Just wanted to say I like the changes and updates around magic overall, especially the new version of resurrection and that it and Permanence cost permanent WP!
While i am fine with the cost of pernament WP, i feel that making Permaence not work with "instant" duration spells a big restriction. It drastically reduces the kind of magical items you can create by a large margin which i feel might be a bit extream.
Also, hot take, but i think the nerfs of resurrection was a bit too harsh. I get that bringing a player back from the dead shouldn't be easy to do and that death should have meaning, i agree on this, but when i showed it to my players their reaction was "Why would we ever use this?", which i think is not an ideal reaction for a powerful spell that the players likely would have to go on a difficult adventure to learn in the first place.
I would personally like to tweek the spell so that either
A: You do not lose that WILL point until AFTER you cast the spell and it is a success. This means the Mage won't risk losing anything if they wanna try but fail, thus they are not punished for wanting to try and bring a dead player back.
B: You do not lose a WILL point, but you roll with a Bane, and can not benefit from any boons in casting of this. This means your odds of success is lower, and on a fail the "death is pernament" still kicks in, so you only get one chance to try.
EDIT.
I was thinking about how you now have a box on page 33 regarding how npcs uses skills, and i was thinking maybe you could have a similar thing for using Attributes against certain spells in the magic list (Such as
DOMINATE and
ENSNARING ROOTS), perhaps something like this.
Using Attribute rolls as an NPC
Certain spells require the target to make an Attribute Roll such as STR or WILL to avoid its harmful effects. As NPC's do not have their attributes listed, you can use the following methods to see what value they roll for each.
-For STR, you determine the value the NPC uses based on if they have a STR Damage Bonus Die, using a 9 if they do not have one listed, 13 if they have a D4 and 17 if they have a D6.
-For WILL, the value they use is equal to their maximum WP value, excluding any points they gain from the FOCUSED Heroic Ability. If they do not have any WP listed, use a default value of 9.
This gives the GM a quick and simple guide on what to roll if the Player characters cast such a spell.