Hexes, Part 1: The Rules
Hexes
Hexes are the foundation of “scrivening”, a magic system relying entirely on written representations. Those who write hexes are “scriveners”1. It is the most prominent magic system in the upcoming setting. This is not the only magic system that would be compatible with Actlite, and it is not the only magic system that I plan on making. It will likely receive some updates as I work with it more.
Hex magic is a ~low, ~hard magic system2. It’s not for everyone. It is built for the type of player that wants to tool around directly with magic, finding clever or unexpected uses, interactions, and effects.3 This system is an example of “opting-in” to complexity, which I’ve written about before.4
Hex Rules
Hex Activation
When a hex is destroyed it is activated. When it is activated, it is destroyed. If it is activated while some effect requirement is not met, it is destroyed. “Destroyed” includes smudged to illegibility, the medium that it is written on is torn, etc.
Writing and Casting Hexes
Consumable Hexes and Invocations
A character can write 3 + WIL hexes, this capacity is reset after every rest. A character can maintain 3 + WIL hexes at a time.
Each hex can be modified by up to 3 + WIL [modifier] hexes.
Once written, a hex remains usable until you sleep or until 24 hours pass, whichever happens first.
To write a hex during initiative you have to spend 3 AP for the hex and 1 AP for every modifier.5
Many hexes have some kind of activation condition. Often this condition is some action the character might take, like attacking. In these cases you don’t have to pay AP to use the hex. If you want to search for a hex you do not already have in your hand and then activate it, pay 1 AP.
[durable] Hexes
Durable hexes are not destroyed upon activation. These are often written on a durable medium or some kind of focus like a staff, gloves, robes, or even as a tattoo. If a hex does not have the [durable] tag it is destroyed when activated. [durable] hexes often have casting DCs.
[modifier] Hexes
[modifier] hexes can be combined with other hexes. If one hex in the combination is activated, all are. [modifier] hexes do not affect individual hexes within a combination, they affect the whole combination.
[independent] Hexes
Independent hexes do not lose power over time and are not bound to their author. As a result, effects that target the author do not work.
Additional Context
Individual hexes might override any rule listed above. For example, many [modifier] hexes can be added to hexes you did not write.
Hexes can also impose additional restrictions, requirements, or costs. For example, taking extra time to create, having unique costs for creation or activation, or only being compatible with certain hexes.
[durable] Casting and Hex Tables
[durable] hexes can be written into a “hex table”. Hexes can be built from combinations of hexes in the same table and immediately cast without the caster having to write the hex down. Diegetically, a hex “table” might be called a pallet, a matrix, or something else depending on the tradition or school.
[durable] hexes often come with additional or alternative casting requirements. Some hexes can only be cast as [durable] hexes.
[independent] Hexes
To make a hex [independent], a scrivener must attach a [modifier] that consists of two parts.
The first is the “key”. The “key” is the first step in breaking the unique connection between scrivener and hex. It varies from person to person and from hex to hex. The writer must figure out the unique key for each hex they cast, they cannot use someone else’s.
The second part is a “hex signature”. This is a unique hex that you will use every time you make a hex [independent]. The signature does not, on its own, identify you. if someone sees your signature they won’t necessarily know it is yours. However once they do know, they will recognize the signature in every [independent] hex you write. You cannot change your signature.
Two people writing the same non-[independent] hex will write nearly identical hexes. Once they make their hexes [independent] they have to leave distinct signatures. Unless steps are taken to obfuscate the contents of the entire hex, the signature is obvious. The process of making a hex [independent] often means adding a large number of alterations that make it hard for other scriveners to learn the hex, but reading it remains
relatively easy.
Some hexes can be made [independent] relatively easily. For some hexes the process is very difficult or costly. Many hexes (especially powerful hexes) cannot be made independent through any known means. If a hex is not [independent], it is bound to an author and follows the usual casting rules
Invocations
Invocations are [independent] hexes written on long and narrow strips of material. Most often this is paper. Invocations are by far the most common type hex. Many people never come into contact with hexes, most that do only come in contact with invocations. Invocations typically have relatively minor effects. Invocations are almost always activated by tearing the medium they are written on.
Invocations are almost always [independent] so that they do not lose potency. Additionally, [modifier] hexes that harm the author are very easy to write, so any sane scrivener wouldn’t part with a hex without making it [independent] first.
Some of the reasons for the format of the invocation is practical. A long slip of paper is easy to fully rip in half, guaranteeing activation. They are easy to tear with one hand. This is especially useful for weapon invocations, where the invocation is wrapped around either the handle or the hand wielding the weapon. Prayers are written in a similar format.
End
We’ll get actual hexes in “Hexes, Part 2”. This took a surprising amount of writing, rewriting, rebalancing, etc. for how short it is!
Changes since publication:6
Making a hex [independent] makes it hard for others to learn.
Two people writing the same non-[independent] hex are writing “nearly” identical hexes, rather than identical hexes.
The hex weight system has been replaced. A character can maintain, 3 + WIL hexes, each hex being able to maintain 3 + WIL [modifier]s.
Hex AP rules have been simplified.
Durable hexes are responsible for specifying casting DCs now that the weight system has been removed.
A character can write 3 + WIL hexes, this capacity is reset after every rest.
I don’t know how I feel about calling them “scriveners”. It’s growing on me. No word yet on Bartleby’s importance to the field.
It’s a little Full Metal Alchemist, a little Unsong, a little Brandon Sanderson.
I don’t know of many other “relatively” simple attempts to do this sort of thing. I hear Ars Magica does flexible magic systems well, I will look into it more when the new edition releases later this year. Let me know if you have any recommendations for similar magic systems.
This is a lie. I built it for me. Let me tell you about three moves in Pathfinder.
First: Skinsend. Skinsend is a goofy little gambit where you peel the skin off of your body and project your concsiousness into it. You can then use it as a kind of disposable scout. It can do most of the things you can do and it has half your hit points. You can do things with it without endangering your body directly. However, while you’re doing this your body is at 0 hit points, most sources of healing will not work on you, and you are completely helpless. If you die, the skin dies. If the skin dies, you remain at 0 HP. This makes the whole “without endangering your body” thing pretty shaky. There’s a lot of risk, but not much reward. It’s mostly just the grossest party trick in the world.
Second: Tumor Familiar. When I played Pathfinder I played a gross little alchemist Ratfolk fella, it was great. Obviously, I took Tumor Familiar and got up to all sorts of shenanigans. It’s a familiar with some alchemist specific features, but more importantly it is a detachable tumor that only vaguely resembles a creature. Incredible. It can’t create and throw bombs, an alchemists main attack, but it can do a couple things like deliver touch spells.
Third: Touch Injection. This spell allows you to drain an elixir or infusion (alchemist’s spells are prepared as one of these) into a sac on your body. Then, you can deliver it to another creature with a touch. One imagines this uses some kind of awful organic needle.
Imagine a high fantasy battle scene. The party squares up against a great and terrible beast in the town square. The people are terrified, This creature has come down from the mountain and tormented them before. It stands in the square, all horns, hooves, scales, heads, with an unfriendly temperament. The paladin raises his radiant blade, recites his oath, and lists the terrible crimes of the behemoth. While he does this the weird little hunched rat’s robes undulate unnaturally and he expels a pale bat-like lump of flesh with a stinger which lands on the creature and pokes it. The creature’s skin unzips horrifically, creating a sickening hollow effigy. Before the horror of the situation settles, the rat wipes his runny nose on his sleeve with one arm and flings an IED with the other. Gore scatters, people are vomiting, no one is having a good time. It’s perfect.
Does this trick work? It depends on which thread you read. It’s definitely open to interpretation. It’s not great in any case. It requires taking relatively expensive, weak, and situational spells and getting a whole bunch of lucky rolls. Nothing worth spending all that effort to cheese a kill on is going to fail the saves it needs to for the trick to work. Better to just increase your damage output the usual way.
Regardless, this sort of combination is, to me, more exciting than any spell in a sourcebook every could be. These kinds of shenanigans are why I play casters. I want a magic system where this sort of thing isn’t an edge case, it’s intended play.
This spell combo is a fun little prank for a player to pull, but think of the in-fiction uses for it! You’re running a game, your players are detectives in a bustling port city. At the docks merchants make deals, naval vessels resupply, men fight and drink and corruption runs rampant. Powerful men meet in secret rooms full of smoke. A man steps out for just a moment to speak with someone. He is found moments later not only dead but flayed! Night after night, men suffer the same grisly fate. Terror grips the city. Sailors tell stories of twisted creatures lit by moonlight and robed men with strange powers. Ships steer clear of your port.
Your players investigate, maybe they find out about Skinsend, an obscure and mostly useless spell. This seems like a dead end. These men did not do this to themselves, and anyway they were no mages! There’s some missing piece of the puzzle… The investigation goes on, your players get close to the truth, assassins with all sorts of devious alchemical tricks are sent after the players, etc. etc.
Alternatively, there is an ancient magical dagger of Skin-a-g’uy that skins a guy. You can roll arcana on it. That’s fine too. Very magical.
Unfortunately, I can’t link directly to a paragraph in Substack. This is surprising, as most basic markdown-based systems are able to do this! Anyway, here’s the paragraph:
“Skills are structured the way they are to allow relatively basic mechanics to be modular. If you really like melee combat you should be able to opt-in to a complex melee system with special moves and situational bonuses. You should also be able to just put points into picking up the biggest object you can find and hurling it very far. You should be able to ignore melee entirely.”
And here is a link to the post. One of my least popular posts, and honestly one of my worst!
You can write part of a hex during one round, finish it during another, and cast it during another. You do not have to write the whole hex and activate it in the same round.
This magic system is relatively complex, as a result I sometimes have to come back here and make changes to the rules I’ve written. This is an unfortunate side effect of doing everything in this one-post-per-week cadence.