Panacea

Characters primarily gain body points from Body Skills. Other ways to get temporary body points include the Toughness spell, the Elixir of Toughness alchemical and the Alchemical Ascension ritual.

Regardless of the source, characters cannot have more than 4 points of body unless one or more of those sources explicitly says that they 'break cap'. Those sources can potentially take a character to 5 body or higher.

A Torso Wound is a catch all injury for anything that would result in a character taking enough damage to fall unconscious. When a character first gains the Torso Wound condition they also gain the Bleeding Out condition at the same time. If the Bleeding Out condition is later removed we refer to this as the character being 'stable': they still have a Torso Wound, but are in no danger of dying.

Any damage to a character with a Torso Wound will result in that character dying immediately. This is known as a killing blow. Accidental damage, such as from a tag bag that hits the fallen character instead of it's intended target, will also kill the character.

Each arm and each leg can be wounded separately from the others.

A character that has the Bleeding Out condition will die if they don't receive medical attention. After 10 minutes if this condition is not removed (healed) the character gains the Dead condition.

Any character with first aid may role-play taking care of someone with the Bleeding Out condition to extend the time it takes before they die. This adds an additional 10 minutes (for a total of 20). The first aid doesn't need to be started until the standard 10 minutes are nearly up (though it is good role-playing to do so prior to that). During the additional 10 minutes a person with first aid must maintain steady role-play. If at any point during the additional 10 minutes no one with first aid is actively paying attention to the individual Bleeding Out that person will die immediately.

This condition can be cured with items like Stabilizing Concoction. Anything that removes a Torso Wound condition will also automatically remove the Bleeding Out condition.

The basics of all spell casting follow one set of guidelines. Some items types will add some additional rules specific to those item types.

For a character to cast a spell they must: know the spell, have enough power points available to cast the spell, and have a free hand. If all of these criteria are met they may proceed to casting the spell.

Cast a spell costs its level in power points to cast. Power points are a skill characters can learn, and some items can provide extra power points as well.

Characters can never spend more than 20 magic power points in a single game day. Attempting to do so causes the character to gain an unpreventable Torso Wound condition as the magical energies tear the character apart. This will also cause the spell casting to fail. Abilities that grant characters power points that break cap do not count against this limit.

Some abilities and rules allow characters to pay fewer power points to cast a spell. This cannot bring the spell's cost to 0 power points unless the source explicitly says that it does. Abilities that reduce power point costs do not stack unless they explicitly say they do.

If you've met the requirements, you are now ready to cast the spell. To cast a spell you must speak an incantation. Spells have no fixed incantations. Each character is free to come up with their own schema for how they want to represent the magic they can perform. Incants do not need to be spoken word. They can be sung, chanted, or role-played in other ways.

There are still some requirements for a proper incantation. Incantations must be spoken loudly and clearly enough that players standing 10 feet away will know that a spell has been cast. An incantation also requires a minimum of 8 words, which must include the name of the spell being performed. You may not bluff one spell and then cast a different one (such as by putting multiple spell names into the incantation). The incantation must clearly convey EXACTLY what you are casting. You may not make the incantation gibberish, or attempt to work it into a conversation. It must be both clear that you are casting and what you are casting.