Welcome back to the Genesys Project. This update includes Powers (Magic), where you get to create your own magic powers. You select a Focus, effect, and then have the chance to upgrade it to a much stronger version by increasing the Powers attributes. Of course this makes it harder to channel, but more importantly a mortals body can only take so much power running through it. Powers are dangerous, and only the most dedicated and perhaps foolhardy will head down that path.
There was a big delay in this release, partially due to vacation time, but mostly due to a big update to the rules that had to be certain it worked across multiple Life Domains..ie the Fey. I have been answering game questions at a furious pace, as well as fine tuning many of the game systems and updating them.
What you can do with Powers is really a lot of fun, and the best part is, you can research more as your race advances through the campaign system. In fact, you can even recover Items of Power through artifact missions to help increase the amount of power your casters body can channel.
Here is a quick overview of just how spellcasting works.
There are two types of powers. These originate on just how your class channels the power of the ether to create powers.
1. The Arcane. Arcane channelers use their own force of will and body to channel the ether. Doing so puts them at great peril, and the greater the power being used (the higher the difficulty), the bigger the chance that the model will get hurt. While willpower is used to channel the ether, an arcane caster can pull from deep within their bodies to help harness the power. This results in a loss of toughness if they fail.
2. The Sacred Faiths. Faith channelers use the belief of others to help harness the energy of the ether. This means that those faithful nearby help the caster in channeling, with no need to tap their internal force. However, this does put their connections to the ether at risk, and failure takes its toll in the loss of Willpower.
Mortal Thresholds
Only so much power can be harnessed through the ether before a mortal body is consumed by the energy from beyond. This is the Mortal Threshold. Items of power, advanced knowledge, and even fanatical followers can help aid in pushing the mortal limits of power.
So Powers work like this.
A base power has a difficulty of 8 to channel. If your Arcane Mage has a Willpower of 4, this would mean that he would be able to cast this power on a 4+ without any peril to himself. Not quite reliable. If he pushes himself, he can add his toughness values to the casting (for the arcane), or use nearby followers if he was a Faith caster). So assuming he has a toughness of 2, he can add two to his die roll, making the base power much easier to cast, on a 2+. However if he fails..... there is the danger that he will collapse from exhaustion.
Now there are ways to increase these abilities making casting easier, even in lowering the difficulty of channeling.
Creating your own Powers.
here is an example.......
1. Select your Foci. There is currently one Foci available, so we will choose Extremis.
2. Power and Effect: Let’s choose Fire, and Blast for the effect.
3. Attributes: With 5pts to spend we will select strength 1 which increases the strength of the Power but also increases its difficulty by 1.
Our final spell is a Fireball in the classic sense, with a moderate range and good strength.
Fireball: Difficulty 9
Blast 2” 18” max range Strength 3
Duration: Instant
Assuming a Willpower of 4, this is quite a difficult spell to get off, but can be quite devastating if our wizards can get this spell off.
If we focus on the Extremis Foci with our race, we can lower that difficulty to a 8. So with a racial focus on Extremis Powers, and channeling 2pts, we can get this spell off on a roll of a 2+. With items or further campaign gains, our wizard will have the opportunities to master this spell even greater.
Other updates
There is a bunch of other updates as well to wrap up the scope of the Humanoid Primarius. These include Chariots, War Wagons, editing corrections, Heavy Military Weapons, and more.
Please remember to treat this as a rough draft. There is a lot of work being done on the game, from Graphics, to playtesting. Several of the new rules need additional playtesting (like Military Weapons), and this is ongoing as the updates get filtered through.
Editing is a process, and is ongoing.
Here are the links you need.
The Genesys Project Free Downloads Updated 8/12/2016
Race Building In The Genesys Project: Including the new Armory Sections.
Humanoid Primarius
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4o6z6ac87gapomy/Humanoid%20Primarius%2081216.pdf?dl=0
Campaign Rules
The Genesys Project Core Rules
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xjh7m88qasx568b/The%20Genesys%20Project%20Core%20Rules%2007012016.pdf?dl=0