Description: Spellcutting is a bit of a misnomer--the damage done to one's body does not have to be cut into it to effect a spell.

A spellcutter casts magic by damaging his or her own body in such a way that evokes enough damage to manipulate mana & cast a spell.

A body mage must prepare themselves through much study before they can use their body as a tool to manipulate mana. Once, however, a body mage has learned the mental state required for a particular sphere, they may cast from that sphere at any time simply by harming themselves intentionally.

The method & degree of damage greatly affect the spell cast, as does the nature of the body.

Hollow Jack, for instance, was practically crafted for evil magic. His body was cursed, comprised of rats, & generally soaked in evil. He required little besides the proper mental state & the control of his rats to cast powerful spells.

Damage: Damage is considered in several ways: the degree of damage, what is used to cause it, and what part of the body is damaged. Lowering difficulty of a spell is not possible, but anyone who knows how to use spellcutting can inflict enough damage on themselves to use any power level of spell. Electrical and cold damage also work, equal to burn damage.

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	Degree and type of damage		Score

Non-wound (cut hair or fingernail)

1

Slight burn

2

Scratch

3

Bruise

4

Flesh wound

5

First degree burn

6

Minor wound

7

Normal wound

8

Broken bone

9

Second degree burn

10

Heavy wound

11

Severe wound

12

Badly broken bone

13

Deep wound

14

Third degree burn

15

Shattered bone

16

Crippling wound

17

Off the scale burn

18

Mortal wound

19

Whole body burn

20

Unhealing wound

21

Coma

22

Near death experience

23

Assured death

24

Instant kill

25

Illness or poison can also be used to damage the body for the purposes of spellcutting:

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	Illness*/*Degree of poisoning		Score

Headache / A sip of alcohol

1

Cough / A cigarette

2

Dizziness

3

Myopia

4

Vitiligo

5

Warts

6

Fever

7

The Runs

8

Salmonella, Stomach Bug

9

Common Cold

10

Jaundice, Gingivitis, Chlamydia

11

Scurvy, Staph

12

Syphilis / Arsenic

13

Pertussis, Bronchitis, Strep

14

Appendicitis, Measles, Mumps, Rubella

15

Rabies, Migraine, Dysentery, Herpes

16

SARS, Rickets, Kuru, Typhoid, Hepatitis, Influenza, Lyme Disease

17

Yellow Fever, Cholera, Malaria / Brown Recluse Venom

18

Renal Failure, Pneumonia, Sleeping Sickness, Therianthropy

19

Amthrax, Small Pox, Black Plague

20

Dengue, Tuberculosis

21

Polio, Leprosy / Cyanide

22

Parkinson's, Ebola, Meningitis, Lupus

23

Huntington's, AIDS, Spiderweb Plague

24

Aneurysm, Cancer / Kindness

25

How one would give oneself a genetic disorder is up to the player to figure out.

And then there's trading whole body parts. Technically, these would mostly count as a crippling wound or more (up to instant kill), but losing a whole body part gives an additional bonus:

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	Body Part		Bonus

Finger

+1

Toe

+1

Arm

+3

Leg

+3

Wing

+5

Horn

+1

Nose

+3

Eye

+5

Ear

+4

Tongue

+3

Torso

+16

Tail

+3

Breast

+4

Heart

+16

Lung

+13

Brain

+19

Kidney

+10

Liver

+12

Stomach

+10

Bowel

+12

Genital

+9

Pancreas

+10

Shoulder

+4

Knee

+4

Elbow

+2

Larynx

+4

Rib

+3 to +6

Sternum

+4

Skull

+19

Legbone

+3

Armbone

+3

Handbone

+3

Footbone

+3

Ankle

+2

Knee cap

+2

Neck

+19

Pelvis

+10

Back

+19

Spine

+18

Armpit

+2

Whole skin

+9

Half skin

+6

Quarter skin

+3

Bladder

+8

Appendix

+1

Gall bladder

+3

Lips

+2

Face

+5

Thumb

+2

Big toe

+2

Shoulder blade

+3

Collar bone

+4

Tail bone

+3

Ovary

+5

Uterus

+7

Testicle

+5

Spleen

+9

Esophagus

+9

Whole rib cage

+12

All Teeth

+4

Half teeth

+2

Jaw

+4

Forehead

+13

Fins

+3

Gills

+9

Antennae

+7

Other organs and parts to be added as they come up. You sick fucks.

Some body parts are better for different spheres--legs for travel, lungs for air, etc.

Fatigue: Fatigue correlates directly to the wound penalties you inflict upon yourself.

Learning: Each sphere of magic requires a different state of mind to allow the caster to understand the necessary amount of mana to cast their intended spell & the corresponding amount of damage, as well as intent. To channel pain & bodily damage into the requisite energy for manipulating mana, one must be able to endure a great deal of pain & keep a sharp mind for at least a moment. This requires extensive mental training. The chart below shows how long each sphere takes to learn for an average human:

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	Sphere		Years

Chaos

4

Darkness

1

Cosmos

4

Dream

5

Moons

3

Fire

2

Light

6

Pestilence

2

Destruction

3

Earth

4

Hatred

2

War

2

Water

4

Knowledge

6

Famine

3

Peace

4

Sun

3

Hope

5

Flora

4

Harvest

4

Music

4

Order

4

Creation

4

Death

7

Despair

1

Life

5

Silence

2

Meta

1

Fauna

2

Healing

6

Truth

6

Weather

4

Air

4

Celebration

5

Luck

7

Time

6

Dragon

2

Fate

7

Undeath

4

Love

5

Wealth

3

Envy

3

Vision

5

Ice

4

Travel

4

Home

6

Change

3

Balance

10

Metal

2

Might

2

Wisdom

7

Mischief

4

Connection

5

Hunt

2

Insight

6

Skill

5

Family

6

Story

7

Force

3

Nightmare

3

Casting: How it works!

Decide what your intended effect is. Do you have an appropriate sphere? Great!

Get an estimate on the difficulty, then determine if you are willing to harm yourself enough to cause that to happen. Build up your mental state. Harm yourself, via burning, poison, illness, or physical damage. If it is poison or illness, wait until the substance or disease starts harming you before releasing your will. This can be difficult, since it will mean holding your mental state for weeks or months if you choose the right disease. For physical damage, just be sure to release your will before you pass out or die.

Roll spell power vs. difficulty. Success rate determines effect. After the spell is cast, you will suffer the effects of the wound or disease or whatnot. These will probably be horrible.

If possible, recover. Repeat.

Failure: See here.

Sensing: See here.

Auras: None.