Spirit magic specialties

by **Brianna Silverweb** Thu Jun 25, 2015 10:10 am

Below are the descriptions of what each specialty has the possibility of doing. The character may or may not be able to do all of what is listed depending on their adeptness with magic. Please be aware that not everything possible may be listed. If you wish to use or do something listed or unlisted, keep in mind the balance of magic.

~Spirits~

Witches with the specialty over spirits can view ghosts/spirits of deceased and communicate with them, even if they have possessed inanimate objects/subjects/people. They are able to repel and run spirits away from an area, compel to employ an armada of ghosts, and may even view a visual conception of a spirit world in a trance if desired. They also have the ability to commune with other worldly spirits and control them and their energies to any extent. An ability that follows this but is a touch harder than the above would be the ability to transform non-corporeal beings (such as ghosts and spirits), into a physical form and give them a solid touchable body that can be felt.

A witch of this specialty can evoke and increase fear and horror in others causing the target’s brain to release fear-inducing chemicals. The victim’s perception may be altered, causing them see their environment as ominous and the user as dark and foreboding, or even seen as a monster. Another trick to achieve the above is the ability to cause great chaos and control the souls of others when they are dead.

Another ability a witch of this specialty would have is that they could bring spirits or apparitions into the physical realm to do their bidding, including full bodied spirits or limbs to use as attacks or defenses. They can also cause an area, buildings, vehicles or objects to become a festering ground for ghosts and evil spirits.

One of their stronger abilities is they can manipulate soul, defined as spirit/essence of anything, especially sentient beings. Most have to learn to control their own soul first and expand from there; some may be able to learn how to tap to the essence of everything living. Alongside this the witch could also see and track the souls of other beings including the souls of the living and those of the dead. They can study and observe the nature of one's soul and find weaknesses based on the nature of the observed souls.

~Life~

A witch with the specialty over life can create, shape and manipulate theirs or others spiritual power, which is generated by every sentient being that has a soul, or in places with powerful spiritual influence. They can convert it into various forms of energy, manifest it into solid form, or merge into existing objects. Examples of the above would be the ability to turn life-force energy into tools, objects, weapons and other items, create semi-living constructs and/or create structures/buildings of varying permanence. Some witches can cause their conversions to have certain properties such as healing to use on themselves or others as well. A witch who has mastered this ability can use it for almost any situation, creating anything they need.

With this specialty the witch can absorb spiritual energy from the soul, while removing it from the source, into their body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing themselves, gaining the drained power, using it as power source etc., either temporarily or permanently. This ability can also branch over into the capability to steal and consume the souls of others, often adding the victim's skills and abilities to their own temporarily.

The ability to spawn, summon or create a creature that is both an extension and manifestation, or part of their soul, is one of the more powerful abilities. Each entity is likely to have their own abilities and powers they grant to the user, but these depend on which part of the user's soul each creature represents as well as the abilities/power they already have. Note that since the entity is part of a soul, it is likely to have some level of sentience as well as their own interests and goals that might not be similar to that of the user.

In most cases the witch can sense and read the souls of others, whether free (i.e. dead, astral projection, etc) or in body. By reading souls, they can see/feel the being's characteristics, personality, feelings, and memories; whether they even have a soul, and damage others' souls have endured.

Another ability that takes time to master for a witch in this specialty is that they can sense, generate and manipulate the fundamental force that allows life to appear/exist, grow and flourish throughout the universe. They are able to control their own personal life-force that dwells within them, allowing them to achieve untold power and great abilities considered to be beyond that of normal beings. The witch also has the ability to bond their body with any other person, essentially turning into an exo-suit over them. If user bonds with anyone with powers of their own, their combined powers are multiplied..

A learned witch can use physical, spiritual, and mental powers to control their life force. They can accelerate or reverse age of themselves or organisms and non-living objects. They may cause a person to instantly become geriatric or reverse back to an adolescent or age objects to dust. The most common applications are to reverse their age to a more youthful appearance and slow aging. There is also the possibility that they can absorb age of others, removing it from the source, into their body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing themselves, gaining the drained power, using it as power source etc., either temporarily or permanently.

Those that have fully mastered their craft and specialty can give life to anyone and possibly even anything using varying means, either instantly, slowly over time, after certain conditions are met, or after a certain period of time has gone. This could be done by touch, at a distance, simply willing it to happen, or performing certain ritual.

~Balance~

A witch with the specialty over balance can harmonize their soul with other souls, synchronizing and multiplying spiritual strength of all participants. Enhancing their own powers as well as others in the hopes of reaching a high level of mastery and control instantaneously; even reach a level of power that is usually beyond their limits alone. They can never steal or give power, only enhance the ones those they are helping already have.

The witch can share pieces of their soul with other persons. By filling part of the recipient's soul with their own piece of soul the user can even heal the recipient's physical, mental and spiritual wounds that wouldn't normally heal on their own. They may even be capable of awakening powers in the receiver when sharing part of their soul.

With mastery they may be able to achieve oneness with their spiritual essence as well their mind, making them able to develop a high level consciousness over bodily processes, as well reduce stress and pain on the body. One is also able to detach oneself from worldly concerns, achieve spiritual enlightenment, and gain control of all of their abilities.

~Dreams~

A witch with the specialty over dreams can create, shape, enter and manipulate the dreams of oneself and others, including modifying, suppressing, fabricating, influencing, manifesting, sensing, and observing dreams as well as nightmares, daydreams, etc. They can produce and modify dreams, bestow nightmares or lucid dreaming, entrap people in REM, and promote spiritual/emotional healing within dreams. They can enter and manipulate the nightmares of oneself and others, including modifying, suppressing, fabricating, influencing, manifesting, sensing, and observing nightmares. The overwhelming shock, fear, anxiety and terror can prove too suffocating for the victim in which their hearts might explode or brains might die. In some cases, the withes power extends to the real world, such as wounds inflicted on a sleeping victim and even pulling someone from the waking world into the dream world.

Another possible ability is that they can discern and instantly understand the dreams of other beings. They are able to truly understand the deeper meaning behind the dreams of others and discern the anxieties behind nightmares as well. They are also aware of the dreams of anyone who has dreamed and/or are dreaming. This allows user to gain deep insight into knowledge the dreams may possess, discern the deepest desires of others and understand secrets that are kept consciously hidden. These secrets can vary from the fondest of dreams to the worst of nightmares. When a witch gains more control over their craft and specialty they can receive all the thoughts of others while they sleep, so the thoughts can manifest themselves as their dreams. For example: if a person had ever thought something about the user, the user will have a dream in which the person speaks what he or she thought of user.

The witch has the power to dream of something that is currently happening somewhere else. Generally with a witch in this specialty their dreams have a direct impact on reality. They may be able to subtly influence the world around them by changing the course of events, manifest into the real world or even emerge into existence as new beings, objects or phenomena, possibly with a will of their own. Troubles are to be expected as most users having limited grasp over their dreams, though they become increasingly more in control with experience until they reach the state of lucid dreaming, allowing compete control of their oneiric reality.

With this specialty the witch can absorb, destroy, eat, steal dreams/nightmares of others, either storing them into some form, using them for various reasons (food, inspiration, power, etc.) or sharing/passing them on. The effects of having one's dreams stolen vary greatly. Victims of dream theft may become unable to sleep properly, lose their creativity or even go completely insane. In some cases, there may not be any side effects at all, particularly if the dream is merely being shared or copied rather than completely removed.

With the correct rituals a witch in this specialty can create whatever they want via their dreams: if they dreams of a massive amount of cash, when they awake, cash will be around them. Any organism and object in the dream will appear in the real world. Those that have mastered control of their powers can teleport via dreams/sleep to anywhere where something dreams/sleeps and/or teleport subjects into dreams, trapping them within by creating a false reality/illusion. The target's body may stay in waking while their mind/soul is trapped or it may disappear into dream as well. Depending on the comprehension of the witch, some need to dream/sleep themselves, touch/see the someone dreaming/sleeping, others simply need to know there is someone dreaming/sleeping nearby, some merge into one dreamer/sleeper and emerge from other one, others can pop up from anywhere near a dreamer/sleeper to anywhere near a dreamer/sleeper.

~Druid~

A witch with the specialty in the druid aspect can employ divination, a method of reading the future, the present and the past and/or provide help to a problem at hand by using a ritual. Divination can be achieved by communicating with the supernatural (i.e. gods, demons, spirits, nymphs) or just by reading certain patterns. They are also are able to use this systematic method in order to track down various objects. Dowsing can also be used to track organic life through specific objects they've touched.

Another possible ability is that the witch can generate diseases and viruses, including mixing illnesses together or creating completely new ones, whether by drawing them from already existing sources, or by manifesting them anywhere they want. This specialty can also create potions: substances with magical properties such as enhancing physical and mental abilities, healing, granting powers, chancing shape, or bewitching someone depending on the kind of potion that is made. Some potions come in different forms of liquid, such as jelly, stew, brew, or even soup. They can also be made into solid form, often pills, powder, candy, and possibly drugs.

The witch can also restore biotic organisms to their optimal health, curing damaged or withered organisms, wounds, broken bones, low vitality, and diseases/poisoning. Though the witch may potentially heal any form of bodily damage, the patient must be alive, even if hanging by a thin thread, in order to be healed; once the patient has died, it would transcend healing and would require resurrection instead.

A more skilled witch of this specialty can shapeshift their form, transforming and reshaping down to the genetic and cellular structure. They can impersonate others or enhance one's body for combat, either by turning into animals, monsters or make the body stronger. Witches with particularly flexible abilities can manipulate their form at will, combining abilities, traits, etc, even being able to form limbs into weapons and reforming after being blown apart by explosives.

~Shamanism~

A witch with the specialty in the shamanism aspect can perceive, contact, and bargain or control the spiritual world through shamanism. Even before going into what a shaman is and does, one has to understand shamanistic worldview, which is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces and/or spirits which affect the lives of the living, the elements and nature in general. Thus everything/anything either has or has potential to gain awareness and/or consciousness. Secondly, there are nine levels of existence, Midgard, world of the mortals being one of them. Others include Hel, the Under-realm, where the dead go, and Asgard, the Upperworld, where great spirits/gods live.

A shaman is someone who has both ability and training/knowledge to both perceive the spirits and their effects and how to contact and manipulate them, either by bargaining, tricking, or forcing them to abide by the shaman's will. Thus the witch’s main ability is how to contact the spirits and how to send their spirits outside to roam the world or enter other levels of existence. By manipulating the spirit-world, shamans can direct the spirits use of their abilities and powers for their behalf in a vast variety of ways. In fact, there isn't much that a skilled shaman with patience and right contacts in the spirit world can't do, as long as they are willing to pay the price.

A shamanistic witch can separate their spirit from the body by entering a trance, gaining access of travel to the Astral Plane. Experienced individuals may control both the Astral and Corporeal presences. The witch can gain direct visual information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the witch's physical sight and allows them to act when they are unable to use their eyes.

With concentration a shaman is able to sense spiritual/psychic beings. Alongside being able to sense beings they can also sense the presence of supernatural powers and possibly gain detailed understanding about them, including their type, quality and intensity. They can also see overlapping dimensions/planes of existence and the unseen creatures inhabiting them. They are able to see users of Astral Projection (the astral plane) or sometimes demons or otherworldly horrors (alternate planes of existence). They cannot see into other realities or dimensions that do not directly overlap their own till until they have mastered their craft. The witch can perceive auras, normally invisible fields of energy that surround every living thing, this can be used to sense emotions, health, power levels, or the targets morality. They may also be able to sense auras surrounding inanimate objects under special circumstances.

It is very common for a shaman to be able to sense nearing dangers and sense unwanted or hectic threats to their well-being, acute danger, potential immediate danger, evade danger, and impending danger. The intuition usually regards themselves, but may include their surroundings (a distant car-wreck). The witch is capable of sensing the coming of death, able to determine when someone is dead or dying or if others have died in a specific location. At times, this extends to seeing the names and lifespans of those whose faces they see.

The witch is able to call on the minds of others living, dead, or in another world. Communicating with a past life, a deceased ancestor, or to receive help from a living friend. This power may be limited to which people the witch may communicate with or how often they may communicate or in what state the witch is in when communicating. This ability covers a wide range of mental communication. Evocation pulls the mind of another into the mind of the users, allowing them to communicate whether or not they would normally have the ability to.

The shamanistic witch can create, manipulate, shape, transform, etc. astral energy, allowing them to travel to the astral plane and interact there, see spirits, making spirits visible to others, astral trapping and potentially harming the dead. They can also allow others temporarily to be able to astral project, block others from astral projecting, sending them back to their bodies if they had already projected. The witch can restrain, trap or seal Astral Beings (including astrally projecting being, ghosts and spirits) into specific place, item or being (possibly allowing their energies to be tapped by others) or prevent them from entering certain areas or possessing beings/items. They can prevent a ghost from manifesting, prevent an astral projector from entering their body, or force ghosts on or off their plane of existence.

Calling supernatural forces to help them guide is another ability the witch uses for almost any scenario, to perform a task, find their way to a location, overcome adversities (personal or universal), etc., they can even be guided to fulfill a certain destiny. They can view ghosts/spirits of deceased and communicate with them, even if they have possessed inanimate objects/subjects/people. They are able to repel and run spirits away from an area, compel to employ an armada of ghosts, and may even view a visual conception of a spirit world in a trance if desired.

With training a witch may be able to take the body of another, by stealing their motor functions and senses. They may or may not have to leave their own body for this to take place. Disembodied users such as spirits may use the body as their own. The witch can transport person, creature, or object of choice by means of teleportation, dimensional travel, portal creation or some other way. This may also result from a previous summoning contract, which creates a connection between the summon and summoner. Those that have mastery over their craft may not be bound by restrictions such as a contract, and can summon anything they want, including powerful beings or "familiar spirits" and often require strong mystic connections to where these entities reside. They can call upon fairies, angels, demons, or animal spirits, just to name a few. The summoning can backfire, however, leading to any number of misfortunes, such as the summoned person, creature, or item causing harm to the summoner.

~Summoner~

A witch with the specialty over summoning can transport a person, creature, or object of choice by means of teleportation, dimensional travel, portal creation or some other way. This may also result from a previous summoning contract, which creates a connection between the summon and summoner. Those that have mastery over their craft may not be bound by restrictions such as a contract, and can summon anything they want, including powerful beings or "familiar spirits" and often require strong mystic connections to where these entities reside. They can also call upon fairies, angels, demons, or animal spirits, just to name a few. The summoning can backfire, however, leading to any number of misfortunes, such as the summoned person, creature, or item causing harm to the summoner.

Those who have the means to control their craft and wiling to do the more risky delve into tapping into their genetic signature across other dimensions, bending reality in order to transport those who share the same bio-padrons into ones home-reality. This however, takes an immense sacrifice and more often than not results in the death of the witch.

The witch can put items/beings into a separate dimension for safe keeping, and can summon them back with relative ease. Users have different methods of "Pocketing": some have holes or areas on their body that "suck" objects in, some use a "Bag of Tricks" or "Magic satchel" to hold infinite amounts of objects inside. Others can create a "floating" portal or simply reach behind/in anything and pull out the wanted item. Some witches can even use the style of "Trade In/Out" for any items that they have right now and the items that they want from their dimension, ex. trading a pistol for a shotgun or one's clothing for a new tier set.

~Necromancer~

A witch specializing in necromancy can animate corpses and dead beings making them move and react. They are usually under the user's control, but because the corpses are likely mindless, they have to be carefully monitored. However, some users may be able to create sentient or semi-sentient undead. The witch's magical abilities revolve around manipulating the dead, death, the life-force and/or souls for good (i.e., resurrecting the dead), evil (in various ways) or neither. They can also communicate with the deceased – either by summoning their spirit as an apparition or raising them bodily – for the purpose of divination, imparting the means to foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge. Many practitioners find a way to cheat death one way or another, whether by becoming some form of undead creature or by bypassing their own ability to die.

Necromancers are able to commune with other worldly spirits and control them and their energies to any extent. They can induce fear into the hearts of others, use spirits to cause great chaos and control the souls of others when they are dead. They can summon spirits from beyond the grave in order to commune or serve the user. The witch can absorb 'necroplasm', a source of energy given off by the dead and the dying, and convert it into a multitude of different energies for a variety of effects.

The witch is able to create beings of bone or shape existing bones into wanted shapes and purposes. They can grant the beings varying levels of independence (controlled, automatons/programmed, semi-independent) and existence (momentary to permanent) and delete the creature once they are done with them. They can also form armor around their body or a shape it from bones for protection and physical boost. With training, the user could shape the armor into new forms for weapons, transportation, even constructs of the element.

Necromancy also has the possibilities of manipulating the powers of corruption to take a variety of effects on themselves or others. They may take control of any darkness in the hearts of others to make them into their servants. They can even become stronger with the darkness and corruption of others by just being around them. They can even influence the corruption in a means of combat purposes, energy attacks, or corruption techniques. The witch has the power to create living manifestations of negative energy and can use negative feelings or behaviors of humans like fear, anger, violence, hatred, doubt, despair. The manifestations can even use those feelings as their own powers.

The necromancer can create, shape and manipulate the essence of Death, which is present in all mortals throughout the universe and is the opposite power of Life-Force Manipulation; whereas Life-Force is the essence which allows life to flourish, Death-Force is that which causes things to wither, rot, weaken, and eventually die. They can sense and manipulate the essence that allows Death, Destruction, Decay, and Corruption to exist throughout the universe, allowing them to control decayed matter or to request assistance from the dead.

~Shadows~

A witch specializing in shadows can transform their body completely into shadows. Their transformed form can be either anatomically identical to their normal form, aside of being made of shadow, in which case it contains all to organs and is somewhat vulnerable to attacks. Alternately they can transform into homogeneous matter, without any part of their form being more important than the other. This ability means that the witch can assume a 2D form, extend outward to become a larger shadow, blend into shadows completely, or even teleport through them.

The witch can transform their or others shadows into living beings. As the rule of anything happening to the real body happens to the shadow, this ability may allow the user to manipulate the body and cause damage of reality by attacking the shadow. This means anything that happens to the shadow will be reflected in the true body; in short, a form of “reverse” shadows puppetry. The witch takes control over the motor functions of others against their will as if they were a marionette via shadows, subjects are still conscious, but can’t resist the user's puppet control. This can be executed by infusing ones shadow into the shadow of the target, physical contact, or simply having shadows touch. They can also inflict damage to the opponent through their shadow, which may kill the target and potentially destroy the body in the process.

A shadow witch can absorb the shadows/darkness, while removing it from the source, into their body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing themselves, gaining the drained power, using it as power source etc., either temporarily or permanently. Users who absorb the shadows of others may be able to affect that target in various ways. They can also generate and project shadows and darkness which absorb or nullify light in an area.

The witch is able to become undetectable as long as they are in darkness or shadow. They can hide themselves within the shadows of others and remain undetected from whoever's shadow they happen to be hiding in. They can use this technique to spy on individuals without leaving behind physical evidence.

As a shadow witch they can also form armor around their body or a shape it from darkness/shadow for protection and physical boost, often including creation of tendrils to strike their opponents. With training, the user could shape the armor into new forms for weapons, transportation, even constructs of the element.

~Invoker~

A witch specializing in the art of invoking has the capability to invoke any number of things. Some examples of what they can invoke would be the ability to prevent Winter from coming, trapping a land - perhaps even an entire realm - into an eternal Autumn. They are able to prevent autumn from coming, trapping a land - perhaps even an entire realm - into an eternal summer. They are able to prevent summer from coming, trapping a land - perhaps even an entire realm - into an eternal Spring. They are able to prevent spring from coming, trapping a land - perhaps even an entire realm - into an eternal winter.

Another possible example of something an invoker could call fourth would be a presence or strength of government over a large radius, ranging from small villages to entire worlds and to create mass authority, subjugation, social order and an absolute reign. They also have the ability to invoke an absence or lack of government over a large radius ranging from small villages to large cities to create mass riots, rebellion and social disorder and disruption. This again can branch off to where the witch can induce war and chaos within an enormously large radius, ranging from a city to an entire continent. With this power the user has full control over the city or continent that is in war and chaos at the time. Another thing the witch could manipulate would be inspiration. They could inspire people and help develop ideas that they would not otherwise had, or simply make inspiration easier to spare their efforts to find their own inspiration.

The witch can invoke and control pests, a swarm of locusts that spoil crops, and flies that carry disease. They will also gain immunity to pests and viruses, but can also create, invoke, and control diseases and viruses. They can also invoke phobias or specific fears from others or themselves, causing their target's sense of fear and apprehension held by their minds or other sources to become active at the presence of specific stimuli (object, creature, place, etc.) of their choice. The user can also make themselves or others resistant to fear-inducing tactics in situations by centering their fears onto stimuli that does not happen to be present at the time.

~Premonition~

A witch that specializes in premonitions has the ability to foresee possible futures and observe what may happen. As knowledge of the future invariably causes that future to change, visions of the future are subject to frequent shifting. While not being able to select futures or travel through time, these visions may assist in possible courses of action. There are many ways a precog could go about viewing the future. They could perceive future events while dreaming. They could predict the future by drawing pictures. Some could even perceive the future and/or recite/prophesy it aloud, they may be aware of the process and able to control it, or it may be completely involuntary and/or be uttered in trance.

One of the more challenging ways a precog is to gain knowledge of/from the future is by actually traveling to the future their astral form. They appear to be corporeal and can interact with the people there; some witches may be able to affect the world in general while there. One of the less common abilities of a precognitive is the ability to discern the past and past events using various means, usually entering a trance while seeing and hearing a noted past event, whether it be concerning themselves or of an unfamiliar lineage in a past occurrence. Occasionally the looks to the past are spontaneous.

It is common for a precognitive witch that has mastered their own control to be able to manipulate the precognitive powers of others. They can give them a vision or a much clearer vision of the future and make precognitive dreams easier to understand. The precog can also prevent them from using their power. Skilled users of this can make a false vision, making them see what they want them to see. Misdirecting the foresight of others by various ways, often by creating/implanting false visions knowledge making others to perceive what they desire. The precognitive witch is for all intensive purposes immune to all forms of precognitive abilities, which keeps them from appearing in any of the visions of a fellow precognitive, even if they are at said event in the future.

~Seer~

A witch that specializes in the ways of a seer can perceive the future and/or recite/prophesy it aloud, they may be aware of the process and able to control it, or it may be completely involuntary and/or be uttered in trance. More than not seers are known to speak in riddles, making it hard to discern what they may mean. They have the ability to foresee possible futures and observe what may happen. As knowledge of the future invariably causes that future to change, visions of the future are subject to frequent shifting. While not being able to select futures or travel through time, these visions may assist in possible courses of action. A seer can employ divination, a method of reading the future, the present and the past and/or provide help to a problem at hand by a ritual. Divination can be achieved by communicating with the supernatural (i.e. gods, demons, spirits, nymphs) or just by reading certain patterns.

A seer can gain direct visual information about an object, person, location or physical event through means other than the user's physical sight and allows them to act when they are unable to use their eyes. This also helps them to be able to sense spiritual/psychic beings. With their close relationship to the gods, most seers are invulnerable to most, if not all, spells that are cast on them, granting them protection from potential harm. Some spells may only affect the user once, after which they become immune to its effects.

Being a seer requires the witch to achieve oneness with their spiritual essence as well their mind, making them able to develop a high level consciousness over bodily processes, as well reduce stress and pain on the body. They are able to detach themselves from worldly concerns, achieve spiritual enlightenment, and gain control of all of their abilities. This also allows them to push the hidden strength within them and amplify it, gaining much untold power due to their incredibly strong force of will. Seers with the right training will be able to bypass all limitations they've possessed on their offensive and defensive capabilities along with their overall abilities, increasing them to the fullest extent.

With training a seer can remain calm in virtually any situation, allowing them to think with perfect clarity even when under extreme emotional or physical distress. Users are essentially immune to emotional manipulation and highly resistant to torture. Seers can block pain at will or are incapable of feeling pain or highly resistant to physical pain of any kind, allowing them to think clearly and continue to move despite grievous injury. Users can think clearly, continue to move, ignore torture and generally function in situations where pain would disable a normal person.