FUDGE: Freeform, Universal, Donated Gaming Engine -- Addenda A

A Free Role-playing Game (RPG).

By Steffan O'Sullivan

Version: December 7, 1993

Table of Contents

7 Addenda

The Addenda consist of a variety of supplementary material for FUDGE.

Chapters 2 through 5 represent plain, vanilla FUDGE - here you can find and create fancier fare. If you pass FUDGE around, please add any customization to this chapter (quoting Section number and name, such as 2.33, Gifts), rather than change the original. Suggestions for a specific genre also go in the Addenda. Examples: a list of sample superpowers, or a list of guns and their damage.

Please include a date and credit (your name) for the change, and, if possible, notify Steffan O'Sullivan, the original author of FUDGE, via the Internet (to sos@oz.plymouth.edu) or via the Post Office (c/o Wild Mule Games, P.O. Box 838, Randolph, MA 02368).

7.1 Sample Magic System: FUDGE Magic

Date: November, 1992 to November, 1993
By: Steffan O'Sullivan

Here is a sample magic system, based on the following premises mentioned in Section 3.5, Magic:

Who can cast: Magicians only (supernormal power needed).

Levels of Power: yes. There are two game effects: the greater the power, the easier it is to cast more powerful spells; and power levels act as a reserve in case of severe failure, which temporarily drains Power. Voluntarily draining a level of Power can also guarantee success for one spell.

Source of Power: manipulation of local area mana.

Reliability: Fair.

Time to cast spells: depends on potency of spell (one minute to days). This can be speeded up by taking a penalty to the roll.

Spells: improvised. Exact wording isn't important, so magic books tend to be collections of effects, not formulae.

Material Components: none needed, but good use can give a +1 bonus to skill.

Drawbacks: casting non-trivial spells is fatiguing; severe failure causes distress.

Societal constraints: none - magic is rare, but not unheard of.

This system is based on the conviction that a player using magic should never be blase: there should always be some tension and excitement when a character casts a spell, or the magic has gone out of the game. Too often in a roleplaying game, the player running a magician uses tried-and-true spells so regularly that spell-casting becomes mundane. Since "mundane magic" seems a contradiction in terms, FUDGE Magic attempts to instill a little excitement into spell-casting.

There are many ways to achieve this. FUDGE Magic has chosen the following limitations:

  1. The mana available for a specific spell result gradually becomes depleted in a given area. That is, casting two fireballs in a row is harder than casting one fireball and one lightning blast, for example.
  2. Magic is an untamable force; there is a skill cap for casting spells.
  3. Magic is somewhat risky to use - there are penalties for severe failure.
Options are provided to alter these limitations, for any GMs who disagree with them. In fact, Section 7.193, Spell-Casting Skill Alternatives, is essential for Faerie races and demigods, who have much more dependable magic powers than humans. (However, such characters would have to buy it normally if using the Objective Character Creation system, unless the GM is very generous. Taking some faults to balance such Powers is quite in keeping with the nature of demigods and Faerie races.)

See Section 6.31 for sample characters using FUDGE Magic.

7.11 Magic Potential

Magic Potential is a Supernormal Power. (A suggested cost in the Objective Character Creation system is two gifts for each level of Magic Potential. This can be reduced in a magic-rich campaign.) A character with at least one level of Magic Potential (usually abbreviated to Potential, sometimes simply called Power) is referred to as a "magician" in these rules - substitute your favorite word. Only magicians may cast spells. (However, see Section 7.192, Magicians & Non-Magicians, for other options.) Magic Potential may be taken more than once, but each level counts as a separate supernormal power.

Each level of Magic Potential must be bought as a specialization. Specializations can be suggested by the player or set by the GM. (In the latter case, she should make a list of acceptable magic specializations.) The categories can be as broad or as narrow as the GM wishes - the broader the terms, the more powerful the magicians.

Examples of specialized Potential: Alter Inanimate Material, Augury, Combat Magic, Communication Magic, Defensive Magic, Elemental Magic, Flying Magic, Healing Magic, Illusion, Information-Gathering Magic, Mind Control, Necromancy, Only Affects Living Beings, Only Affects Sentient Beings, Only Affects Technological Items, Shapeshifting, White Magic (cannot harm anyone, even indirectly), etc.

A character may have Power levels in more than one specialization, unless the GM disallows it for some reason. Certain disciplines may have societal constraints: in most cultures, studying Necromancy is offensive and probably illegal. Mind Control, Invisibility, Teleportation, Illusion Magic, etc., might all be limited to government-approved magicians, at best. It's even possible that such magicians will be outlaws. Anything that can be used easily to commit a crime (especially assassination or thievery) will be difficult, if not impossible, to learn openly in most cultures. If a given culture allows such magic openly, it is sure to have powerful defenses against being damaged by it.

Very narrow specializations should probably cost less than one supernormal power: perhaps each very specialized Potential is worth one gift.

In order to cast a spell of a given result, the magician must have at least +1 Potential specialized in that type of magic (on the character sheet, that is: he may be temporarily reduced to 0 Potential). Someone with +1 Potential: Combat Magic and +2 Potential: Information-Gathering Magic could not cast a spell to control someone's mind, for example.

Failing a spell miserably causes the temporary loss of a level of Magic Potential (see Section 7.15, Resolution). When this happens, the magician faints for at least one combat round. He needs a Good Constitution roll to wake up (roll each round). When he comes to, the magician may function normally, even attempting to cast the same spell again - if he hasn't dropped below 0 Potential.

If a magician has two or more types of Potential that are appropriate for the spell being cast, and a loss of Potential is called for, the GM decides which type of Potential is reduced. For example, if a magician has one level of Combat Magic and two levels of Fire Magic, and fails miserably on a fireball spell, the GM could say that he has lost either his one level of Combat Magic or one of his Fire Magic levels, but not one of each.

If a magician drops to -1 Potential in any given specialty, he immediately falls into a coma, lasting anywhere from an hour to a day (GM's decision). When he wakes, he must roll against his Constitution: on a Mediocre or worse roll, he takes a point of damage. He checks Constitution again at the end of every day he is active - a failed result means another point of damage. These wounds cannot be healed until he recharges his Magic Potential back up to level 0.

A magician with 0 Potential may still cast spells; a magician at -1 Magic Potential, however, cannot attempt any magic spells that would involve that specialty. He may still cast spells of another specialty. For example, a magician who falls to -1 Encyclopedic Magic can no longer cast a spell that allows him to open his blank book and read the encyclopedia entry on a specified topic that would magically appear. But he can still cast spells using his Animal Empathy Magic, allowing him to call and converse with wild animals, provided that Potential is still 0 or greater. He must still make a Constitution check for every day he his active, however, to see if his -1 Encyclopedic Magic Potential is causing him wounds.

Magic Potential may be recharged only by resting for one week per level. (GMs may alter this time to taste, of course: resting for one day might be sufficient for more epic campaigns.) For example, a magician falls to -1 Potential. Resting one week will bring him up to 0 Potential (and cure any wounds incurred by being active while at -1 Potential). A second week of rest will bring him up to +1 Potential.

However, no character may gain Magic Potential levels beyond his starting level (except through Character Development - see Chapter 5).

7.12 Spells

When a magician wishes to cast a spell, he describes the result he has in mind. The GM assesses how powerful such an effect would be, based on how prevalent magic is in her campaign. In a low-magic campaign, even a simple spell such as levitating the jail keys to an imprisoned character would be taxing. In a high-magic campaign, however, that would be a trivial spell, and even shooting forth a flash of lightning from a fingertip wouldn't be out of the ordinary.

The potency of the spell also depends on the magician's appropriate Power level. A recommended medium is three levels of Power in a given specialization. This means a magician with three levels of Power governing the spell in question has no modifier. (Note that the levels of Power in question do not have to be all of the same specialization so long as they all govern the spell in question. For example, a spell to make a sword fly up and attack a foe could be governed by Flying Magic, Combat Magic, and Control Inanimate Material. If a mage had one level of each of those types of magic, the spell would be of average potency for him.) A spell is more difficult for a magician with less than three levels of an appropriate Power. Likewise, a magician with four or more appropriate Power levels treats a spell as more trivial than it would be for an average magician.

Spells may then be either Trivial, Average, or Potent. (They may also be Very Trivial, or Very Potent, if the GM wishes. In fact, the players will undoubtedly propose truly awesome spells, which should be labelled as Extraordinarily Potent, or with some other impressive adjective.) The GM tells the player what the potency of a proposed spell is - any magician character would have a fairly good idea of a spell's potency.

The spell's potency determines the Difficulty level. A spell of average potency has a Fair Difficultly level, while a Potent spell has a Difficulty level of at least Good. Likewise, a Trivial spell has a Difficulty level of Mediocre or Poor.

The GM also decides the duration of the spell, if it succeeds - seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. The character may try to adjust this, subject to GM approval. For example, the magician can voluntarily take more fatigue or reduce the scope of the effect - or accept some other penalty - to lengthen the spell's duration. Rolling a higher relative degree can also mean the spell lasts longer. Some spells might have permanent effects: healing (until wounded again), busting a hole in a wall (until repaired manually or by magic), teleporting to a distant place (until you come back), and so on. Of course, even these spell effects may be temporary in a given GM's world: healing only lasts a day and the wound reappears, or a hole in the wall fixes itself after a few minutes, or a teleported person automatically returns after an hour in the other location . . .

The GM also needs to determine if there are any drawbacks to casting a spell. FUDGE Magic assumes that spells are tiring to cast, and a magician reduces his Fatigue attribute when casting. The more potent the spell, the more the fatigue. (Fatigue is regained by resting, of course. If Fatigue goes below Terrible, the character passes out. The GM may have separate Fatigue attribute, or base it on Endurance, Constitution, Strength, etc.)

A GM who dislikes the idea of keeping track of fatigue can change the drawback to something else. Perhaps a magician has a limited number of spells he can cast in a day (or in an hour). In this case, he may have a Spell Point attribute, which is drained by spell casting and regained simply by the passage of time. (A trivial spell might not drain any Spell Point levels, while an average spell might drop a magician from Good Spell Points to Fair, for example, and more potent spells drain 2 or more levels at a time.) Draining spell points would not necessarily make the magician tired in this case, and Spell Points would regenerate whether the magician was resting or not. (Or they might only regenerate with sleep.) Or maybe each spell affects his Sanity attribute, and he needs to convalesce to restore it. (Reduced Sanity can manifest in many amusing ways in the meantime, of course!)

7.13 Mana

Mana is an energy source capable of manipulating matter, time and space. It can be tapped only by those with Magic Potential.

The GM determines the availability and density of mana in a given game world, just as she does the average potency of a spell. Mana density can affect two things: how large an area is needed to fuel a given spell effect, and (optionally), how easy or hard it is to cast a spell.

When a spell of a particular effect is cast, the magician draws a specific type of mana to him to create the effect. The next time this same effect is desired, it will be harder to do: he has drained some of that mana type in the local area.

The size of the area is defined by the GM. For most fantasy worlds, assume it's about 50 yards or meters in diameter. In a low-level magic campaign, the area might be the size of town or even city. (This would give meaning to the old line, "This town ain't big enough for both of us" - dueling wizards!) On the other hand, a high-level magic campaign might be so mana-rich that the magician can simply take a step or two and be in a new area. Note that the area governs which spells can be cast without penalty: if one magician casts a healing spell, a second magician will be at -1 to cast a healing spell in the same area within the next 24 hours. (Mana may recharge at a different rate in a given game world, of course.) Note also that a magician may be unaware of what spells were cast in an area before he arrived . . .

In a mana-rich area, spells may also be easier to cast: +1 or +2 to skill level. Likewise, in a mana-poor area, spells can be harder to cast: -1 or more. The GM decides if this rule is in effect.

Mana is probably very dispersed and weak in a world such as modern Earth. The average fantasy game world will have much stronger mana, and some high-magic campaigns will simply reek of mana. But even in a given world, it is possible to vary the amount of mana. Some lands may be mana-rich, while neighboring countries are mana-poor. Mana may flow in currents, or tides with the phases of the moon. There may be "rogue" mana streams that change course and invade new areas, or a mana drought may afflict a given locale. Astrological alignments can affect mana, too - thus even here on mana-poor Earth there will be places and times of the year when cultist gather to call forth unseen powers . . .

A PC magician would know the general mana level for at least his home area. He may or may not know whether it fluctuates periodically, or if far lands have different mana levels. In order to determine the mana level of the local area at a given time, a magician must cast a spell specifically to that end.

7.14 Skill

Spell-casting is a skill that must be learned. The default is Non- Existent, and, due to the element of uncertainty in FUDGE Magic (mentioned in Section 7.1, FUDGE Magic), the maximum base skill level is Fair. This cannot be raised permanently - but see Section 7.193, Spell-Casting Skill Alternatives.

One generic Spell-Casting skill is assumed, but the GM may require more if she breaks magic down into different types. It should cost one level just to get a Spell-Casting skill at Terrible.

Spell-casting skill may be modified (to a maximum of Great) by the following:

Taking an average time to cast a spell:
+0. (Note: the GM assesses the average time for any given spell proposed. Potent spells might take all day, or even longer, while Trivial ones might take one to five minutes.)
Taking a long time to cast a spell carefully:
+1. (Relative to each spell, of course. For a Trivial spell, this might mean taking a half an hour or more.)
Casting a spell much more quickly than normal:
-1. (For a Trivial spell, this could mean as quickly as one combat round of concentration.)
Using normal effort to cast a spell:
+0.
Using extra effort to cast a spell (more fatigue than normal, or counts as two spells cast if there is a limit per day, or reduces Sanity more than normal, etc.):
+1 or +2.
Using less effort than normal to cast a spell:
-1 or more. (Reduced fatigue, or it only counts as half a spell against a daily limit, etc.)
First spell-casting of a particular effect in a given area within 24 hours:
+0. (See Section 7.13, Mana, for the size of an area.)
Additional spell-castings of a particular effect in a given area within 24 hours:
-1 per casting.
For using authentic magic formulae:
+1. (The Law of Contagion or the Law of Similarity, for example - see James Frazer's classic anthropological study, The Golden Bough. Both Laws
require some physical component: a feather to cast a flight spell, a piece of the subject's hair to heal or hurt her, a drop of water that becomes a water jet, a stick that becomes a staff, a bearskin to change the magician into a bear, etc. Drafting the spell in poetical form might also earn +1 level, if the GM is willing.)
Multiple magicians casting a spell that they have all tried before:
+1 (for 2 to X magicians) or +2 (for more than X magicians). (X is set by the GM, anywhere from two to ten, or even more for low-magic campaigns. One magician is assumed to be the primary caster: roll only once against his skill.)
Mana-rich area:
+1 or +2 (optional).
Normal mana area:
+0
Mana-poor area:
-1 or more (optional).

Other modifiers may also apply, such as in a spell to search the mountains magically for someone you love (+1) or searching for someone you've never met (-1).

7.15 Resolution

Each spell is then resolved as an Unopposed action: the Difficulty level is dependent on the spell potency. Spells of average potency have a Difficulty level of Fair, while more trivial spells have difficultly levels of Mediocre or Poor. (No spell has a Difficulty level of Terrible - magic just doesn't work at that level.) More potent spells have Difficultly levels of Good to Superb, or even beyond Superb if a truly powerful effect is desired.

If the magician surpasses the Difficulty level, the spell occurs as he described it. The better the relative degree, the better the result. The magician suffers -1 (or more) to his Fatigue attribute if the GM deems the spell is fatiguing. (If the GM has chosen some other drawback, of course, that is applied instead.)

Sometimes a skill roll is then needed to do something with the end result of a spell. For example, a fireball needs to be thrown accurately: use the Throwing Skill and Ranged Weapon rules in Chapter 4.

If the magician equals the Difficulty level, then a watered-down version of the spell occurs. Either it will have a very short duration, or reduced potency, or there is a time lag before the spell takes effect, etc. There may be an unexpected side effect, though it won't be harmful to the magician. There is no penalty for the magician beyond a possible -1 or -2 to Fatigue, at worst.

If the magician rolls below the Difficulty level, however, he is adversely affected. The energy inherent in mana lashes out at the magician's psyche instead of being focused as desired. There may (or may not) be some visible magical effect, but it will not be the desired effect, and, if he rolled poorly enough, it may even be inimical to the magician's goals - or health. . .

On a failed roll, the magician is stunned for one combat round (no actions or defense) and takes at least -1 Fatigue. A Terrible result always fails.

If he rolls a result of -4, the spell automatically fails (no matter what the resulting level) and he also temporarily drains one level of his Magic Potential - see Section 7.11, Magic Potential, for effects. (This is the "riskiness" of magic mentioned in Section 7.1, FUDGE Magic.) Examples: Barney casts a spell, Create Pizza, of Average potency in a normal mana area and gets -3: a Terrible result. The spell fails and Barney is stunned for a combat round, but he does not drain a level of Magic Potential because he did not roll a -4. Later, in a mana- rich area (+1 to cast), Barney takes a long time (+1) to cast Detect Food, a very Trivial spell (Poor result or better needed for success). He has temporarily raised his skill to Great, the maximum allowed. He rolls a -4 result, which is a Poor rolled result. Although the rolled degree is good enough to cast the spell, Barney still fails because he rolled a -4 result. Barney not only doesn't detect any food, he also exhausts 1 level of Magic Potential - ouch!

7.16 Personal Magic Resistance

If the spell is one which attempts to Control another being - either mentally, physically or spiritually - Opposed action rolls are also called for. First, the magician casts the spell (as above); then he has to overcome the Personal Magic Resistance of the subject. Magic Resistance may be an attribute or gift (Willpower is a good choice, if there is no specific anti-magic trait), as the GM desires. Magic Resistance may even be a different attribute for different types of spells (a mental attribute for attempts to control the mind, etc.). Note that this second roll is Opposed - the subject of the spell gets a chance to resist it, and so can influence the result.

If the GM is willing, the magician may use the result he just rolled as his skill level for the Opposed action. That is, if he rolled a Great result on the spell, he rolls the Opposed action as if his skill were Great. Otherwise, he uses the same level he rolled initially against.

Control can mean many things to different GMs. Personal Magic Resistance would resist an attempt to read someone's mind to one GM, but not to another. Magic Resistance does not resist any spell that calls or creates physical energy to lash out at another being, though. If the magician successfully creates lightning at his fingertips to blast at the subject, that is not resisted by Personal Resistance; it is treated as a physical weapon.

7.17 Certain Spell-Casting

Sometimes a magician desperately needs a certain result. In this case, he may opt not to roll the dice at all, and simply drain one level of Magic Potential for a guaranteed success. He takes the usual penalties for losing a level of Potential - see Section 7.11, Magic Potential. This means he'll faint - be unconscious - after casting the spell, which limits the utility for certain spells. You can't control someone's mind when you are unconscious, for example . . .

The GM may restrict this to Trivial spells, or non-Potent spells, or have no restrictions at all, beyond requiring the normal fatigue (or other) penalties. If the spell is one that could logically be resisted by the subject, however, the subject still gets a Resistance roll. In this case, the magician rolls as if his skill were Great.

7.18 Enchanting Items

Items may be permanently enchanted in this system. The magician works for a number of weeks or months (as required by the GM), depending on the number and potency of the spells desired, and the general availability of magic items in the campaign. At the end of each month (or week), the magician rolls against two skills: Spell-casting, and the appropriate Craft skill for the material being worked. The usual penalties apply on failing a spell roll. If he surpasses the Difficulty level on each roll, the spell is slowly being set into the item, one stage at a time. On a roll that only matches the Difficulty level, the work counts as only half a time period, but does progress the enchantment.

Obviously, a mana-rich area will attract magicians, especially enchanters.

7.19 FUDGE Magic Options

These options offer ways to make FUDGE Magic more sweeping, more reliable, less risky, and even make it available to non-magicians.

7.191 Generalized Magic Potential

Some GMs may want the players to have sweeping powers. In this case, each level of Magic Potential allows a character to try any magic effect desired. This is in keeping with certain fictional settings in which learning magic involves general principles rather than specific spell effects. This makes for a very free and open game, which may or may not be to your tastes.

Note that specializations can still be handled in this system. Simply use faults to limit a mage's ability to cast certain spells. See Section 6.311, Character Examples, Brogo the Scout.

7.192 Magicians & Non-Magicians

The GM may allow non-magicians to cast spells. In this case, it is very risky, as there is no Magic Potential "cushion" - one severe failure is enough to devastate the character. Still, in an emergency, it may be worth the risk. Such a character would still need to have some Spell-casting skill, however. (But see Section 7.193, Spell-casting Skill Alternatives).

As a substitute for Magic Potential specialization, the GM looks over the character sheet (checking traits, personality, and character background) and decides if a proposed spell would be appropriate for the character. The character must have some aptitude in the proposed spell subject, or he may not cast such a spell. For example, a trained fighter with no knowledge of book learning or foreign languages could conceivably try a combat spell, but not a spell to translate a book written in an unknown script.

Of course, the same spell is of greater potency for a non-magician than for a magician. This probably means that a non-magician will only have a chance of casting a spell that a magician would consider trivial.

7.193 Spell-Casting Skill Alternatives

Since tastes differ, and FUDGE Magic tends to be undependable (see Section 7.1, FUDGE Magic), three options are provided for more reliable spell-casting:

  1. Use the basic FUDGE Magic system, but allow a magician to improve his chances of casting a spell beyond Fair. At a cost of one gift (or even supernormal power), this may be raised to Good. At a cost of two more gifts (or supernormal powers), casting skill may be raised from Good to Great, the maximum.
  2. GMs who want magic to be a lot more reliable can simply treat Spell-casting as any other skill. That is, it costs the usual skill costs to raise it to Good or even Great. Superb spell-casting is not recommended for any but inherently magical races, however, even in high-level magic campaigns.
  3. Another possibility for potent magic is simply having Spell-Casting equal to the Will attribute, or perhaps at Will-2. (There may still be a ceiling of Great, Good, or even Fair for Spell-Casting, regardless of the level of Will.) This is especially appropriate for games in which non-magicians can cast spells - see Section 7.192, Magicians & Non-Magicians. This is a potent option because the player doesn't have to buy Spell-casting skill for his character.
    7.194 Less Risky Spell-Casting

    To make spell-casting less risky (not necessarily a good thing - see Section 7.1, FUDGE Magic), make it harder to drain a level of Potential.

    Examples (apply as many or as few as desired):

    7.2 Sample Miracle System: FUDGE Miracles

    Date: December, 1992
    By: Steffan O'Sullivan

    Here is a sample miracle system (not generic), based on the following premises mentioned in Section 3.6, Miracles:

    Can miracles occur by petition:
    Yes.
    Who can petition:
    Anyone. Holy persons have an advantage, however. (A holy person is one with the supernormal power: Divine Favor. In addition, a holy person's behavior must be in synch with the deity's goals - GM decision on how the player is roleplaying.) Religious Investiture is not required, and, in fact, does no good if behavior is inappropriate. Religious Investiture is primarily a social title that may or may not coincide with Divine Favor.
    Certainty of petitioned miracles:
    Mediocre.
    Broad or specific requests:
    Specific requests are more likely to be granted.

    7.21 Divine Favor

    Divine Favor is a supernormal power that can be taken more than once. Each time Divine Favor is taken, it is dedicated to a single deity. It is possible to have Divine Favor from more than one deity in a polytheistic world, or you can have multiple steps of Divine Favor from a single deity. Each step of Divine Favor counts as two supernormal powers (recommended).

    Divine Favor can be temporarily lost if the character does not act in accordance with the deity's desires. Usually a period of atonement is required to regain Divine Favor. This may be instantaneous for a very merciful deity, or it may take up to a month for stricter deities. All steps are lost and regained as a unit when this happens.

    7.22 Petitioning a Miracle

    A character may petition a miracle at any time. However, some deities do not like to be disturbed for trivial matters, and may ignore requests when it is obvious the character hasn't even tried to help himself.

    In FUDGE Miracles, the petition should be fairly precisely worded. Rather than a simple, "Please help me," the character should focus the plea: "We are starving, please feed us," or, "My friend is dying, please heal him." A holy character can petition for any miraculous result desired, however - there is no established list of miracles.

    Characters without Divine Favor have a Petitioning skill of Poor (or Mediocre, if the GM wants a more deity-active game). Those with one or more steps of Divine Favor have a Petitioning skill of Fair. Petitioning skill cannot be raised. (If the GM wants a high-level deity-active campaign, Petitioning skill can be raised to Good at the cost of one supernormal power.) Petitioning skill can be modified, however - see the next section.

    To resolve a petition, make an Unopposed action roll against Petitioning skill. Each step of Divine Favor grants the holy character one extra chance to roll the dice in a petition to his deity.

    On a Fair or worse result, the roll is a failure. If the character has any steps of Divine Favor from the same deity, he may roll again for each step (this does not count as a separate petition). He can stop at any point - only the last result rolled counts. This means a character with two steps of Divine Favor can try one, two, or three rolls. If he gets Good, Fair, and Mediocre results, in that order, the result of the petition is Mediocre.

    On a Fair or Mediocre result, the petition isn't answered by the deity, but the deity isn't annoyed by the petitioner. On Poor or worse result, however, the deity is angry with the character, and there will be a -1 on the next petition attempt. If the deity is evil, a miracle may actually occur, but not one the petitioner is likely to enjoy . . .

    On a Good or better result, the petition is granted. The better the rolled result, the better the answer to the prayer. For example, a Good result might heal one wound, while a Superb result would totally heal the character. A Good result might call a wolf to defend the petitioner, while a Superb result might call three lions. And so on.

    7.23 Modifiers to the Petitioning Skill Level

    The GM decides modifiers. The following modifiers are suggested:

    The petitioner's behavior has been strictly in accordance with the deity's desires:
    +1
    The petitioner's behavior has not been in accordance with the deity's desires:
    -1 or more
    The petition will further the deity's desires:
    +1
    The petition goes against the deity's desires:
    -1 or more
    The petition involves the deity's sphere of influence:
    +1 (Calling for a fireball from a fire god, for example. This is not appropriate for a Supreme God, whose sphere encompasses all things!)
    The petition involves an element antagonistic to the deity:
    -1 or more (asking the Fire deity to use water, for example.)
    The petition is phrased too generally:
    -1 or more
    The petitioner has not tried to help himself first:
    -1 or more.
    The petition is too trivial to bother the deity with:
    -1 or more
    The petition is a simple, but important, request:
    +1, provided the petitioner has exhausted his own abilities to accomplish this task. (An example might be requesting a piece of chalk, which is trifling, but simply cannot be found anywhere near the character. In this case, chalk would have to be essential to the character's state of body, mind or soul.)
    The last petition was a Poor or worse result:
    -1
    The deity feels the petitioner is calling for help too frequently:
    -1 or more (This is optional, and may be invoked by a GM annoyed at constant requests for miracles . . .)

    Remainder of the Addenda
    Copyright 1992, 1993 by Steffan O'Sullivan