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Greater Mage
A greater mage dedicates hir life to studying the use and application of magic in the real world. Ze may be a warrior, a healer, or an academic, but ze accomplishes greatness through the use of magic.
Hit Die: d6
Hit Points at 1st level: Constitution Score + d6
Hit Points at later levels: 1d6 (4) + Constitution Modifier
Greater Mage
Proficiencies
Armor: None
Weapons: Daggers, darts, slings, quarterstaffs, light crossbows
Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
Tools: None
Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Arcana, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, and Religion
Features
Optional Features. At 1st level, a mage can choose to take either a Major or Minor Virtue from any category in Ars Magica, with the DM’s approval. However, if the player chooses to take a Virtue, ze must also take a Flaw of the same level. If ze wishes, the player may choose to take two Minor Virtues in exchange for one Major Flaw.
Magical Arts. Mages have access to immense power through the techniques and forms that codify their spells. In this ruleset, mages learn arts by Magnitude, giving them 5 Levels of spells for every level of proficiency.
In Ars Magica, Arts are comprised of Forms and Techniques. The ten Forms are the nouns in the sentence that defines a spell: Animal (Beast), Aquam (Water), Auram (Air), Corpus (Body), Herbam (Plant), Ignem (Fire), Imaginem (Illusion), Mentem (Mind), Terram (Earth), and Vim (Magic). The five Techniques are the verbs: Creo (I create), Intellego (I perceive), Muto (I change), Perdo (I destroy), and Rego (I command or control). When you define a spell, you do so in terms of the Form and Technique involved in its casting: Ward against Wood is a Rego Herbam spell with a base level of 15 and two Duration enhancements that make it ReHe 25 (Magnitude 5).
Choose one of the following:
- 1 Art @ Magnitude 2, 4 Arts @ Magnitude 1
- 8 Arts @ Magnitude 1
Don’t forget to take proficiency in at least one Form and one Technique!
The mage must choose hir Sigil, a deeply personal expression or phenomenon that manifests itself in every spell ze casts and leaves traces of the caster’s identity.
In addition, they gain 1 magnitude in Arts at each level after the first. A character can’t have a higher magnitude proficiency than hir Proficiency Bonus. (Magnitude 2 at Level 1, Mag 3 @ Lvl 5, etc...)
Spells. Mages can create spontaneous spells on the fly at any time, but it’s faster and easier for them to use spell formulae from a grimoire.
At first level, a mage gains 120 levels of spells in their chosen Arts. With the DM’s permission, the player can save some of these spell levels to define after gameplay starts.
On each level after the first, the mage gains up to 30 levels of new spells.
Magic Resistance. All magi gain Magic Resistance 0. If the mage is rated in the Form cast on hir, ze adds hir Magnitude in the Form to hir Magic Resistance against the appropriate spell.
Parma Magica. Protection from magic. The mage begins with Parma Magica 1.
This is a special ritual (not a ritual spell) that takes about two minutes to perform. It lets you add your Parma Magica score to your magic resistance until the next sunrise or sunset, whichever comes first. You may suppress your Parma Magica temporarily by concentrating; this is equivalent to sustaining a Concentration duration spell. Parma Magica does not require concentration while it is active.
You may also protect one other person for each point in Parma Magica, with their consent. You must touch each person to start the protection, and it lasts as long as at least one character can see the other. The magus may cancel the protection at will, at any distance. While a magus is protecting others, his effective Parma Magica score is reduced by 3 points, both for himself and for the other people he is protecting. If the magus has a Parma Magica score of 3 or lower, his Parma Magica provides each character, including himself, with a Magic Resistance of 0. In the magus’s case, this is added to his Form resistance, and a magus protected by another magus’s Parma Magica may also add his Form resistance.
N.B. - This differs from Parma Magica in Ars Magica in that it measures Magic Resistance by Magnitude instead of Level because of differences in casting procedure.
Ritual Caster. The mage is trained in casting magic rituals.
Minor Feature. On some levels, a mage gains any one Minor Feature of hir choice from the list below. The mage may choose to take a Major feature instead by accepting a Minor flaw to compensate.
Major Feature. Occasionally, a mage gains any one Major Feature of hir choice from the list below.
Optional Features
Extra Learning (Minor)
The character learns 1 level of magnitude in a chosen Art and one new Spell.
Extra Learning (Major)
The character gains 1 level of magnitude in 2 separate Arts and two new Spells.
Minor Virtue (Minor)
The character gains a minor virtue from the Hermetic or Supernatural categories in Ars Magica, with DM approval.
Major Virtue (Major)
The character gains a major virtue from the Hermetic or Supernatural categories in Ars Magica, with DM approval.
Parma Magica (Major)
If you have Parma Magica, increase its level by 1. If not, you gain Parma Magica 1.
Penetration (Minor)
If you have Penetration, increase its level by 1. If not, you gain Penetration 1.
Spell Mastery (Minor)
For every possible Hermetic spell, there is a corresponding Ability. This Ability can be studied in the normal ways, and is called the spell’s “mastery” ability. If a mage has a score of one or greater in a mastery ability, ze is said to have “mastered” that spell.
A mage adds hir score in the mastery ability to the casting check whenever ze casts that spell. In addition, a mage subtracts hir mastery ability from the Botch Range for any spellcasting check, to a minimum of zero. If the mage has Mastery 2 in the spell, the Botch Range for casting under stress reduces from 1 to none or from 1-3 to 1.
Finally, if the mage is proficient in wearing the armor, a mage does not suffer Disadvantage when casting a mastered spell in it.
You can take this ability more than once; each new time, you choose a different spell or increase your level of a mastery you already have.
Optional Restriction
Minor Flaw (Minor)
The character takes a minor flaw from the Hermetic or Supernatural categories in Ars Magica, with DM approval.
Major Flaw (Major)
The character takes a major flaw from the Hermetic or Supernatural categories in Ars Magica, with DM approval.
For example, we’re creating Crispin Crookshanks, a crazy codger that lives out in the wilds and speaks to the birds and the trees. He’s a gnome, and we’ll assign his ability scores in the following array:
Str 8 (-1), Dex 12 (+1), Con 14 (+2), Int 17 (+3), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 10 (+0)
His race gives him Darkvision 60’, Gnome Cunning, Artificer’s Lore, and the Tinker feature, and he knows Common and Gnomish.
For his background we’ll choose Hermit. Crispin became a hermit after his entire family died in a bandit raid. The background gives him proficiency in Medicine, Religion, and the Herbalism Kit. He learns one more language—we’ll say Dwarvish. The background’s feature is Discovery, Crispin has discovered a powerful recipe for a Potion of Healing that recovers 3d4+3 hit points instead of the standard for the same crafting cost, and he thinks it can make a difference in small towns like the one where he grew up.
Crispin is a Greater Mage. He’s not proficient in armor, but he can use a handful of weapons and is proficient in Intelligence and Wisdom saves. For his skill proficiencies, we take Arcana and Nature.
Time to choose Crispin’s Arts. We’ll keep him well-rounded with 8 Arts at Magnitue 1. His forms will be Animal, Corpus, Herbam, and Auram. For Techniques, he chooses Intellego, Creo, Muto, and Rego.
For Crispin’s Sigil, let’s say that Crispin has a hawkish presence that becomes more pronounced when he uses magic. The shadows on his nose and brow deepen, and the sound of fluttering wings often follows him.
Crispin gets 3 cantrips. Since he’s more or less a druid in D&D terms, we’ll troll the Druid spell lists for our cantrips. Resistance will be helpful. Mending is a tremendous utility spell for self- sufficient adventurers. Since his melee attack is uninspiring, we’ll choose Poison Spray for Crispin’s last cantrip. It won’t do much against golems, but it should work fine against living creatures.
Now we get to populate a grimoire for our crafty curmudgeon. 120 levels of spells. Tongue of Beasts and Birds (InAn 10) lets Crispin speak with animals. Doublet of Impenetrable Silk (MuAn 15) enhances the Armor Class of any animal-product garment by 3. Circle of Beast Warding (ReAn 5) is a good utility spell to keep hostile animals away, and Soothe the Ferocious Bear (ReAn 10) lets Crispin handle aggravated beasts. Jupiter’s Resounding Blow (CrAu 10) deafens enemies that fail a Constitution save. The Chirurgeon’s Healing Touch (CrCo 20) lets Crispin heal wounds. Rise of the Feathery Body (ReCo 10) allows Crispin to cause his target to levitate in the air. Trap of the Entwining Vines (CrHe 15) traps an enemy in twisting vines. Hunt for the Wild Herb (InHe 5) helps Crispin find the herbs he needs. Piercing Shaft of Wood (MuHe 10) is an attack spell that fires a wooden spear at its target. Repel the Wooden Shafts (ReHe 10) makes any attack by a wooden weapon or missile fail automatically.
Last edited by ionathas, November 26 2023 07:22:10. Secured game article. You most log in to contribute.