Creating a Character with Arcane Powers

If you are interested in making a spellcaster, then you need to have the appropriate Edge first: Arcane Background.  This Edge is further divided into different subcategories: Blood MagicMagic, MiraclesMagewright, and Shamanism.

  • Blood Magic is a tool of the Orcs that allows them to use their own blood to enhance their power.  It's custom for this setting.
  • Magic covers everything from wizards to cultists that draw on raw supernatural energy to power their arcane abilities.  It's based on the Smarts skill Spellcasting.
  • Miracles are invoked by those drawing their power from a divine presence of some sort, including  gods, nature, or spirits. Their powers are usually invoked with a few words of prayer or by performing established rituals.  It's based on the Spirit skill Faith
  • Magewright is the talent to create magical devices that assist with providing services (or weaponry).  It's linked to the Smarts skill Magewright. It's custom for the setting, but essentially only a reskin of the default skill Weird Science.
  • Shamanism is found amongst the Nezumi, and allows them to use spirits to perform magical feats.  It's custom for this setting.
After selecting an arcane background, you can pick your Powers. The nice thing about Powers in Savage Worlds is the customization available.  A character shooting laser beams from their eyes and a character firing a swarm of bees from their fingertips are both examples of the Bolt power and have the same mechanics.  What separates the two are Trappings (describing how the power works), and Limitations (a spell restricted to touch only, or to only effect the element ice).

Using Powers
To use a power, you pick a target within range and make the appropriate skill roll.  If the roll is less than 4, the power doesn't activate, and you spend one Power Point. On a 4 or greater, the power activates and consumes the full Power Point cost, and you resolve the power's effects. On a Critical Failure, you suffer from a Backlash: you gain a level of Fatigue and all currently active powers immediately terminate.  You can Short a power by activating it with fewer Power Points.  For every Power Point you short, there is a -1 penalty to the skill roll.  Any failure is considered a Critical Failure.

When a power is activated, you can add a Power Modifier.  This can change the effect of the power (make it Armor Piercing, or be more Selective about an area of effect). These will increase the required Power Points to activate the power.  These modifiers are optional, and can be freely changed when a power is activated.

Notes