Do not be surprised if some of these change, especially Earth and Death Magic. I may also add a function to the Arcane Control spell, but we’ll see. For now, these’re how I’ve envisioned them. They should stand up to play-testing, but we’ll see.

Due to the length and complication of some of these spells, I’ve labeled each of the spell titles in blue, to make the demarcation between spell and effect more visible.

Resurrect
Spirit, Healing
Prerequisite: Heal – Rank 12
Fatiguing, Implement
One Minute
Effect: You bring the dead back to life, healing any wounds that killed them. If a character died of poison or disease, they are still afflicted with that ailment, and you must cure it before they die again. If they died of old age, casting Resurrect brings them back to life, and adds a number of days to their life equal to your Adept level times 10. When resurrected, the character is returned to Unconscious and Disabled – the character may then heal normally.
To bring someone back, make a spell check against a DC of 20 + 1 for every hour they’ve been dead (or fraction thereof). This takes one minute of intense concentration, with a fatigue check equal to the DC for this spell.

Arcane Control
Earth
Fatiguing, Implement
Variable (10 minutes or more)
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You can exert control over the Primal Element of Arcane, and the natural weavings of magical spells.

Interpret Enchantment: Normally, an Adept can only read the purpose of an enchantment cast using a spell they have access to (through their Primal Touch feats). Using Interpret Enchantment, an Arcanomancer can interpret any spell. The DC of the check is the DC of the spell. Using Arcane Control in this manner is not fatiguing.

Identify Enchanted Object: This is a similar interpretation of the Interpret Enchantment use. Using the spell in this way, the Adept can discover the effects of an item. The DC is the DC of the object, the default DC is 15. Any Adept can interpret items enchanted with Primal Elements they can control. Using Arcane Control in this manner is not fatiguing.

Double Spell: Any spell whose effects are lingering, and whose lingering is caused by the direct application of magic (as opposed to the indirect effects of the spell) can be doubled with this spell. The DC is the DC of the spell. You may only apply this effect once. Another adept may apply this spell, but the duration is then tripled, not quadrupled.

Fire Control
Fire
Fatiguing, Implement
Standard Action
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You have the ability to create and control flame. Possible effects include:

Ignire Fire: (DC 15) You can set thing alike with your power over magic. Anything flammable can be set alight with a DC 15 spell check. A target may get a Reflex saving throw (DC 15) to avoid taking +2 fire damage. A Reflex save is made every round until success. Rolling on the ground as a full action grants a +4 bonus to the save, submersing ones self in water or another flame retardent material grants an automatic success. Using Fire Control to light easily-flammable objects (candles, torches, paper, etc.) can be done as a non-fatiguing action, at GM’s discretion.

Increase Fire: (DC 10) You can increase fire that already exists. The DC is 10 + 5 for every square meter you wish to spread the fire. Each additional square meter increases the damage of the fire by +2. The fire will ignite that upon which it burns, allowing the fire to continue without your concentration. (The amount of time required for ignition depends upon the substance you’re trying to ignite.) You may force a fire to continue burning and spreading on non-flammable surfaces through concentration. While you maintain your concentration, your target does not get a Reflex save to put out a fire (though immersing ones self in water or a non-flammable substance will).

Firelight: (DC 5) As a move action, you can create a glowing, heatless ball of light above you. The light has a radius of 5 meters – each increase in radius of 5 meters increases the DC by 5. You may maintain this light as a move action, or move it equal to its radius as a move action.

Death Control
Death
Fatiguing, Implement, Maintenance
Standard Action
Range: Touch / 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You exert control over the ebb and flow of death in all living things.

Suspend Death: You may suspend the death of a character, keeping his soul near his body, making it easier for one to resurrect him. The DC is 10 + the number of minutes since the target passed. This spell may be maintained, with a new check every hour (at the original DC). If you are calm and near the corpse the entire time, and not attacked and don’t take any strenuous action (but remain conscious), you automatically succeed at the check.

Undead Intimidation: You may make a Death Control check against DC 15. If you succeed, your margin of success is added as a bonus to any Charisma attacks against (or for) an Undead character. This is a one-time bonus on Charisma attacks, and only usable once per encounter.

Comprehend Dead: You can use your Death Control to understand the dead and undead. This use doesn’t give you the ability to command them, or to summon them. But if confronted with dead or undead who do not speak your language, or who don’t speak any language (or have any way of speaking), you can communicate with them. This is a DC 15 ability.

Murderous Trace: If you touch someone, you can tell the last time they killed, if the killing was done directly (as opposed to hiring someone killed, or poisoning someone’s food). You can also tell when the last time someone died in your target’s presence was (even if it wasn’t murder). This is a DC 15 check to detect a murderous past, and a DC 20 check to detect a death. As a DC 30 check, you can also detect all the murders in a target’s life. You do not get details to the place or to the victim, only for the manner and the emotions when it happened. For all these checks, the target gets a Will save. When making the DC 30 check, the casting Adept must make a Will save or be dazed for 1 turn. The DC for this Will save is equal to 10 plus the target’s level.

Siphon Death: When someone dies in your presence, you can siphon off their dying life energy. To do so, they must be within five meters, and you must make this action as a standard action on your next available turn. You get a recovery check as if you had spent an Action Point, regaining all your Bruised and Hurt levels.

Earth Control
Earth
Fatiguing, Implement
Variable (10 minutes or more)
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You have the ability to create and manipulate Earth. An Earth Control spell check can have any of the following effects:

Move Earth: (DC 10) You may move and shape earth. Dirt, loam, and ground soil move to your will. You cannot affect stone formations. The earth moves slowly, and shrubbery and structures are mostly undamaged, save for changes in topography and elevation. You cannot bind creatures, unless they are helpless for the duration of the spell.
You can affect 2500 cubic meters of earth at DC 10. Each additional increment of 2500 cubic meters adds 10 minutes to the casting time, and increases the DC by 5.

Soften Earth: (DC 10) You can soften earth. Wet dirt becomes mud, dry earth becomes soft soil or sand, and stone becomes soft, moldable clay. You can affect 10 cubic meters, and affect another 10 cubic meters for each increase of +5 in the DC. Worked stone cannot be effected, nor can stone creatures.
Any target caught in mud by your spell must succeed a Reflex save against your spell, or be caught off guard and lose all actions that turn. Success grants normal actions, but movement speed is halved, and the creature cannot charge or run. Loose dirt does not require a save, but movement is still halved and running and charges are not possible.

Stoneshaping: (DC 10) You can move and shape stone as if it were clay. You can do this with a spell check against DC 10, for 300 liters of stone (about 1/3 of a cubic meter). Each additional 30 liters of stone increases the DC by 1. So, 1 cubic meter requires a DC of 33. You may perform Craft (Stonework) checks in minutes instead of hours.

Earthquake: (DC 30) You cause an earthquake centered on any area within your range. A tremor knocks down all creatures on the ground, and lasts for 1 round. During that time, creatures on the ground can neither move nor attack. Adepts on the ground must succeed against a DC 20 Concentration check to cast spells. The radius is equal to five meters times Adept level. Different terrain has different additional effects:

• Caves, Caverns and Tunnels: The roof collapses. This causes a +16 Damage crushing/earth attack against all caught by the cave-in, who are then pinned by the rubble. A Reflex save against DC 15 allows for half damage.

• Cliffs: A cliff affected by an earthquake crumbles, creating a landslide that travels as far horizontally as the cliff fell vertically. Characters caught in the landslide take a +16 Damage crushing/earth attack, and are caught in the rubble. A DC 15 Reflex save allows for half damage.
• Open Terrain: All characters caught in the radius of the earthquake must make a DC 15 Reflex save or fall down. Large cracks open in the earth, and 1 in 4 creatures has a chance to fall in (DC 20 Reflex save to avoid falling in). On the round after the earthquake, half the fissures grind shut, doing a +20 Damage crushing/earth attack to all caught within, and burying them under the earth (causing risk of suffocation).
• Structures: Any wooden or masonry structured collapses and is destroyed. Heavy stone and steel buildings are damaged. A character caught in the collapsing buildings takes a +16 Damage crushing attack, and are caught in the rubble. A DC 15 Reflex save allows for half damage.
• Lakes, Rivers, Marshes and Wetlands: Depending on the volume of water, an earthquake can cause all the water to rush down into fissures in the earth (most likely in the case of marshes, wetlands and small streams). This causes large patches of quicksand and mud. Characters must make a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid being caught and sinking into this mud and quicksand. When the earthquake ends, the water rushes back in, possibly drowning caught characters. If the water is too deep, then (in the case of a lake) small tidal waves are created, rocking boats and possible damaging nearby dock structures.
• Rubble: Characters pinned beneath the rubble of an earthquake take +2 non-lethal crushing damage every minute. An unconscious character makes a DC 20 Fortitude save every minute to avoid +2 lethal crushing damage.

Plant Control
Nature
Fatiguing, Implement
Standard Action
Range: Touch / 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You can exert control over living plant matter. You can also exert a weaker control over wood and other dead plant matter.

Heal Plants: You can heal plants with a touch. Make DC 15 Plant Control check – success indicates that a living plant is returned to health. (Range: Touch)

Plant Growth: Plants in a radius around you equal to your Adept level times 20 meters grow into abundance. They leaf and grow flowers as if spring, and they cause thick underbrush that hampers movement. (Range: Touch)

Enrich: You can enrich an area equal to 100 meters times your Adept level. The soil around you grows so rich, it increases the growth and yield of all crops in that area by 50% for the coming season. (Range: Touch)

Entangle: You can create an area of entanglement within a radius of 20 meters. Within that area, plants grow far faster than possible without the aid of magic, entangling those found within. Characters caught within must make a Reflex saving throw or they are entangled. If the Reflex save is successful, you are not entangled, but must still deal with the increased undergrowth. If entangled, you must make a Strength check or Escape Artist check against DC 20.

Woodcraft: You can use your Plant Control to complete Woodcraft checks in minutes instead of hours.

Water Control
Water
Fatiguing, Implement, Maintenance
Standard Action
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You can shape and control the flow of water.

Water Spout: You can cause a number of liters of water equal to your Water Control ranks times 40 to shoot out of an existing body of water. This spout can arc a distance/height equal to your Adept level times 3 meters. Hitting someone is a ranged attack. A successful attack forces a Fortitude save – failure means your target is dazed for one round (but takes no other damage). You may also extinguish flames with a damage bonus less than or equal to your Water Control ranks.

Control Current: You can alter the direction and speed of water currents. Make a Water Control check – by every 5 your check exceeds DC 10, you can increase or decrease the speed of a water vessel by 20%. (As such, a check of 35 would double the speed or stop a vessel.)

Raise Water: You can raise the water within a radius equal to 5 meters times your Adept level. You raise the water by 1 meter for every three your check exceeds DC 10. In a river or lakebank, you cause flooding. In a larger body of water, ships slide out of the water bulge.

Lower Water: You can lower the water within a radius equal to 5 meters times your Adept level. You lower the water by 1 meter for every three your check exceeds DC 10. In large body of water (like an ocean or large lake), you cause a whirlpool, sucking in ship and possible damaging them.

Create Water: You can create an amount of water out of thin air equal to 1 cubic meter for every 5 your Water Control check exceeds DC 10. This is pure, bland water.

Freeze Water: You can freeze 10 liters of water with a successful Water Control check. For every 2 points you exceed DC 10, you can freeze another 10 liters.

Spirit Control
Spirit
Fatiguing, Implement, Maintenance
Standard Action, plus maintenance
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You can exert control over your soul and the souls of others, to a limited extent.

Astral Projection: You can detach your spirit and send it from your body. Your body falls into a coma, unable to move or respond until your spirit returns. Your spirit can move at a walking speed, and can pass through walls. You can walk on water, but you cannot fly – though you do glide softly down should you pass over a chasm. You are invisible to normal and enhanced senses, though you can easily be perceived by anyone with a magical sight – specifically, Second Sight or the Astral Touch or Spirit Touch feats (if they can see you, they can also hear you). To enter a state of Astral Projection is a DC 15 check, then it must be checked against a DC every ten minutes to maintain it, with the DC incurring a cumulative +1. Failure forces the spirit back to the body, and the Adept must make a Fortitude save against that DC or take a -3 penalty to Wisdom, recovering 1 wisdom per day. The Adept can be affected by anything that affects ghostly or incorporeal forms.

Detect Life: You can detect the presence of life. Make a spell check, and compare the result against the following list:

• DC 10: You can detect the presence of life within the radius of the spell.

• DC 15: You can detect the number of lives within the radius of the spell.
• DC 20: You can detect the orientation of the lives.

• DC 25: You can detect the health of the lives within the radius of the spell.
• DC 30: You can detect the relative power (re: level) of the lives you detect.

Sense Character: You can sense the dominant virtue and vice of any character within the radius of this spell with whom you have Line of Sight. This is a DC 20 use of the power. This use is not fatiguing.

Air Control
Air
Fatiguing, Implement, Maintenance
Standard Action
Range: 10 meters x Adept level, plus area of effect.
Effect: You can control the air and the wind around you. You can change a wind direction or speed. Each of these applications has a seperate spell check, and are maintained as long as you concentrate. You may effect an area equal to a radius of 15 meters per Adept level. You can create an area of calm in the center of your wind up to 25 meters in diameter, and you may affect winds in a diameter smaller than the maxium possible for your level.

Change Direction: You can make the wind blow in one of four patterns:

• The wind blows in one direction, across the area of effect, from one side to the other.

• All the air flows in an updraft, from the outside of the radius to the center and up.
• All the air flows in a downdraft, down through the center and out to the edges.
• A rotation causes the winds to blow in a circles around the center.

Change Speed: With an Air Control check, you can change the speed of the wind. Make an Air Control check against DC 10 – for every 5 by which you exceed the DC, you can move the speed of wind up or down 1 grade.

• Light Breeze: A gentle wind having negligible game effect.

• Moderate Wind: A moderate wind that has a 50% chance of snuffing out small, unprotected flames (like candles).
• Strong Wind: A strong wind snuffs out unprotected flames (candles and torches). It imposes a -2 penalty on ranged missile attack rolls and on Notice checks to detect noise. Sailing vessels have their speed increased or decreased by 50%. Creatures of size Tiny or smaller are knocked down, and flying creatures can be knocked back a bit by a sudden gust.
• Severe Wind: A severe wind not only snuffs out smaller flames, but protected flames flicker and have a 50% of going out regardless. Creatures of size Tiny or smaller are knocked back a short distance, Small creatures are knocked down, and Medium creatures are unable to move against the wind. Ranged missile attacks and auditory Notice checks suffer a -4 penalty.
• Windstorm: Windstorms buffet everything in their path. They sweep away Small or smaller creatures, knock down Medium creatures and even stop the movement of Large creatures. Ranged missile attacks are impossible, and all other ranged attacks and siege attacks are at -4. Notice checks for sound are at a -8. Flames are almost alway extinguished – even protected ones have a 75% chance of going out.
• Hurricane: Hurricane force winds are strong enough to knock down trees. Notice checks for sounds and ranged missile attacks are impossible, and all other ranged attacks and siege attacks are at -8. Medium or smaller creatures are blown away, Large creatures are knocked down, and Huge creatures are checked by the wind.
• Tornado: All ranged attacks and Notice for sound checks are impossible. All flames are extinguished. Large and smaller creatures must make a Fortitude save – those who fail are sucked towards the tornado. Those who come in contact with the funnel are knocked around for 1-10 rounds (d20/2, rounded up), and they take +12 generic damage a turn. When they are expelled, they are expelled in a random direction and falling damage applies. Huge creatures are knocked down, and Gargantuan creatures are checked from moving against the wind.

Clear the Air: Making a DC 10 check, a character can clear the air of any dusts, smoke or clouds. The character can clear the air for a radius of five meters times their Adept level. Note that the impurifications don’t disappear – in an indoor environment, the Adept merely pushes the dust down to surfaces, or blows the smoke up above, or compresses the cloud into a tiny ball of liquid. Clearing the air is not fatiguing.

Create Air: An Adept may make a spell check against DC 10 to create air. They create 1 cubic meter on a successful check, plus 1 cubic meter for every point they exceed DC 10 on their check. (The average Human can breathe out of a cubic meter of air for 37 minutes.) Creating air isfatiguing.

Freeze Flame: You can make the air feeding a flame so cold it goes out. You can reduce a flame by 1 square meter for every 5 you exceed a DC of 10. This also causes the flame to decrease in damage by 2. So a DC 15 check reduces an existing flame by 1 square meter and 2 damage.

Stalwart [General]
Benefit: You gain a +1 Bonus to Toughness when you are Wounded.

Bloodied Attack [General]
Prerequisites: Expert or Warrior class, Stalwart
Benefit: You gain a +1 Bonus to your attack when you are Wounded.

Bloodied Warrior [Warrior]
Prerequisites: Warrior class, Stalwart
Benefit: You gain a +1 Bonus to Damage with melee weapons when you are Wounded.

Indomitable Stance [Warrior]
Prerequisites: Warrior class, Stalwart
Benefit: The first time you are Wounded in an encounter, you gain +2 to all defenses until the start of your next turn.

Intrepid Adept [Adept]
Prerequisites: Adept class, Stalwart, Concentration 4 Ranks
Benefit: When you are Wounded, you gain a +2 Bonus to the power rank of all spells you can cast.

Intrepid Hero [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert class, Stalwart, Wisdom 13+
Benefit: While Wounded, you get a +3 to all checks based on Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma, including Skill checks.

Resurgent Adventurer [General]
Prerequisites: Stalwart, one of the following: Great Fortitude, Iron Will, or Lightning Reflexes.
Benefit: You gain a +1 Bonus on all saving throws when you are Wounded (this stacks with the penalty from being Wounded, but the penalty to Skill and Ability checks remains -2). You may take this feat twice, to completely cancel out the Wounded save penalty.

The Faith is served by the the monolithic High Architectural Church of Cornerstone, the spartan Orthodox Church of the Cornerstone Faith, and the reformation Seperatist Church of the Santos.

The All-Father Robert and his host live in the Eternal Palace, an afterlife of luxury and relaxation and craftsmanship. Those who lived a good life in the eyes of the Cornerstone Faith spend their afterlives in peace and contentment in the fields of his Divine World. Those who were evil are banished to Midnight Chasm, the home of Vincent. This is a hell of darkness and fire, where they are punished for all eternity. Those whose lives were meaningless, or whose effects on the universe were too selfish to gain admittance to the Eternal Palace, but who are not beyond redemption, or simply those whose souls are lost, are sent to the Wasting Winter, where Wanda rules over an unending field of snow from her Fortress of Stillness. Children can often be sent to the Wasting Winter, and when there mothers pass on they frequently travel their in the cohort of angelos to find their lost child. Many return, many do not. Wanda tries to find and collect these children to return to their mothers, though she frequently keeps some of them, raising them into her cohort.

Each God is served by a host of divine aspects known as diablos and angelos. They are also served by patron santos, the elevated spirits of former followers. The eight Gods are:

Robert
Patron God of: Fatherhood, Protection, Earth and the Mountain, Autumn, Craftsmanship and Construction
Appears as: an older male True Giant with greying temples, a grizzled Osok or a craggy Thrum.
Robert is the father of the Cornerstone Gods. It was his union with Wanda that sired all the other Gods (save Vincent). He is also often seen as the symbol of the Cornerstone Faith to other religions.

Wanda
Patron God of: Motherhood, Apathy, Vengeance, and Winter
Appears as: an ageless and elegant Human female, a devastatingly seductive Macabra, or a sinewy Drakon.
For the longest time, Wanda was the goddess of Summer and of Motherhood, the Queen of the Gods. Yet when she dallied with Santo Daniel, giving birth to Vincent, she was cast out of the home of the Gods, and has since plotted back at all who sided against her. She is still seen as the Goddess of Motherhood, though only in reference to the pain and trials it can bring. She is not evil, but cold and distant from emotion.

Sandra
Patron God of: Battle, Valor and Glory, the Sun, Spring and Summer, the Home and Hearth, Motherhood
Appears as: an armor-clad True Giant, a fierce Radiant, or a proud Uncia lioness.
For years, Sandra was the goddess of love and childhood. However, when she took the mantle of motherhood from her mother Wanda, she found that she had lost the innocence required to be the goddess of childhood or of love. As such, she took up the mantle of battle, and became a goddess of glory and valor. Her change it stature is intrinsically linked (with which being cause and which being effect unknown) to the rise in status of women in the Cornerstone culture.

Patrick
Patron God of: Magic, Time, Knowledge, the Astral Plane
Appears as: an elderly Human, a silent Arcling, or a grinning Trumphant.
Though he is Robert’s son, Patrick is frequently portrayed as the eldest of the pantheon. Patrick is the scholar-god, worshiped by scholars and wizards throughout the Cornerstone Empire. He is also worshiped by those who travel through (or prevent traveling through) time. Lastly, Patrick shares dominion of the Astral Plane with Karen.

Meredith
Patron God of: Love, Art, Music, Childhood, Healing and Respite
Appears as: a giggling young Human female, a sultry Empath, or a healing Weornan.
Until Sandra’s rise, Meredith was only responsible for the dominion of music and art. However, with Sandra’s new dominion, Meredith became the goddess of love and childhood. Meredith has taken to this new dominion in stride. She is now worshiped in all her aspects by all throughout the Empire and is one of the most popular gods.

Karen
Patron God of: Commerce, Travel, the Ocean and Water, the Astral Plane
Appears as: a wealthy Shortling female, a proud Sea Giant, or a Tacean packed for travel
Karen is the goddess of trade and travel. It is she who oversees all commercial transactions, all money, and who is the protector of those who travel throughout the Countless Worlds. Since early commerce on Cornerstone was done on the ocean, and modern trade moves through the Astral Plane, she watches over all who pass through those dominions as well.

Vincent
Patron God of: Evil, Darkness, Secrets, Thievery
Appears as: a scowling Human male, an enraged Death Giant, or a shadow-cloaked Murodean.
Before Wanda cheated with Santo Daniel, it was up to Robert, Patrick and Karen to punish the wicked (depending on the nature of their sin). However, Wanda’s indiscretion gave birth to Vincent, the god of darkness, evil and despair. Vincent was banished from the Eternal Palace, and began to twist and corrupt humanity. He is also portrayed as the god of secrets and thievery, and is worshiped (by necessity) by those who need to keep secrets or steal, even if not for evil.

Christopher
Patron God of: Labor, Farming, Hunting, the Woods, Sunrise and Sunset, Celebration, Jokes and Trickery
Appears as: a laughing Shortling male, a laboring Forest Giant, or an Acerven with a bow.
Christopher, the two-faced god, was born right before Wanda’s affair. After Robert banished Wanda to the Endless Winter, he gave baby Christopher to Meredith to raise. Christopher is Robert’s son, in that he is the god of hard work, of farming and labor. But he was raised by Meredith, and after his labors are finished, after the sun sets, Christopher becomes the god of festivities and merriment. It is in deference to Christopher that those of the Cornerstone Faith abhor laziness, especially during daylight hours.

In the beginning there were the Primal Gods. These forces of creation set out to populate the Countless Worlds they had created, and decided to make Man.  They set forth, creating Man throughout the universe.  But the Gods erred, and each of the Primal Gods made Man a little differently.  Where one world had enormous plains to be filled with enormous Men, the Gods created the True Giants. Where the jungles and forest required a smaller Man, the Shortlings were made.  And in other worlds, Humans were made.  All three races are the same, save for size and scale.  These three races are the eldest of the universe, and are known as the Ancestral Descendant, or the Races of Man.

Eventually, the Primal Gods went to war, and they created warriors and craftsmen in their own image.  From these creations were bred the Elemental Descendant.  The three races of Men, each infused with the power of the Elements. Mystans with their command over the forces Arcane, Forest Giants with their command over Nature Magic, Sparklings with their fire infused temperaments, and all the other elements and races.  The Elemental Descendants also exist throughout the Countless Worlds, and even Descendants of warring elements (like Fire and Water) know they have more in common with each other than they do with the incomprehending Ancestral Descendant.

Lastly came the Beast Descendant. These were the descendant of a war between forces of the Arcane and Nature wars that took place long before any time any can remember.  Whereas the forces of the Arcane taught mortals to make Golems, the forces of Nature invested animals with the intelligence and opposable thumbs of mortal kind.  While no race of the Beast Descendant is particularly common, the whole of the Beast Descendant are at least as common as either the Ancestral or Elemental Descendant.

Prerequisite: Adept class.

While some Adepts may focus on perfecting their art and their mastery over their preferred Primal Element, you instead choose to dabble in many elements – breadth of choices has saved your life more times than the power of your choices.

True Mastery (Core Ability) – When you use the Adept’s ability to spend an Action Point to get access to an unpurchased spell, you may also choose from any Primal Elements adjacent to the ones you can choose.

Breadth of Power – You gain a Bonus to Fortitude and Will saving throws against spells equal to half the number of Primal Touch feats you have, rounded up.

Feats:

Defensive Breadth [Path]
Prerequisites: Adept Class, Wizard Heroic Path
Benefit: When you have the Primal Touch feats for two opposing Primal Elements (Arcane Touch and Nature Touch, for example), you gain a +1 Bonus to all saves and Toughness checks against spells with those Elemental Keywords.

Primal Understanding [Path]
Prerequisites: Adept Class, Wizard Heroic Path, Sense Motive 3 ranks
Benefit: When using Sense Motive or Second Sight against an enemy spell caster to detect their use of magic or their intention to use magic, you gain a bonus equal to the number of Primal Touch feats you have, if you have the same Primal Touch feat they are attempting to use.

Primal Versatility [Path]
Prerequisites: Adept Class, Wizard Heroic Path
Benefit: You gain a Bonus to spell checks when casting spells with 3 or more elemental keywords. The bonus is equal to the number of keywords -1 (so, a +2 Bonus for spells with 3 elemental keywords, +3 for spells with 4, and so on).

Sorcerer of Great Renown [Path]
Prerequisites: Adept Class, Wizard Heroic Path
Benefit: You gain a bonus to your Reputation equal to the number of Primal Touch feats you have.

Wizard Duelist [Path]
Prerequisites: Adept Class, Wizard Heroic Path
Benefit: When making opposing spell checks against enemy Adepts, you gain a bonus equal to the number of Primal Touch feats you have.

And here’s the spells I have so far, culled from Klara Zenithdown.

This page will serve as a repository for all spells listed in this blog. It will be updated regularly, but will not be completely concurrent with the main blog.

Calm
Emotion, Spirit
Maintenance, Mental Contact
Standard Action
Effect: You drain intense and violent emotions from your target. If they fail their Will saving throw against Calm, they no longer feel extreme emotions. They are unable to take violent action, “intense” action, or do anything destructive. They may defend themselves, and any violent or destructive act against them or their property ends the effect. This power suppresses many Emotion keyworded spells. Calm is a maintenance spell, but it continues for 1 round per rank after maintenance stops.

Cure Blindness and Deafness
Healing, Nature
Fatiguing, Implement
Full Round Action
Range: Touch
Effect: You cure your target’s blindness or deafness. This is a DC 15 task. If a target is both deaf and blind, it is two separate tasks.
Retry: After a failure, you may retry after you have gained a rank in this spell.

Cure Disease
Healing, Nature, Spirit
Fatiguing, Implement
Full Round Action
Range: Touch
Effect: You cure your target’s disease. The necessary check is the DC for the disease.
Retry: You must wait 1 day, or expend 1 level of fatigue to try again.

Cure Poison
Healing, Nature, Spirit
Fatiguing, Implement
Full Round Action
Range: Touch
Effect: You cure your target’s poison. The necessary check is the DC for the poison.
Retry: You must wait 1 day, or expend 1 level of fatigue to try again.

Heal
Healing, Nature, Spirit
Fatiguing, Implement
Full Round Action
Range: Touch
Effect: You heal an allies injuries. Your target makes an immediate recovery check, but they use your Heal check result in place of their Constitution check. Should the recovery check fail, you must wait the normal amount of time for recovery for that condition before trying again. You may try again immediately by expending a level of fatigue. You may stabilize a dying character with a DC 10 Heal. You may use Heal on yourself. Since you have to be conscious to take a full-round action, you cannot heal your own Staggered or Unconscious conditions, nor may you stabilize yourself while Dying. Using Heal on your Disabled condition is a strenuous action – failure results in your status changing to Dying.
Retry: See above.

Telepathy
Spirit
Maintenance
Move Action
Range: LOS to Establish
Effect: You establish mental communication with your target. You cannot read their thoughts, you can only sense thoughts they choose to send to you. They can lie to you, or remain silent.

A target receives a Will saving throw to resist your Telepathic contact. They may voluntarily lower their guard. If your target has the power Psychic Shield, you must make a contested Telepathy check against their Psychic Shield before you can attempt to use your Telepathy.

If you would like your target to remain unaware of your Telepathic contact, you must make a successful contested check against their Psychic Shield, Second Sight or Sense Motive. If you win, they are unaware of the contact. If you lose, they are aware (of the attempt, or of the contact).

Once the target has failed their Will save, they do not get another one. If they voluntarily forewent their save, they may take on at any time.

Telepathic Aid: While in mental contact with another, you may use the Aid Another standard action to grant your target a +2 Bonus on Will saves or on any action where your Skill rank is equal to or greater than theirs.

Mind Meld: Two characters who both possess Telepathy can enter a Mind Meld – a powerful mental contact where both characters are in constant communication, instantly aware of anything that affect the other, and of any surface thoughts. Lies and deceit are not possible for two characters in a Mind Meld.

Deathcry: When a character in mental contact dies, it emits a deathcry along the mental contact. Any character in mental contact with the dying character must make a Will save or become Staggered. The DC for this Will save is 20, or 10 + the dying character’s level, whichever is higher. A dying character may make a Will save against DC 20 to muffle their deathcry – if they do, Staggered characters are Dazed instead.

Retry: If a target succeeded in their Will save, you must wait an hour or expend a Fatigue point to try again.

Race: Equerian (Carthu)   Level: 4

Combat Bonus: +2  Toughness: +0

Str: 10 (+0)  Dex: 11 (+0)    Con: 14 (+2)

Int: 15 (+2)   Wis: 15 (+2)   Cha: 11 (+0)

Fort: +3 Will: +9 Reflex: +1

Feats: Endurance, Improved Speed, Carthu, Skill Focus (Knowledge: Genealogy), Buried Lore, Common Knowledge, Your Reputation Precedes You, Fascinate, Well-Informed, Eidetic Memory, Talented (+2 Knowledge: Current Events, Knowledge: Politics)

Skills: Perform (Oratory) +3, Bluff +2, Diplomacy +2, Knowledge (Cornerstone Faith) +2, Knowledge (Current Events) +2 (+4), Knowledge (Genealogy) +2 (+5), Knowledge (Politics) +2 (+4), Notice +2, Sense Motive +2, Memory Mirrors +1, Search +1, Language (Architectural Cant), Language (Beyetajik), Language (Doutoun)

Standard Equipment: None.

Nature: Determined, Arrogant

Hugh Holloway was raised in an orphanage of the Order of Sacred Comfort and Guidance.  As an Equerian, and a small one at that, it was determined almost from the moment he was taken in that he would be raised to become a Draftsman, and not a Reverend Mason.  When he reached the age of majority, he took vows and joined the High Architectural Church as a Draftsman.  He has dedicated himself to the Orders purpose of knowledge of the families of the Empire.

Draftsman Holloway has risen, since.  His mastery of speech and of politics has made him a powerful agent in the Order.  For the last three years, he has served as a transitional vizier to Reverend Masons on their first contract.  He goes with them, almost everywhere they go (but not everywhere), and he advises them as they advise their clients.  He stays for two or three months, before leaving them to their own devices.

He has been given more and more difficult placements, as of late, and it is expected that he will soon be promoted to the rank of Engineer, and given his own orphanage, perhaps even on the world of Cornerstone.

Years of working with the Reverend Masons have given Hugh a very cynical view of the world – he views most people as mere sheep to be breeded and manipulated.  This perception has led to an increase in arrogance, occasionally even to his brethren within the Order.  However, he is committed, both to the Order and the Church, and has every intention of becoming a major player both within the Order, and even within the Church.

Hugh Holloway is a short Equerian, about 185 centimeters in height.  He is lean, with dull grey hair and a flat mane.  His ears are particularly small, and his voice is a bit monotone when he’s not giving a speech.  He is normally dressed in the gold and silver robes of a Draftsman of his Order.

While pretty much any D20/Feats system will have chained feats (Cleave, Rage, Favored Enemy, Sneak Attack), I want to take it a step further.  Rather than just view the chain as a progression towards a more powerful ability, I want to view the chains (or better yet, trees) as a progression towards a character concept.  As such, I want to take advantage of interlinked feat progressions.  For example, below, Vengeful Strike is a feat which is only available to those with both the Sneak Attack feat and the Favored Enemy feat.  One, this makes for a fun combination of abilities.  Two, I might make a seperate chain for those “backstabbing rangers.”

This also brings to the fore the idea of feats that require another class.  Both Sneak Attack and Vengeful Strike are Expert feats, but Favored Enemy is a Warrior feat.  This necessitates multi-classing.  I intend to explore this more fully – Expert Feats built on Warrior abilities, Warrior attacks built on Expert tricks, and both Warrior and Expert feats requiring certain spells from the Adept class.

And now… the first Sneak Attack chain!

Sneak Attack [Expert]
Prerequisite: Expert class, Stealth 2 Ranks
Benefit: When you have Combat Advantage, and are using a light weapon or a crossbow, you may sneak attack an opponent, dealing add damage to the opponent.  You deal +2 Damage (in addition to the default +2 Damage).  You may not sneak attack opponents immune to critical hits, or to surprise.  You may take this feat multiple times, up to a Sneak Attack base Bonus of +5 (in addition to the default +2 Damage.)

Bold Sneak Attack [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Sneak Attack, Stealth 2 Ranks, Acrobatics 2 Ranks
Benefit: When making a Sneak Attack, you may choose (before rolling your attack) to deal +2 Damage.  If you do, you grant Combat Advantage to all opponents until the start of your next turn.

Brutal Wound [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Sneak Attack, Stealth 4 Ranks
Benefit: If your Sneak Attack would deal continuing damage to your opponent, you gain a +1 Bonus to the continuing damage.

Crippling Attack [Expert]
Prerequisite: Expert class, Sneak Attack, Stealth 4 Ranks
Benefit: When you successfully deal lethal damage with a Sneak Attack, your opponent takes 2 points of Strength damage.  Strength damage heals at a rate of 1 point per day.

Sneak Attack Focus [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Sneak Attack, Attack Focus, Stealth 2 Ranks
Benefit: When making a Sneak Attack with a weapon with which you have the Attack Focus feat, you get an additional +1 to your attack roll.

Precise Strike [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Assessment, Skill Focus (Sense Motive), Sneak Attack, Stealth 6 Ranks, Sense Motive 2 Ranks
Benefit: As a move action, make a Sense Motive check against an opponent’s Bluff check or Attack roll (d20 + opponent’s base attack bonus).  If you are successful, reduce your opponent’s Toughness by 1, plus 1 more for each additional five points the check was made by.  This alteration to their Toughness applies only against the next Sneak Attack you make against them in this encounter.

Roguish Onslaught [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Sneak Attack, Stealth 4 Ranks
Benefit: If you use an Action Point to take another action, and you have already used your sneak attack this turn, you may use it again.

Vengeful Strike [Expert]
Prerequisites: Expert Class, Sneak Attack, Favored Enemy, Stealth 2 Ranks
Benefit: When making a Sneak Attack on a Favored Enemy, you retain combat advantage against your opponent.  You may not use this ability against them again until you lose combat advantage against them, and then gain it again.

When designed to travel in the skies of Mortal Worlds, aesthetics and aerodynamics have to be taken into account, but when an astral ship travels exclusively in the Astral Plane, function is the primary design consideration. Astral ships can be manufactured out of any material, often many. They can be made from wood (either grown or constructed), steel, stone (grown or constructed), or sorcerite. Less common manufacturing substances include bone, living flesh and clay. Many ships incorporate multiple substances – for example, the ships of the Winged Chariots tend to favor main hulls of mortared stone and gondolas of wood.

Astral ships are infused with magic, and require great amounts of magic to run. Firstly, they require a power source. The most common power sources are elemental arrays, elemental chambers, astral arrays and drivestones. These sources have to be recharged, and they power the rest of the ship. Larger ships will frequently have redundant systems, and smaller ones will have backup systems.

To move, astral ships require more magic. Movement through the Astral Plane requires flightstones, enormous chunks of adamyth enchanted to move the ship through the Astral Plane. Flightstones can also be enchanted to fly a ship through the skies of a Mortal World, if a ship can get to those skies. To do so, a ship must be enchanted with a shift array, a net of filament built into the hull of the ship and a matrix in the core. This allows the ship to shift between the Astral Plane and the Mortal Worlds. Other shift arrays can be used to shift between the Astral Plane and the dangerous Shadow Astral Plane. Lastly, the largest and most advanced ships can jump between two points on the Astral Plane. These ships have jumpstones in the center of their hulls – massive adamyth stones that require immense amounts of power that can shift a ship, instantaneously, between two distant locations.

The ships are enchanted with a breathable environment, and in most cases, with artificial gravity. Ranging from 10 meters in length to over five kilometers, astral ships can be of any size and of any function.

Astral ships detect their surroundings with powerful scrying arcanitechnology. These “scryers” are a wide variety of enchantments, capable of detecting anything from mass to life to other enchantments. On larger ships, these scryers are run by their own techs.

When it comes to combat, the options for astral ships are as infinite as the magic that empowers them. However, two forms of attack have become the most prevalent – astral lances and starburst arrays. Astral lances are powerful bursts of energy that can only form in the astral plane. Starburst arrays are enormous networks of starburst cannons – powerful magical bursts. Starbursts are more likely to hit, and do more damage, but they use more magic and they’re less flexible than astral lances, so larger ships employ both.

To protect against these attacks, astral ships use armor and shields. Armor primarily magical reinforcements of the hull – more runes, more power to those runes, and better quality material for the outer hull. Shields are what they sound like – enormous walls of arcane force to fend off attacks. Arcane shields are a stronger defense, but require a lot more magical power to maintain.