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Chapter 05 · Mana

Blue Mana

One Color, Several Sources

Blue mana is the natural power of Psychic creatures, but not every blue caster produces it in the same way. The source determines the reserve, caster-level progression, and recovery rules.

User Source Slot reserve Caster level Recovery
Drow Psychic anatomy 4 per level + ¼ INT Experience and story Meditation: 10% per hour on the surface, 20% below; maximum 50% per day
Cerberan Psychic Human red mana converted by implanted cerebriles 4 per level + ½ CHA Human rate: ½ CHA, plus experience Exactly like human red mana: active or true rest
Monk of Kaz'Nakaram Valerium implant 4 per level + ½ WIS, called Ki Experience and story 50% per hour of meditation, maximum 50% per day
Psychic monster Its own magical anatomy Creature template Creature template Creature template or GM

A Cerberan Psychic has no second ocean of power. Their cerebriles convert the red mana already present in the human body at the moment of use. Remove that red mana and the Psychic retains their knowledge but cannot produce blue power. See Psychic.

A Monk is the opposite case: a dwarf naturally produces neither red nor blue mana. The Valerium implant is the source, and Wisdom measures how much of its power the Monk can organize. See Monk of Kaz'Nakaram.

Psychic Casting

A Psychic power normally requires neither speech nor gesture. Thought reaches the organ or implant, blue mana takes shape, and the effect appears. A material component remains necessary when it physically participates in the power.

This does not make blue mana immune to the rules of magic. Casting still requires concentration and actions, damage can interrupt it, and abjuration or a Barrier can stop it. Its stability does make it harder to disrupt: a blue spell is interrupted only when the caster takes more than 35% of maximum HP during its casting, rather than the 25% threshold of red magic.

Stability also allows blue effects to hold their shape at low spell levels. A Psychic Barrier, for example, lasts minutes per caster level where the red version lasts rounds. A high-level red sorcerer can produce similarly stable effects through mastery, as shown by the progression of individual spells; blue mana reaches that stability earlier.

Innate Power Is Not Automatic Knowledge

A blue source does not grant every Psychic spell. Drows awaken racial powers in a fixed order—Levitate, Darkness, then Telekinesis—through experiences that change them. They possess no natural telepathy; mind-to-mind speech still requires a Psychic power.

Cerberan Psychics train new pathways in their cerebriles. Monks learn to direct their implants through discipline. Psychic monsters know only the powers written in their templates. Sharing a color of mana permits compatible casting; it does not share spell lists, memories, or technique.

Emotions can provoke the life experiences through which a drow awakens a new racial power, especially among drow women. Once awakened, however, the strength and behavior of blue magic are not modified by the caster's current emotions.