The Book of Knots - Jags

Book of Knots - Magicians
Binding Block
A Magician may use his
Binding directly against another
Magician’s Binding as a block.
This is done by bidding Stress.
The Blocking Magician pays
3 REA and makes an Occult
Skill roll. If made, he may bid
any number of Stress up to his
Threshold (initially). The target
Magician may bid to counter.
Each may only increase the
Stress by one pt each round.
Whoever wins pays the entire
Stress amount.
If the Blocking Magician won,
the target’s Binding Level is
reduced by 1⁄2 (round down) the
Blocking Magician’s level for
up to the Blocker’s WIL x 10
minutes.
Corruption
When a Magician’s defenses
fail entirely he becomes a
Hunger Disciple. These are
Infected beings who have
become Twisted in such a way
that they can Infect others
(although they usually must be
alone with the victim) or feed
on the Infected to prolong their
life. This transformation is not
simply a change to the subject’s
body: their psyche becomes shot
through with subtle fault-lines
and deep, disturbing, desires.
Hunger Disciples are explained
in more detail in the Creature’s
Appendix.
106
Twist Shadow
The third knowledge that Magicians learn is to “edit” their Shadows and
give them impossible abilities. This relies on an intuitive understanding
of the “literary nature” of Wonderland. This greatly improves what a
Shadow can be asked to do for the character. A Magician who is Twisted
will be able to manifest his abilities in his Shadow at will but Magicians
can learn some additional, specifi c, talents.
Unlike Sciomancy and Binding, Each Twist Shadow ability is purchased
separately. The cost is on a per-Twist basis and is determined either by
the Trick description or by the GM (if the Player wants something that is
not listed in the book).
Other Rules
Damage: Overdoing Magic
Since ancient times, Magicians have known that there are dangers to
doing too much magic. Working in the lower-spaces and working with
one’s Shadow makes the Magician vulnerable to certain infl uences.
Magicians who over-exert the bond between human and Shadow can
become Damaged. This is the same type of negative-twist that characters
without Survival Traits can get (although having a Survival Trait won’t
stop Damage from magical over-use).
Each trick has a certain “stress” which is applied to the character when
they do it: these points accumulate. When they exceed the Magician’s
Threshold, the Magician starts suffering Damage. Fortunately, in most
cases, Damage is not permanent and the effects can be fought off after a
day or two. Unfortunately, suffi cient abuse and bad luck can shatter the
protective Egg and the Magician that happens to will not recover!
Threshold: WIL + (Occult Skill Level 2 )
Example: A Magician with a 12 WIL and Level 3 Occult has a
Threshold of 21.
When the Magician performs a Trick, causing Stress, he adds that Stress
number to his total score. The negative effects of too much Stress don’t
happen immediately. About a minute or two after the use of magic
(usually after a magical battle) the total Stress accumulated is compared
to Threshold.
The Player has the option to either “reduce his Threshold” temporarily
(taking a few days to return to normal) or risk a WIL roll against
suffering Damaging Twists (or possibly even Corruption, the Magician’s
fate-worse-than-death).
The amount of Stress the Magician has above his Threshold is checked
on the chart below and the Magician can choose to reduce his Threshold
statistic by 1⁄4 per rank the results are reduced.