Intro

The wizards say that power comes from names and syllables, from invocations and chants, and most of all, from constant study.

The priests say that all power flows from the gods, that the world is blessed by divine grace, and that mortals should be grateful that they deign to lift us from the mud.

It’s nonsense.

True power resides in the blood. It might come from generations of proper breeding, or spring up like flowers through the stones of a street, but it doesn’t change the fact that change the fact that your heritage makes you a god among men.

They might say you stole your power. They might say you’re a bastard of the gods, or the spawn of a wizard whose curiosity went too far.

They don’t say that much when you’re all that stands between their farm and a pack of gnolls.

Names

Human: Whatever, really.

Elf: Sure thing.

Look

Choose one for each:

Imperious, Reptilian, or Glowing eyes
Styled hair, No hair, or Floating hair
Monastic clothes, Expensive clothes, or Motley clothes
Lush body, Strange Body, or Emaciated body

Stats

Assign these scores to your stats: 17 (+2), 15 (+1), 13 (+1), 11 (+0), 9 (+0), 8 (-1)

You start with 4+constitution HP

Your base damage is d4

Race

Elf: When you cast a spell in the wilds, take +1

Human: When you spout lore or discern realities about the beings from which you are descended, take +1

You start with these moves:

Arcane Nature

You start with domains of magic: ○ Knowledge ○ Deception ○ Protection ○ Changes ○ Creation ○ Summoning

Refresh

When you spend uninterrupted time meditating on your nature, you may refresh your mana to your level + 1

Casting: When you try cast a spell within one of your domains, detail its effects and scope by telling the GM what you're trying to achieve. The GM will tell you “yes, you can do that but …” and then 2 to 4 of the following:

• It's going to cost mana.

• It'll take a few moments/minutes/tens of minutes.

• You’ll need to catch your breath afterwards.

• The best you can do is a lesser version.

Then, roll+Cha. Take -1 to this roll for every spell that's ongoing; spells that you have mastered are cast at +1. On a 10+, you cast it and it costs no mana. On a 7-9, the spell is cast but choose one:

• You draw unwelcome attention or put yourself in a spot (the GM will describe it).

• You take 1d2 damage.

• Pay the mana cost of the spell.

• Your control over the spell is not as complete as you would hope

Mastery

You have focused on several spells and have practiced them until you’ve achieved mastery. You begin with three spells. Whenever you gain a level, you may at a new spell to list of mastered spells.

Eldritch Assault

You can use magical essence as a weapon. This counts as Casting a spell with cost 0. It has the Weapon tags: Magical and Near. By adding +1 to the mana cost, you may:

• Add another die of the same type. • Increase the die size by one step. • Add a effect or tag of your design. • Ignore the targets armor.

Occult Warding

During your Refresh period, you may devote your arcane energies towards protecting yourself. Gain n-armor ongoing until you Refresh again, where n is amount of mana spent.

Opening the gates

When you unleash the full force of your arcane nature, pick any conceivable effect covered by your domains and roll +Int. On a 10+, choose 3. On a 7-9, choose 1.

• You do it.

• You don’t spend all your mana.

• It was exactly what you planned.

• The targets were exactly whom you planned.

• You don’t attract a lot of unwanted attention.

Afterwards, the GM picks one to four of the following. You will…

• Reveal your true heritage.

• Be spoken of only in whispers.

• Have to hide your face in town.

• Need to wait until this blows over before you can really do much.

• Be targeted by the agents of your ancestor or their rivals.

• Take a debility.

• Need to meditate at length to contain your power once more.

Alignment:

Good: Use magic to directly aid another

Neutral: Rely on your heritage to set you apart

Evil: Use magic to dominate others

Gear

Your Load is 5+Str, and your spellbook is 1 weight. In addition to your spellbook you start with one from each list:

• Leather armor (1 armor, 1 weight) or bag of books (5 uses, 2 weight) and 3 healing potions

• Dagger (Hand, 1 weight) or staff (Close, two-handed, 1 weight)

• Dungeon rations (5 uses, 1 weight) and healing potion or dungeon rations (5 uses, 1 weight) and three antitoxin

Bonds:

I’m convinced that shares my ancestry.
_ will rue the day they crossed me
I can’t help but feel bad about what my magic did to _
__ gave me shelter from superstitious villagers.

Advanced moves: TBA

Notes

Sportman6457: true
Charles: But the sorcerer probably isn't pompous about his powers. He's confident about them. He doesn't have anything to prove
Sportman6457: I don't know how confident he always is, I mean, there's probably a lot of doubt that comes when you have to hide or else the townspeople will burn you
Charles: That's true. That's the conflict that probably defines a lot of the hypothetical archtypal sorcerer's actions.
Charles: I guess the sorcerer has a potential arc where he starts off as fearful, and becomes in control of himself, and able to express that.
Charles: Which might be a good split for the 2-5 and 6-10 moves

2-5 is about protection and disguise and maybe misdirection, and 6-10 is about control and the sorcerer ascendant

Expanded domains: Pick one more domain from which you can cast spells.

(Level 6+?) Taming the torrent: When you open the gates, you may choose one more option from your list. If you don’t, the GM picks one less option from his.