FAQ: Spells and Traditions

One question I’m frequently asked concerns how characters discover traditions and learn spells. So, let’s dive in and look.

Tradition: A tradition is a category of magic, a thematic grouping of spells. Generally, you must discover a tradition to learn spells from it. The process of discovery adds one rank 0 spell from that tradition to the list of spells you have learned.

Spells: A spell is a specific magical effect produced by wiggling fingers, waving an implement, and speaking words of power. Each spell belongs to a tradition.

Novice Path

At group level 1, two novice paths let you discover traditions and learn spells. (The rogue path makes it possible to learn spells too at a higher level.) Let’s start with the Priest.

As a priest, you gain magic. The talent reads:

Magic You discover one tradition associated with your religion, as shown on the “Religious Traditions” table. Then make two choices, discovering one tradition associated with your religion or learning one spell for each.

Let’s examine what this says.

The first sentence tells you that you discover one tradition associated with your religion. So, find your character’s religion and choose one of the options. If your religion is the Old Faith, you can choose from Life, Nature, or Primal. By discovering the tradition, you also immediately learn a rank 0 spell from that tradition. Think of this as a manifestation or side-effect of your discovery.

The second sentence tells you that you are going to make two choices. For each, you can discover another tradition associated with your religion or learn one spell. Note, you can only learn spells from traditions you have discovered and the spell’s rank must be equal to or less than your Power.

With this in mind:

Choice 1: You can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than your Power.

Choice 2: You can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than your Power.

Example: My character, Saul, becomes a priest of the Old Faith. The religion has three associated traditions: Life, Nature, and Primal. I have Power 1. The first thing I get to do is discover a tradition. I choose Nature. Because I discovered Nature, I add one rank 0 spell from Nature to my list of spells learned. I choose magic acorns and now I know this spell.

Now, I get to make two choices.

For my first choice, I could discover Life or Primal or I could learn another Nature spell, either rank 1 or rank 0. I decided to discover Life. Discovering Life lets me add one rank 0 Life spell to my list of learned spells and so I choose minor healing.

For my second choice, I can discover the Primal tradition or I could learn one spell from Life or Nature, again, either rank 1 or rank 0. I decide to learn overgrowth, a rank 1 Nature spell.

Having made all my choices, I have learned all the following: magic acorns, minor healing, and overgrowth

Let’s do the magician now. The magician grants a +1 to Power and a couple of important talents. I learn sense magic, which is a rank 0 magician spell. I just learn it. Second, I get the Cantrip talent, which says, “Whenever you discover a tradition, you learn an extra rank 0 spell from that tradition.” This means that each time I discover a tradition, I add two rank 0 spells from that tradition to my list of known spells. Finally, I get magic:

Magic You make four choices, discovering one tradition or learning one spell for each.

I get to make four choices. For each choice, I either discover a tradition (adding two rank 0 spells from that tradition to my list of spells known) or learn a spell from a tradition I have discovered (the spell’s rank must be equal to my Power or less).

Choice 1: I can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than my Power.

Choice 2: I can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than my Power.

Choice 3: I can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than my Power.

Choice 4: I can discover another tradition or learn a spell from a previously discovered tradition of a rank equal to or less than my Power.

Example: My character, Lilith, becomes a magician. She gets to make four choices.

For my first choice, I’m going to discover a tradition since she hasn’t discovered any yet. I choose Arcana. Thanks to the Cantrip talent, she adds two rank 0 spells from the Arcana tradition to her list of spells known—arcane armor and magic dart.

For my second choice, I could discover another tradition or learn an Arcana spell. Let’s discover another tradition, Battle. This discovery, thanks to Cantrip, lets me add two rank 0 spells to my list, augmented attack and celerity.

For my third choice, I can again discover another tradition or I can learn an Arcana or Battle spell. I decide to learn a Battle spell, choosing close wounds, which is rank 1.

For my fourth choice, I can again discover another tradition or I can learn an Arcana or Battle spell. I decide to discover the Celestial tradition. Thanks to Cantrip, I also add burning beam and light, both rank 0 spells, to my list of spells learned.

And there you have it!

Here are some sexy graphics!