Hi all,
I'm wondering if there's some canon (or house rule) guidelines for creating magical beasts. At least from the base book there doesn't seem to be a Magic Might that the various rituals give... so a level 50 ritual could create a level 5 or level 50 beast. I was looking at the Hermetic Projects (Magical Menagerie) but it proved a little unhelpful on this part unfortunately.
What would you good folks suggest for someone who wants to create magical beasts/things/etc?
Sub Rosa #13 has a Diedne tradition for creating/controlling Magic beasts.
-Ben.
Look back in HP, but look at the necromancer instead. You'll find a created revenant.
And Realms of Power: Magic also talks about creating elementals, iirc.
Here is some house-rule thingie I cooked up some time ago; you might find it interesting/relevant.
The Masters Beyond Death
This dark Merinita cult worships the Babylonian god of the underworld, Nergal. It’s members practice a form of corporeal necromancy, raising undead minions to do their bidding. It is unclear how recent the cult is, but in its modern form it primarily relies on the Mystery of Creaturecrafting.
Only practitioners with Faerie Magic are accepted into the cult. It is possible, however, to join House Merinita and hence be initiated into this Outer Mystery and then join the cult.
First Initiation: Cult Lore 0
Mystery: The supplicant gains Minor Potent Magic creating Undead.
Ordeal: The supplicant gains the Oath Flaw, representing his oath of allegiane to Nergal.
Second Initiation: Cult Lore 1
Mystery: The supplicant gain the Creaturecrafting Mystery.
Ordeal: The supplicant gains the Sensitivity to the Divine Flaw.
Third Initiation: Cult Lore 3
Mystery: The supplicant gains Major Potent Magic in Undead.
Ordeal: Loses Minor Potent Magic.
Names of Power 4
Consumate Talisman; Deleterious Circumstances 5
Fourth Initiation: Cult Lore 6
Living Corpse
Crafter of Undead: Minor Mystery
Through this Mystery, the disciples of Nergal create powerful Undead. Undead may be created as Magical creatures, with total Might equal to five times the raw vis invested in the casting. (This is usually twice the spell’s level, but can be less if means are taken to reduce the Ritual’s cost, such as Mercurian Magic.)
Creating a magical beast is Creo Animal Base 50, with Vim and possibly other requisites. This Mystery opens two new base guidelines, Rego Animal and Rego Corpus Base 50, for creating corporeal undead. As with CrAn, a Vim requisite is always needed, and further requisites may be required. The spell must be a Ritual, and it can only be cast on an appropriate target. The Masters Beyond Death almost always use the Until duration, with an appropriate condition that will break the spell (see below for examples).
The created undead are created as Magical characters, with appropriate Might and powers. If using Realms of Power: Magic, they should be Spring characters. If not follow these guidelines: their most powerful Power should not exceed in Level + Penetration the Ritual spell’s level, they should have no more than a few Powers.
Who can be raised? The targets of the cult’s spells are often corpses. The spells fail to work if these have been given proper Christian burial, or the spirits are otherwise in the Divine realm. Spirits in other Realms are usually less vulnerable, but it’s possible that particular ones will be, depending on their fate in the afterlife.
Raising the Undead Horde
ReCo(Vi) Level 95 (B50, +1 Touch, +4 Boundary, +4 Until) Ritual
This feared ritual raises an army of lesser undead - skeletons following the orders of the caster. It can be cast on any collection of mostly-whole skeletons or corpses, such as those from a graveyard or field of battle. All the dead in the area rise up, climbing out of graves if necessary, and present themselves in service to the caster. The spell only animates their bones, and doesn’t protect their flesh from rotting further, so that in time they will turn to skeletons even if at first they may appear as zombies.
The skeletons are loyal and tireless, but not clever or particularly skilled and completely lack any ability to innovate or deviate from their orders. While disciplined, they lack the ability to function as a Group in combat. While terrifying, their combat effectiveness is thus limited. Their one advantage is that they can be created in huge quantities, from the bodies of slain enemy soldiers: because of their minimal Might, these skeletons can be created in huge quantities.
The magic animating the skeletons is undone if they are ever commanded by someone with rightful authority over them, such as their mundane Lord or their military commander. It will also falter if the skeleton is physically destroyed.
Skeleton of the Undead Horde
Magic Might 1
Intelligence -3 (literal thinking), Communication -3 (silent), Presence +1, Perception -3 (dim senses), Strength +2, Stamina +3, Dexterity 0, Quickness -3
Abilities: Speak Native Language 3 (his native tongue)
Virtues and Flaws: Small Frame (skeletal)
Initiative:
Powers: None.
Equipment: Leather hauberk, axe.
Conjuring the Shadow of the Icy Grave
Re(Pe)Co(Ig,Vi) 75 (Base 50, +1 Touch, +4 Until) Ritual
This dark ritual creates a powerful, incorporeal assassin in the caster’s service. It can only be cast on a body buried in deep, cold catacombs.
Undead Shadow
Magic Might 75
Powers:
Incorporeal PeCo 60 (B40, +2 Sun): The undead corpse becomes immaterial. It appears as a black shadow, and can slither over the ground but has no solidity or substance to it.
Icy Grip PeIg 10 (B5, +1 Touch), Penetration 65: The shadow’s touch does +5 cold damage. It is cold enough to freeze water.
The Fury of the Lost of Pompeii
Re(Cr)Co(Ig) 75 (Base 50, +1 Touch, +4 Until) Ritual
Burned Men
Magic Might 75
Powers:
Touch of Abysmal Flame CrIg 30 (B25, +1 Touch), Penetration 35: Touch does +30 damage.
Arc of Abysmal Flame 45 (B25, +2 Voice, +2 Group), Penetration 30
The Corpse Golem
Re(Mu)Co 85 (B50, +1 Touch, +2 Group, +4 Until) Ritual
Targets 10 related corpses, all must have died in the same battle, for example.
Magic Might 85
Powers:
Swallow the Dead MuCo
I'd say the first thing is to look up what it takes to create an animal itself, add a vim requisite that increases the magnitude of the spell by 1, and that will create a might:5 creature. Additional levels of magnitude can add more might. obviously this requires a permenant/momentary ritual, durations of a shorter term can only create non-might animals.
If we look at the 'Conjure the Walking Dead' Ritual Spell from Hermetic Projects (Pg 117), it explains that the base level for creating a magical human is level 45; coincidentally the magical might of the revenant (pg 116) is 9; a simple ruling could be made that the magnitude of the spell is the amount of Magical Might that the creature would have.
Base level 50 for magical animal would make a magical might 10 creature, with +1 magnitude for +1 Magical Might
Ie a magical might 15 lion would be:
Creo-Animal 80 ritural
(base 50, +1 Touch, +5 for higher might)
with requisites for the powers that the lion has, Imaginum/Aurum for a super loud roar etc
The same book have spells to create two Magical Beasts (both form the Core Book),and they all the same, without saying anything about the limits.
I would say than one +11th Magnitude Ritual is something than we could let talk creature to creature to create.
There is something in Magi of Hermes.
Marcus of Criamon has a few spells along those line and the virtue he is inventing/researching could certainly work.
When creating elementals, it's +1 magnitude for +5 Magic Might. I don't think I would make it so much harder for non-elementals than for elementals.
Rival Magic has guidelines for Augustan wizards animating statues with Might and Muspelli animating corpses with Might. Might be worth looking there.
Hi everyone,
Sorry for resurrecting such an old topic, but I have a related question about this topic.
My Verditius is planning to make some magic items which create animals, some of the animals he is planning are mundane - no problem.
However, he also wants to create some animals which are magical. From reading ROP:M I believe that anything his item makes will be a Spring animal, without any extra knowledge or experience. But can they have powers?
A mighty helper
Cr(Re)An(IgVi) ???
R:Touch, D:Sun; T:Ind; 1 use per day
Creates a large, fire-breathing dragon of size +7 which completely obeys commands.
The drake has a might of xxx but does not contain vis. It has a single zero cost power, the ability to breathe fire (+15 damage per round, 15 Penetration)
base 50, +1 touch, +2 sun, +3 requisites, +2 size; +?? Might
Should I just stat this as a fresh Spring drake?
Good question. Reading the CrAn guidelines, I'd say they probably could, with relevant requisites included.
I would however, talk it over with my troupe.
Either way, I may need to steal this idea. 
I would go with no less than 1 magnitude per 5 Might, which would hit a 100 magnitude spell for Might 10.
...How do you get that?
Maybe a level 100 spell, but a magnitude 100 spell?
Note that if you create an animal with Creo magic, and magically enforce its loyalty with a Rego requisite, as soon as the magic expires so does the loyalty. Which may not be exactly what you wanted if you are creating the animal with a D:Mom ritual...
There's a line in Hermetic Projects (page 126) which says "A spell that creates a magic animal is always a ritual, and cannot be installed in an enchanted device", which is a problem for the Verditius.
That page also has a few other relevant points - in particular, you don't need to add levels for the Vim requisite just to make the creature magical (as it's necessary for the spell to work at all, rather than providing an additional effect), but you do need a Mentem requisite if you want it to be intelligent.
Whilst it does seem odd, I don't think there's actually any Rules requirement to increase the spell level for higher might. There are examples of creating a magical wolf with might 20 with a level 60 spell, and a dragon with Stellatus' stats (might 50 - page 194 main book) with a spell of level 80 (and it's only that high because of his size and power requisites). This is an obvious area for houseruling - I'd at the least rule that the might couldn't be higher than the level of the spell. I might be inclined to say that the magus can't design for might level - instead he says "I want to create a spell that creates a drake" and the storyguide decides on the appropriate might for such a creature.
Sorry, yes, level 100 spell, 20 magnitudes, my mistake.
I hadn't seen the part in HP, and I agree with some its reasoning, however, there was nothing there about might levels.
I think that as my SG may let me get away with a device which creates a drake, as long as it doesn't have Might.
I'll just be quoting the core rulebook, the Creo Animal box, p. 116, above the guidelines:
and
From this, I'd say it's fairly clear that you can create a magical beast with powers, assuming you can fulfill the requisites.
Yes, this could potentially allow you to abuse CrAn to achieve effects normally associated with other Arts, though you'd still have to deal with requisites. And ofcourse with any such spell being a ritual, since the guideline is base 50 and you'd need at least R: Touch.