SR5:Spells:Health

Health spells can heal physical injury, cure diseases (or inflict symptoms), detoxify poisons or drugs (or mimic their effects), and modify attributes. No techniques currently known to magic can erase Stun damage or cure psychological conditions. All health spells require the magician to physically touch the subject of the spell—this “laying on of hands” is traditional in magical healing lore the world over.

Most health spells are cast with a simple Spellcasting + Magic [Force] Test. Exceptions are listed in the spell descriptions.

Essence

Low-Essence characters are more difficult to affect with some health spells. It’s hard to put the body back into its natural state when that state has been unnaturally altered. In game terms, this means you take a dice pool modifier equal to the target’s actual Essence minus his maximum Essence (which will turn out to be 0 or a negative number), rounded up.

Antidote

ANTIDOTE
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 3	Source:Core

This spell helps a poisoned subject overcome a toxin. Casters use it after the target has been poisoned, but before the target needs to make her Toxin Resistance Test, based on the Speed of the toxin. Add the hits from this spell directly to the hits from the Toxin Resistance Test.

Cure Disease

CURE DISEASE
(ESSENCE)
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 4	Source:Core

This spell is used at any point after infection to help a patient overcome illness. The infected character receives a number of additional dice on her Disease Resistance Test equal to the spell’s net hits until the patient recovers (or dies). It does not heal any damage already inflicted by the disease (that requires a separate Healing spell).

Decrease Attribute

DECREASE [ATTRIBUTE]
(ESSENCE)
Type:P	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:S	Drain:F – 2	Source:Core

This spell weakens the target by decreasing a designated Attribute. A version of this spell exists for each Physical and Mental attribute, but not for Special attributes (Initiative, Edge, Essence, Magic, or Resonance). It affects both natural and augmented Attributes.This spell is cast with an Opposed Spellcasting + Magic [Force] v. (targeted Attribute) + Willpower Test. If the magician wins, the Attribute is reduced by the spell’s net hits. If a Physical Attribute is reduced to 0, the victim is incapacitated and paralyzed. If a Mental Attribute is reduced to 0, the victim stands still, mindlessly confused. Decreasing an Attribute also affects any other derived statistics that use it (for example, if Reaction or Intuition is lowered, Initiative is lowered as well) as long as the spell is sustained.

Detox

DETOX
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 6	Source:Core

Detox relieves the side effects of a drug or poison. The Force of the spell must equal or exceed the toxin’s base DV. A single hit is sufficient to eliminate all symptoms. Detox does not heal or prevent damage done by toxins, but it eliminates any side effects they may have on the victim (dizziness, hallucinations, nausea, pain, and so forth). Detox is the hangover cure of choice among those who can afford it.

Heal

HEAL
(ESSENCE)
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 4	Source:Core

Heal repairs physical injuries. It heals a number of boxes of Physical damage equal to the spell’s hits from the Spellcasting Test. Hits can also be used to reduce the base time for the spell to become permanent; each hit spent this way shaves off 1 Combat Turn (you can split hits between healing and reducing time).

Any boxes of Physical damage your target still has after any boxes are healed magically can only be healed by time and rest.

Increase Attribute

INCREASE [ATTRIBUTE]
(ESSENCE)
Type:	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:	Drain:F – 3	Source:Core

This spell increases an Attribute (natural or augmented) on a voluntary subject. A version of this spell exists for each Physical and Mental attribute, but not for Special Attributes (Initiative, Edge, Essence, Magic, or Resonance). The Force of the spell must equal or exceed the (augmented) value of the Attribute being affected. The Attribute is increased by an amount equal to the hits scored, up to the target’s augmented maximum (any hits that would increase the Attribute beyond its augmented maximum are ignored). Each Attribute can only be affected by a single Increase Attribute spell at a time.

Note that increasing an Attribute may affect other derived statistics (Increase Reaction also affects Initiative, for example, while Increase Body adds extra boxes to the character’s Physical Condition Monitor for as long as the spell lasts).

Increase Reflexes

INCREASE REFLEXES
(ESSENCE)
Type:P	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:S	Drain:F	Source:Core

This spell increases the initiative of a subject. Each hit rolled on the Spellcasting Test adds +1 to the target’s Initiative, and every two hits adds one Initiative Die. A character can only be affected by a single Increase Reflexes spell at a time, and the maximum Initiative Dice anyone can have is +5D6.

Oxygenate

OXYGENATE
Type:P	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:S	Drain:F – 5	Source:Core

This spell oxygenates the blood of a voluntary subject, providing extra Body dice (1 die for every hit) to resist suffocation, strangulation, the effects of inhaled gas, or any other effect of oxygen deprivation. The spell also allows the subject to breathe underwater.

Prophylaxis

PROPHYLAXIS
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:S	Drain:F – 4	Source:Core

This spell provides an extra die per hit for a subject to resist infection, drugs, or toxins. The spell does not discriminate between harmful and beneficial drugs, so the subject also resists medicines and other helpful drugs while under its effects. Reduce the bonuses of a beneficial drug by 1 for every hit rolled in the casting; three or more hits block effects that do not have a bonus or penalty associated with them.

Resist Pain

RESIST PAIN
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 4	Source:Core

Resist Pain allows the subject to ignore the pain of injuries, reducing penalties from Physical or Stun damage. Each hit on the Spellcasting Test removes the effect of one box of damage from each of the subject’s Condition Monitor tracks. It does not remove the damage itself; it only eliminates the modifiers. If all of the boxes on the track are filled, the character still falls unconscious.

The spell is permanent in that the boost to the patient’s endorphin levels does not wear off. If the subject’s damage rises above the level at which the patient is resisting pain or if the existing injuries heal, the spell dissipates. A person can only be under the effects of one Resist Pain spell at a time (the one with the most hits).

Stabilize

STABILIZE
Type:M	Range:T	Damage:
Duration:P	Drain:F – 4	Source:Core

When applied to a character with a filled Physical damage track, this spell stabilizes all vital functions and prevents the character from dying. The spell’s Force must equal or exceed the overflow damage already taken when the spell starts. The full time must be taken for the spell to become permanent before the character is truly stabilized; hits reduce the time it takes by 1 Combat Turn each. If successful, the spell prevents the character from taking further damage from Physical Damage Overflow (p. 209).