For the purposes of length, the Mana Crystal System has been split into several parts. Each has a seperate page, to make it easier to read ;)

It has been rumoured that mana crystals may be tapped by psionicists. This must be done by the use of the graft weapon devotion, where the crystal must be bonded to the wearer's forehead. After ten rounds of being bonded thus, it remains affixed there until such a time as it is used. At any time, an psionicist may tap the power within the stone, withdrawing one PSP for each mana point within. Typically, small mana stones are used in this way, and not very often, as it is seen by some psionicists (usually arrogant ones) that using a mana crystal is beneath them.

When mana crystals used by psionicists are drained, they fall off, leaving a small dent in the users forehead. This dent disappears 1d4+1 days later, most psionicists use a headband during this time due to the silliness of having such a dent in their forehead.

Using a mana crystal for PSP's requires four segments to tap the stone. The stone may be continually used from round to round to continually charge a power, and need not be touched. However, mana stones used by psionicists glow much brighter than when used by mages (due to the intense transferrance of energy), and the psionicist must touch the crystal for the four segments preperation.

Only psionicists of level 7+ may use this ability. Furthermore, they amy only use it on the two smallest sizes of mana crystals.

Although it is, as stated above, the primary use of magi to use mana crystals, in some cases high level priests uses them aswell. This is done by a special crafting process, knowin only to the drawves, wherein the crystal is placed ni the center, or heart of one's holy symbol. For instance, a priest using a christian cross would have it in the centrepoint where the two beams of wood touch each other.

Priests using mana crystals draw mana at a very bad conversion rate, 1:4. This means for every four mana dwarn from the crystal, the priest receives one to cast with. Priests, however, may hold on to this power for up to three rounds before needing to use it, without damaging themselves. They may also never need fear taking damage from the mana drawn this way, as it instead builds up in their holy symbol, which takes any appropriate damage such as above. Of course, for a priest to draw over 100 mana, or even 75 and then be interrupted while casting or drawing (not while the mana is simply being held), would require one of the largest mana crystals available.

Only priests of level 12+ may use this ability. Furthermore, they should typically only use it on the largest crystals, and it must be remembered that only dwarven jewellers/crafters can put the crystals into the holy symbol in the appropriate way, and that is in itself a rare thing indeed.

Some crystals exist specific to the eight schools of magic. Such crysatls are incredibly rare, and worth up to four times the ammount of a normal crystal. These crystals have several abilities. For one, when possess by anyone (even a non-magi) they bestow the user with a +2 bonus versus saves of the appropriate school. Secondly, for magi casting spells of the appropriate school, they automatically enscorcell these spells to be cast as one level higher (ie a 5th level mage casting a fireball with an invocation crystal, casts as though he were 6th level, with standard mana cost). Specialists of the appropriate school receive both bonuses, excepting they act as though they are 2 levels higher, for the appropriate school.

Unfortunately, each crystal has a school which CANNOT be cast using its mana. This can severely limit magi, but specialists are typiaclly limited anyway. Furthermore, a magi can only have one crystal bonded at a time, and thsu may not be able to use a certain school at all at any given time. These crystals are also quite rare, appearing only 5% of the time (ie %5 of the time, one of these stones will appear within any given mana crystal batch). These crystals may not be used by priests or psionicists, or even bards or other minor magical spellcasters, only true mages or specialists. Finally, in the same way that a crystal may not cast spells from its opposition school, it may never be touched by someone who is a specialist of that school. Any such creatuers/characters touching the gem receive 1d4x10 damage, which may not however kill them.

Any damage taking them to 0 or less merely puts them in a comatose state for 1d3 hours, at which time they emerge with no memory of any spells (ie they must rememorise).

The colours of these gems are as follows. Note that the opposition schools of the crystals are not necessarily the same as those of the specialists.

These crystals come only in the larger three sizes of gems. Simply reroll any result of a smaller one on a 1-5, or make it a 75-125 mana sized gem if a result of 6 to 14 is rolled. Furthermore, only a roll of 20 produces the largest sized crystal, a 19 simply results in the 150-275 mana sized gem.

These specialist mana crystals are sometimes mistaken for ioun stones when found alone, but usually their truth is discovered quickly.

Dwarven craftsmanship is almost as legendary as elven magical ability, and thus it is the dwarfs unsurprisingly who have a habit of using these crystals in the making of their weapons. Only master dwarven smiths may do this, and even then only rarely, as it is said to be a difficult, and harrowing process, which can sometimes hurt the constructor himself.

When creating a weapon a place is left for a mana crystal, of a pre-chosen size. Likely it is one the dwarf has handy, as it can be hard to shape these gems also, so they are usually specific to their placement hole. For the first 150 mana available in the weapon, it receives a +1 enchantment. When 250 is available, it becomes a +2 weapon. A weapon may have one or more stones in it, taking us to the next area. A +3 weapon requires 550 mana worth of crystals, and a +4 requires 750. It is rumouerd, but has never been tried, that over a thousand mana worth of crystals in a weapon will create a +5 weapon.

This may sound all well and good, but the process in which the gems are shaped (if they need to be) and bonded to the weapon is not an easy one. No specialist gem has ever been used in a weapon to date, though rumousr abound of a black sword using necromantic gems.

First, if the gems are not the sometimes found pre-shaped ones, they must be given rough symmetry, otherwise it is simply to hard to fasten them into the weapon. Only a dwarven master jeweller (one who can only fail on a roll of 20) can attempt to shape a mana crystal. First he must manage to chip of the excess "fat" so to speak, which reduces a crystal by ten percent of its current load. This is the usual limit to shaping of crystals, as they are usually then appropriate for use in leather thongs, small necklaces etc. To achieve this, the dwarf must roll 5 consequetive checks at a -5 penalty to his roll. Ie, any roll of 15 or higher ruins the process. This does not destroy the gem, but merely causes it to loose 20% of its mana, and be unusable in the crafting of items.

If the dwarven jeweller is successful in his work, he must then considerably reshape the crystal for use in an item. This is not a lengthy process, but a much more difficult one than the previous. Any slip-ups here cause the gem to instantly shatter, and become useless.

The dwarf must make 6 checks at a -6 penalty, with only one check being made every day. The gem must be placed in a solution that only dwarven alchemists know of, which helps to reshape the gem, while it is not beign worked upon. If, at the end of the checks, the gem emerges fine, it has been changed from the elongated, shard-like crystal that it was, into something more appropriate for a weapon, such as a perfectly round stone, or a polyhedronical shape (something akin to a d12, d20 etc, whereas the normal stones are more like a d8 that has been stretched on one end).

The gem has now lost a total of 20% of its mana (ie it looses another 10% in this process), but there is a highly magical byproduct. When distilled, the solution the gem is soaked in becomes something akin to a potion of heroism for mages. It instantly imbibes them with the mana it absorbed, and the previous mana lost from the gem (which actually bleeds of slowly, and is thus absorbed into the liquid), which they may use for casting (this is the 20% of mana the gem lost). Note a mage may not drink a small portion of the potion, and nor does he know how much mana is within a given potion. It is up to the DM's descretion whether or not the magi actually tracks the mana himself, but it is suggested the DM does it.

A mage may only hold this mana within himself for half an hour, otherwise he takes two points of damage for every point of mana still within himself. It is not wise to try and capture the energy of magic within oneself.

After the dwarf has prepared the gem sufficiently, a master weapon smith must place it within an excellent quality weapon (+1 to hit and damage). This is done at a check of -2, and only one check need be made. However, it is done before the blade itself is finished, and thus if the blade fails the gem may fail with it. If the blade is incorrectly made, there is a 30% chance that the gem is ruined in the process of creating the blade. If the gem is not ruined it may be removed with another -2 penalty check, and then reused (providing checks do not fail) in another applicable weapon.

Once the smith has finally put the gem into the weapon, and succeeded at creating that weapon, it is ready for the great sealing. This is a heavily spiritual dwarven ritual, where the dwarf may need to give part of himself into the blade, if it is not fully worthy of an honourable bearer. This is 25% likely to happen, plus 5% for every failure along the way trying to make the weapon.

If it does, after the week long fasting of the ritual (known as blooding), the dwarf looses a point of constitution. This is never seen as a bad thing, or a good thing by the dwarves, but it merely IS.

After the weapon has been blooded, the DM must calculate the appropriate pluses on the weapon.

Another detail of note is that certain abilities may be placed into the weapon using mana stones. For instance, a DM may rule that shocking grasp once per combat may be worth a 100 mana crystal, while allowing a user to regenerate a hit point per round may be worth a 400 mana crystal. In any case, additional crystals are not needed for this. For example, a 150 mana crystal may allow one shocking grasp (through the weapon of course) per combat, AND make it a +1 weapon. Note that this makes dwarven +5 crystal blooded weapons very powerful indeed.

Rumours abound of other races having discovered the ways of blooding weapons with crystals, although they do not necessarily use the blooding ritual. A few aged dwarven sages talk of an evil human wizard who long ago masked himself as a dwarf and spent years learning the ways of their smithing, to eventually discover a way to steal someones life force to blood a weapon, which also bound their souls into the weapon as intelligent weapons as a by-product.

These weapons typically used necromantic crystals, although sometimes invocation/evocation crystals were used. Many of them were destroyed, but a few still remain across the lands. Note that the intelligence of these weapons are granted through the souls of real people, some evil, some good, and some of a different caliber altogether. That name of the mage is unknown, as he has long passed the realm of the living, but his works still survive scattered across the lands.

There are rumours of strange devices of techno-magical origin that use mana-crystals as "power sources". Some items are weapons, others are modes of transport. There are rumours of a techno-mage's staff which used a whole crystal with just one week of heavy use, a powerful artifact indeed.

Other tales speak of long-lived titanic creatures, which feed of the gems. Dragons, giants, great worms circling the planets core, and other such fiends. One may find a treasure trove of mana crystals within the lair of these beings, but may find the beings themselves also, with a great deal of power behind themselves.

Another seldom talked of rumour talks of a mage who used a variation of trap the soul to place his intellect within a large mana crystal. He used the power inherent in the gem to sustain his life, and alter the world around him, giving himself a corporeal body (much like Arnold Rimmer's light bee), and casting spells from within the crystal. He had to transfer his life essence upon occasion, to another large crystal of appropriate size and capacity to sustain his life.

There is also talk of creating mana crystals through various magical process' involving the souls of other beings. Elves, for example, are said to make mana crystals when slain in a ritual involving a modification on the hatch the stone from the egg spells, while boilding a pixie in gemdust is said to produce crystals aswell. There are many evil mages persuing these rumours, sme of which are false, baseless ideas, while some have actually disovered those that work.

There are many theories concerning the creation of many crystlals. One states that they are grown deep within the earth, formed in geological stress points where energy and matter are compacted so strongly as to create powerful magical artifacts, which over the years rise to the surface (loosing a little power), and become the items we know of as mana crystals. This theory supports the further idea that there are much more powerful crystals deep within the planets core, perhaps guarded by highly magical beings who use them as we use mana crystals. Such a race would be powerful indeed.

Another theory states they are grown within the elemental plane of minerals, and are somehow transported here. This could be through random magical portals, or through a large, continual active, one-way portal deep in the center of the earth.

Yet another states that the crystals are that which is left from a race longdead. The mining shafts some cultures use to retrieve them are actually ancient burial tunnels, leading to graveyards of this race, where a thousand years ago they buried the last of their race and left this world. Since then, their souls have become compressed in the constant shifting of the mountains, into the crystals we today use to power our magic.

A final theory states that the world was one made of these crystals, and the gods smote the world asunder in anger at its beauty rivaling their own. Over time dust from space and creatures settled upon the world, which deep within has a core of the largest mana gem beyond any power one could imagine. Meanwhile, the lesser races study the gems and use them in arcane ways, while the gods have long abandoned them, moving onto a region of space and time where they need not feel threatened.

One smaller theory states that the crystals are pieces of the gods themselves, who once warred across the night skies. In the end, few gods remained, and those who perished sank into the earth and slowly coalesced with various parts of nature to create strange things, such as the mana crystals, animals, and life as we know it. Man himself was but a memory of one of the gods solidifed, which grew into a race of its own, spreading like wildfire.

Another optional rule for the creation of crystals is to have magi grow them themselves. This is for instances when spelljamming communities use the crystals. Obviously, in the depths of space, it is not easy to find a mana crystal, although one could treat them like the dilithium crystals from Star Trek. In any case, this sub-system relies upon a mage tending to a solution of fluids to grow a mana crystal. These crystals are quite substandard compared with normal ones, crystals grown only being of the first two small sizes. Mages are still known to rely on the larger, naturally (?) grown crystals from time to time, but these can be useful on long voyages, or in the absence of the real thing.

Mana Crystals are grown, using this way, in a solution which absorbs nearby excess energy, creating a mana crystal. For instance, a crystal may be grown in the center of a room with half a dozen medium-sized plants, or in the mess hall/recreation section of the ship. Furthermore, each day, he must cast the spell "Draw power" upon the crystal, which foxuses the siphoned energies of the plants into the crystal.

Creating a small crystal (40 mana, smallest size crystal) takes one week, and 1,000gp of rare plants, minerals, and components. Creating the next size up takes three weeks and 5,000gp worth of such materials. Furthermore, this is the largest size creatable using this process, and only yields a 90 mana gem.

Lastly, no crystal made using this process may be used to cast spells higher than 4th level. The drain of that much mana at once is to much. A mage may attempt to do it anyway, but risks a 75% chance, +10% per spell level, of shattering the crystal and failing the spell. Several mage guilds and towers know of a process to grow the crystals without this penalty, and even grown the third largest and largest size gems (at a cost of 10,000 gp and 20,000gp respectively), but it is very involved, and takes great time and effort - a rumour states it involves growing the crystals near or close to a sun, or some other heavenly body, while another talks of the bowels of planets.

This spell draws energy from surrounding plant-life and helps to foxus it to a mana crystal being grown. It requires no material components, but carries the restriction it must be cast (no matter the caster's level) from the spellbook. Furthermore, anyone interrupting the casting causes the crystal being enfused to shatter, ruining any such attempts at creation. Materials may be reused, determinable by the DM based on the length of time/consumption thus calculated.

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