Terry RW Whisenant’s CORTEX Magic System

Basics
This system is based on a spell Skill, defined by the player and the Game Master. It is very versatile and
open-ended but needs a lot of cooperative interplay between player and game-master.

Spell Skills
Each spell skill is based on an object or thing that the spell caster can affect. It can be anything that you
imagine. Common suggestions are the elements (Air, Earth, Fire, and Water) or things like the Body or
the Mind, or even Magic itself.

Once the name of the Spell Skill is selected, it works like any other skill. You can buy it up to d6 as a
general skill, reflecting your ability to do things that involve the object of the skill. After a d6 you can
specialize in ways to manipulate the object.

A specialization under fire might be “Conjure”, defining the ability to “Conjure Fire”, a greater die type
showing the ability to Conjure more massive volumes of fire or even hotter fires than normal. This is
only limited by your imagination of what “Conjure Fire” means or ways to use it. Conjuring Fire on
someone’s face is probably fairly deadly.

Another example of a Fire specialization might be “Destroy”, giving you “Destroy Fire”. This could
simply mean putting out a fire, or it could be used as an attack against a fiery opponent, such as an
elemental or demonic flaming being.

Hacking the GURPS system for Syntactic words

Verbs: Communicate, Control, Create, Heal, Move, Protect, Sense, Strengthen, Transform, Weaken
Nouns: Air, Animal, Body, Earth, Fire, Food, Image, Light, Magic, Mind, Plant, Sound, Spirit, Water.

To cast a spell, the mage rolls his Channeling die + the Spell Skill. He must reach an average Threshold to
cast a normal spell. However, there are a number of changes he can make to the basic characteristics of
any spell, which will change the Spell Threshold.

Spell Threshold
The difficulty of casting a spell is determined by the number of changes the player makes when casting.
Casting a normal spell is an Average complex action (Threshold 35). You can subtract from the BASIC
spell characteristics (without adding anything) and subtract 5 from the threshold per basic die type you
remove, and you can add to the basic range, duration, damage, etc. and generally increase the threshold
by 5 for each characteristic change.
Spell Basics (based on the Verb/Noun level)
Range: d2=0, d4=1, d6=2, d8=3, d10=4, d12=5
Damage: Damage, or amount of healing, equal to Specialty, depending on the spell’s intended effect.
Effect on Non-Living Mass: 1 pound per die type.
Effect on Living Being: 1 person, only changeable with Spell Modifications.
Effect on Area: None, only changeable with Spell Modifications.
Duration: Instant, only changeable with Spell Modifications.

Spell Modifications
Range: -1 Base Range for -5 to Threshold. +1 to Base Range for +5 to Threshold.
Damage: -1 damage dice for -5 to Threshold. +1 damage dice for +5 to Threshold.
Effect on Non-Living Mass: -1 pound for spells used to affect non-living masses for -5 to Threshold.
Double the Base Weight affected for +5 to Threshold.
Effect on Living Being: +1 person affected for +5 to Threshold.
Effect on Area: +1” radius for +5 to Threshold, and then double the radius for +5 to Threshold.
Duration: +1 round duration for +5 to Threshold, and then double the duration for +5 to Threshold.
Casting Roll: -1 die type from the casting roll will also let you add one level of bonus to any of these
characteristics.

Examples
Sample one
Roger wants to blast an orc with a bolt of pure magical energy. The GM and Roger decide that Roger is
going to use specialization “Create Magic”, since he wants to create a magical bolt. Roger has Create at
d8. Basing Range on his Create specialization gives Roger a basic range of 3 and a basic damage of d8.
Roger wants to do more damage, so he is going to take a +5 Threshold penalty to increase his damage to
d10. Roger’s Channeling is d8, so he is going to roll Channeling d8 + “Create Magic” d8, going for a
Threshold of 40 (Average 35+5 for the damage increase). He rolls 11 the first round, 12 the second
round, 9 on the third round, and 10 on the fourth round, when his spell takes effect. If he wanted to
lower the Range modifier by 3 (down d2 (the minimum) for a base range of 0) he could subtract 15 from
the Threshold (down to 25). His spell would have activated on the third turn, but Roger would have to
have been standing right next to the orc to hit it. Roger could also increase his damage die by 3 die
types, by taking a 3 die step penalty to his Spell Skill for casting purposes. He would now do Damage of
d12+d4, but would only roll Channeling d8 + “Create Magic” d2, going for his Threshold of 40 at normal
range or 25 at no range.

Sample two
Jeff’s group has found a sword that they’ve determined is magical. Jeff wants to learn the magical
properties of the sword. The GM and Jeff determine that Jeff will use specialization skill “Sense” d8 to
find out each magical property. Jeff is also “Talented: Sense and Create” at a d8 for his “Magic”
specializations, and his Channeling is a d12. Jeff is touching the sword, so he needs no range (reducing
the Magic die type to d2 for range properties). Since he doesn’t need to increase anything else, he uses
these 2 levels of range reduction to reduce the Threshold by 10, down to 25. He rolls his Channeling
(d12) + “Sense (Magic)” (d8) + “Talented” (d8). He rolls incredibly well, a total 25 on his first turn, and
his spell activates.

Disrupting Casting Actions

Being struck by a weapon, even if it does no damage, requires a Willpower+Discipline/Concentration roll
of Easy (3) to continue casting a spell. Otherwise, the difficulty to maintain concentration is equal to the
amount of damage that the mage takes from being struck.

Asset: Channeling (d2+)

This Asset allows the character to cast spells. To successfully cast a spell, the character rolls Channeling
+ the Spell Skill, each turn until the total reaches the spells Threshold. Channeling takes the part of a
characteristic in the casting process. You can learn spell skills, but without a Channeling Trait you would
cast spells only with the skill dice.

D6+: If you have this Trait at d6 or higher, any Plot Points you use on rolls that include this Trait count
for more. Increase the bonus die you get from spending Plot Points by a +2 step. This only works on Plot
Points spent before the roll, not those you spend after.

d12+: If your Channeling Trait is d12 or higher, you may maintain multiple spells. When each additional
spell is cast, the caster must make a Willpower+Discipline/Concentration roll, and the difficulty is
determined by how many spells are currently being maintained. To maintain the 2 nd spell, requires an
Easy (3) difficulty. The 3rd spell would require an Average (7) difficulty to maintain. And so on.

Asset: Aura (d2+)

A character’s Aura represents inherent magical power. A character with Aura has a number of Magic
Points equal to the asset’s die type, which can be used to substitute for the stun taken from spell
casting, or can augment a spell being cast, just like spending Power Points. These points can only be
recovered by full rest. The Magic Points completely regenerate proportionally to 8 hours of sleep.
(Example: With a d8 Aura Asset, a sleeping character recovers 8 Magic Points for 8 hours of sleep. With
a d2 Aura Asset, a sleeping character recovers 2 Magic Points for 8 hours of sleep. These can be
recovered proportionally, so that the character with a d8 Aura recovers 1 point per hour of sleep, and the
character with the d2 Aura recovers 1 point per 4 hours of sleep.)

Clerical Magic (using Faith)

Similarly, those who have Faith can attempt to cast spells based on their God’s area of control.