The Age of COnan
The Age of COnan
The Age of COnan
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Sorcerers and Magic<br />
All magic users in the Hyborian age, both scholarly (arcane) and clerical, are<br />
sorcerers. Even sub-classes such as Druids and Illusionists (above) use the<br />
same system for spellcasting, though they may have their own spell lists.<br />
Generally, spells that cure wounds are not available in a Hyborian <strong>Age</strong> game,<br />
though higher level spells such as Heal may be. Any kind <strong>of</strong> true resurrection<br />
or raising <strong>of</strong> the dead is not possible without powerful magical artifacts such<br />
as the Heart <strong>of</strong> Ahriman, and<br />
even then the magic is as<br />
likely to create an intelligent<br />
undead as it is to restore true<br />
life to the dead.<br />
For spells up to 9 th level,<br />
simply extrapolate from and<br />
continue the casting<br />
progression as shown in<br />
Chainmail, p. 33.<br />
Scrolls and Rituals<br />
While sorcerers are still<br />
restricted by their spell list as<br />
to the spells they can cast at<br />
will, it is possible for a<br />
sorcerer to attempt to cast a<br />
higher level spell using a<br />
ritual; this makes the seeking <strong>of</strong> ancient scrolls and books <strong>of</strong> power extremely<br />
palatable to a sorcerer, as a sorcerer can immediately cast any spell from a<br />
scroll or tome as a ritual by following the prescribed instructions therein.<br />
Casting the spell requires a standard casting check against the spell's level<br />
(complexity) as listed on the Chainmail casting matrix (Chainmail, p.33) and<br />
the ritual takes 10 minutes per level <strong>of</strong> the spell, minus the caster’s level. Thus,<br />
a second-level caster attempting a sixth-level spell requires a 40-minute ritual.<br />
<strong>The</strong> resulting save against corruption, however, suffers a penalty equal to one<br />
half the difference between the spell being cast and the maximum spell level<br />
the caster is able to normally cast (minimum <strong>of</strong> -1). Note that a sorcerer can<br />
also choose to cast any spell he has in his personal knowledge (ie. the spell is<br />
in his list <strong>of</strong> known spells), as a ritual, even if he has not prepared the spell for<br />
that day.<br />
Multiclassing<br />
Multiclassing is not an alien concept to D&D—Elves can advance as both<br />
Magic-Users and Fighting-Men, while Dwarves can advance as both Fighting-<br />
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