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Magic crystals

A magic crystal is magic caught in a stone. There are six colours, and each is a nature: red is the blood and the fire, blue the mind and the frost, and so on. An enchanter binds them into arms and armour. The colour decides what kinds of magic a crystal can give.

You get crystals by salvaging magic items, identified or not, and from the creatures you kill with Soulglass. No shop sells them and none lie on the floor. Anyone can consume one.

The colours

Each colour comes from the creatures whose nature it is, and gives magic of its families. A creature’s colour is the first row below with a tag it carries, so a goblin shaman (a goblin and a caster) is blue, not green. The creatures table gives every creature’s colour.

A kind of magic (an affix’s family) can belong to two colours. Life is red and white, never blue. Mana is blue, never red.

CrystalNatureCreatures taggedFamilies
Black crystalthe grave and the shadowundead, skeleton, spirit, demon, devil, yugoloth, fiend, cultist, hagthe baleful spell, the brutal blow, the critical, guile, the light finger, mana from the slain, stamina from the slain, stealth, venom, the ward against withering, withering
Blue crystalthe mind and the frostcaster, drow, ice, water, air, lightning, elementalthe aimed spell, the baleful spell, casting in armour, far casting, focus, frost, inspiration, intelligence, ki, lightning, lingering spells, mana, mana’s return, old writing, spell power, thrift with mana, the turning of missiles, wands, the ward against cold, the ward against lightning, willpower
White crystalthe ward and the lightpriest, earth, construct, duergara hardened hide, armour, casting in armour, durability, focus, the leech, life, light, lightness, mending, the parry, presence, proofing, protection, the shield, suppleness, the turning of missiles, the ward against disease, the ward against force, the ward against withering, willpower
Red crystalthe blood and the firefire, fire-thing, dragon, troll, ogre, giant, orc, hobgoblin, outlaw, beastbreath, the brutal blow, the critical, ease, the edge, fire, the heavy blow, the kick, life, mending, the parry, the quick blow, rage, reach, stamina, stamina from the slain, the steady draw, strength, the strong back, toughness, the true aim, the ward against fire
Green crystalthe venom and the quicknessvermin, marsh-thing, eyeless, kobold, goblin, archera hardened hide, acid, balance, dexterity, disarming, the dodge, guile, hunger, keen sight, the leap and the climb, the light finger, lightness, listening, lockpicking, potions, the quick blow, reach, searching, speed, stealth, suppleness, the tumble, venom, the ward against acid, the ward against disease, the ward against poison, wariness of traps, the wild
Gold crystalthe craft and the fortunefey, summonerthe appraising eye, digging, disarming, durability, haggling, hunger, inspiration, keen sight, the kick, lockpicking, old writing, potions, presence, proofing, searching, the strong back, the true aim, wands, wariness of traps

Catching crystals in salvage

When you salvage a magic or rare item, each of its affixes gets a check before the materials do. You make it even if you are not trained in Enchanting. A made check leaves one crystal of the affix’s colour: the first colour in the table whose families hold it. A failed one leaves nothing. Deeper magic (a higher tier) is harder to catch.

An unidentified item gives crystals the same way. The messages do not name its affixes (“You catch some of its magic in a red crystal.”), but the colours you get hint at what it was.

Soulglass

Soulglass is a ray of necromancy. The witch learns it at level 16, and anyone can learn it from its grimoire. A living creature it kills turns to glass: it leaves no corpse and none of the crafting stock its body would give, but crystals of its colour lie where it fell. What it carried falls as usual.

A stronger creature leaves more crystals, and a very strong one may leave a rare material too (how many and how often is under The numbers). A creature with no corpse (a spirit, a fire elemental), an animated thing, a summoned creature, a creature of no colour, and a keeper of Grundlēas die as they would from any other spell. The undead take no necrotic harm, so Soulglass does nothing to them.

Consuming a crystal

Crystals are in the Consume list (e, the same list as food and potions), whether they are in your pack or on the floor where you stand. Choose one: you crush it and drink what is in it. This takes a turn and needs no check, and you need not be hungry. It gives:

  • mana, the same for every colour, never past your maximum,
  • several training marks in Willpower (how many is under The numbers),
  • a step toward evil on your alignment. A crystal is what is left of a soul.

It is never refused, even when your mana is full. The rare materials are not crystals and cannot be consumed.

Rare materials

Two rare materials come with very powerful magic:

  • the heart-crystal, which will add an affix to a rare item beyond its roll, and
  • the soul-fetter, which will keep one affix while the rest are made again.

Salvaging a rare item of a high enough item level can leave one, and so can a powerful creature killed by Soulglass. A dragon always leaves a heart-crystal.

Morwenna, a deep gnome on the cutting floor of Gimmwīc, reads crystals and will tell you what each colour holds, if you stop to listen (see People).

The numbers

  • Consuming a crystal takes a turn and gives 6 mana (never past your maximum), 12 Willpower training marks (an average score of 10 needs 120 for its next point), and a step of 20 toward evil, which shrinks the more evil you already are.
  • Salvage checks each affix of a magic item, identified or not: 2d12 plus your Willpower modifier, what talents add to Willpower checks, and what Enchanting gives to its craft, against 12 plus one for every 3 tiers of the affix (a tier-12 affix is +4). A natural 2 always fails, a natural 24 always succeeds.
  • Rare materials: salvaging a rare item of item level 10 or more has a 3% chance of leaving a heart-crystal or a soul-fetter (even odds).
  • Soulglass leaves 1 crystal, 2 from level 10, 3 from level 20. A creature of level 15 or more has a 10% chance of leaving a heart-crystal or a soul-fetter as well (even odds); a dragon always leaves a heart-crystal.

See also: Enchanting, Salvage, and Magic items.