Binding

The Binding Skill
Binding Hedge Magic Into Objects
   Binding Requirements
   The Binding Process
The Cost of Binding
Using Bound Objects

Binding is a rare magical discipline that allows a practitioner to permanently imbue objects with Hedge Magic spells. Once successfully Bound, the spell may be used by anyone in posession of the object (although they must know how, and must have the necessary Magic Points to spend in order to cast the Bound spell).

Binding is not without cost to the caster: Binding requires the caster to permanently sacrifice POW points.

To learn and use Binding, a character must have a combined POW and INT of at least 36, have the Hedge Magic skill, and know at least one Bindable Hedge Magic spell.

Those characters that have the necessary POW and INT, and experience, from a career or backstory may start with the Binding skill and the required Hedge Magic.

It costs 7 Experience Rolls to learn Binding, and takes 3 months of dedicated study and practice. Binding must be learned from a teacher or a reliable source (such as a scroll or grimoire designed to teach it).

The Binding Skill

The Binding skill base percentage is POW + INT. It may be allocated points as with any other skill when allocating skills using the Skill Pyramid method. Binding is performed using the Binding skill.

Binding Hedge Magic Into Objects

Not all Hedge Magic spells can be bound - see the Hedge Magic Spell Table.

Binding Requirements

1. The caster must have a combined POW and INT of at least 36.
2. The caster must know the Hedge Magic spell being bound.
3. The caster must be at their current maximum Magic Points to Bind.
4. The object used as the Binding point must be non-organic (or organic in a semi-permanent material state such as petrified wood).

The Binding Process

The caster must meditate, communing with nature away from any structures or mechanical devices, for 1d8+3 hours. The caster must touch the object to be bound the entire time they are meditating on nature and the specific Hedge Magic spell they intend to Bind. They must not be disturbed during this time, or they lose 1d8 Magic Points (recoverable normally) and fall unconscious; the intended object will develop a flaw making it unsuitable for Binding in the future.

At the conclusion of this meditation, the caster rolls their Bind skill. If they succeed, they successfully Bind the Hedge Magic spell into the object. If they fail, they permanently lose the Magic Points intended to be used in the Binding, and fall unconscious. As with being disturbed during preparatory meditation, the intended object will develop a flaw making it unsuitable for Binding in the future.

A caster may use a Luck Point to attempt to roll again in case of failure; however, in this case the Luck Point used is permanently sacrificed whether or not the re-roll succeeds.

If the Bind roll is a fumble, the caster must roll on the Binding Spell Fumble Table and suffer the results.

Binding Spell Fumble Table

The Cost of Binding

The creator of a Bound object is forging a part of their own being together with the force of nature into an object that will afterwards contain both, and exercise both to effect a change in reality. Creation of such a thing is a serious undertaking, and requires intention and personal sacrifice from the caster. This sacrifice - of Magic Points - is extracted from the caster whether they succeed or fail.

The caster has a choice of how the Bound object will be used; the more Magic Points they sacrifice at the time of Binding, the fewer Magic Points will be required by the user of the Bound object for each casting.

Using Bound Objects

To use it, the owner must understand the procedure for casting a Hedge Magic spell via a Bound object. This procedure is loosely the same for any Bound item; the user must understand which spell it has Bound, and a rough idea of the effects. Once these are known, the process of invoking the spell and spending the required Magic Points is difficult to describe but easily enough achieved.

To invoke the Bound Hedge Magic spell, the user must roll their POW x 2. On a critical success, the spell succeeds and no Magic Points are spent. On a normal success, the spell succeeds and the required Magic Points are spent. On a failure, the spell is not cast, and the required Magic Points are spent. On a fumble, or if the user doesn't have the required number of Magic Points, the user must roll on the Bound Object use Fumble Table.

The user may improve their chances by spending twice the required Magic Points, increasing the test to POW x 3.

Bound Object Use Fumble Table

Based on Mythras Imperative, Written by Pete Nash and Lawrence Whitaker, and published by The Design Mechanism, Copyright 2023.

Material on this site not covered by other ownership or copyright statements is Copyright © 2024 Robert Prince.