Mana

Mana is a reservoir of magical energy that mages build up inside themselves, and which they use to power their Spells. Every spell you cast spends Mana, unless you have access to an enchanted item or other effect that allows you to ignore the Mana cost of a spell.

• The maximum amount of Mana you can hold at once is referred to as your Mana Pool. You can never hold more points of Mana than this amount; any points that you regain in excess of this amount are lost.
• Mystics start out with a Mana Pool of 4.
• Arcanists start out with a Mana Pool of 2.
• You cannot gain Mana or cast Spells if you do not have one of these two Abilities.
• You can increase the size of your Mana Pool by taking levels of the Mana Well ability, Attuning to a magic item such as an Eldritch Spark, drinking an alchemical elixir such as a Magebloom Elixir, or having a ritual such as Blood Of Glimmering Light performed on you.
• You spend Mana each time you cast a spell; most spells cost 1 Mana, but the Curse Of Weakness, Shattering Word, Stunning Curse, and Healing Touch* spells each cost 2 Mana.
• *: You can cast Healing Touch for 1 Mana instead of 2 Mana if you spend 30 seconds on the incantation.
• Your Mana Pool is fully refreshed when you wake up in the morning and when you spend at least 15 minutes within an area of holy ground created by the Hallow ritual.
• You can actively restore points of Mana by drinking potions like a Mana Potion or using the Siphon Aether spell to consume the energies within an Aether Crystal.

Mana and Aether

There is often some degree of confusion on the part of layfolk as to the difference between Mana and Aether. While they are both forms of magical energy, Mana is a mage’s personal stock of magical energy, easily manipulated and flowing naturally through their body and into their spells, while Aether is ambient magical energy, existing throughout the world in a raw state.

A mage can manipulate the Aether around them slowly and gradually, using it to power rituals and magical devices, and indeed condensed Aether in the form of Aether Crystals is the default source of energy for ritual magic. However, Aether cannot be channeled through a mage’s body to power their spells without doing significant harm, as the raw natural energy erodes organs and magical channels, making casting spells using Aether effectively impossible unless a mage has a deathwish.

Because of this, mages developed the technique of gradually drawing ambient Aether into themselves and “naturalizing” it, converting it over hours or days into a form of energy capable of flowing through their body without causing harm, a form we call Mana. Channeling Mana through their body in particular patterns, combined with incantations and other aspects of whichever of the Magical Traditions they follow, allows them to cast spells much more quickly than they could perform a ritual with similar effect.