A …spell‚ is generally a fairly specific magical ability used by spellcasters with the Magic Skill and/or Magic Power skills. Spells are custom-made by the individual caster well ahead of time using one or more spell seeds (individual effects such as Damage, Dispel, and Summon) and Metamagic Components (techniques learned with Magic Skill and Complexity that modify a spell in some way, such as increased range). Spells are completely memorized by their creator, who can cast them on the fly. Spells are generally …quick-and-dirty‚ magic, cast in a few seconds (usually four) with some brief arcane utterances and a gesture or two. While spell seeds detail the in-game effects of a spell, it is up to the player to decide cosmetic details ƒ what does the spell look like to viewers? What does the player‚s character say and do, exactly, to produce the spell?
The act of casting a spell with a Power rating equal to the maximum available to the caster is roughly as tiring for a magic user as swinging a Heavy weapon with maximum effort is to a warrior. A high Magic Power skill represents both the ability to handle more powerful spells safely and for spells to be relatively less tiring. So a character with a 14 ranks in Magic Power casting a spell with a power rank 1 (for example) would barely expend more effort than clapping one‚s hand. Spellcasters don‚t have any hard limit on how frequently they can use their magic any more than melee fighters have a hard limit on axe swings before resting, but the GM could impose the Tired condition on a character who continually casts spells for hours at a time (just as he would for a woodsman chopping down trees for hours without rest).