Threshold Magic
Thresholders take a dim reflection of the real world and warp it to their needs, using the magic of negative space, the gaps in between where reality exists. They do so via the use of shadows, phantasms, and emptiness, places that were once filled with reality, or might be again, but are not now. Or perhaps they use the places of joining, where one aspect of reality touches another, where day meets night and becomes twilight. Whatever the source of their power, thresholders generally follow the same patterns.
General Thresholder Information
Thresholders have only a limited amount of power, power that they can invest into thresholds. A gap is a negative space, and usually quite destructive, for when a vacuum is born, life around it rushes to fill the void, and in that rushing, can tear itself apart. A shadow is a reflection of the real, or at least what was once real, most often taken the form of creatures or physical objects, there, and yet not. Phantasms, for their part, are things that were never real, but can feel all too much that way to those afflicted by them.
Much as with others who can manipulate the fabric of reality, thresholders can only manage so much at a given time, and this is usually given as their threshold capacity, which indicates the total number of levels of gaps, shadows, and phantasms that can be in existence at once. Sometimes a thresholder is more skilled with a certain aspect of the world, and so they have an overall threshold capacity and a (for instance) gap capacity. In that case, the thresholder cannot breach either limit.
Creating a gap is generally a swift action, while shadows and phantasms are usually move actions. Certain thresholds can be applied as part of the action of casting a threshold, with each one increasing the action required by one step (move -> standard, standard -> full round, etc.). Cancelling an existing threshold is a move action.
Learning a threshold requires the expenditure of some effort. A thresholder cannot learn a threshold from a given area (gap, shadow, or phantasm), unless they know at least two thresholds from the previous level.
Reality
Reality is always expressed in a percentage format, representing how far across the threshold from unreality to reality a projection has stepped, or been pushed. A summoned creature that is 20% real, for example, means that an enemy struck by that creature would take only one-fifth (20%) damage from the attack. If the disbelieved attack has a special effect other than damage, that effect is only 20% likely to occur. In addition, that summon has only 20% of normal hit points. Furthermore, the unreal creature’s AC bonuses are 20% as large as normal.
For a threshold or ability that deals damage, modify its damage by its reality percentage, so a 20% real threshold deals only 20% of its normal damage. A threshold or ability that does not deal damage is as likely to effect the target(s) as its reality percentage.
Objects affected by unreality gain or lose benefits in the same way as creatures. A weapon that is only 20% real deals only 20% of its total damage (including all modifiers, such as strength). Likewise, armour provides only 20% of its stated bonus. Items that do not provide numeric bonuses or have numeric effects have a chance of taking effect on a given action equal to their reality percentage.
