IQ/Varies
Common Defaults: Base Skill-6.
Prerequisite: Base Skill 12.

This is based on another Skill, either Ritual Magic or Thaumatology. Wizards and Witches use Thaumatology, while other types of spell-casters usually use Ritual Magic. Extremely exotic types of magic might call for a Base Skill such as Alchemy or Weird Science, but this should only be done with the GM's permission. However, please note that the base skill must always be Very Hard.

For spell-casters, this skill provides the activation roll on a spell. You MUST specialize in a particular college or pay for this as a wildcard skill (see p. B175). This skill may never exceed your level with the Base Skill.

This skill represents a detailed knowledge of one category of magic, where as Thaumatology is the study of the basic physics of magic.

You roll against this skill to activate a spell of the appropriate specialty. You also use this skill when learning and researching spells of the appropriate college. Researching a spell that belongs in more than one basic college uses the lowest of the specialties of this skill.

There are two types of colleges, basic and specific. Basic colleges are those described on the Magery page that cover every spell you could ever learn. They have no defaults other than the common default to the Base Skill that all colleges share. Specific colleges usually serve a smaller grouping, so putting points into them will cause your skill to grow more rapidly, at the cost of knowing how to cast fewer spells well. Some colleges are just as difficult as the basic colleges, but are more targeted to a specific purpose.

All of the colleges below will list a name that is the specialization of this skill and then give the difficulty of the skill. Any additional defaults for the college will be listed at the end of the description of the college.

Specific spells may be given a higher skill level by treating them as Hard maneuvers. This is capped at the level of the most appropriate specialty of this Skill+4.

Acid (Easy): Specific college including all acid related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2 and Ooze-2.
Air (Average): Specific college including all elemental air related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Alchemy (Average): Specific college including many matter transformation spells, some matter creation spells and all acid spells. Defaults to Acid-2 and Transmutation-2.
Animal (Average): Specific college including all animal related spells.
Ash (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental ash related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Battle (Hard): Specific college including combat-useful spells and a few weak healing spells.
Body Control (Easy): This specific college is a sub-college of Life. This includes spells that directly affect the body. They only affect living things. This does not include healing spells. Defaults to Life-2.
Charm (Hard): This basic college includes spells that imbue magical properties on an item or a creature without changing the target itself or how it functions. These may be beneficial or detrimental.
Cleaning (Easy): This specific college includes spells that do cleaning tasks. Defaults to Law-2.
Communication (Average): This specific college includes spells that assist with or provide means to communicate. Defaults to Charm-2 and Divination-3.
Creation (Hard): This basic college involves magic that creates matter or energy, possibly by transforming energy into the desired form. Many of the attack spells are in this college, making a mage that specializes in it very dangerous.
Darkness (Average): Specific college including all darkness related spells.
Dimension (Easy): Specific college including spells that manipulate space in one way or another. Defaults to Transmutation-2 and Transportation-2.
Divination (Hard): Basic college for magic that detects, analyzes and predicts things. These spells can reveal mysteries from the past, present and future.
Dust (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental dust related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Earth (Average): Specific college including all elemental earth related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Elemental (Hard): Specific college including all elemental, para-elemental and quasi-elemental spells.
Enchantment (Average): Specific college that includes all spells used to make magic items. Defaults to Charm-2 and Meta-4.
Energy (Average): Specific sub-college of Technological including spells that deal with fuel and power for machines (electrical or otherwise). Defaults to Technological-2.
Food (Easy): Specific college including all food related spells.
Force (Average): Specific college dedicated to spells that create or manipulate physical forces composed of magic. Defaults to Creation-2 and Protection-2.
Fire (Average): Specific college including all elemental fire related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Geometry (Average): Specific college including spells based on marking surfaces and many protective spells. Defaults to Guardian-2 and Protection-2.
Guardian (Average): Specific sub-college of Protection that only covers ward (protecting locations/objects) and warning spells. Defaults to Protection-2.
Healing (Easy): This specific college is a sub-college of Life that only includes spells that heal injuries or disease. Defaults to Life-2 and Necromancy-4.
Ice (Easy): Specific college including all para-elemental ice related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Illusion (Hard): Basic college for spells that deceive the senses, usually by creating illusions. Invisibility and a few other effects belong here, as well.
Law (Average): Specific college of spells that relate to law and order. This includes spells that magically impose law and order on others, as well as interesting odds and ends, like cleaning spells.
Life (Hard): Basic college of spells that affect living/dead/undead processes. Healing spells are here, as well as necromantic magic.
Light (Average): Specific college including all light related spells.
Lightning (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental lightning related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Machine (Average): Specific sub-college of Technological including all machine related spells. Defaults to Technological-2.
Magma (Easy): Specific college including all para-elemental magma related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Mentalism (Average): This specific college includes all spells that affect/read/protect the minds of creatures. This pulls spells from Charm, Divination, Illusion and Protection. Defaults to Charm-2, Divination-3 and Protection -4.
Meta (Hard): Basic college for magic that alters and attacks magical effects themselves.
Metal and Synthetics (Average): Specific sub-college of Technological including spells that deal with metals and synthetic materials. Defaults to Technological-2.
Mineral (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental mineral related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Necromancy (Average): This specific college is a sub-college of Life that only includes spells that cause death, affect the dead, or affect the undead. Defaults to Life-2 and Healing-4.
Negative Material (Easy): Specific college including all negative material related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Numbers (Easy): This specific college is related to numbers and mathematics.
Ooze (Easy): Specific college including all para-elemental ooze related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2 and Acid-2.
Plant (Average): Specific college including all plant related spells.
Positive Material (Easy): Specific college including all positive material related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Protection (Hard): Basic college covering spells that protect creatures, objects, etc.
Radiance (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental radiance related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Radiation (Average): Specific sub-college of Technological including spells that deal with radiation and magnetic fields. Defaults to Technological-2.
Salt (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental salt related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Smoke (Easy): Specific college including all para-elemental smoke related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Sound (Easy): Specific college including all sound related spells.
Steam (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental steam related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Summoning (Hard): Basic college that covers summoning objects, creatures and energy.
Technological (Hard): Specific college including all technology related spells.
Time (Average): Specific college that includes all spells related to manipulating time. Defaults to Transmutation-3 and Transportation-2.
Transmutation (Hard): Basic college for magic that directly alters the properties of objects and creatures. This includes spells that make one object into another, that change single properties of an object, make a creature into another creature, turn matter into energy, etc. Also involved here is the magic of moving things around, including transportation magic.
Transportation (Average): This specific college involves spells that are used for traveling in some manner, but not summoning creatures to you. Defaults to Transmutation-2 and Summoning-3.
Vacuum (Easy): Specific college including all quasi-elemental vacuum related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Water (Average): Specific college including all elemental water related spells. Defaults to Elemental-2.
Weather (Easy): Specific sub-college of Air including all weather related spells. Defaults to Air-2 and Elemental-3. Wild (Average): Specific college including all spells related to creating, controlling and altering randomness.