Aysle Preview #9 – Magic Items (Part 1)
Deanna’s Note: Please remember that the Aysle Sourcebook is in development and playtesting, and some details described below may still change.
Magic items are everywhere in Aysle and they’re nearly as ubiquitous as electronic items are in Core Earth. There are brooms that sweep themselves, speaking stones that allow people to communicate over large distances, and even rocks that allow people to forecast the weather.
Before it happens.
Enchanted Items
Magic items are divided into three categories of increasing power. Enchanted items have a Magic Axiom of 13. These are the basic enhanced items most Storm Knights carry: magic weapons, armor, shields, and the like. In addition to specific named items, many items can carry enhancements like Armor +1, shields that provide a +1 bonus to dodge and melee defenses, and weapons that gain a +1 bonus to damage.
Arcane Items
More powerful magic items known as Arcane items have a Magic Axiom of 23. These items feature either more powerful enhancements or effects (such as Armor +2), two enhancements (such as a Dancing Sword +1), or effects that replicate spells of higher Magic Axiom. Enchanted items that gain another enhancement through Aysle’s Law of Enchantment become Arcane items. Arcane items are quite useful and rare, which makes them significantly harder (and more expensive) to acquire.
Being Magic Axiom 23, Arcane items have gained a limited amount of sentience, and only provide their benefits to those who attune to them. Unlike Enchanted items, most people can attune to a single Arcane item at a time, though they may attune to a different item, ending the bond with the first. However, if a character does so, the Arcane item will be jealous and refuse to re-attune if its previous owner decides to change his mind. It will begrudgingly accept attuning to a companion though.
That said, a Storm Knight who wishes to wield multiple Arcane items can select a Perk that allows her to do so, assuming they have a high enough Charisma.
Artifacts
Artifacts are unique and very powerful magic items, and are roughly the magic equivalent of Sacred items. They have a Magic Axiom of 24 and are fully sentient. They bond even stronger with their owners, and a person may only bond with a single Artifact at a time, but if the bond is broken, it will not bond with another until its previous owner dies…and it mourns for a year and a day. For this reason, the Delphi Council will not request a Storm Knight hand over an Artifact.
Artifacts have the most and strongest enhancements, like Damage +3, or Sharp, which grants a bladed weapon Armor Piercing 4, or a Dancing Spell Deflector Shield +1.
The Gear chapter of the Aysle Sourcebook is chock full of stuff, so we’ll continue looking at magic items (and more) next week.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Art: Talon Dunning
Aysle Preview #8 – Revenge of the Carredon (Part 2)
Revenge of the Carredon is a seven act adventure that is coming in the Aysle Kickstarter, and takes the Storm Knights across the realm of Aysle. This week we preview one of the pages from the adventure.
WARNING! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Art: Talon Dunning
Aysle Preview #7 – Revenge of the Carredon
Revenge of the Carredon is a seven act adventure that is coming in the Aysle Kickstarter, and takes the Storm Knights across the realm of Aysle.
WARNING! HERE BE SPOILERS!!!
The outcome determines the fate of Tolwyn Tancred, a powerful and influential figure in Queen Pella Ardinay’s court, whose presence or absence could have a lasting impact on the morale of the forces of Light, the unity of House Tancred, and the odds of victory in numerous battles throughout the realm. By the end of the adventure, the heroes will finally confront an ancient evil and solve an old mystery, while stopping the machinations of Uthorion.
Here’s a sample page from the adventure:
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Art: Aaron Riley
Aysle Preview #6 – Threats
The Aysle Sourcebook provides a bunch of new Threats to inflict on Storm Knights, and here are several examples. Please remember that the book is still under development and editing, so some changes still may be made.
We’re going to hold the gospog back for a later preview, but there are several creatures, including frost giants, cherybs (water elementals that consist of two creatures, one of the Light and one of Darkness), and powries (vicious fae that wield sharp knives and giggle maniacally when they draw blood).
Here’s a couple of detailed stat blocks for clankers and great dragons:
There are also several varieties of human (or human-ish) foes, including knights, lyches, vikings and wizards.
Here’s the Lyche:
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Art: Gunship Revolution
Aysle Preview #5 – Miracles
Today we examine the faiths and miracles of Aysle. There are many deities in Aysle, divided into five main pantheons. Each pantheon has a representative god or goddess associated with it, though there are many others. The pantheons include:
- Exemplars of Light (Dunad)
- Exemplars of Darkness (Corba’al)
- Outsiders (Rak)
- Racial dieties (Elmiir, the elvish god)
- Theomagicians (Shali)
Each pantheon has an associated miracle list, though the GM is encouraged to modify the lists for other dieties of the same pantheon. Here’s an example:
The Deities
The five representative dieties are detailed, including a summary of who they are as well as the tenets and methods of worship their followers have. Here’s Shali:
Miracles
Finally, the Miracles chapter includes…miracles! Here is one that is on the Outsiders miracle list:
Many of these miracles include upgraded versions of less powerful ones, including doom, an upgrade of the curse miracle.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Cleric art by Bien Flores and Unique Soparie
Aysle Preview #4 – Uthorion
Just a quick and brief preview of the stat block for Uthorion, High Lord of Aysle, as shown in the Aysle Sourcebook. Please remember that this is provisional and is currently in development and editing, so may change in the final product.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Aysle Preview #3 – Perks
Today we’re going to take a quick, short look at some of the Perks detailed in the Aysle Sourcebook. Please remember that the Perks previewed below are still in development, so may change in the final product.
We’re going to skip Magic Perks in this preview since we already discussed those last week.
Dwarf
In addition to the Runemaker Perk, which allows dwarves to imbue items with arcane power by inscribing runes into them, Dwarves who have taken the Forsaken Perk from the Torg Eternity Corebook can also take Godsbane, and finally Godscourge:
Darkness
New Darkness Perks include Born to Darkness, which allows a character to take up to six Darkness Perks instead of three before falling to Darkness, but beware! It is possible for a character to be tempted to take the quick and easy path and be “gifted” with a Darkness Perk without choosing to! Other Darkness Perks include Necromancer, which provides access to the Necromancy spell list, Shadow Assassin, which upgrades the Shadow Step Perk, and Blood Magic:
Elf
In addition to allowing elf spellcasters to get even more spells via the Elven Magic Perk, an upgrade to the White Wolf Perk, and elves can embark down a new Perk Tree that eventually leads to becoming a drake rider!
But first, the elf must bond with a baby drake, which follows the usual animal companion rules:
Light
Additional Light Perks include Aura of Light, which literally allows the hero to glow, and reduce Darkness vision penalties, and Multi-Target penalties when intimidating, and Beacon of Light, which grants the character’s benefits from her Light Perks to nearby allies.
Outsider
Those who do not embrace Light or Darkness can take Outsider Perks. Many Vikings follow this path, including the skalds:
Prowess and Social
We cap this preview off with the Prowess Perks, which highlight the martial abilities of knights and archers, and the Heirloom Social Perk, which grants the Storm Knight a magic item!
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
By popular demand, here are the Beta Clearance Primers for Torg Eternity, which provide additional Perks, resources, and a summary of the large scale events of the rest of the first year of the Possibility Wars.
Note that these are still previews, and the contents may yet be updated.
Beta Clearance GM’s Primer
Beta Clearance Player’s Primer
Out of all the cosms that invaded Core Earth, Aysle is by far the most magical. Magic pervades the reality, and there are many ways in which this manifests. Although the magic system in Torg Eternity was substantially streamlined, some of the elements of the original magic system are coming back, just as specific elements of Aysle’s arcane traditions.
Just a reminder, the Aysle Sourcebook is still in development and playtesting, so the previews shown are provisional and may change in the final product.
Arcane Knowledges
Fans of Original Torg will remember arcane knowledges, and they’re back in Torg Eternity. Arcane knowledges are 22 fields of discovery that are divided into four categories: Essences (the primal forces of magic including Life, Death, Time and True Knowledge, Mixed Forces (combinations of the Essences including Darkness, Inanimate Forces, Light, Living Forces, and Magic), Kindred (living beings including Folk, Entity, Elemental and others), and Elements (physical substances such as Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, etc.).
The arcane knowledges mostly manifest themselves through the spell lists a character can select spells from.
Specialist and Generalist Mages
In Aysle, wizards can either learn spells of all types, or specialize in one field. Generalists have access to the Aysle Mage list from Torg Eternity which now includes all of the spells in the Aysle sourcebook, except those in the Necromancy list.
Specialists get one more spell that generalists do, but at the cost of only selecting those from a certain list, like Elemental Magic:
Those who wish to specialize in a field choose a Magic Perk, one of Elemental Magic, Essence Magic, Kindred Magic, or Principle Magic. Accessing the Necromancy list is done in a similar fashion, but is instead a Darkness Perk, with all that entails.
Magic Perks
The Aysle Sourcebook adds some other new Magic Perks including learning more spells through ownership of a spellbook, the crafting of a homunculus, making one of your spells a trademark spell, or using your magic skill to dodge ranged attacks.
Furthermore, advanced Aylish spellcasters can take the Esoteric Spell Perk, which allows them to pick a spell from any list, even those from other cosms:
Aysle Spells
Naturally the Aysle Sourcebook comes with plenty of new spells, some of them quite advanced that may require Beta Clearance or even a less powerful version of that spell, like heighten backlash:
Disfavored
But what’s this “Disfavored” condition? This is a new condition introduced in the Aysle Sourcebook that essentially is the balance to “Favored”. The two counter themselves out, but if the Disfavored condition is in effect, the victim loses their first roll again, whether that comes from an Up condition, rolling a 10 or 20, or spending a Possibility. Longtime fans will recognize this as essentially the Original Torg Stymied condition.
Cantrips
Finally, Aysle’s Magic Axiom is high enough that nearly anyone is capable of casting at least simple spells, called cantrips. Anyone who has the proper magic skill can cast them without needing a Perk, even those from other realities (and they can do so without contradiction). Cantrips can still be cast by Aysle spellcasters outside of the realm, but with the normal contradiction check. These still cause backlash if they fail, but there is no extra effect from Good or Outstanding results.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss this preview, head on over to our forums!
Now we move our focus to Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the nations of Scandinavia, where the reality of the fantastic realm of Aysle holds sway.
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