Non-Hermetic Vis Finding

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

So startign a game with the Muspelli and other Scandanavian Sorcerers, but most of them don't have any good ways of sensing or discovering Vis... intentional? Is there something I am missing?

Yes, they can use deduction, but it is certainly slow.

Maybe this makes them even more protective, if it takes allot of effort to find and discover then you would be even more loath to let someone take it from you.

Any thoughts for how this works in your Saga

2

HMRE has some suggestions for how non-hermetic spellcasters might find Vis - even though most of those described in that book can identify and/or distill Vis on their own. To spare you having to track down a copy of that book, however, I shall attempt to summarize them here:

  • Allies with "Magic Sensitivity" (and IIRC, Second Sight) can detect Vis, but can't use it themselves and so can find employment by Hedge Wizards.
  • Magic Lore allows a character to recognize vis-containing objects with a successful roll.
  • Characters may not know that what Vis is, but may still know to hunt magical beasts for the Vis that their corpses contain.
3

Thanks, goes a long way. Just have to include some of these allies ot my NPCs. I guess there is some discussion in RM about the Nordic Sorcerers keeping Vis as inheritable, so that thy are logged for posterity, and finding a new source is a big deal (been looking through my stuff since I posted).