Enchantment nature: Entangle
Magical skill used: Air, Darkness, Death, Earth, Fire, Life, Light, Projection, Water; Death magic is best.
Description: An entangle enchantment is one that launches an attack against the target, with the purpose of restricting the target's movement. A character that is entangled cannot make actions other than to attempt to break out of entanglement, speak or cast magic (though he/she will be unable to make gestures while casting).
Power: The power of an entangle enchantment determines how difficult it is for the target to break out of the entanglement. Most entanglements are physical; to break out of them, an entangled character must make a breakout action (3 action points) and make a dice roll using his/her ST + Athletics (including lifting specialism) at a difficulty equal to the Power of the entangle enchantment. The difficulty is reduced by 1 point per successive attempt to break out of the entangle.
The minimum Power of an entangle enchantment is 1.
Finesse: The finesse of an entangle enchantment determines the basic value for the attack dice roll, to determine whether or not the entangle successfully hits the target. The basic value is equal to twice the Finesse of the entangle enchantment. Hence, if the caster launches a Finesse 5 entangle spell, the caster makes the attack dice roll using a basic value of 10.
Limitations: The magical skill used limits the effects of the entangle the caster can perform. The referee should apply discretion, but the following list may help.
| Skill | Entangle restrictions: |
| Air | Wind force. Creates a whirlwind around the target that prevents the target from moving. Maximum concealment is 3. |
| Darkness | Shadow force. Creates bonds out of darkness that grab the target and prevent him/her from moving. The power of the enchantment is halved unless the target is light-aligned. Maximum concealment is 3. |
| Death | Agony. Creates intense agony that paralyses the target. The attack is a mental one, so the defender uses his/her Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + WP in the defence dice roll. The attack has no effect on unnatural targets that have no mind (e.g. automatons or certain undead). As well as preventing movement, every combat turn that the target is enclosed, he/she will suffer damage, based on a damage dice roll with basic value equal to the Power of the enchantment. Armour provides no protection against this type of damage. Entanglement is mental rather than physical; to break out, an entangled character must make a dice roll using his/her WP + Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + any mental resistance at a difficulty equal to the Power of the entangle enchantment. |
| Earth | Hands of earth. Hands of earth or stone reach out from the ground and grab the legs of the target. Always very obvious - maximum concealment is zero. |
| Fire | Web of flames. Encloses the target in a net of flames that prevents movement and burns the target. As well as preventing movement, every combat turn that the target is enclosed, he/she will suffer damage, based on a damage dice roll with basic value equal to the Power of the enchantment. Metallic armour provides no protection against this type of damage (i.e. the maximum armour protection value is 3 points). Always very obvious - maximum concealment is zero. |
| Life | Paralysis. Attacks the target's nervous system, causing temporary paralysis and preventing him/her from moving. The attack is a mental one, so the defender uses his/her Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + WP in the defence dice roll. The attack has no effect on unnatural targets that have no nervous system (e.g. automatons or certain undead). Entanglement is mental rather than physical; to break out, an entangled character must make a dice roll using his/her WP + Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + any mental resistance at a difficulty equal to the Power of the entangle enchantment. |
| Light | Prismatic web. Encloses the target in a net of bright lights that prevent him/her from moving. The power of the enchantment is halved unless the target is darkness-aligned. Always very obvious - maximum concealment is zero. |
| Projection | Hypnotism. Hypnotises the target and prevents him/her from moving. The attack is a mental one, so the defender uses his/her Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + WP in the defence dice roll. The attack has no effect on unnatural targets that have no mind (e.g. automatons or certain undead). Entanglement is mental rather than physical; to break out, an entangled character must make a dice roll using his/her WP + Trance (including mental resistance specialism) + any mental resistance at a difficulty equal to twice the Power of the entangle enchantment. |
| Water | Icy bonds. Encases part of the target's body in ice, preventing him/her from moving. Always very obvious - maximum concealment is zero. |
Examples:
Tim has a Fire magic score of 5 with no specialism in entanglement spells, and a WP of +2. It is a hot sunny day on arid plains and a combat is taking place. Tim tries to encase a group of enemies in a web of flames. The enchantment is Power 4, Finesse 4, Range Medium (i.e. 4), Concealment 0 (very obvious to onlookers), Duration 1 Minute (i.e. 2), Area of effect 3 metre diameter (i.e. 2), Investment 0 = Difficulty 18 in total. His basic value is 5 +2 = 7. He uses hand gestures and words when casting to give a modifier of +2, plus the referee rules that the arid conditions give him a +1 modifier to the use of Fire magic. This gives him an overall basic value of 10. He risks 9 points to get a dice roll of 3D + 1. In the event, he rolls a 6, 5 and 3, giving a dice roll result of 15; he chooses for the enchantment not to manifest since he does not want to suffer the tiredness penalty.
Later in the fight, Tim tries to entangle one of the warriors, who is close to him. Tim chooses an enchantment with Power 4, Finesse 4, Range Adjacent hex (i.e. 2), Concealment 0 (very obvious to onlookers), Duration 1 minute (i.e. 2), Area of effect single target (i.e. 0), Investment 0 = Difficulty 12 in total. His basic value is 5 +2 = 7. He uses hand gestures and words when casting to give a modifier of +2, plus the referee rules that the arid conditions give him a +1 modifier to the use of Fire magic. This gives him an overall basic value of 10. He risks 9 points to get a dice roll of 3D + 1. In the event, he rolls a 4, 3 and 4, giving a dice roll result of 12. The enchantment succeeds (just!). Tim makes an attack dice roll using a basic value of 8 (twice the Finesse of the enchantment). The target has used up all his action points for the combat turn; unable to dodge, the web of flames ensnares him. At the end of the combat turn, the target is still entangled, so Tim now makes a damage dice roll using a basic value of 4 (the Power of the enchantment). Tim rolls D+1 and gets a 6 making a dice roll result of 7. The warrior is wearing studded leather armour and has a ST of +1/2, giving him a damage resistance of 3 1/2 against the fire damage. The basic damage - damage resistance is therefore 3 1/2, meaning the warrior will take a Light wound; he cannot soak the damage, because he is entangled. Next combat turn, on Tim's phase, the enchanter runs away from the entangled warrior. On his phase, the warrior tries to break out of the entanglement. His ST is +1/2 and his Athletics (including lifting specialism) is 4, giving him a basic value of 4 1/2. He chooses to risk 6 points, giving him a dice roll of 2D - 1 1/2, rolls a 4 and 6, making a dice roll result of 8 1/2. Since this is greater than or equal to the difficulty (twice the Power of the entangle enchantment = 8), the warrior breaks out. Swearing, he heads after the magician.