Questions tagged [ars-magica-5]
Ars Magica 5th edition (2004) by Atlas Games is the most recent incarnation of the game and the second edition after its return to its original publisher.
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Can Faerie characters learn Faerie Magic?
Realm Of Power:Faerie describes two new magic methods. Faerie rites and Faerie bargaining. Are these magic methods exclusive to magi or can they be used by faerie PCs through the usage of Focus Power ...
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Are there any spells in Ars Magica that allow the creation of structures that are bigger on the inside?
While I highly doubt that this will come up in the game I am in due to the fact that we are playing low level magus I was kind of curious as to whether there are spells that allow a building to be ...
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Is there a way to play Ars Magica but without the troupe/companion/grog mechanics?
I've owned the sourcebook for AM5 for years, and finally found a group that likes the creativity of the magic system as much as I do... but they (and I, personally) really dislike the 'multi character'...
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Do wound penalties apply to soak as well?
Running a brief combat and it occurred to us that an opponent had a soak that would only ever allow light wounds to be accrued. Consulting the combat rules in Ars Magica p. 178, we concluded that it ...
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How are ghostly warders permitted to pass in and out of their maga's home aegis?
Background
We have a magi with a ghostly warder founding a new covenant. One of the first orders of business is to cast aegis of hearth (AM5 p.161). Since the ghostly warder has a might score, our ...
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What Forms do coal and crude oil fall under?
In Ars Magica 5, what Forms would be suitable for working with coal? My initial assumption would be Terram, but I can see an argument for requiring Herbam as a prerequisite.
Similarly, what Form ...
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What is the appropriate form for a spell that searches texts?
Here is the spell:
Shelfmark of the Ephemeral Catalogue
Intelligo ___
You are able to sense which written texts within the target room
contain a verbatim phrase. (See table for ...
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What is the reasonable upper limit of vis extraction for an established magus?
Using the core rule book, Covenants, and The Mysteries as sources, what is the reasonable upper limit of seasonal vim vis extraction of a hermetic alchemist that's 75 years post gauntlet?
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What is the median age of magi?
Decrepitude and warping eventually get every magus. In the section about longevity rituals there is a statement regarding the upper bound:
Magi of two hundred years or older are rare, but not ...
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Are all wound removal spells ritual casting?
All of the the creo corpus spells that remove wounds appear to be ritual. Is this true of all spells that remove wounds from a character?
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Can ceremonial casting be applied to formulaic magic?
The description of Ceremonial Casting on p. 83 says:
A maga may spend fifteen minutes for every magnitude of the spell performing rituals to invoke the powers of natural magic. As a result, she may ...
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Are there any spell guidelines for increasing size in Hermetic Magic?
I saw a short story written by someone who writes a Diedne blog and it mentions the mage using magic to increase size. Is this possible and are there any existing spell guidelines for it?
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Does raw vis provided from vis sources have to be extracted by magi?
The basic rules indicate that the area around a covenant can provide some amount of raw vis per year (p 72). Does that raw vis need to be extracted as per the vis extraction rules in the laboratory ...
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What is the monetary system for Mythic Europe?
I've been reading through the core rule book, and there are references to money and skills related to money. However, I have been unable to find a section that talks about the monetary system of the ...
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State and status of an animal magically turned into a human
Let us suppose that we have a mundane animal - a cow, sheep or pig, and a Muto Animal Corpus spell is used to transform that animal from its natural form into the form of a human that is the ...
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Can I use Rego Mentem guidelines to compel Fae to do my bidding?
Page 151 of the Ars Magica Fifth Edition rulebook gives a level 20 base level guideline for Rego Mentem to give a person a complex command. Can this extend to Fae Creatures with Faerie Might?
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What components would be in a general cutting spell?
The spell I have in mind is extremely similar to 'diffindo' in Harry Potter. The user gestures across a path a short distance away, and as if by an invisible knife, a minor linear cut is made across ...
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Can a defender defend against any number of attacks?
In non-group combat the defender rolls a defend roll against the attacker's attack. So far pretty basic and clear. Now our group was wondering what happens if multiple, say 3, attackers all go for one ...
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Can someone with the Holy Magic Ability and Virtue learn Miraculous effects (Methods and Powers)?
Page 67 and 69 of Ars Magica Realms of Power: The Divine describe that one of the benefits of using Holy Magic is the use of the Holy Power guidelines. Does this mean they can gain the Miraculous ...
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Can I find out if anyone is within a boundary with a Intelligo Corpus Spell?
For example, could I use a Intelligo Corpus spell with a range of personal, duration of instant, a target of boundary, and a Intelligo Corpus base level of 5 to know if someone is within my boundary ...
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When a character's arts are opened do they get all techniques?
Do characters with the Gift who have their arts opened to Elementalists have a 0 in all forms and all techniques? Or just a 0 in all forms?
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Can an Elementalist use all manifestations or only one he has the virtue for?
Can an Elementalist use all manifestations (Theurgy, Philosophical, and Medicinal) or only one he has the virtue for?
This question is aimed at the Elementalist hedge magic in the Hedge Magic Revised ...
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Can you create body parts with Creo Corpus?
Can you create individual body part (such as an arm) with a creo corpus spell?
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Is there a modifier for permanent spell durations?
Is there a modifier for permanent spell durations in Ars Magica 5th edition?
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How does Puissant Art interact with Summae level?
Does Puissant Art count against a maga advancement from reading a summa?
Does it count in favor for how well she can write a summa?
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Shapeshifters: do they retain equipment/clothes or not?
Relating to Shapeshifter powers in Ars Magica 5th edition. I'm specifically wondering how this works with Folk Witches (see Ars Magica 5th Ed. source book Hedge Magic) but it's related to all with ...
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What if I have no Confidence (the mechanic) in Ars Magica 5th Edition?
I'm newly running an Ars Magica 5th edition game, and I'm finding the Confidence mechanic feels a little out of place so far.
As far as I can find, it is only mentioned in any detail on Page 19-20. ...
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How can a Magi become a ghola (as in Dune by Frank Herbert)? [closed]
In Frank Herbert's novel Dune, a ghola is a postmortem clone with all the memories, abilities and skills of his previous lives. How can a Magi become a ghola?
What hermetic breakthroughs are needed? ...
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Is there any maximum to how high your score in an Art can be?
There is a clear maximum for Abilities based on character age, but is there a similar maximum for Arts?
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Initial resources for a character
In Ars Magica, 5th edition, there seems to be no indication at all of the equipment and resources a character can have. There is just a note reading that any equipment is OK if you can justify it.
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What games other than Ars Magica encourage Troupe play? [closed]
Troupe play is a specific style where the group is encouraged to collaborate in creating and running the game. There's often more than one GM, players often run more than one character and, indeed, ...
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What are "Descriptions" for?
In Ars Magica 5th, the Character Sheet has a space for a Description with each of the Characteristics. But I can't find in the book what is it for.
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Is a suit of armor considered one thing with respect to enchanting it?
Would each piece of a suit of armor have to be enchanted separately (let's say I wanted to lighten the armor), or could it be enchanted as a whole?
I'd like to be able to do it as a whole, but ...
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Dates of regional tribunals
Is it somewhere in the official sourcebooks of 5th Edition mentioned the years of the regional Tribunals?
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High Quality wizard miniatures? (for Ars Magica) [closed]
I would like to buy dozens of different wizard miniatures, to use them in Ars Magica (I know they are not necessary, but I would like to use them any way, to illustrate positioning of the party and ...
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Parma Magica and telepathic communication
If we have an entity that uses magic to transmit certain of its thoughts in a telepathy-like manner to other beings through an effect that is equivalent to a Creo Mentem effect, can a magus with a ...
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Does Parma prevent Wings of the Soaring Wind from working?
The description of Parma Magica, and the many examples, show that magically propelled substances (in this case, the air) touch the target, but not with any force, unless it penetrates the parma.
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How to handle aging for animals?
I'm sure I remember conversion factors for handling aging for animals but I can't seem to find them any more. How should aging of (significant) animals be handled. RAW preferably.
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Can "normal" Hermetic Magi take virtues from Realms of Power: Magic?
Page 43 of Realms of Power: Magic starts a list of new Virtues & Flaws for "when designing magic characters or characters that are somehow associated with the realm of Magic". Hermetic magi are ...
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How does combat with weapon and shield work?
In Ars Magic 5th I am not able to find how combat works for a character with weapon and shield.
Attack total is:
Dexterity + Combat Ability + Weapon Attack Modifier + Stress Dice
Defense total is:...
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How much space does housing people take up?
Assuming I'm aiming for "approximate realism" about how much space do my covenfolk take up with housing / kitchens / etc?
(They have an LCM of +1 but it would be good to know for a range of such ...
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How to effectively combine Ars Magica's Agent rules with Reign's Company rules?
This question was originally posed hypothetically in this Answer and ensuing comments.
I am attempting to do something very similar to this as seen in this Question. In that question I am looking ...
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Is there a fantasy system that has a similar mechanical complexity to Ars Magica, but with a more robust melee system?
I'm preparing for my next game. For a while, I've had an interest in the mechanics of Ars Magica's casting system, and I'm hoping to run a game with a similar texture. The problem is that my group isn'...
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Designing a spell to create works of art
I want to create a spell that can create a big wooden statue.
The statue should not be basic and should be seen as a work of art.
As long as I want to create the exact same statue, this spell is ...
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Is copying Summae really this easy?
ArM5 page 166 says that when you've accumulated as many points as the level of the summa you've copied it; and points are accumulated at 6+Prof(Scribe) per season, or three times that if doing it ...
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Creating elder magi
I'm going to need to stat up a few elder magi for my saga, but the sourcebooks are drastically short of guidelines for magi of the 100-150 years / archmage level. I'm happy to wave my hands a bit for ...
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Quality of Lecture Commentaries if using Extended book rules from Covenents
Art & Academe gives:
Teacher's Com + Scribe's Scribe/2 + 1 + Teacher's Virtues
for Lecture Commentaries, and also comments that "Lecture commentaries will ...
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Detecting suppressed auras
The various Realms of Power books describe how an aura can be suppressed by a stronger (or equal-level Divine) aura; but I can't see anything definitive that says that either:
You can't detect the ...
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Why does the Folio contain only works from Bonisagus magi?
Houses of Hermes: True Lineages implies that only works from Bonisagus magi are collated into the folio, but given that any magus can perform Experimentation and Original Research is there any reason ...
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Granting the Gentle Gift through original research
As everyone knows The Gift is a major part of Ars Magica and dealing with it provides much of the conflict between mundanes and magi. The Gentle Gift Major Virtue is available at character creation to ...
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