Greetings folks!

Long time D&D player here (30yrs, mostly as a DM), trying to wrap my head around the magic system. Here are a few questions I have...

1. How many spells can a player have? I understand that you have to have ranks in a certain skill to cast the spell, but for the life of me I can't find how many spells you can have at one time.

2. I'm assuming that the Augment spell would be used for druid shape shifting, correct? However, where would you pull stats from for say transforming into a bear?

3. Am I correct that with the Rune skill you can cast any spell with a rune shard? For example cast barrier with an ice storm rune? Cause that just sounds like too much fun! And how rare are these rune shards to find? I know you can start with a lesser one, but what about the others?

I'm absolutely loving this system and can't wait to run a campaign for my wife and girls. Problem is I think I'm still stuck in the D20/D&D mindset.

1) there is no hard and fast limit to the number of spells you can cast .. your limit is stress as each cast cost 2 stress. as for types of spells you can cast it will be by the type of casters.

ATTACK (arcana, divine, primal)

AUGMENT (divine, primal)
BARRIER (arcana, divine)
CONJURE (arcana, primal)
CURSE (arcana, divine)

DISPEL (arcana)
HEAL (divine, primal)
UTILITY (arcana, divine, primal)

2) its one of the way that this could be handled (look here for some other peoples ideas.) .. its handled in the Terrinoth book as a telent.

(I would avoid stat replacement this has proven in dnd past really hard to balance also makes so points put into stats don't matter as much.)

3) leaving this for others as I have not read the lore of Terrionth Yet.

14 hours ago, Digital Viking said:

1. How many spells can a player have? I understand that you have to have ranks in a certain skill to cast the spell, but for the life of me I can't find how many spells you can have at one time.

Each skill has access to certain spellcasting actions ("spells"). Each action listed on pages 212–214 of the core book lists what skills can use which actions.

From within those actions, there are few limits to what options you can choose when casting those spells. For example, arcana, divine, and primal can all add the fire effect to a magic attack but only primal casters can add the non-lethal option (page 215 has the extra list of attack options.

15 hours ago, Digital Viking said:

2. I'm assuming that the Augment spell would be used for druid shape shifting, correct? However, where would you pull stats from for say transforming into a bear?

That spell is the go-to for shapeshifting, yes. Really, what the character looks like is cosmetic. You want to be a bear? Congrats, you look like a bear! Of course, a bear would probably be good at mauling someone to death and thus the druid should add the primal fury effect (increased unarmed damage and lower crit rating).

Otherwise, the Shapshifter talent (and the Improved version) can be found in RoT84 and RoT89. If you don't have Terrinoth, the base talent is found in the CRB152 as the mongrel's The Beast Within ability and the improved version is The Human Spirit ability. Exact same text, just different names. And again, the visuals are just cosmetic. Say you're a bear and you're a bear!

15 hours ago, Digital Viking said:

3. Am I correct that with the Rune skill you can cast any spell with a rune shard? For example cast barrier with an ice storm rune? Cause that just sounds like too much fun! And how rare are these rune shards to find? I know you can start with a lesser one, but what about the others?

See RoT115 for the additional rules for both Runes and Verse magic. Specifically, " The Runes skill can be used with the following magic actions: attack, augment, barrier, curse, and utility. "

15 hours ago, Digital Viking said:

I'm absolutely loving this system and can't wait to run a campaign for my wife and girls. Problem is I think I'm still stuck in the D20/D&D mindset

Welcome to the club and I hope you enjoy the game! Feel free to keep asking questions and we'll be happy to help you acclimate to Genesys !

Also, as an aside, if you're on Discord come join the Genesys server .

Hello there! I'm a long-time RPG player as well (starting with the White Box D&D in the 70s and moving along through every edition with side trips to ICE, Earthdawn, HARP, WHFRP and a handful of others!).

Genesys (and it's core in WHFRP) has been the most fun system to GM that I have ever found. It requires the right player mindset too but once you get that, it's gold.

But like you, I spent a LOT of time in more 'structured' systems and I don't feel comfortable completely abandoning some of it. Luckily, Genesys can handle it with flying colors! You really aren't hurting anything if you put in a bit more structure to various subsystems as long as your players on on board and the overall experience is satisfying for all of you.

For example, I needed more structure for the Magic system. The completely open system is great for flexibility but it can cause some analysis paralysis during gameplay as casters decided the best way to shape each case. It also provided a bit too much flexibility for the casters IMO such that they always have the 'perfect spell for the situation' at hand. And trying to adjudicate non-standard effects on the fly lead to further slowdowns and inconsistencies.

Instead, I created lists of spells largely flavored by the magic system the old Avalon Hill fantasy board game Magic Realm . Doing so enabled me to diversify the casters significantly more and to create more powerful spell effects without unbalancing the game. In the core system, all magic types (Primal, Arcane, Divine) can cast Attack spells. So they all essentially have access to 'Fireball' and 'Magic Missile' or whatever fantasy equivalents you want to call them. This didn't fit my world view so now each Ritual Type (I-VIII per the MR universe) has a set selection of spells which I have tailored using the existing magic rules to provide a distinct flavor for each. It's worked out great so far!

So I guess the point is that the magic rules (or any other rules in the system) are there to provide a guideline of what you can do within your own campaign universe. If something doesn't fit, change it! The game will still work fine. And that is part of what makes the system an absolute joy to GM!

Regarding rune shards, they have no price so besides the lesser rune all the others rune shards can be inside a deep dungeon, in a treasure or otherwise as reward for difficult quest.

Maybe a couple of enemy nemesis-level use this rune shards against the PC.