Sorcery

Sorcery is not actually a Power. Rather, there are two quite distinct Partial Powers, one each for Logrus and Pattern, which are strange enough that they get their own special little listing.

Just like in the DRPG, Sorcerous spells are long, complex affairs (they take at least the better part of an hour to cast), that require gesturing and speaking in strange languages. But all you can do with a spell is enact an effect that you could already create with Pattern or Logrus.

Let's take an example. Suppose you have Pattern Defense and Sorcery. If you want to raise a Pattern Defense, you can do it two ways: The conventional one (concentrate on the Pattern) or by casting a spell. The spell will take longer.

What's the point, then? Well, it turns out that what you get in exchange for all of this time is much better fine control. Looking over the description of Pattern Defense, you might notice that it does a couple of related things. It can make you difficult to move through Shadow, for example, and it can also make you difficult to Shapeshift. In fact, it does both, at once.

But let's suppose that you aren't worried about being Shapeshifted. All you're worried about is getting thrown around by a Shadowstorm. With a Pattern Defense spell, you can focus your effort, so that all of the energy that previously going into making you hard to Shapeshift is now focussed on making you hard to throw about through Shadow. So you get more efficiency out of your Pattern skill and Psyche. (The metaphysics of it are actually a bit more complex than that, but this is the gist).

The other thing that you might do is "save up effort." Suppose that you're going to be assaulted by a big Shadowstorm, but that it will pass over you in just a few minutes. You might put out a lot of effort, taking hours and hours, to create the spell (during which time you aren't defended), and then have it all released over the course of five minutes once you complete the spell. In this way, you can (sort of) trade Endurance for power (albeit not too efficiently).

You're probably still not impressed, huh? But that's just the basic version of Sorcery. The advanced version lets you hang spells on the Pattern or Logrus. That way, suppose you know that you'll be going into an area with tons of Shadow Storms... Tomorrow. So for all of today, you make a whole bunch of spells like the ones we've been describing above, and hang them on the Pattern (or, rather, your personal image of the Pattern). Then you get a full night's sleep and a big breakfast. Then, whenever you see a Shadow storm, you just speak a few words that release your spell, and you get the benefit of all of yesterday's effort... today.

Here's some bad news: Because the disciplines of Sorcery are so esoteric, Sorcery skill doesn't add to the rest of your Pattern or Logrus skill. That is, if you have all of the Pattern powers plus Sorcery, and Joe has all of the Pattern powers and no Sorcery (and Joe's psyche is the same as yours), you don't Hellride any faster than Joe, and your Pattern lens is no more capable of weaselling its way into warded areas than his.

Here's what you can do with Sorcery and Pattern

Basic Pattern, Track, and Hellriding

Nothing at all. It's not possible to create spells to do these things.

Defense

This is well discussed above.

Alter and Edit Shadow

Now we're talking! This is where Sorcery starts to earn its pay. Transformations are the bread and butter of a Pattern Sorceror, and, with a little more work, you can effectively conjure an item out of Shadow as well. However, this kind of spell will just out and out fail if you try to make it directly affect another Amberite — or the air in their lungs, etc. It's even possible to create things like fireballs and lightning bolts with these abilities, although they tend to be a bit slow in forming (that is, not great for dueling with someone with good reflexes). Remember that Alter effects are never permenant, though you can give them some duration by channeling more power into the spell at the time of its creation. In addition, the "more complex" nature of spells means that Alter and Edit effects can be much more local in nature than a simple use of the Power.

Sense

You can bring up Pattern sense with a spell. Somewhat useful if you've got it racked (it's quicker than concentrating on the Pattern), or if you're trying to sense something in particular (like an old use of Trump in the area)

Lens

Think "clairvoyance" kinds of spells.

Shadow Pockets

Well, you can create Shadow Pockets on demand.

Erase Shadow

Not very useful, because it still takes forever to do (the taking forever part of Erasing a Shadow is the time it takes the Pattern energy to latch onto all of the Shadow, not the time it takes the user to get into the right frame of mind). However, you'll be much less stunned after the effect occurs, and you could potentially build up the effort to destroy a Shadow that would ordinarily be too Real for you to affect.

And here's what you can do with Logrus Sorcery.

Basic, Hellride, and Track

Just like with Pattern, you can't cast spells that make use of these abilities.

Summon

Sumon a particular object, on demand. This can be useful considering the speed at which it works.

Sense

Pretty much like Pattern.

Black Path and Permenant Black Path

This is about the closest you'll get to a teleport without using Trump or standing at the center of the Pattern. You can create a Black Path that goes to whereever you want (remember that, because of the "saving up effort" thing, it can potentially reach much further than your usual range), and then sprint down it, and then have the spell disperse the Path behind you. If you like, you can have the Path be "curved," with the entry and exit in the same Shadow, and run around through Shadow to get behind someone, or past a door, or whatever.

Deliver

Teleport things out to someone on demand.

Weaken

The problems with Weaken as an offensive ability are much less of an issue when you can "save up effort." You can go for the obvious "just weaken the hell out of them," or the subtle "weaken the (your favorite internal organ here)." The latter looks a lot like death by a natural cause... But watch out, it's less effective against high-Endurance or Shapeshifting folks than the blatant approach.

Basic Sorcery costs 10 points. Advanced costs an additional 5. You can hang up to 10 spells on the Pattern (less if you're putting a whole lot of energy into each one), and 20 on the Logrus, but stuff on the Logrus gets stale faster. (Spells on the Pattern get stale, too. If your spell's on the Pattern, it's probably useable for a month or so. On the Logrus, one or two weeks).

Pattern and Logrus sorcery, despite their similarities, are different powers. If you have both Pattern and Logrus, and wish to get both kinds of Sorcery, you must pay the costs once for each Power. Sorcery is intentionally weaker than the DRPG book's version, and this weakness will be enforced in play!