Enchantment nature: Characteristic boosting/draining
Magical skill used: Countering, Darkness, Death, Earth, Enhancement, Life, Stasis; Countering and Enhancement magic are best.
Description: A characteristic boosting/draining enchantment allows the caster to temporarily increase or decrease the target character's characteristics.
Power: The power of a characteristic boosting/draining enchantment determines how much the target's characteristic scores are enhanced. Each point of Power in the characteristic boosting/draining enchantment may be used to increase (for a boost) the value of one of the target character's characteristic scores by +1/2, or decrease it (for a drain) by -1/2.
The minimum Power of a characteristic boosting/draining enchantment is 1.
Finesse: The finesse of a characteristic boosting/draining enchantment determines the limit to which the target's characteristic scores may be enhanced.
For characteristic boosting, the target's characteristic score (after enhancement) may not exceed the Finesse of the enhancement enchantment. It is harder to boost an already high characteristic score than a low one. For example, Ben Ruben has a ST characteristic score of -1/2. He wishes to enhance this by +2 1/2 points. To do this, he must cast a characteristic boosting enchantment of at least Power 5 and Finesse 2 (Finesse 2 is sufficient, since the resultant ST score of +2 is less than or equal to the Finesse of the characteristic boosting enchantment). Ben Ruben also wants to boost his WP, which is currently +5 1/2, by 1 point. To do this, he must cast a characteristic boosting enchantment of at least Power 2 and Finesse 7 (Finesse 7 is sufficient, since the resultant ST score of +6 1/2 is then less than or equal to the Finesse of the characteristic boosting enchantment).
For characteristic draining, the maximum amount of total reduction to the target's characteristic score may not exceed the Finesse of the enchantment. For example, Ben Ruben's ST characteristic score (normally -1/2) has been drained to -2 1/2 by a previous enchantment. The next draining enchantment seeks to drain another 2 points of ST; the Power of the enchantment will be 4 (one per 1/2 point drained), and the Finesse will also be 4 (since the resultant score of -4 1/2 is 4 points lower than the normal -1/2).
Boosting or draining a willing stationery target is normally automatic provided the caster can see the target. If a target is not willing to be boosted/drained or is a moving target, the caster must make an attack dice roll with a basic value equal to the Finesse of the enchantment to pick up the target in the characteristic boosting/draining enchantment.
Limitations: The magical skill used limits what kind of characteristic boosting/draining the caster can perform. The referee should apply discretion, but the following list may help.
| Skill | Characteristic boosting/draining restrictions: |
| Countering | Draining. May only drain characteristics, but can drain any characteristic score. |
| Darkness | Strength of Darkness. May only boost ST characteristic score; boosting will only work while target remains in darkness. |
| Death | Strength draining. May only drain ST characteristic score. |
| Earth | Strength of Stone. May only boost ST characteristic score; boosting will only work while target remains in contact with ground. |
| Enhancement | Boosting. May enhance any existing enchantment or any characteristic score. |
| Life | Vigour. May only boost ST characteristic score. |
| Stasis | Self boosting. May only boost the caster's characteristics. Area of effect and range must be 0. |
Examples:
Ben Ruben, a holy man, has a Stasis magic skill of 4 (with no specialism in characteristic boosting/draining) and a IQ score of +2 1/2. He wishes to temporarily boost his own ST score by +2 1/2 points to +2. He, therefore, seeks to cast a characteristic boosting enchantment with Power 5, Finesse 2, Range Self (i.e. 0), Concealment 0 (the enchantment will be obvious), Duration 1 hour (i.e. 3), Area of effect Single target (i.e. 0), Investment 0 = Difficulty 10 in total. His basic value is 4 + 2 1/2 = 6 1/2. He decides to use hand gestures and words when casting and spends an extra combat action preparing the enchantment to give a modifier of +3, giving a basic value of 9 1/2. He decides to roll 2D + 3 1/2; he rolls a 4 and a 3, giving a dice roll result of 10 1/2. The enchantment succeeds with no adverse effects.