Diamond University

Links & Resources
Diamond University Character Creation is your resource for character creation. Follow down the list and you'll have a fully-prepared Student ready for oneshots and open play!

Diamond University Spell Casting Rules is your quick guide to all those complicated spellcasting rules. What is Reach? What is Paradox? How do you make your spell do more damage or hit more targets? That's all explained here.

The School
The building itself is an ancient dimensional anomaly. Existing simultaneously on little roads branching off of off-ramps near New York, London, and Tokyo, those touched by the sleeper's Curse simply don't notice the existence of the roads, or where they lead.

The grounds themselves are innately magical. Awakenings happen here with astonishing frequency -- specifically, four Awakenings per year. The actual campus itself is wide and expansive, consisting of many buildings, all from different eras in time and from different cultural perspectives on architecture. The foundations of all of these buildings are equally ancient, though -- riddled with magical runes and stones so old they shouldn't be able to exist.

The school is divided into four Orders: The Arrow, the Mysterium, the Guardians, and the Ladder. Each one tends to embody a different philosophy, and each one gets a different wing of the dormitories.

The Wizened
These make up the headmaster, teachers, and other staff-members. They are capable of "Awakened" magic. They are Diamond mages; all assigned to this school a thousand years ago. Their jobs are to educate and prepare the young who are sent to them; but not necessarily to interfere in the events of the school... per se.

Secretly, the Awakened have Oathed to let the students find their way until it would be morally reprehensible not to interfere on their behalf. What this means to each Wizened, however, seems to vary from person to person.

Sleepwalkers: Psychics and Hedge-Mages
The majority of the school are Sleepwalkers. Very, very few of these Students have powers; psychic powers are dangerous and difficult to control. So, those sleepwalkers who have them are sent here to be trained.

All sleepwalkers may be trained in "Hedge Magic," or specific spell. While Sleepwalkers' magic may often accomplish similar end results to some awakened magic; the two are not the same. There are simply some magical laws that exist in the Fallen World by which those in-the-know may evoke powers they don't strictly understand.

Merit: Spell (* to *****, special)

Choose a single Mage spell. You may cast this spell with an appropriate Attribute + Skill roll, assigned at the time you purchase this merit and approved by the storyteller.

The cost of this Merit is equal to the effective Arcana rating the Sleepwalker wishes to be able to cast the spell at. For instance, they might desire to purchase Knit, the healing spell in life 3, for three dots (this is the cheapest you can purchase it for.) However, this will only give the Sleepwalker an 'effective' Arcana Rating of 3 dots; meaning they only get one point of Reach. If they purchased this spell for 5 dots; they would have two more Reach. The maximum effective Arcana rating a Sleepwalker can have in a spell is 5 dots.

A spell costs a point of WP to cast under any circumstance that a spell would cost a point of Mana to cast. Sleepwalkers may not mitigate Paradoxes.

Sleepers may perform spells as Rituals; doing so takes one hour. Each additional hour adds +1 to the dice pool for the spell, up to a maximum of +5.

If a sleeper critically fails a spell cast, they evoke Paradox successes equal to the amount of Reach they spent on the spell automatically.

Merit: Wild Talent (* to *****, special)

Without ST permission, this merit may not be taken after character creation. Latent powers do develop in people; but typically, they are evolutions of an already-existent power. (A fire-controlling student may eventually develop the ability to conjure flames from nothingness.)

Choose a single spell. This Merit allows you to cast that spell as a psychic power; however, the spell is not always cast under your control. When emotions run high; your power requires a Resolve + Composure roll in order to not activate.

These powers cost a WP to activate if they would normally cost a point of Mana. You have one Reach to spend on your Power for every dot in the merit you spend this on. You may not over-reach.

If you botch your Resolve + Composure Roll to contain your Wild Talent power, the storyteller is free to invent related strange phenomenon beyond your control. A pyrokinetic who normally can only *shape* fire may belch flames from nothing, for instance.

Activating your power normally is a Resolve + Composure roll. If you fail a roll to activate a Wild Talent, the power backfires somehow -- the ST should construct a manifestation of your power using your normal allowance for Reach as if they were Paradox successes.

As with Proximi, higher-dot-level Wild Talents are rare and dangerous; but possible.

Merit: Magical Tool (*)

Each time you take this Merit, it represents a different special magical tool, such as a dead language, a family heirloom spell-book, or a prestigious wand. Tools can be any mystically significant thing that the Mage incorporates into their magic.

Each tool you use grants +1 to your spellcasting tool, but each one past the first takes one more turn to use if you are casting at instant speed. Magical tools may not exceed a bonus of +5 after canceling penalties.

If your tool is not an object but a specific activity, such as alchemy or speaking in a different tongue, you may take +2 dice, however, this costs you an extra turn and Activities may not be used Reflexively during a spell cast.

It is assumed that a spellcast at normal speed may make use of up to 5 magical tools.

Magical tools may not be used for the activation of Wild Talents.

Proximi
To start with, Proximi are not intended to be player characters. This may change as the vision for the intended chronicle evolves.

Proximi are special; given special classes and treatment by the staff at the school, while also feared and outcast by the students. They are born to family lines that have innate talent; but that innate talent comes with a special curse. Proximi are different from psychics, and may not take psychic powers. They cannot learn sleepwalker Spells, either.

However, as a Proximi grows in power, they unlock many powers unique to their bloodlines. They tend to take advanced classes more frequently than sleepwalkers, and tend to Awaken more often as well.

Proximi have terrible power by comparison to most Sleepers; and they suffer Curses along with those Powers. In addition, the more power a Proximi draws down, the more likely they are to evoke the terrible powers of the Abyss by accident, a threat otherwise only ever faced by the Wizened as they dabble with their own magics.

Changes From Base Rules:
 * They may take Blessings of any Arcanum rating, and are not limited to 3rd dot effects. (However, Proximi with powers at 4th and 5th dots are rare.)
 * They may purchase up to 40 points of Blessings. Blessings are purchased using the same merit-design rules as Sleepwalker Spells, including different dice pools.
 * They have a ritual time of one hour.
 * They invoke 1 paradox dice per over-reach.
 * They must meditate for an evening to regain 2 points of Mana.

Any time a Proximi fails a roll to use their Blessing, the Curse strengthens.