Node magic

Node magic was the technique of using magical nodes.

Effects
There were at least three types of nodes: earth nodes, evil nodes, and Shadow Weave nodes.

The ability to use a node was different from type to type. The ability to harness one type of node was not applicable to the usage of another type and was required to be learned separately. That said, there were some commonalities. For example, to use node magic, a person needed to first detect a node and be within its area. Any person could detect a node when he or she was within 30 feet (9 meters) of one, but it was hard, except for those who did not have the applicable skill for the node in question.

A node's effects were mostly useless for non-spellcasters. A spellcaster who successfully detected a node and was within one, however, could harness the node's power to enhance his or her magical abilities. Every spellcaster could enhance their own spells through this means, but it was hard for those who were not specifically trained in the usage of the node type they were in.

People who learned the art of using a node were partial to additional properties of a node. Nodes allowed the caster to gain spells from it. The stronger a node, the more spells a node could grant to the caster. Innate casters whose magic was based on talent instead of learned skill could cast these spells in addition to their other spells while they were within the node, provided their skill was good enough. The latter group could imprint these spells into their mind like learning them from a spellbook or prayers and retained them even when outside of the node.

Additional Skills
Apart from the aforementioned ways to use a node, it was possible to learn other ways. For example, one could learn to sense the presence of a node without actively looking for it, one could make the use of metamagic less costly in regard to magical energy while within a node, one could increase the number of spells allotted to one by using the node as one's mind to store spells, and one could draw increasingly more defensive power against physical attacks depending on the strength of the node, which became lower as one went closer to the edge of the node. Every type of node provided similar results, but the necessary skills to harness an earth node for example and the one necessary to harness an evil node were so different that the skills needed to be learned separately.