They tell you, magic is a force. Every time you cast a spell you flip a coin and if that coin comes up on the wrongs side, you are dead and gone. Don't play with it, don't mess about, and don't make eye contact. Magic is for only the direst of circumstances. Don't get your mundane life and your magic all mixed up or there will be consequences.
Did you hear all of that? Notice how everyone who teaches it to you is an established wizard owns their own house within a dimensional pocket and has regular pay from the local mage society of note, the Believers of Uath.
Meanwhile, you don't get private dimensions or a nice paycheck. You live in a council house in Dublin with three other mages, living off jobseeker's benefits. You're all students learning magic from the masters at the Believers of Uath, but it turns out that the student coverage fund for the Believers extends to groceries and not much else of anything. And since officially mages don't exist, don't expect student benefits. That means you are on your own.
So, in these circumstances, you're meant to stick to your guns and go "Nope, no magic, just going to struggle forward in this pointless, irritating mess". But why should you? Magic doesn't need to be an emergency thing, it's just what the man tells you it should be. So why not use a time spell to give you five extra minutes when you're late for a job interview? Why not summon an eldritch god and ask it to mind the house while you go out to get a pack of rollies? Why not convince someone they're mad by casting multiple telepathic message spells in order to get them to stop bothering you? You're a bloody wizard, you can do these things!
There is absolutely no way this can go wrong. No way at all.
Welcome to Welfare Wizards. Where mundane problems are solved by extreme metaphysical power.
You play as a student mage living off social benefits in a council house along with three other mages. Mundane problems such as fixing the plumbing or trying to return a book to the library before it closes will pop up. You are encouraged to solve these problems using your vast array of arcane magic. Don't worry about keeping wizards secret, but try not to make it too large-scale or someone may come around to... clean it up. This will be objective based, usually with a lot of solutions. This will not be combat focused. You can still do combat, but don't expect it to be the universal solution and creativity is encouraged.
This RTD uses typical d6 system. The only statistic all creatures share is the Luck number. Whenever you are almost put in a position that takes you out of the game (Arrested, killed, kicked out of the house), your luck takes a hit. At the start, you have five luck points.
A turn is five minutes, game time.
Spells have four attributes. Duration (How long it lasts), Cooldown (How long before it can be used after casting), Range (How far it can be cast), and Style (What kind of spell it is). When you complete an objective, you get a point. A point can be used to increase a spell's range or duration (By multiplying the current number by two), lower the cooldown, or purchase one of the upgrades to the spell, all of which cost one point.
Name: What your name is.
Gender: What sex you are.
Age: How old you are. Try to keep it above the age of 16 and preferably below 65, as most wizarding students probably would be inbetween those two ages.
Profile: Your appearance, personality, and/or background.
Spell: Choose from one of the starting spells listed below.
Skill: Choose a specific activity that you happen to have a knack for, like fixing sinks or doing accounting. This will automatically reroll a failed roll related to that skill.
Translations.
Irish Wizards tend to use Gaelic in their terminology. Or at least try to. They use it for the "styles" of spells, so here are the translations and what the styles really are. Fun fact, they are actually based off the features of their avian god.
Thuar means Analyze, and is the "head" of magic. Used to examine and determine things. This includes surveillance spells, clairvoyance spells, and spells that subtly alter the course of something rather then directly modifying it.
Athrú means Alter, and is the "left wing" of magic. Used to alter and transform things. This includes disguise spells, time spells, and transformation spells.
A Chruthú means Create, and is the "right wing" of magic. Used to create and bring things into existence. This includes summoning spells, most combat spells, and building spells.
Ingrained Spells
Ingrained Spells are natural to trained mages and cannot be upgraded.
Trick
A Chruthú
Range: 3 meters (Around Caster)
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Tricks are magical effects that creates obviously fake effects like confetti spraying from your hands or having your teeth sparkle when you smile that disappear when the spell ends. This will probably impress a lot of people who aren't mages.
Movement
Athrú
Range: Touch
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Movement is very, very minor telekinesis that allows you to levitate objects that you hold in your hand. You cannot lift anything larger then 500 grams, and when it levitates beyond a 30 centimeter spherical radius around your hand it will fall.
Reading
Thuar
Range: Touch
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Reading is a minor fortune telling/telepathic ability which operates by examining the aural discharges given by the palms of the target. It is activated by holding a living target's hands and examining the palms. For every five minutes you examine the palm, you learn a different thing about them. For what you learn, roll on the palm table. When a piece of information is given, it will not be given twice.
Palm Table
1. Given Name. Their original name given by their parents or guardians.
2. Date of Birth. When they were born.
3. Current Mood. How they are feeling.
4. Current Topic. Their current train of thought.
5. Sexual Orientation. Which way they swing.
6. Date of Death. When they will die of old age, barring accident and murder.
7. Dominant Hand. Which hand is their most dominant.
8. Sickness. Whether or not they are physically ill.
9. Instability. Whether or not they are mentally ill.
10. Opinion. What they think of you currently.
Starting
These are the spells you can choose at the start.
Identity Alteration
Athrú
Range: 15 meters (Around Caster)
Duration: 10 Minutes
Cooldown: 20 Minutes
Identity Alteration is a spell that alters the impression you leave on people. In it's basic form, it makes you appear like you're meant to be in the location. The targets provide the majority of details themselves. However, whenever you do things that are out of character, the illusion starts to fall apart, with every minute remaining in the illusion requiring a roll to keep up the illusion.
Upgrades
Enhanced
Enhanced makes the spell include conversation and direct interaction. The memories of the caster by the target will be vague and forgettable.
Impersonate
Impersonate makes the spell give the impression that you are a random friend/acquaintance of the target. This only works on one person at a time which you can choose.
Swapper
Swapper makes the caster look like the target and the target look like the caster to anyone in the vicinity. This only works on one person at a time.
Elemental Summoning
A Chruthú
Range: 5 Meters (Around Caster)
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Elemental Summoning is a spell that is able to create the four basic elements around the caster. They are able to control where they place them and the amount created, but cannot manipulate the element's behavior and are not immune to it's effects. The elements are Water, Air, Fire, Earth, and Gravy just those four. You can only summon one element at a time.
Upgrades
Immunity
Immunity removes any damage done to you by the summoned elements. It only works on the elements you summon, not the elements in general. Thus, you will not drown in water, you will not be burnt by fire, you will not be blown off a cliff by air, and you will not be buried by earth.
Manipulation
Manipulation allows you to manipulate the elements you summon. You can give them simple commands to move to a certain area or remain in place, but you can't manipulate elements you haven't summoned and you can't give complicated orders.
Combination
Combination allows you to combine the elements you summon. You can spawn two elements at the same time, then combine them into one. The elements then take on a logical form: water + air makes raincloud, earth + fire = lava.
See Past
Thuar
Range: Touch
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
See Past is a spell that makes you see into the past. By writing a date and time on your hand and pressing it against a person, you are able to view the memory of that time. The duration measures how long the memory lasts: the action takes barely a second. The target is fully aware of the interaction and can see the memory play out along with the caster.
Upgrades
Stealth
Stealth makes the spell undetectable by the target. The memory does not play out for the target and apart from the sensation of a hand pressing against their body, they can't detect it.
Record
Record makes the spell copy the memory to the caster's brain, allowing them to remember it perfectly. This does not delete the memory in the target's head.
Transfer
Transfer makes the memories transferable. Before the cooldown ends, writing down the date, time, and name of target on a piece of paper will transfer the memory to that paper. Anyone who touches it will view the memory. The memory will also be removed from the target.
Alter Time
Athrú
Range: 5 Meters (Around fixed location)
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Alter Time is a spell that slows the speed of time to half it's speed, making all activities take twice as long. To those outside the area of effect, it looks like time is somehow slowed within the area. The duration measures how long this effect lasts within the slowdown period.
Upgrades
Exception
Exception makes the caster immune to the effects of the spell. They are able to go at regular speed, while the targets inside the area of effect cannot. This means they can do things twice as fast.
Pause
Pause causes time to stop completely. For as long as the effect goes on for, time will simply not advance.
Reverse
Reverse makes time start going backwards. The duration measures how far into the past one can go. The area of effect around the spell is the only part affected by the changes in casualty. Important note! This screws up casualty to no end, and if you use this in the right place (Like killing someone, filming their corpse, tossing the camera out of the area of effect, then reversing) you are just asking to be kicked in the arse by the time police.
Summon Entity
A Chruthú
Range: 10 Meters (When Casted)
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Summon Entity is a spell that takes a sapient entity from the multiverse and places it within your universe. It will exist for as long as the Duration. The caster may choose where it is placed and where it should be, but they cannot decide what it is. For that, the result is rolled randomly. There are five categories: Celestial (Angelic creatures), Demonic (Occult creatures), Eldritch (Bizarre, variable creatures), Dire (Enhanced wild animals), and Mishmash (Random beings pulled from the multiverse).
Upgrades
Choice
Choice lets you choose the category of entities you wish to summon. You may not choose the specific creature.
Protection
Protection keeps the entities from directly attacking you. They are able to inconvenience you, but they are unable to harm you.
Command
Command makes the entities obey a single order from you. This can be as specific as you like, but depending on the intelligence of the creature it may be simplified.
Read Mind
Thuar
Range: 5 Meters (Around Caster)
Duration: 5 Minutes
Cooldown: 10 Minutes
Read Mind is a spell that analyzes the thoughts of those around you. This gives a reading on their thoughts without them knowing about it. Typically takes the form of a one line reading.
Upgrades
Telepathy
Telepathy insert thoughts into the heads of those around the caster or to a specific target. The thought can seem like their own, or like someone's voice, or even a noise.
Search
Search analyzes the thoughts of those for common trends or keywords, like a search engine. Before the spell, the caster defines what they are searching for.
Clairvoyance
Clairvoyance puts the view of the caster through the eyes of the target. For the duration of the spell they can see whatever the target sees, but if they wander out of the range of the spell the view ends.
Remember, these are not all the spells. As time goes on, more and more spells will get added!
I am looking for four players.