Hopefully this version is less broken
You’ve always believed in magic. And then, somehow, you found it. Maybe you were just lucky enough to stumble upon it, or maybe you worked for a secret society of some kind (often TNI). Regardless, though, you found it…and were horribly disappointed. Most magic is being wielded by people who don’t see magic as an ends in itself, but simply as an extension of some bizarre obsession they already had.
Then, it happened. You’re disgust turned into an obsession in and of itself, and you realized the true power of magic. You began to copy the magic of others, and turn it into your own. The others hate you, and you hate them. But you know that your way is the true path.
An interesting note on Effingomancers is that, unlike other adepts, they generally get along better with their own kind than other schools of magic. While they’ll work with the other schools of magic, they see them as abusing an amazing gift.
Nicknames: Knockoffs
Generate Minor Charge: Study or teach about the occult for at least 3 consecutive hours. This can mean going out and trying to see it first hand, writing on it, reading your own notes, or anything else that helps you or someone else to learn about the occult underground. You can also use the Charge Steal spell.
Generate Significant Charge: Defeat an adept of another school at a contest involving magic. You generate two significant charges if you beat him with magic exclusively from his own school. The adept is free to refuse, but if he accepts he is incapable of using a major charge until the contest is complete (you are not required to tell him this, and if the contest is unfinished, too bad for him).
Generate Major Charge: You must kill an adept of another school in a violent manner. You get two charges if you kill him with spells exclusively from his own school.
Taboo: Effingomancers must never let another member of the occult underground disrespect his school without attempting retribution. For this reason, most other adepts are reluctant to tell Effingomancers just how pathetic they think they are, welching off the magic of others.
Symbolic Tension: Effingomancers love magic, but hate those who create it. Furthermore, they hate them for the very qualities that make them capable of creating magic.
Blast: Can copy any with the standard penalty.
Spells
Effingomancers have spells of their own, but can also copy any spell that they have personally seen used with a -15% penalty to all roles directly related to the spell (including damage dealt to others. Any spell dealing damage to the Effingomancer does so normally.). For the purposes of copying, “seeing” a spell is defined as looking at another adept while he is casting a spell, and knowing that he is casting a spell. It is not necessary to see the effects, nor would seeing the effects count. It is also not necessary to know the nature of the spell, or for the adept casting it to give any physical sign he is doing anything.
Minor Spells
Identify Adepts
1 minor charge
For one hour the effingmancer can tell who is an adept, what school he/she is, and how many charges he/she has, by looking at them. This works through binoculars. If you look at a video or picture of the person you will know how many charges they have at the moment, not at the time the picture was taken.
Steal Charges
½ of charges the Effingomancer intends to steal.
Must be targeted at another adept within 50 yards and visible. An effingomancer can pump as many minor charges into this spell as he wants. If it is successful, and if the target has sufficient charges, twice the number of expended minor charges is taken. If the target doesn’t have enough minor charges, all of the ones they have are stolen.
Significant Spells
Burnout
3 Significant Charges
An adept losses all of their charges. This does not effect spells already cast. The effingomancer must be able to see the target.
Major Spells
Effingomancers can technically copy the major spells of others, but they’ll almost always use a major charge to either improve their own use of magic (ie remove the penalty for copying permanently), or attack someone they’re very jealous of (ie block their magic permanently).
Sry from the time between posts, but my computer crashed. Ok, I hope this version is less broken. The greater emphasis on hating adepts is a result of me realizing that most people who wanted magic this badly would just be mentored. I kept in Burnout on the advice of a friend, who felt 3 sigs could reasonably simulate a taboo. Also, I realized that I forgot a “What You’ve Heard” section, so here:
What You’ve Heard: There are spreading rumors of an Effingomancer named Gale Richards, who was once a high ranking member of TNI, before becoming an adept. After his awakening, he began to view mundanes attempting to control magic with the same type of derision that he viewed normal adepts with…if not more. He then began a series of attacks against the organizations. The rest in unclear, but stories range from “he was killed within days” to “he’s begun recruiting a small army of like-minded Effingomancers, and even some normal adepts, and is rapidly becoming one of TNI’s greatest enemies.”
Major charges are way too easy. To start with, make them require a magickal homocide. Possibly in public, to increase the odds of something going horribly wrong?
K. Don’t think I’ll go with public, but for the next version I’ll require magical homicide that can’t be an ambush.
Even then, though, it seems way too easy. Adepts aren’t supposed to be able to generate twenty or thirty Major charges during their lifetime. I may be confused about something, and I invite you to correct me, but aren’t Major charges supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing?
And on a side-note, it occurred to me that using Major charges to make it easier to generate more of them might be skirting the “No charges from magick” rule.
One possibility for generating a major charge might be thus:
In order to generate a major charge, an Effingomancer must kill another Adept in combat after openly declaring his intent to said Adept. The Effingomancer cannot use magick in this duel (as, of course, you can’t use magick to make magick), and – furthermore – the Adept must be carrying 1 Major charge or 10 Significant Charges at the time of death.
Is there a relation between Effingomancy and clued-in thaumaturges?
Say the character was a Authentic Thaumaturge who became obsessed with magic itself, for it’s own sake – rather than obsessed with hating magicians. The “Thaumomancer” would be obsessed with replicating the feats of adepts in clearly defined rituals, while lacking a random magic domain.
Also, what is the effingomancer’s Random Magic Domain?