Cloak of Power

The wise wizard knows that violence can cause as many problems as it solves, and reliance on it means a life of exposing oneself to potential injury and death. Yet there are also times when more subtle means of getting one’s way are unavailable due to limited information, time, patience, or other resources. Some magicians will therefore resort to this persuasive spell, in which they cause the flow of magical power through and around their person to become manifest in (usually visual) sensory display.

Visual manifestations include glowing light or darkness, sourceless dramatic wind, crackling electricity, or even a mild antigravity field that causes dirt and debris to levitate in an area around the magician. Audible manifestations include dramatic music, ringing tones at the very highest or lowest audible pitches, a sharp buzz, or the magician’s voice becoming deeper, gaining an echo, or layering over itself as a great multitude speaking in unison. Other effects are also possible, including more extreme reactions from especially susceptible individuals.

The base difficulty is d4 and the base cost, one strain. For as long as the Cloak is active, the magician gains a +1 bonus to all social rolls due to simply being so dang impressive. The effect costs one fatigue per scene (or per ten minutes), and ends when its wielder concentrates on anything more intense than walking or other simple movement, talking, automatic tasks such as eating and shoe-tying, or magic use. (While magic requires focus, the act of manipulating it feeds into the Cloak and maintains it.)

Increasing the Cloak’s bonus either increases the fatigue costs by the same amount, or increases the difficulty by an equal number of steps. Alternately, increasing the difficulty by a step can decrease the rate of fatigue – from “a scene” to an hour, a quarter-day, a day, a week, a month, a year. It goes without saying that some wizards wreathe themselves in magic as if it were clothing.