Spells and Strikes

Strikes

A strike must be made with a melee weapon. Hit the target and make the call. The strike should be roleplayed as delivering a particularly powerful blow or sneaky backstab.

Spells

You must be holding your Focus to cast a spell.

Casting most spells requires 5 seconds of appropriate roleplaying including some sort of shout, chant or speech throughout. You may then indicate a target and make that call at them. Some may be cast with the words BY MY POWER followed by the target and spell effect. These spells are noted as "instantaneous". For example “Bob! MAGIC TRIPLE!” or “Skeleton in the Hat! MAGIC TRIPLE!”.

Your spell is interrupted if you are hit with DISRUPT or strike someone with a weapon. You spend the stamina when you successfully cast the spell. If you are interrupted, your stamina is not spent.

Foci

Whilst casting a spell you must hold a focus. A focus is some sort of object that represents how your character enforces their will on the world. It might be a fancy wand for a Mage, a holy symbol for a priest, or a bottle o’rum for a vicious pirate. Foci must be obvious, appropriate to the character, and visible to an observer. They cannot be a ring you are always wearing, a coin hidden in the hand, etc. The idea is that holding a focus is roughly equivalent to holding a gun or pointing a magic wand. Anything about fist-sized is definitely OK. Rule 7 applies, check with Refs if you're not sure. Foci are magic items and will have a blue ribbon on them.

Foci cannot be used as weapons or to parry and should not resemble weapons. You do not count as holding a focus if there is also a weapon or shield in that hand. If you lose a focus, you may bond to a new one by finding an appropriate item and performing a 60 second ritual. The ref will let you know if the item is an acceptable focus and hand you a new ribbon.