Morphic Magic

Philosophy

Morphic mages believe that most forms are negotiations, not absolutes. Bone can be lighter. Skin can be harder. A body can breathe in new conditions. A wall can become a doorway if its structure is persuaded to accept another arrangement. The school therefore attracts healers, spies, scouts, beast-workers, sculptors, and body-horrors in roughly equal measure.

This is one of the most admired and mistrusted disciplines in the world. Properly practiced, it saves lives and opens impossible paths. Improperly practiced, it creates monsters, grotesque grafts, and people who can no longer remember their original shape.

Example Places of Study

Common Spells

Alter Self

Purpose/How It Works: Alter Self makes modest changes to face, voice, coloration, proportions, and small bodily features while preserving recognizable inner structure.
Notable Exceptions: It is excellent for disguise, poor for fooling deep magical scrutiny or long intimate familiarity.
Example Use: An agent becomes a dock clerk for one dangerous afternoon.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the body’s own adaptive pattern, touch-reference to the intended form, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Self-shape cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Mirror rite, 1 to 3 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self. Minutes to hours.

Enlarge

Purpose/How It Works: Enlarge increases bodily or object scale by redistributing structure, density, and active support across a larger frame.
Notable Exceptions: Large increases are costly and can strain floors, joints, and clothing.
Example Use: A smith enlarges his own arms and shoulders to lift a fallen beam.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s own structure, surrounding matter balance, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Touch cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Rune-belt activation, 1 to 2 seconds.
Range/Duration: Self or touched target. Seconds to minutes.

Reduce

Purpose/How It Works: Reduce compacts mass and proportion into a smaller temporary arrangement without fully removing weight or presence.
Notable Exceptions: Extremely dense objects are difficult to reduce safely. Targets feel strangely heavy for their apparent size.
Example Use: Thieves shrink a strongbox just enough to carry it out under a coat.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s own structure, surrounding matter balance, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Touch cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Compression sigil, 10 to 20 seconds.
Range/Duration: Self, creature, or object at touch. Seconds to minutes.

Beast Shape

Purpose/How It Works: Beast Shape rewrites the caster into a known animal form while preserving core mind and a partial memory of human function.
Notable Exceptions: Complex tools, speech, and fine planning degrade sharply in deep beast forms.
Example Use: A scout becomes a fox to slip beneath siege debris.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the caster’s body pattern, a known beast template, and significant reserves for full transformation.
Casting Methods: Self-transformation, 10 to 20 seconds. Full shape rite, 2 to 5 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self. Minutes to hours.

Water Breathing

Purpose/How It Works: Water Breathing reshapes lungs, throat, and internal pressure response so a target can draw oxygen from water.
Notable Exceptions: It does not improve cold resistance or deep-pressure endurance on its own.
Example Use: Divers search a drowned shrine without surfacing for air.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, water-contact, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Touch cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Group basin rite, 2 to 5 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self or touched group. Minutes to hours.

Spider Climb

Purpose/How It Works: Spider Climb alters grip chemistry, limb tension, and balance so a target can move along walls and ceilings.
Notable Exceptions: Dust, grease, and brittle surfaces can still cause failure.
Example Use: A tomb-robber walks the ceiling over the pressure floor below.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, contact with the climbed surface, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Self or touch cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Climbing charm activation, near-instant.
Range/Duration: Self or touched target. Minutes.

Stone Shape

Purpose/How It Works: Stone Shape persuades worked or natural stone into a new stable arrangement such as door, arch, channel, or seal.
Notable Exceptions: It reshapes existing stone; it does not create missing support without cost.
Example Use: A hidden passage opens where a blank wall stood moments before.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the existing material’s structure, the intended form-pattern, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Touch and mold cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Mason’s rite, 2 to 5 minutes.
Range/Duration: Touch or immediate wall section. Permanent if structurally sound.

Passwall

Purpose/How It Works: Passwall temporarily softens and rearranges a section of solid material into a traversable channel.
Notable Exceptions: Heavily warded or load-bearing walls resist dangerous shortcuts. Collapse is a real risk if the path is abused.
Example Use: A prison break turns one impossible stone wall into a narrow breathing tunnel.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the existing material’s structure, the intended form-pattern, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Wall-opening cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Surveyed breach rite, 3 to 8 minutes.
Range/Duration: One wall, floor, or barrier section. Minutes to one hour.

Flesh Mask

Purpose/How It Works: Flesh Mask builds a more complete bodily disguise than Alter Self, including scar placement, hand texture, and weight distribution.
Notable Exceptions: It is uncomfortable and mentally tiring to hold for long.
Example Use: An infiltrator passes as a dead noble’s cousin at close banquet range.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, a detailed model of the false form, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Self-shape cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Mirror chamber rite, 5 to 15 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self. Hours.

Elastic Form

Purpose/How It Works: Elastic Form makes the body temporarily more flexible, compressible, and resistant to blunt strain.
Notable Exceptions: Sharp weapons remain dangerous, and the altered movement can feel uncanny.
Example Use: A burglar slips through a gap too narrow for an ordinary shoulder line.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, tension control, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Self-cast, 3 to 6 seconds. Stretch oil application, 10 to 20 seconds.
Range/Duration: Self or touched target. Minutes.

Stone Flesh

Purpose/How It Works: Stone Flesh hardens skin, muscle, or bark-like coverings into a mineralized protective state.
Notable Exceptions: Movement slows, and internal shock can still injure beneath the hardened layer.
Example Use: A war-mage crosses spear range under skin that rings like rock.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, surrounding mineral structure, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Self-wrap cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Dust-and-oil rite, 20 to 40 seconds.
Range/Duration: Self or touched ally. Seconds to minutes.

Beast Speech

Purpose/How It Works: Beast Speech reshapes throat, ear, and symbolic interpretation so a target can exchange simple meaning with animals.
Notable Exceptions: It facilitates communication, not full human-style abstraction.
Example Use: A ranger questions crows about who crossed the ridge.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, sympathetic animal cues, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Touch cast, 10 to 20 seconds. Shared meal rite, 2 to 5 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self or touched target. Minutes to hours.

Polymorph

Purpose/How It Works: Polymorph forces a complete temporary reconfiguration into another viable creature-form, often with major changes in scale, strength, and capability.
Notable Exceptions: It is mentally and physically risky, especially on unwilling targets or wildly alien forms.
Example Use: A battlefield transmuter turns a siege ogre into a plodding ox long enough to break the assault.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by deep morphic reserves, a stable target pattern, and strong caster control.
Casting Methods: Full transformation cast, 20 to 40 seconds. Circle transmutation rite, 5 to 15 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self or visible target. Minutes to one hour.

Dragonhide

Purpose/How It Works: Dragonhide overlays the target with scale-like dermal reinforcement adapted to heat, cold, or abrasion.
Notable Exceptions: It is exhausting and often painful during emergence and shedding.
Example Use: A champion takes the dragonfire on his arms and lives.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the target’s body pattern, a hardened defensive template, and the caster’s reserves.
Casting Methods: Combat cast, 5 to 10 seconds. Hide-template rite, 1 to 3 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self or touched ally. Minutes.

Shapechange

Purpose/How It Works: Shapechange grants repeated fluid transformation between prepared forms without fully dropping back to the original shape each time.
Notable Exceptions: It is one of the most unstable morphic workings in learned magic and can blur identity if held too long.
Example Use: A legendary infiltrator shifts from falcon to hound to noble in the same pursuit.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by massive personal reserves, several memorized form-patterns, and continuous concentration.
Casting Methods: Master transformation, 30 to 60 seconds. Great morphic rite, 10 to 30 minutes.
Range/Duration: Self. Minutes to hours.