Consolidating Possible Expansions of Hermetic Theory

Games Discussion Ars Magica
40

Here's one (the concept of which I don't think has been mentioned) that my maga is already several points into right now. I have some other in-progress breakthroughs but they're super long (one for combining Animal and Corpus, and one for creating a new lab activity that lets you examine someone's Gift with InVi and attempt to mend one of its flaws with CrVi) and I'm not sure if this forum has some means to collapse text (?).

Similar Magic Items; Minor Breakthrough (35 points)
Sources of Insight: -
Relevant Spells: Effects placed into an Enchanted Item for which you already have an Enchanted Item Lab Text on hand that would constitute a Similar Spell if it were a spell that you knew.
Stipulations: -
Effect: The following breakthrough Virtue is created:

Meticulous Enchanting
Minor, Hermetic
When placing a magical effect into an Enchanted Item, you may benefit from having an Enchanted Item Lab Text on hand (for the whole duration of your work) that contains a magical effect with the same effect but different parameters, or the same parameters and a related effect. You gain a bonus to your Lab Total equal to the Enchanted Item Lab Text’s magnitude. You may only benefit from one such Lab Text per effect to be placed into the Enchanted Item, and this bonus does not stack with the standard bonus for enchanting an item for which you have a Similar Spell.

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41

Hummm, I wounder if you could use a CrVi(Me) spell that also includes the Targets Form (generally Terram) as research spells for this. You use one of the Bases that give Warping Points from CrVi, while the Me part would attempting to form words, emotion, or a thought.

42

That definitely seems like a good route to look into if you were researching it (especially if you had an example of an awakened object you were trying to replicate).

I've never actually implemented that innovation in a saga, it's just something I had in my notes as an idea. I think the end result might resemble a magic aligned version of animae magic. There's already some overlap in that there's a MuHe 4 guideline for awakening the consciousness of a plant and a MuHe 4 animae magic guideline for turning a plant into a faerie.

In that regard trying to replicate that effect for other forms (e.g. "awaken the consciousness of a natural stone") could also be fruitful research.

43

I just have the image in my head of a Magus pouring magic into a rock while screaming "WAKEUP!" at it.

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44

The following is a kind of breakthrough that may start showing up in one of my games soon, as a member of House Bonisagus strives to create a magical school.

Compiled Curriculum of (Art) Minor Breakthrough (30 points)
Sources of Insight: Observe a supernatural ability being taught to a group of at least four students, examine a book for a supernatural ability.
Relevant Spells Intellego Spells of the relevant form that grant supernatural senses, or Intellego spells with the relevant Technique as a requisite. Creo Mentem effects that create memories or communicate concepts.
Stipulations: At least half of the breakthrough points for this breakthrough must come from sources of insight.
Effect: The following breakthrough Virtue is created:

Advanced Teacher of (Art)
Minor, Hermetic

When teaching a particular hermetic Art, you may teach more than one student simultaneously. You are no longer limited to teaching that art one-on-one, having learned techniques for expanding the personal enlightenment of the experience into something more streamlined and secular. Your teaching source quality is affected as normal for having multiple students.

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45

Experimental Book Writing Hermetic (60) or Major Breakthrough (45)

You are capable of experimenting with your writing techniques to attempt to create better methods of conveying information in the written medium.

When you choose to experiment while writing a Tractatus or Summa, roll a simple die. If the result is higher than the total quality of your book, counting your communication and increased quality for lowering the level of a summa but not bonuses from virtues, then you increase the quality of your book by one.

Much like with standard experimentation, you may choose to take an additional risk modifier. This adds to the simple die to determine exceptional quality (above) and to the experimentation table roll (below). It also adds dice to any botch made as part of the experiment.

Additionally, you roll a stress die + any risk modifier. Compare the result to the Arcane Experimentation table (Corebook, pg 109). Then use the following tables to resolve the general effects of your experimentation. When writing a Summa, you may roll to experiment on each season you write in, potentially improving the book's quality and rolling on the experimentation table.

The No Extraordinary Effects, No Benefit, Complete Failure and Special or Story Event results for experimentation work in the same way for experimentation on books. Treat Modified Effect as Side Effect.

Disaster: Your book is tainted by your attempts in some terrible way. The character has no knowledge of the book’s flaws, but their player does. Roll a simple die + risk modifier - Perception, and compare to the following chart:

Die Result Effect
0 or less You avert the disaster by abandoning your book before it’s too late. This wastes your season but has no other effects.
1-2 Your book’s quality suffers dramatically- reduce the quality of a summa by the number of botches rolled for Arts, or three times that for Ability Summae. A tractatus has its quality reduced to your Communication and no longer benefits from any virtues you possess.
3-4 It’s not simply that your book is bad. Your book is so confusing that it misinforms the readers. After spending a season studying it, the reader rolls a stress die and loses that many experience points in the Art or Ability your book is about.
5-6 Your book exposes one of your personal secrets. Someone reading your book may make a (Language + Perception) check with an ease factor of 9 each season they read it. On a success, if you have the Dark Secret flaw or know a Mystery virtue, then the reader knows the Dark Secret or understands (but does not gain) the powers of the mystery virtue.
7-8 Your book is accidentally diabolical or of deep occult significance. The book may also count as a book of equivalent source quality in Infernal Lore or an Infernal supernatural ability. It may instead teach Corrupted Abilities (RoP:I). It’s possible that the book may instead be bound to other Realms, in which case anyone who reads it gains the Plagued by Supernatural Entity, Supernatural Nuisance or Visions flaw for at least a year after reading it.
9 Roll twice more on this chart.

Side Effect: Roll a simple die and work out the specifics with the storyguide. Minor flaws or virtues granted by a side effect typically last between two seasons and a year.

Die Result Effect
1 Your unique style of writing is so overemphasized in this book as to be obvious to anyone even distantly familiar with you. You gain or increase a Hermetic reputation suitable for your style of writing, such as Excessive Purple Prose, Elegantly Illustrated or Spare and Spartan. Roll a simple die and add that many experience points to the relevant Reputation. Your books also benefit from this Reputation.
2-3 Your book is slightly flawed in some way, such as having a lower source quality for characters without a specific complementary ability at a certain level or for a specific type of reader. It may cover a more narrow ability or be written in such a baroque way as to be useless to someone who fails a (Ability + Perception) check.
4-5 Your book is slightly unusual. This typically makes the book more difficult to use or interact with without reducing its general quality. For example, the book may be filled with rambling commentary that allow it to act as a book of lesser quality for another, unrelated ability. The book could accidentally be rarefied (Covenants) or written in such an arcane way as to require a higher than average language skill to be readable.
6 Your book has been slightly improved. It may offer 1-3 points of additional source quality for characters with appropriate complementary abilities, benefit more from being arranged into Florilegia or be written in such a way as to be exceptionally easy to translate. Books on hermetic arts could also contain some levels of hermetic spells that are learned in addition to any experience offered by the text.
7 Your book is significantly worse than you expected. This usually reduces the book’s quality by two points and confers an additional side problem. The book could create an entirely new, significantly narrower, version of an ability or cause someone who reads it to temporarily gain a minor flaw of the author. It may negate the benefits of virtues such as Book Learner when studying it or require that it be presented in a particular way to be of any use at all- requiring additional volumes on the same subject to provide context it is missing.
8 The book is exceptionally strange. This could allow the book to include Tractatus or lesser Summa on completely unrelated abilities or arts, with somewhat lesser quality or level. It could also convey a temporary Minor flaw and Minor virtue related to the subject of the book, but which the author themselves may lack- such as Intuition and Weird Magic for a book on Faerie Lore. The book may be a minor magical being with Might that must be appeased in order to submit to being read.
9 Your book is exceptionally good. This generally improves the book’s quality by two points and confers an additional benefit. For example, Summae could act as Summae for multiple abilities or arts at once, allowing the reader to divide experience points gained between those various abilities. The book may allow the reader to exchange points of experience gained to temporarily gain a Minor virtue of the author, frequently for a year or a few seasons. Books on Hermetic Arts could act as Casting Tablets for one or more spells relevant to the author’s topic.
10 Your book is fatally flawed. This usually confers something similar to one of the Disaster effects (see above), except it is chosen by the player.

Discovery: Roll a simple die and add your risk modifier.

Die Result Effect
1-4 You gain 15 experience points in Profession: Scribe.
5-8 You gain 15 experience points in the Ability, or 3 experience points in the Art, that is the subject of the book.
9 You gain 15 experience points in at least three related Abilities to the subject of the book.
10+ Roll twice, and reroll this result if it is generated again.

Example Books

(This first example was provided to me by @Xefas)

The Fruit of Carnal Knowledge
Corpus Summa
Level 15 / Quality 12

Written in ink made from (ethically sourced) human blood, this controversial volume was written by Celestis ex Merinita primarily for use by the other degenerates of her covenant, though copies of it have become something of a secret collector's item among lustful wizards throughout the Stonehenge and Normandy tribunals.

Though the text expresses unmistakable wisdom about the intimate mechanics of the human body, it does so while simultaneously betraying the author's licentiousness with nearly every line, at times using examples involving elaborate sexual magic in scenarios too specific to be assumed fictional, in shameless detail. This, along with lavish illustrations, academically annotated and anatomically rigorous, that nevertheless depict erotically debauched acts, make the tome difficult to read for the faint of heart.

Readers of The Fruit of Carnal Knowledge may add one of their lust-related personality traits to its quality, to a maximum of 3. Readers without such a personality trait must subtract one of their prudishness-related personality traits (if any) from its quality, to a maximum of 3.

A Saffron Clad King
Magic Lore Summa
Level 5 / Quality 10

This book details the inner mechanics of daimonic spirits from the deep magic realm. It lingers particularly on a specific daimon, who the author never names, but describes as “imperial”. Written for Hermetic students, this book’s quality is increased by 3 for readers with a Magic Theory of at least 5. However, those who read it are plagued by strange visions of the Twilight Void for long after- gaining the Visions flaw for at least a year after spending a season studying it.

It also contains the True Names of several Daimons, allowing the reader to exchange experience points in order to learn them as per the rules in Realms of Power: Magic.

Unbreakable Constitution
Three Flawed Medicine Tractatus
Quality 6, Quality 5 and Quality 5

This series of books covers the subject of medical knowledge when applied to one’s personal diet and exercise. It grants the reader experience points in a new skill- Personal Regimen, which may only be used to create regimens (Arts and Academe, pg 59) for oneself. The knowledge offered is too specialized to allow it to be used for any other medical reasons. The final volume of the set guides the reader through a series of complex and season-long exercises, intended to be implemented alongside study. Should a character complete them with the book’s aid, they gain a +2 living conditions modifier to their next aging roll, cumulative with other bonuses to living conditions.

The book may be studied each year, renewing the exercises and gaining the bonus to living conditions for the year.

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46

Expanded Specialization Practices; Major Breakthrough (50 points)
Sources of Insight: -
Relevant Spells: Spells of the same Technique and Form as a spell that you have mastered.
Stipulations: You must have at least one breakthrough point from each Form to properly create the virtue. If any Forms did not contribute a breakthrough point, then the virtue is flawed and does not apply to that Form.
Effect: The following breakthrough Virtue is created:

Improved Mastery Teacher
Minor, Hermetic
You’ve discerned some of the foundational similarities between all Formulaic spells that have heretofor gone unexplored. When you write a Tractatus or Summa on a Spell Mastery ability, the finished book may actually be applied to any spell the reader knows of the same Technique and Form combination. Rather than creating a ‘Pilum of Fire’ Spell Mastery book, for example, you instead create a ‘Creo Ignem’ Spell Mastery book. The same applies to teaching Spell Mastery directly; the experience points you would provide to a student can be applied to a spell of their choice of the same Technique and Form that they know.

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Perfected Master of Spells (Major Breakthrough 50)
Sources of Insight: Summae or tractati containing an Augustan rite, Virgilian Magic Theory, books on Spell Mastery from characters with the Flawless Magic Virtue.
Relevant Spells: Intellego Vim spells with sufficient sensitivity to detect if a spell was cast by a magus with a spell mastery ability (at least +4 magnitudes).
Stipulations: At least 35 points of this breakthrough must come from Sources of Insight, as it draws heavily on integrating the tradition of the Augustan Brotherhood.
Effect: The following breakthrough virtue or arcane ability is created:

Adept Masterer of Spells
Minor, Hermetic

This virtue allows the maga to perform a new type of lab activity in order to gain experience points in a Spell Mastery ability. She selects the relevant spell and spends a season conducting investigations into the spell’s underlying principles and the personal, esoteric way it interacts with the world.

At the end of the season, she gains experience in that Spell Mastery ability based on the following formula:

Intelligence + Hermetic Magic Theory + Aura Modifier + Similar Spell Bonus

Vis may not be spent on this lab activity. This virtue draws on many of the same underlying principles that people with Flawless Magic understand intuitively, and as such people with that Virtue only gain 1.5 times the normal amount of Spell Mastery experience, rather than the normal bonus.

As an alternative, this breakthrough may instead create the following Arcane Ability:

Perfected Spells
Arcane Ability
You are unusually talented at perfecting your control over your spells and attaining mastery over them. You add your level in this ability to the Source Quality of any book on Spell Mastery that you read and to the Source Quality for practicing Spell Mastery.

Specialties: A particular technique or form, a particular practice location

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48

I love the format going on here, its so brilliant.

So I don't have much to contribute but I do want to say to those posted new expansion, you are awesome and thank you very much.

There is so much potential in Perfected Master of Spells and Expanded Specialization Practices and Compiled Curriculum of (Art) and Similar Magic Items and Effortless Hermetic Shapeshifting and others. So much cool stuff.

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49

Here is a Spell Mastery ability researched in our Saga. In general we set the threshold for researching them low, though you could increase it in your game.

Connection Mastery (OR Minor Breakthrough 15)
Sources of Insight: -
Relevant Spells: Arcane Connection range travel/teleport spells
Stipulations: Some way of binding the memory of a location, such as the Art of Memory Ability or CrMe spells. Knowing an improved form of creating Arcane Connections (such as the faster creation/create multiple per season refinement) can help.
Effect: Can learn the Spell Mastery ability "Connection Mastery" for spells which that target a location by Arcane Connection.

Connection Mastery ability
Spell Mastery ability
For spells that target a location by Arcane Connection, you have developed innate Arcane Connections that can be used as the target of the Mastered Spell. You may attune one location per point of Mastery. One attuned location can be dropped each time your Spell Mastery increases, allowing you to change your bond locations. (Normally used with teleport spells)

EDIT: If you drop a location, you can assign it to a new location at the same time. Saying something like "One attuned location can be changed..." would have been more clear.

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50

Here is a big one, which was finished shortly before play in our Saga started and creation of our Covenant was part of displaying it.

Aegis of the Regio (OR Major Breakthrough 45 [Note: The original AotH was a Major Breakthrough])

Sources of Insight: -

Relevant Spells: Versions of AotH with Size, InVi spells capable of sensing the interwoven layers of a Regio and alignment of the Aura.

Stipulations: At least 15 points each of this breakthrough must come from variations of AotH and InVi spells for studying the interwoven nature of a Magic Regio in an Aura.

Effect: The ability to cast an AotH that is interwoven into a Magic Regio, allowing it to affect multiple tiers at the same time.

All levels of the Regio are interwoven and can be affected by an Aegis cast over a whole lower level. To achieve this, the diameter of the Aegis must be greater than the diameter of the 1st tier, plus a fraction of the higher tiers. This fraction is half for the 2nd tier, a quarter for the 3rd tier, an eighth for the 4th tier, and so forth. At least Size +1 must be taken and the entire Regio must be covered (entire 1st tier plus fraction of higher tiers). The interweaving can only be performed in a Magic Regio, with the ability to perform it in a different Realm Regio being a possible Breakthrough.

The Aegis of the Hearth does not extend outside of the Regio. Beings of Might and spells within the mundane level are unaffected by the Aegis, though they must overcome it to gain entry into the Regio.

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51

One that came up in our saga just the other day was that a full integration of Divination & Augury (a Major breakthrough) might end up reducing all Arcane Connection range Intellego spells by three magnitudes, because Divinations treat an AC held in the hand as being equivalent to touching the target.

And if you follow that line of thinking then there may be a related Hermetic breakthrough that expands that out to cover the other techniques...

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52

It would have been a very old and perhaps 'overlooked' expansion, but I can imagine certain magi with a scholarly bent being absolutely fascinated to find a copy of a Lab Text said to be by Bonisagus during a very early expansion of Hermetic Theory. Specifically where he was integrating the effects of the "Unaffected by The Gift" virtue into Parma Magica...

(Which probably didn't happen at all, but seems like a nifty idea.)

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53

Welcome to the board, Merior. And yes, I could see why such early research notes would be of interest.

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54

Some ideas I've had:

  • Mentem, Animal, Corpus grant similar spell bonuses to each other
  • Can extend Parma to someone and maintain out of sight, max 1
  • When creating a magic item, automatically fix an arcane connection to it
  • Make fatigueless sponts /4 instead of /5
  • Loud words and gestures gives +4
  • A Minor version of Imbued with the Spirit of Corpus, 3 fatigue levels for 1 pawn of Corpus vis
  • Add 1/2 your Corpus form bonus to aging rolls
  • Reduce still casting cost to -3
  • Integration of sensory magic: scent
  • Allow mental activation of talisman abilities by default
  • Vim form bonus adds flat MR
  • Giant Blood magus researches Corpus base individual to +2
  • Charged Items: for every 5 points your LT exceeds, you can reduce 2 weeks from the creation time, to a minimum of 2 weeks
  • Ceremonial Casting reduces aura penalties by 1 for every 15 minutes spent, max your Philosophae score
  • Elemental Medicine is integrated, affecting the Elemental hermetic arts (hedge magic 19)
  • Integrate the folk witch Ritual Items
  • flex form magic is expanded to +10

I'll add more when I think of some

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55

Not quite full integration but this made me think of a breakthrough to allow use of scent with enchanting items (particularly liquid-form charged items) and now I’m thinking of a Bjornaer perfumer character.

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56

Is this in addition to all the normal stuff; Parma + Form?

57

Up to you, but the intention was yes

At 30 Vim its an addition 6 MR, not world beating but still cool

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58

First, a bit on Virtue Integration - this is primarily not designed for 'new toys', but rather notes a list of mostly-already-existing virtues that could be integrated into Hermetic general theory, thus 'freeing up' virtue points for magi. In a saga where enhancing the overall strength of the order as a whole represents a fundamental goal for magi, these allow a boost of 'hermetic power level' without, in most cases, fundamentally breaking any hermetic limits. This is 100% power creep; but in many cases, represents frankly well-thought out intentional IC-thought-towards-long-term-power-creep.

It is admittedly unclear to me on whether the mechanics were ever designed to consider importing existing hermetic virtues into mainstream hermetic theory, although clearly some new integrations/breakthroughs first manifest as a hermetic virtue before they can be fully integrated.

Hermetic Virtues that could easily plausibly made 'standard':

Most likely - integrations of Virtues without specific fluff representing fundamental improvements to standard casting techniques, and requiring little if any justification

  • Flawless Magic
  • Flexible Formulaic Magic
  • Subtle Magic
  • Quiet Magic
  • Aristotelian / Platonic Magic (A&A)

Each of the first four can be easily represented as 're-evaluation of standard methods of spellcasting' - which while not necessarily the sexiest research project from a Hermetic Prestige perspective, doesn't mean any/all wouldn't be immensely useful. Aristotelian/Platonic provides what would be comfortable small but noticable bonuses to all aspects of magic, and given that there are already many high-quality academic texts, allows for even more of a 'magi as intelligentsia' bit of play.

Slightly less likely - existing Virtues that have certain elements that have lore-or-fluff related potential resistance to adoption, but are still of great mechanical 'general utility' to all magi

  • Diedne or Cailleach Magic
  • Life Linked Spontaneous Magic
  • Life Boost

I put these three in their own separate category, what I refer to simply as the 'druidic' Virtues, augumenting spontaneous magic or allowing for the spending of fatigue to augment formulaic magic. Obviously there are lore issues with the Diedne, but I have found many PCs very uninterested in 'playing a modern Diedne' but very interested in digging up Diedne graves and rediscovering how they did their thing before they went all infernal and whatnot. Plus, it can be an extremely fun plot if the players are interested in it.

On to the fun parts

  • Official guidelines for 'tailored spell' - MuVi to tailor an existing spell to a given recipient - some troupes might technically allow this right off the bat anyway, and presenting it as a breakthrough by some NPC is a nice little cheat if you don't start off with a MuVi specialist
  • Giant Blooded Magi adjusts the base individual size of Corpus Form to +2
  • Longevity Rituals not causing Sterility (has been mentioned above, but a good one)
  • Intellego specialist lowering the +magnitude requirement for [Sense] (your choice, Sight is the usual go-to IMO)
  • Design and Incorporation of Sense of the Mystic Virtue from Hedge Magic Revised (the folk witch section) - note this virtue can be integrated from anything that has Second Sight, which is one of the single most common supernatural abilities, thus it has some of the most insight sources of any integration project.
  • Additional passive form bonuses - The big two that come to mind here are some sort of Corpus-form bonus passive on aging rolls, or a Vim-passive form bonus involving Twilight comprehension/avoidance. - These can also easily be fluffed as people trying to break the relevant Hermetic limits (Aging/Warping) but ending up with these useful but not limit-breaking mid-points.
  • Parma Magica makes your Gift Gentle - obviously, this is potentially saga-upsetting, can cause massive upheavals in the order, fundamentally alters the potential relationship(s) with mundanes, etc. And while some troupes absolutely don't want to deal with this, or it might end up being impossible (essential nature? divine?), it would frankly shock me if there wasn't some magus scribbling away on this one somewhere in Mythic Europe, even if it's doomed to failure...
  • Integration of Spirit Familiar (Possibly by a now-orbitus Jerbiton; who managed to bind the ghost of their spouse as a spirit familiar)
  • Affecting of Skills via Memory Magic: Skills in ArM5 are a product of several different kinds of memory, among other things, and HoH:S notes that theoretically, Mentem magic should be able to directly affect skills, but people haven't managed to pull it off yet. Exactly what limits or constraints this should have would be up to the troupe so as to avoid totally destroying Ars' experience system and carefully thought out.
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59

I'd rather see the opposite: RAW things that aren't there yet.

For instance, The Crystal Dart is level 15. This can become a story where someone's trying to stop a Boni-optimized version from reaching Durenmar. What if the Boni dies before the spell is shared?