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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 6282149" data-attributes="member: 54364">OK, L5R Magic System.Shugenja are priests. They cast spells by praying to the Kami (spirits) of the Elements.Spells are broken up by Element and Rank. There are 5 elements: Fire, Air, Earth, Water and Void. Ranks go from 1-6, more powerful spells are higher Rank.Casting a spell is like using a skill. You do the Roll and Keep thing I mentioned in my first long post. The TN for casting a spell is: 10+ (5xSpell Rank). So a Rank 1 Spell has a TN of 15; Rank 2 is 20; Rank 3 is 25, etc.A spell takes 1 turn/ Spell Rank to cast. More powerful spell, more time to invoke the favour of the Kami.A shugenja can only cast spells of a Spell Rank equal to or less than their School Rank. The exception being most shugenja specialise in one element, this is called an Affinity. They are considered to be 1 School Rank higher in respect to what spells they may cast and for casting rolls for spells of their Affinity.The Skill for casting a spell is the Caster's School Rank; the Stat is the Caster's Ring of the same Element as the spell (Fire Ring for Fire spells, Earth Ring for Earth Spells, etc.) Wednesday Boy explained Ring vs. Stat in his post just above here if you need a refresher. So a Rank 1 Shugenja with a Fire Ring of 3 wants to cast a Rank 1 Fire Spell. They roll 4K3 (that's L5R shorthand for: Roll 4; Keep (best) 3 and total them) aiming for a target number of 15. I should maybe mention at this point that the game system uses D10s. So a 15 in this circumstance will come off most times.Spells, like skills, can have Raises called for them. A Raise, as I outlined in my post above, is the player aiming for a higher target number in return for better results. The better results can include more damage, more targets, more area of effect, longer duration or casting the spell more quickly. Spells specify what their raises can be used for.For 3 Raises a spell can be cast without using up a daily spell slot. So a high rank shugenja can cast low rank spells all day long if they want.A Shugenja starts knowing a handful of spells depending on their school background (each Clan has it's own Shugenja School(s).) There are also a handful of Universal Spells that all shugenja learn. They learn 2 new spells every time they go go up a School Rank. A shugenja may also learn spells through play. There are no particular mechanics for this but the shugenja needs to be able to find a spell scroll and copy it. This is not necessarily easy. They may be taught one by a friendly shugenja but this is unlikely.A Shugenja may cast a number of spells of each element/day equal to their Ring of that element. Fire Ring of 3 means 3 Fire Spells/day. They also cast another number of spells/day of any Element equal to their Void Ring.When a character makes a skill roll (for casting spells or ay other skill roll) they may spend Void Points to gain extra dice. Generally a character can only spend 1 Void Point on a given roll. Note that Void Points are NOT Void Spell Slots. They exist along side and are separate to each other.When a spell is cast the effects of the spell happen. In most cases no more rolls are needed (no to hit rolls, no saving throws.) There are exceptions to this, they will be listed in the individual spells. Spells are nasty, most folks have no sort of resistance to them.Good examples of exceptions are the Rank 1 "weapon of element" spells such as Katana of Fire. These spells call into existence a weapon made of the named element. The shugenja then uses their usual skill in that weapon (or school rank if higher) to make attack rolls in subsequent rounds.Extended Example.So let's take a look at the Phoenix Shugenja I played for a bit last year. She had a special ability that allowed her to cast Void spells (most shugenja can't.) She was Rank 2 Shugenja with a Fire Ring of 4 and a Void Ring of 3. She could cast 4 Fire Spells/Day and 3 Void Spells/Day. If she wanted to cast more Fire Spells she could cast up to another 3/Day but with a reduction to her available Void Spells of 1 for 1. So she could cast: 7Fire/0 Void OR 6 Fire/1 Void OR 5 Fire/2 Void OR 4 Fire/3 Void in a given day. Note she could never cast more than 3 Void spells per day as you can't trade Fire (or any element except Void) for spells of another element. Instead of casting extra Fire spells she could use those Void slots for Water, Earth or Air spells. She is fighting a Troll and decides to cast  the Rank 1 spell "The Fury of Osano-Wo" - a lightning bolt. So she uses a Fire Slot (the spell is a Fire spell, not an Air spell) and casts the spell. She rolls 7k4 with a TN15. Wait, what? 7k4? Yep, my character has an affinity with Fire spells so she is considered School Rank 3 for casting them.She makes the roll easily and a bolt of lightning hits her target without any more to-do. No extra attack rolls or anything. Just roll the damage.Unfortunately Sea Trolls are immune to electricity. Bummer. Also, that was her last available Fire slot for the day. Double bummer.Not to fear, she has Void Slots left. So she uses one of them to cast Tail of the Fire Dragon, a Rank 2 Fire spell. This would normally take 2 turns to cast with a TN of 20. I need to cast it NOW, that Troll is getting closer, so I make 1 Raise to lesson casting time by 1. Now my casting TN25. I have 7k4 to roll as it's a Fire Spell (even though I'm using a Void Slot.)My odds of making that roll aren't good so I spend 1 Void Point (note: Point NOT Slot) to add 1k1 to my casting roll. My roll is now 8k5. I reckon that's good enough and roll. I make it. (Hooray me!) my shugenja is now holding a 50' long whip of fire in her hand and can attack with it. This spell requires that she make attack rolls to hit targets. Now here's a bit where the rules are vague. Basically the RAW says "the spell takes effect" or words to that end. Some spells would do their damage (effect or whatever) as soon as she cast them. Like the Fury of Osano-wo did. But this one requires an attack action. Does she get to do it NOW or does she have to wait for her turn next round and attack then with an attack action? In our game we decided that the shugenja can make an attack the same round as the spell is finished casting. Otherwise being a shugenja in combat is going to be a very bad proposition. Still, that was a house rule so be warned.Phwew, that was a bit of an epic.Any questions, please do ask.Cheers. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":-)" title="Smile    :-)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":-)" /></blockquote>

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