To Swing Back The Pendulum
Magic-User Level 1
Duration: Permanent
Range: 0
From the perspective of the magic user this spell causes her to return to a prior moment she has just experienced, allowing her to witness a different outcome to a turbulent event which resolved in a way she found unsatisfying. Perhaps due to an influence radiated by her enlightened consciousness the course of probability itself is seemingly altered, and an alternative outcome occurs.
This spell allows the Magic-User to "redo" an event in the immediate past, erasing anything else that has happened since. The chosen die roll is performed again, and new results are determined. This spell may be used on any die rolled by any player or the Referee.
This spell may only be used to "redo" events that involved a die roll, such as saves, rolls to hit, and the products of randomized tables. The Magic-User may never use this spell to give themselves or another player a "redo" of a decision that they willfully made, only the randomized outcomes or arbitration of the consequences of that event can be tampered with.
To cast this spell the Magic-User must first nominate a particular die roll as the intended target of this spell the moment after the die roll is performed, that is, during a round before the spell is actually cast. This represents the intense meditative focus state a Magic-User must place themselves in to execute the maneuvers necessary for this spell to succeed, it also alerts the Referee and the other players to the possibility of many things soon needing to be "undone" if the spell is successful.
For each level of experience they posess the Magic-User has one round after the rolling of the chosen die to successfully cast the spell, and thus "undo" a greater number of things. The exact effects of the spell are determined by the procedures detailed below.
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As mentioned above, from the perspective of the Magic-User this spell appears to cause them to leap backwards in time to a prior moment to see it happen differently. This is not the case. This spell instead simply moves the Magic-User into a duplication of reality, a nearly perfect copy of all existing instances of everything, at the moment just before the event described by the chosen die roll occurs. Infinitesimal imperfections in the replicated chain of causality that determine the outcome of events in the duplicate universe are what allow the alternative outcome to occur.
After the spell is cast, but before the chosen die is rolled again, it must first be determined which reality will be the subject of further game play, as there are now two competing instances: there is the duplicate reality the Magic-User has been transported to, and the original one that they have been removed from that contains the remaining party.
To determine which reality will be used the Magic-User first rolls a saving throw vs. Magic for each experience level she has, noting the total number of successful saving throws.
Then, every other member of the party rolls a saving throw vs. Magic (if additional Magic-Users, or Clerics, are present they must roll an additional saving throw vs. Magic for each level of experience they posses as well). The total number of successful saving throws is noted, and compared to the total rolled by the Magic-User.
If the total rolled by the party is less than the number of successful saving throws made by the Magic-User the narrative of game play is now focused on the duplicate reality where the Magic-User has taken the place of an exact duplicate of herself. She now witnesses the alternative outcome of the event granted to her by the spell. The chosen die is now rolled again (for the first time, strictly speaking) and the the game play narrative continues from this point. The Magic-User has no internal awareness of the truth of her metaphysical condition, or that of the duplicate party.
All players, except for the original Magic-User, now play as duplicates of their original characters in duplicate reality. Possessing copied memories existing only from the beginning of their original existence until the moment before the casting of this spell was complete, they have no internal awareness of the truth of their metaphysical condition, or that of the Magic-User.
If the Magic-User rolls the lower number of saves they must roll one final save vs. Magic. If this is unsuccessful they are perceived by the remaining party as suddenly vanishing from reality; they have merged with their duplicate reality self, instead of merely switching places with them. Play then continues with the narrative focusing on this reality. The die is not re-rolled, nothing is "undone", and the Magic-User no longer exists.
If this save is successful they have instead been instantaneously replaced by a duplication of themselves, but because the narration of play remains focused on this original reality the spell has effectively been a failure: the die is not rolled again, and nothing is "undone".
The duplicate of the Magic-User which has been placed into original reality with the remaining characters will have the memory of intending to cast this spell to view a different outcome of an event occurring before them, but is now perceiving that it has had no effect whatsoever.
The logical and reasonable conclusion is that this event was in fact an ironclad certainty from the first moments of the birth of the universe: probability was not a real factor in its occurrence, only prophecy. The memorized instance of this spell has also been expended, as successfully casting it to no effect is what has transported the duplicate into this reality. In all other respects the duplicate Magic-User is the same as the original, and the player formerly controlling the Magic-User has immediate control of them.
If a duplicated Magic-User casts this spell they are made nonexistent the instant casting is complete, and the necessary saves vs. Magic are instead rolled by the original Magic-User, who is identical to the duplicate. The original party also rolls saves vs. Magic as above.
If the original Magic-User has more successful rolls than the party it indicates that the narrative of play will now shift to the duplicate reality containing the original Magic-User, where the chosen event is now occurring and the affected die is then re-rolled.
Play continues as normal from this point with the remaining party taking control of their duplicates and having no internal awareness of the truth of their metaphysical condition, but the Magic-User becomes fully aware of the true nature of this spell and of her metaphysical condition in a sudden moment of esoteric clarity and insight.
If the remaining original party is more successful with their saving throws vs. Magic the original Magic-User is returned to her original reality from the duplicate reality in the instant that the duplicate Magic-User ceases to exist. The narrative of play will now focus on the original reality.
The Magic-User has a memory of intending to cast this spell to view a different outcome of an event that occurred before them, but now are perceiving that it has had no effect whatsoever.
The logical and reasonable conclusion is that this event was in fact an ironclad certainty from the first moment of the birth of the universe: probability was not a real factor, only prophecy.
In all other respects the Magic-User is the same as the duplicate, and the player formerly controlling the duplicate Magic-User takes immediate control of the original Magic-User. Their memorized instance of this spell has been expended, however, as successfully casting it is what initially transported them into this reality.
The Magic-User has no inner awareness of the truth of her metaphysical condition or the true nature of this spell.
If cast again by the Magic-User this spell behaves in the usual manner.
If a Magic-User casts this spell while in a duplicate reality that reality is made nonexistent the instant the spell is complete. Any saves vs. Magic which would have been rolled by the duplicates are instead rolled by the original party, who are identical to the duplicates.
If the Magic-User is more successful with her saves vs. Magic than the original party she is transported back to her original reality, and the duplicate Magic-User is transported back to the now nonexistent duplicate reality, ceasing to exist. The narrative of game play will now focus on the original reality.
The Magic-User has a memory of intending to cast this spell to view a different outcome of an event the occurred before her, and is now perceiving that it has had no effect whatsoever. She then becomes fully aware of the true nature of this spell and of her metaphysical condition, as well as the duplicates, in a sudden moment of esoteric clarity and insight.
If cast again by the Magic-User this spell behaves in the usual manner.
If she is less successful than the original party at her saves vs. Magic, the original party is then transported to the nonexistent duplicate reality along with the duplicate Magic-User, who merges with the Magic-User, remaining with the original party in the nonexistent duplicate reality, all ceasing to exist.
The duplicates replace the original party in the original reality, the dice are not rolled again, and the narrative of play now focuses on the original reality now containing the duplicates of the original party.
The duplicates will be exact copies of the remaining party, who were exact copies of the duplicates. The original party becomes fully aware of the truth of their metaphysical condition, and the true nature of this spell, in a sudden moment of esoteric clarity and insight.
Note: in any situation, even if the exact same result as before is rolled it is still considered to be a "new result" in the terms of this spell, firstly because this is the first instance of this roll in the duplicate reality, and secondly because the die has physically followed a different path than the one it did before, despite ultimately arriving at the same number.
