Before we go into depth on the various types of magic available in the game, and how to build spells, here is a quick overview of how magic works in Places of Power. Once you have built your character, and understand how to construct your own spells, these are the main steps you will be following when using magic.

1. Choose a Base Spell based on your Activated Mere types.

2. Add up to 3 Modifiers, depending on your Activation Level with the select Mere type.

3. Pay the Mere Cost (and Action Point cost if in combat).

4. Roll (usually Mere Type + Intelligence) against the spell’s difficulty.

5. Apply Success/Failure/Fell Corruption consequences.

With those five steps, and a bit of creativity, you will be casting a wide array of different spells in no time.

NOTE: Players can only case one spell per round when in combat. Spells that involve 3 Modifiers require more Action Points than are available in a single round. You will have to save and carry over Action Points between rounds if you wish to cast high level spells.

The Spell Casting Process

The Magic in the world of Places of Power is known as The Mere. The Mere is a form of energy that leaks into the world from another reality, and which can be utilised by living things to perform otherwise impossible actions. Mere comes in a variety of different Colours, each of which allows a person connected to that Colour to perform an array of associated Spells. With training it is possible to learn how to modify these Spells in order to create a much wider variety of effects. The names for these difference Colours are as follows:

• Lumere (White) – Ubiquitous, raw, dangerous. Used to control minds. Its use is banned nearly everywhere.

• Rosmere (Red) – Fire and heat. Fuels war, industry, and invention.

• Brimere (Yellow) – Electricity and stored energy. Found naturally only in the Oarision Wastes and the heart of thunder storms.

• Gromere (Green) – Life, growth, healing. Drawn from forests, jungles, and living things.

• Irismere (Blue) – Cold, wind, water. Common in Arctic regions.

• Senmere (Grey) – Shadow, concealment, negation. Found near Loadstone and in old cities.

• Fellmere (Black) – Corruption and disease. Created when any other Mere is used.

The Mere

Using Magic in Places of Power is not without its risks. The act of shaping the Mere to your will has the possibility of generating Fellmere as a by-product. This Fellmere is added to the spell casters store, and, if they have an Activation Level with Fellmere, can be used to cast spells. However, having too much Fellmere in your system can result in negative, and even addictive, consequences known as Fell Corruption. As with all other rolls in the game, Magic rolls have four possible outcomes. Success, Critical Success, Failure, and Critical Failure.

• Success – A successfully cast spell correctly utilises the Mere used to form it, and thus produces no Fellmere as a side effect.

• Critical Success – If you manage to Critically Succeed at casting a spell it means you have managed to push the Mere beyond its usual limit. As a result, you gain 1 point of Fellmere.

• Failure – If you fail to cast a spell then, in addition to wasting the Mere you put into it, a percentage of that Mere is turned into 1 point of Fellmere.

• Critical Failure – If you Critically Fail to cast a spell then a larger percentage of the Mere used to cast it is converted into Fellmere. A Critically Failed spell will gain you 2 points of Fellmere.

Of course, as mentioned, you can cast spells using Fellmere. If you do so, then the outcomes are slightly different.

• Success – The Fellmere used to power the spell is applied as intended and burns away completely, resulting in no additional effects.

• Critical Success – If you manage to Critically Succeed at a spell powered by Fellmere then the cost of that spell is immediately reduced, refunding you 1 point of Fellmere.

• Failure – If your spell fails then an additional point of Fellmere is immediately added to the cost of the spell. If you are unable to immediately pay this cost then you suffer the Dazed condition, resulting in all subsequent rolls using your Intelligence Attribute being performed at Disadvantage until this condition is removed.

• Critical Failure – If your spell is a Critical Failure, then 2 points of Fellmere are added to the cost of the spell. Again, if you are unable to immediately pay this cost then you suffer the Dazed condition, resulting in all subsequent rolls using your Intelligence Attribute being performed at Disadvantage until this condition is removed.

Success, Failure, and Gaining Fellmere

Whilst having some Fellmere in your system can be beneficial, and indeed everyone has a small amount in them at all times, too much can lead to negative and potentially deadly side effects.

• 1 – 3 points of Fell Corruption – This is generally considered a safe level of Fell Corruption. As long as you keep your Fellmere at this level then you will not suffer any negative side effects, though you will also not experience any of the beneficial ones either.

• 4 – 6 points of Fell Corruption – At this point the Fell Corruption starts to have an active effect on you. Dark marks, similar in appearance to scabs, start to appear on your skin, marking you as one of the corrupted. While your Fellmere level is above 4, all Charisma rolls are done at Disadvantage. However, while your Fellmere level is above 4, you gain +1 to your Mere Activation Level for Fellmere spells. If you already have the base level of Fellmere unlocked, this will grant you one additional modification to any Fellmere spells. If you do not have Fellmere unlocked, you will now be able to perform base level Fellmere spells, as long as your Fellmere level remains above 4. Additionally, once per session, you may use 1 point of Fellmere to reduce the cost of a spell that uses another colour of Mere by 1.

• 7 – 9 points of Fell Corruption – At this level of Fell Corruption the Fellmere has induced an addictive effect upon your character, causing them to suffer the condition Fell Addiction. Your body now requires Fellmere in order to stay healthy. If your Fellmere level falls below 7 you immediately take 1 Hit to your health. Likewise, if you start a session with your Fellmere level below 7 you take 1 Hit to your health. These Hits can be treated and healed in the normal fashion, but the effects will be on going until you restore your Fellmere level back to 7 or above, or you are able to find a cure for your Fell Addiction. In addition to this, as long as your Fellmere level is above 7, all Empathy rolls are performed at Disadvantage. On the positive side of things, when your Fellmere level is between 7 and 9, once per session you can cast a Fellmere spell without paying any Mere cost to do so. Further, once per session, you can move up to 2 points of Fellmere either to or from another willing, or unconscious, creature or character by touch. You also retain the previous benefits of having over 4 points of Fellmere.

• 10 points of Fell Corruption – At this point the Fell Corruption is actively killing you. As soon as you reach 10 points of Fellmere you take 1 Hit to your health. You also take 1 Hit to your health at the start of each session that your Fellmere remains at 10. Again, you can heal these Hits in the usual manner, but the effect will continue until you have reduced your Fellmere below 10. Also, while your Fellmere level is this high, ALL rolls are performed at Disadvantage.

Fell Corruption

We have discussed how a Critically Failed spell affects your character’s level of Fell Corruption, but of course that is only part of the story. As with Critical Failures in other parts of the game, this doesn’t just mean that you failed to perform the spell, it also means something bad happened as a result. Based on the situation, and the exact spell you were trying to perform, the GM may wish to come up with an outcome of their own, but here are some examples of Mere related consequences that can be added to your Critical Failure.

Critical Failures

Before we look at how spells work in Places of Power, it is important to recap how a character’s Affinity and Activation levels affect their ability to perform magic. A character’s Affinity for a given type of Mere represents how much of that kind of Mere energy they can store. Their Activation level on the other hand represents how proficient they are with the Mere they store. By default, all characters have six Affinity points that they can allocate during character create, plus one fixed point of Fellmere. All characters also get one Activation point which can be used to create a base level of proficiency with one of the colours of Mere with which they have an Affinity. If a player choose to take the Mage character class, then they can gain addition Activation levels, with which they can either increase their proficiency with a single colour of Mere, or make themselves proficient with multiple different colours.

For example, this table represents how a non-Mage character might allocate their Affinity points and their Activation Level:

Mere Affinity & Activation Level

Here, the player has put 3 Affinity points into Rosmere, and 3 Affinity points into Gromere. They also have that 1 fix point of Fellmere. They have also put their single Activation Level point into Rosmere. In practice this means that they can perform Base Spell using Rosmere. For now they are unable to use any of the other types of Mere, including both Gromere and Fellmere, even though they have Affinities for those colours.

So why put points into Gromere if they can’t use them? Well, as the game progresses, there will be opportunities to gain additional Activation Levels. These could be added to their existing level in Rosmere, allowing them to add modifiers to their base level Rosmere spells, or they could be used to unlock access to other colours of Mere they have an Affinity for, allowing them access to those spells as well. Affinities are set during character creation, and do not change over the course of the game. If you want to use more than one colour of Mere down the line, you have to set yourself up to do so from the start. In the lore of the game, this is because Affinities are set at birth, and cannot be changed as the character grows older.

The above player has picked Rosmere as their starting colour. This will give them access to some basic offensive and survival related spells. As the story progresses they may be able to unlock their Affinity for Gromere as well, giving them access to healing and nature related spells, great for dealing with the increasing challenges of the later game. If they didn’t assign Affinity points to Gromere at the start, then they would not have this option.

Let’s look at another example. This time we will go with a character that has Mage as its Major class. This gives them access to 3 additional Activation Level points. We will look at two different approaches they could take with this.

The first approach they might take is to specialise in a single colour of Mere. The above Player has put the maximum number of Affinity points they can, five, and all of their Activation Level points, into Irismere. This gives them both a strong pool of Irismere to draw from when casting spells, and means they can add the maximum number of modifiers, three, to the Irismere spells they use. As a specialist in Irismere this character will be able to pull off some powerful spells, but they will perhaps lacks the flexibility of the second approach.

This Mage player has gone for an approach that trades power for flexibility. With this setup, this character will have access to the base Rosmere and Gromere spells, as well as the ability to apply 1 modifier to their base Senmere spells. Here you have a character that can start fires, heal, negate magical attacks, and pass unseen. True, they can’t pull off the kind of powerful spells the first Mage can, but they have a lot more options available to them. Think of it like a Bowie knife verse a Swiz Army knife. The former will undoubtedly serve you better in a fight, but good luck opening a bottle of wine or undoing a screw with it. Which approach you go for depends very much on the type of character you want to play.

As previously mentioned, all spells consist of a base function or ability, often combined with one or more modifiers to enhance that base effect. There are no set spells in this system, and as long as the player can combine the base ability and modifiers in a logical way that the GM will accept, then they can use Mere to do a wide range of things.

Each of the Seven colours of Mere has four named Base Spells, or functions, that it can perform. As long as your character has at least one Activation point, and one point of stored Mere, in the appropriate colour of Mere, then you will be able to perform the associated base spells. It is important to note that, unless the GM allows otherwise, all base level spell require the player to be in direct contact with the item or person they wish to use the spell on. In order to affect objects or people further away than touching distance you will need to apply at least one relevant modifier to the spell.

As stated, the base abilities listed below can form the basis of a wide range of spells, but they should not be thought of as an exhaustive list of what you can do with magic at this base level. If you can think of a base ability that is missing, and your GM agrees, then you are free to add that to your own list. If you have at least one Activation Level in a colour of Mere you will be able to perform all of the associated base spells. How you use them is up to you.

Base Mere Spells

• Empath: Sense the immediate emotional state of the target.

• Telepath: Glimpse the thoughts currently at the forefront of the target’s mind.

• Desire: Discern what the target most strongly wants in this moment.

• Illusion: Manifest a small, harmless sensory impression.

Base Lumere Spells (Mind, Illusion)

Once you have your base spell, you can apply various modifiers to it in order to shape it to your needs. Modifiers describe how a spell influences its target. This influence may be physical, perceptual, or emotional, depending on the nature of the base effect. All modifiers are open to interpretation and creativity is encouraged, however the GM has ultimate say on whether a modifier can do what you want it to or not. You can add one modifier for each additional Activation Level you have in a colour of Mere over the first one. The following modifiers are divided into five general categories, but all characters who can apply modifiers can make use of any of them.

Spell Modifiers

The above modifiers are designed to give the players a great deal of flexibility in the spells they cast. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they can do absolutely anything they can come up with. When a player describes their spell, the GM should always remember to ask themselves the following questions:

• Do the effects of this spell make narrative/logical sense?

• Is this something this character would reasonably know how to do?

• Is this spell too descriptively complex for it to be based on the modifiers involved?

• Is this spell too powerful compared to the Mere it costs to cast it?

Depending on the answers to these questions, the GM may want to offer up an alternative effect for the spell, choose to increase the Mere cost required to cast it, or up the difficulty level needed to cast it successfully. If none of these options seem appropriate, only then should the GM actively stop the player from casting the spell.

Modifier Guidance

We’ve gone through how to allocate Affinity Points, and how to Activate those Affinities. We have also covered Base Spells and Modifiers. Now it is time to put it all together and show how the spell mechanics work in a game. The exact order of these steps is somewhat flexible, but this is the general pattern.

State the Aim of the Spell

• “I want to cast a tracking spell to see where the thief is hiding in the forest.“

• “I want to cover the path with ice to slow the perusing guards.”

• “I am going to link the two thug’s pain receptors together.”

Construct the Spell from the Base and Modifier options available to you

• “I am going to use Gromere to cast Grow + Detect + Track to form a trail of flowers through the forest leading to the thief.“

• “Using Irismere I am going to cast Chill + Enhance + Line to cover the path in front of me with ice.”

• “I’m going to use the spell Pain + Chain using Fellmere to make the second thug experience the pain of the first.”

Calculate the Cost and Difficulty of the Spell (see the table below)

• “Base spell plus two modifiers, that costs me three points of Gromere and is a Difficult roll.”

• “So Chill plus Enhance plus Line is three points of Irismere and requires a 13 to cast successfully.”

• “With only one modifier that is a Normal level spell, with a cost of two Fellmere.”

Roll to see if the Spell works

• “As this is a tracking spell I am going to use Gromere + Perception rather than Intelligence. And I got…13 exactly.”

• “Rolling Irismere + Intelligence…ah, I only got 8, and I rolled two 4s.”

• “So I need to match or beat a 9. Rolling Fellmere and Intelligence. And I got a 16, nice. I am now going to punch the first thug in the nose.”

Calculate the Results (usually done by the GM)

• “Your tracking spell is a partial success. The flowers bloom in a path that leads you deeper into the forest. But even as you watch they start to die back. Hurry!”

• “Your spell was a Critical Failure. The Irismere rushes out of you, but freezes the ground directly below your feet, causing you to fall down. You also take two points of Fell Corruption.”

• “Great result. You hit the first thug in the face and, with the pain enhancing effects of the spell, they to collapse to the ground screaming. The second thug immediately grabs their nose and falls down beside the first.”

Creating Spells

Managing Your Mere Stores

When you cast a spell your store of the associated colour of Mere energy decreases. If you do not have the required energy needed for a spell, then you cannot case it. As such it is important to know how to restore your Mere energy levels.

Resting

The easiest way to top up your Mere stores is to rest. Unless the GM states otherwise, when resting you will always have the option to restore some of your lost Mere. During a short rest you can restore a single point of lost Mere. A normal rest allows you to fully restore a single colour of Mere, whereas a long rest lets you fully restore all of your lost Mere. 

Casting for Power

While resting is a reliable way to get your Mere back, it is often slow, and requires that you have time to stop and actually rest to do it. This is not very helpful when you are in the middle of a job, or actively engaged in combat. This is where casting for power comes in. This ability not only grants the Mere user the ability to top up their Mere reserves, but also gives them access to a larger store of Mere energy than they would normally have on their own. Once you have cast for power in a given area you can continue to draw from the available Mere reserve until it is either depleted, or you move out of range (Long Range) and the connection is broken.

Casting for Power always costs 1 point of the type of Mere you are casting for. This comes from your personal store of that colour of Mere. As long as the player still has a single point of Mere energy of the type they wish to cast for, then they can cast for power at any time. During combat this does also cost them 1 Action Point, but otherwise this action is considered an automatic success, and does not require them to successfully roll dice in order to achieve. Once a player has cast for power, the GM will tell them how much available Mere of the selected colour is available in the immediate area. The amount of Mere in the environment is dictated by the type of environment they find themselves in, but is usually several times larger than the amount the character can store themselves. This Mere, however, represents a shared pool, and any other characters or creatures casting for it, be they player controlled or NPCs, draws from the same pool.

Mere from this shared pool can be used in two ways. It can either be used directly, with the cost of the spell being taken straight from the shared pool. Or it can be used to restore the character’s internal store of that colour of Mere. The cost to restore Mere during combat is 1 Action Point per Mere Point restored, and happens as soon as you pay the cost. Restoring Mere outside of combat just happens on the players say so, reducing the shared pool accordingly.