Magic · Black Box

Spells are abilities on your fight bar that cost Mana. Your sim can add the magic rules below on top, such as channelling and counterspells. Each is its own switch, so you may meet some, all or none of them.

Casting a spell

Cast a spell like any other ability. The button shows its cost, such as 2 Energy · 5 Mana, and reads Not enough Mana when you are short.

Your sim gives each spell a rank: Novice, Average, Powerful, Masterful or Legendary. A Novice spell is also called a cantrip.

Armour (if your sim uses it): some spells cost more Energy in medium armour and can’t be cast in heavy armour.
Healing yourself (if your sim uses it): a spell you cast on yourself heals only part of its amount. The heal line in chat notes the percentage you got “on yourself”. Healing others is not cut.

Channelling and holding

If your sim uses spell channelling, spells above Novice can take turns to cast.

Use the spell as usual. If it needs channelling, chat says how many turns until it’s ready and what releasing it will cost. You pay its Energy and Mana now, and it counts as your attack for the turn. Any target you pick now is ignored.
A chip under your name reads Channeling and the spell’s name, with the turns left in brackets.
Each of your turns brings it a turn nearer. When it’s ready, chat says so and the chip changes to Holding and the spell’s name.
Use the spell again and pick your targets to release it. A release costs the Energy chat named and no Mana.

How long it takes:

Higher ranks take longer. From Powerful up, they also need a level your sim sets.
Having both hands free can make it faster. A spell focus, such as a staff, counts as a free hand. Some ranks can’t be cast one-handed at all.
A spell cast from an item, such as a scroll, goes off at once.

You can hold a ready spell for as many turns as you like. Using the spell again before it’s ready is refused. Using any other ability, songs included, loses the spell and its Mana, and chat says it slips away. Reactions such as a block don’t.

Abort Spell

To let a spell go and get its Mana back, open Tactics and press Abort Spell under Magic, or type @party abort. It is free and works on or off your turn. The Energy you paid does not come back.

Tip: You release a spell through its own button, and the HUD still checks the spell’s full cost there. Keep enough Energy and Mana for that while you channel, or the button stays greyed out.

Spell glow

If your sim uses spell glow, magic gives you away. Casting a spell, starting to channel one or releasing one ends your sneaking, and chat says you glow as the magic gathers. While you are channelling or holding, Sneak is refused. Some perks let you cast without the glow.

Local chat also tells everyone when you begin channelling and when the spell is ready.

Concentration

If your sim uses concentration, you keep one lasting spell going at a time.

When a new spell of yours leaves a lasting effect, your other lasting spell effects in the fight end.
Casting the same spell on someone new moves it: the people you cast it on before lose it.
A spell that leaves nothing lasting, such as a straight hit or a heal, keeps your earlier spell going.
When you go Down, all your lasting spells end.

Counterspells

If your sim uses counterspells, a Counterspell never sits on your ability bar. It comes as a question when an enemy casts a spell at someone, starts channelling one or releases one. The question names the caster, the spell and the Mana it would cost you. Answer Counter or No.

You are only asked if you have:

a reaction left
Mana at least equal to the enemy spell’s cost
a high enough level to cast a spell of that rank yourself
the Energy for your Counterspell, unless your sim takes reaction costs from your next turn

Counter costs you Mana equal to the enemy spell’s cost, plus your Counterspell’s Energy, and uses a reaction. The spell fizzles, and the caster’s costs stay spent. No passes the question to the next enemy who can counter, then the spell goes on as usual.

A spell counts as a higher rank, so it needs a higher level to counter, if it was cast with a rune charge, or channelled with both hands free and held past its ready turn.

If you miss the question: The fight waits for you. Press Show Prompt at the top of the fight page, or type @party prompt.

Dispel

If your sim uses dispels, a dispel ability ends one lasting spell effect on each target, of the dispel’s rank or lower:

On an enemy: their strongest spell buff.
On an ally: a Hex, or the worst spell debuff on them.
On an enemy channelling through a rune charge: the charge breaks first.

Chat names what ended, or says the dispel finds nothing to end. Effects that don’t come from spells are untouched.

Rune weapons

If your sim uses rune weapons, an equipped rune weapon belongs to one school of magic. Once a fight, its charge improves your next spell of that school. A spell with no school can use any rune weapon. The chip under your name shows Rune ready, Rune armed: sooner, Rune armed: +1 roll or Rune spent.

The tiles are under Magic in Tactics. All but Recharge Rune work off your turn too:

Tile	What it does	When it shows
Rune: Sooner	Your next spell of its school takes fewer turns to channel.	Charge ready
Rune: +1 Roll	Your next spell of its school rolls more.	Charge ready
Rune: Off	Disarms the charge.	Charge armed
Recharge Rune	Casts a cantrip into it to bring the charge back. You need to know a cantrip, and it costs Energy.	Charge spent, on your turn

An armed charge also makes the spell count as a higher rank against a Counterspell.
The charge is spent on your next spell of its school, even one that would have gone off at once anyway. Arm Rune: Sooner right before a slow spell.
Without channelling, Rune: Sooner has nothing to speed up.
If your sim uses channelling too, a Legendary spell can only be cast through a rune weapon of its school.

In chat: @party rune sooner, @party rune roll, @party rune off or @party rune recharge.

Songs, dances and auras

If your sim uses songs and dances, a song or dance starts an aura around you.

Starting: use it and pay its costs. Chat says how far it reaches and how much Mana it takes a turn. The chip reads Singing or Dancing and its name.
Who it helps: you and your allies within reach, by where the fight has everyone on record. They get its stat bonuses while it lasts. Each person gets at most one song and one dance, the strongest of each.
Keeping it up: it takes Mana at the start of each of your turns, and ends when you can’t pay. Your other abilities don’t end it.
Stopping: press Abort Spell or type @party abort. If you are also channelling, that lets the spell go first. Starting another song or dance, or going Down, ends it too. Some songs end by themselves after a few rounds.

Under Stats on the fight page, an aura on you shows under WHERE THEY COME FROM as Aura, with the song and the singer. If your sim uses harmony, being under a song and a dance at once adds to your defence and Ward. If your sim uses class auras, standing near an ally whose class has one can raise your Ward.

Lawful zones

If your sim uses lawful zones, staff mark some places as lawful and list the spells that are offences there. Casting one inside a zone counts even if it is countered or you only start channelling it:

A report naming you is filed for staff.
Online members of the sim’s watch groups are told on their HUD.
Your titler shows Wanted: unlawful magic for a time your sim sets. Raising the dead there counts as Disrupting the Dead.
Another offence soon after only extends the time.