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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Some Dude" data-source="post: 7854983" data-attributes="member: 6980080">CHAPTER 10: GRIMOIRE (CONTINUED...AGAIN)On to the Spells themselves. As stated previously, There are four Principles of Magick. in ascending levels of power, they are Generalist, Petty, Lesser and Greater. Generalist Spells are common to both Arcane and Divine Spellcasters, but above that, Spells diverge into Arcane and Divine Magicks (hereafter referred to as "Spells" and "Prayers", respectively).A complete list of Spells and Prayers is neext, each following the same format, which is:Distance: the effective range of your Magick. Ranges from "self" to "any one person you can see", for Generalist Magick, to "any person you can imagine, whom you have met and whose name you know" for Greater Magicks, and so on.Reagents: the  necessary physical components. Also tells if the Reagents are expended (used up) as thejresult of the casting).Duration: How long it lasts, duh.Effect: What it does under normal conditions if Success.Critical Success: What it does when you Critically Succeed.Critical Failure: a worst-case scenario. These effects vary, but none are good, and all are more than a minor inconvenience.Generalist Spells are he first your Character will acquire. There are 24 of these in total. Their effects and usefulness vary, but make no mistake: Spellcasters start out stronger in Zweihander than they do in many other Fantasy RPGs.A few of the Generalist Spells include:-Aegis: a mystical wind protects you from attacks-Bewitched: place a minor curse on an object-Dispel Magick; u need dis-Hat-Trick: literally pull creatures from a hat-Magick Missile: ah, yes, the old Saturday Night Special of Magick-Will O' The Wisp: Magickal lights that float according to the Caster's willFrom here, we get into the Spells for each Arcana, or School of Arcane Magick. These are separated by the Arcana, rather than by Principle. So, each Arcana lists the Petty, Lesser and Greater Spells before moving to the next Arcana. There are only 9 spells listed for each: 3 Petty, 3 Lesser and 3 Greater. So, Spellcasters in Zweihander definitely don't have the range of Spells to choose from that wizards in other games do. I don't know if upcoming supplements will expand this or not. Overall, I don't mind it, I think there are plenty here, especially since they can be cast repeatedly. YMMV, however.As the Spells increase in power, they increase in danger. A Greater Spell has a much higher penalty for Critical Failure than a Generalist Spell does. This is very much in keeping with Zweihander's stated goal of balanced playability.Each Arcana informs the nature of the Spells available to its practitioners, of course. So the Arcana of Animism will have Spells related to nature, savagery and animals, while the Arcana of Pyromancy's Spells are related to flame and heat.Divine Magick follows the same format, and has the same number of each Principle Spells available to those who follow a particular deity. As with Arcane Magick, each set of Prayers is related to the sphere of influence of one of the gods of the Zweihander world.So, overall, there are a couple hundred Spells here, though it is highly unlikely that any Magick-using Character will ever have access to more than a dozen or so. Again, there are dark and dangerous things you can do to gain access to more, but that isn't a decision to be made lightly.Other than fluff, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of difference between Arcane and Divine Magick. Not mechanically, as far as I can see.Here, too, there are in-jokes and references galore....Running out of gas again, more to come! I had hoped to finish Chapter 10 with this post, but it looks like there'll be one more. 'Til next time...</blockquote>

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