Aether Colleges¶
Rules system: homebrew Sancturi system (March-May 2017 drafts). Legacy design material, not canon for play.
Lore page: Arcane Colleges.
The five college lists of the Aether (Spirit) domain, whose opposite is Shadow: Expulvation (Destruction), Involution (Projection), Pneumatology (Displacement), Spectromancy (Shroud) and Spectrovoyancy (Perception).1 Each is a ladder of thirteen tiers, Novice to Arch-Grandmaster (see Arcane Colleges), with a two-word motto under its title; many tiers are blank. The casting type follows each spell's name where the source gives one: std cast, full cast, min cast, ritual, counterspell or passive.
Expulvation (Destruction)¶
Secare-Spiritus. "Expulvation deals with the severance and/or destruction of the spirit. Often shunned by those of good alignment, it is commonly referred to by it's nickname: Death Magic." (S293) The domain worksheet spells it Expluvation. The 2014 Death Magic college is a separate design: see Death Magic.
| Tier | Spell | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| I Novice | Soul Knife (std cast) | A direct attack on the target's spirit; deals necrotic damage. |
| II High Novice | Gentle Repose (ritual) | Immediate and complete severance of the spirit from an already dead body. Lets the spirit be captured with Spirit Jar, and keeps the corpse from being raised as undead where a requirement is that the spirit is still associated (attached to the physical realm). |
| III Initiate | Energy Drain (full cast) | Steals lifeforce energy from a dead spirit. |
| IV High Initiate | Soul Siphon (std cast) | A direct ranged attack on the target's spirit; deals necrotic damage and briefly empowers you (the energy must be used within 1 turn). |
| V Adept | Hand of Death (full cast) | A short-ranged attack that seeks to end the life of lesser creatures. |
| VI High Adept | Wasting Weirds | Spiritual weakness over a wide area, making targets more susceptible to spirit magic and lowering STR, FOR, AGI, DEX. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Energy Leech | Steals lifeforce energy from the target's spirit over a long duration. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Destroy Apparitions | Releases the captive spirit from an apparition (empyrean undead). |
| IX High Master | Extinguish Life (full cast) | Severs the spirit-body connection: instant death for the target. |
| XIII Arch-Grandmaster | Extinguish All Life (ritual) | Mass Extinguish Life. |
Tiers VIII and X-XII are blank.
Involution (Projection)¶
Pars-Locus. "having to do with spiritual projection where the spirit leaves the body for a short period." (S294) The passives are successive grades of projection.
| Tier | Spell | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| I Novice | Meditative Projection (ritual) | Concentration and energy maintain a projection. To end it the spirit must physically return to the body, which can be dangerous if the spirit is trapped. |
| I Novice | Sentinel Projection (passive) | Your projections can only view, never interact with the physical world. They can be injured by aural, somatic and mystical energies, cannot fly, and obey physical laws (no passing through solid objects; falling). |
| II High Novice | Spirit Cleanse (full cast) | Immediately removes damage-over-time effects of Mystical damage types. |
| II High Novice | Spiritual Disassociation (std cast) | Makes the target's spirit-body binding flexible, negating most effects that exploit the spirit-body connection, such as Spirit Circle, Spirit Rend, Spectral Prison, Spectral Gale. |
| III Initiate | Shade Projection (passive) | Projections can choose to be seen and heard but cannot interact physically; injured by aural, somatic and mystical energies; cannot fly; obey physical laws. |
| III Initiate | Phantasmal Shield (counterspell) | Abjures incoming Mystical damage types. |
| IV High Initiate | Sleep Projection (ritual) | Project while sleeping: the body rests while the conscious spirit watches, studies and so on. |
| V Adept | Phantasmal Projection (passive) | As Shade Projection, but you can fly and pass through non-magical physical objects. |
| V Adept | Spiritcast (ritual) | Casts your projection a long distance away; it snaps back to your body violently after X turns. |
| VI High Adept | Phantasmal Armor (std cast) | Absorb against Mystical and increased saves. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Phantasmal Healing (std cast) | Overcharges a target's spirit, increasing their physical regeneration and healing rate. |
| VIII Master | Spectral Projection (passive) | Your projection is a Spectre: it can choose to be seen and heard and can use magic, but cannot interact physically; injured by aural, somatic and mystical energies; flies and passes through non-magical objects. |
| VIII Master | Body Shunt (full cast) | Cast while a Spectre. Locks the spirit in place and forces the projection to end, shunting the body through space and time to the Spectre's location at considerable damage to the body. Requires Initiate in Nether or Shadow. |
| IX High Master | Split Projection (ritual) | Project while keeping control of your physical form, both at greatly reduced effectiveness. |
| XI Grandmaster | Improved Spectral Projection (passive) | An improved Spectre that can pass through magical objects by taking damage, with 5 absorb vs aural, somatic and mystical energy in this form. |
| XI Grandmaster | Spectral Renewal (std cast) | The spirit's energy pool regenerates the body when injured. Requires Adept in "Fae=? or Animus-?". |
Tiers X, XII and XIII are blank.
Pneumatology (Displacement)¶
Pneuma-Mutare. "Pneumatology is the study of the manipulation of the Pneuma (the core spirit). This college focus on the uses the spirit as a means of control either via containment or force." (S295)
| Tier | Spell | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| II High Novice | Spirit Rend (std cast) | Temporarily separates the spirit from the body, incapacitating the target. |
| III Initiate | Spirit Circle (ritual) | Protection against one of Spirits, Demons, Outsiders, Faeborn, Undead, Beasts, Humanoids, etc. |
| IV High Initiate | Spectral Mountain (std cast) | A spectral repulsion field around you makes melee attacks harder according to their Reach. |
| IV High Initiate | Spectral Gale (full cast) | A strong wind pulling at the spirit makes movement against it very difficult; for weaker creatures it can cause Spirit Rend. Cone 5 x 5 (+1 per extra cast level). |
| V Adept | Spirit Jar (ritual) | Captures unassociated spirits before they dissipate. |
| VI High Adept | Spectral Prison (full cast) | Single-target Spirit Circle. |
| VI High Adept | Circle of Protection (ritual) | As Spirit Circle, but any number of spirit-based creature types may be chosen. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Fragmentation (ritual) | Splits a spirit into pieces. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Domination (ritual) | Take control of another being's body while you are projecting; a constant contest of will maintains control. |
| VIII Master | Spirit Barrier | "of Protection": a more powerful Spirit Circle. |
| VIII Master | Spectral Wave (std cast) | Mass Spirit Rend. |
| X Arch-Master | Spirit Lock | Locks the target's spirit out of its body, cutting off arcane and ethereal energy sources; WIL, REA, CHA reduced. |
| XI Grandmaster | Possession (ritual) | Take control of another being's body while you are projecting. |
Tiers I, IX, XII and XIII are blank.
Spectromancy (Shroud)¶
Spectris-Sudarium. Spectromancy specializes in the empyrean undead (apparitions) and the binding and warping of undead spirits to serve the caster. "The shroud refers to the limited reality that apparitions are able to experience while existing in the in-between (partially on the material, shadow and astral planes). It is the manipulation of this shroud that allows the caster to interact with and manipulate apparitions." (S296; see the shroud)
| Tier | Spell | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| I Novice | Commune with Spirits (ritual) | Brief communication with a dead spirit, associated or not, by piercing its shroud. A non-conscious spirit is disoriented and, depending on the surroundings and what it thinks is happening, hostile or friendly; a completely shrouded spirit reacts to the rest of the reality it perceives. |
| II High Novice | Probe Shroud (minor cast) | Probe a spirit's shroud to understand its perspective and possible motivations. |
| II High Novice | Confuse Apparitions (std cast) | Disrupts the shroud of empyrean undead, confusing them for a time. They may flee until they regain their familiar perception, and defend themselves if cornered and attacked. |
| III Initiate | Alter Shroud (full cast; cost 22) | Indirect control of empyrean undead by adjusting the reality they experience; the simpler the "illusion", the better the chance. Simple: all living things appear as something the undead fear and hate, so it attacks everything living. Difficult: the caster appears as a trusted and loved person from its past, come to guide it to absolution and heaven (the caster must know whom to impersonate; moderate if they can learn a lot about that person). The moderate and "somewhat difficult" examples are "???". |
| V Adept | Summon Wraith (ritual) | Turns an associated spirit into a Wraith, given an obsessive task at its making which it pursues until destroyed. Wraiths cannot leave the vicinity of their death. |
| VII Arch-Adept | Phantasmal Killer (ritual) | Turns a captive unassociated spirit into a raging killer. Requires High Initiate in Spirit Destruction and Spirit Displacement. A very specific task keeps it anchored in the material; when the task ends or becomes impossible, the spirit escapes to the astral plane. |
| XIII Arch-Grandmaster | Empyrean Devotion (ritual) | You appear to all empyrean spirits as the being they are most devoted to. More than one casting at a time confuses them (see Confuse Apparitions). |
Tiers IV, VI and VIII-XII are blank.
Spectrovoyancy (Perception)¶
Spectris-Ante. "Spectrovoyancy is magic that deals with the revelation of information from the spirit and in some cases about enhancing signals from the spirit to the body." (S297)
| Tier | Spell | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| I Novice | Soul Sense (full cast) | Sense the presence and relative power of all nearby spirits. |
| I Novice | Affinity (min cast) | Increases spiritual affinity between yourself and another, with greater bonuses the more alike you are (race, alignment, worship or dominion, and class or skills). |
| III Initiate | Spiritual Awareness | Detects souls, spirit fragments and "??". |
| V Adept | Melding Charm (full cast) | Charms a target with whom you have affinity by melding your spirits, mixing personal desires: the caster can normally shut out the target's, while the target is usually overwhelmed by the caster's. While melded, damage to one is duplicated on the other as psychic damage (without injuries). Against powerful creatures it can backfire. |
| VI High Adept | Spirit Probe (ritual) | Secures the answer to one question from the target's spirit, answerable from the sum of the experience of its body and spirit ("nothing to do with memory or the mind"). The probe is uncomfortable and the target knows what was sought, unless asleep, when they may pass it off as a nightmare. |
| XIII Arch-Grandmaster | Spectral Sculpting (ritual) | Permanently modify a spirit: reduce or increase WIL, REA, ING, CHA, add or remove arcane or ethereal casting ability, and so on. |
Tiers II, IV and VII-XII are blank.