Elthos RPG - Mystic Powers

Today I want to talk briefly about the design of the Elthos RPG Mystic Power System because I think it may have some features that people don't know about, but might like. There's two aspects of importance here.  One is for the GM, and the other is for the Players.

I'll start with the Players.  First off there's two kinds of Mystic Powers: Spells and Invocations.  They both use Mystic Energy, measured in Points (Mystic Points) to cast or invoke.  So, the mechanical difference between the two is negligible, and the distinction is more for world organization than a distinct mechanical effect.  Spells are used by Magic Users, while Invocations are used by Clerics.  In the philosophical sense the Mystic Power is fueled and shaped in the first case by the Magician's personal Ego, where the Mystic is channeling their own Mystic Energy into the Spell and shaping it into the form they desire.  In the latter case, however, the Cleric is using their Mystic Energy to call upon their Elkron (the name by which Elthosian Deities are known), and if successful the Elkron themselves are being Invoked and it is their Power and their Will that is fueling and shaping the Mystic Energy.  So because of this, with some GM adjudication involved, and in some rare cases, the Clerical invocations can produce much greater variation in effect than what the typical Spell might produce... because the Elkron, depending on their Alignment, mood, and the circumstances, might cause the results to be larger (or smaller) and / or different than expected.  So Spells are more like scientific formulas that have a specific and known effect within a specific range of power.  Invocations, while usually conforming to expectations, don't necessarily do so.  This is especially the case when Fumbles or Critical Successes are involved.

Mechanically, Players get to flex their Mystic Powers.  They can do this by adding additional Mystic Energy than the normal cost of the Spell or Invocation.  They can then augment whatever properties of the power make sense given the power's nature, such as increasing it's Range, Duration, Damage or their Mystic Attack Level.  For example, a Fire Bolt is defined as follows:

Name	Fire Bolt
Cast-Time Units	Melee
Duration Units	Instant
Effect Units	Level 1 (1d6)
Geometry Units	Line / Bolt / Person
Range Units	Feet
Category	Combat
Type	Spell
Mystic Power Level	1
Alignment	Neutral
Description	Bolt of fire from hands or eyes that does 1d6 fire Damage to one opponent within Range. Bonus MP can be added to give a +1 Mystic Attack Level / MP, and/or +10' / MP Range, and/or +1 Damage / MP.

Fire Bolt costs 1 MP by default 1 MP to cast.  Like all Mystic Powers the default Range is 60'. If the Spell Chanter wants to extend its Range, an additional MP can be added to extend it to 70'.  If 2 MP are added the Range can be extended to 80'.  Or if more damage is desired additional MP can be added to increase the Damage Bonus.  Any combination of effects can be extended by adding Mystic Points, up to the limit that the Spell Chanter can cast into a single Spell (the limit is 2 x the Character Level). So a 4th Level Spell Chanter can cast a Spell with a Maximum of 8 Mystic Points.  In this case they could add 7 MP to their Fire Bolt, allowing, perhaps, +3 Damage, +20' Range, and +2 Attack Level. In other words, Characters can flex their Mystic Powers according to the properties of the Power.  Invocations, of course, work the same way... and behave like Spells, with the caveat that on Critical Hits and Fumbles they may do far greater unexpected effects than Spells are likely to do because the Elkron who is actually causing the effect has a vast amount of Mystic Energy they can potentially draw from, and possibly unanticipated motives for changing the effects accordingly.

For Gamemasters, building new Spells and Invocations is also something the system helps with by defining the the set of properties that make up all spells.  Those properties are listed above in the left hand column of the chart.  By defining these properties the Gamemaster can create any kind of Spell or Invocation with relative ease.  Doing things in this way also provides an relatively easy to way to compare Mystic Powers to assess what the relative Power Level should be.

In the case of the Fire Bolt above, its 1d6 Damage, simple Geometry, and short Range (measured in Feet, rather than Yards, Miles, or other distances), and other limited properties help to identify it as a Power Level 1 Spell.

So the nicety is that the definition of Powers helps the GM to ensure that the Powers are defined with appropriate Power Levels, which determines both how much they cost to learn in Mystic Learning Points (which are gained each Character Level) and how much they MP cost to Cast or Invoke.

Now the Big Idea here is that GMs will be creating their own Spells and Invocations for their own unique Worlds, and not using a specified Cannon of "Official" Mystic Powers delivered by Elthos RPG.  What Elthos does is provide a short list of example Powers from which the GMs are encouraged to extrapolate upon in order to fill out their own amazing Worlds.  In addition, the Mythos Machine allows GMs to Share their creations with other GMs on the system through the World Things Trading Post... a system that allows GMs to browse Powers, along with all other kinds of Things (weapons, armors, equipment, races, classes, etc) and "Import" the ones they like into their own Worlds.

And there you have it.  A brief description of how Mystic Powers work in the Elthos RPG.

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