Arcanist Abilities

The abilities of the Arcanists are focused on their developing skills as a ritual practitioner.

Spellcraft

An arcanist's ritual lives and dies by their spellcraft. When rolling Cinder at the end of three preparation posts of ritual casting, it describes an arcanist's grasp on the fundamentals of their arcane work from the neatness of their runes to their concentration while casting. If a spell fails due to a poor Cinder roll, you can flavor it in a myriad of ways, considering what goes into it.

Earned, developed, or discovered, as they grow in knowledge and power, an arcanist's magical abilities are focused on supporting their ritual magic. They're not as flashy as those in the other Paths, but a clever arcanist can likely find multiple uses for each one.

Note: Arcanists only begin with Collector and one Charm. As they go up in the ranks, they gain more.

• Spellcraft uses the Arcanist's Cinder pool.
• This also describes the use of magic items.
• It can also be used to measure the physical toll or the strength of the backfire.

Slow Casting

Although arcanists aren't subject to the physical limitations that plague blood magic users, their work still takes time. Unless an arcanist has created an enchanted item or potion with their desired effect ahead of time, a ritual casting may take no fewer than 3 posts. Any less than this and it is considered a rushed ritual with its drawbacks. Read more about risky rituals and consequences of failure on the Rituals page

Traits

Regeneration (Augur)

There is a reason wizards live longer! You've dusted yourself with just enough magic that traces of it have rooted in your physical form. Although you still healing at human rate to your body will continuously repair itself, reaching for the maximum of human potential physical fitness. This does not mean you don't need to hit the gym. Instead, your bones will heal completely, scars will continue to soften and fade, and other injuries will eventually stop ailing you, given enough time.

Abilities

The abilities that a character has depends on which rank they have. Some abilities are present from the very beginning, like the ability to collect components, but others develop later as a result of their knowledge and skill increasing through experience or research. To learn more about how a character can rank up and gain more abilities, read the Advancement documentation.

Collector

Gained at Circlebreaker. Components are an essential part of every spell. Most commonly, components are physical objects and arcanist picks up. A particular type of herb, a sewing kit, or a piece of clothing could all be something an arcanist would use in a ritual. There are also rarer components one can fetch, intangible ones where the arcanist must be present to decide to capture them. They could simplify things, store a sound on a recorder, or take the journal entry recount of a good evening, and use that, but they can also capture what seems like the intangible in their hands to be stored in a bottle, a handkerchief, or a wooden box. Any kind of container. These are very small things: a sad sigh, a ray of sunlight, the feeling of a wonderful dinner conversation with close friends.

An arcanist can collect with or without Cinder dice, but should they collect with Cinder dice their results reflect on the quality of the component. The quality of components used in rituals is a factor in the quality of the end result of the ritual, whether it is longevity of the enchantment, more than one time use, or strength of the magic.

• Partial Failure: Poor
• Complete Success: Average
• Exceptional success: Good
• Critical Hit (10 passes): Superb

Charms

One new charm is gained at each rank. Ever inventive, arcanists are famous for creating minor magic charms that they can perform on a whim. Although they can't begin to compare with the half-blood boons, arcanists receive one new charm at each rank. These are very minor and harmless utility abilities based on a keyword they have and does not need a Cinder roll.

Spellbook

Gained at Thaumaturge. This is the ability to scribe spells into your spellbook after creating and casting them as a ritual first. An Arcanist can cast 4 prepared spells a day. Using prepared spells triggers Resonance, which has its own rules and mechanics associated with it.

The spellbook is the way arcanists are able to quickly cast their magic. In honing their mind and their craft, the arcanist has become quite adept at recalling spells they've crafted, althought not for enchanting items. After all, a circle in the mind is still a circle. Unlike the spontaneous casters, these spells are very specific, with the same effects every time. When referencing back to their spellbook, an Arcanist is able to trigger a pre-cast spell with a Cinder roll.

With the Spellbook, an Arcanist can memorise and inscribe a spell after casting a ritual, placing the ritual work in their Spellbook to be triggered later. Then, so long as they have their spellbook on hand to guide them and the necessary components for the specific spell, they're able to cast that spell with a thought. It still takes a drop of blood and must have an available power source nearby.

Inscribing

To add a spell to the spellbook, an Arcanist must first perform the ritual for said spell with the intent of inscribing it into the spellbook. The normal ritual process must be followed, with rolls of the dice, components, and a power source. The spell will be inscribed as is and will have the same effect each time it is used from the Spellbook. To inscribe a new variation or a wholly new spell, repeat the process.

• A ritual is needed to first "memorise" the spell for the spellbook.
• Each use of a prepared spell triggers a Resonance effect, rolled for with a six sided die (a d6).
• Components must still be carried for the spell.
• A power source must still be available.
• If there is no power source, the resonance effect will be severe and reduce the casters Luck by 1.
• Spells that create enchanted objects cannot be inscribed.

Third Eye

Gained at Augur.

You're able to blink open your metaphorical third eye with a successful Cinder roll. In short bursts, the fabric of magic is visible around you. The rush of information is often too great to hold your eye open for longer than a moment, but with it, if you're able to interpret what you see, you can make out auras around other beings, if they are magical themselves. You're also able to see the outlines of enchantments.

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Cinder is the die pool of mental and magical abilities of a character.

A group of rolled die of 4 or more