All spellcasters possess a Tradition, the means by which a caster manifests magic in the world. Traditions provide explanation for both the source of the caster's magic, as well as common signs of their particular style of casting. This is represented in part by the Tradition's relevant Ability Score.

In order to cast a spell, your Primary Casting Attribute (a mental score dictated by your chosen Tradition) must equal 10 + the Spell's Tier. So, for example, to cast a Tier 3 spell, your Primary Casting Attribute must be 13 or higher.

Your Secondary Attribute is also dictated by your Tradition in most cases, and determines factors such as the rate at which your Mana restores, and the effects of certain Talents.

Each Point of Tradition grants access to Two Schools of Magic when buildigng a custom tradition. A custom Tradition with 4 points of Tradition therefore should unlock all 8 schools. These are what is known as global Traditions and apply the restrictions to all Schools based on traditions. For more advanced players there is an option to unlock a single School using 1 tradition point instead of two schools. With this option the unlocked school is tied to global traditions and the corresponding tradition to unlock it. Example: Dave could have Somatic Casting II as a global Tradition and unlock Evocation, Conjuration, Necromancy and Transmutation. He decides he wants his Enchanment School to be tied to Verbal casting. Therefore when using Enchantment spells he must have a hand free and the ability to speak aloud where as the other schools he has unlocked would not require speaking.

GM's are encouraged to create setting based traditions for a campaign that have 3 tradition points but unlock all 8 schools. Some settings may have different restrictions on magic overall. A GM may change the tradition values or how many schools are unlocked when taking a tradition. Magic can alter a campaign greatly and every setting can be different and it's important to have a tradition that works for the palyer and the GM.

In some cases a player may find that part way into a game their tradition may begin to drift or even change out right. When situations like this arise it is important for the player and the GM to work together to find a solution. Maybe a Verbal caster loses the ability to speak and wishes to seek out a patron entity to sumplement this loss or maybe a area bound mage learns how to transfer a part of the locations magic into an special item and instead gains a casting focus. Other times a player might just enjoy a newly introduced concept and wish to dive more into it.

When you select a Casting Tradition, select a Favored School of magic to go alongside it. Selecting your Favored School wisely does provide you with a unique benefit: every five Caster Levels you gain, all spells of your Favored School receive +1 to their saving throw DC, to a maximum of +4 at Caster Level 20. Additional favored school may be selected by spending a Tradition point. While these bonuses cannot stack and the same school may never be selected multiple times, a new school can be selected as a favorite each time.

---

Below is a complete list of the individual Spellcasting Qualities which dictate the aspects of a Spellcasting Tradition. If desired, a player may compile their own custom Tradition using the following rules.

First, you must select your Primary and Secondary Ability scores to be used for casting. Select one mental Ability score for each of these. Secondly, all Spellcasters must select at least 1 point in Tradition Points. In some campaign settings, more points in Spellcasting Qualities may be required. All custom Traditions must be approved by the Game Master.

You are mystically bonded to a single notable location such as a cave, large tree, spring, a magical laboratory, or prominent stone formation, and draw your magic from it in turn. You must remain within a number of miles equal to [Current Mana divided by 10, rounded up] to use your magic normally. Using magic outside this area requires you to attempt a Concentration check (DC 10 + Mana expended) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time and Mana are spent, but no effect happens. You may bond to a new site of the same general type with an 8 hour ritual.

Manifesting magic is an involved process for you, and requires significantly more effort than most. Casting magic is always a Full Action for you.

To cast magic, you must present a Focus (for Divine Casters, this usually is a symbol of your deity or their church). The focus may be any worn item, including weapons and armor, as long as it is clearly visible. If your focus is ever taken from you, you must make a Caster Level check (DC 10 + Mana expended) in order to manifest magic.

If instead you lose all ability to cast when your focus is taken or otherwise unavailable, this Quality is worth 10 points instead.

You have an obvious physical feature (such as a gaudy third eye on your forehead) which is the source of your magical power. Whenever you cast, any creature observing you can clearly see that your magic originates from your center of power.

If a critical hit is confirmed on you, your center is disrupted and you lose 1d6 Mana (if you have any points to lose at the time) and are dazed for 1 round. A creature can also target your center of power with a called shot, which also causes a disruption. The center of power is considered a challenging shot (-10).

At the GM’s discretion, certain kinds of physical restraint might also make spellcasting require a concentration check (DC 10 + Mana expended), depending on the nature of the center of power and the restraint. An undesirable polymorph effect may also produce the same results.

You may not select this drawback if you possess the Casting Focus Quality.

In order to perform any magical effect, either you or your target must be entirely contained within the boundaries of a special diagram. Creating this diagram requires a full-round action for every 5-foot square contained within the diagram. Once the circle has been drawn, attempt a Spellcraft check as part of the full-round action to draw the final part of the circle against a DC of (15 + the amount of Mana expended) to determine if it was done correctly. You may take 10 on this check if not in combat or stressed. You can increase the speed at which you draw the diagram, but at greater risk of making a mistake; doing so prevents you from taking 10 on the check, and for every step by which you reduce the time required to draw the diagram, increase the Spellcraft DC by +5, to a maximum of +20 - to draw the circle as a free action.

The diagram need not be drawn with any special materials (unless you also possess the Material Casting Quality), and can be done with sprinkled salt, paint, blood, a finger in sand, or anything else that may be on hand of negligible cost, so long as it is clearly visible. Permanent portable diagrams are usually not possible (as any scuff to the diagram disrupts the magic), but a diagram may be made out of fixed, permanent material such as metal. If a diagram is disrupted (any amount of damage dealt to the surface it is carved upon, or sufficient force from water, wind, or any other effect that might disperse the material the diagram was created with, at GM discretion) then any magic currently being maintained by concentration via the diagram immediately ends, and no further magic may be used until a new circle is drawn. Spells and effects created by magic within the diagram (including summoned creatures) never disrupt it even if they would otherwise.

Using magic saps your lifeforce. Whenever expending mana, you are dealt damage equal to the amount of Mana expended, which cannot be avoided by damage immunity, reduced by damage reduction, and cannot be healed through any means except rest. The only way to avoid the damage is by making a Fort Save, with a DC equal to 11 + Mana expended (for example, you must make a DC 14 Caster Level check to mitigate damage from a standard third level spell).

Your magic requires heightened emotional states of mind to use. When subject to a non-harmless effect that invokes an emotion (such as fear effects, demoralization effects such as being Intimidated, spells with the emotion descriptor, or [charms] such as Fear) you are unable to use magic.

You may never become immune to Fear effects without trading this casting drawback for an equivalent value in drawback points.

Requirement: Prepared Casting

Your magic is preserved in physical form during the time of creation. The materials to create the physical spell are negligible (unless you have the Material Casting Quality, a Lifestyle of Vagrant or lower, or both), and may take whatever form you choose (common choices include potions, scrolls, runestones, and more). Firstly, these physical extractions may only be used by you (unless you have the Infusions Talent from the Path of the Alchemist). Secondly, your magic remains contained in these extractions unless expended or destroyed, meaning that any Mana expended on them will not restore, just as if your magic has remained Prepared.

Through the creed of your people, a personal aversion, or simple incompetence, you are completely inept at two specific schools of Magic. You cannot manifest spells from these schools without spending a Hero Point. At GM discretion, this Quality may be taken more than once.

Your magic is accompanied by tell-tale signs; for example, your body glows brightly, the sound of tortured souls shriek as you cast, a deep chill affects all nearby creatures, etc. Using magic automatically breaks Stealth, and whenever you use magic all creatures within 60 feet who are observing you are considered to have automatically succeeded at a Spellcraft check to know what spell you are manifesting, and at what strength.

Your magic requires the expenditure of specific materials: precious metals, alchemical reagents, runestones, etc. The exact nature of this material should be worked out with the GM, including their rarity and cost (if the materials are particularly rare in the game world, this Quality may be worth 10 points instead). In a standard game, such materials should be worth 1TU per 10, with one “dram” of material expended per point of Mana involved in manifesting a spell. Materials may be more expensive if they are craftable by the player.

Your magic requires you to have a focus that is not always possible to achieve. You normally have focus, but lose it whenever you fail a save versus mind-affecting magic, have a critical hit confirmed on you, or a condition causes you to lose the ability to concentrate (such as being nauseated, or helpless, or failing a forced concentration check such as from being entangled). Using magic without your mental focus requires you to attempt a concentration check (DC 15 + Mana expended) to produce the desired effect. Failure means time (and any spell points) are spent, but no effect happens. If focus is lost, the caster can refocus by meditating as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Your magic is granted to you by a benefactor of some kind (though the relationship between you and the benefactor may be benevolent, or purely mercenary). Due to this, you must remain within the constraints of your benefactor's beliefs in order for them to continue to grant you magical power. The exact nature of this should be decided between the player and the Game Master. Such relationships are most commonly outlined through reviewing the purview of the particular deity or other such extraplanar being which the character follows.

Unlike everybody else, your magic is not available on demand. Instead, you must prepare it ahead of time, which limits your flexibility in time-sensitive situations. To “cast” a spell, you must expend the Mana as normal, over a number of minutes equal to the Mana being used in the spell. You must be uninterrupted and in a relatively stable environment (within reason, at GM discretion) to prepare your magic. This usually means that you can prepare your magic on a boat, but not in the middle of a hurricane. The Mana expended is considered “used” until the prepared spell is expended, and will not refresh accordingly (though you may “kill” the prepared spell if desired to regain the Mana, as a Full Round Action).

Your magic requires intense amounts of concentration to use. When attempting a concentration check (such as to cast defensively, or while taking damage), the normal DC increases by +10.

You must create your magic through singing, drawing, or performing some other activity. Your magic is tied to a particular Perform, Profession, Artistry, or Craft skill (although with GM permission another skill may be substituted). You must have a number of Ranks in your chosen skill equal to the amount of Mana you wish to expend upon a given spell. For example, you must possess 7 ranks in your chosen skill to expend 7 Mana on any given spell.

A caster with Skilled Casting must be able to perform their skill to use their magic, which is similar to but not the same as possessing other Qualities. For example, a caster who must draw to create magic must have at least one hand free, and unless he also possesses the Somatic Casting Quality, he may do so while wearing any armor he chooses without a chance of arcane spell failure. Likewise, a caster who uses music to create magic must be able to speak, and unless he also possesses Verbal Casting, he can do so by simply whispering, and thus not automatically break Stealth.

At the GM’s discretion, this drawback may count as two drawbacks if the skill involved requires bulky equipment or the use of both hands (for example, the Perform [strings] skill, or Craft [stonework]).

You must gesture to cast spells — a process that requires you to have at least 1 hand unoccupied. When using magic, you cannot wear armor heavier than light without incurring a chance of arcane spell failure.

If desired, you may select this Quality twice (for a total of 10 points). If taken a second time, you cannot wear any armor or use a shield without incurring a chance of arcane spell failure.

You must speak in a loud, clear voice to cast spells. Using magic alerts all nearby hearing creatures to your presence and location, effectively breaking stealth. You cannot cast in an area of magical silence, or in any other situation where you are unable to speak clearly.

Your ability to draw magical might is significantly less than others. Your restoration rate of Mana is half that of other spellcasters (divide your normal restoration rate by 2, rounding down).

Your magic is quite unstable, and manifests in peculiar ways. Whenever you cast magic, there is a 10% chance (though this may be raised or lowered at GM discretion) that a Wild Magic event occurs. The results as such are usually determined by consulting a Wild Magic Table, though the GM may wish to implement their own effect table (they are not obligated to share it with the player if so).