“Magic” in My Setting
Ok, I know what you’re saying, “Halo doesn’t have magic!” You’re right, it doesn’t. However, I am going to be adapting Halo to my personal Holy Grail. In that game, psionics are available, however limited. To bridge that gap, I’m doing magic now since I’m thinking about it.
Also, I’d like to apologize in advance for the short-sounding nature of the post. I’m out of town and posting from a Starbucks, so I have to hurry to get this done.
Basic Assumptions
There is one skill used for magic. This is a “clone” of the Dresden Files RPG, so we’re going to use Conviction.
Any spell cast costs you one Mental Stress.
Differences
In DFRPG, you have to worry about power and control, matching each to what you’re trying to do. However, remember that we don’t have weapon ratings or armour values, so power is thrown out.
Also, since Harry constantly tasks about finesse vs raw power, you get to choose to specialize in one or the other.
Finesse gives you a flat +1 to all casting rolls, period. If you opt for power, you deal two additional stress for attack spells, and your blocks last for two additional rounds.
Attack Spells
You roll Discipline as your attack skill. You can take additional stress to augument the attack. One additional stress can give you:
- +2 stress dealt
- +1 to the skill roll
- Zone-wide attack
- Additional target (one, two?)
Maneuver Spells
This is just like any other maneuver roll, except it costs mental stress. You can take additional stress to augument the attack. One additional stress can give you:
- +1 to the roll
- Zone-wide maneuver
- Additional target (one, two?)
Block Spells
When you roll Discipline as a block, you either get a Block at the result rolled, or an armour value of your roll. Either option lasts for two exchanges. You can take additional stress to augument the attack. One additional stress can give you:
- +1 to your roll
- Zone-wide block
- Block lasts for two additional exchanges
- Additional target (one, two?)
Magical Stunts
There are one or two stunts that one could make for spellcasting. Since we’re not worrying about gathering Power, there are a few liberties I took to make it easy. To allow for the differences we’ve noted, here are some stunts:
Magical Stamina: You have 3 extra mental stress boxes that can only be used for spellcasting.
Specialization: Choose two boni you get from taking extra stress. Twice per encounter (for each), you may use those boni without taking the extra stress. You may take this multiple times, to gain specialization in many different boni.
Again, criticism and questions welcome!
