For spontaneous spellcasters magic flows from an ever-evolving personal catalog of known spells. Unlike prepared casters who must anticipate their needs hours in advance, spontaneous casters maintain a spell repertoire: a curated collection of spells they've mastered and can cast at any moment, limited only by available spell slots and tactical circumstances.
Spell Repertoire Class Feature
A spell repertoire represents the collection of spells you can cast. Think of it as your character's internalized spellbook—the magic you've learned so thoroughly that you can invoke it spontaneously without lengthy preparation rituals.
Key Characteristics:
Spontaneous Access: Cast any spell from your repertoire using an appropriate spell slot at the moment you choose
Fixed Until Level-Up: Your repertoire changes only when you gain levels or engage in downtime retraining
Class-Specific Size: The number of spells in your repertoire is determined by your class and level
Separated from Spell Slots: Spell slots and repertoire spells are independent—gaining a spell slot doesn't automatically add a spell to your repertoire, and vice versa
Spontaneous vs. Prepared Casting
The repertoire system distinguishes spontaneous casters from prepared casters like Technomancers:
Trade-Off: Spontaneous casters sacrifice breadth of known spells for tactical flexibility—they can adapt to moment-to-moment circumstances without predicting hours in advance what magic they'll need.
Building Your Initial Repertoire
Mystics (1st Level)
Connection-Driven Magic: Your repertoire begins with spells granted by your cosmic connection plus free choices from your tradition's spell list:
5 cantrips: 1 from your connection + 4 of your choice
3 1st-rank spells: 1 from your connection + 2 of your choice
Connection Determines Tradition:
Akashic: Occult tradition (mental manipulation, divination, knowledge)
Elemental: Primal tradition (nature, elements, environmental effects)
Healing: Divine tradition (healing, positive/void energy, protection)
Rhythm: Occult tradition (emotion, sound, mental effects)
Shadow: Occult tradition (darkness, illusion, stealth)
Connection Spells: The spells granted by your connection are permanent fixtures of your repertoire—you cannot swap them out through normal means.
Witchwarpers (1st Level)
Paradox-Shaped Reality: Your repertoire reflects the paradoxical event that altered your existence, blending possibilities from across the multiverse:
5 cantrips: 1 from your paradox + 4 of your choice
3 1st-rank spells: 1 from your paradox + 2 of your choice
Paradox Determines Tradition:
Analyst: Occult tradition (mental magic, probability manipulation)
Anomaly: Arcane tradition (raw magical power, reality warping)
Gap Influenced: Divine tradition (time mysteries, lost knowledge)
Additional paradoxes each provide their own tradition and spell list
Paradox Spells: Like Mystic connection spells, paradox-granted spells are permanent repertoire fixtures that cannot be swapped.
Repertoire Growth Through Levels
As you level up, your repertoire expands alongside your spell slot progression. Each time you gain spell slots of a new rank, you add spells to your repertoire.
Standard Progression Pattern
For Both Mystics and Witchwarpers:
This pattern continues at every level—you always learn your connection or paradox spell for new ranks automatically, plus additional spells you select.
Swapping Spells in Your Repertoire
Spontaneous casters have limited but important flexibility to change their repertoire over time:
On Level-Up
Each time you gain a level and learn new spells, you can swap out one spell in your repertoire for a different spell of the same rank:
Rules:
Replacement spell must be from your tradition's spell list
Must be the same rank as the swapped spell
Can swap cantrips
Cannot swap connection spells (Mystic) or paradox spells (Witchwarper)
Downtime Retraining
Use the Retraining downtime activity to swap additional spells beyond the single level-up swap:
Benefits: Provides extra flexibility to adapt your repertoire to campaign needs or correct suboptimal early choices
Cost: Requires downtime (days/weeks) and potentially credits, depending on GM and circumstances
Roleplaying Your Repertoire
The mechanical concept of a spell repertoire offers rich narrative possibilities, differing by class:
For Mystics
Cosmic Channeling: Your repertoire represents the specific manifestations of cosmic forces you've learned to channel through your connection. Each spell is a refined technique for expressing your bond to fundamental universal principles.
Connection-Specific Flavor:
Akashic: Spells are knowledge patterns extracted from the Akashic Record, memories of how reality was shaped by countless beings
Elemental: Each spell manifests elemental forces you've attuned yourself to—fire, water, earth, air, metal, wood
Healing: Spells channel vitality and void energy, life and death intertwined through your divine connection
Rhythm: Magic flows as cosmic songs, harmonic frequencies that reshape reality through rhythm and sound
Learning New Spells
When you add spells to your repertoire, represent this as:
Deepening your connection through meditation or communion with your cosmic patron
Experiencing visions or epiphanies during rest or Refocus activities
Breakthrough moments during combat when your connection reveals new possibilities
Teaching from mentors who share your connection
For Witchwarpers
Multiversal Possibility: Your repertoire is a catalog of "what ifs" glimpsed across infinite realities. Each spell represents a possibility transcribed from alternate timelines, parallel worlds, or branches of the Spiral.
Paradox-Specific Flavor:
Analyst: Spells are probability calculations made manifest, mathematical certainties imposed on uncertain reality
Anomaly: Each spell is a reality glitch you've learned to reproduce, warping the laws of physics through your paradoxical existence
Spells are fragments of lost knowledge recovered from temporal anomalies, memories from erased timelines
Learning New Spells
When expanding your repertoire, frame it as:
Memories surfacing from alternate lives you might have lived
Secrets bargained from mysterious patrons encountered in reality warps
Records extracted from multiversal codices accessed through your quantum field
Consequences of major narrative events that permanently alter your perception of possibility
Swapping Spells
For Witchwarpers especially, spell swaps can represent:
Timelines collapsing or diverging, replacing one possibility with another
Your anchor memory shifting focus as campaign priorities change
Paradoxical retroactive learning—you've "always" known this spell from a certain perspective
Using Repertoire for Story
The spell repertoire is not just a list—it's an ongoing chronicle of your character's magical journey. Game Masters can leverage repertoire changes as story opportunities:
Spell Learning as Plot:
Award unique spells as quest rewards, adding them directly to repertoires
Introduce mentors or patrons who teach specific magic as part of story arcs
Create situations where characters must choose which spell to learn based on narrative needs
Swapping as Character Development:
Frame spell swaps as moments of growth, philosophical shifts, or responses to major events
NPCs might comment on changed magic—"You've learned the song of fireball? The old rhythms weren't serving you?"
Use swaps to signal character evolution—replacing aggressive magic with protective spells, or vice versa
Connection/Paradox Flavor:
When Mystics learn connection spells automatically, describe visions or revelations from their cosmic patron
When Witchwarpers expand their repertoire, describe glimpses of alternate realities or timeline convergences
Make repertoire growth feel mystical and significant, not merely mechanical
The spell repertoire is your character's living grimoire—a testament to their mastery over spontaneous magic, shaped by cosmic connections or multiversal paradoxes, and evolving with every revelation, challenge, and narrative turn. Whether you're a Mystic channeling fundamental forces or a Witchwarper authoring possibility itself, your repertoire is the catalog of magic you've claimed as your own, ready to invoke at a moment's notice when reality demands reshaping.
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