Spells and Strikes

Strikes

A strike must be made with a melee weapon. Hit the target in a suitably dramatic manner and make the call. The strike should be roleplayed as delivering a obviously 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. For example “Bob! MAGIC TRIPLE!” or “Skeleton in the Hat! MAGIC TRIPLE!”. Some may be cast with a short phrase such as BY MY POWER, or FOR THE ASPIRANT, followed by the target and spell effect. These spells are noted as "instantaneous".

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.

Some spells are marked as touch range. To successfully use one of these on a target you must be touching them at the completion of your appropriate roleplaying.

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 60 seconds of appropriate roleplay. The ref will let you know if the item is an acceptable focus and hand you a new ribbon.