Reconstructing Ars Magica: Gruagachan

Skimmed through the Ars Magica book Hedge Magic this morning. Pretty much every hedge tradition listed there is more interesting than the default Hermetic magic. It's a better use of my time to adapt these cooler magic rules than the main ones. These are simpler, too!

An image of a Gruagrach from the Ars Magica book on hedge magic. Might as well pretend this is "fair use"

You won't be able to use this without the material in the Ars Magica conversion basics.

Gruagrachan (how do I decline this noun? gotta look it up at some point) magic is inspired by the Picts and druids and all that.

Roll 4d18 (lol) for your starting spells (see below for spell descriptions) and take "some practice" at every skill necessary to cast the spells. If you've got two spells using the same noun, bump up the skill level by 1. If all your spells use the same verb, bump up the skill level by 1.

1. Blessing of Urban Wisdom for the Rustic
2. Blessing of the Swordsman's Expertise
3. Strike the Proud Low
4. Geas for the Narcissistic Maiden
5. Geas of Retribution for the Unthinking Slap
6. Curse for the Unjust Justice
7. Question the Cursed
8. Lift the Unfair Curse
9. Borrow the Nose of the Hound
10. Borrow the Wings of the Eagle
11. Assume the Form of the Ancestors
12. Return the Lycanthrope to His Native Form
13. Turn the Man into His Appropriate Form
14. Skin of the Doppelganger
15. Create the Hunters' Bind
16. Eavesdrop with the Eyes
17. Track the Presence of Magic
18. Cloak for the Thief in the Night

Gruagachan verbs:

• Give
• Take

Both verbs are difficult skills.

Gruachacan nouns:

• Blessing
• Curse
• Shape
• Vision

All these nouns are normal skills.

 

Gruagrachan start with an additional metamagic skill, Flexible Casting, at some practice. Change the range, duration, or target of a formulaic spell on the fly.

Thus a Gruagrach has eight different kinds of spells: give blessing, give curse, give shape, give vision, take blessing, take curse, take shape, take vision. All Gruagrachan spells allow for saving throws, but the target takes a penalty if the geas/curse is appropriate or inflicts poetic justice.

Gruagrachan magic has the following ranges, durations, and targets:

• Range: personal (+0), conversation/touch (+1), voice/earshot (+2)
• Duration: momentary (+0), a few minutes (+1), until the next rising/setting sun (+2), until the next full/new moon (+3), geas or limit (+1 to +4, depending on the severity of the limit/geas)
  
• Target: Individual (+0), group (+1), bloodline (+2)

Give blessing guidelines:

• Magnitude 1: +1 bonus die on a single roll
• Magnitude 2: Give a minor virtue (this is Ars Magica babble; what would this mean in our game? Maybe something like "Native to [city]", which could be useful when exploring that city?
  
• Magnitude 4: Bump a negative ability score up to 0
• Magnitude 5: Increase an ability score by 1
  

 Give blessing spells:

• Blessing of Urban Wisdom for the Rustic, magnitude 4. Range: conversation; duration: until the target lies or participates in subterfuge; target: individual. Gain basic competence in streetwise and conversational abilities.
• Blessing of the Swordsman's Expertise, magnitude 4. Range: conversation; duration: until the target takes 1d6 damage; target: individual. +2 to hit.
  

Take blessing guidelines:

• Magnitude 2: Remove a minor virtue, remove skill, reduce ability score to 0
• Magnitude 4: Remove a major virtue

Take blessing spells:

• Strike the Proud Low, magnitude 5. Range: voice; duration: until the target acts with humility; target: individual. Totally remove an appropriate skill of the target.
• Make the Miser Generous, magnitude 6. Range: conversation; duration: until the target behaves honestly; target: individual. Make the target totally incompetent at bargaining.
  

Give curse guidelines:

• Magnitude 1: Reduce skill partially, inflict a flaw
• Magnitude 2: Inflict a disease, reduce skill by a lot
  
• Magnitude 3: Cripple limb, disable sense, inflict serious disease, reduce ability score by 1

Give curse spells:

• Geas for the Narcissistic Maiden, magnitude 3. Range: conversation, duration: until the target makes a heartfelt apology; target: individual. If the target doesn't act with humility, they are disfigured until they make a heartfelt apology.
  
• Geas of the Retribution for the Unthinking Slap, magnitude 5. Range: conversation. If the target strikes at the caster, their sword arm is crippled and unusable.
  
• Curse for the Spied Spy, magnitude 7. An interloper is struck blind until they leave.
• Curse for the Unjust Justice, magnitude 5. Everyone dislikes the target and everyone in their bloodline; they take a penalty to all reaction checks.
  

Take curse doesn't have guidelines; it depends on the curse you're trying to remove. If you fuck up you get the curse afflicted on you!

Take Curse spells:

• Question the Cursed, variable magnitude. If you cast the spell at a higher magnitude than the original curse/geas, or the level/HD of the casting monster (whichever is higher), learn who cast the the curse/geas, what it does, and how to break it.
• Lift the Unfair Curse, variable magnitude. If you cast the spell at double the magnitude of the original curse, it is removed. (Half that if you're the one who cast the curse in the first place!)
  

Give shape guidelines (note, only works on a willing participant):

• Magnitude -3 (aka, magnitude 1 with 4 free bonus dice): Change someone to give them a minor ability derived from a creature's shape
  
• Magnitude -2 (aka, magnitude 1 with 3 free bonus dice): Increase the size of the target, up to the size of a horse or bear
  
• Magnitude -1 (aka, magnitude 1 with 2 free bonus dice): Turn a human into a land animal
• Magnitude 0 (aka, magnitude 1 with 1 free bonus die): Grant someone an aspect of another shape that grants a significant ability, like the strength of a bear or the wings of a bird
• Magnitude 1: Turn a human into a bird or a fish; turn an animal into another animal; increase the size of a human, up to the size of an elephant
  
• Magnitude 2: Turn a human into a plant or inanimate object
• Magnitude 3: Turn a human into an insubstantial object
  

Give shape spells:

• Borrow the Nose of the Hound, magnitude -1. The caster's nose turns into a dog's nose until the sun next rises or sets. People don't like looking at you like this; take a penalty to reaction rolls. (How'd we get this magnitude? Starting mag -3, +2 for duration)
  
• Borrow the Wings of the Eagle, magnitude 2. The caster's arms become great wings until the sun next rises or sets. They can fly as quickly as a horse gallops. Everybody who sees them freaks the fuck out so take two penalty dice to reactions.
  
• Assume of the Form of the Ancestors, magnitude 3. Until the sun next rises or sets, grow into a giant. Increase strength, defense, and IP accordingly.

Take shape is usually as give shape, except that it works on unwilling targets. Multiply the magnitude by 2, and give a saving throw to resist, with bonus dice for opposing characteristics (for instance, it's hard to turn a fighter into a mouse, as mice are cowardly and fighters are brave).

Take shape spells:

• Return the Lycathrope to His Native Form, magnitude ???. If you cast this spell on a were-beast at a magnitude equal to or greater than the beast's level/HD, it returns to its normal shape.
• Turn the Man into His Appropriate Form, magnitude 4. Turn an unwilling target in conversational range into an animal that closely matches their personality traits. Lasts until the sun next rises or sets. You don't know what animal they'll turn into in advance!
• Skin of the Doppelganger, magnitude 4. Turns the caster into a perfect physical doppelganger of the target (someone in conversational range) until the sun next rises or sets. Somehow doesn't change their voice, nor their mannerisms, so people familiar with the target have a chance to notice a difference (say 1/2, with bonus dice from Mind and the strength of their relationship).
  

Give vision guidelines:

• Magnitude 1: Create an image or sound affecting one person
• Magnitude 2: Get premonitions about a certain subject
• Apparently there's more guidelines in the general rules about "Creo Imaginem" and "Rego Imaginem", maybe I'll check those out

Give vision spells:

• Grant a Glimpse of the Future, magnitude 6. Until the change of the moon, a target in conversation range gets hints, visions, and images relating to a specific topic. There's no set rate for these visions or standard of clarity. This magic works on "narrative logic", outside the reason of the real world, so give hints whenever dramatically appropriate.
• Create the Hunters' Blind, magnitude 2. Covers a small location (big enough for five people packed tight) in an illusion of bushes and rocks until the sun next rises. Anybody inside can see outside perfectly. The illusion only affects sight.
  

Take vision guidelines:

• Magnitude 1: Use a sense at a distance, detect magic, make an object invisible or silent to one person
• In general, discern illusions caused by a spell of equal or lower magnitude; dispel illusions caused by a spell of 2 lower magnitude

Take vision spells:

• Eavesdrop with the Eyes, magnitude 2. For a few minutes, send out a spiritual assistant (visible to those with second sight only) to eavesdrop only any conversation within the caster's vision.
• Track the Presence of Magic, magnitude 1. For a few minutes, send out a spiritual assistant (visible to those with second sight only) to seek out any sources of magic in the caster's vision.
• Cloak for the Thief in the Night, magnitude 5. Enchant a cloak until the sun next rises; the wearer is invisible (though they leave a shadow) and makes no sound.
  

Gruagrachan magicians enchant people by giving them tattoos. Since I don't know how I'm going to model enchanting yet, I don't know how that works. I'll be back.

I need a better name than Gruagachan.