Inflicting warping, 30 Days of Magic

A spell to inflict warping on an opponent by Touch for use with Intangible Tunnels.

Adding only one warping point does not trigger a subsequent negative effect (unlike The Enigma’s Gift, CrVi30, Ars p.157), however two points will force a check for Twilight (Ars p.88). CrVi15 is not a powerful spell, but would also not be simple for every Magus to cast on a whim, so written up as an alternative to the level CrVi30 version. I think this level is a better weapon against magi as it will be easier to penetrate their parma and forces the same Twilight Check which is a key feature of the level 30 option from the core rules.

It will however iteratively decrease the life expectancy of a Magus, as warping points are a strong indicator of how soon the magus will pass into final twilight. Gaining warping points will also cause problematic flaws and virtues (see Ars p.167) for mundanes who acquire them over time; 5 points are needed to gain a minor flaw, and 30 points to gain a virtue.

Why do this? Well warped items can sometimes (totally dependent on story) develop magical sentience, and warping foes slowly is an insidious way to remove them from long term stories. In games past I’ve seen a character who crafted their own “experimentation box” to warp animals in an effort to realise a magical beast spontaneously; a bit creepy but well within the implies uses of the hermetic spell guidelines.

The Enigma’s Caress

Creo Vim 15, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

The target receives two warping points, and must check to enter twilight.

(Base 10, +1 Touch)

In an item the power becomes dreadfully effective.

Wand of Twilight – An ivory wand inlaid with carvings of floral scrollwork, and a core of Ink of Hermes (+3 lab bonus), kept in a locked oak box. CrVi35 (CrVi 10, +1 Touch) (+18 levels for +36 penetration, +2 for 3 uses per day)

This spell is part of the free new spells compendium for Ars Magica.

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Wacky spells from Reddit, 30 Days of Magic

A few ideas stolen from a post in the Ars Magica section of Reddit… for the 30 Days of Magic. After 700+ spells for Ars I’m struggling to find concepts, so a few of these ideas might be “borrowed” from elsewhere and given an Ironbound Tome variation.

The first is…

nebulousmenace : Intelligo Corpus that allows you to hear human heartbeats up to 100 yards away, so nobody can sneak up on you (or so you can hear when they’re nervous, excited, etc.) I don’t remember if I actually called it “The Tell-Tale Heart” or not.

… which I’ve already kind of created in Jan 2017 as the spell Music for the Sneaking Assassin, using music instead of heartbeats, but the concept is very similar. Close enough.

Then…

Back in my youth I had a spell that turned a belt into an, optionally poisonous, serpent. Muto Animal (perdo requisite for poison.) As a bonus, people’s pants fell down…

… which is a great spell to demonstrate a recent aspect of Muto spell design that I’ve been getting wrong. Typically I would design the spell to have a requisite for creating an animal, but dd not consider that creating an animal itself is very difficult in Ars Magica, and therefore I must follow the design rules which dictates that the applicable spell guideline.

Metamorphose Belts to Serpents

Muto Animal 30, R: Voice, D: Diameter, T: Individual

The targeted belt or bracer is transformed into a venomous serpent, which behaves normally and is uncontrolled by the caster.

(Base 15 “to change an animal into a non living item”, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter)

Then…

ratticus_norvegicus : The alchemist and Terram specialist finally got fed up and invented a spell that would help.
MuTe, D: Diam, R: Sight, T: Structure. Made every metal nail in the ship turn to clay. It would turn back after 2 minutes, of course, but by that point the damage would already be done. The genius part was the name. “Incantation of Spare Lumber”

As…

Incantation of Spare Lumber

Muto Terram 30, R: Voice, D: Diameter, T: Structure

All nails within the targeted structure (or ship) are transformed into clay.

(Base 2, +2 Voice, +1 Diameter, +3 Structure, +2 metal)

Free new spells compendium for Ars Magica.

Killing an animal, 30 Days of Magic

Lost spell from an old 4e grimoire to kill a beast, two versions reworked for 5th edition Ars Magica. I dislike how many of the core Ars spells don’t have allowances for larger creatures which means they are no use against horses and other big foes.

The Incap version at PeAn35 seems a better choice. I also modified the spell as written from size +1 animals to allow affecting large animals too, up to size +4.

Incantation of the Beast’s Ruin

Perdo Animal 35, R: Voice, D: Momentary, T: Individual

This spells inflicts an Incapacitating wound to an animal, up to size +4.

(Base 20, +2 Voice, +1 size)

Incantation of the Pack’s Ruin

Perdo Animal 40, R: Voice, D: Momentary, T: Group

This spells inflicts an Incapacitating wound to a group of animals, up to size +1. Designed with wolf packs in mind, this spell will kill a group of 10x size +1 animals.

(Base 20, +2 Voice, +2 Group)

Incantation of the Beast’s Demise

Perdo Animal 45, R: Voice, D: Momentary, T: Individual

This spells kill an animal of up to size +4 instantly.

(Base 30, +2 Voice, +1 size)

These spells are part of the free new spells compendium for Ars Magica.

Another quick OtIT variant – Widening the Illustrated Tunnel

Another variant on an illustrated magical tunnel, reworked as a wizard in a pbp game called The Light of Andorra (one of the longest running pbp Ars games I’ve seen) needs a version at Range: Touch. I’ve called it widening as the intent is to cast this additional Tunnel after casting a normal version which uses Range: Arcane and Duration: Concentration, or casting upon a person the magus can touch.

Using this spell after a normal tunnel means that many Magi can cooperate to use the tunnel easily, and it can channel slightly higher level spells without the duration expiring unexpectedly. Its handy too that my magus has the Harnessed Magic virtue which means the tunnel can be cancelled anytime. Kudos to the player who first spec’ed him.

It would be wasteful for the magus to invent too many versions, however this widening concept demonstrates how a secondary tunnel might facilitate very powerful effects (described in more detail here).

Widening the Illustrated Tunnel

Rego Vim / Imaginem Gen, R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Individual

This spell opens a magical tunnel between the caster and the target (identical to the spell Opening the Intangible Tunnel) except the the caster’s endpoint of the tunnel is clearly visually represented as a swirling vortex styled by the casters sigil.

Spells cast through this tunnel may be one magnitude greater than the level of this spell.

(Base Gen, +1 Touch, +2 Sun, +1 Im sub effect)

…now some spells where the active effect moves out of visual range of the caster need an AC to be incorporated into the design (eg. Image of the Wizard Torn (ReIm)), and this spell perhaps should use that – I’m not sure, so I left it out.

Happy roleplaying folks,

Spells to Chop Up Mountains, 30 Days of Magic

An insane spell similar to Cascade of Rocks (Ars p.155) to chop a massive segment of hillside or mountain into small usable chunks. Moving them is another matter.

Pathway Through the Mountain

Perdo Terram 40, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Part

This spell tunnels through rock and earth to create a pathway as chosen by the caster, removing up to 100,000 cubic paces of material. This area is equivalent to a pathway 3 paces high and wide, and 5 miles long.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 Part, +5 size, +1 flexible shape)

Carve Mountain into Rubble

Perdo Terram 45, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Part

Cuts the rock and earth in the shape chosen by the caster, equal to 1,000,000 cubic paces into cubic foot segments, likely ruining the stability of a large area and causing significant damage. This area is equivalent to a cube 100 paces to a side, or a dome 78 paces high and 157 paces wide at the base.

(Base 4, +1 Touch, +1 Part, +6 size, +1 flexible shape)

This spell is part of the free new spells compendium for Ars Magica

spells Investigating Auras, 30 Days of Magic

Writing these spells out longform as I keep needing them in games and have been wanting to add these to the spell library for a long time. For the purposes of the 30 Days of magic its a bit of a cheat.

The core rules has a spell to identify if the caster is within a Magical aura (called Sense of Magical Power (InVi2) Ars p.157) and spells to help determine the strength of a Divine aura (called Sense the Weight of the Divine Power (InVi3) MoH p.102) then a magus then needs more.

Sense of Divine Power

Intellego Vim 2, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows if they are within a Divine aura.

(Base 1 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

Sense of Faerie Power

Intellego Vim 2, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows if they are within a Faerie aura.

(Base 1 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

Sense of Infernal Power

Intellego Vim 2, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows if they are within a Infernal aura.

(Base 1 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

… and then…

Sense the Weight of the Faerie Power

Intellego Vim 3, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows the strength of the current Faerie aura.

(Base 2 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

Sense the Weight of the Infernal Power

Intellego Vim 3, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows the strength of the current Infernal aura.

(Base 2 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

Sense the Weight of the Magical Power

Intellego Vim 3, R: Touch, D: Momentary, T: Individual

Caster knows the strength of the current Magical aura.

(Base 2 for a magical aura, +1 Touch)

I think having a magus cast several spells to identify their auras isn’t overly interesting storytelling, but the InVi guidelines from Ars p.158 are clear; Garrumph.

Find hundreds of other new spells for Ars Magica on my New Spells page.

Hounds of Wood and Stone, 30 Days of Magic

I made an Ice Hound spell a while ago, and then a set of spells for Statues of Man – so these are to expand the set of conjured assistance across a variety of materials.

Shape the Clay Hound

Creo Terram / Rego Animal 25, R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Individual

This spell creates a large (size +0) dog shaped from clay, and animates it under the caster’s control so it can follow simple commands. The Animal requisite grants the animation the behaviours and habits instinctive to a trained sled dog.

(Base 1, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 detailed shape, +1 Rego)

I first thought to make the hound from stone or steel but clay has a lower base – a doubt I have is that the base for Rego Animal an object as an animal is now lower than the creation spell, so this might be invalid.

Shape the Wooden Wolf

Creo Herbam / Rego Animal 25, R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Individual

This spell creates a large (size +0) wolf shaped from wood, and animates it under the caster’s control so it can follow simple commands. The Animal requisite grants the animation the behaviours and habits instinctive to wild wolves.

(Base 3, +1 Touch, +3 Moon, +1 detailed shape, +1 Rego)

I’ve seen it argued that the extra mag for detailed shape is not needed, which I disagree with as this is a created item.

This spell is part of the free new spells compendium for Ars Magica.