Harry Potter and the Cortex of Prime
By: Enagonius RPG — First draft (V 0.1)
Trait Sets
(Prime) Distinctions — What makes you unique
Three descriptors that paint a clearer picture of character's background, personality and role in the story.
Could include bloodline, lineage, heritage, social-economic situation, habits, behaviour, tastes, preferences, quirks, catchphrases or any other description that fits the intended idea of who they are.
Some examples of distinctions for a HPrime charater are:
- Muggle-born and proud of it!
- Too young for an Irish pub, too old for Scottish butterbeer;
- The Wizardring World never ceases to amaze me;
- Any spell can fit in a potion vial;
- Why do the ghosts always seek my company?
Make up three distinctions and note them on your character file. They're all rated as a d8, but you can lower one distinction by one step to step up another distinction by one step. No distinction can be lower than d4 or higher than d12.
Special effects (SFX)
All four values have the Hinder SFX: "Gain a PP when you switch out this distinction's d8 for a d4".
More SFX can be assigned to a distinction but are left locked until the player earns experience or growth.
(Prime) Values — What you stand for
How much specific things matter to the character, such as societal mores, cultural principles, a code of honor or elements of behavior.
These options embody the characteristics of the four Houses of Hogwarts, with both merits and flaws of these archetypes.
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Gryffindor
- Virtues: courage, bravery, determination, daring, nerve, chivalry
- Vices: stubborness, narrow-mindedness, hot-headedness, recklessness, egotism, arrogancy
-
Hufflepuff
- Virtues: hard working, patience, fairness, just, loyalty, modesty
- Vices: too trusting, pushover, naive, low self-esteem, lack of ambition, too nice
-
Ravenclaw
- Virtues: wit, learning, wisdom, acceptance, intelligence, creativity
- Vices: dismissiveness, judgement, cold, introspection, aloof, isolation
-
Slytherin
- Virtues: resourcefulness, determination, pride, cunning, ambition, self-preservation
- Vices: manipulation, cruelty, selfishness, uncaring, smug, power hunger
The four values are rated d4, d6, d8 and d10 in the order preferred by the player.
A high rating in a value doesn’t mean your character likes or stands out as a paragon of that value, but rather that they are more invested and concerned about that value than if they had it at a lower die rating.
Stamements — What are your convictions
Come up with a sentence or phrase that clarifies or refines how the character interacts with each House and its values. This is generally tied to a virtue or a vice, but could be anything.
When you challenge a trait with a statement attached to it, A character can act contrary to the statement, which means they are challenging the value with the statement attached to it; in this case the trait die is tripled for that roll.
Once a Value statement is challenged, the trait it’s attached to steps down by one. At the end of the session or whenever character growth is resolved, that statement must either be rewritten to reflect a new belief or truth and the die returns to its original rating, or the statement remains the same and the die remains stepped down. If the die rating is stepped down, the character must step up another value.
(Prime) Skills — What you study
These represent natural talent, training or experience — most likely study and practice — in the curriculum of the young witch or wizard.
Skills are represented as the subjects teached in Hogwarts; they are divided into core, elective and extra-curricular disciplines for organization purposes only, but they are all part of a single trait set.
-
Core
- Astronomy
- Charms
- Defence Against the Dark Arts
- Herbology
- History of Magic
- Potions
- Transfiguration
-
Electives
- Arithmancy
- Care of Magical Creatures
- Divination
- Muggle Studies
- Study of Ancient Runes
-
Extra-curricular
- Ancient Studies
- Art
- Flying
- Magical Theory
-
Muggle
- Fortitude (Strength and Constitution)
- Agility / Reflexes (Dexterity and Wits)
- Presence / Charisma
These subjects follow a pattern of skill pyramid for character progression, which means for every skill in a trait rating it is necessary to have two skills with a traid rating of one step down. The Wizardring Worlds needs specialists but the school needs to provide quality basic learning.
Specialties — Extra knowledge
There are narrow areas of concentration or focus within a skill or more. Whenever an activity evokes the knowledge of that specific skill, the character adds dice to that test con contest according to their level of specialization:
Trained: 1d6
Expert: 1d8 or 2d6
Master: 1d10 or 2d8 or 3d6
Grandmaster: 1d12 or 2d10 or 3d6 or 4d6
It will follow here specialties that are also subjects in Hogwarts, but anything can be the targed of specialization for a character:
- Advanced Arithmancy Studies (Arithmancy)
- Alchemy (Potions), (Transfiguration), (Astronomy), (Ancient Studies)
- Ghoul Studies (Care of Magical Creatures), (Defence Agains the Dark Arts), (Ancient Studies), (History of Magic)
- Muggle Art (Muggle Studies), (Art)
- Muggle Music (Muggle Studies), (Art), (Music)
- Music (Art)
- Quidditch (Flying)
- Xylomancy (Divination)
Relationships — Who you meet
The people a character encounters during your journey are what make it truly special and magical. Whenever a connection to another character or group of characters is relevant, its trait rating comes up.
Relationships between player characters are assigned during character creation — this still needs revision, so assume a d10, a d8 and the rest d6 per character.
A relationship’s die rating indicates the intensity of the character’s feelings or attachment to the subject of the relationship. A high die rating doesn’t mean you necessarily like the subject more than a low one; in fact, your d10 relationship might be a really intense hatred, or a particularly strong jealousy.
During play, d6 relationships can be created using a PP much like a temporary asset. The relationship lasts for the duration of the session; when experience or growth is resolved, it can either be dropped or made permanent. If made permanent, the relationship remains as a d4 until stepped up in later sessions.
If a PC has no relationship to a character for any given test or contest, they can either create one with a PP or assume a d4 relationship default.
Stamements — How you interact
Come up with a sentence or phrase that clarifies or refines how the character interacts with each of their relationships that have a die rating. This is generally tied to a feeling, acquaintance or social model of the relation.
When you challenge a trait with a statement attached to it, A character can act contrary to the statement, which means they are challenging the value with the statement attached to it; in this case the trait die is tripled for that roll.
Once a Relationship statement is challenged, the trait it’s attached to steps down by one. At the end of the session or whenever character growth is resolved, that statement must either be rewritten to reflect a new belief or truth and the die returns to its original rating, or the statement remains the same and the die remains stepped down. If the die rating is stepped down, the character must step up another value.
Power — Spellcasting
Having magical powers is what makes a character different from the Muggle world. Wizardry and witchcraft is a studied art but also an inherent gift that allows warlocks and sorceresses be a living conduit of magic.
The power set of a character is what makes a character part of the Wizardring World. Be it a Goblin, an Elf, a Giant, a Veela or any other sentient magical creature. For now, we only have the following standard power set:
- Witch / Wizard
It automatically have the following powers, based on the broad categories of spells:
- Transfiguration
- Charm
- Counter-Spell
- Healing magic
And the following limits:
-
Limit: Incantation: when unable to speak or talk properly in a vocal manner, shut the down Witch / Wizard power set, gain a "unable to talk" complication witha a rating equivalent to the effect die that caused it.
-
Limit: Wand: When you lose grasp of your wand, shut down Witch / Wizard and gain a PP. Test to restore.
-
Limit: Willpower: ?
-
Limit: Concentration: ?
Powers (spell categories) start out as d4 and can be raised to d6 with experience/growth.
Split Specialty
To raise a spell type to d8 or beyond (to a maximum of d12), a character must specialize. The specialty replaces the power die rating when applicable — it all depends on the type of spell being cast —, so you keep you original power rating when specialties don't apply.
- Conjuration (Transfiguration)
- Transformation (Transfiguration)
- Vanishment (Transfiguration)
- Enchantment (Charm)
- Bewitchment (Charm)
- Jinx (Charm)
- Hex (Charm)
- Curse (Charm)
- Untransfiguration (Counter-Spell), (Transfiguration)
- Counter-Charm (Counter-Spell), (Charm)
- Healing magic has specialties in many categories
SFX
Specific proficiency with certain types of spells (such as levitation or memory charms) are determined by SFX found at the end of his document. They cost experience/growth.
Talents
Any other magical characteristic that a character might have or learn count as talents. Talents don't add dice to any rolls but they have descriptive triggers that allow SFX.
Here a few examples of talents.
- Animagus
- Apparition
- Half-Veela
- Half-Giant
- Horcrux
- Metamorphmagus
Signature Assets
or
Resources
I'm not sure which one to use for magical artifacts and pets.
Curriculum
Charms
1st Year
- Levitation
- Wand-Lighting
- Want-Extinguishing
- Fire-Making
- Softening
- Unlocking
- Locking
- Mending
- Severing
- Pineapple Dance
- Knockback
- Ice
2nd Year
- Skurge
- Dancing Feet
- Disarming
- Engorgement
- Immobilization
- Memory (theory)
- Tickling
- Fire-Making (revision)
- Levitation (revision)
- General Counter
- Shrinking
3rd Year
- Cheering
- General Counter
- Seize and Pull
- Freezing
- Potent Wand-Light
- Levitation (revision)
- Full Body-Binding
- Banishing
4th Year
- Summoning
- Banishing
- Red Sparks
- Exploding
- Locking
- Box Blasting
- Scouring
- Severing
5th Year
- Banishing (Revision)
- Fire-Making (Revision)
- Levitation (Revision)
- Mending (Revision)
- Reductor
- Colour Change
- Severing (Revision)
- Substantive
- Growth
- Summoning (Revision)
- Silencing
- Legs on Teacups
- Eradication
- Pack
- Slowing
- Locomotion
- Cheering (Revision)
- Leg-Locker
- Disillusionment
- Descendo
- Confusion
- Potent Wand-Lighting
6th and 7th Year
- Nonverbal
- Water-Making
- Vinegar to Wine
- Drought
- Knitting
- Bubble-Head
- Gouging
- Blackboard Writing
- Cleaning
- Blue Sparks
- Reductor
Spell List
Charms
Levitation
Charm
- Incantation: Wingardium Leviosa
- Hand movement:
- Light: none
- Effect: makes objects fly
SFX: ?
Wand-Lighting
Charm
- Incantation: Lumos
- Hand movement:
- Light: white
- Effect: illuminates the wand tip
SFX: ?
Wand-Extinguishing
Charm
- Incantation: Nox
- Hand movement:
- Light: none
- Effect: extingues wandlight
SFX: ?
Fire-Making
Charm (conjuration?)
- Incantation: Incedio
- Hand movement:
- Light: orange and red
- Effect: conjures flames
SFX: ?
Softening
Charm
- Incantation: Spongify
- Hand movement:
- Light: purple or orange
- Effect: soften objects
SFX: ?
Unlocking
Charm
- Incantation: Alohomora
- Hand movement:
- Light: invisible, blue, yellow, or purple
- Effect: unlocks objects
SFX: ?
Locking
Charm
- Incantation: Colloportus
- Hand movement:
- Light: none
- Effect: locks doors
- SFX: ?
Mending
Charm
- Incantation: Reparo
- Hand movement:
- Light: none
- Effect: fixes broken objects
SFX: mmm
Severing
Charm
- Incantation: Diffindo
- Hand movement:
- Light: light green, pink or red
- Effect: cuts objects
SFX: ?
Knockback
Jinx
- Incantation: Flipendo
- Hand movement:
- Light: blue, yellow
- Effect: knocks target back
SFX: ?
Ice
Jinx
- Incantation: ?
- Hand movement: ?
- Light: ?
- Effect: generates a small block of ice
SFX: ?
Pineapple dance
Charm
- Incantation: ?
- Hand movement: ?
- Light: ?
- Effect: makes a pineapple dance across a desk
SFX: ?