Spellcasting fatigue is the body’s cost of performing a worked spell to completion. Where invoking calls on a power external to the caster, casting reaches into the caster themselves — and pays the toll in their own aura, stamina, and concentration. Each spell carries its own cost; consecutive spells from the same caster accrue across a working. 0–10 (or more) fatigue per spell, depending on the spell’s demand.
Symptoms
Quickened breath out of proportion to physical effort, pallor across the face, slight tremor in the hands, dampness at the brow, mild headache. The caster looks as if they have just climbed a long stair.
Progression
A caster pushing past their windedness ceiling risks the spell miscasting, misdirecting, or returning incomplete. Continued work yields diminishing reliability — and severe overextension can turn a routine working into a catastrophe.
Treatment
- Pause between workings
- Sit; drink water; take a small bite
- Steady the breath before the next casting
- Cast no further spell until the breath has fully settled
Recovery
Ten minutes of rest reduces windedness fatigue by 5.