The Collegium teaches that almost every spell belongs to one of eight Collegia Arcana: Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation.
A Collegia Arcana is a group of related rituals, incantations or workings that work in similar ways, they share some of the same… vocabulary and materials so to speak. Workings, incantations and rituals of the same Collegia share similar runes, gestures, materials, steps, and so on, some more than others
Abjurations create physical or magical barriers, negate magical or physical abilities, harm trespassers, or even banish the subject of the spell to back it’s warren or other magical place. They are most often used as protective spells.
It is said that abjurative magical fields interfere with each other and create barely visible energy fluctuations.
If an abjuration creates a barrier that keeps certain types of creatures at bay, that barrier cannot be used to push away those creatures. If you force the barrier against such a creature, you feel a discernible pressure against the barrier. If you continue to apply pressure, the spell will end.
Conjuration can be separated into four sub-Collegia: Summoning, Calling, Teleportation, and Creation.
Summoning Conjurations bring objects, creatures, or some form of energy to you.
Teleportation Conjurations transport creatures or objects over great distances.
Creation Conjurations create objects or effects on the spot.
Creatures or creations you conjure usually, but not always, obey your commands.
A creature or object brought into being or transported to your location by a Conjuration cannot appear inside another creature or object, nor can it appear floating in an empty space. It must arrive in an open location on a surface capable of supporting it.
Divinations enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, to predict the future, to find hidden things, and to foil deceptive spells. Locating objects, detecting magic, detecting undead, clairaudience, clairvoyance, scrying, prophecy, dowsing, are all Divination. Divination can also be used to read thoughts and even communicate without speaking.
Enchantments affect the minds of others, influencing or controlling their behavior. All Enchantments are mind-affecting. Two major types of enchantments grant you influence over a subject creature: Charms and Compulsions.
Charms change how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend.
Compulsions forces the subject to act in some manner or changes the way her mind works. Some compulsions determine the subject’s actions or the effects on the subject, some compulsion spells allow you to determine the subject’s actions when you create the enchantment, and others give you ongoing control over the subject.
Evocation manipulates energy or tap an unseen source of power to produce a desired end. In effect, they create something out of nothing. Many of these spells produce spectacular effects, and evocation spells can deal large amounts of damage. The energy manipulated in Evocations has been described as coming from various sources, Good, Evil, Force, Fire, Light, Water, Darkness, Shadow, Sound, Lightning, Law, Chaos and more.
Illusion spells deceive the senses or minds of others. They cause people to see things that are not there, not see things that are there, hear phantom noises, or remember things that never happened. Illusions can be divided into Figments, Glammerie, Patterns and Phantasms. Some place Shadow-magic in the Illusion category.
A Figment Illusion creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the Figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. (It is not a personalized mental impression.) Figments cannot make something seem to be something else. A Figment that includes audible effects generally struggle to duplicate intelligible speech. In some cases, intelligible speech may be possible, but it must be in a language you can speak. If you try to duplicate a language you cannot speak, the image will produce gibberish. Likewise, you cannot make a visual copy of something unless you know what it looks like.
A Glammerie changes a subject’s sensory qualities, making it look, feel, taste, smell, or sound like something else, or even seem to disappear.
Because Figments and Glammerie are unreal, they cannot produce real effects the way that other types of illusions can. They cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight, provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements. Consequently, these Illusions are useful for confounding or delaying foes, but useless for attacking them directly.
Like a Figment, an Illusory Pattern creates an image that others can see, but a Pattern also affects the minds of those who see it or are caught in it.
A Phantasm creates a mental image, that usually only the caster and the subject (or subjects) of the spell can perceive. This impression is totally in the minds of the subjects. It is a personalized mental impression. (It’s all in their heads and not a fake picture or something that they actually see.) Third parties viewing or studying the scene don’t notice the phantasm. All phantasmagoria are mind-affecting Illusions.
Creatures encountering an illusion usually do not recognize it as illusory until they study it carefully or interact with it in some fashion. A figment or phantasm remains as a translucent outline when it is known to be an Illusion.
Necromancy manipulates the power of death, unlife, and the life force. Spells involving undead creatures make up a large part of this Collegia. Some place Fear-inducing magic in the Collegia Necromantic. Some place shadow magic in the Necromancy category, or at least some shadow magic seems to be Necromancy.
Transmutation spells change the properties of some creature, thing, or condition. Polymorphic transformations, levitation, flight, temperature shifts, lead becoming gold, reshaping wood or stone, these are all transmutations.
Shadow magic is somewhat… controversial, some place it in its own category, others in Illusion and many in Necromancy. Perhaps by all accounts, creates something that is partially real. Damage dealt by a shadow illusion is certainly real, and sometimes seem similar to that caused by certain undead, other times seems caused by whatever the shadow is a shadow of. A shadow of fire for example, may harm your very life force, or it may burn you. Many speculate about why this might be, if it is even true or simply part of the Intrinsic Nature of the Illusion of Shadow.