Magic Paths

 

Organisation

Path Grimoires and Page Progression

Each path is kept within a grimoire—eight chapters deep, eight pages per chapter. New pages represent knowledge, experience, and attunement. As more pages are added, the wielder’s influence grows in:

• Potency
• Complexity
• Control
• Mana resilience

Pages may be found, forged, gifted, or won—and come in various rarity levels:

1. Common The baseline. These spells are everywhere, easy to find, and generally have simple effects.
2. Uncommon Require a bit more effort to find. Their effects are more interesting or slightly more powerful.
3. Rare These spells are genuinely hard to find, and often require exploration or specific quests. Their effects are significant.
4. Heroic Powerful boosts of understanding and effects, at times with ties to old or ancient twists
5. Epic This tier represents spells that are not just powerful, but also possess an ancient quality. They may require specific magical knowledge or rituals to even use, let alone find. They are fundamentally different from the spells that came before them.
6. Legendary A rarity associated with grand legends and myths. These spells have a story or a specific lore attached to them. They are extremely powerful and often have unique effects.
7. Mythic: Near-unique and a elusive rarity seldomly “found” in the traditional sense; they are a manifestation of raw magical energy itself. They represent the ability to bend the rules of reality, and their existence is a myth even among the most powerful mages.
8.  Divine: They are not of this world, and their effects can be world-altering on a small scale. These spells are gifts from gods, spirits, or other divine beings. Their power is absolute, and they are typically unique. You would hardly find two of the same divine spell.

“One page can change your fate… if you dare read it.”

—Skjald Sigurd

 

Over time, 50 separate magic paths have evolved across realms, each with varying cost, weaving, and length. A modular architecture and grouping have emerged as a result of experimentation, specialisation, and even philosophical thought. Mana manipulators tend to learn and perform in fairly similar ways over time, resulting in the formation of eight groups.

“Some wander stars, others whisper to beasts… but all cast light, whether blinding or gentle.”

—Skjald Vinotis

 

Manipulation & Transformation

Paths that change, shape, or animate objects, beings, or environments. These paths reject the passive acceptance of what is. Here, matter bends, forms dissolve, and essence evolves. Whether it’s animating the inanimate or altering the body, this category is for those who see potential in chaos and sculpt it into design.

“Why obey reality when you can reshape it?”

• Path of Control — Manipulate objects, elements, or even minds with forceful precision.
• Path of Crafting — Shape raw components into enchanted or practical marvels.
• Path of Creations — Conjure materials, forms, or constructs never before seen.
• Path of Enhancement — Improve, amplify, or evolve physical and magical traits.
• Path of Enchantment — Imbue objects with intent; bind magic into form and function.
• Path of Shifting — Alter form—yours or another’s—at will.
• Path of Mutation — Induce radical changes, often with unpredictable beauty.
• Path of Repulsion — Push back force, presence, or energy with invisible might.
• Path of Telekinesis — Command motion without contact; lift, throw, and distort from afar.
• Path of Rift — Tear space and time; traverse realms and fracture boundaries.

Archetypes

• The Golemwright — Makes companions from clay, steel, and shadow; gives them names and purpose.
• The Fleshsculptor — Alters the body like canvas; whispers beauty into bone.
• The Shard Alchemist — Transmutes magic into matter—and matter into surprise.
• The Repulsar Adept — Surrounded by a storm of invisible force, untouchable and always in motion.

“The craftsman’s hands built kingdoms. But the mage who reshaped air—that one built empires no eye could see.”

 

Mysticism & Perception

Paths that alter perception, reveal hidden things, or reach beyond the physical plane. This realm is for those who walk between worlds—seers, shadow-walkers, and veil-piercers. Their magic doesn’t smash through doors; it whispers through keyholes. Every spell is a question. Every gesture, a revelation.

“A lie can be burnt. A truth must be unveiled.”

• Path of Detection — Sense magic, deceit, or hidden passages with eerie precision.
• Path of Intuition — Read situations before they unfold; trust the inner compass.
• Path of Disguise — Wear illusion like a second skin; become anyone, anywhere.
• Path of Illusions — Bend perception itself—sight, sound, and even memory.
• Path of Tracking — Hunt through scent, aura, and echo; never lose the trail.
• Path of Light — Illuminate truth, blind falsehoods, and reveal what the dark conceals.
• Path of Void — Embrace chaos and silence; draw power from unformed potential.
• Path of Darkness — Twist perception, provoke fear, hide knowledge.

Archetypes

• The Lantern-Seer — Carries a flame that reveals secrets, not shadows.
• The Maskwright — Craft illusions so perfect, even gods mistake them.
• The Threadfinder — Follows fate’s tangled skein and tugs until things unravel.
• The Mirrorbound — Lives between reflections; knows your thoughts before you do.

“The Oracle of Thay never looked with her eyes. She listened to silence until it spoke.”

 

Vitality & Restoration

Paths focused on the body, life force, and restoration. This category harnesses the forces of preservation, growth, and natural balance. These are the healers, the purifiers, and the resilient hearts who channel life—not as a static state, but as an ever-flowing rhythm. Their power is rarely flashy but almost always essential.

“What has been broken remembers its shape.”

• Path of Healing — Mend flesh and spirit; erase pain with touch or chant.
•  Path of Herbs — Use flora for cures, poisons, and rituals of renewal.
• Path of Disease — Understand affliction to cure—or to spread.
• Path of Purification — Cleanse corruption, toxins, and magical rot.
• Path of Resistance — Fortify body and will against magic or blade.
• Path of Protection — Shield others with wards, intentions, or living force.
• Path of Movement — Shift space and self; dance through velocity and displacement.
• Path of Shielding — Create magical barriers, redirect harm.

Archetypes

• The Grovebound — Their veins flow with chlorophyll and wisdom; they speak in rustling leaves.
• The Blight-Eater — Survives what others can’t. Ingests disease to destroy it.
• The Bastion Saint — Never fights, yet ends wars with presence alone.
• The Empath Weaver — Knits wounds and moods alike into healing tapestries.

“The Warden of Istari once spent a year in silence. Not as a vow, but because the forest spoke for him, leaf to leaf.”

 

Offence & Aggression

Paths dealing with direct damage, elemental force, or combat aid. This domain doesn’t concern itself with subtlety or diplomacy. It’s pure kinetic will—the force of nature unchained. Practitioners here revel in destruction, disruption, and the art of turning a moment into devastation.

“Speak with fire. Strike with fury. Regret nothing.”

• Path of Fire — Flame as weapon, symbol, and signature.
• Path of Cold — Freeze foes, halt motion, and drain heat from hope.
• Path of Wind — Slice with invisible blades, upend balance.
• Path of Earth — Crush, trap, rumble with tectonic finality.
• Path of Water — Nourish, flood, roar with tsunamic finality.
• Path of Chaos Swilrs — Unpredictable bursts of raw magical force.
• Path of Poison — Silent damage, lingering pain, death by patience.
• Path of Curses — Bend fate and sow suffering with dark intent.
• Path of Weather — Call storms, lightning, and fury from the sky.
• Path of Evocations — Summon elemental force; unleash raw power with precision.

Archetypes

• The Emberbound Duelist — Wields flame like an extension of ego, always smiling at scorch marks.
• The Stonecaller — Silent but immovable, reshaping terrain and foes alike with every stomp.
• The Cursewright — Keeps a ledger of names, each paid in suffering and sealed in ink that never dries.
• The Storm Herald — Carries a staff crowned in broken lightning, speaks in gusts, and arrives with pressure drops.

“In the Fourth Siege of Hyrek, the storm didn’t come from the clouds. It walked in, hooded, and summoned thunder with a gesture.”

 

Mental & Linguistic Mastery

Paths that tap into thought, communication, or psychic ability. Those who tread this path do not shout their power—they whisper, they gesture, they know. Masters of this realm bend not the elements but thought, meaning, and connection. Where others wield swords or spells, they wield influence.

“The mind is a labyrinth, and each word a key.”

• Path of Telepathy — Read minds, share thoughts, and pierce veils of privacy.
• Path of Magic Language — Speak truths that reshape reality.
• Path of Muting — Silence sound, voice, and even the scream of spellfire.
• Path of Reflection — Navigate mirrored minds; reshape reality through introspection.
• Path of Enlightenment — Fuse mind with cosmos; cast spells through clarity.
• Path of Origins — Unravel ancestral essence or historical truth.

Archetypes

• The Whispering Archivist — Keeps tomes in a vault no blade can open; unlocks knowledge with a spoken phrase.
• The Silver-Tongued Duelist — Wins conflicts with riddles, not thrusts.
• The Silent Enforcer — A mute agent who speaks only through gesture—each one perfectly lethal.
• The Thoughtweaver — Sees words as webs and minds as prey.

“When the Tower fell, its secrets did not shatter—they scattered into syllables. And those who gathered them became more dangerous than warlocks.”

 

Metamagic & Structure:

• Path of Analysis — Decipher patterns, hidden motives, and arcane structures.
• Path of Arcana — Master pure mana; wield structured spells from the void’s lattice.
• Path of Countering — Nullify the enemy’s will mid-cast.
• Path of Dissolve — Break down substance, barriers, and enchantments alike.
• Path of Runes — Inscribe truth; activate ancient glyphs to shape magical logic.

Archetypes

• The Arcane Censor — They don’t cast spells to attack, they cast them to cancel, or breaking down enchanted barriers into dust.
• The Logic-Engine — They see magic as geometry and syntax, predicting outcomes and optimizing their power with flawless efficiency.
• The Glyph Scribe — They lay traps, bind wards, and activate complex, pre-programmed magic by touching prepared symbols.
• The Void Auditor — They specialize in deconstruction, dismantling physical matter and even elemental force by pinpointing its energetic seams.

“Unlocking the locked can be done both swiftly, and quietly.”

 

Summoning & Influence:

• Path of Arisen — Awaken the dormant; elevate essence through rebirth and memory.
• Path of Beast-mastery — Command wild fury and feral loyalty.
• Path of Necromancy — Command the dead; bend lifeless will to living purpose.
• Path of Spirits — Commune with incorporeal entities, learn from what lingers.
• Path of Summons — Conjure allies that obey blood, not reason.
• Path of Animation — 

Archetypes

• The Sepulchral Marshal —Their focus is on raising and drilling entire legions of the dead, commanding through grim, silent will.
• The Pact Broker — They are master negotiators of beings from beyond. Forging contracts—ensnaring elementals, or spirits.
• The Primal Speaker — They speak the language of fang and claw. Channelling the instincts of the wildest beasts.
• The Vital Anchor — They awaken inanimate things with a spark of pure essence, to defend them.

“Thought and weave, blink and command. Operating from shadows afar.”

 

Connection & Communion:

• Path of Astral Wandering — Slip free of the flesh; explore realms unseen and untouched.
• Path of Divinity — Invoke celestial or spiritual power to bless or defend.
• Path of Earthnodes — Tap ley-line roots; channel the world’s pulse through stone.
• Path of Empathy — Sense and influence emotion, heal through connection.
• Path of Nature — Commune with the primal world and its restorative cycles.
• Path of Astral Weaving — Stitch fate and flow; manipulate threads of cosmic design.
• Path of Mind Weaving — 
• Path of Void Weaving — 
• Path of World Weaving — 

Archetypes

• The Celestial Vessel — They channel the will of a higher power—celestial, spiritual, or abstract—to deliver blessings, unleash terrible wrath.
• The Ley-Line Drifter — They are nomads who command the world’s hidden energy currents. Appearing in one location, but lingering elsewhere.
• The Chord-Sensei — They can read, alter, and direct emotional energy with touch or presence. Turning courage into panic, or a rallying cry.
• The Verdant Conduit — They command growth, vines, and communicate with flora and fauna. Drawing strength from the environment itself.

“Everything is alive, even what appears grey and still can quickly become a wriggling shackle.”

—Skjald Valgrif

 

Special

Some paths are forbidden… not meant for mortals… to peek or poke… sanity, no joke… really to stroke…

Few paths whisper back. These routes—twisted by madness, alien logic, or realm-bound horrors—are considered unfit for mortals.

“Sanity frays… when you chase the howling paths.”

—Skjald Kazumix