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Using Spiritual Effects

Spiritual Effects can be used by Ministering Spirits. The Ministering Spirit uses their Resolve to produce effects in the spirit realm that manifest in unique ways.

Allotment 

Each Spiritual Effect has an Allotment, which is the amount of Resolve that must be allotted toward using it. The total of all Allotments for all Spiritual Effects in use by the Ministering Spirit cannot exceed the Ministering Spirit’s Current Resolve. The allotted Resolve is not actually deducted from Current Resolve, just compared to it. The Allotment is found in the tables of Spiritual Effects in the Allotment column.

If the Spiritual Effect can be spread to affect multiple Targets, it has a Compounding Allotment there will be a “/” followed by a second number. The first number is the Allotment for the first Target and the number after the “/” is the Allotment to add each additional Target beyond the first.

Allotment written as a range are Variable Allotments and will list the minimum and maximum Allotments possible. A higher Allotment will generally make the Spiritual Effect harder to Resist. The amount of Resolve dedicated toward a Spiritual Effect with a Variable Allotment may be flexed at any time. Any time the amount of Resolve dedicated is lowered, any affected elohim get to make a new Resist Check immediately. 

As the Ministering Spirit initiates or chooses to maintain Spiritual Effects, the total of the Allotments of all Spiritual Effects that have been active since the beginning of their Turn is compared to their Current Resolve. The Ministering Spirit cannot initiate a Spiritual Effect that will put the total Allotments higher than their Current Resolve. Just before the beginning of the Ministering Spirit’s Turn the total of Allotments considered anew. The Allotments of any Immediate Spiritual Effects used before this point are forgotten and the Ministering Spirit can choose at this point if they wish to cease using any Ongoing Spiritual Effects so that they do not count toward their total Allotments for the current Turn. Any Spiritual Effects ended by the Ministering Spirit will cease to affect a Target immediately. 

If a Ministering Spirit becomes Weakened, suffers Resolve damage, or otherwise has their Current Resolve lowered, they may have to drop Spiritual Effects. Just before their next Turn, if their total Allotments are higher than their Resolve they will have to end Spiritual Effects and/or reduce Variable Allotments to bring their total Allotments down to an amount equal to or lower than their Current Resolve. 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. 

Regardless of Current Resolve and total Allotments, a Ministering Spirit can not be using more than 12 different Spiritual Effects during the same Turn.

Range 

The Range of Spiritual Effects is 12” unless otherwise stated in the Spiritual Effect’s description. This Range is checked immediately after the Ministering Spirit has spent the Action Points to use the Spiritual Effect. 

In the case of Ongoing Spiritual Effects that affect all unholy or unholy elohim within Range, if a character enters the Range of the Spiritual Effect later, the Spiritual Effect will begin to affect them immediately in either of two circumstances. The first is that the unaffected character interacts with the Ministering Spirit or one of the Ministering Spirit’s allies while within Range. The second is if the Ministering Spirit ends an Turn within Range of the unaffected character. 

Once an Ongoing Boosting Spiritual Effect is affecting an elohim, Range is considered differently. If either the Ministering Spirit or the Target starts and ends an Turn outside of Range if the Spiritual Effect, it ceases to affect the Target just after that Turn ends. 

Initiating and Frequency of Use 

It takes 2 Action Points to initiate a Spiritual Effect. It takes only 1 Action Point to add an additional Target to an existing Spiritual Effect. It takes no Action Points to maintain Spiritual Effects. Ministering Spirits can Move while initiating and adding Targets to Spiritual Effects. 

Immediate Spiritual Effects can be used as often as the Ministering Spirit has enough Action Points and enough Resolve to commit toward them. When an Ongoing Spiritual Effect is ended or removed from a Target or Resisted by a Target, the Ministering Spirit must wait until their next Cycle before using any version of the same Spiritual Effect on that Target again. If the Ongoing Spiritual Effect is a Self Spiritual Effect or has no Target, the Ministering Spirit must wait until their next Cycle before using any version of the same Spiritual Effect again. The 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. This does not technically end the original effect. To shift to a lower version requires nothing further, but to shift to a higher version does require the Ministering Spirit to spend 1 Action Point per Tier the Spiritual Effect is increased. Changing the Allotment of the same version of a Variable Allotment Spiritual Effect does not require Action Points and does not cause Exertion.

Timing and Resolution 

A Spiritual Effect begins to affect other characters immediately as soon as the Action Points are spent to use it. Ongoing Resistible and Damaging Spiritual Effects that are maintained are checked again every Cycle just as the Ministering Spirit’s first Turn of the Cycle is beginning. Ongoing Boosting and Self Spiritual Effects are refigured at this point also if a value pertinent to the Spiritual Effect has changed. Ongoing Spiritual Effects that are ended cease to affect any affected character immediately. 

Once a Spiritual Effect has been initiated it exists, even if it hasn’t begun to affect the character yet. What this means is that protective and preventative measures can be taken. Countering Spiritual Effects such as Release Bondage or Purge can be used to cancel the Spiritual Effect’s effects. Also, either the Ministering Spirit or the character that would be affected can be moved so that the Range between them is greater than the Spiritual Effect’s Range. Most often these options will require Standing Ready or spending an Inspiration Token to gain immediate Action Points. 

When the effects of a Manifesting Spiritual Effect would need to be defended against or Resisted, the source is still considered the initiating Ministering Spirit for effects like Trained Eye that reference a source. This also means that Strength in Struggle and Resolute Stability increase and/or reduce the damage dealt by Strikes made using a weapon created by a Spiritual Effect or Striking with Flaming Sword. 

In the case of Spiritual Effects that produce damage or have other effects that include parenthesis, the number inside the parenthesis is subtracted for each uncancelled Pass or added for each uncancelled Fail. 

Choosing Targets 

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

Order of Priority with Multiple Versions 

Different versions of the same Affecting Ongoing Spiritual Effect cannot stack and only one instance can be figured as affecting any one Target at any one time. This does not mean that multiples cannot be affecting them. It just means that only one is figured. So if Stirred Passion and Sanctified Stirred Passion were both being used on the same character, only Sanctified Stirred Passion (the stronger) would be figured as affecting them. If Sanctified Stirred Passion was ended or they left its range, then Stirred Passion would immediately begin to be considered as affecting the character. A Ministering Spirit may not use multiple instances or versions of the same Ongoing Spiritual Effect simultaneously; nor can they use a different version of an Ongoing Spiritual Effect they used the earlier in the same Cycle. 

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