Special Mission Rule! Drain

In most worlds, magic either is or isn't, there isn't much of an inbetween. Every rule has exceptions, however, and for the duration of the next mission one will apply.

'Drain' is the effect on the body of using magic in a world where magic doesn't just exist, it dominates in such a way it flows and rages back against attempts at harnessing it. While a regular world would fall under the 'mana is like a river' paradigm, worlds with Drain have mana at such an extreme amount and pressure that it becomes a rampaging storm.

Drain follows a simple premise. All magic is going to be somewhat exhausting to use, not because it's hard to channel, but out of the sheer difficulty in keeping control of mana. The effect scales with the strength of the spell used, but in all cases the Astral Plane is going to push back against you for every spell used.

For simplicity's sake, Drain will apply to all supernatural effects. Whether or not a power qualifies falls under GM discretion.

Passive Magic - The simple 'always on' spells, such as shapeshifting, self-enhancement, etc. These function exactly as normal, and aren't difficult to sustain, but actively making use of their benefits will provoke drain in proportion to the effect desired. In most cases, this is fairly negligible, but a roll or other effect may be called for at the GM's discretion.

Examples = 'shits and giggles' illusions not meant to be seen as real, reflex/strength/etc. self buffs, simple shapeshifting, most 'always on' magic abilities

Active Magic - Healing, fireballs, etc. etc. Any spell effect that must be activated and can't simply be left on/sustained will cause drain. These effects will provoke a 'resistance' roll, 50 or greater resisting the effect of drain and anything less causing the casting character to become more and more fatigued with each successive failure. The resistance roll is a separate roll from the basic attack check, will be made after, and must be made whether the attack succeeded or failed.

Examples - Buffs to other characters, healing, basic offensive magic, weaker area effecting spells, magic armor/other shielding, illusions meant to pass for actual objects, invisibility, shapeshifting that replicates a specific person, etc.

Overcasting - Some spells are so powerful, that the mana required to activate them doesn't merely cause fatigue. The metaphysical backlash against these spells is so intense it can cause internal trauma to the caster, generally in the form of internal bleeding and damage to the nervous system. A resistance roll will be called for as above, but failure results in actual injury to the casting character.

Examples - Most 'one shot' spells (disintegrate, death, etc.), powerful area spells, powerful offensive spells, active magic channeling greater levels of power for stronger effects, and so on. Use your judgment. If you have to stop and think about whether or not a spell is so powerful it would hurt your character to use in these circumstances, it probably is.

Magic Items - Magic items function similarly to passive spells, but cause drain in the caster activating them proportional to the strength of the spell effect.


Finally, these rules partially represent how unfamiliar and off-balancing this sort of mana effect is to the player characters. The NPCs in this world are far more used to drain, having learned their abilities and trained under the conditions. Do not use their capabilities as a measurement of what your character should or shouldn't be able to do easily under these circumstances.