SR5:Magic:Preparations

5th Edition Rules
Basics // Combat // Magic // Matrix // Driving // Character Creation

Spellcasting

Preparations

Adepts

Spirits

Traditions

Initiation

Dark Magic

Spell List	Ritual List	Spirit List	Adept Powers List	Mentor Spirits List	Metamagics List	Traditions List

Enchanting is the technique of tapping into the fundamental power latent in natural elements and imbuing items with magic that aids and enhances a magician’s abilities. With it, you can enchant small items with spells, create magical foci, and break down magical items into component reagents.

Alchemy

From mystic flamethrowers to preparing a six-demon bag, alchemy allows the magician to prepare objects that hold a spell to be released later. Preparations are generally less powerful than their spell counterparts, but they often are more versatile. The object used as a preparation must be small enough for the magician to lift, handle, and manipulate. The magician alters, marks, sculpts, or otherwise adds a creative touch to the object in the process of making it a preparation. This also makes it recognizable as a preparation with a successful Arcana + Intuition [Mental] Test.

Preparations carry an aura with the astral signature of its creator, which is visible in astral space. The aura and astral signature fades at the same rate as a cast spell (p. 283) after activation. Preparations which, when active, sustain a spell, become temporarily dual-natured while the spell is active.

Here’s how to make an alchemical preparation.

Step 1:choose A Spell

Choose the alchemical version of the spell to be prepared. Spells used in preparations are different versions of the Sorcery spells listed on p. 283, but have the same effect, Drain Value, keywords, and so on as those spells. You learn the alchemical versions of these spells separately from Sorcery spells, but the Karma cost is the same. You can only choose an alchemical spell you know.

Step 2:choose Spell Force

You must declare the Force at which your preparation will be created. The Force acts as a limit on the preparation, so higher Force preparations are more powerful, but at the cost of more Drain. You can make a preparation at a Force up to twice your Magic rating.

Step 3:choose The Lynchpin For The Preparation

The object used for the preparation is called the lynchpin. It must be small enough for you to lift, handle, and manipulate. In addition, the lynchpin must not have any aura already, so living beings are right out. For most magic, high-tech items are a concern because of Object Resistance, but such items can become preparations because the object itself is not being enchanted, it’s just acting as an anchor for the alchemical spell.

Step 4:choose Preparation Trigger

A preparation releases its spell when a condition called the trigger is met. Choose a trigger type for the preparation. The trigger you pick can add to the Drain Value of the preparation.

Command

The preparation is triggered by you. You must be on the physical plane (or manifest if you’re astrally projecting), have line of sight to the preparation (as defined for Spellcasting, p. 281), and take a Simple Action to trigger the preparation. You have some control over the preparation’s target with this trigger. This trigger adds +2 Drain to the creation of the preparation. Command triggers are the only triggers preparation with healing spells can have.

Contact

The next living being to touch the preparation activates the spell. This trigger adds +1 Drain.

Time

Choose an amount of time when picking this trigger. The countdown starts at the end of the creation of the preparation, and the preparation is activated when the time’s up. The time you declare is limited by the final Potency of the preparation in hours—if the time is greater than the resulting Potency after creation, the preparation activates prematurely. This trigger adds +2 Drain to the creation of the preparation.

Step 5:create The Preparation

Once everything else is settled, you need to spend uninterrupted time crafting the lynchpin into a preparation— a number of minutes equal to the preparation’s Force. You spend this time drawing arcane formulae, carving symbols or hieroglyphs, mixing materials into the lynchpin, or some other time-honored way of working your magic that relates to your tradition—the higher the Force, the more complex and intricate your work. You can use reagents in the crafting of a preparation. They are expended in crafting (as inks, attached tchotchkes, etc.), and the number of drams of reagents used then becomes the limit instead of Force (see Reagents, p. 316). After the time elapses for creation of the preparation, make an Alchemy + Magic [Force] Test opposed by the Force of the preparation. The net hits from this test become the preparation’s Potency. If you get no net hits, the Preparation fails, the time is wasted, and you still take drain.

Step 6:resist Drain

Drain for a preparation is the same as for the spell, plus any additional Drain based on the chosen trigger. If you get more hits on your Alchemy Test than your Magic rating, the Drain is Physical, otherwise it’s Stun.

Glitches

On a glitch, you may have put the wrong trigger on the preparation, or the duration of a time trigger could be off, or the preparation may resist at a higher force than usual (+2 to Force). On a critical glitch—well, we wouldn’t recommend drinking whatever the end result is. It may blow up in your hand when you move it. Or something equally unpleasant your gamemaster comes up with. It’s probably best just to step away (or run) from the preparation until the Potency fades.

The Finished Preparation

An alchemical preparation is a temporary form of magic. The preparation’s Potency determines how many hours the magic can be sustained and how strong the preparation’s spell is when activated. The preparation maintains full Potency for [Potency x 2] hours. For every hour that passes after that period, the preparation’s Potency is reduced by 1. When Potency reaches 0, or the lynchpin is broken, it loses its magical nature and the spell is lost.

Using A Preparation

When the spell is released from the preparation, it goes off as though it were cast by a magician. The Spellcasting Test uses the preparation’s Potency in place of Spellcasting, and the preparation’s Force in place of Magic (with the Force also serving as the limit). If the spell is sustained, it lasts for (Potency) minutes (or in the case of a permanent spell until it becomes permanent). There is no Drain in this spellcasting because it was already taken by the alchemist; likewise no Edge pool can be spent on this spellcasting.

The target(s) of a preparation must be on the physical plane The actual target(s) of the spell depend on the range of the spell used:

Touch

Touch spells affect the living being touching the preparation. If more than one living being is touching the preparation when it activates, the spell’s target is either chosen by the magician (if the command trigger was chosen) or at random.

Line of Sight

The target of the spell is chosen by the magician if the preparation employed a command trigger, otherwise the spell hits the nearest viable target within line of sight. In either case, the spell’s range is limited to (Potency x Force) meters.

Area

The preparation is the center of the area of effect, and the radius is the Potency of the preparation in meters.