Builder's Manual · Chapter 6

Spells and Powers

Folk magic and superpowers are two different traditions in the fiction, but they lean on nearly the same file shape: spell (name, image, traits, description) and power (name, image, description only — no traits). Both live under /Magic and Powers/, in their own subfolders, and both are what a character.powers reference field points at — see Characters for how a character picks up either type in one array.

Spells

Every file in /Magic and Powers/Spells/ is a folk-magic spell cast with the Magic skill (see <@Magic.skill>). Two fields carry the mechanics:

  • traits — a comma-separated list drawn from the fixed vocabulary in <@Magic.rule>: Concentration, Instant, Ranged, Resist (Endurance, Evade, or Willpower), Touch. Write it exactly as it reads on <@Heal.spell> or <@Bladesharp.spell> — "Instant, Touch", "Concentration, Resist (Willpower)". This is free text, not a reference or enum, so nothing stops a typo, which means a new trait word here that isn't one of the five documented ones will read as flavor rather than as a rule the Games Master can act on. If you need a genuinely new trait, add it to <@Magic.rule> first, then use it in spell files.
  • description — full effect text, matching the terse, procedural voice of the existing spells: what happens on a hit, what it costs beyond the standard 1 Magic Point, any duration that overrides the scene-length default.

All Imperative folk spells default to Intensity and Magnitude 1 per <@Magic.rule> — that's stated once in the rule file, not repeated in every spell's description. Don't re-derive it per spell unless a specific spell is an exception, and say so explicitly if it is.

Powers

Every file in /Magic and Powers/Superpowers/ is a superhero core power. There's no traits field here — Boosts and Limits are written directly into description as their own labeled paragraph, exactly as <@Flight.power> does:

Gain a flight speed equal to POW in metres...

**Boost**: Spend 3 Power Points during an aerial Move action to...

Keep that convention: base effect first (no roll, no Power Point cost — core powers are always-on or free-to-activate per <@How Powers Work.rule>), then a bolded **Boost**: paragraph for any point-costed stunt layered on top. A power can have more than one Boost paragraph; it should have at most one core effect.

Choosing spell vs. power for something new

If the source of the ability is trained magic requiring the Magic skill and a Magic Point cost per casting, it's a spell. If the ability is always-on or freely activated, keyed to POW plus a linked Characteristic (CON for physiology, INT for tech) rather than a trained skill, and spends Power Points only for Boosts, it's a power. Don't blend the two mechanics inside one file type — a "spell" that's always active or a "power" that needs a skill roll will confuse a player reading the Magic and Superpowers handbook chapter, which teaches these as genuinely separate systems.

Adding a new entry

  1. Pick the folder by tradition (spell vs. power), not by theme — a fire-magic spell and a fire-elemental power both exist and look nothing alike mechanically.
  2. Match field content to the existing files' register and, for spells, stick to the five documented Magic Traits unless you're deliberately extending the rule.
  3. No character needs to reference the new file immediately, but once it's available to the setting, add it to whatever culture, career, or GM instruction grants it.
Manual updated Jul 30, 2026.