Mote: Symbiotic Casting
Description: This Mote centers on forming a deeper symbiotic connection with conjured and summoned creatures, allowing the Mage to share power, resilience, and sensory input. Rather than treating summoned creatures as temporary tools, the Symbiotic Caster invests part of their own magical identity into each conjuration, creating enhanced and persistent bonds.
Acquiring and Ranking: Uses the standard Mote system and Class Skill rules.
Affects: All Conjuration and Summoning spells.
Re-learning Requirement: Applying this Mote to existing spells requires re-learning those spells with the Mote applied. Re-learning follows standard rules — treat the success chance as if the spell were three levels higher than its actual level. Research time is 3 days plus 1 day per spell level of the original spell. The enhancement type for Empowered Form must be declared at the time of re-learning and cannot be changed without re-learning the spell again.
Note: This Mote applies exclusively to conjured and summoned creatures. Created constructs such as Manikin Familiars are governed by the Mandragora Mote and are not affected by Symbiotic Casting mechanics.
Core Mechanic: The Mage sacrifices a minor part of their own well-being or magical power to enhance their summons. This investment creates a persistent enhanced companion rather than a temporary creature, at the cost of personal vulnerability when those bonds are severed.
Cantrip Rank — Shared Senses #
The Mage establishes a sensory link with any creature they have conjured or summoned through a Mote-affected spell.
Effect: The Mage may perceive through the senses of any active conjured or summoned creature at will. This sense-sharing has no range limitation — distance between Mage and creature does not impede the connection. Physical barriers still impede vision and other senses normally — a stone wall blocks what the creature sees regardless of the magical link.
Passive Awareness: Even when not actively sharing senses the Mage maintains a minor ambient awareness of the conjured creature’s emotional state — alertness, fear, aggression, or contentment. This passive awareness requires no concentration and functions continuously while the creature remains summoned.
Distinction from Companion Summoning: This ability applies to any conjured or summoned creature regardless of permanence. The Companion Summoning Mote’s sense-sharing applies specifically to permanent companions. These abilities are complementary — a Mage with both Motes benefits from both simultaneously.
Charm Rank — Vigor Transfer #
The Mage learns to share their own vitality with summoned creatures and redirect incoming harm through their bond.
Active HP Transfer: As their action for the round the Mage may transfer Hit Points to any active summoned creature within line of sight. The amount transferred equals 1d4 HP per level of the spell used to summon the creature. The Mage loses these Hit Points and the creature gains them, up to the creature’s original maximum HP.
Damage Redirection: Once per day when the Mage would take damage from any source the summoned creature may intercept that damage provided it is within 5 feet of the Mage. The creature absorbs the full damage amount. Any damage exceeding the creature’s remaining Hit Points flows through to the Mage as normal.
Example: The Mage is struck for 12 damage. The bonded creature with 8 HP remaining intercepts — the creature takes 8 damage and is reduced to 0 HP, and the Mage takes the remaining 4 damage.
Incantation Rank — Empowered Form #
All creatures summoned through Mote-affected spells gain a passive enhancement for the duration of their summoning.
Effect: When re-learning a conjuration spell with this Mote applied the Mage selects one of the following enhancements. The chosen enhancement is permanently fixed to that spell version and applies to every creature summoned through it:
- +1 bonus to Armor Class
- +1 bonus to Hit Rolls and damage
- +1 bonus to all saving throws
Enhancement Selection: The enhancement type is declared at re-learning and cannot be changed without re-learning the spell again with a different enhancement selected.
Enchantment Rank — Bonded Resistance #
The Mage and their active summoned creature share elemental resistance through their symbiotic bond.
Effect: At the moment of summoning the Mage selects one elemental damage type — Fire, Cold, Lightning, or similar natural force. Both the Mage and the summoned creature gain the following resistance to that damage type for the duration of the summoning:
- Normal damage of that type: Full immunity
- Magical damage of that type: Half damage
- Magical damage of that type with successful saving throw: Quarter damage
Proximity Requirement: The Mage must remain within 60 feet of the summoned creature to maintain the resistance bond. If the distance exceeds 60 feet the resistance is suspended for both Mage and creature until proximity is restored.
Multiple Summons: If the Mage has multiple active summons each bond may grant resistance to a different elemental type, selected independently at the time of each summoning.
Grand Mote Rank — Sustained Manifestation #
The Mage achieves deep enough mastery to dramatically extend the duration of conjured creatures and accept the psychic consequences of those bonds being severed prematurely.
Doubled Duration: All conjuration and summoning spells re-learned with this Mote applied have their duration doubled. This doubling applies automatically — no additional action or resource is required beyond casting the spell normally.
Psychic Bond Penalty: The doubled duration represents a deeper magical investment in the summoned creature. If a doubled duration creature is killed before its summoning expires the Mage suffers a psychic penalty to all rolls for the remainder of the day reflecting the severed bond:
| Doubled Duration Creatures Lost | Cumulative Penalty |
|---|---|
| 1st loss | -2 to all rolls |
| 2nd loss | -3 to all rolls |
| 3rd loss | -4 to all rolls |
| 4th loss | -5 to all rolls |
| 5th loss or more | -6 to all rolls (maximum) |
The penalty is cumulative and does not reset until the following day. A Mage who loses multiple doubled duration summons in a single encounter suffers increasingly severe psychic distress.
Standard Duration Summons: Creatures summoned through spells not re-learned with Grand Mote applied use normal duration and do not trigger the psychic penalty when killed.
Tactical Note: Enemies who identify the Mage’s doubled duration summons can specifically target them to progressively degrade the Mage’s effectiveness without attacking the Mage directly. Allies who protect those summons are directly protecting the Mage’s combat capability.
