Mage Circles

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Celegian Mage Circles

Three millennia ago, the then-northern provinces of the Celegian Empire rebelled, precipitating the horrifying Nightmare Wars. The Northern Provinces faced an unhappy truth: the Celegian Legions were as vast then as they are now. The northern provinces did not have the manpower to counter armies numbering over ten million soldiers. To prevent their defeat the North lands desperately began using mages extensively in combat. The North lands had been far more liberal in their usage and treatment of sorcery for several centuries as they became more isolated from the capital. As the war progressed, the Celegians countered with more mages of their own. To preserve their magical advantage, the North land Sorcerers Guild exploited the well-known principle of aural resonance.

The desperate mages created spells which would link the individual auras of mages together through the Astral and Ethereal Planes. In most cases of linkage this has detrimental effect, leading to insanity, madness, despair, death, or worse, with a few exceptions. It had long been known that any three compatible auras could feed positively, tending to increase alertness and efficiency. Normally only extraordinarily sensitive individuals could ever detect any differences. In the new linking spells, three was found to be the "magic number." Further investigation found that nine auras could also be linked successfully, with even greater impact than for three, although the creation of such a linkage was much more difficult. In theory, a group of twenty-seven could be formed, although the difficulty in so doing could best be described as forbidding. Those within such linkages receive many benefits, although there are also restrictions.

In order for any of the benefits to be gained, all of the persons planning to enter the circle must spend one week resting, meditating, and studying together. They all then must cast the Circle spell simultaneously. The Circle spell has a chance of failure, which must be checked for each person casting. If any of the spells fail, the linkage is unsuccessful, and will never be successful with that group, even if tried again. This chance of failure per person is 10% if the circle has three members, or 30% if the circle has nine members. Thus 73% of three member circles succeed, while only 4% of nine member circles succeed. Any type of arcane mage may link in a circle with any other, as the important aspect is the aura, not the type of caster. The strength of the aura is important, however, and all members of a Circle must remain within three caster levels of the Circle's level, which as a Cohort, is defined as a maximum of two less than highest member of the Circle. If this rule is broken, the Circle still exists, but al benefits stop working until the rule is satisfied by advancing the lower member(s) or reducing the higher member(s). Some prestige classes are not counted as arcane for purposes of this metric, which is noted in the description of each prestige class.

Once a circle is established, every member must be on the same plane and within 30 feet of all other members to gain any benefits. If so, then all members cast spells as if they were one caster level higher. Charms, suggestions, illusions, etc. must successfully affect all members of the circle, or none of them will suffer any effects. Memorizing spells while in the circle takes only one-third the time as normal in a Circle of three or one-ninth the time in a Circle of nine. Lastly, creating magical items goes much better. The time taken to create any item is greatly reduced, with all listed times being reduced by a factor of ten for a circle of three or one hundred for a circle of nine. It is quite possible for a Circle of Nine to create several items in a single day. A mage Circle is treated as a cohort and the circle itself earns experience any time one of its members does so. This pool of experience points can be used by the members of the Circle (all must consent) to pay the experience cost of any items created. Otherwise, each member of the circle pays one third or one ninth (round up) of the XP cost of created items. Only one of the members of the circle need have an item creation feat to allow the entire circle to work on creating an item of that class.

Furthermore, in Celegia by means of a Mage Circle is it possible to cast Epic Spells. Individual mages in Celegia may cast Epic Spells as per the usual Epic Rules(see exception below), but Mage Circles may use their Circle's cohort XP to pay for such spells. This can and will reduce the Circle's effective level, so should be approached with caution. Even better, when a Mage Circle casts an Epic Spell, the ranks of all the members Spellcraft Skill is added together to determine the spell check. This effectively multiplies the Spellcraft checks of a circle of three by a factor of three, and a Circle of Nine by a factor of nine! In Celegia, a single mage can cast one Epic spell per day for each ten character levels she has above 10. So, 1 per day from 20th to 29th level, 2 per day from 30th to 39th, etc. mages in a Mage Circle can cast many, many more than that. A mage in a Mage Circle adds the level of the Mage Circle Cohort to their level for purposes of this check.

Once focused a circle is permanent until the death of a member. This event severs the linkage and cancels the circle. A period of time equal to a full week must pass after either a failed attempt to form a circle or a circle is broken before any person involved may attempt to join another circle. If a slain mage is resurrected or re-incarnated, the circle is still broken and must be re-formed. In this special instance, the only Circle spell which can fail is that of the deceased member, making it much more likely to reestablish a broken circle than to start a new one.