Magic is the exciting lifeblood of any fantasy story and Gestalt is no exception. Adventurers call upon the powers of the mana within their body and from the divine tempest itself to cause miraculous effects to happen. Anything from a fireball to levitation and even resurrecting the dead are possible with magic.

Casting a spell has a visual aspect (a sigil) unless otherwise noted. There is some degree of physical effort (hand movements, arm movements, etc) required to cast spells as well (though you may do so while wielding items).

When magic is cast it is traditionally accompanied by a sigil that appears in the air. This sigil looks distinct and reflects what spell is being cast, the school of magic it is (a divine teleport spell and an arcane one would look different), and who is casting it (almost like it is “signed” by the spellcaster). Sigils also change appearance when modified by metamagic or cast with more or less power (higher or lower levels of Spellcasting proficiency); generally speaking, stronger spells create more sigils. A sigil can be “read” (with an Arcane Lore check made to identify the spell) by skilled spellcasters. While they do “glow” they don’t glow enough to shed light. When a particularly powerful spell is cast energy is often discharged; a spellcaster can effortlessly suppress this but doesn’t often as a matter of pride.

Mana is the magical academic term for the base unit of magical power like a “gram” or “watt”. All spells cost 1 mana to cast unless otherwise noted. All mana is recovered after a long rest.

If you have mana from different sources, such as 2 different spellcasting classes, each source uses its own pool. You cannot, for example, use mana from your “cleric” pool to cast wizard spells, and vice versa.

You may cast a spell if you are a member of a class with the spellcasting keyword. Casting a spell typically takes 2 actions (unless otherwise noted) and provokes an attack of opportunity.

You can cast any spell you know and what spells you know is defined by your class’s spellcasting class feature. Spellcasting classes grant “mana”, and it costs 1 mana to cast a spell unless otherwise noted. All mana is recovered after a long rest.

Certain spells have requirements, typically needing you to be of a certain character level or higher to cast. Other spells get stronger when you cast them at a certain character level or higher.

When casting a spell you do not need to roll any dice to do so, though the effects of the spell might have you roll dice. Any dice roll related to casting a spell uses your Spellcasting proficiency unless otherwise noted.

You can take 1 action to prematurely end an ongoing spell’s effect that you cast. You must be able to draw light of sight and line of effect to the ongoing magical effect to do so.

Like a boulder rolling down a hill, once started magic is difficult to stop or interrupt. A spell cannot be interrupted or made to fail unless something expressly says it does. The only thing that stops a spell mid-casting is if the caster cannot continue to take the actions required to cast the spell before completing it.

A cantrip is a simple spell that costs 0 mana to cast.

Sometimes a creature replicates the effect of a spell by means other than casting a spell. An innate spell can represent something outside the formal definition of “magic” or “spells” (a more supernatural or even strange biological effect).

Innate spells do not rely on the creature’s Spellcasting proficiency but instead the most relevant skill or proficiency they have. The most relevant skill is sometimes suggested in a parenthetical. Use this proficiency to determine the DC of the innate spell, and you can use the skill in place of Spellcasting if the spell allows you to roll Spellcasting for particular effects (such as Dispel Magic).

Innate spells do not require mana to cast, and having one doesn’t grant you mana. They expressly do not work with abilities that require the expenditure of mana.

There are primarily 5 types of magic in Gestalt: arcane, divine, nature, psychic, and weird, with arcane and divine being the most commonly encountered. Magic interacts with each other without issue; the division of magic is in its origin rather than its effect.

As a reminder, if your character has 2 spellcasting character classes and they are reliant on two different ability scores you will have two different DCs. For example: if you are a wizard-cleric you will have a DC for your wizard spells based on your Intelligence and your cleric spells will have a DC based on your Wisdom.

• Casting Time: Unless otherwise noted, a spell takes 2 actions to cast.
• Saves: Unless otherwise noted, the save for a spell is DC 10 + your proficiency bonus in Spellcasting.
• 5th Level / 15th Level Bonus: Certain spells will add new effects or alter their nature as you get stronger. At the indicated levels, the spell improves in power. The effect of these spells stack, unless otherwise noted. You can always cast a spell using a less powerful version (this is called “undercasting” a spell).
  • Base Spell: The “base version of a spell” is a spell cast at its lowest level, that is to say it lacks any bonuses for being cast at a higher level. Variables dependent on level still scale.
• Willing Targets: The target of a spell may always elect to simply take the effect.
• Unwilling Targets: If they don’t want to have a spell affect them, a target of a spell may always elect to attempt to save against an effect, even if it would not obviously cause them harm (if no save is given, the GM is the final arbiter of what kind of save this is).
• Compelled Actions: Any time a spell gives you command over another creature's actions you cannot cause the creature to knowingly and/or willingly harm themselves (directly or indirectly). The command simply fails unless the spell specifies otherwise.

Sometimes a spell will require a skill check (rather than a Spellcasting check). What skill that is depends on your school of magic.

• Arcane: Arcane Lore
• Divine: Religion
• Nature: Fieldcraft
• Psychic: Arcane Lore
• Weird: Arcane Lore

• Cantrip: A basic utilitarian spell that does not consume a daily spell use when cast. These spells can be cast as often as one pleases.
• Corruption: These spells bind the will of the subject, forcing them to act as the caster wishes. This ends when the corruptor dies.
• Curse: A spell that negatively affects the target without causing direct damage.
• Death: A spell that kills without dealing damage, or directly targets the vital force of a target. A death spell is always a death effect.
• Enhancement: This spell magically enhances you. You can only have 1 enhancement effect on you at a given time. If you gain another, you can select which enhancement you’d like to keep.
• Healing: A spell that heals a creature.
• Illusion: A spell that creates a false image, sound, or sensation (or combination thereof). Recognizing an illusion as such usually weakens it or ends it. A creature can take a free action to disbelieve it if they have some reason to suspect it’s not real. This disbelief is on a per-creature basis (the creature making the save is not affected) but one creature disbelieving may allow others to do so (such as attempting to walk though a wall).
• Instant: A spell without a prolonged duration or effect. (Less than a round.) A fireball or lightning strike is an instant spell.
• Level Restriction (5th Level, 10th Level, 15th Level, 20th Level): Spells with a level restriction indicates the minimum level required to cast such a spell.
• Luck: This is a spell that impacts a creature's fate/luck. These typically modify one’s ability to spend dice in some fashion.
• Mental: This is a mind-affecting effect.
• Personal: This spell can only be cast on yourself.
• Polymorph: This transforms a creature’s body into a different form. While polymorphed all your gear melds into your body, becoming unusable until you resume your normal form. On your death you resume your normal form.
• Quick: This spell only takes 1 action to cast.
• Ritual: A ritual is a spell with a very long casting time (typically longer than 1 minute). You can take no other action while casting a ritual. Taking another action ends the ritual and you must start again.
• Summon: These spells temporarily summon a creature or object. Casting a summon spell automatically ends any other effect you have conjured by a summon spell. You cannot summon something into an occupied space. For example: if you summon a wall with the wall spell and then summon an imp with a summon monster spell, the wall would instantly be de-summoned.

• Summoners: Some creatures can summon more than one thing. Things like the summoner wizard secret knowledge, magic items, and even potentially feats could allow you to violate this limit. Your average spellcaster can only have 1 summon at a time however.
• “Permanent Summons”: A summon that is made permanent by any effect causes it to lose the summon keyword.
• The Summoner Died: A summon is not dismissed (i.e the spell is not canceled) if the caster dies or is rendered unconscious. However, the summon is no longer in the control of the caster and defaults to its own nature/compulsion/etc.
• Touch: Spells that say you need to touch someone require you to take the “touch” action as part of casting the spell, though you can use your Spellcasting proficiency in place of your unarmed attack.

A character who casts divine spells draws their power from a patron or belief in an ideal drawn from the divine tempest. You can’t cast divine spells without the implicit approval of the one granting you their power or against the ideals you hold strongly. If it goes against your patrons best interest or violates a tenant of your belief (often an oath) the divine spell will fail.

Examples: Trying to cast a divine spell that inflicts great suffering with divine energies from the healing domain will probably fail. Likewise, trying to turn the divine power of a demon lord against itself (or their minions) would fail.