Breaking with the normal conventions of GURPS worldbooks, this supplement dives straight into the most obvious part of WoT (Wheel of Time) which needs to be translated into GURPS: the magic system. WoT magic is fairly simple, but directly violates the basic magic system in GURPS (though it smells in some respects like the Knacks of pp. M96)
This system is unique enough to warrant its own rules, but some effort has been made to maintain game balance with the old system (in case the players wish to use the old system to transplant characters one way or the other). It is suggested that only one magic system be allowed per character.
The executive summary is: All mages will need the Magery advantage (level is only important for fatigue costs of channeling). They will also need the One Power skill and at least one, but usually all five Aspect Magic advantages at some level. Each use of the One Power has a ``cost'' in some specific ratio of the five aspects, and the strength of the effect is determined by how much of each aspect is used. Each unique use of the One Power may be taken as a skill, or defaulted to the One Power skill at -2.
The word spell, which is used here for convenience of GURPS players, is analogous to the WoT term ``weave''. Also, the WoT books do not use the word ``magic'' (it is usually referred to as ``The Power''). However, in this supplement, the two sets of terms will be used interchangeably
In the books, mages are often throwing around subjective terms like ``power'' and ``strength'' when referring to magic. Assume that this refers to the sum of all of the aspects used.
The One Power (as manipulated by those with the Magery advantage) has five basic aspects (are there more? we don't know, but other uses of magic have shown up in those who do not have the ability to manipulate the One Power). These are the four basic elements of classic alchemy (Fire, Water, Earth and Air) and Spirit. See the Advantages section for more detail on how each of these is purchased.
The One Power can be bent to just about any use, but each unique application of magic requires its own balance of some or all of these aspects. For example, starting a fire from wood would require the Fire aspect with a very little bit of Air. Manipulating weather would require Air and some of Fire and Water, depending on the particular weather phenomenon being affected.
In GURPS terms, a player who has the Magery advantage and advantages associated with any number of the five aspects, must first put themselves in contact with the One Power (see Opening Up, below) and state clearly what he or she wishes to do with the power. The GM will then decide what combination of the five aspects are required in what ratio, much like a drink recipe (e.g. 1 part Earth, 2 parts Water). Any mage with advantages in the right aspects can work any magical effect, but the strength of the mage in each aspect determines how strong the effect will be. Unless this particular use of magic (i.e. spell) is taken as a skill, the attempt will succeed or fail based on a skill roll against the player's One Power skill, with a -2 for each aspect required, and a -4 penalty if the caster has never seen the ability used (reduced to -2 if the caster has been told how to).
If, however, a ``spell'' requires an aspect for which the mage has no ability, the mage has no hope of producing any effect at all. Fortunately, most mages possess at least some ability, no matter how small, in each of the aspects.
Each use of magic may be learned as a separate M/H skill, in which case, the roll is made against that skill with no penalties for 1 or two aspects, and -1 for each additional aspect (4 and 5 aspect spells are M/VH) unless the attempt is being made under duress, in complex circumstances, or in direct competition with another use of the One Power. The GM will decide additional penalties based on these and other extreme cases. A player who has a spell skill which is otherwise not available must take the Unusual Background advantage.
Each spell will cost an amount of fatigue that is equal the total of all of the aspects used, divided by the level of Magery advantage (e.g. an effect which required 1 in Spirit and 3 in Earth would cost 4 fatigue divided by Magery, which can be no more than 4; see B21 and M103 for more information on the Magical Aptitude/Magery advantage). This means that powerful magic gets very expensive in terms of fatigue, unless you are a very strong channeler (and this is consistent with the books, where spells that would exhaust normal channelers are a walk in the park for the most powerful).
There are also a number of other skills associated with magic, and each of these skills increases the flexibility and application of magic. See the section on Skills for more information.
The range for magic wrought by the One Power is line of sight.
In order to use the One Power, a channeler must open him or her self to it, and establish the connection to the Source. This requires one turn and a separate roll against the One Power skill. However, once the connection is established, it may be left ``on'' for as long as the user wishes (though it will drain 1 point of Fatigue for each full minute that the connection is established and one point for the initial connection).
Men
For men, the process of accessing the One Power is one of fighting against a raging river that threatens to overwhelm the channeler. However, once the connection is established, this fight becomes second nature, and can be maintained by taking a -1 on all actions and skills based on IQ.
Men can damage themselves just as easily as women (see below), using the Power, but are not as tempted to do so, given the violent nature of the struggle.
Women
For women, using the One Power requires surrender. It is not nearly so distracting as for men, so no penalty is taken. However, a woman who uses as much of two or more aspects as she can must make a Will roll to avoid taking too much. If she does, she must roll 3d. On a 3, she takes 2d damage, and falls unconscious. On a 4, she is permanently cut off from the Power (see the Stilled disadvantage) and takes 1d damage. On a 5-6 she is temporarily cut off from the source and takes 1d-2 damage. This temporary burn-out lasts for 2d hours.
The woman in question gets a +1 on her Will roll for every point above 12 in her One Power skill.
The moral of the story is that women should always leave a little extra breathing room by not taking all of the Power that they might be able to.
Any failure to cast a spell (e.g. a failed skill roll) will result in a lack of the desired effect. However, a critical failure will result in unfortunate side effects from burn-out to simple psychic ``noise'' which can be picked up by other channelers. The effect is left up to the GM, but should be based on the amount of power that was available and how much the caster failed by. For example, a botched attempt to light a candle would never be enough to burn out the character attempting it. At worst, it might cause the candle to spark, and ignite something else.
The Taint on the male half of the One Power has been described as being like an oily film of vileness on the surface of saidin. The Power can only be accessed through the Taint (unless the Dark One allows you to do otherwise, and so far this has only been done for the male Forsaken). Being subject to the Taint is a -10 point disadvantage (see Disadvantages).
In terms of game mechanics, being exposed to the Taint causes the character to make a Fright Check (see B93), thus the Strong Will advantage (also B93) can be invaluable to a WoT character. Every time a Taint Check is failed, a -1 is applied to every subsequent check. Failure on this roll as no effect other than to drive the character further and further insane, so ignore all results on the Fright Check table which do not involve Mental Disadvantages. The GM should feel free to be creative with the details of these disadvantages, but keep in mind that they should in some way reflect the horror of touching the Dark One's Taint.
Also, once a Taint Check has been failed, the character must make a Will Roll in any stressful situation (that is, a situation which is potentially life-threatening, or one which enrages the character), in order to avoid seizing the Power. If that roll is failed, the character must then make a Will Roll to avoid using the Power to lash out in whatever way is most directly opposing the conflict. This second roll is made at +4. However, any penalties accumulated by successive Taint Check failures must be applied to these Will Rolls as well. If the second Will Roll fails, the character make s their Taint Check at -4.
Exposure to the Taint occurs once when a character seizes the Source and once every time the character weaves a spell. Thus, any spell casting requires a minimum of two Taint Checks.
For Example: Nimrod, an Asha'man, has failed his Taint Checks 10 times! However, he also has 4 levels of the Strong Will advantage. This means that he must make a Fright Check at -6 (-10+4) every time he seizes the Power. He must also make a Will Roll at -6 in order to avoid seizing the Power in stressful situations, and then another Will Roll at -2 (-10+4+4) in order to avoid acting with the Power without thinking.
Any use of the One Power can be sensed by anyone of the same gender as
the caster who is close enough and
has both the Magery advantage and skill in the One Power. For distance,
add up the amount of each aspect required and multiply that number by
itself, and then by 10 yards (e.g. for 2 Fire and 4 Water, range is
(2+4) X (2+4) X 10 yards = 8 X 8 X 10 yards = 640 yards). Note that
if the magic is not in line of sight, a One Power skill roll must be
made at -4.
If a critical success is rolled on the One Power skill (or the skill
associated with this particular spell type, whichever is higher) or
with line-of-sight to the casting, the senser can also tell what
spell is being used. If they have never seen the ability before,
they will be able to tell what aspects are being used in what ratios
and magnitudes, but will have only their own guesses as to what is
actually being done. A normal success indicates that they know
what aspects are being used and which one(s) are in highest concentration.
A failure indicates that the observer is simply aware of an active use
of the One Power. A critical failure results in the person being
oblivious.
Similarly, any channeler may sense any other channeler of the same gender opening up to the One Power. The range is equal to the senser's Spirit aspect squared, times 10 yards, or line of sight, whichever is further. If line of sight is not available, the GM should make a One Power skill roll in order to sense.
This section contains a list of some common applications of the One Power, the ratios used to accomplish the effect, and some examples of the level of effect:
Mechanics: The target object is removed, retroactively, from existence. Two parameters determine the amount of each aspect required: size of the object and amount of time to be removed. These two, however, must be increased together. Thus removing a person would be retro-active by a few minutes. Removing a town would be retro-active by a few days, and an entire city might be months. This power is arguably the most dangerous application of the One Power, and is never taught openly. Those who learn it are cautioned to never use it, as it can destroy the very fabric of time, if used enough. This applies even to the agents of the Dark One.
Examples:
Remove a handful of material: 3 parts of each.
Remove a pig or chair: 6 parts of each.
Remove a person or table: 9 parts of each.
Increase by three for each additional doubling of volume.
Mechanics: A section of air is rendered solid, though still transparent. This will stop any physical force, gas and (at the caster's option) sound. However, unless the barrier completely surrounds a space, gasses and sounds will only be slowed or muffled by having to go around the barrier. Anyone attempting to break through the barrier will have to have to do a number of points of damage to it equal to 3 times the amount of Air used. The damage to a barrier can be repaired by ``re-casting'' the barrier, in the same spot. Thus an attack to the barrier is likely to have to do its damage in one turn.
Examples: The area covered is up to the amount of air used, cubed, in square feet. Thus, 1 Air gets you 1 square foot. 10 Air gets you 1000 square feet. This can be moulded in any basic shape, or along any existing contour.
Mechanics: Any person or creature may be bound, or an object rendered immobile. The amount of Air used acts as as three times that amount of ST, and the normal rules for grappling apply (see p. B111). See also Move.
Examples: All uses of Bind are the same, only the level of Air used varies.
Mechanics: The presence of the One Power in an object or area can be detected. If there is an inverted weave (see Invert Weave skill) in the area, roll a quick contest vs. the skill of the caster, with a -4 penalty unless there is evidence or foreknowledge of the spell's existence. Success indicates the presence and component ratios of the spell, but not its nature.
Mechanics: This is the gross ability to heal wounds. It can be as powerful as mending broken bones and sealing up otherwise fatal wounds, but cannot be used to bring back the dead or cure disease. The subject will receive 1 hit (lost HT) per multiple of base ratio required to cast this spell, but will lose an equal amount of fatigue. Lost limbs cannot be regenerated in this fashion, and scar tissue cannot be removed, once it has been allowed to form.
Examples: Healing simply scales as higher and higher power is put into it. Thus, healing 10 points of HT would require 20 spirit, 10 fire and 10 earth, which is not very hard with a small circle.
Mechanics: Any flammable material may be lit on fire.
Examples:
Lighting a candle: Fire: 1, Air 1
Lighting a torch: Fire 2: Air 1
Lighting a fireplace: Fire 3, Air 2
Igniting a bonfire: Fire 4, Air 2
Setting a house on fire: Fire 6, Air 3
Mechanics: Any object, animate or not, may be pushed, pulled, lifted, etc. as per ST equal to two times the amount of Air. This ability lacks any fine control, but a skill roll may be made to act selectively (e.g. toss the top sheet of paper from a stack into the air) against the ``Weave: Move'' skill, which is M/H but defaults to DX-4 or IQ-4, whichever is higher. See also Bind.
Effect: The caster enters into a quick contest of skills with the target. Success results in the target being cut off from the One Power, and thus unable to work magic. Concentration is required to maintain the effect, though it may be ``tied off'', this will increase the chance of escape. No additional expenditure of fatigue is required after the Shield is established.
Mechanics: The caster rolls against their Spirit advantage (or any number less than that number, if the caster wishes to spend less fatigue). The defender rolls against their Spirit or average of all five aspects (whichever is higher). The result is the number of turns before the target may attempt another roll to escape.
Examples: There is only one application of shielding. The caster may use the Tie Off skill to make the spell maintain itself, but this reduces the effective Spirit level by 2 for the target's escape attempts.
Effect: This is the same as Shielding, but results in (semi-)permanent lack of access to the Source.
Mechanics: The same as Shielding, but the target rolls against twice the normal value.
Examples: Stilling is a one-application spell. It cannot be tied off or even maintained, as its effect is instantaneous and permanent.
Effect: A quick contest of skills is rolled between the caster of another spell, and the caster of Unravel. If the same amount of Spirit is used as the total of all of the aspects in the original spell, then the contest is simply skill vs. skill. However, apply Unravel's power minus the power of the original spell as a modifier to the Unravel roll if they differ. An attempt to Unravel may be made against a spell as it is cast if and only if there was some warning that the spell would be cast (e.g. the channeler of Unravel sensed the other channeler opening up to the One Power). Note that, as with anything else, you must be of the same gender as the caster in order to affect a spell.
Examples:
A spell, using 3 Air and 6 Fire is cast. Another channeler tries to unravel this spell. He or she uses 9 Spirit and rolls vs. the One Power skill (or Unravel Spell skill, if taken). If it fails, the Unravel spell fails. If it succeeds, the caster of the original spell rolls and the two rolls are compared as a quick contest (see p. B87). If the caster of Unravel cannot or does not wish to spend the full 9 Spirit, then they get a -1 for each level below 9. If they can and do spend more, then they get a +1 for each level above 9.