Cabal Skill
by John Hare With this intelligence based skill
several mages of the same craft can pool their spells to get
increased performance from them. All members of the cabal must have
the spell memorised in able to cast it. When setting up the cabal
all members must make a skill check to succeed in joining, if they
fail then they do not become part of the cabal and cannot join
unless all members of the cabal break up and try to join again.
This joining is very stressful and costs 1 hp per attempt, whether
successful or not. When cast the spell's effect is increased,
starting out with the highest spell caster in the group and adding
1/4 of the levels of all other members of the cabal. However each
cabal is organised around a central focus and the number of members
who can join depend on his intelligence and charisma bonuses. (18
Int & 18 Cha would allow 6 additional members) While it can be
easily pointed out that separately their combined spells would have
an overall greater effect this merging of powers allows extremely
potent combat spells (exceeding the normal 20 dice limit). To
properly prepare the cabal to cast a spell doubles the casting time
of the spell (basically ensuring everyone starts casting at exactly
the same time). One very dangerous aspect is should the cabal take
damage. If it is just one of the cabal members then that person is
no longer counted toward the spell, however if the central focus
takes damage then the spell is ruined and all other members of the
cabal take half the damage the focus does. (this is from the
intricate linking of the cabal) In fact this is one reason that
cabals try to stay out of combat and perform their art in well
defended and protected locations.