Tips for Running Wizards War

Games Discussion Ars Magica
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I’m expecting to run a Wizards War in an upcoming session of my game and am looking for some advice. One of the magi will be challenged by an ornery NPC. The NPC probably has the magical edge, her goal is to establish dominance rather than kill anyone, but who knows how things will go!! (Both PC and NPC are Flambeau)

My question really revolves around the other magi PCs though. I know my players, and I know when the Wizards War declaration arrives the uninvolved PCs will immediately want to act. I want to make sure that their players can have a meaningful and fun experience, but also want to try to keep things limited so it’s not a massive covenant va covenant battle.

What experience do others have running wizards war?

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Wizard War is only between the declared parties. So if the player stays in the Covenant, there is little the NPC wizard can do. If he decides to attack into the covenant, not only can all the other member wizards attack him in self defense but any action he takes is a violation of the code, where he can be charged and will most likely get hammered.

If you want to attack a covenant you have to declare WW on every member of said covenant.
You just have to wait and hope that the guy leaves the safety of the covenant. Or you have to be able to overcome the AotH (without knocking it down).

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Declaring WW against the entire covenant is a very viable move, the ideal choice in many circumstances.

An Apromor school Flambeau could well be able to dispel a typical Aegis and then level every building in a covenant, all while remaining invisible – even right out of Gauntlet. (I’ve made exactly such a mage as an NPC threat.) No need to try hunting down the magi, they’ll either come to you or they’ll have their home destroyed. (This is even less risk to the attacking mage with some prep time, by sending grogs to do the attacking with charged items as they don’t care about the Aegis if they don’t need to penetrate.)

Also, just because you declare multiple Wizard’s Wars simultaneously doesn't mean you can’t include a message (to all but your main target) that your war with them is strictly for legalities of collateral damage risk – that once your main target is slain or sufficiently punished, you’ll happily leave the remaining magi and their home in peace. Puts the his sodales between a rock and a hard place.

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This kind of thing, I find hard to understand. Most people are reluctant to risk their life recklessly. Magi can easily live triple the life span of an average person, and they live a life of luxury, so even more so. A magi deciding lets risk death because they were disrespected seems extreme. I hope the NPC is portrayed as a bit unbalanced.

Also, I would think declaring wizards war should have reputational damage. I would think most of the order, and yes, I’m including Flambeau and Tytalus, would only resort to Wizard war for grave offence. Clearly each story guides world setting differs. Your Order may be more bloodthirsty.

The game I am in, our magi are a bit friendlier to each other than the book suggests. For example, I’ve allowed my Imaginem magi friend to cast Aura of the Ennobled presence and Veil of invisibility on my Magi. I would have no problem any of my magi visiting my sanctum and vice versa.

While we have not had a wizards war, we have had two magi trespass on our covenant. My magi considers any uninvited guest entering our covenant as an act of unprovoked aggression that is breaching the code. The trespass would allow all covenant members,staff, soldiers and magi, to use all means necessary, including lethal force, to remove the trespasser. I’d generally try not to kill, but I would not be overly concerned if that was the outcome.

If the tresspasser lived and was part of the order, I would normally get a quaesitor as soon as possible to request a wizard march be declared on the person who breached their oath to not attack members of the order (which I consider knowingly tresspassing on a covenant is a breach of their oath).

There was some teleportation shenanigans, and the tribunal the magi were in was Transylvania and they were Tremere, so I let it go. No fair Quaesitor in Transylvania….

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Magi are still technically people, and people have differing levels of irrationality.

In game history, IIRC, the Founder Flambeau insisted on the Wizard’s War clause in the Oath because, to paraphrase, he was worried that his enemies the Muslim wizards might swear the Oath in order to be protected against his rightful and just incineration. The Tytalus corner, with its doctrine of conflict backed him up.

IRL see how many Ukranians signed up to fight off the numerically superior and nastier and trained Russian invaders. And the fact that more than a few comfortably well off Western nationals with no skin in the game made the trip to The Ukraine to sign up to fight as well.

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Agreed, but choosing to actively declare “I intend to kill this person”, is extreme. I consider it should be reserved for Inigo Montoya moments. Or another famous case, the “For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me... it was Tuesday”. kind of situations.

I agree it’s possible to have a character with a callous disregard for their safety, and a willingness to casually kill, however, I would consider they should be seen as a bit unusual, even by the order’s liberal standards of what is weird or acceptable. Your real life parallel shows for most people there has to be a compelling reason to risk one’s life. Protecting others who need help to fully protect themselves and those they care for, in this case.

I consider Wizard’s War an anachronism created in a more chaotic, less predictable world. Flambeau could not trust the order to be the stable unifying force (excluding the Schism War) it has been for centuries, thus his desire for the right of Wizards War.

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One would imagine that the aggressor would arrange for something to get the defender away from the Covenant defenses.

  • John Doe’s Apromor school mage is one way.
  • Acquire an Arcane Connection before the fighting starts.
  • Using mundane agents to steal the Defender’s valuables just before the WW starts might force the Defender out - eg Apprentice, Familiar, a prized Vis Source, etc.
  • Declare WW while the victim is traveling, or obligated to travel.
  • Bribe the rest of the Covenant to look the other way (helps if the victim is not likable)

Are just some suggestions

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There is very few canonical Wizard Wars described.
For all we know the vast majority of them fit that criteria.

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While I think too many people are willing to have Magi actively try to kill each over minor infractions, I will stop my derailing of the original topic, as I think I’ve clearly put my “Wizards War, are you sure?” point across.

One of the key elements to a Wizards War, is getting the advantage. Assuming both parties have some wizard killing capability, the first to actively get in their kill strike, nearly always wins. An arcane connection to boost penetration for scrying, the kill spell, etc, is another key advantage.

It’s really dangerous trying to attack a wizard in their home ground. It’s literally giving the enemy an advantage. A magi wandering through a hostile covenant, invisible, assuming he got the spell off under the Aegis, still has to not bump staff, avoid open areas where this weird shadow is walking about and can be noticed, etc. Every stealth kill strategy is compromised when in the home territory of the target.

Getting the wizard out of the covenant is key. Some strategies mentioned by lvgreen would risk minor oath transgressions, but if the war declarer is willing to risk their life, a few pawns of vis fine for depriving the other magi of resources is trivial. One can’t casually enslave the Mortal mind someone in the covenant, without some complaint by the other magi.

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Honor and reputation are incredibly important, even vital, in a medieval society. However, "Duels were fought not to kill the opponent but to gain 'satisfaction', that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it." ( Duel - Wikipedia )

Have you considered whether Certamen might be more appropriate? From the Core rules (p. 89): Certamen “serves as a nonlethal way for one magus to establish dominance and precedence over another, and has formal restrictions to keep it from disrupting the unity of the Order.” A public Certamen is certainly a good way to show dominance, and you get to cast a spell at the loser.

A WW lasts for a full month and has the potential to escalate by drawing others into it, so it's a lot more risky for the NPC. It's not completely out of the question though: "A declaration of Wizard’s War does not always mean the aggressor actually intends to kill his opponent. [...] Sometimes, the intent of a Wizard’s War is simply to force one’s opponent to negotiate. Wizard’s War can also help persuade the opponent’s covenant to get involved in resolving the dispute." [HoH:S, p. 24]

If the PCs think there's a risk of a WW, they might try to avoid it. "Magi who feel threatened by adversaries [...] sometimes seek the protection of a more powerful magus. The strong magus makes a public pledge to avenge the weak magus if the latter is killed in a Wizard’s War." [HoH:S, p. 24] If the NPC is percieved as a bully, that might be sufficient to get the protection of a more powerful NPC mage. It would certainly make sense for the other PCs to publicly declare their support, in order to prevent a WW.

If you are set on having a WW, then to me this would mean the PCs have one month to get an AC and as many Sympathetic Connections as possible and try to strike first. The other guy probably already has an AC to the PC if he declares WW. He'll probably declare WW on the whole covenant, as John Doe explained.

One strategy is to not go for a kill right away, but to (multi-)cast fatiguing spells (PeCo base 10, but PeIg only base 4!) or a sleep spell with high Penetration right before the other mage's Parma expires, so he falls unconscious and can't renew it. For that you only need an Intangible Tunnel of level 5 and a Touch-range version of Winter's Icy Touch (PeIg 5) or Call to Slumber (ReMe 5). When his Parma is gone, you can follow up with more powerful spells with less penetration. Again, you don't necessarily have to kill him, depending on your goals. Moon-duration PeMe spells are an idea. His friends might dispel them, but the message is "I could have killed you, but didn't." There is a whole chapter "The Intangible Assassin" in the book "Hermetic Projects" that might be helpful.

So to answer your question: The best way to get the other PCs involved is the preparation. They have a whole month to come up with a plan, negotiate support, maybe try to steal the NPC's AC to the PC mage, get an AC of their own, set up wards etc.

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i think this is not nessisarily true, like sure if you show up and start slinging arcs of firey ribbons in all directions, but magi have plenty of options that arent that. and dont forget that these covanant mates are also people with a self preservation instinct! further, anyone who survives an event where someones covanant mates somehow interfere with a wizard war should expect a visit from quaestors at a minimum, someone jumping over your wall is not deptivation after all!

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It is not interfering with a wizard war and there could be no such charge. A wizard war is an allowed exception to the normal rules which must be formally declared and only open for a limited time. But it is only an exception to those you have declared to. For every other magi in the order, they view and treat the actions of the declared WW wager as if he was any other. There are no special exemptions or allowances for one waging a WW.

In other words, if you declare WW on a single Magi in a covenant and enter that covenant without being invited to perform hostile intent, you are considered an invader by the code for all the other covenant members. At that point they are within their rights to hit you with everything and if you somehow survive, you will be the one brought up on charges before the tribunal.

Heck the target can just stay in the sanctum of a magi who has not had a WW declared against them (they better trust that person though) and suddenly they become incredibly hard to reach.

Attacking a covenant (and you sneaking in invisible is both attacking and scrying) is not a standard tactic. If you read through the books it is ether taking actions to get the target to leave their covenant or highly specialized arcane range magic. There is a whole chapter on that in HP.

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entering a covenant without being invited is not a crime unless the gm decides it is a violation of the local periferal code

also entering another magi’s sanctum is a major risk, even if they invited you, youre still inviolation of the code, again, unless the gm decides theyres a stipulation in the local periferal code

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Will you stop failing. You ignored the entering “to perform hostile intent”. There is a very big difference between entering without being invited and entering then taking hostile actions.

Also it is not a violation of the code to enter an others scanctum if they invite you.

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While every saga has some discretion on how it works, I’d be astounded if a Tribunal ruling did not see that as severely criminal. Trespass is a crime nearly everywhere in most recorded civilizations.

The risk of something going wrong if the aggressor goes on covenant grounds is high. Even in a sanctioned duel, if a stray bullet hit an important person, I don’t think the local authority would accept “Oops, I was trying to kill my target”.

Page 103 of the core rule book specifically uses the word trespass. If the magi has invited the other magi, no breach.

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According to Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, simply being within the Sanctum of another magus forfeits the trespassers immunity, even if invited. This would also apply to the other party in the Wizards War, however, so if they entered the Sanctum to kill the one seeking refuge there, the owner could attempt to kill them, and it would be a crime to retaliate in the moment.

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Focusing on preparation is a good angle. They have a month from the declaration to the actual event to plan and strategize. I think the challenge is going to be turning that into a session. If the PCs decide to keep their heads down and stay in the covenant that is a very valid choice, and will head off any conflict. But if they spend an in-game hour planning all the Home Alone style things they will do if the NPC shows at at the front door and the NPC has no intention of doing so that will feel very anti-climactic.

I think tangent about the how realistic it is for wizards to actually try to kill each other is useful here. The way I think about this, which is how at least some Flambeau, Bjornaer, Tytalus, and others think in my campaign, is that Wizards War can be like a duel. Magus X calls out maga Y and they meet on the field of honor. Certamen could serve the same purpose, and I’m sure it does for some magi. But only in WW do you really put your life on the line. Just as most mundane duels do not end in death, most WWs do not end in death. But you are showing your courage by walking out on the field and accepting the possibility of death. Certamen is (for the mind set of these magi at least) just play acting.

So that says to me that I can provide some structure to the session by having some in game structure to the WW declaration. The enemy NPC declares WW and says explicitly that they intend to be at a certain neutral location in a month’s time. They will not attack the covenant. If the PC does not want to come put then they don’t have to, but they will show themselves to be a coward. Or at least that’s the take the NPC will have on the matter.

So this gives the players a concrete problem - prepare the PC for a fight at this spot and this time. You’ve got a month to gather arcane connections, prepare magical defenses, maybe get some casting tablets. But the parameters of the upcoming combat are clear. And maybe they have a debate internally and seek out allies who can give them adivce about if they are willing to accept the social risk of just not showing up.

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I understand this idea that a WW is a more "real" duel because of the greater risk. A lot depends on what goal the NPC is trying to reach here.

To limit the risk of escalation into a real war, the challenger should probably make the terms very clear:

  • What is required to win the duel? First to penetrate with a spell, first blood, surrender, or incapacitating the opponent? Is there a referee that can interrupt or end the duel?
  • What are the rules? Can you have assistance from others? Can you use magic items, vis, familiars, summons? There could be a loophole here that the PC can exploit to get an advantage, balancing his inferior magic skills with smarts.
  • How are the rules enforced? Are there seconds that intervene if the rules are violated? Is there a referee that declares a winner?

Is there a way to prevent the duel? The PCs could find out about a dark secret of the NPC and blackmail him, or offer him something more valuable than victory at the duel.

If the NPC challenges the PC, he's probably the stronger mage. But maybe he has a Hermetic Weakness - I'm thinking of a Flaw he's probably trying to keep secret like Deficient Technique/Form, Environmental Magic Condition, Restriction, Vulnerable Magic, Deleterious Circumstances, Flawed Parma Magica, Limited Magic Resistance, or Environmental Sensitivity. The PCs might investigate him in order to gain an edge. What will they find? Maybe he has a Personality Flaw - Is he overconfident or proud, and they can exploit that?

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Typically you need a full moon before the WW starts and the WW needs to be registered and then delivered. If all that is done “professionally” then the other PCs won't be able to retaliate with a WW until the following moon cycle leaving the targetted PC to flight his WW alone. Hiding in the Aegis is a good strategy as even suppressing it is a deprivation of magic offense to the other Magi. Traveling might be good too and the other PCs can lay a trap by taking the appearance of target Magi and when threatened, invoke forfeit immunity.

There is a black market to buy ACs of Magi….

Can also hire a pro WW Magi to manage the situation.

Know where the aggressor is and target his other ressources.

W

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I'd like to point out that "Reasons to Declare Wizard's War" in HoH:S does, to me at least, make it sound like there are quite a lot of vindictive, egotistical mages declaring Wizard's War for relatively petty reasons. Particularly when you compare most of Mythic Europe to Thebes and Transylvania.

Wizard's War to make someone negotiate with you, Wizard's War just to harass some poor green maga, Wizard's War to get around property rights. It's pointed out that a maga's sodales might get sick of this and kick them out, but still...

There's even a whole pre-WWI-esque network of "yes I'll avenge you in Wizard War" pacts, both for profit and to try and curb this sort of thing. Presumably the mages who agree to these pacts are relatively cool-headed and understand NOT to turn them into a Tribunal-spanning chain reaction.

Then you look at Thebes, and they're called out as being almost bizarrely cooperative with one another, and it's suggested that this is mostly because they have no reason to fight over Vis and are more likely to be... educationally balanced, seemingly.

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