When you build a spell (whenever you get a rank in the Magic School skill) you may choose one or more Seeds and Metamagics to include. Metamagics are always marked in Bold Italic and are followed by a description of how complicated or powerful they are in square brackets. Some Metamagics actually decrease the complexity or power of the spell, but are detrimental in some way. Add the Power ratings together to determine the Power score, and the Complexity ratings together to determine the Complexity score.
Range : Use the shortest range of all seeds present in the spell.
Casting Time : Use the longest of all seeds present in the spell. If all seeds involved are casting time: Immediate, then the spell can be cast as an immediate action.
Type: If any of the seeds are Type: Attack, then the spell becomes Type: Attack and requires an attack roll before any other effect comes into play. If there are no attack seeds, but there are Specialized seeds, the spell becomes type: Specialized. If all of the seeds are type: Reaction, then the spell is Type: Reaction.
If any of the seeds require an attack roll, then the whole spell needs to hit before any of the effects work.
Check : If the seeds require checks that are identical, you only need to make the check once. A success on the check makes both seeds succeed, a fail makes them both fail.
If the seeds require checks that are against different DCs but use the same skill, still only roll once. Apply the check against both DCs (so, if one DC is 7 and the other 8 and you rolled a 7, you beat the first but not the second).
If the seeds require checks that use different skills, then roll the separate skills separately.
For example, a spell with the seeds Damage, Telekinesis: Move and Sever is cast. The caster rolls one Magic Skill check and one Magic Power check. The magic skill result is 8 (on a roll of 4), which is enough to beat the target's Target score but not his Wrestle DC. The Magic Power check is 7 (on a roll of 3) fails to beat the target's Magic Power DC.
Target : The seeds' effects only apply to targets valid for that seed. For example, say you cast a fireball spell (targets objects and creatures) with the Dispel seed (only targets spells) added. All spells in the area are affected by the Dispel seed (but not the Damage from fireball ), and all creatures and objects are affected by fireball 's Damage effect (but not Dispel).
If one or more seeds can target Spells, or the effects of other seeds, you may choose when building the spell to have those seeds target the spell or its effects. For example, a Teleport seed combined with a Damage seed could teleport itself to a location. Or, a Seed that creates a quantity of stone combined with Transmute could build a wall all in the same action.
Duration : Use the shortest duration present with two exceptions:
If there is a mix of Instant and any other duration, the Instant affect applies immediately and the others start right afterwards. For example, say you were combining the Conceal seed (duration of Rounds) with the Heal seed (duration Instant). The target is Healed immediately and Concealed for one round per Magic Skill Bonus.
If there is a mix of Concentration with Rounds, Minutes, Hours, Days, or Permanent, then the duration becomes Concentration with a maximum of Rounds, Minutes, etc.
Effect : What the seed does. The effects all apply to any valid target in the spell's area.
Area : If more than one seed affects an area, use the one with the smallest scale. If they are of equivalent scales, then you can pick (at spell creation) which area to use
Modifications : While building the spell, you may select these modifications in order to make the spell more Complex or more Powerful.