Magic System: Or what happens when gman gets bored.

[gman391]

Updated Sonic mitigations to the new system.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

To belatedly answer Ewuvi's questions:
For the first, we must await Slamu's judgement; the effects of the stats are up to him.
For the second, it makes no difference, as sorcery's costs are not affected by whether it is used on the living or not. Energy is energy, no matter where it is.

[serbii]

Matter is matter no matter what it is, but we still added the alchemy on the living cost because killing people was way too easy. A reasonably small change in temperature (5C?), certainly less than one step (300C) in the current system will overheat a brain and can cause permanent damage. Not to mention what happens to your proteins.

We nerfed alchemy as it was too easy to kill with it, I think sorcery should have the same cost.

[gman391]

Well I agree and if there are sufficient votes for it, I would add in Alchemy's wound system. Aldraia's point is that as currently written there is no extra Sorcery cost on the living. This is of course open to change.

[ewuvi]

I vote to add in the wound system for sorcery on the living. Should we use the 'steps' in sorcery on top of the wound cost, or...?

edit: due to the steps thing, and for the sake of needing only one sort of imbuement, how about the 'steps' are reduced to 1/10th (or maybe even less?) of their original when directly changing a human system?

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

I favor the reduction of step size over adding in the wound system; in my head, organic matter is harder to affect because it changes itself in a way inorganic matter does not, a difficulty that increases with how much you want to affect it, but my head does not accept that rationale for energy. A straighter difficulty spike owing to, I do not know, needing to work around all the various energy types flying around in a body, makes more sense to me.
...I realize that could have been more coherent; in my defense, I am in the final stages of migraine recovery right now.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

All right, we are in the middle of going over a large number of things, but we wanted to ask your opinion on Sorcery while we work on the other things, as we made a large number of changes.
The rewritten Sorcery subsystem is below; commentary on why it was done this way is after.

Spoiler: show

The first rule of Sorcery is that energy is never created nor destroyed, only altered and moved around.

Conversion:
Yes: +6
No: +2

Conversion means changing energy types, such as thermal to electrical or kinetic to sonic.

Power:
+1 for every step.

An energy step is 100 megajoules. So up to 100 megajoules is +1, 100-200 megajoules is +2, et cetera. A megajoule is equal to one million joules.
We realize that joules are not always intuitive, so these are the equations to determine how many joules you need for the effect you want for some of the more common energy types:
Chemical: One joule is equal to .000023901 kilocalories.
Electrical: One joule is the amount of energy required to pass a current of one ampere through a resistance of one ohm for one second.
Kinetic: One joule is equal to 1kg*m^2/s^2 of acceleration (so you take the number of meters-per-second to accelerate by, square it, and then multiply by the number of kilograms to be accelerated, and you need that many joules).
Luminous: Radiant energy, the objective measure of brightness, is measured in joules. However, since normal human eyes are more sensitive to certain lengths, objective brightness does not tell you exactly how bright the light will look. Take your best guess and try not to worry about it too much.
Sonic: Figure out how many decibels you want, then use this
http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/powe ... o_Watt.htm
to convert that into how many watts you need. (Or do it by hand if you want.) A watt is one joule per second, meaning you need that number of joules for every second you want the sound to last.
Thermal: For every degree Celcius you want to change the temperature, you need <the numerical value of the heat capacity of the substance to be heated or cooled> joules per gram of the substance to be affected.

The "volume affected" category was removed because in using joules, affecting a greater volume will cost more, so charging for volume a second time seemed unfair.
Energy type costs were limiting; removing them allowed for energy types which we did not think of to be used. The equations provided are merely the ones we think will be most likely needed.
Joules were used because that way there is only one step size definition; the old way was extremely clunky. Additionally, they allow for things like specific heat and electrical resistance to play a role, which should hopefully limit the issues that were raised regarding Sorcery having too low a cost to achieve fatal results. Should this prove insufficient, we have a backup plan almost finished.

Please test this out, see if any issues remain, and share your thoughts regardless of whether you find any.

[ewuvi]

Can you give an example of conversion and non-conversion spells? That sort of confuses me.

Also; while the old way was sort of clunky, and this seems more 'clear' in theory, applying it is probably going to be *way* more complex, to the point of being effectively useless. I actually prefer the old method.

Energy type restrictions actually remain basically the same with this, while making it a completely different system compared to the other ones.

The problem of it being 'too easy' to do sorcery on living people is also not fixed by this system. I think adding another qualifier like is in alchemy would *really* be the best way to go about it, or reducing the strength of each power step- less work for you, and the system is still relatively easy to work with.

I appreciate the effort you went through to do this, but I think that the simplest solution would really be the best solution for our 'sorcery troubles.'

[serbii]

I agree, this seems a lot more difficult to use.
While it addresses the issue of equivalent energies - basically giving the categories in joules rather than their respective, more commonly used units, it makes sorcery basically unusable without googling physics texts, looking up heat capacities, activation energies and basically maths.

I think actually casting anything with it would be fiddly and take more maths than you realise and the whole where you're drawing the energy from would be rather complex and difficult to justify. And the fact is, applying this seems confusing, especially the conversion. I know what these units actually are in terms of what's physically happening and am coming at this with a physics degree, and I still look at say, using chemical energy from the air to make force lightning and go '...yeah, too much effort'. Look up the electrical resistance of air, look up the amount of energy you can get from tearing apart nitrogen molecules (which is sort of alchemy anyway) etc etc.

To be honest I always saw sorcery as mana being converted to energy. So yes, you are making energy - from mana, not from nothing. That made it straightforward, this kept you from manipulating matter for a lot of your energy. The reason you can't do it with alchemy and make matter from nothing is the cost is so, so, so much higher.
1 gram of mass is equivalent to 8.98755179 × 10^13 joules
Note to the power of THIRTEEN, that is a big number.
Theoretically it is possible to make matter from magic but the cost is so phenomenal it's not practical in terms of throwing mana at it.


Uh yeah. So that on top of what ewuvi said. I think what we have, while not perfect, is better as this seems incredibly difficult to actually apply.
Sorry? >_< Thank you for your work and efforts!

[gman391]

Testing continues, problems continue to arise and be resolved, you know this dance by now.

As a note, the Headmaster still has the ability to veto spells if he or she feels like it (even if they worked before) and generally decree that things work some way other than that outlined here. Magic is a fickle ally, and there are more factors at work than we know...

Changes from the previous version:

Spoiler: show

Minor grammatical errors and wording oddities cleaned up.
The Headmaster has decreed that magic ignores conservation of matter and energy, as calculating the effects of having it has proven to be far too much like work.
Sorcery almost entirely overhauled.
Alchemical Mass is now calibrated in kilograms, and has different step sizes for living tissue versus nonliving substances, which replaces the living/nonliving cost category.
Alchemical Size has been renamed Volume and works on an objective rather than relative scale.
Alchemical Mutational Change and Disparity have been redefined slightly.
Enchantment’s Direction category redefined and Observation option added.
Opinions option added to Enchantment’s Aspect category; Fortitude option redefined and Fortitude cost modifier increased.
Nonsummons option added to Conjuration’s Summon Type category; some Summon Type costs adjusted.
Conjuration’s Size category renamed Volume and changed to an objective rather than relative scale.
All summons-based cost categories sorted into a Summoning track within the Conjuration track.
Spirit Possession charge removed.
Boost costs are now a general modifier.
Conjuration Range simplified.
Duration rules modified.
Permanency and Unlimited Range modifiers changed.
Distance category added to Thaumaturgy.
Previous Thaumaturgy: None cost removed.
Verbal mitigation scales by relevance as well as length.
Auditory mitigation does not count beats; it instead operates on an appropriateness scale. This was technically included in the previous revision, but was not properly documented, so it is mentioned here.
A notation on the application of sign language has been added to somatic mitigation.
Material mitigation is worth slightly more than previously.

Subsystem titles are bolded and underlined, with each subsystem placed in a separate spoiler to make it easy to look at just the parts of the system you need today. Category names are bolded, and each option in a category has its name in italics.

And now I present... the Scholomance Spell Creation System, Version 4!
As always, I want to thank Aldraia so much for all her help and hard work going into this system. Couldn't do it without you. -gman391

Cost Calculation

Before determining a spell’s cost, you have to define the target and the effect, as many of the variables depend on these. How you choose to define the target is as important as what the target is; for example, if the target is Shannon and the effect is “changes target’s hand into a bird’s claw”, then you define variables like Size according to Shannon’s size, but if the target is Shannon’s hand and the effect is “changes target into a bird’s claw”, then you define Size according to the size of Shannon’s hand. The spells do the same thing, but may have differing costs because they were defined differently.

Casting a spell always costs at least one point of mana. This “initiation cost” cannot be mitigated away. To determine whether you have overmitigated, if doing so is necessary, do not consider this point in the spell’s cost. Multiplier costs do not multiply initiation cost; it is added at the very end.

Sorcery

Spoiler: show

The cost of a Sorcery is based on two factors: the volume to be affected, and the power of the effect.

Volume:
+10 per cubic meter, divisible, or in other words, +1 per tenth of a cubic meter.

Power:
+1 for every step.

Owing to energy being incredibly hard to quantify in general terms that are also easily gauged, we are returning to the old method of separately defining steps per energy type. Step sizes are 1/100th as large for energy within a biological system.

Biochemical energy: One step is 2500 kilocalories.
Electrical energy: One step is 100 joules. If you want to mess around with voltage/amperage, note that the number of joules in an electric current is equal to volts*amps.
Kinetic energy: One step is 100 kg*m^2/s^2. (So, take the speed in meters-per-second you want to accelerate the target to, square it, and then multiply by the weight in kilograms of the target.)
Luminous energy: One step is 100 watts. Note that a 100-watt incandescent lightbulb actually gives off roughly 5-10 watts of light energy.
Sonic energy: The first step of sonic energy is 50 decibels; every step after that is three decibels. Normal human conversation is roughly 50-60 decibels on average.
Thermal energy: One step is 50 degrees Celcius. When working below 0 degrees C, each degree is counted x2.5.

Alchemy

Spoiler: show

An Alchemy’s cost is determined by the quantity affected, measured by mass and volume, with additional costs for certain types of effects.

Mass is defined according to how much something weighs under standard Earth gravity.

Mass:
+1 per 25 kilograms for living tissue; +1 per 50 kilograms for nonliving substances. Affecting both living and nonliving in the same spell can be accounted for by simply using the +1 per 50 step size and counting the weight of the living tissue as being double its actual value.

Volume is counted according to the object or substance’s current volume.

Volume:
+1 for half a cubic meter; each +1 after that gets you twice as much as the previous level.
So +2 for up to one cubic meter, +3 for up to two cubic meters, +4 gets you up to four, and so on.

Transmutation:
Yes: +8
No: +0

In addition, if performing Alchemy on a living organism, go through the following track; for Alchemy on the nonliving, skip on to general modifiers.

Alchemy on Living Organisms
First, determine whether you are healing/wounding the body or mutating it. (Mutations can be harmful or beneficial, depending on the type. No one will thank you for giving them gills if no water is nearby.)

If you are healing/wounding the body, determine the wound type. The more damage you add/remove, the more the spell costs.

Wound:
Trivial: +1 (Paper cuts/minor bruises and whatnot, will heal on its own in a few hours.)
Minor: +2 (Sprained wrists, or things of that nature. Painful, but nothing that will not heal on its own in a few days.)
Major: +4 (Broken limbs. Will heal, but will take weeks to do so,)
Severe: +8 (Broken spine or destroyed kidney. Survivable, but crippling wounds.)
Lethal: +12 (Heart attack, brain aneurysm. Not survivable without outside help.)

Mutation
Mutations are tracked by two different modifiers: how much of a change to the creature’s body it is, and how different the change is from what is normal for that creature.

Change:
Minor: +2 (Alterations that do not significantly change one’s size or weight, such as grafts or changes to coloration.)
Moderate: +4 (Alterations that do change size and weight significantly, but are still only modifications to extant features, such as growing or shrinking.)
Major: +6 (Alterations that require adding or removing entire body parts wholesale, such as new limbs or organs (this would also include replacing a lost limb or organ, such as if one had lost a hand and were trying to grow a new one) or the removal of limbs or organs (such as if one were shapeshifting from a tailed creature to one with no tail).

Disparity:
Slight: +2 (Alterations that do not go beyond the norm for the target’s species, such as minor changes in coloration or size.)
Moderate: +4 (Alterations that are still based on the features of the target’s species, but are not normal for it, such as additional eyes or growth exceeding normal limits.)
Massive: +6 (Alterations utterly foreign to the target’s species, such as the limbs or sensory organs of another species.)

Enchantment

Spoiler: show

The first step in Enchantment is deciding the spell’s direction: observation, gaining information about a person’s mind; projection, putting what you want into a person’s mind; or removal, taking what you want from a person’s mind.

Direction:
Observation: +1
Projection: +2
Removal: +3

Next, what part of the mind it affects. We apologize to any Psychology majors that the following category scars horribly.

Aspect:
Thoughts: +1
Senses: +1 per sense affected
Memories: +3
Opinions: +5
Beliefs: +7
Fortitude: +3

Current thoughts are easy to manipulate, as they are almost constantly in flux anyway.
It is difficult to manipulate every sense perfectly. However, individual senses are not hard to trick. So while each individual sense only costs +1, multiple senses cost as much as all of their individual costs put together. So a sight spell would cost +1, a sight and sound spell would cost +2, and so on.
Memory is the record of factual data, both personal memories and information. It is difficult to manipulate, as it is usually fairly ingrained into our minds.
Opinions are things like one’s general impression of another person, one’s favorite colour/food/book/et cetera, and so on. Things that are neither factual data (which falls under Memories) nor deep convictions vital to who the person is (those would be Beliefs).
Beliefs are deeply held parts of a person, the core principles or ideals that they hold dear, even if that principle is simply “Survive”. Changing these beliefs is incredibly hard because of how deeply ingrained these beliefs tend to be.
Fortitude is one’s general mental ability, things like thinking quickly or concentrating. It also includes the mental stats, Essence and Will.

The final stage is to determine how aware the target is of your efforts, and how willing they are.

Awareness:
Unaware: +1
Somewhat Aware: +3
Very Aware: +5

Unaware means that the target has no idea someone could be around to Enchant them, nor do they expect anyone to. This is admittedly rare in Scholomance, but it could happen. It also includes being asleep or unconscious, or heavily drunk/drugged.
Somewhat aware means that the target knows that Enchantment is a possibility and is on guard, but not actively searching.
If the target is very aware, they know that they are under attack right at that moment and are actively on the lookout for it.

Willingness:
Fully Willing: +1
Somewhat Willing: +3
Unwilling: +5

It is much easier to affect the mind of a willing target. However, the mind is subconsciously against this, so there will always be some resistance. As a side note, a person who is willing to allow you to perform mind magic on them is considered Unaware. Conversely, never add more than +3 for the unwillingness of an Unaware person, no matter how unwilling they are.

As a note, all animals that are not sapient (able to tell the difference between right and wrong) are assumed to be Unaware (Why would they expect magic mind attacks?) and Somewhat Willing, as they do not have a very strong will to fight back with.

Conjuration:

Spoiler: show

The first step in a Conjuration is to decide what you are Conjuring.

Summon Type:
Forces/Concepts: +8 (These are things like summoning gravity or death to do your bidding. Intangible things that do not have physical forms. As a note, summoning the anthropomorphic incarnation of Death or somesuch would include both this category and the next, and you would have to pay both costs.)
Beings: +4 (This would be your magical beasties and the like; anything both physical and alive.)
Objects: +1 (The inanimate; anything both physical and nonliving. Note that a talking sword would be an object, not a being.)
Nonsummon: +5 (Any Conjuration which does not directly summon something, such as establishing a portal or tessering.)

The second step is where you are Conjuring from and to. A Conjuration will affect a location or a number of locations; pay Origin for each location to be affected. Note that teleporting between two spots on a plane is considered to affect two separate locations, the start point and the end point, so one would have to pay Same Plane’s cost twice.

Origin:
Same Plane: +1
Identical Plane: +4
Similar Plane: +6
Dissimilar Plane: +8
Beyond: +11

Same plane means the plane you are currently on.
An identical plane is much like the one you are currently on, it just happens to not be the same plane. Our homeworld is considered this relative to Scholomance.
Similar worlds have some major differences but still run on (most of) the same basic principles. For example, your standard D&D world would be a Similar Plane to Earth.
Dissimilar worlds do not have much in common beyond still having life (usually) and some form of physics.
Beyond. This is essentially where the eldritch abominations find things to be freaky and possibly insane.

The third step is how much space is being affected by the spell. If summoning objects or creatures, total up the volume of everything summoned and pay for that much volume; if summoning forces or concepts, total up the volume of the space to be affected by the force or concept; if performing a nonsummoning Conjuration, simply total up the volume of the space to be affected by the spell.

Volume:
+1 per cubic meter affected, minimum +1.

If not summoning, you may move on to general modifiers now. If you are summoning, go through the summoning track.

Summoning

To summon a sapient being is more difficult than a nonsapient being, due to their struggling against it; note that a willing sapient is considered nonsapient for the purposes of this cost. (Also note that technically, it is entirely possible for an object to be sapient, if uncommon.)

Sapience:
Yes: +3
No: +1

Number
To summon multiple whatevers, add:
Objects: +1 per additional object.
Beings: +<Spell’s Volume cost modifier> per additional being, or +1 per additional being, whichever is greater.
Forces/Concepts: Cannot be done in multiples. Must be summoned individually.

To dominate a sapient you have Conjured, you must defeat it in a mental battle; consult the Headmaster. To dominate a nonsapient summon, no check is needed; you can do so automatically. You cannot, however, dominate something that has no mind, such as an ordinary book or table.
In addition, if dominating your summons, add +3 to the cost of the spell.

Domination:
Yes: +3
No: +0

General Modifiers

Spoiler: show

These apply to all spells.

Boost: For changes to the target’s numerical stats (Form, Endurance, Essence, Willpower). +3 per point of change.

Duration: +1 per five minutes for the first hour, +1 per 20 minutes for the next 4 hours, +1 per 40 minutes for the next 8 hours, +1 per hour after that. Instantaneous spells are +0 instead.
Note that intraplanar summoning’s Duration functions as Alchemy’s and Sorcery’s; Conjuration Duration otherwise functions as Enchantment’s.
For a permanent spell, instead of adding anything, multiply the spell’s total cost by 3 (apply this after Range if Range is finite).

Range: +1 mana per five meters of distance between the caster and the target, minimum +1. Affecting yourself, however, is +0 instead. Except for Conjuration. A Conjuration’s Range is the distance from the caster to the furthest point on the same plane affected by the spell.
If you want to not worry about a spell’s Range, calculate the spell as if the Range is Close (cost +1), then after everything else, including Permanency if applicable, multiply the cost by five.

Thaumaturgy

Spoiler: show

Thaumaturgy can be described as a means of preparing a spell and paying its mana cost in advance so that you can use it quickly and without fear of mana exhaustion when you need it. In order to do so, you must store the pre-prepared spell in an object. The item can also be made usable by someone else, should you wish it to be so.
A thaumaturgy is essentially a spell that contains another spell. The base spell is nested inside the thaumaturgy; the thaumaturgy is cast immediately so as to prepare the base spell to be cast later. As such, the activation cost must be paid for a thaumaturgy, just like any other spell.

Once a stored spell has been used, it is gone; each stored spell can only be used once. However, you can imbue a spell into an item, which is to regular storing what permanent spells are to nonpermanent spells.

Now, in general, when you store a spell, first you go through the entire process of calculating the spell’s cost normally, except you leave out the one mana of spell initiation, because you are not casting the spell yet. You then set that number aside and calculate the cost to store the spell.
At this stage, you can leave any variable “undefined”; if you do this, you pay the cost of that variable at casting instead of at storage, and also set the variable’s value at that time.
Example: You could store a fireball spell, but not specify a range; you would then have to specify a range when you used the spell and add the appropriate Range cost to the cost to use the item.

If you wish to predefine a target-based variable at storage, simply choose any value you like; this value is the upper limit of the spell’s effect. (For instance, you could predefine the Mass variable of an Alchemy spell as 300 pounds under Earth gravity; the spell would then affect any creature of that mass or less.)

There are two main divisions of spell storage:
Consumable Item: Something which is ingested/burned/otherwise used up in order to release the stored spell. A consumable item cannot have a spell imbued into it, nor can a spell stored in it have undefined variables. Examples: A potion which is drunk to receive its effect; a scroll which is burned to release the spell stored in it; a disk which is snapped in half to activate its spell.
Usable Item: Something which is triggered in a way that does not damage the item. Example: A wand which one waves while yelling “Fuego!” to cast its stored fire spell.

A consumable item costs +3 mana to create, while a usable item costs only +1. However, activating a usable item costs one mana just like initiating any spell, while activating a consumable item costs no mana.

Item Type:
Consumable: +3
Usable: +1

Previous Thaumaturgy:
+2 if the item already contains an identical spell (same effect, same parameters for things like range and duration, etc.; trying to store two ten-meter fireball spells in one rock, for example).
+3 if the item already contains a similar spell (not exactly the same effect, but sort of similar; two fire spells with different durations, say).
+4 if the item already contains a spell which is in the same school but otherwise dissimilar (a fire spell and a lightningbolt spell, for instance).
+6 if the item already contains a spell which is in a different school entirely (a fire spell and Shannon’s floor spear spell, for example).
Add twice as much if the previous spell is an imbued spell instead of a stored spell.
Note that these costs are cumulative; you must add to the mana cost for every spell stored in the object.

An illustration:
Suppose you have an amulet which contains a spell to throw lightningbolts, a spell to summon griffins, and a spell to throw fireballs. You wish to add to this amulet a spell that creates a wall of fire. You would need to add +13 mana in multistorage costs: +3 because of the fireball spell (still fire, but in a different shape and likely with differing range and duration), +4 because of the lightningbolt spell (same school, but different energy type), and +6 because of the summoning spell (different school).

Finally, you need to set a trigger for your stored spell. A trigger can be anything you like, as general or specific as you want: activates if anyone other than the maker picks it up, activates when the maker holds it in the light of the sun, activates when waved in the air while someone shouts “Hoogabooloo!”, activates when anyone holding/wearing/touching/near it wants it to, whatever. If it is a consumable item, this may include destroying, damaging, or using up the item; otherwise, the item will likely damage or destroy itself.

In general, there are two types of triggers, voluntary trigger and trap trigger. A voluntary trigger is something that the user does; a trap trigger is something that someone else, usually the target, does. A trap trigger spell must have all of its variables defined, including “costless” variables such as the shape of a fire spell (fireball, fire wall, et cetera) or the exact type of creature summoned by a Conjuration (griffin, hippogriff, et cetera). Trap triggers do not take any mana to activate, even if they are usable-type items. The caster of a voluntary trigger spell is the person who triggers it, while the caster of a trap trigger spell is the person who set the trap. However, the Range of a spell that has been stored or imbued is treated as if the item is the caster. A passive imbued spell does not have a trigger, but costs +3 to set.

Trigger:
Consumable: +0
Voluntary: +0
Trap: +2
Passive: +3

Voluntary or trap only matters for usable items; for a consumable item, the activation cost has already been prepaid and does not have to be paid again.

For every five meters of distance between the caster and the item to contain the thaumaturgy at the time of the thaumaturgy’s casting, add one to the cost of the spell.

Distance:
+1 per five meters.

To imbue a spell instead of merely storing it, calculate the total cost to store the spell, then quadruple that cost. This is the cost to imbue the spell.

Imbued spells come in two types, active and passive. The cost to imbue them is the same, but the effects are different:
An active imbued spell is exactly like a stored spell, except with infinite uses.
A passive imbued spell is always “on”, affecting whoever is holding/wearing/wielding/in range of the item in question. The cost of such a spell should always be calculated as if its duration is instantaneous.
A passive spell costs has no activation cost; it is essentially cast as it is imbued and remains activated permanently. It has no trigger.

Thaumaturgical costs can be mitigated just like any other part of the spell’s cost, but note that all mitigation is applied after all thaumaturgical modifiers.

Mitigation

Spoiler: show

Verbal Mitigators

Verbal mitigators are spoken words. The value of the mitigator depends on the length of the chant and its relevance to the spell. The chant must make sense and be applicable to the situation at hand.

Each phrase in the chant is graded by its appropriateness for the spell: very, somewhat, or mildly. Very appropriate phrases count for three times their actual wordcount. Somewhat appropriate phrases count for double the actual wordcount. Mildly appropriate phrases count their wordcount only once. Phrases with no relevance count for nothing at all.
Total the wordcount value of all of the phrases in the chant. This is your chant’s length. The total length of the chant determines how many steps of verbal mitigation you have, and thus how many points you receive.
The first step is 1-18 words. The maximum wordcount for each step after the first is then 18(step number)+(maximum wordcount for previous step). The minimum wordcount for each step is one greater than the maximum wordcount for the previous step.
For convenience, the first six steps have been laid out for you.
1 mitigation: 1-18 words
2 mitigation: 19-54 words
3 mitigation: 55-108 words
4 mitigation: 109-180 words
5 mitigation: 181-270 words
6 mitigation: 271-378 words
If you overrun the word limit for one step, the verbal mitigation defaults to the next.

Note that multiple people saying the same thing does not count for any more verbal mitigation than if one person said it, nor does repeating something count for more than saying it once.

Sonic Mitigators

This is any sound other than words. This includes things like bird calls or even nails on a chalkboard.
Sounds that do not contain words are sorted by appropriateness for the spell at hand.

Very appropriate: 4 mitigation.
Appropriate: 2 mitigation.
Mildly appropriate: 1 mitigation.

Examples:
Very Appropriate: A lullaby for a sleep spell.
Appropriate: General nighttime sounds for a sleep spell.
Mildly Appropriate: Something soothing for a sleep spell.

Somatic Mitigators

Somatic mitigators are positions or gestures - holding or moving your body a certain way. They are divided into major and minor. For example, a major position would be standing in a firebender’s stance while casting a fireball spell, while a major gesture would be making a chopping motion with your arm to generate a razor wind. A minor position would be, say, holding your hand in the sign for stop when making a time stop spell, while a minor gesture would be something like snapping your fingers for a sonic boom spell.

Position/Gesture:
Major: +2
Minor: +1

A note on sign language: Spellsigning is always considered verbal mitigation. If each handsign is a word on its own, then each may be considered a minor position, but only those words that are in and of themselves relevant to the spell may be counted in this way. Otherwise, again, sign language is counted as verbal.

Material Mitigators

Material mitigators are physical objects, symbols, or substances. They are divided into levels.
The levels for material mitigators are:

Very Minor: 1 mitigation: These are only tangentially related to the spell in question. As an example, if casting a scrying spell, using silicon beads as a mitigator. (Silicon is an ingredient in glass.)
Minor: 3 mitigation: These are connected, but not something you would normally think of using for the spell in question. Going back to the scrying example, using, say, a microscope.
Medium: 4 mitigation: These have a definite link, but lack a specialization to that particular spell. For example, for your scrying spell, you use a bowl of water. It is connected to scrying, but you could also use it for healing, potion making, etc.
Major: 5 mitigation: These are focused and connected to the spell in question, and thus very powerful. For example, using some of the herbs that the Oracle at Delphi used would be very useful for our scrying spell.
Very Major: 7 mitigation: These are permanently linked to a spell and cannot really be seen as useful for anything else. Going back to the scrying, having the skull of the Oracle at Delphi would be a great mitigator.

Locational Mitigation

Locational mitigation is casting in an environment that fits with a spell. For example, casting a fire spell is a lot easier in, say, a volcano, even without the added heat decreasing the Power required. This means picking your battleground is very important.

Location:
Very appropriate: 4 mitigation.
Appropriate: 2 mitigation.
Mildly appropriate: 1 mitigation.
Neutral: 0 mitigation.
Mildly inappropriate: -1 mitigation.
Inappropriate: -2 mitigation.
Very inappropriate: -4 mitigation.

Examples:
Very Appropriate: Summoning a dryad in a forest.
Appropriate: Summoning a dryad near a single tree.
Mildly Appropriate: Summoning a dryad in a grassy field.
Neutral: Summoning a dryad on dirt.
Mildly Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad on rocky ground.
Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad in a stone room or a cave.
Very Inappropriate: Summoning a dryad in a desert or volcano.

Thematic Mitigation:

Thematic mitigation is a theme within a single spell. For instance, doing everything in threes (saying the chant three times, using three of each material mitigator, et cetera). You need at least two things fitting the declared theme to get points for it; those two give you +1 mitigation total. This is on top of any mitigation they already grant you.

You can continue to add things that fit the theme to get additional mitigation, as follows:
1 additional thing (for three total items) gives you +1 mitigation. (1 thing over the previous level.)
3 additional things (for five total items) give you +2 mitigation. (2 things over the previous level.)
6 additional things (for eight total items) give you +3 mitigation. (3 things over the previous level.)
And so on. In general, each level of “thematicness” requires one more thing to reach from the previous level than the previous level did.

Multiple themes do stack, but the second theme requires twice as many things in all categories (four to count as a theme at all, two more for another +1, another four for the next +1, et cetera), the third three times as many (six to count, three for the extra +1, six for the next +1, et cetera), and so on.

And if all that is too confusing, an extensive thematic mitigation chart is available here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... TeWc#gid=0

Mastery

Each level of Mastery in a school gives you 1 point of mitigation for all spells in that school.
In addition, it expands the range of correct mana cost by +/- 1.
Example: Kirana has level 1 Alchemy Mastery. If she were casting an Alchemy spell that costs 15 points, she could spend and mitigate anywhere from 14 to 16 points of mana and that would count as perfectly meeting the cost. Her Mastery would also count as one point of that mitigation.

Multiple Casters

Each secondary caster in a spell may add as much of their own mana as they wish; each point of mana spent in this way adds 1 mitigation to the spell.

A person helping in this way may contribute as much mana as he or she wants. However, if someone contributes more mana than the caster, that contributor may attempt to take over the spell. Contested control is determined by Essence checks. If control is successfully wrested away, apply the new controller’s Masteries instead of the original caster’s, and allow the new controller to redefine the spell as they wish. Yes, this may result in the spell being over- or under-powered and requires recalculating everything. Sorry about that.

If a spell necessitates an Essence check other than contested control checks, such as domination of a Conjured creature, each person who contributes mana to the spell may add their Essence to either side of that check.

Note that you can also transfer mana from your own pool to someone else’s; doing so costs one point of mana for every point the target recovers. Giving someone so much mana that their current mana exceeds their maximum will result in whatever the Headmaster wants it to.

For convenience (mostly mine), a quick just-the-numbers outline of cost calculation is provided here.
School-Dependent Costs

Sorcery

Spoiler: show

Volume Affected:
+1 for every tenth of a cubic meter affected (so +10 per cubic meter, divisible), minimum +1.

Power:
+1 per: 2500 kcal, 100 joules, 100 kg*m^2/s^2, 100 watts, 50 degrees C (below 0 degrees counts x2.5); for energy in biological systems, step size 1/100th as big

Alchemy

Spoiler: show

Mass:
+1 per 25 kilograms for living tissue; +1 per 50 kilograms for nonliving substances.

Volume:
+1 for half a cubic meter; each +1 after that doubles the maximum allowed volume.

Transmutation:
Yes:+8
No: +0

Wound:
Very Minor: +1
Minor: +2
Major: +4
Severe: +8
Lethal: +12

Mutation Change:
Minor: +2
Moderate: +4
Major: +6

Mutation Disparity:
Slight: +2
Moderate: +4
Massive: +6

Enchantment

Spoiler: show

Direction:
Observation: +1
Projection: +2
Removal: +3

Aspect:
Thoughts: +1
Senses: +1 per sense affected
Memories: +3
Opinions: +5
Beliefs: +7
Fortitude: +1

Awareness:
Unaware: +1
Somewhat Aware: +3
Very Aware: +5

Willingness:
Fully Willing: +1
Somewhat Willing: +3
Unwilling: +5

Conjuration

Spoiler: show

Summon Type:
Forces/Concepts: +8
Beings: +4
Objects: +1
Nonsummon: +5

Origin:
Same Plane: +1
Identical Plane: +4
Similar Plane: +6
Dissimilar Plane: +8
Beyond: +11

Volume:
+1 per cubic meter affected, minimum +1.

Summoning

Sapience:
Yes: +3
No: +1

Number
Objects: +1 per additional object.
Beings: +<Spell’s Volume cost modifier> per additional being, or +1 per additional being, whichever is greater.
Forces/Concepts: Cannot be done in multiples. Must be summoned individually.

Domination:
Yes: +3
No: +0

General Costs

Spoiler: show

Boost:
+3 per point of change to a numerical stat.

Range:
+1 per five meters.

Duration:
+1 per five minutes for the first hour, per 20 minutes for the next four hours, per 40 minutes for the next eight hours, per hour afterwards.

Thaumaturgy

Spoiler: show

Item Type:
Consumable: +3
Usable: +1

Trigger Type:
Consumable: +0
Voluntary: +0
Trap: +2
Passive: +3

Previous Thaumaturgy (per previous spell):
Identical spell: +2
Similar spell: +3
Dissimilar spell: +4
Different school: +6

Distance:
+1 per five meters.

Imbued Spells:
x4 to final cost of thaumaturgy if imbued

For All Spells:

Initiation Cost: Pay one point of mana; this cannot be mitigated away.


Questions, comments, complaints?

[serbii]

Calculator is not set up for alchemy reactions over about 1km^3 of volume (1 billion m^3). I think the GM should be vetoing you if you're doing anything of this magnitude anyway.

A couple of things have been shuffled around.
Thamu... tha... item creation now sits below spell creation instead of at the bottom of the sheet.
'Is it in your mastery?' is now at the bottom of the mitigation section.
Thus everything adding, or taking away cost is together.
More subtotals throughout the sheet.

I would like to put in something for sorcery that means you can put the change you want in terms of Db/C/kJ/Joules/whatever depending on what energy type you select and it will calculate the steps for you. It's easier to implement for some energies than others (read: anything linear is easier to write for, so it's temperature and sound that actually require thought on my part.) So yeah, not there yet but may be in updated versions.

This system is for the most part, more straight forward in terms of maths, and there were a few improvements in terms of formulae and general things no one but me will notice, so fingers crossed there won't be too much debugging needed. (There will be something.)

As always spreadsheet is here.

Thank you to Aldraia and gman for their hard work.