Invented it is said by the shadow fey, illumination magic mixes astrological observation with an elemental-style manipulation of light and shadow to track the paths of fate and control light and the absense of liight. At its most practical level, it uses the stars to predict when danger is near, and then draws on the power of darkness to attack their foes. It's an obscure school of magic, barely known outside the shadow realms.

The work opens with the abilities granted to practitioners of this school of magic. Whilst it is necessary to be able to see the stars frequently to gain various powers, many of them actually work best in total darkness. There's a single feat - Star and Shadow Reader - which enables the mage to track and interpret what's going on in the stars, and a spell list followed by details of each spell and the game mechanics necessary to use them to effect. Spells are practical and in the main offensive, as in designed to be used in combat. There's quite a necromantic flavour as well, which some people may find off-putting.

A fully-developed NPC illuminator (as practitioners of this school of magic term themselves) is also provided. She's quite intriguing and an encounter with her would make a good way to introduce illumination magic into your game.

It's quite an inventive form of magic with considerable potential. There is little background to how it came to be and how it interacts with the rest of magical knowledge, you will have to figure out how it fits into your world and its cosmology, but it is a neat way to combine the concept of reading fate in the stars with some practical in-game application.

Return to Deep Magic #4: Illumination Magic page.

Reviewed: 18 October 2016