Nume­naria is crossed by ley lines through which the world’s mag­i­cal energy ebbs and flows. The inter­sec­tions of these ley lines cre­ate unpre­dictable  “whirlpools” of mag­i­cal energy. Some tear open the fab­ric of space and time; oth­ers sim­ply have strange-colored flow­ers grow­ing nearby and make eery danc­ing lights at night.

Mag­i­cal Backlash

Magic is dan­ger­ous and unpre­dictable in this stage of Numenaria’s his­tory. Even the sagest wiz­ards have trou­ble con­trol­ling the mag­i­cal forces that their spell­books reveal to them. Less-experienced magi­cians stand a good chance of warp­ing the fab­ric of space and time and unleash­ing uncon­trolled forces when they attempt spells that are beyond their abilities.

How­ever, there are excep­tions: exist­ing magic items, alchemy, crea­tures’ magic abil­i­ties, and spells cast at a nexus of two or more ley lines.  While enchant­ing a sword is extremely dan­ger­ous if the enchanter doesn’t know what he is doing, the blade will work  if the mag­i­cal processes are suc­cess­fully com­pleted. Forc­ing the uni­verse to bring forth an enchanted sword is dan­ger­ous and tricky; once it is part of the uni­verse, it now belongs there. Crea­tures with mag­i­cal abil­i­ties are also exempt from mag­i­cal back­lash. They’re here, and they belong–even if they wan­dered in from another plane of existence.

Game Rules

All char­ac­ters run a risk of back­lash when they cast spells (even pal­adins and cler­ics; you must be care­ful what you pray for!).

Spell Level divided by Caster Level x 100 = Per­cent chance of backlash.

Roll per­centile dice and add 10x your Wis­dom bonus to see if there is back­lash when you attempt a spell.

If there is spell back­lash, the spell fails. Roll 1d20 and con­sult the fol­low­ing table:

1: Caster gets sucked into the Void. Game over for him.

2–3: All PCs, NPCs and mon­sters in the engage­ment must make a Wis­dom check or flee in panic for 1 round per spell level.

4–5: The caster pan­ics for 1 round per spell level.

6–7: The caster glows bright green or blue for 1 round per spell level.

8–10: Rain of frogs/newts/glorps 1 round per spell level.

11–12: A mon­ster or band of mon­sters with the same HD as the caster’s party appears from another dimen­sion and attacks all com­bat­ants in the engagement.

13: A gate­way to another plane rips open for 1 round per spell level; those in the same square must make a Dex­ter­ity check to avoid falling in.

14–15: Spell has oppo­site effect. Spells that cause dam­age will heal the tar­get, and heal­ing spells will cause dam­age to the target.

16–17: Spell back­fires and tar­gets the caster or his party. Heal­ing spells will tar­get the near­est enemy.

18–20: Burn­ing blast of magic light. 1d6 x spell level to caster and those within 5ft x spell level radius.

New Feat

Ley­line Cast­ing [Meta­m­agic] Char­ac­ters with this feat can cast spells within ley lines as if they were at a nexus (no backlash.)