Hello everyone, Lackster here.

Today we’re talking about skills, character sheets and how magic works in Elusio. Enjoy !

In the Elusio universe, your character’s family heritage may mean that their skills defy the limits of what you, as a reasonable modern human, consider possible. But make no mistake! This character is not like you, hemmed in by what you struggle to conceive beyond your senses. This character is capable of translating their thoughts in the Imaginary into actions in the Real, and of making them persist there for a time.

My design goal for my magic system was twofold: first I wanted something in line with magic realism, like an extension of what can be conceived as possible (being extraordinarily good at convincing people, disturbingly flexible…) more than high fantasy (fireballs and stuff). Second, I wanted to take inspiration from a french fantasy series called “La Quête d’Ewilan”. Magic powers manifest themselves via “Le Dessin”, a capacity of translating your imagination into the real world through drawing thoughts in your head. There are 3 components to my Bottero-inspired magic system: Think, Act, Persist.

Thinking requires listening to the Imaginary, but also to the Real, and discerning between the two. Perception, Audacity, Lucidity and Empathy are your Thinking skills.

Acting translates your ability to manifest your thoughts, and make it materialize in the Real world. Motricity, Rhetoric, Performance and Support are your Acting skills.

Persisting characterizes the durability of your thought thus translated into Act in the Real. Remember: the Real fiercely resists the onslaught of the impossible. Memory, Volition, Endurance and Care are your Persistence skills.

Each of these 12 skills, which in your character can manifest themselves in supranatural ways, is represented by a Family. We have the Guignolet, the Tomin, the Le Berthe… These Families carry within them a trace of the Imaginary, which only really manifests itself in a small number of its members, and differently in each Family. For example, the Sharteban manifestation is a skin pigmented with variegated spots. That of the Allèse gives them an extraordinary physique, with arms wider than their thighs. Your mother, your brother, your great-grandfather may not have been marked by this manifestation. But your character is!

When you create a character, you’ll determine two ancestries, one major and one minor, and two memories, one major and one minor. You can select these ancestries and memories from any of the 12 Families. These choices will give you bonuses respectively to your attributes (Thinking, Acting, Persisting) and skills (such as Audacity, Motricity or Care). When choosing your two ancestors, also take care to select their manifestations. Each families have 4 different physical manifestations, bordering on what’s commonly plausible (fancy eye color, really long nails, different localized body temperatures…). You can choose to wear them proudly, or keep them hidden to remain unnoticed. Having Family manifestation is extremely rare in the 17th century, and you’ll probably be hunted down by the Clergy, the State or some curious occultist.

This Ancestry is the Essence of your character. It is what you choose after establishing your community with your group (more on that here). It’s what you’re given before you’re even born, so to speak; you don’t have hit points, relations, equipment or anything like that. That would be the second part of the character sheet, Existence. But enough for today !

Here’s 4 sample character sheets, including early concept drawings of 4 Families: Guignolet, Tomin, Allèse, Honflaire. What do you think about those sheets? Was your magic system also inspired from a fantasy book you loved growing up?

Cheers !

You can find the original post and its discussion on r/RPGDesign here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RPGdesign/comments/19a51rs/magic_skills_and_character_sheets_for_elusio_a/