Residual Magic Energy

Spellcasting has a tendency to cause small amounts of magic energy to fragment and 'coat' an area. This stray magical energy can build up and create a variety of strange mystical effects if not periodically cleaned or reclaimed. It can also attract supernatural entities and other beings, and sometimes even latch on to living beings! This is why taking magical safety precautions is so necessary - a magician's domicile can become chaotic from the unclaimed magical energy fragments.

Removal of Residual Magical Energy

The easiest and most common way of dealing with it is through the use of the Magi spell of Cleansing. Most alchemists and a few priests will cast this spell (or have an equivalent ritual or other means) for payment.

Ley line storms, moving water, forests, earthquakes, and thunderstorms have the effect of recycling magic energy back into the natural world, breaking up residual magical energy and 'recycling' it. Meditation in such an environment is an effective and easy means of freeing oneself from any magical energy fragments that might be attached to objects or people.

Effects of Residual Magical Energy

This is a table of random effects that GMs might find useful at some point. For every two days of standard spellcasting in an area (at least two spells per day) add 1% to the roll on this table (that's how you run into the more dangerous and rare effects). Roll once a week for effects against an area, once a month for each special magic object or magician (if at all), and often when faced with areas like enchanted lakes, faerie forests, and dragon's lairs. Whatever table element is rolled will remain until the area, target object, or afflicted magician is mystically cleansed.

01-06 No effect: The stray magic energy doesn't cause any problems when there is this little of it.

07-12 Spell Echo: 1d20 minutes after casting a spell, a FB rank version of that spell will randomly (as in the target is random) manifest itself in the area of its initial casting, as long as sufficient magic energy is present to be drawn. This drain is pretty much automatic, whether drawn from a residual magic energy storage battery, a magical haze, a child, a pet, non- sentient supernatural entity, senile wizard, etc. The drain is often spread out amongst several energy sources.

13-18 Magical Haze: The casting of spells has caused everything in the area of casting (or a magician's clothes and jewelry) to become magically charged to a small degree. The haze is barely visible as a bluish- white glow. Magicians can draw off 1 point of residual magic energy per two levels of experience (Novice, Adept, etc.) per hour from the area/ possessions. If this residual magic energy isn't drawn on, it will tend to build up - each week of existing haze triggers a +3% bonus when rolling on this table, plus this magic energy can fuel other buildup effects.

19-24 Law Weakening: All casters of magic (or the single afflicted wizard or magic object possessor) lose a -2CS on their spell strength when casting certain kinds of magic (just illusionary magic, just barrier spells, just body affecting spells, etc). If a spell strength drop isn't appropriate, cut the spell duration or distance by 10%.

25-30 Stray Thoughts: Residual magic energy causes the people in the area (or a person, if that is the focus) to have distracting thoughts (ones that belong to the original possessor of the residual magic energy) Every time a skill is attempted, the character must make a Psyche Feat roll vs insanity. Failure means a -5% penalty is incurred on that roll.

31-36 Mystic Drain: Magic usage causes an additional 1d4 residual magic energy to be lost (poof! gone! This energy will eventually fuel wild magics in the area, cause Magical Haze and Spell Echos, and also attract supernatural creatures.

37-42 Random Spell Effect: A single spell cast often in the area (or by the caster) will take effect at random, when enough magic energy is accumulated to activate the spell. This is very, very common in areas where magicians were using combat magic, since they tend to utilize a couple favored attack spells.

43-48 Creature Attraction: A minor supernatural being migrates to the area. This will probably be some sort of psychic, astral, or Dreamstreamtm entity.

49-54 Law Breaking: The Laws of Magic are warped and broken to some degree, causing the caster of any magic spell, circle, ritual, etc. to Psyche feat roll to successfully cast magic. Failure means the magic goes wild.

55-60 Stray Thoughts: As before, residual magic energy causes the target or those in the area to think strange things. Every time a skill is attempted, the character must make a Psyche feat roll vs. insanity. Failure means a -10% penalty is incurred on that roll (can't focus). Everyone in the area will think about depressing, irritating, or out- of- character things, resulting in a -1CS to Psyche while affected, and meditation becomes difficult.

61-66 Random Psychic Effects: Every six hours, the area's inhabitants (or the afflicted caster) must make a Psyche feat roll - failure means that the stray residual magic energy triggers latent or even existing psychic power and causes a random minor psychic power to take effect equal. People in the area might report bouts of miraculous healing, seeing auras or strange visions, levitation, recovery from illness, being able to hear another's thoughts, etc. In some cases this can be scary or dangerous, especially if supernatural forces have been attracted to the area.

67-75 Creature Attraction: A major supernatural being migrates to the area. This will probably be some sort of psychic, astral, or Dreamstream entity (like minor demons and minions).

76-83 Chance of Failure: Any time a spell is cast in the area (or by the afflicted magician), there is a 2% chance per spell level (FB = 1, PR = 2, etc.) of the spell inexplicably failing! Also, ranged attack spells like Energy Bolt and Fire Ball suffer a -2CS to hit.

84-91 Law Disruption: All casters of magic (or the single afflicted wizard or magic object possessor) either lose a -2CS when casting any magic, lose 25% of the range of the magic, or lose 1d4 CS in strength (for combat and defense spells). Roll randomly or choose how/ when this affects magicians.

92-00 Mystic Afterimage: Magic energy binds itself into a cohesive form and takes on independent thought (instinctive or intelligent)! The magic might make itself into a copy of the spellcaster, or will possess an animal or child to create a Channeler type character, or will become a replica of something that the caster or the area's inhabitants spent a lot of time thinking about, etc. There are many mages who have tried to develop magics to harness and control this effect, but none are known to have succeeded. By Brett Hegr

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