests against those without Giant Strength, and treat their modifier as a +5 for anything not involving other giant or supernaturally strong creatures. Those blessed by the spell can eventually bend steel, divert rivers, and crush boulders into dust with their fingers.

All across the world; this spell steals strength to give it to those who partake. Young men grow short and weaker then their fathers. Giants pant and sweat under their own weight. The great beasts of the wild become afraid of man; unable to drag their victims off their horses or into the rivers. This stolen strength flows to the feasters and grants them greater and greater power. The effects are minor for those who only use this spell to empower themselves or their retinue, but the longer it is active and the more people eat from that table to receive its benefits, the more devastating this becomes for the average folk and even the natural world until it is ended.

[2] Bloody Hand of Injustice

In order to complete the long and arduous process to cast this spell, the caster must organize a ritual of great slaughter where at least 33 virgins and 66 animal sacrifices are made, invoked to the dark God known as Canor.

Canor appears as a bloody severed hand with pure black flesh, a silver stake through the palm, and an eyeball topping one finger. It takes interest in those who commit great Injustice, and rewards their sacrifice with its powerful boon.

Once the ritual is complete, the spellcaster becomes totally immune to secular justice. All over the world, authority figures find themselves stripped of their ability to do anything about them. This power is “worldwide” because it affects everyone, even authority figures who have no knowledge of the spellcaster, but will find it impossible to punish them even after they commit another crime against them. The power of this enchantment increases with higher levels of authority- local lords and militia men will find themselves stalling and unable to raise arms against the injust one, but may still be able to spread the word or find a second hand way to harm them, such as leading monsters to their lair. Kings and High Nobles lose any ability at all to do anything about the person in question; they cannot rally armies or demand their imprisonment, they can't tax them in lieu of a formal fine, nor can they even exile or banish them. The orders simply can't carry down the chain of command.

Those not involved with authority, such as hapless adventurers and outlaws, are not affected by this power. If they are the ones to kill or stop the spellcaster of this spell however, they will be branded as outlaws for attacking them. This happens regardless of if everyone involved knows about the spell and is actively working against it; the Dark God who controls it is more powerful then mere men. Religious authorities and paladins are immune to this spell entirely, which is why they are so often trusted to deal with the forces of dark magic.

[3] Utopian Sky-Streak

This spell requires a good hearted mage to be cast, and many gemstones of all the colors of the rainbow. The magic user must stand on a sacred cliff, throwing the gems into the air and watching them turn into colorful streaks of light across the sky. The more gems they use for this spell, the more likely it is to stick and the more powerful its effects are.

Every so often, a sky-streak of color will pass over a town, village, or countryside. People will feel an innate sense of luck, happiness, and comradire with each other even if they didn't see the streak. The magical streak is like a washed-out rainbow sometimes hard to see across a bright blue sky, but it is essentially a bringer of fortune. Every intelligent being will be better off having the streak fly over their lands, and the streaks often bring about worshiping cargo-cults that praise them. These sky-streaks continue on forever, but only rarely occur in one place at one time. The more times this spell is cast, the more commonly the streaks appear.

There is also a weakness to this spell; the capture spell. If an opposing or greedy magician makes a magic clay pot and paints the interior black while leaving it outside and a Sky-Streak passes overhead, it will mistake the pot as a sad, dark place that needs its touch. It will fly inside the pot and become trapped as the lid falls on top. Then, the mage can easily transform the streak back into a portion of the gemstones used to cast it, plus a portion of all the money given to wishing wells and shrines used to wish for good wishes.

[4] Atmosphere of Alloy

This spell is anathema for most living things, and its continued existence will destroy all life as we know it in the world. As such, orders of holy warriors who battle against inanimate intelligences, automatons, and societies of golems who have broken free from their masters. The spell's effects begin at a local level, killing or converting all wildlife and intelligent beings, and slowly spreads as the spell caster feeds it. Most spells on this list can be ended by killing the magic user who cast the spell, as their numen is directly what feeds the enchantment.

This spell gives a coppery tint to the air, and makes the sky burn brilliant colors at dawn and dusk in the local area. Water starts to shine oddly and taste metallic. This spell is changing the world into one of metals, stone, and mercury. Living trees in the area begin to so sicken and die, but they don't fall over and instead stay rooted in the ground as their bark turns to iron. Animals slow down and starve as plant life falls apart, many grazing beasts get cuts on their legs and stomachs and die from them from the grass that has gotten as sharp as swords. Most animals will eventually either freeze in place on death, slowly becoming a crumbling, rusting metal sculpture in the rain, or they will break down and their animal souls will turn to elementals; a lesser form of life spiritually but a better survivor in the toxic new world. Humans are not safe from this effect; entire towns are locked in place in the middle of the last busy day they could have. The power of this spell is driven by the air; it slowly permeates matter, but the air and the sky is always first to change, and wearing breathing masks and using magic fans can help keep the worse of the effects of breathing the metal air away from you.

As this spell is fed, it has a feedback loop. The metal and alloyed creatures and beings it makes create more magical energy aligned with the caster's wish to convert all to unliving matter, and as such it feeds the spell more and more. It grows larger, invading nearby lands with heavy fog and miasma that smells of sulpher in the deepest valleys. Those on the tops of mountains may forever be safe from the spell, and it can hardly cross oceans without intervention, but this spell could still easily wipe out all life if not taken care of quickly.

Some beings are not alive, but have aspirations to control the world themselves or simply to live at peace from the chaos of living beings. Ancient golems thousands of years old may tire of humans giving them orders, and as such, seek to serve those who may cast this spell to make the world quiet and sterile. Some entire races of beings may already be partially living metal or clay; using this spell might sicken a part of them or may only help their adaptation along into being totally lifeless beings, immune to the weaknesses of normal flesh.

[5] Dungeon Breathe

Ancient rites of chaos magicians. This spell only exists in fantasy worlds where “dungeons” and the “mythic underworld” are close in connection. All over the world, the entrances to caves, crypts, and dungeons start to supernaturally develop air currents and low murmering sounds that sounds like distant breathing, as though the Earth itself is alive. Every day, the dungeons will exhale monsters into the world, and inhale light and nature. As time goes on, this powerful magic spell will start to make the world into a more magical, though dangerous place, where as dungeons will start to become more peaceful and placid, but only just.

The nightmare logic of a dungeon and the peaceful order of the surface world will mix together into a brackish mixture which, at its conclusion, will mean as above so below. Dungeons develop naturalistic fauna and are safer, the surface develops new creatures and animals that are more aggressive and dangerous, with powerful artifacts and traps spontaneously generating even in natural places and orderly structures. The world becomes a hexcrawl.

[6] Primitive Presence

This spell must be cast in a magical glade or hot spring in a natural place, untouched by human hands. This spell cannot be ended by slaying the caster, but only be destroying this place of natural beauty or cast the dispelling magic here and only here.

All around the world, tools of iron and steel begin to decay. They rust and fall apart. Armor and weapons all start to suffer, and technology becomes incredibly unreliable and decays very fast. Coinage starts to tarnish and paper money is shredded. Books are hit very hard as well, causing havoc to all magical practitioners except those who continue the old oral traditions. Even domesticated animals feel the effects- still changed from how they were in the ancient days but more wild and rugged. All around the world, civilization starts to fall back from the forces of nature, and people are slowly but surely forced to return to a more primitive lifestyle of hunting and gathering in nomadic tribes. These changes do not happen all at once; it could take five generations for the last bastions of the civilized world to crumble away to natural savegery.

This spell grants power to those races who have little to benefit from technology, or to those who have found other ways to be advanced and powerful. Bronze is also largely unaffected, meaning much of the world will continue on with armors and weapons made of bronze and lesser metals. Once the world has 'reset' itself to a point of naturalism, the spell wears off and people can begin to create systems of writing and farming again. It is believed that throughout history, this spell was cast multiple times, which is what has caused the rise and fall of so many ancient civilizations.

Spells = Components

In many games and settings, magic is often done through the medium of magic items. While Wizards may be able to “prepare” spells in advance and use components to cast them if required in D&D, why not switch it around? Instead, Wizards prepare magical items which have their sorcerous powers in them. Without the item, they have no magic. This means magic users can be disarmed through stealing their magical items.

Single use spells are stored in small, often consumable forms. Sleep may be stored in a small amount of sand, which must be thrown at the eyes of your foes. Healing spells are stored as liquids to be drank as potions, or could be made as bandages or ointments to keep them separate. Plenty of language based spells or more esoteric spells could be stored as scrolls, which fits the aesthetic of Wizards carrying scrolls around. Spells with multiple uses or that have a duration are just useful items; your spell that lets you see the invisible is enchanted into your monocle.

Spells that are single use but are common but are not as disposed of could be infused in other items instead, called Foci (plural for “Magic Focus”) or Fetish. Feather Fall could be stored in an actual feather which is consumed on the casting, or in a magic-users billowing cape or dress. Offensive spells are stored in wands and staves as normal- with different command words, gestures, or mental acuity to control which spell comes out of the wand. Some Wizards may carry around multiple different wands for different situations, where as others will decorate and closely guard their prized dueling staff; engraved with several runes and having several powerful offensive and defensive spells loaded within at any given time. When a dumb goblin steals the Wizard's wand and bops himself on the head to turn invisible or immortal or whatever he thinks will happen, there is a good chance he might accidentally offload the Fireball instead, killing himself and anyone nearby. Magic Fetishes can also have mutational or wild magic effects when broken or used incorrectly; your magic locket with your illusion and enchantment spells has the perfect opportunity to create some false beings with insane personalities and powers over perception, adding to the feeling of the world as a chaotic and fantastical place.

Spell research works the exact same; except now, spells and research costs are the same. If your game doesn't use costs for components (or doesn't use components to begin with), then instead the research cost is the same as the component cost, since you're securing the magical items you need for your spells. Your magic user has a little farm of the bright green lizards you need to mummify and pickle to cast Regeneration, not just a room filled with spell books.

Spells books are another strange part however; if all magic spells are just items, then what purpose do they serve? Personally, I like “spells per adventure” instead of spells per day, so reloading spells isn't necessary with a spellbook. Instead, spellbooks could still be for preparing spells in items, but be a bit more esoteric and more about the preparation of materials and containing the knowledge of how magic works... like an actual spellbook.

What about magic item longevity? The “shelf life”? This is one issue I have with the concept, essentially saying Wizards could stockpile spells if they had infinite or very long shelf life. If the shelf life is short this could work, but would also diminish the immersion factor somewhat if magic items found in the world only are the permanently enchanted item kind, not the single use spell kind. This could also be abstracted somewhat; some spells degrade faster then others, like lower level spells, and “leaky” spells could radiate magical energy that causes mutations or makes interior spaces bigger on the inside then the outside; which is exactly where the dungeons getting so big and complex comes from. Dungeons as mythical underworld is still a great concept, and this could help explain them in a more naturalistic sense. To keep Wizards from mass producing spells, just abstract your regular spell slot/spells per day limit as the number of magical artifacts and fetishes a Wizard can have and maintain at any one time.

Finally, this comes down to mechanics in the form of inventory. How do you put this in mechanically? Having magic spells being items could be an interesting concept for resource management; you start the adventure loaded with spells and barely able to carry treasure, but as you start to use up your consumable spells you may open up enough space. It might also be fun to see a MU drop a charged up situational or useless spell on the floor of the dungeon so they can help carry a treasure chest; thus ensuring shenanigans when the orcs find it and use it as a weapon against the party. You could also use inventory space as a game balance mechanic; Sleep may be a good spell but may require you to carry around a heavy ass bag of sand instead of the much more useful Magic Missile in your wand. Minor enough to not be a hassle but significant enough to be a choice for certain adventures and campaigns.

Anyway, this article is a bit more spontaneous and less thought out then my others, and is more of a rant. Still this concept is near and dear to my heart and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it, or perhaps inspire others to do something similar with their games. Magic Users are the most fun class to tinker with for good or for ill, so ideas abound.

Magic Item Recycling

Recycling magic items sets an interesting problem. If you consider a more mystical or folklore-esque magic system, recycling magic items doesn't usually make too much sense. Items lose power if destroyed, or can't be destroyed to make new items. Things are enchanted just because, melting down a magic cup into a magic sword doesn't have any purpose, as its the cup that's magical. If the magic is based on inhabiting spirits, it also doesn't work very well since the spirits would usually be freed if the item was broken down or 'recycled'. But if the magic in the setting is more based on an energy or enchantment based model, then it works to argue that the magical energy or enchantments can be reused in new physical forms.

In order to do this, we're going to use the Ars Magica magic system. There are 10 Forms representing the most primal aspects of reality; Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Plants, Animals, Images, Minds, Bodies (of intelligent beings) and Prime (magic itself or metamagic element).

First, take the items being destroyed or used for recycling and consider the primary aspect of the enchantment; this is its vis charge that we can use to convert into an elemental point. For example, a +1 magic sword or an “unbreakable shield” are both made of metal, and are magically just “better” then other things of the same material. We could consider both of these as a Earth (Terram). If it's a fire sword, then it counts as Fire (Ignem).

The total number of enchantment points will influence how powerful and of what element the new enchanted item has and it's strength. If the total is a tie between elements; just pick whichever makes the most sense or try to combine them. Another idea is to make elements with mostly one element but some of another have the item theme'd after the smaller element. So if you create a magic shield with mostly Earth element but have some Air element in it; you could make the shield somewhat transparent, made of glass, or maybe release a puff of gas or a minor thunderclap when struck.

The physical form of the new object being created determines what “Technique” the “Form” of the object will take place using the Ars Magica as a baseline. The techniques in Ars Magica are Creo, Intellego, Muto, Perdo, and Rego- which we shall call Create, Perceive, Change, Destroy, and Control.

Create: Tools, Healing tools, Containers, Lanterns, some ranged weapons

Perceive: Candles, Scrolls, Spectacles, Sight-Stones, Spyglasses, Maps

Change: Cups, Sheets, Wands, Disguises, Cloaks, Lotions/Potions

Destroy: Weapons, Torture Devices, Poison

Control: Armor, Scepters, Staffs, Tiaras, Rings

Using this ruleset, several magic metal items or earth crystals would grant an item a Terram charge, and if the item being made was a Shield, we could see a result of Rego + Terram. This means the item has the powers to control earth; which fits well with a sheild. Upon being created, a powerful mage might be able to “bend” the enchantment to a specific result under this umbrella. Rego + Terram could mean the shield helps to turn away metal objects, bashing into metal armor of enemies could damage them/make them not function as well, or the shield could be thrown as a weapon or even rid like a flying disc. All of which fits under our Technique + Form. The power of this enchantment would be equal to the charges used to make it; if it was +3 it could act as a +3 improvised flying weapon, or deflect 3 sword blows per combat, or be ridden as fast as a 3 legged horse, etc.

This is a hypothetical ruleset, maybe it helps you figure out what to do when recycling magic items if you can't figure out what it should do on your own.