Gun Mage — Spells and Arts Draft¶
Working draft, not locked in. Gun Mages are Crimson mages who put the school's Force behind a hurlant. See Magic Systems → Crimson and Spells and Arts, Crimson.
How Gun Mages Work¶
A Gun Mage is a Partial Crimson, reworked, the way the Bodger is a reworked Expert. It's not a separate school or tradition. Gun Mages study Crimson, but they give up depth in spellcasting for Arts that make a hurlant fire faster than powder ever could. Their spells are what they fall back on when they're out of shot or the fight gets too close.
Like Extli and Mechanika, the Gun Mage exists only as a partial class:
- Partial Warrior/Partial Gun Mage: the usual pairing. A pistoleer or sharpshooter.
- Partial Bodger/Partial Gun Mage: makes their own rune bullets.
- Partial Mechanik/Partial Gun Mage (a Mage with two partial traditions): puts runes on their own guns.
A Gun Mage can't also be a Partial Crimson, since both are Crimson.
Effort. As for any Partial Crimson: Magic plus the better of the Intelligence or Charisma modifiers, with a minimum of one point.
Arts and spells gained. The Partial Elementalist table that Crimson uses, cut back: spells stop at 2nd level, and a Gun Mage prepares one fewer spell at every level.
| Level | Max Spell Level | Spells Cast | Spells Prepared | Arts Gained |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Force Loading, Rune Shot, and any one |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | Any one |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | Any one |
| 7 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| 8 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
| 9 | 2 | 4 | 7 | Any one |
| 10 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
Spells. Tier 1 and tier 2 spells from Crimson and the General list.
Armor. Gun Mages wear ordinary armor, with no restrictions.
Hurlants¶
Gun Mages use WWN's hurlants as written, at the book's prices:
| Hurlant | Damage | Range | Traits | Price | Enc |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hand | 1d12 | 30/60 | SS, AP | 1,000 sp | 1 |
| Long | 2d8 | 200/600 | 2H, SS, AP, PM | 4,000 sp | 2 |
| Great | 3d10 | 600/2,400 | FX, SS, AP | 10,000 sp | 15 |
A hurlant is Single Shot: anyone else takes ten rounds to reload one, and the reloading is spoiled if an enemy melees them. It's Armor Piercing, ignoring non-magical hides, armor, and shields on its hit rolls. A masterwork hurlant costs ten times as much, so a masterwork long hurlant runs 40,000 sp. Hurlant bolts cost 20 sp for 20.
Many Gun Mages carry two hurlants: one for the rune bullet they start the fight with, and one to keep firing.
Core Arts¶
- Force Loading — Commit Effort for the scene as an On Turn action. While it stays Committed, you can reload a hurlant you hold as a Main Action. You summon Crimson force to drive the shot rather than packing powder and charge. You still need a hurlant bolt. A Force-loaded shot adds your Magic skill to its damage. The reloading is still spoiled if an enemy melees you while you do it. Because you have to wait for the force to build, this is spellwork, not weapon handling, so the Deadeye Focus and anything else that speeds reloading doesn't apply to it. A rune bullet can't be Force-loaded.
- Rune Shot — Only a Gun Mage can fire a rune bullet; in anyone else's hurlant it's an ordinary bolt. Loading one takes the ordinary ten rounds, so it's usually done before a fight. The Automatic Reload mod also loads one, since it reloads by mechanism rather than by Force. Rune bullets work only in hurlants, not in bows or crossbows. The hurlant's armor-piercing drive is part of what makes them work, carrying the rune through before it goes off.
Rune Bullets¶
Rune bullets are consumable mods, built with Craft by anyone who can build mods: a Bodger, a Partial Bodger, or anyone with the Artisan Focus. See Runes, Mods, and Engines. A builder makes a batch of five in a week, with no roll. They need no Maintenance and no salvage. The prices below are what a buyer pays; a builder making their own pays half.
| Bullet | Craft | Element | Effect | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ember | 1 | Fire | +1d6 fire damage | 100 sp |
| Lodestone | 1 | Stone | +2 to hit, the magnetic pull; counts toward the usual +3 cap | 100 sp |
| Flare | 1 | None | Bright burst: creatures within 10 feet of the target make a Physical save or take −2 on hit rolls until the end of their next turn | 100 sp |
| Frost | 2 | Water | The target makes a Physical save or loses its Move action on its next turn | 250 sp |
| Concussion | 2 | None | The target makes a Physical save or is knocked prone | 250 sp |
| Thunder | 3 | Storm | On a hit, a second creature within 10 feet of the target takes half the damage, Evasion save to negate | 500 sp |
Arts (draft)¶
A Gun Mage can take any Crimson Art except Crimson Bolt. It's a one-shot attack that adds level to hit and damage, and Force Loading already does more over a fight. Force Discipline belongs to the artillerists working great hurlants, and its numbers are still to be set (see Spells and Arts, Crimson).
The Gun Mage's own Arts (first pass):
- Steady Aim — Commit Effort for the scene and spend a Main Action aiming at a visible target. Your next shot at it this scene takes no long-range penalty and gains +2 to hit.
- Twin Barrels — Commit Effort for the day when you use Force Loading to reload. That Main Action reloads two hurlants you hold or wear. Once per scene.
- Bank Shot — Commit Effort for the scene as an Instant action when you fire. The shot curves around cover, ignoring anything short of total cover.
- Read the Barrel — You know whether any hurlant within 30 feet is loaded, and whether it holds a rune bullet.
Lore: No Sects Yet¶
Gun Mages are new enough to have no sects, only emphases. A split between pistoleers and sharpshooters is starting to show, but it isn't developed enough to call them sects.
- The Confederates favor pistoleers. Long shots from a ship's deck are next to impossible.
- The Empire favors artillerists working great hurlants.
- Dar Ilm favors sharpshooters with long hurlants.
Still open¶
- First-pass entries: the four Gun Mage Arts, and the rune bullets' Craft levels and prices.
- Force Discipline still needs numbers, now that Force Loading does the reloading.
Sources used¶
- Worlds Without Number Deluxe: the Elementalist and its partial table, the weapon table and hurlants, the Deadeye Focus, and Modifying and Customizing Equipment (pp. 56–57).