✨ Powers

Magic, mental gifts, or divine favour. Fantasy wouldn't be fantasy without something supernatural — and RpgMeister hands you the toolbox rather than a spell list.

Why there's no spell list

You won't find magic missile, cure wounds, or fireball sitting in a catalogue here. Pre-baked spells turn arcana into another set of tools — like an extra sword or a better bandage. Pick the right one for the situation, roll, repeat. That's fine for some games. It's not the game we're after.

Instead, powers are built. You start from an effect — Blast, Heal, Light, Telekinesis, Shapeshift, Compel — and shape it with level, advantages, and disadvantages until the result feels like your character's signature. Two heroes can both have a "fire spell" and they'll look nothing alike at the table.

Creative arcana over standard issue. The trade-off is that you have to think about what your power actually is before you cast it.

With creative freedom comes complexity

A blank canvas is wonderful and a little intimidating. The power builder gives you knobs for cost, range, duration, materials, gestures, backfires, and a dozen other levers. You don't have to pull all of them.

For your first power wielder, go light:

  • Two or three small powers, each with a clear effect.
  • Keep advantage modifiers low (one or two 1/4 steps).
  • Take one or two disadvantages that fit the concept — not just to refund points.
  • Skip the enchantment advantages (Charge / Store / Permanence) until you've played a session or two.

You can build the cathedral once the chapel works. Heavy spellcasters tend to be built across a campaign, not on character-creation day.

Talk to the GM. First, last, and during.

Powers are the easiest place to break a campaign's tone. A short conversation up front saves a long debate mid-fight — and avoids the GM having to say "no" to a power you already spent points on.

Bring four answers to that conversation:

  • What does it do? Effect, range, duration, who it affects.
  • What does it look like? One sentence the GM can narrate at the table.
  • What does it not do? Clear limits prevent arguments later.
  • What does it cost to use? A heavy effect should hurt your reserve.

The GM is allowed to say "rework that" before you save the character — and you're allowed to ask them to explain the no. Both sides should leave the conversation happier.

Balance is everyone's job

The cost formulas are good — not perfect. If a power lands in play and turns out broken (in either direction), fix it. Adjust a modifier, add a fitting disadvantage, raise the level cost, or rewrite the description. The app lets you edit powers; use that.

This isn't an arena game. Clever rules-lawyering won't win you the campaign — it'll just make it disappointing. The point of the power system is to give your character an interesting way to interact with the world, not to grind GM defences down to dust.

What a power pool is

A hero with powers has a power pool — the framework that defines what kind of effects they can produce and the reserve of energy that fuels them. Each pool is one type:

  • Magic — learned, ritual, or innate arcane effects.
  • Mental — psychic and mind-based talents.
  • Priestly — gifts granted by a faith or higher power.

One character has one pool. Pick the flavour with your GM before spending points.

Cost shape

Powers are deliberately gated so they don't drown the rest of the sheet.

  • Claim cost: 1 point — reserves a pool of your chosen type. Dormant until activation.
  • Activation: 4 points — switches the pool on so the character can actually use it.
  • Power skill — the roll target for using powers; bought like any skill (see Skills).
  • Power reserve — the energy budget. Investing reserve points raises the cap; the base stat for your power type contributes too.
  • Individual powers — each effect costs its own points (see Building a power) and a reserve cost when you actually use it.

Pool type, reserve, and skill can only be set while the character is still being created. Individual powers can be added or edited any time the character is back in the editor.

Where to next

  • Building a power — effects, levels, advantages, disadvantages, and the special-mechanic advantages (Reduced Cost, Stays On, Charge, Store, Permanence).
  • Powers in play — reserve, recovery, Stays-On lifecycle, and how enchantments behave once they leave the workshop.

See also