Mage Skills:

Focus is what allows a mage to direct his or her will. Without focus, even the most learned mage's spells will sputter and die. Focus determines how effective one's spells are and how long they last. With a higher focus, spells are more permanent and their effects more powerful. An average score in Focus is 5, while the highest possible score is 10.

For instance, Mage A and Mage B both have the ability to transmute stone into mud. However, Mage A has a high focus, while Mage B has a low focus. Mage A's transmutation will have a greater effect than Mage B's. More stone may be transmuted, the effect may last longer, or a greater portion of the transmutation may be permanent. Note: Before Roleplaying spells that would permanently affect the description of a room or allow you as a player access to something you do not normally have access to, get the permission of a GM.

Mage Spheres:

Each sphere is associated with different abilities. Some have been coded (indicated in blue), and may be learned and cast within the coded game system. Others are examples of what may be role-played if you wish to role-play combat or casting other spells. Remember, however, that magic is capricious at times and that spells may backlash or fail to do as you wish, even in roleplay. This can lead to some marvellous fun.

Energy is the sphere of forces and energy. A mage who masters Energy has control of heat, light, electricity and other, more subtle forces such as friction and atomic forces. Spells that deal with any type of forces or energy, both active and passive, fall into the sphere of Energy.

• Energy 1: Missile. This spell draws from forces around the mage to form several projectiles of energy which strike the target.
  Minor control over energy, enough to gather small forces and crudely control and direct them to one's will. The mage with Energy 1 can control minor forces but is still limited to using what is available to her. She cannot change energy from one form to another.
• Energy 2: Shield. This spell uses energy to protect the mage from attack, making her more difficult to strike.
  Control over the shaping of small forces. The mage with Energy 2 can transmute minor forces from one form to another, allowing heat energy to be transformed into electrical and the like. A mage who can use a match to chill his iced tea has mastery of Energy 2.
• Energy 3: Firebolt. This spell allows the mage to transform energy around her, sending a flaming bolt at her target to burn him.
  Mastery of heat and light. The mage with mastery of Energy 3 can harness larger forces, allowing her to alter larger amounts of energy and coax their power to do her bidding.
• Energy 4: Fire Shield. This spell allows the mage to form a fiery shield around himself, harming all of those who hurt him.
  Mastery of shaping most forces to one's will. The mage with Energy 4 gains a fine control over the forces at his command, able to delicately manipulate these forces as he wills. The Mage who can walk through a raging fire and feel only the slightest warmth has mastery of Energy 4.
• Energy 5: Lightning. This spell allows the mage to draw together and transmute forces to form a massive bolt of electricity, which forks out to shock her opponent.
  Mastery of electricity and attraction. The mage with Energy 5 has total mastery of both major and subtle forces. She is powerful enough to draw energy from the very motion of the air around her, creating a devastating blast of lightning.

Matter is the sphere of material things. A mage who masters Matter has control of his own body but also other matter , the elements of earth and water obeying his command. Spells that deal with material things, both altering and creating them, fall into the sphere of Matter.

• Matter 1: Barkskin. This spell allows the mage to harden his skin, allowing it to absorb some of the damage done to him when struck.
  Control over oneself and one's personal environment; the ability to effect minor, crude changes on other objects. The mage who can harden his own skin against attack or turn a twig into a nail has control over Matter 1.
• Matter 2: Mage claws. This spell allows a mage to draw claws from her wrists, giving her a more powerful and lethal unarmed attack.
  Finer control over oneself and one's ability to alter oneself. The mage who has mastered Matter 2 has gained a better understanding of her own body and can alter it with much more precision.
• Matter 3: Stoneskin. This spell allows the mage to harden his own skin, making it grey and granite-like, harder to harm both with physical and some elemental attacks.
  Mastery of yourself and an improvement in the ability to affect other matter. A mage with mastery of Matter 3 has gained a fine control over his own form, allowing him to alter it much more carefully. He can also alter larger objects, although only crudely, gaining finer control over smaller objects.
  Note: It is important to understand that while the mage with Matter 3 can alter his own body, his manipulations are obvious to any but the most unperceptive, so such things as impersonation of another person are extremely difficult. Also, the alteration of living forms is almost never permanent and often quite painful - life has a surprising resistance to change.
• Matter 4: Acid Spray. This spell allows a mage to conjure acid and fling it forward to strike her enemies.
  The ability to create crude material constructions of larger objects and the ability to conjure crude materials from, literally, nothing. The mage with Matter 4 can create matter from thin air - although it is not quite identical to non-conjured matter, being of slightly cruder make. She can also alter larger objects into other forms. The mage who fills a bottle with water and then changes it into bad wine has mastery of Matter 4.
• Matter 5: Carapace. This spell forms a thin but extremely tough second skin over the mage, which can absorb the punishment he takes from attacks and other harm.
  True control over matter. The mage who has mastered Matter 5 has the ability to alter matter such that it gains new properties. The mage who can form a pool of water into a functional footstool which is still made of water has mastery of Matter 5.

Meta is the sphere of mind and magic. A mage who masters Meta has control of those things that men find difficult to understand; he understands his own mind and that of others...or at least how to manipulate them. Spells that deal with mind and magical energy fall into the sphere of Meta. Note: High levels of Meta grant a mage some control over the minds of others. This must be a Role-played effect, and should not be assumed to be total. Non-coded mind-affecting spells should be consensual between players.

• Meta 1: +10 essence. The mage's understanding of magic allows her to cast more spells before needing to rest.
  Understanding of how magic works, and the ability to detect it with concentration. The mage with Meta 1 is able literally to see magic if she wishes, determining if an object has been affected by it. The mage also has a better understanding of the workings of magic and how it is woven.
• Meta 2: Sleep. This spell allows a mage to attack his target mentally, making the target more likely to slip into unconsciousness.
• The ability to affect others' minds in crude ways. This control over others is very crude, usually only allowing for a suggestion to be considered to be more agreeable. The mage who convinces a shopkeeper to sell him a statue for a few pennies less, just to "make a deal" controls Meta 2.
• Meta 3: +20 essence. The mage has a greater understanding of how magic works, allowing her to cast even more spells before needing to rest.
  Control of one's own mind. Ability to see the weavings of spells. The mage who has mastery of Meta 3 has insight into his own thoughts, as well as into the flows of magic itself. The mage who claims he knows magic so well he can actually see it has mastered Meta 3.
• Meta 4: Scan. This spell allows the mage to use his magic to concentrate and examine the magical spirit of another, allowing him to see the strengths and weaknesses of his target.
  Ability to see and understand the energies that compose all living things. Ability to affect others' minds in more subtle (but still noticeable) ways. The mage who masters Meta 4 can see the reality of the spirit, allowing him to comprehend the strengths and weaknesses of an individual simply by studying the individual's magical pattern. He can also affect others minds with his own. However, the target can feel herself being manipulated, making it quite difficult to directly affect another's mind, as well as often being easily blocked.
• Meta 5: Mana Shield. The mage can focus her own magical spirit to deflect attacks at the expense of her essence.
• Ability to manipulate one's own energy as one chooses. Ability to decipher spells from the patterns woven into them. The mage gains total control over her own spirit, able to direct it to deflect both physical and energetic attacks. The mage who uses his magic to absorb a blow has mastered Meta 5. A master of Meta 5 also gains some finer control over the minds of others, although the target is still aware of the effect taking place.