Ars Magica Definitive Edition, Chapter Ten: Long-Term Events

See Also

• The Ars Magica Reference Document
• The Ars Magica Definitive Edition Open Content page
• The Ars Magica Definitive Edition product page on this wiki

Deeper we venture, into the shadowed grove where a faerie ring glows with ethereal light, and the very air hums with unseen power. The veil between realms thins, as the voice of my mistress rises in incantations that reshape the very fabric of reality. She conjures a shimmering portal, as the local lord watches the unfolding ritual intently, his armored soldiers standing guard silently. With focused concentration, my maga reaches out to the faerie seeming through the swirling gateway, her fingers passing through its shimmering surface, rippling the curtain between worlds. Strange entities gather on the far side, their forms shifting like dreams, their intentions unknowable.

Chapter 10: Long Term Events

Experience and Advancement

As time progresses, characters get better. In Ars Magica, experience points are awarded every season (three months), based on the character's activities during that season.

Using Experience Points

Experience points are used to increase Arts and Abilities. A character gains experience points in an Art or Ability when she spends seasons studying it. Once she has spent enough experience points, the Art or Ability increases by one. A character may, in general, raise an Art or Ability by more than one level per season.

INCREASE AN ABILITY BY ONE: (Ability + 1) x 5 experience points

INCREASE AN ART BY ONE: Art + 1 experience points

Advancement Tables

Score	ART To Buy	To Raise To	ABILITY To Buy	To Raise To
1	1	1	5	5
2	3	2	15	10
3	6	3	30	15
4	10	4	50	20
5	15	5	75	25
6	21	6	105	30
7	28	7	140	35
8	36	8	180	40
9	45	9	225	45
10	55	10	275	50
11	66	11	330	55
12	78	12	390	60
13	91	13	455	65
14	105	14	525	70
15	120	15	600	75
16	136	16	680	80
17	153	17	765	85
18	171	18	855	90
19	190	19	950	95
20	210	20	1050	100

To buy: The number of experience points required to raise a score from zero to that number.

To raise to: The number of experience points required to raise a score by one point to that number.

Advancement

Whenever a character spends a season in study, she gains a number of experience points based on her Advancement Total in the subject studied.

ADVANCEMENT TOTAL: Source Quality + Bonus from Virtues - Penalty from Flaws

A character may only gain experience from one source (one book, one teacher, one set of adventures) in one season. In particular, a character may gain experience from exposure in all and only those seasons in which she does not gain experience points from any other form of advancement. The character may undertake other activities which do not result in experience point gain and still gain Exposure experience; this includes inventing spells in a Hermetic laboratory, or making tables for sale.

Calculating Experience Points

There are three steps in determining how many experience points a character gains in a season.

The first is determining the Source Quality. This may be set by the troupe (for practice and adventures, as described later), or by the rules, for teaching and books. There are some Virtues and Flaws that affect the Source Quality, such as Good Teacher.

Next, determine the Advancement Total. This may be the same as the Source Quality, but there are Virtues and Flaws that modify the Source Quality, such as Book Learner.

Finally, determine the number of experience points gained. This is normally the same as the Advancement Total, but there are some Virtues and Flaws, such as Affinity, that modify the Advancement Total when calculating the number of experience points gained.

Seasonal advancement always creates one or more Source Qualities, and all the steps described here apply. Other sources of experience points may create an Advancement Total, or simply assign experience points. If a source creates an Advancement Total directly, no Virtues, Flaws, or other factors that modify the Source Quality apply. Similarly, if a source directly grants experience points, nothing modifies the number.

Assigning Seasons

The assignment of seasons to activities is, in most cases, an abstraction. A normal character must work for two seasons, and gets two seasons 'free'. However, he cannot leave his job for two seasons, as the free time is spread over the year. Thus, he can only undertake study that he could do in and between his job. The two seasons spent working generate Exposure experience, as described later. Characters may have genuinely free seasons, but this is a matter of character background.

Hermetic magi are among the important exceptions. Hermetic laboratory work always takes an entire, actual season, and Hermetic magi have four genuinely free seasons per year, which they may apply to study or other activities as they wish. If a magus does something other than study, he is entitled to Exposure experience, just like anyone else.

Limits

Some study sources, notably teachers and summae, have a level themselves. The student may not gain a score in the Ability or Art higher than the level of the source, and may not gain any experience points towards the next level from that source. This limit is called the Gain Limit.

Exposure

A character can learn simply by being exposed to the thing to be studied. This is by far the least effective way to learn.

EXPOSURE SOURCE QUALITY: Two

These experience points may be split between any two Abilities or Arts which were being used consistently during the season. If you split the experience points, calculate an Advancement Total for each Ability or Art separately based on a Source Quality of one. Exposure includes both doing something yourself (the normal way), or helping someone else to do it, without any feedback. In particular, Hermetic laboratory activities grant Exposure experience both to the lead magus and to any assistants.

Activity	Possible Exposure
Laboratory Work	Magic Theory, Supernatural Abilities used, Arts used.
Craft Work	Craft Ability, Area Lore for the area where you live.

Adventure

A character may gain experience by going on adventures. This takes a whole season, even if the adventure itself does not, the character spends the rest of the season consolidating what she learned under pressure. A character may choose not to take experience from an adventure if the adventure was short enough to allow other study. Note that the Source Quality is for the whole season, no matter how many adventures happen in a season. (Multiple adventures in one season would be a good reason to set a Source Quality of 10, however.) Similarly, an adventure that takes more than one season may serve as a source of experience in each of those seasons.

Community Gloss
This often overlooked rule ("This takes a whole season...") implies one cannot both gain experience from adventure and engage in labwork (or another seasonal activity) in a Season.

ADVENTURE SOURCE QUALITY: 5–10

The Source Quality of an adventure is set by the storyguide, depending on how important the adventure was and how many opportunities for learning there were. Adventure experience may be added to any Abilities or Arts involved in the adventure, and may be split between any number of Abilities. Any Ability actually used as part of the adventure qualifies, as do Abilities used 'off stage', for example during travel. Experience points can only be applied to Arts which were used 'on stage', however.

You may apply a maximum of five points of adventure Source Quality to a single Ability or Art. Calculate an Advancement Total separately for each Ability or Art, based on the assigned Source Quality.

Practice

A character can try to deliberately find out more about a subject, by her own efforts. This is more effective than exposure, but it is a full-time activity.

PRACTICE SOURCE QUALITY: 4–8, usually 4

In almost all cases, the Source Quality for practice is four.

There are four cases which merit higher qualities.

• First, practicing a language in a community where it is the native tongue merits a Source Quality of eight, until your score in the language reaches 5. At this point, the Source Quality drops to four.
• Second, practicing Area Lore by traveling around or living in the area merits a Source Quality of five to seven, depending on how thoroughly the character can explore the area. A character living in a city while working in a trade could claim one of his nominal free seasons as a Source Quality five practice in Area Lore for the city, while a character with a genuinely free season in the city, or working as a messenger, could claim a Source Quality of seven.
• Third, being forced to practice a trade or craft in an environment with immediate feedback as to how well you are doing has a Source Quality of five. An example would be someone forced to help on a ship.
• Finally, practicing a spell for mastery by casting it repeatedly is worth a Source Quality of five. This can even be done for Rituals or destructive spells, without spending vis or devastating the area, as the magus can abort the spell before fully casting it and still get the practice.

Otherwise the Source Quality is always four.

Experience points from practice may be split between several Abilities. If the Source Quality would be different for the different Abilities, the total number of experience points gained is based on the lowest of the Source Qualities.

Hermetic Arts cannot be increased by simple practice; see Vis Study on page 378 for the equivalent.

Training

Training is one-on-one training where the master shows the trainee what to do. A character must have a minimum score of two in an Ability before she can serve as a master, and at that level simply yelling at the apprentice when he does something wrong is equally helpful.

TRAINING SOURCE QUALITY: Master's score in Ability being taught + 3

TRAINING GAIN LIMIT: Master's score in Ability being taught

The master must have a higher score than the apprentice. However, the master may work at earning a living while training an apprentice. The apprentice may only be taught an Ability which the master is using to earn a living over the whole season. The apprentice may not earn a living or produce anything useful. Master and apprentice do not need a common language in most cases.

The master gains Exposure experience in the Ability being trained, just as for the normal use of an Ability to earn a living. However, the master only gains experience from Exposure in the seasons spent training the apprentice.

Hermetic Arts cannot be increased by training.

Worship

Worship is a seasonal activity (conducted during a free season) and is available to any Christian character with access to a chapel or church. This is different from the normal worship of God performed by virtually everyone in Mythic Europe (attending Mass, religious festivals, etc). This special sort of worship involves a demanding daily routine that includes fasting, prayer, and meditation.

Worship has a Source Quality equal to the Divine aura in the church.

Experience Points from worship may normally be spent on Church Lore, Concentration, Music, or any Supernatural Ability or Art aligned to the Divine that the character already has a Score in. Note that most Supernatural Abilities and the Hermetic Arts are not Divine aligned. The points may be split between several Abilities or Arts; generate separate Advancement Totals for each, based on the assigned worship Source Quality.

Similar activities are available to followers of other Divine faiths, but the details vary depending on the faith.

Teaching

Characters can be taught by other characters.

TEACHING SOURCE QUALITY: Teacher's Communication + Teaching + 3 + bonus

TEACHING GAIN LIMIT: The teacher's score in the Art or Ability

A character must have a score of at least two in an Ability, or at least five in an Art, before she can teach anyone. The teacher and the students must share a common language. The teacher must have a higher score in the Ability or Art than the student.

A character may teach several students. The maximum number of students is equal to the teacher's Teaching Ability times five, or one student if the teacher has a score of zero in Teaching. If a teacher has a single student, whether for an Art or an Ability, the Source Quality gets a +6 bonus. If she has two students, the bonus is +3. If there are more students, there is no bonus.

A teacher may gain exposure to Teaching or the language of instruction, but cannot do anything else in a season when she is teaching.

Hermetic Arts can be taught, but only one-on-one. The normal +6 bonus for having only a single student applies.

Books

Characters can learn by studying from books, and practicing if the subject of study requires it. It is not possible to study from a book unless you are fluent (have a score of four or higher) in Casting Total + Penetration Bonus – Spell Levelthe language in which it is written, and can read and write the writing system used (which requires a score in Artes Liberales).

There are two types of books, summae (singular summa) and tractatus (singular also tractatus). A summa contains an organized account of a topic, taking it from the basics up to a certain level. It can be studied as long as the student's level in the subject of the book is less than the level of the book. A tractatus contains an in-depth treatment of one aspect of the subject. A tractatus is useful to students at any level of ability, because you can never know everything about your subject.

Summae

Source Quality and Level

Summa Gain Limit

Summa Level

Tractatus

Source Quality

Community Gloss
A plethora of other book subtypes and options have been suggested in supplements. See Covenants for a fuller list. In addition, Transforming Mythic Europe offers optional rules for very large libraries.

See Writing Books below, for the rules for calculating the Source Quality for a book. However, in most cases the quality, and level for a summa, will simply be noted as features of the book.

Books can be written about any Hermetic Art or any Ability, including Supernatural Abilities and Spell Mastery Abilities. A character can only study a Supernatural Ability from a book if he already has a score of at least one in that Ability.

Reading Summae

A student may continue to study a summa as long as his score in the Art or Ability that it concerns is lower than the level of the text. Thus, a summa may be studied for several seasons with profit.

Studying Tractatus

It takes one season to study a tractatus, and a given student may only study a given tractatus once, with benefit. A person gains nothing from studying a tractatus they wrote themselves.

Vis

Magi can study the Hermetic Arts from raw vis. This requires one pawn of vis of the appropriate Art for every five levels or part thereof that the magus has in that Art, and a minimum of one pawn, all of which are consumed during the season's study.

VIS SOURCE QUALITY: Stress Die + Aura Bonus

If the stress die double botches, the maga may enter Wizard's Twilight (see page 228). The number of botch dice equals the number of pawns of vis used in study.

Studying from raw vis does not require a Hermetic laboratory, it can, in principle, be done anywhere. Most magi do study raw vis in their laboratory, though.

Distractions

Sometimes characters are distracted from study by outside events, like a dragon attacking the covenant. In most cases, a distraction has no game impact, unless the distraction is an adventure and the character chooses to take Adventure experience.

Community Gloss
See also Distractions from Lab Work in Chapter Eight.

Long distractions, of more than a month, reduce Advancement or writing totals. For every full month lost, reduce the total by one third of its original amount. Round any fractions up.

Months Lost	Total	Example
None	Full	15
One	2/3	10
Two	1/3	5
Three	None	0

Books

Books are of great importance to the Order of Hermes, as they are almost always the best and fastest way for a magus to increase his power and improve his knowledge.

Standard Texts

For nine of the Arts, there is a basic text that, over time, has come to be accepted as the preferred primer for a magus seeking the competence necessary to train an apprentice. These texts, called the Roots of the Arts, are widely and cheaply available. A Redcap can arrange the delivery of any of these texts, for a very small consideration. These texts vary, but all have a Level of at least 7, and a Quality of at least 21. Each troupe should decide which Arts have Roots based on the needs of their saga.

In eight of the Arts, there are summae that are widely accepted as the finest works yet produced. These works, called the Branches of the Arts, can be purchased by young covenants from those with established libraries, but this is unusual. In the ritual of the Order it is accepted that these, purest, expressions of the Art should be given as gifts, because the information they contain is of such great value that they cannot be met in kind. It is, however, a delicate matter for a younger covenant to convince an older one to patronize them with such a valuable gift and, surreptitiously, they often offer payments and services in exchange for the gift of one of the summae.

Many magi seek to pen a standard text, but fail to produce a work that gains this highest level of acclaim. Many libraries contain these informative, but non-definitive, works. Some are excellent but lack the historical romance that has made foundational texts definitive in the minds of magi. Two Roots of the Arts have been superseded, each time by a magus of renown and intelligence. The Branches of the Arts have changed over time, as Hermetic magic gradually increases its reach. For example, the Branch of Terram in 1220 is De Lapii, by Jeremias filius Guernicus, a Summa on Terram, Level 17, Quality 14. Some of these titles hold such awe, however, that the works that replace them retain their titles and nominal authors.

There are no standard tractatus, but dedicated students of various subjects consider certain texts worthy of particular note. These books are far rarer than the Roots and Branches, but can be accessed in libraries that specialize in the book‘s theme.

Certain magi consider the root and branch symbolism employed in the advertising of standard texts to be a vestigial druidical practice, and they refer to the Foundations and Pillars of the Arts.

Writing Books

A character must have a score of at least five in an Art, or at least two in an Ability, before she can write a useful book. She must also have a score of at least five in the language she wants to write the book in.

Books may be written about any Ability, including the Mastery Ability of an individual spell. Learning from books about practical Abilities requires the reader to practice as well as read.

Summa Source Quality

Author's Communication + 6 + bonus

Summa Gain Limit

Level of summa

Tractatus Source Quality

Author's Communication + 6

Community Gloss
Covenants breaks up the "+6" into "+3 + good craftsmanship", with the good craftmanship consisting of professional-level scribing (+1), illustration (+1), and binding (+1). Thus the "+6" assumes professional book-making. Covenants also offers a few ways to increase the Quality further.

Summae

Each summa is described by two factors: its Level, which represents how much knowledge is contained in it, and its Quality, representing how well it is written.

When a summa is started, the Level of the finished book is determined. The Level may be chosen freely by the author, up to half of her score in the appropriate Art or Ability. The quality of the summa is equal to the author's Communication + 6.

If the author chooses to set the Level of the summa below half her score, there is a bonus to the Quality. For an Art, the bonus is one point for every Level by which the summa is dropped. For an Ability, the bonus is three points for every Level. This bonus cannot exceed the base Quality of the summa, so the final Quality cannot be more than twice the sum of the author's Communication + bonuses from Virtues + 6.

Once the level is determined, writing commences. For every season spent writing, the character accumulates a number of points equal to his Communication + Language. When the total of points equals or exceeds the Level of the summa, for Arts, or five times the Level of the summa, for Abilities, the summa is complete. The Level of the book may not be changed midway through the writing (if the character improves the Art or Ability, for example). Once begun, the book must be finished at the initial Level or not finished at all.

For example, Quintus, who has a score of 24 in Ignem, a Communication of –1 and a Language of 5, wants to write an Ignem summa. He decides that the Level of the summa will be 12, the maximum that he can select. During the first season of writing he accumulates 4 points (his Communication + Language). He accumulates another 4 in the second season, taking him to 8, and 4 more in the third, for a total of 12. This equals the Level, so the book is completed at the end of the third season. The Quality of the summa is 5. If he had chosen to write a summa at Level 6, it would have taken him 2 seasons, and the Quality of the summa would have been 10, because the bonus from dropping the Level by six points is capped at 5 by the base Quality of the book.

Tractatus

It takes one season to write a tractatus. The Quality of a tractatus is equal to the author's Communication + 6.

A character may only write a total number of tractatus equal to half her score in an Ability or one fifth of her score in an Art, rounded up in both cases.

Copying Books

A character may copy books carefully or quickly. Copying a tractatus carefully takes one season. Every season that a character spends copying a summa carefully, she accumulates points equal to 6 + her Profession: Scribe score. When she has accumulated points equal to the level of an Art summa, or five times the level of an Ability summa, it has been copied. A careful copy has the same quality as the original book.

A character may copy books quickly at three times the rate. That is, she may make three copies of a tractatus (or one copy of each of three tractatus, and so on) in a season, or she gains 18 + 3 times her Profession: Scribe score points towards copying a summa. Books copied quickly have a quality one lower than the book copied.

Copying Carefully

1 tractatus per season, or 6 + Profession (Scribe) points towards a summa.

Copying Quickly

Three times as fast as careful copying, copy Source Quality is 1 lower than copied book.

Corrupted Copies

Books copied by people lacking particular skills become corrupted. In the simplest case, the scribe omits small marks that are a vital part of the meaning because he thinks they are merely ink blots. In more complex cases, he 'corrects' parts of the text, creating gibberish. A corrupted text is useless.

A character must be able to read and write the language in which the book is written to copy it without corrupting it. However, a score of 3 in the language is sufficient to allow accurate copying.

A character must have a score of at least 1 in the relevant Realm Lore, or the appropriate Ability, to copy a text about a Supernatural Ability without corrupting it.

A character must have a score of at least 1 in Magic Theory in order to copy a book about the Hermetic Arts or Parma Magica without corrupting it. Scores in the Ability in question are no substitute in this case.

Acquisition

The Order of Hermes supports a vibrant book trade with two main branches: sale of finished books, and scribal hospitality. Sale of books occurs through the Redcap system, supplemented by exchanges that occur at Tribunal meetings. The use of magic to support the Redcap network is considered more fully in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages. Scribal hospitality occurs when a magus is allowed to copy from the library of a covenant to which he does not belong. Hospitality is usually offered in exchange for a payment or service.

Hermetic Books: Definition of Categories of Value

It is, theoretically, possible for a peerlessly capable Hermetic teacher, writing in the best of circumstances, to create a summa with a Quality score of approximately (41 – Level). In the history of the Order, this has never happened, but it might during your saga.

A very few summae, those most prized in the Order, are those that have been created by exceptionally powerful magi, with excellent Reputations, later in life. These [exceptional] books can have a Quality of (35 – level), particularly when techniques described in Covenants are used to enhance a particular copy.

Most of the summae traded within the Order are written by specialists in an Art, with no particular skill in teaching. These [sound] summae have a Quality somewhere between (31 – Level) and (28 – Level).

A few books are written by magi with weaker skills than these authors. These books are called "vain summae", because immodest people do not understand why their book, poor and weak as it is, should not sit alongside better work. These Summae have a Quality of (25 – Level) or below.

Discarded summae are usually damaged versions of the books above. They are stripped of their resonant materials before sale and usually have a Quality of between (18 – Level) and (15 – Level).

A tractatus written by a legendary teacher could, theoretically, have a Quality of around 17, but generally an excellent tractatus will have a Quality of around 14, a sound tractatus approximately 11, and a vain tractatus around 6. Damaged tractatus may have Quality scores as low as 1.

The Sale of Hermetic Books

Many Hermetic books are sold through exchanges of letters, carried by Redcaps. Some Redcaps provide ancillary services to the book trade. Some assess goods for sale on behalf of distant clients, or act as neutral parties between a pair of interested vendors. A few act as procurers, finding desired materials for a small fee. House Mercere’s covenants also sometimes act as scribal centers. There are four main methods of postal sale.

Sale by public offer occurs when covenants make known the catalog of books they have available, and invite buyers. Public offers often persist over lengthy periods. Some covenants, for example, provide their sodales with a list at each Tribunal meeting. Some public offers specify the price the seller requires, others invite negotiation.

Sale by tender occurs when a covenant circulates the desire to possess a certain work, or books of a particular type, and invites contact by potential suppliers. These offers are usually accompanied by an indication of the price the covenant would consider fair, but it is not unusual for a potential seller to contact the tendering covenant and suggest an alternative method of payment. Negotiation for sales by tender can be complex and protracted. It is common for several covenants to answer each call, and the tendering covenant may hold a glacial auction by mail, pressuring the sellers to reduce their price. Covenants who do not wish to advertise their requirements can usually hire a Redcap to discreetly ask nearby covenants if they have a suitable book available.

Sale by exchange occurs when a covenant advertises that it wishes to trade one class of text for a second class of text. This sort of barter can lead to extended negotiations, on delivery dates and confirmation of the quality of the copies to be traded by a third party trusted by both vendors. Even the choice of quality assessor is often a matter of haggling.

Sale by subscription occurs when a magus announces his intention to create a spell or device and invites magi to pay, in advance, for access to a Lab Text when it becomes available. Some magi seeking subscriptions offer a flat price for example, a pawn of vis per subscriber. Other magi, performing more difficult and expensive research, sometimes encourage the formation of purchasing consortia by offering proportional payments. For example, a magus might agree to release his new Ritual in exchange for twenty-five pawns of vis. Covenants spread across Europe may form a buying cartel, splitting the costs in various ways. These consortia are maintained by side agreements. For example a vis rich covenant may pay a large proportion of the price, in exchange for a series of political concessions, acts of assistance with vexing problems, and payments in kind. This allows poor, Spring covenants to join purchasing consortia.

Books are often sold at Tribunal. Many of these sales are pre-arranged, by the methods that are described above, and completed at the Tribunal meeting, when each party has the opportunity to inspect the goods of their correspondent. Other covenants bring surplus copies to sell to whoever desires to buy. Many covenants, not wanting the possible expense of unsold stock, create exemplars and take orders during tribunal for later delivery. These books are prepared to a series of informal standards, with the finer books, intended to be used for study, commanding higher prices than those intended as originals, from which working copies are to be made.

Prices for Books

Many Hermetic books are sold under a condition called the Cow and Calf Oath. This refers to a ruling from the Hibernia Tribunal that has not been ratified by the Grand Tribunal. It is an agreement that the purchaser of the book will not sell, or freely give, copies without the seller's permission. Some magi approve of the Cow and Calf Oath, while others despise it. The prices given below, aside from that for mundane books, assume the characters have sworn the Oath. Prices may be far higher for books that will rival their parents, and reduce the income of the original covenant.

Mundane Books

The mundane book market is a cash market. Any magus with a spare pound can obtain any standard text from a stationer in a large city. Less common books still cost a pound, but it takes season for the stationer to arrange for a copy to be produced and delivered. Cheaper versions, unbound and written on paper, are also available, for half a pound. Commissioning books takes longer for covenants remarkably distant from civilization, or poorly served by the Redcaps.

Books Concerning the Arts and Arcane Abilities

The Hermetic book trade is essentially a barter market. Most covenants can create so much mortal money that it isn't valuable enough for them to use as a medium of exchange for rare items. This makes pricing books an art, subject to a lot of haggling. The value of the book for sale, and of the things that might be traded for it, can be disturbed by events. A second magus might offer a similar book at any time, lowering the first book's value. A covenant might decide it has too much vis for one Art, and seek to trade it for others. This lowers the value of all vis of that Art, which would make a book's seller ask for more.

Least Expensive Books

The cheapest books available are damaged and discarded surplus books from major libraries. Inexpensive Hermetic books are not systematically produced for sale. Any established covenant could theoretically make them, but no established covenant needs them. There are few buyers for cheap books, and no covenant wastes the effort of creating a book on something that might not sell for years. Characters wanting damaged and discarded books can often arrange for them to be added to other trades as sweeteners. A covenant wanting to purchase damaged summae with vis can usually find a seller for about a pawn of vis per book, but could arrange other services instead. It is unusual for a seller to have a pile of damaged tractatus to sell for a pawn of vis, but after a library flood or some similar calamity, a buyer might get somewhere between three and nine to the pawn, depending on the degree of damage.

Vain Books

Books of the second-lowest level of Quality exist because their authors chose to publish them, despite their comparative lack of worth. Such authors are usually proud of their books, and some give them as gifts to their friends and allies. Characters can usually purchase vain summae for half their level in pawns of vis, less if the author is particularly susceptible to flattery. Vain tractatus cost about a pawn each.

Characters attempting to acquire a vanity book from someone other than its author often find that they must pay for it as if it were sound. The amount of labor and material involved in copying a book does not change simply because the buyer insists on a poor title, and the time taken to copy the poor book could instead be used to copy a good one for another buyer.

Sound Books

Books of the level of Quality that make up most Hermetic libraries are the most difficult to price. There are many possible sellers, so buyers have some opportunity to compare prices and force competition. Generally, the lowest prices can be found at covenants that have staff permanently copying books. These charge a number of pawns of vis equal to the book's level, if the purchaser is willing to wait a season for the copy to be produced. A surcharge of up to 20% is added if there is a spare copy available for the impatient. Sound tractatus cost around 2 pawns to order, or 3 for the impatient, but trade of equivalent, sound tractus remains very common.

Community Gloss

Note that making sound works the standard of trade means PCs not specializing in high-quality will find it impossible to interest others in their work, and even those specizling in this will find their work considered merely 'standard'. Consider allowing trade only in vain books by default, which will allow some trade for magi with middling investment in writing quality (such as +3 Communication), and great esteem for those dedicated to to it. See Books: Fan Categories for further discussion.

Excellent Books

Most books of the highest Quality cannot be purchased. Covenants receive them as gifts in exchange for exceptional service, and on the condition that the book will never be copied without the permission of the originating covenant, or magus. The Cow and Calf Oath limits the distribution of some material, but is difficult to enforce.

House Bonisagus does allow magi to copy books of exceptional Quality, as part of its members' obligation under the Oath of Hermes. Durenmar does not sell copies of these texts, but does limit copying to one magus at a time, selected by the Primus's representative. Durenmar uses a version of the Cow and Calf Oath to insist that copies of these finest works not be sold, because it is an insult to the authors of the book to value their work against mundane possessions. They may only be given, and with ceremony. There is little the Bonisagus magi can do to prevent the gift being a reciprocation, beyond social pressure.

House Tremere is eager to sell, or buy, copies of excellent books. A difficulty is that Coeris is an extraordinarily rich covenant, so simple offers of vis do not interest the Prima. In the past, she has accepted transfer of ownership over valuable vis sources in exchange for books. House Tremere takes the Cow and Calf Oath very seriously and sometimes champions it at the request of others.

Learning Supernatural Abilities

Only characters with The Gift (see page 63) can learn Supernatural Abilities associated with the Magic realm using these rules, but the teacher need not have The Gift (although, obviously, he must have the Supernatural Ability). Other realms have different conditions, described in the appropriate Realms of Power sourcebook.

Supernatural abilities can only be taught if they have an associated Ability, in game terms. Thus, Shapeshifter can be taught, but Unaging cannot. The initial teaching in a supernatural ability must be by Training or Teaching, as described earlier. Once the character knows the Ability, it may be advanced normally.

In order to learn a supernatural ability, the student must reach a score of at least 1 in the first season. That is, he must gain at least 5 experience points. However, he must subtract the total of his scores in other supernatural abilities from the Source Quality.

SUPERNATURAL ABILITY SOURCE QUALITY: Normal Source Quality - Total Score in Supernatural Abilities

If the student has had the Hermetic Arts opened (see page 206), he must subtract 15 or the sum of all his Art scores, whichever is higher, from the Source Quality.

For example, a character bas Shapeshifter 3, Dowsing 4, and The Gift. He wants to learn Animal Ken. He must find a character who is willing to teach it to him, despite his Gift, and who can manage a Source Quality of at least 12. If the character has also been opened to the Hermetic Arts, but still has scores of 0 in all of them, he needs to find a teacher who can manage a Source Quality of 27 (15 for the Arts, +3 for Enchanting Music, +4 for Dowsing, +5 for the number of experience points he needs to gain). This is effectively impossible.

Mystery Cults can often avoid the penalty due to prior mystical abilities through their Initiation rituals.

Training Creatures

With the approval of the storyguide, any magical beast with an animal intellect — that is, those that have a Cunning (Cun) characteristic — may be tamed, and then used by another character as a mount, guardian, or companion as appropriate. Taming an animal is a possible laboratory activity for a magus, but mundane animal handlers and some magical characters can also attempt to tame animals. Once an animal has been tamed, it can be further trained and taught a number of tricks.

Taming Animals

Regardless of whether the character taming an animal is a magus, a magical character, or a mundane trainer, taming is a seasonal activity and the character accumulates a number of points each season towards taming the animal. The taming is complete when the accumulated total of points exceeds the Might of the creature. Points only accumulate between consecutive seasons, so if the character does something else in the interim then any points already gained are lost. Points for taming animals cannot be transferred between trainers.

REQUIRED POINTS TO TAME A CREATURE: Might of the Creature, Minimum 1

In all cases, the tamer must be able to interact daily with the creature throughout the season. If the creature has a violent temperament, the tamer may require some kind of protection (magical or otherwise).

If the tamer can generate enough points to tame a creature in a single season, he may split his point total between the taming of several creatures of the same species, but he cannot tame a number of additional creatures in excess of his Animal Handling Ability Score.

Taming Mundane Beasts

Mundane beasts can also be tamed, and (for this purpose only) mundane beasts have an effective (Animal) Might of 1 + 2 x Confidence Score. Note that taming a beast is a social activity, so penalties for The Gift apply to the number of points accumulated in a season, creatures with Magic Might are often not affected by The Gift in this way.

A Hermetic Tamer

For a magus, taming an animal is a laboratory activity, and the creature must be housed in the laboratory. Of course, if the creature is very large this may necessitate the construction of a new laboratory. The number of points that the magus accumulates each season is based on the magus' Rego (Form) Lab Total (including bonuses, see insert), which is calculated using the Hermetic Form appropriate to the creature — Aquam for a kelpie, Ignem for a fire elemental, and so on.

TAMING POINTS ACCUMULATED EACH SEASON: Re(Fo) Lab Total – Creature's Might

For example, to tame a fire elemental with an Ignem Might 25, the magus must accumulate 25 points. If the magus has a Rego Ignem Lab Total of 40 he will accumulate (40-25=) 15 points each season, and therefore take two complete seasons to tame the elemental.

During the process of taming an animal, a Hermetic magus produces a Lab Text that has a level equal to the Might of the creature that was tamed. A magus may use such a Lab Text, written by himself or another, to provide a bonus to his Lab Total when training animals of the same Form (see Hermetic Bonuses insert). In addition, a magus may spend a season replicating the instructions in such a Lab Text to tame another creature of exactly the same species, whose Might does not exceed the level of the Lab Text. To use the Lab Text in this way, the magus must have a Re(Fo) Lab Total at least equal to the level of the Lab Text. Of course, to use any Lab Text the magus must be able to read it; normally a Lab Text prepared by another character needs to be translated.

Hermetic Bonuses to Taming Lab Total

The following bonuses apply to the Rego (Form) Taming Lab Total for a Hermetic magus:

• Animal Handling Ability Score
• Animal Ken Ability Score
• Experimentation Bonus (i.e. a magus can use the Experimentation rules when taming an animal).
• +1 for every 5 levels of the highest level similar Lab Text the magus can consult as a guide. A similar Lab Text is an animal taming Lab Text that uses the same Hermetic Form.

A Magical Trainer

A character with the Minor Supernatural Virtue Master of (Form) Creatures may tame creatures of that Form that have Cunning statistics. For each consecutive season spent, the character accumulates a number of points equal to:

TAMING POINTS ACCUMULATED EACH SEASON BY A MASTER OF CREATURES: Trainer's Might + Trainer's Animal Handling + Trainer's Animal Ken – Creature's Might

If the trainer does not have a Might Score, his Magic Lore Ability Score is substituted for his Might in this calculation (a character with Might can also choose to substitute her Magic Lore Ability Score). If the beast is connected to the same Form as the trainer, the trainer's Might Score is doubled for the calculation above.

A Mundane Trainer

A mundane trainer can also attempt to tame a beast. He generates a number of points each consecutive season, equal to:

TAMING POINTS ACCUMULATED EACH SEASON BY A MUNDANE TRAINER: Int + Animal Handling + Animal Ken – Creature's Might

Generally, a mundane trainer will only be able to successfully tame beasts with a small Magic Might.

Tricks, Stunts, and Tasks

Once an animal is tamed it may be commanded by characters with Intelligence (Int) characteristics. The animal can be commanded by any such character with the Animal Handling Ability or by a character to whom the animal is loyal (see below). Regardless of the method used to the tame the animal, once tamed he does not count as being under a continuing mystical effect.

Loyalty

Once a creature is tamed he acquires the Personality Trait (Loyal +0), directed towards the character who tamed him. If the creature already has a Loyal Personality Trait, then he does not gain a new Trait, rather the old Trait is focused towards the trainer and its level does not change. Sometimes commanding an animal calls for a Loyalty Test, and as this is a "social interaction," penalties for the Gift do apply.

LOYALTY TEST: Loyal Personality Trait + stress die vs Ease Factor

If he wishes, any character with the Animal Handling Ability may spend additional seasons with an already-tamed creature to improve or transfer the loyalty of that creature. Each additional season of training increases the Loyal trait by +1, to a maximum of +3. A character can only improve the loyalty of an animal that is loyal to himself, but instead of increasing the Loyal trait, with this season of extra training the trainer can choose to transfer the animal's loyalty to another character (who must also be present for the season). The trainer may even transfer the loyalty of the animal to himself if he was not the character who originally tamed the animal. A magus who has the Lab Text for a tamed animal (see earlier) may also transfer or improve the Loyal trait of the animal by spending a season, as long as his Re(Fo) Lab Total is at least equal to level of the Lab Text.

Training Abilities

Any character with the Animal Handling Ability may train and therefore improve a tamed animal's Abilities using the standard training rules. As normal, the master must have a greater score in the Ability than the animal does.

Usually, an animal may only be trained in Abilities that he already has a score in, as other Abilities are beyond his capacity. But the troupe may relax this restriction on a case-by-case basis, for example, to allow a horse to be taught to swim. At the end of any season spent training for an Ability that the animal does not already have a score in, make a Loyalty test for the animal against an Ease Factor of 6. If this Loyalty test fails, then the animal does not gain any training experience and the season is wasted. Loyalty tests are not required to improve existing Abilities.

Trained Groups

A character may lead tamed animals in combat, as a trained group. The character must have either tamed each animal himself or spent at least a season working with each animal. The character's Animal Handling Ability score is used instead of his Leadership Ability score to determine how many animals he can lead at one time (see the Obstacles chapter, page 396). Note that while the animals must all have Combat Scores that each fall within a 5-point range, the character leading them does not need to match the Combat Scores of the animals in this way (this is an exception to the normal rules). However, if the character's scores are outside the range, he does not count as part of the group when determining their combat totals. Depending upon the temperament of the animals involved, fighting as a group may require Loyalty tests against an Ease Factor of 6.

Commanding a Creature

In general, when the character commands a tamed creature make a Presence + Animal Handling roll against an Ease Factor set from the following table. The Ride Ability may be substituted for Animal Handling when the character is using the animal as a mount, and for exotic creatures another Ability might be more appropriate; the Magic Lore Ability might be used for commanding tamed elementals, for example. A botch may cause the animal to flee, mistakenly perform some other command, or attack its master — depending on the nature of both the command and the beast.

If several characters issue an animal with contradictory commands, it will preferentially obey commands issued by a character it is loyal to. Otherwise, it will obey the command of the character with the highest Presence + Animal Handling Total. For example, a magus tames a magical wolf (the wolf is now loyal to the magus) and be then commands the wolf to guard his sanctum door, the wolf will not normally obey contradictory commands to leave his post.

COMMAND BEAST: Presence + Animal Handling (or Ride or Magic Lore) + stress die vs Ease Factor

Ease Factor	Task
Automatic Success	The task uses an Ability that the creature has, and the creature has done this many times before.
6	The animal does not often do this task, and/or the situation is stressful for the animal.
9	The task is a complex series of sub-tasks, that requires the animal to concentrate for a long period of time — at least several rounds; or it is a new task that the creature has never performed before.
12	The creature fears some portion of the task. Note that it is the animal's perception of fear that is important here. Most animals would fear a battle, or fire, for example. If the creature does not have a Confidence Score, a Loyalty test against an Ease Factor of 6 must also be made to follow through on this task.
15	The task is clearly suicidal, or at least extremely dangerous; a Loyalty test against an Ease Factor of 9 must also be made for the creature. Again, it is the animal's perception of whether a task is suicidal that is important. Some tasks that are suicidal — for example, eating poisoned food — will only concern the animal if he can actually identify the risk; that is, he perceives that the food is poisonous.

Animal Ken

A character with Animal Ken (page 159) can speak to animals, including some magical beasts. Such a character can attempt to reason with any animal (regardless of whether it is tamed or not) using his Animal Handling Ability, and so convince it to perform a task. This does not result in a tamed animal, merely an animal that has decided to obey a particular instruction. If an animal is tamed, the character may issue morecomplex commands to it. The animal is no more likely to obey these commands, but it may allow the character to better utilize an animal as a scout or informant. Another important use of Animal Ken is to convince an animal that is balking at performing some dangerous task that the task is not dangerous after all.

Changing Reputations

A character gains a Reputation, with a score of 1, by doing something noteworthy in front of witnesses who will talk. A grog might fight a dragon and survive, or kill a demon with two blows of his dagger. A priest might preach a heretical sermon to a monastery. A magus might give the covenant's vis sources away at Tribunal. All of these generate a Reputation. Once a character has a Reputation, anything he does that draws attention to himself strengthens that Reputation, as long as it is not in direct contradiction. Treat the Reputation as an Ability, and give the character one 'experience point' in it for every noteworthy action he performs. Thus, performing ten noteworthy actions raises a Reputation from one to two.

A character may wish to get rid of a bad Reputation. This is not easy. First, he must do something spectacular enough to start a Reputation, and gain a score of 1 in the new Reputation. Then he may count noteworthy actions that specifically support the new Reputation towards increasing it, rather than the bad Reputation. General noteworthy actions still increase the original Reputation. Once the new Reputation exceeds the old, general actions grant experience to the new Reputation instead. At this point, the character may choose to reduce the old Reputation by one point instead of raising the new Reputation when he gains enough experience points to raise it.

If a character has two Reputations, the storyguide should roll both to see whether a random person has heard of the character. A person may have heard both Reputations, in which case he may not know what to believe, or may amalgamate them. For simplicity's sake, most characters should have no more than two Reputations.

Mystery Initiation

The process of Initiation into a Mystery is given a full treatment in The Mysteries Revised Edition, but a summary of the mechanics is provided here.

All of the Exoteric (that is, House) Mysteries are governed by a separate (House) Lore; thus there is a House Bjornaer Lore, a House Criamon Lore, a House Merinita Lore and a House Verditius Lore. Initiates who have not been apprenticed to a member of the House need at least (House) Lore 1; the Mystagogue for any Initiate must also know the same Lore, but generally needs a high level if the Initiation is to succeed. To grant the Initiate a new mystery Virtue, the Mystagogue generates an Initiation Total, which determines the success or failure of the Initiation:

Initiation Total

Presence + (House) Lore + Script bonus

Note that the Initiation Total is based on the scores of the Mystagogue. There is no die roll; if the total is higher than the required target level the Initiation succeeds. Initiation Scripts and their bonuses are described below, and examples are given in the Hermetic Magic chapter. The target for this total is the Initiation Target Level, which depends on the kind of Virtue to be initiated, Major or Minor:

Initiate a Minor Virtue known by the Mystagogue

Ease factor 15

Initiate a Major Virtue known by the Mystagogue

Ease factor 21

The Target Level is increased in the unlikely event that the Mystagogue does not know the Initiated Virtue. This is most often the case in the event of a maga who decides to try to Initiate herself in a Mystery Virtue without a Mystagogue, in which case the Initiate acts as her own Mystagogue and uses her own scores in the Initiation Total.

Initiate a Minor Virtue not known by the Mystagogue

Ease factor 18

Initiate a Major Virtue not known by the Mystagogue

Ease factor 30

In addition, if the Initiate underwent a previous Ordeal (gained a Flaw, lost a Virtue, or increased a Flaw from Minor to Major) for a previous Initiation, reduce the Target Level as follows:

First initiation after an Ordeal

After a minor Ordeal: Ease factor -3 After a medium Ordeal: Ease factor -6 After a major Ordeal: Ease factor -9

Second initiation after an Ordeal

After a minor Ordeal: Ease factor -3 After a medium Ordeal: Ease factor -4 After a major Ordeal: Ease factor -6

Third initiation after an Ordeal

After a minor Ordeal: Ease factor -1 After a medium Ordeal: Ease factor -2 After a major Ordeal: Ease factor -3

Only one past Ordeal counts towards a new Initiation, and there is a minimum Target Level of 9 no matter how great a reduction is applied.

If the Initiation Total equals or exceeds the Target Level, then the Initiation succeeds automatically. No die roll is made — it is required merely to be properly prepared, and skilled enough to succeed.

If the Mystagogue's Initiation Total does not exceed the Target Level, the Mystagogue may be able to vary and extend the Script, to make it more effective. If that is still not enough (for example, no Script exists) then the Mystagogue can experiment to attempt to discover a Script.

The Initiation Script

This is a written text (similar to a Lab Text) which describes a successful Initiation and the process followed: the chants and methods, the places and times, and any sacrifices made. If this Script is followed exactly, the Script grants its bonus to the Initiation Total. Scripts usually detail the price of Initiation, which may take the form of an Initiation Ordeal (the acquisition of a Major or Minor Flaw, loss of a Major or Minor Virtue, or increasing a Minor Flaw to Major level), an Initiation Quest (a lengthy journey combined with a series of challenges), and/or an Initiation Sacrifice (of time, wealth, knowledge or power). The Scripts detailed in the Hermetic Magic chapter give the bonus contributed to the Initiation Total from each component of the Initiation Script involved. More details about Initiation Scripts can be found in The Mysteries Revised Edition, Chapter 2: Entering the Mysteries. That chapter includes details of the hazardous process of creating a new Script.

Example Elements of an Initiation Script

The Mysteries Revised Edition has many examples of different Script Bonuses, but the ones below are most commonly employed. See the following chapters for the bonuses of other Script elements:

Example script elements and boni associate

Script Bonus	Example script elements
+3	Initiate has to be at a special place at a special time for the Initiation
+3	Initiate has to complete a specific Quest
+1	Initiate sacrifices time — serving another in the cult (one bonus only)
+1	Initiate sacrifices material goods or wealth (this must entail real personal loss)
+3 to +6	Initiate sacrifices something of great and symbolic value (familiar, talisman, powerful invested device)
+3	the Initiate suffers an Ordeal inflicting a Minor Flaw or removing a Minor Virtue
+6	the Initiate suffers an Ordeal increasing a Minor Flaw to Major level
+9	the Initiate suffers an Ordeal inflicting a Major Flaw or removing a Major Virtue

Varying a Script

It may be necessary for a Mystagogue to modify an Initiation Script; for example, to add additional elements to it to make a difficult Initiation possible for an inexperienced Mystagogue.

To vary the Script, the Mystagogue makes a test of

Stress Die + Intelligence + (House) Lore vs. Ease Factor

The Ease Factor is 9 to extend the Script by adding a new component, such as an additional Quest. A magus with lower Presence or (House) Lore will often try to extend a Script he has acquired.

The Ease Factor is 12 to make a change to a component, such as varying the place, the time, or the subject of a Quest. It is not possible to change which Virtue the Script Initiates; that requires a new Script.

The Mystagogue may only attempt one change in a given Initiation. If the test fails, the Initiation would fail (and the Mystagogue will know this), but the original Script (or a different variation) may be attempted in another Season. If the variation test roll succeeds, the modified Script is used as above to generate the Initiation Total, and if this equals or exceeds the Initiation Target level, the Initiation succeeds with no further rolls.

If a single change is not enough to make this Script work, then either a different Script is needed, or the Mystagogue must study more Cult Lore, or experiment.

Warping

Warping is the side effect of living in a strong supernatural aura, or being subject to supernatural effects over a long period of time. Every character has a Warping Score, which is increased like an Ability, but by Warping Points rather than experience points. To increase the Warping Score by one point, a character needs five times the new score extra Warping Points. Thus, to increase from a Warping Score of 2 to one of 3, a character must gain 15 Warping Points.

Warping Points can be gained from exposure to any of the supernatural realms, Divine, Faerie, Infernal, or Magic. The points are not distinguished based on their source.

Warping Points and Score

Warping Score	Warping Points to reach	Warping Points to increase to
1	5	5
2	15	10
3	30	15
4	50	20
5	75	25
and so on...

Gaining Warping Points

There are four main sources of Warping Points:

1. Living in a strong (6 or higher) supernatural aura.
2. Being affected by a powerful supernatural effect, unless you created the effect, or it was designed especially for you.
3. Being continuously under the influence of a supernatural effect, whether powerful or not.
4. Botching a roll to use a supernatural ability.

Note that these are separate sources of Warping Points. Thus, if a magus designs a powerful supernatural effect, such as a Longevity Ritual, for himself, he doesn't gain Warping Points for being under a powerful supernatural effect, but he does gain them from being under a continuous supernatural effect.

All sources of Warping Points stack. A character continuously affected by a strong supernatural effect that wasn't designed for him and that he didn't cast gains Warping Points both from being affected by a strong supernatural effect, and for being continuously under the influence of a supernatural effect.

Warping and Non-Humans

Other mundane creatures and things are also warped by mystical effects. However, keeping track of the Warping Scores of every table in the covenant is unlikely to be fun. Instead, the storyguide should just describe interesting effects, as required. The rules for humans give an idea as to when the effects should be visible, and as to how serious they should be. Creatures with a Might score are absolutely immune to warping. They are already fully part of one of the supernatural realms.

Living in Strong Auras

Auras of over five points have an effect on anyone living within them, reflected in gaining Warping Points. The number of points gained depends on the strength of the aura and the length of time spent there.

A character is "always within" an aura if she lives, works, and sleeps there. Occasional visits outside the aura do not matter. "Half time within" applies to someone who sleeps in the aura but works elsewhere, or vice-versa. It also covers someone who spends two weeks constantly in an aura, and two weeks outside. "Frequent visits" means that the character spends about a quarter of her time in the aura.

This time refers to the total length of time spent in an aura, even if there are several different auras involved. Time spent in higher auras may be treated as time in a lower aura if this increases the number of Warping Points gained. For example, a character who spends half her time in a level 6 aura, with frequent visits to level 7 and 8 auras, should gain one Warping Point per year, because she is always in an aura of at least level 6.

Warping in strong Aura

Aura Strength	Always within	Half time within	Frequent visits
6	1/year	None	None
7	1/year	1 per 2 years	None
8	2/year	1/year	None
9	1/season	2/year	1/year
10	1/month	1/season	2/yer

Characters with supernatural abilities arising from the same realm as the aura (for example, Hermetic magi in a Magical aura) do not gain Warping Points from living in the aura. They may gain them from other sources.

Powerful Supernatural Effects

Anyone subjected to a powerful supernatural effect gains a Warping Point, unless they themselves were responsible for the effect or it was specifically and carefully designed to work on them. 'Powerful effect' is subjective, but any Hermetic spell of sixth magnitude or higher counts. Designing an effect for a particular target requires, in Hermetic terms, that a special version of a Formulaic spell be invented. The spell has its effect on anyone, but only the designated target, and the caster, do not suffer Warping unless the effect is also continuous. Hermetic Longevity Rituals are always designed for a specific target. If the effect is continuous, a Warping Point is gained when it begins and every season thereafter. Ritual effects with Momentary duration are not continuous, but do grant a Warping Point when first applied if they are neither cast by the target nor specifically designed for the target.

Constant Supernatural Effects

A character who is constantly under the influence of one or more active supernatural effects gains one Warping Point per year for each effect. The strength of the effect is irrelevant, as is the caster, and whether or not the effect was designed specifically for a certain person.

A character is only under the influence of an effect if she is affected directly and personally. Thus, a character enchanted to fly at all times is under the influence of an effect, but a character living in a flying castle need not be; the castle is directly affected by the magic.

Wards are active mystical effects as long as they are protecting someone. Two notable exceptions are Parma Magica and the Aegis of the Hearth, which are based on the same breakthrough by Bonisagus.

Effects with Momentary duration are not continuing effects. A Hermetic Longevity Ritual is, and thus grants one Warping Point per year as a continuing supernatural effect even though it does not grant any Warping Points as a powerful supernatural effect. The binding between a Hermetic magus and his familiar or Talisman does not grant Warping Points, nor do any powers enchanted into the bond.

An effect which is active for half the time counts as constant for these purposes. Less than that, and it does not. Further, it also counts if the character is under the influence of some supernatural effect or other for half the time, even if the particular supernatural effect changes. A character under the effect of a different Sun Duration spell from sunrise to sunset every day for a year would gain a Warping Point.

A powerful, continuous effect that is not specifically designed for an individual grants one Warping Point when first applied, and five every year thereafter: one because it is a continuous supernatural effect and one per season (four total) because it is a continuous powerful supernatural effect.

Warping Points and Constant Effects

Type of effect	Designed for/cast by subject	Not designed for or cast by subject
Brief Effect, Low Power	0	0
Brief Effect, High Power	0	1
Constant Effect, Low Power	1/year	1/year
Constant Effect, High Power	1/year	1 when cast, + 1/year + 1/season

Supernatural Botches

When a character botches the roll to invoke a supernatural effect (for example, a Hermetic spell or a Supernatural Ability), she gains one Warping Point for every zero on the botch dice.

Effects of Warping

The effects of warping depend on a character's Warping Score, the nature of the character, and the source of the warping.

Hermetic magi are made more prone to Wizard's Twilight by their Warping Score. This replaces the normal effects.

Mundane characters gain a Minor Flaw when they reach a Warping Score of one. Note that most inhabitants of Mythic Europe have no Warping Points at all, because they live in a low aura and have never been the subject of a supernatural effect. Even those who have been affected by a powerful supernatural effect once only have one Warping Point, not enough for a Minor Flaw.

This Minor Flaw should reflect the predominant source of the Warping Points. If they are mainly due to an aura, the Minor Flaw will reflect the aura, and most characters will get the same Minor Flaw. If they are mainly due to magical effects, they will reflect the effect. For example, a character who has been repeatedly healed with powerful magic might gain a stigmatic wound, which neither hurts nor causes damage, but looks and feels real.

When the Warping Score reaches 3, the character gains a second Minor Flaw.

At a Warping Score of 5, the character gains a supernatural Minor Virtue attuned to the primary source of Warping Points. This stops any further gain of points from living in a strong aura of the same type as the Minor Virtue.

At a Warping Score of 6, and every point thereafter, the character gains a Major Flaw appropriate to the main sources of the warping.

Aging

Characters begin aging in the Winter after they turn 35. Every year, a character must roll on the aging table.

AGING TOTAL: Stress die (no botch) + age/10 (round up)
- Living Conditions modifier
- Longevity Ritual modifier

As a high roll generally indicates more serious effects of age, a high Longevity Ritual modifier and a high Living Conditions modifier both indicate longer life.

Community Gloss

Certain virtues and flaws, such as faerie blood, also affect the aging roll. The living conditions are set primarily by the covenant's Hooks and Boons, with magi enjoying a 1 point higher modifier. This can be increased, however, by various means. Though not explicitly stated, it appears throwing money at it is one solution; as per the Covenants chapter of the Definitive Edition, it can be increased by +1 with by spending 5 Inhabitants points, or +2 by spending 10. Another core way is to use laboratory personalization to improve a lab's Health. In addition, employing a physician can increase your Living Conditions through medicine, as explained in Art & Academe. Just having a highly-skilled baker can also provide a +1 by consuming superior bread. Hedge magic includes longevity potions brewed by elementalists, and Living Conditions bonuses can be granted by Learned Magicians, cunning-folk, and mythic alchemists. And the Control Fertility ability.

A Longevity Ritual is effective until the character suffers a crisis. When the crisis occurs, the ritual assures that the character survives, but its power is spent, and the focal ritual must be performed again (see page 261).

A character under the influence of a Longevity Ritual should roll on the table no matter what his age, but treats all rolls of 10 or more as rolls of 9 until he reaches the age of 35. His apparent age may be younger than his actual age, but he is at no risk of actually aging before any other characters. At the player's and storyguide's discretion, this may also apply to characters with modifiers to the aging roll from other sources.

Apparent age increases: Particularly low rolls on the table mean that the character appears no older. Otherwise, the character's apparent age increases by one year. The modifier to rolls depends on the character's actual, not apparent, age.

Aging points: Aging points are accumulated in each Characteristic. Once a character has a number of Aging Points greater than the absolute value of the Characteristic, the Characteristic drops by one point and all Aging Points are lost.

Living Conditions	Modifier
Wealthy, or healthy location	+2
Typical Summer or Autumn covenant (magus)	+2
Typical Summer or Autumn covenant (mundane)	+1
Typical Spring or Winter covenant (magus)	+1
Average peasant	0
Live in a leper colony*	-1
Work in a bad air trade*	-1
Work in a mine*	-1
Poor, or unhealthy location; typical town*	-2
Leper*	-2

\* Modifiers marked with an asterisk are cumulative with each other.

Aging Roll	Result
2 or less	No apparent aging
3 or more	Apparent age increases by one year
10–12	1 Aging Point in any Characteristic
13	Gain sufficient Aging Points (in any Characteristics) to reach the next level in Decrepitude, and Crisis
14	1 Aging Point in Qik
15	1 Aging Point in Sta
16	1 Aging Point in Per
17	1 Aging Point in Prs
18	1 Aging Point in Str and Sta
19	1 Aging Point in Dex and Qik
20	1 Aging Point in Com and Prs
21	1 Aging Point in Int and Per
22+	Gain sufficient Aging Points (in any Characteristics) to reach the next level in Decrepitude, and Crisis

Thus, a character with a Communication of +2 drops to +1 in the year when he gains his third Aging Point in that Characteristic. A character with a Stamina of -3 drops to -4 in the year when he gains his fourth Aging Point in that Characteristic.

If an Aging Point 'in any Characteristic' is gained, the player may choose the Characteristic.

Decrepitude: Every Aging Point also counts as an experience point towards Decrepitude, which increases as an Ability. Thus, a character who has gained seventeen Aging Points has a Decrepitude score of 2. Characters with a Decrepitude score of 4 are extremely frail, and must roll on the Crisis Table if they undertake stressful activities, such as long journeys, or any combat. Characters with a Decrepitude score of 5 are bedridden and will die within a few months at most. They cannot be saved by mortal intervention.

Crisis: Increase the character's Decrepitude first, and then roll on the Crisis Table.

CRISIS TOTAL: Simple die + age/10 (round up) + Decrepitude Score

Crisis Roll	Result
8 or less	Bedridden for a week
9–14	Bedridden for a month.
15	Minor illness. Stamina stress roll against an Ease Factor of 3 or CrCo20 to survive.
16	Serious illness. Stamina stress roll against an Ease Factor of 6 or CrCo25 to survive.
17	Major illness. Stamina stress roll against an Ease Factor of 9 or CrCo30 to survive.
18	Critical illness. Stamina stress roll against an Ease Factor of 12 or CrCo35 to survive
19+	Terminal illness. CrCo40 required to survive.

Medical attention may help someone through a crisis. An Int + Medicine roll against an Ease Factor of 6 allows the character to add the attendant's Medicine score to the roll to survive the crisis. Only one doctor may usefully attend a patient, and if the doctor botches the character must subtract 3 from the survival roll.

Virtues that affect aging rolls do not affect crisis survival rolls.

Creo Corpus magic can postpone a crisis, or resolve it if cast as a Momentary Ritual. The level of spell required depends on the severity of the crisis, as noted on the table. Note that the magic required to resolve a crisis that is major or worse is powerful enough to cause warping.

A character who survives a crisis, even through magic, needs the rest of the season to recover fully, and thus cannot undertake any other activities.

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Attribution

Content originally published in Ars Magica: Definitive Edition, ©2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0)

Open License Markdown version by YR7 & OriginalMadman, https://github.com/OriginalMadman/Ars-Magica-Open-License