Octas/_fallen

Magical Devices.

These are portable, usually hand-held, magical devices. They do not require any special knowledge to use other than basic wielding knowledge, such as knowing to point a magical staff in the direction of desired usage. This knowledge is represented in the Dæmonic Devices skill. They do not require knowing any of the Dæmonic language to use.

Charge

Magical devices often have a magical charge. This is the number of potential-spell-castings contained within them. Each time the device is used, the charge will deplete by 1. If the charge is zero, then the device cannot be used without re-charging with fresh magic. Recharging a magical item requires a specific pervasive-magic spell (see section 'spells'), or a charging station (see below).

Magical Devices:

Also often called "Dæmonic Devices", these devices generally require a score in the Dæmonic Devices skill before a character can use them. No knowledge of the Dæmonic language is required, as the magic of these devices is built-in to them.

Wands

Wands are short narrow cylinders which can be easily held in the hand. They are activated by pointing them at a target and holding that aim for a short time. Use of a wand requires a Magical Devices skill of 1 or higher.

Wands can hold up to 8 charges. For a randomly found wand, initial charge is 1D.

Wands can carry a variety of magics, but a specific wand can only ever perform one type of magic. Each use requires 1 charge.

Rings

Rings are functionally wands but can hold only a single charge. A randomly found magical ring will always have 1 charge on it. Recharging a ring via a charge spell without blowing it up is difficult, requiring a D1 roll of 1! Rings cannot be charged while being worn (it's a safety feature!).

Only one ring may be worn on each finger, thumb, toe, tail, trunk, etc. Rings require contact with living-flesh containing lots of underlying nerve tissue to activate, so will not work over gloves, or if placed on claws, horns, tusks, dreadlocks, ear-lobes, noses (excepting trunks and snouts on elephant/pig like beings which are explicitly nerve-dense).

Rings are activated by pointing them at a target and mentally willing them to fire.

Any being with a magical devices skill of 4 or greater will know how to use a ring.

Staffs

Staffs are long narrow cylinders of around 6 lengths. They contain one or more crystals or cavities at one end, usually all pointing in the same direction. Each of these will emit a different spell. A wielder may 'train' a staff by pressing their thumb firmly over each crystal/cavity in turn and speaking a command word of their choosing that will then activate that spell.

To use a staff, the user must plant the base firmly on the ground for one-handed use, or can hold the staff firmly in two hands. The crystal/cavity must point at the target. If a command word is issued during this process, then the associated spell will cast. If no command word is issued then a random spell from those available is cast.

A user with a Dæmonic Devices skill of 2 or greater will know how to wield a staff to cast magic randomly.

A user with a Dæmonic Devices skill of 4 or greater will know how to train a staff to command-activate specific spells.

Staffs can hold up to 64 charges. For a randomly found staff, initial charge is DD.

Staffs may have one to eight spells, all draw from the same charge pool. A staff is created with all its included spells. They may not be changed, added-to or removed (although, in the last case, one can train a staff to never use a specific built-in spell, even randomly, if one has the skill-level for command-training).

Dragon-headset

These are staff-like dragon-weapons, worn strapped under the chin rather than hand-held. Like staffs, they have a maximum charge of 64, but can carry only one spell. They can technically carry any staff spell, but most commonly the spell is fireball.

These devices are activated by the dragon with throat muscles near the jaw hinge. All dragons know how to operate these devices, even without a Dæmonic Devices skill.

A non-dragon will require a Dæmonic Devices skill of 8 or higher to know (or quickly work out) how to operate one and can wield this device like an awkwardly-over-sized wand with a -8 penalty on chance-to-hit due to difficulty of aiming.

Note that while larger sapient races such as Elephants can handle the heft of a Dragon Headset easily enough, they are not physiologically equipped to handle the very-dragon-specific firing mechanism easily, so still suffer the usage penalty.

Gauntlets

A gauntlet is functionally a staff, but can only hold a maximum of 4 spells (one per finger knuckle, not including thumbs). It has a maximum charge of 16 and a randomly found gauntlet will have a charge of 2D. A gauntlet is not voice-activated but instead is triggered by pointing the fist at the target and pressing the appropriate finger into the palm. Only one finger may trigger per combat round.

Any being with a Dæmonic Devices skill of 1 or greater will know (or can easily work out) how to use a gauntlet.

Use of a gauntlet requires it to be properly fitted to the hand. Note that humans, dæmons, dragons and other sapient beings all have distinctly differently-shaped hands (or no hands at all in some cases) so cannot use gauntlets made for other species. An Elephant gauntlet is worn on the end of the trunk and has only two spells due to the tip of the trunk only having two manipulative flaps. An octopus gauntlet, conversely, could have dozens of of spells - 1 per tentacle sucker! - though it would still be limited by its charge.

Wands and staffs (and rings, gauntlets, headsets) can carry the following magics:

• Light - a light suitable for seeing to 8 lengths radius in the dark will emit from the wand or staff for +DD minutes. It may be extinguished early at any time, but the charge is still lost. For multi-spell devices, using other spells does not change the light effect once cast.
• Heal - recover 1D of points to current strength and/or dexterity for target (caster specifies which scores to receive portion of rolled recovery prior to roll).
• Harm - remove 1D of points from current strength and/or dexterity from target (caster specifies which scores to receive portion of rolled harm prior to roll).
• Calm - recover 1D of points to current intelligence, wisdom or perception, or reduce remaining time on a previously cast sleep spell (caster to specify how rolled value is to be allocated prior to roll).
• Confuse - remove 1D of points from current intelligence, wisdom or perception (caster to specify how rolled value is to be allocated prior to roll).
• Buff - add 1D of points to any single ability score for 1D minutes. This can temporarily exceed the maximum-score value for the duration of the spell. Re-using this spell on a being already buffed with this spell will replace the previous buff, not add to it, duration is re-rolled and any remaining duration on the previous buff is lost (Caster to specify which score is to be buffed prior to roll).
• Sleep - put the target into a state of sleep for 1D minutes. Target must have a nervous system. Will not work on Re-lived.
• Convulse - the target will go into convulsions for 1D combat rounds (target requires a nervous system for this spell to work, will work on re-lived).
• Burn - a ray of burning light for 1D of damage to target.
• Soft Landing - the wielder or an external target within 64 lengths will land softly from a fall from any height. Must be cast the round in which the impact with the ground is to occur. Can also, within the same restraints, remove the force of a blow from any blunt object moving relative to the target.
• Lightning - sky-lightning, but emits from the device. Does not require open sky above.
• Ice-Lightning - ice-lightning, but emits from the device. Does not require open sky above.
• Fireball - sky-fire, but emits from the device. Does not require open sky above.

Staffs (and gauntlets) only can also carry the following magics:

• Levitate - the holder of the staff can levitate off the ground by up to 8 lengths for 1 minute per charge spent. While levitated, they can move at normal walking speed. They must keep one hand firmly holding the staff (or inside the gauntlet) at all times.
• Hurl - an object within 8 lengths of the device, can be thrown at a target within 64 lengths of the device. Hit-chance is the caster's Knowledge + Dæmonic Devices skill + any relevant Specialisations/Favourites. During casting, the staff (or gauntlet) assumes the weight of the item being hurled, and so the wielder must be able to handle this weight with their Strength score. A staff, specifically, with its base planted on a sufficiently solid surface can hurl up to 64 blocks in weight irrespective of the wielder's strength. Beyond that weight limit, the staff will snap, and explode! Objects which are fixed or secured to other things initially have the 'weight' of the strength of their fixture, if this fixture-strength is greater than 64, the staff will break and explode as before.
• Doppelganger - Create 1 illusory duplicate of the staff-wielder per charge per minute. They appear 4-lengths from the staff on the points of a hexagon, up to a maximum 6 simultaneously: first to front-right, second to front-left, third to rear, fourth to rear-left, fifth to rear-right, sixth to front. Relative to the staff, so rotating the staff can adjust positioning more finely.
• Shield - create a shield around the wielder. 1 charge to generate, then every 8 points of damage absorbed by the shield will cost an additional charge.

Fixed devices:

Certain non-portable magical devices also exist:

• Charging Station - a roughly 1x1x8 tall Hellstone monolith which can recharge any magical device pressed against its surface. Charging requires a DD roll with results:

Catastrophic destruction of a magical device will result in the usual charge-explosion damage (see Exploding Magical Devices below).

• Damaged Charging Station - a roughly 1x1x8 tall Hellstone monolith which can recharge any magical device. The device is damaged in an obvious way, such as cracks, charring, blue smoke coming out. Charging requires a DD roll with results:

Catastrophic destruction of a charging station will result in 2D of damage being applied as physical-damage to the holder of the device being charged, and +D points of damage to anyone else within 8 lengths of the explosion.

Exploding Magical Devices

When a portable magical device goes wrong, it may explode. If the device has no charge, it will simply break. However, if it has any charge, the following will happen:

Anyone touching the device will take damage to each stat equal to +D plus one eighth the device's charge (including over-charge, if this is the cause). Round down any fractional part.

Anyone within 8 lengths of the explosion and not explicitly shielded from it by a physical barrier, will receive 1D damage to each of their Current Scores. Armour may absorb appropriate damage to each score in turn. Damage counts as electrical in nature.

Damage to Magical Devices

If a magical device takes a physical blow, it may be damaged. Roll DD for the result:

It is best to avoid using magical devices in ways which will subject them to physical damage (such as using a magic staff as a club to hit things with or as a shield to block attacks with).

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