Sanctified Magic

Purpose/How It Works: Steadfast Sign aligns a group with steadier aim, clearer nerve, and better resistance to panic or curse.
Notable Exceptions: It improves disciplined action, not raw genius or impossible luck.
Example Use: A priest marks the defenders before dawn and their line holds where it should have broken.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, group assent, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Spoken blessing, a few heartbeats. Processional rite, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: A small band, as many as one voice can reach. A short while to a full watch.

Purpose/How It Works: Stayed Hand makes direct violence against the protected target feel spiritually and psychologically wrong unless the attacker forces through the aversion.
Notable Exceptions: Determined killers and mindless hazards are less affected. The protection usually weakens once the warded target attacks.
Example Use: Refugees pass around a consecrated child none of the soldiers can bear to strike first.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, group assent, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Touch blessing, a heartbeat or two. Altar-marked ward, a short chant.
Range/Duration: Touch or arm’s length. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Purpose/How It Works: Vowlight Ward wraps a target in visible or invisible sacred force that turns aside blows and hostile magic.
Notable Exceptions: It protects best against external assault, not poison already in the blood or collapse underfoot.
Example Use: A paladin walks through arrow rain with golden light flaring off each shaft.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, group assent, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Touch invocation, a heartbeat or two. Shield-boss activation, near-instant.
Range/Duration: Self or touched ally. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Purpose/How It Works: Kindled Palm transfers healing force directly through touch with exceptional control and emotional steadiness.
Notable Exceptions: It still obeys lifeforce cost. Miraculous precision does not make the energy free.
Example Use: A battle chaplain closes a spear wound on the temple steps with one glowing hand.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by the caster’s reserves, willing divine aid, and direct bodily contact with the patient.
Casting Methods: Touch cast, a few breaths. Bedside prayer, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: Touch. Immediate stabilization with ongoing recovery.

Purpose/How It Works: Litany of Mending distributes restorative force across multiple wounded targets through a shared liturgical frame.
Notable Exceptions: It is slower than emergency triage and weaker on critically dying patients.
Example Use: After the battle, the wounded kneel in rows while the priest walks among them in prayer.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, group assent, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Group prayer, a short litany. Full temple healing rite, a long service.
Range/Duration: A room or part of a field hospital. Immediate treatment over a short while.

Purpose/How It Works: Cure Affliction targets curse, poison, disease, or corruption by reasserting healthy sacred order over the invaded pattern.
Notable Exceptions: Deep-rooted conditions may require repeated treatment or additional mundane care.
Example Use: A pilgrim priest burns plague-sweat out of a village elder before it can spread further.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, clean water, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Touch and prayer, a few breaths. Shrine cleansing rite, a long rite.
Range/Duration: Touch or one contained target. Instant treatment with recovery after.

Purpose/How It Works: Sworn Clarity sharpens a warrior’s judgment, weapon timing, and moral certainty during a short crucial exchange.
Notable Exceptions: It enhances committed action and often collapses if the user acts against their stated vow or duty.
Example Use: A templar’s blade begins striking exactly where the abomination leaves itself open.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by vow-alignment, martial focus, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Self-invocation, a heartbeat or two. Weapon prayer, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Self. A few heartbeats to a short while.

Purpose/How It Works: Judging Stroke loads a weapon blow or strike with radiant judgment that erupts on impact.
Notable Exceptions: It is strongest against corruption, undead animation, and oathbreakers, but still harmful to ordinary foes.
Example Use: A war-priest’s hammer lands and the corpse-thing inside the gate comes apart in light.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by vow-alignment, martial focus, sanctified weapons, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Strike-bound cast, near-instant on attack. Weapon charge prayer, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Weapon reach or a touched strike. One empowered hit.

Purpose/How It Works: Paired Vow links two allies so injury, strain, and warding pressure are shared instead of falling on one alone.
Notable Exceptions: It can save the protected target while killing the protector if used recklessly.
Example Use: A paladin takes half the curse-force meant for the child behind him.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by linked vows, touch contact, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Shared touch rite, a short chant. Bond-charm activation, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: Linked pair. A short while to a night.

Purpose/How It Works: Dawn Lantern raises morale, clarifies healing work, and makes despair harder for allied minds to accept.
Notable Exceptions: It cannot erase grief or terror, only stop them from ruling the moment.
Example Use: The plague ward stops panicking when the chapel lantern begins to glow like sunrise.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, radiant symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Raised symbol cast, a few heartbeats. Lantern or altar rite, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: A room to a courtyard. A short while to a night.

Purpose/How It Works: Consecrate Ground marks an area as spiritually ordered, making corruption, panic, corpse-rise, and hostile ritual work more difficult.
Notable Exceptions: It must be maintained. Polluted, cursed, or blood-soaked places may fight the consecration.
Example Use: A shrine is made safe enough that the dead around it finally stop stirring at night.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, sanctified symbols, site identity, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Boundary prayer, a short litany walked along the edge. Full site consecration, an hour’s ritual.
Range/Duration: Room, shrine, or field section. Days to years with renewal.

Purpose/How It Works: Turn the Restless floods undead, corpse-servants, and hostile remnants with sanctified pressure that drives them back or breaks their hold.
Notable Exceptions: Well-constructed necromantic servants and high-order undead can resist or merely recoil.
Example Use: A crypt full of bone laborers staggers backward from one ringing invocation.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, radiant symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Spoken turning, a few heartbeats. Bell-and-circle rite, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: A room to a hall. An instant’s recoil to a short suppression.

Purpose/How It Works: Exorcism drives out invasive influence such as curse-threads, possessing traces, false identities, or hostile magical occupancy.
Notable Exceptions: It is exhausting, often traumatic for the host, and dangerous if the invading pattern is deeply woven in.
Example Use: A child speaking with three dead voices is finally returned to herself.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, names, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Immediate banishing cast, a short chant. Full exorcism rite, a long rite.
Range/Duration: Touch or one contained subject. Instant with aftercare.

Purpose/How It Works: Radiant Lance projects a spear of focused sanctified light for battlefield judgment at range.
Notable Exceptions: It is line-of-sight dependent and brightest against targets already marked by corruption or oathbreak.
Example Use: A mounted knight drops a fleeing cult standard-bearer with one thrown line of white fire.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by vow-alignment, radiant symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Forward cast, a heartbeat or two. Lance-tip charge, a few heartbeats.
Range/Duration: A long stone’s throw, within clear sight. An instant strike.

Purpose/How It Works: Oathbright Steel sanctifies a blade, hammer, or spear so it shines, strikes harder against corruption, and resists fouling magic.
Notable Exceptions: It works best on weapons already tied to oath, office, or ritual use.
Example Use: The gate-captain lifts an otherwise ordinary sword that now cuts revenant mail like wax.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by sanctified weapons, vow-alignment, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Weapon blessing, a few breaths. Altar consecration, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: One weapon. A short while to several days.

Purpose/How It Works: Pale Watch summons a moving perimeter of radiant watchfulness that intercepts curse-work, remnant intrusion, and sudden spiritual assault.
Notable Exceptions: It is strongest against intangible or corruption-driven threats, not siege engines and mundane arrows.
Example Use: Pilgrims sleep inside a slow-turning ring of pale guardians while the haunted moor mutters outside.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Circular invocation, a few breaths. Camp rite, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: Small group or camp. A short while to a night.

Purpose/How It Works: Mass Blessing spreads courage, steadiness, and light restorative support across a crowd.
Notable Exceptions: It is broad but shallow compared to focused healing or elite battle prayer.
Example Use: A city square kneels and rises ready instead of broken.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, group assent, sanctified symbols, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Public blessing, a minute’s chant. Grand liturgy, a long service.
Range/Duration: A crowd to a congregation filling a district. A short while to a day.

Purpose/How It Works: Circle of Mercy creates a protected healing zone where panic eases, pain lowers, and restorative spells work more cleanly.
Notable Exceptions: It protects and heals; it does not make the space invulnerable.
Example Use: Field surgeons save twice as many lives once the mercy circle is laid in the mud.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, clean water, symbols of care, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Ground-marked rite, a minute’s chant. Full chapel circle, a long rite.
Range/Duration: A room or a ward line. A short while to a night.

Purpose/How It Works: Noonbreak releases a brilliant pulse of sanctified light that blinds, scatters corruption, and breaks lesser undead animation.
Notable Exceptions: It affects allies if used carelessly and is weaker in fully sealed darkness-wards.
Example Use: The crypt stair floods with noon-bright light and the corpse-host collapses backward.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by radiant symbols, stored light, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Raised-symbol cast, a few heartbeats. Solar lens rite, a minute’s chant.
Range/Duration: A room to a courtyard. An instant’s flash, with a few heartbeats of aftereffect.

Purpose/How It Works: Guardian Host manifests a small number of radiant martial forms that intercept blows, hold lines, or strike corruption-driven enemies.
Notable Exceptions: They are sustained liturgical constructs, not independent souls or true celestial beings.
Example Use: A shrine’s defenders fight beside six figures of golden vow-light until dawn.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by spoken liturgy, sanctified weapons, and the caster’s reserves; divine sponsorship can carry much of the cost.
Casting Methods: Host invocation, a short chant. Great vigil rite, a long rite.
Range/Duration: Shrine, gate, or battlefield knot. A short while to a night’s vigil.

Purpose/How It Works: Martyr’s Stand lets a defender keep fighting, guarding, or holding position beyond ordinary bodily collapse by converting future recovery and reserve into present endurance.
Notable Exceptions: The debt falls due afterward. Many users die once the stand ends.
Example Use: A gate-paladin holds the breach with broken ribs long enough for the children to pass behind him.
Typical Cost/Power Source: Usually fed by vow-alignment, personal reserves, and sometimes divine over-support that leaves devastation in the body afterward.
Casting Methods: Desperate self-invocation, a heartbeat or two. Battle vow, a few breaths.
Range/Duration: Self. A few heartbeats to the end of the fight.