I know what you’re thinking! “Geez, man, this has already been tried by like a dozen people and it always kind of sucks.” Yeah. Well, here we go again.

First off, let’s clear up this bit of etymology: Dwimmer-craft (or more properly Dweomer-craft) means Dwarf-craft. So magic that falls under Dweomercraft ought to be the Dwarf-charms, i.e., the ones listed under the Broken Spells virtue for Dwarves.

Right. As might already be apparent, I intend to subsume the Elf-charms and Dwarf-charms from the Adventurer’s Book into my system — they are examples of spells that fall into the two aforenamed classes. It should also be said that there are many magical aspects to Middle-Earth, and the working of spells is but one of them. We don’t need to have a spell for every magical thing that occurs in the world.

Casting

The general rule for casting a spell is that it costs 1 point of Hope. Servants of the Enemy spend a point of Hate instead.

Articulating a spell is only partially about following a formula. The formula of a spell is merely a framework for the intent and method of a spell. The intent is what you want it to do. The method is how you accomplish intent.

Therefore, among spell-users, you will find that no two perform spells quite the same way. Some will utter words and wave their arms, for example, because that is the method they know for achieving a particular intent. But even there the exact words and gestures will vary considerably.

To cast a proper counter-spell requires the same method (or sometimes a reversed method) but opposite intent. This can be discovered by research or through trial and error. Simulate this with a prolonged skill test. Successes gets you closer to discovering the formula; failures cost Hope.

Sustain or Enhance

To sustain or enhance a spell is tiring and adds Fatigue. Acquiring 1 point of Fatigue allows a skill test to either increase the effect of a spell, or to increase the duration of a spell. The extent of the increase depends on the degree of success rolled.

Failure doesn’t increase the spell at all. Rolling the Eye greatly increases the difficulty of the spell’s Corruption test.

Corruption

Using spells is a path to the Shadow. If you don’t want to risk Shadow points, don’t use spells.

The TN for spell-related Corruption is based on the spell’s intent. An intent to heal or to protect a loved one has a low target, like TN6. A spell used for harm has either a very high target (like TN20) or earns Shadow points automatically.

Therefore, to “safely” use magic, either have a high Wisdom score or keep your intents as pure as possible, or both. Better yet, use spells only sparingly, or not at all.

Learning Spells

Anyone can learn spells so long as they have a source of instruction and the experience points to spend. The Loremaster will decide what sorts of magical learning is available, keeping in mind that even attempting to learn some spells will be a corrupting act in itself.

Spell acquisition is foremost a matter of attaining knowledge of a spell class. The Dwarves of Erebor and the Elves of Mirkwood both have access to special classes in their list of cultural rewards. All classes work the same way, which is that access to a class is purchased as a Wisdom reward. The purchasing of a class entitles you to one free spell.

After that, learning a new spell within a class you know costs 1 experience point.

List of Spells

Here follows a list of spells, divided into classes. Each class will link to a new article describing the spells in that class in more detail.