With warding, any creature, item or area’s temporary mystic effects can be made permanent. However, such effects can only be warded at the time they are created, and the warding level cannot be strengthened later without recreating the effect from scratch. To ward an effect, simply consume Res X in addition to the normal effect cost, where X is greater than or equal to the total sphere level of the effect. Even effects on unwilling creatures can be warded, but those creatures receive applicable saving throws at an interval equal to the usual duration (see “Saving throws and ability checks” on page 3 and “Duration” on page 4). For the mystic who created the effect, dissolving a warded effect takes a moment’s thought and is a free action.
It is possible to ward the effect at less than level X, but doing so results in the effect deteriorating over time. The more the warding falls short of level X, the faster the effect will deteriorate.
| Warding level discrepancy | Time until collapse |
|---|---|
| 0 or less | permanent |
| 1 | 1d6 days |
| 2 | 1d6 hours |
| 3 | 1d6 minutes |
| 4 | 1d6 rounds |
| 5+ | instantaneous |
For example, it is easy to temporarily grow 10% taller with Enh 1. But without spending extra Enhancement points to increase the duration, the effect would last only a single round. However, warding the effect by consuming Res 1 makes the effect permanent-at least until the enchantment is dispelled somehow.
Destruction magic can influence or even dispel a warded effect. Destr X reduces the warding level from its original value by X. These reductions do not stack, however. For example, if Pip the mystic wizard wards a 5th level Illusion effect with 8 Reserve, then Destr 4 would reduce the effective warding level to 4, creating a warding discrepancy of 1 (the Illusion effect would then collapse in 1d6 weeks). To make that ward then collapse more quickly, Destr 5 or higher would need to be spent, to cause the warding discrepancy to become 2 or higher.
The consumed Reserve returns to the mystic only when the enchantment ends (either because the mystic dissolved the effect, or because it was dispelled with Destruction or through other means). Even when the effective warding level drops due to mystic attack, the mystic does not necessarily know his warding has been attacked, nor does he regain any Reserve ranks unless the effect actually collapses.