Using Spiritual Effects

Spiritual Effects allow Ministering Spirits to manifest their will. Unlike a depleted resource, a Ministering Spirit’s Current Resolve acts as an upper limit on how much influence they can exert at once. While these effects influence the spirit realm in predictable, measured ways, they may also be applied creatively to affect the material realm.

• Range
• Initiating & Frequency of Use
• Complexity
• Allotment
• Timing & Resolution
• Choosing Targets
• Multiple Versions

Range 

The default Range of Spiritual Effects is 12” unless otherwise stated in the Spiritual Effect’s description. Range is checked immediately when the Ministering Spirit spends the Action Points to use the Spiritual Effect.

Once an Ongoing Boosting Spiritual Effect is affecting an elohim they will remain affected unless either the Ministering Spirit or the Target starts and ends a Turn outside of Range, at which point it will cease to affect the Target. 

Initiating and Frequency of Use 

Initiating, spreading, or adjusting a Spiritual Effect may require Action Points and could add Exertion. Ministering Spirits can Move while initiating and adding Targets to Spiritual Effects.

Action	AP Cost	Additional Cost
Initiate a new Spiritual Effect	2 AP	2 Exertion
Add a Target to an existing effect	1 AP	1 Exertion
Maintain an active effect	-	1 Exertion per 3 maintained
Shift to a Lower version (Tier)	-	-
Shift to a Higher version (Tier)	1 AP	1 Exertion
Adjust Allotment (Variable effects)	-	-

[For Flesh, there is no Exertion.]

Immediate Spiritual Effects can be used as often as a Ministering Spirit has enough Action Points and Resolve to commit toward them. An Ongoing Spiritual Effect may only be in use once during each Turn and a Ministering Spirit may not use multiple instances or versions of the same Ongoing Spiritual Effect simultaneously. When an Ongoing Spiritual Effect is ended, removed from a Target, or Resisted by a Target, the Ministering Spirit must wait until their next Turn to use any version of the same Spiritual Effect again. A Ministering Spirit may choose to shift from using one version of a Spiritual Effect to using a higher or lower version of the same Spiritual Effect. Doing this does not technically "end" the original, but "transitions" it into the new version. In addition to limits imposed by Complexity and Allotment described below, a Ministering Spirit cannot be using more than 12 different Spiritual Effects during the same Turn.

Complexity

Complexity represents the focus required to use and maintain multiple Spiritual Effects at once. A Ministering Spirit's Control determines the total Complexity a Ministering Spirit can manage at one time.

The total Complexity of all Spiritual Effects in use by the Ministering Spirit cannot exceed the Ministering Spirit's Control. If the Ministering Spirit is also part Minstrel or otherwise singing one or more Songs, the total Complexity of those Songs is also included when comparing to Control.

The Complexity of Spiritual Effects is determined by their Tier.

Spiritual Effect Tier	Complexity
1	10
2	20
3	30
4	40

If a Compounding Spiritual Effect is being used on a single Target, then its Complexity is halved. However, once it is being used on multiple Targets, the Complexity is normal. So, a Tier:1 Compounding Spiritual Effect used on a single Target would be only 5 Complexity, a Tier:2 would be 10 Complexity, and so on.

Allotment 

Each Spiritual Effect has an Allotment, which is the amount of Resolve that must be allotted toward using it. Allotting Resolve does not expend it. The Ministering Spirit's Current Resolve is their current capacity to exert their will. The total of all Allotments for all Spiritual Effects in use by the Ministering Spirit cannot exceed the Ministering Spirit’s Current Resolve. The Allotment for each Spiritual Effect is found in the Allotment column in the table in their description.

If the Spiritual Effect can be spread to affect multiple Targets, it has a Compounding Allotment written as two numbers separated by a slash (e.g. 1/2). The first number is the Allotment for the first Target. The second number is the Allotment added for each subsequent Target.

A Spiritual Effect with a Variable Allotment allows the Ministering Spirit to choose how much Resolve to dedicate to it. It will be written as a minimum amount followed by a maximum amount (e.g. 3-7). Investing a larger amount will make the Spiritual Effect harder to Resist. The amount of Resolve dedicated toward a Variable Allotment may be adjusted at any time.

Tracking Allotment & Complexity

Allotment and Complexity are tracked within a window starting at the beginning of the Ministering Spirit's Turn and lasting until the beginning of their next Turn. A Spiritual Effect cannot be initiated or maintained if the total Allotments of all Spiritual Effects that have been active during the current window will exceed the Ministering Spirit's Current Resolve. Neither can a Spiritual Effect be initiated or maintained if the total Complexity of all Spiritual Effects that have been active during the current window plus the Complexity of all active Songs will exceed the Ministering Spirit's Current Control. Just before next Turn begins, the Ministering Spirit may drop any Spiritual Effects or adjust any variable Allotments in preparation for the next window that is about to begin. If a Spiritual Effect is dropped or adjusted mid-Turn, its highest Allotment and Complexity still count until the next window. Any Spiritual Effects ended by the Ministering Spirit will cease to affect a Target immediately.

If a Ministering Spirit would start their Turn, but their Resolve or Control have become less than their current Allotment or Complexity totals, they will have to drop Spiritual Effects, reduce Variable Allotments, or end Songs. If a Ministering Spirit is Defeated, all of their Spiritual Effects are ended and cease to have any effect at the end of the current character’s Turn.

Timing and Resolution 

A Spiritual Effect begins to affect other characters immediately as soon as the Action Points are spent to use it. Ongoing Boosting and Self Spiritual Effects are determined at the moment they are initiated and do not change unless the Spiritual Effect is ended and initiated again. If an Ongoing Resistible or Damaging Spiritual Effect applies damage or is Checked against again later, the current Allotment is what is used for each Check.  Ongoing Spiritual Effects that are ended cease to affect any affected character immediately.

Once a Spiritual Effect has been initiated protective and preventative measures can only be taken after it is applied to the character. Interrupting before they take effect would require a special exception like use of a Swiftness Perk, Inspiration, or Readied Action Points along with a Swiftness Check vs. the Swiftness of the Ministering Spirit.

When the effects of a Manifesting Spiritual Effect would need to be defended against or Resisted, the source is considered the initiating Ministering Spirit for abilities like Strength in Struggle and Trained Eye that depend on the source of an effect, damage, or a Strike.

In the case of Spiritual Effects that produce damage or other effects that include parenthesis (called A(B) effects; e.g. 9(3) Passion damage), the first number is the base effect and the number inside the parenthesis is subtracted from that base for each uncanceled Pass in the Resist Check or added to that base for each uncanceled Fail.

Choosing Targets 

Most Spiritual Effects require the Ministering Spirit to choose a Target. A Ministering Spirit cannot select a Target they are not specifically aware of and able to distinguish. A Ministering Spirit may use Spiritual Effects on Targets they can sense but not see. They can also attempt to use a Spiritual Effect on a Target they have previously seen and suspect may still be within Range. 

Order of Priority with Multiple Versions 

Multiple instances or versions of the same Manifesting Spiritual Effect can stack on the same elohim. Multiple instances or versions of the same Affecting Ongoing Spiritual Effect do not stack and only the strongest current instance is applied to any one elohim at any one time. If multiples would be affecting the same elohim, only the strongest is considered.

Example: If Stirred Passion and Sanctified Stirred Passion were both being used on the same character, only Sanctified Stirred Passion would be applied. If Sanctified Stirred Passion ceased affecting the character, then Stirred Passion would immediately be applied to the elohim.