AbdeSearchersForPower

ABDErpg - SEARCHERS FOR POWER

A system for mages, wizards, elementalists, illusionists, sorcerers, demonologists and necromancers for ABDE-Warhammer by Peter Nash & David Allan Finch.

Copyright (c) Peter Nash & David Allan Finch, All rights reserved.

Warhammer is a Trademark owned by Games Workshop and used with out permission.

Sorcery in the Warhammer world

The majority of wizards in the empire are viewed with extreme suspicion. Except in a few limited cases a mage does nothing useful. They cannot grow crops, they can't change the weather and they can't make gold out of thin air. All mages seem to be good at is either blowing something up, or destroying a nasty monster created by another mage! To most people a wizard is a waste of space. A dangerous waste of space, but a waste nevertheless.

A sorcerer will find it difficult to find work in most areas of the empire. The lower classes have no need for magic and could not afford the fees anyway. If a peasant wanted to be healed he would go to the shrine of Shalya, rather than visit the evil old witch down the lane. When the population need help they turn to the gods.

Most mages will be found in specialised universities in the major towns and cities of the empire. This is where the majority of the libraries are. They tend to shut themselves away from everyone ex pt for nobility. The upper classes view mages as a good source of raw power and being a patron to one ups the noble's status in society. The mage in turn views a noble as a good source of money. In the frequent inter-family rivalry, mages can sometimes be thought of as tactical nuclear weapons. Once one is brought in, everyone else attempts to purchase one for their own 'protection'. An arms race of sorts.

A few mages of significant power and learning will escape from the sycophantic nobility (once they become independently wealthy) and purchase castles or towers on the fringe of civilization. In general they get tired of the intrigues of court life and just wish to settle down to some serious research. Others use this as a cover to delve into the dark and forbidden arts of necromancy and demonology. Whatever the reason, most sane people do not bother those wizards who live in solitude.

What do people think of Wizards?

Sorcery has been legalised only in the last 50 years.

All legal mages are member of one of the major universities (if not currently living there) and must prominantly wear their college colours. Not to do so is illegal and is punishable by the crime of Witchcraft.

The magic arts of Demonologists and Necromancers are still banned and carry the charge of Witchcraft.

Any mage that is living off the university (i.e. has a Chair paid for my the local Graf) is duty bound to aid the Grafs army at his request.

What do you call a Wizard?

Anything he wishes you to! There is no fixed naming scheme amongst magic users, but:

• Apprentice: somebody with the three skills of Lore(Magic), Magic(Identify) and Magic(Cast Spells) skills of 8 or less

• Journeyman: somebody with those three skills plus a spell list at 8+ and at least 5 spells researched

• Mage: a magic user with the four skills at 12+

• Elementalists, Illusionists, Demonologists, Necromancers: is a magic user with the appropriate spell list at a level of 8+

Hence a Journeyman wizard with the spell list of elementalist could term himself Journeyman Wizard, Journeyman Elementalist, Journeyman Sorcerer. But a Mage with the spell list of elementalist could be a Wizard, Elementalist, Sorcerer, Mage. Or any other title the Mage thinks appropriate.

Who qualifies to be a Wizard?

To become a Wizard you have to have the right stuff: Just sane enough to not go mad when manipulating the powerful forces of nature, but not so sane that you would never wish to try. Magic is dangerous stuff; 50% of apprentices end up dead, mad or leave in the first year of training. It not a profession for the faint hearted. So who would wish to be a Wizard? Well someone that has the presence of mind to leave town when the local priest declares them as a Witch in the service of Chaos, otherwise they won't last long. But the mage must also have a very large amount of determination or they would never learn a Magic Light petty spell let alone a more difficult Summon Undead Champion!

Anybody who would try to learn magic can do so. But it is difficult for most people to ever master the arts of sorcery. It requires a total devotion of all their time learning, to become any good at casting magic. This is why mages end to be weak, unfit scholarly types.

In general to be taken on as an apprentice to a sorcerer requires the character to have a high score in magic, wit and will. If they lack these then the person must take private tuition or attend a college, during which time they must also support themselves. Unless you are rich this is often unfeasible.

Only priests are forbidden to learn sorcery. The divine link with their deity prevents their own magic from being used.

How do you be come a Wizard?

There is only two ways to become a wizard:

• Become an apprentice to a master wizard
• Join one of the colleges of magic

Both require you to pass some strict entry requirements (large quantities of money normally nullifies all by the magic aptitude test).

Apprentices are picked at age 12 or 13 from young hopefuls at the monthly fetes and fairs in the normal way. Usually only those of an artisan background have this opportunity as most apprentices require a 'gift' of 50 GC for the master to take the child on (to pay for the food and lodgings until can do useful work for the master).

The master wizard will covertly cast a spell and use the result to determine if any of the candidates are worthy. This test could be anything from requiring a resistance roll to not be effected, or being smart enough to spot what happened. The young apprentice then is taught to read and write to skill level of at least 12 whilst cleaning and doing the chores around the masters house. At this stage the young apprentice has no status in the masters eyes and could be thrown out at anytime. If within a year or so they have reached the appropriate level in reading and writing, they will be gradually introduced to Lore (Magic), Magical (Identify) and Magical (Cast Spells). As the apprentice's skill levels increase then their chores will reduce and be replaced by full time study. During this time the master will use the apprentice to aid in their own research. Only once the apprentice has the required skill levels of journeyman status will the master consider letting them go, and only if they promise to quest for some artefact or knowledge for the wizard.

Most other magic users start off as students at the university in other fields and drift into sorcery once they have a reasonable read/write skill. All students at a university are either there on a scholarship or are rich enough to pay the high fees. If scholarship students are seen to have the 'right stuff' they have no choice and are forcibly switched to the college of magic. Those with money are only allowed to enter the college of magic if they specifically ask, as their rich parents normally take a dim view of their offspring being shown the 'black arts'.

 Skill Name  Skill Difficulty  Skill Equation  Base Description

 Lore (Magic)
  Used to recognize artifacts, remember historical
   mages, etc

 Magical (Identify)
  Average
  WIT+WIL+MAG
  Once magic is detected it allows the user to work
   out what the spell does.

 Magical (Cast Spells)
  Average
  WIL+DFT+MAG
  The actual ability in summoning and focusing magic.

 Magical (Spells - Battle)
  Very Hard
  WIT+CMB+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

 Magical (Spells - Demonologist)
  Very Hard
  WIT+CHA+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

 Magical (Spells - Elemental)
  Very Hard
  WIT+SCI+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

 Magical (Spells - Illusionist)
  Very Hard
  WIT+EST+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

 Magical (Spells - Necromantic)
  Very Hard
  WIT+COM+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

 Magical (Spells - Druidic)
  Very Hard
  WIT+NAT+MAG
  Knowledge of what is possible in a specific area of magic

What is a spell?

A spell is an act of will which affects the real world in a supernatural way. Spells are powered directly from a mage's own magical capability. Whereas a priest can only continue to cast miracles until they fail and then be unable to continue for the rest of a day, a mage can cast as many spells as they have magic points whether each spell succeeded or not. They can be overwhelming if they use their total strength in the short term, but it might take them weeks to recover from such a blaze of glory.

What is the spells difficulty?

 Level  Difficulty (2 ^ Level)
  Petty    1          
  1st      2
  2nd      4
  3rd      8
  4th     16

How do you cast a spell?

The Mage must to cast a spell have the ability to move his hands and speak the ritual words. These hand gestures, voical noise and spell components help the Mage get into the correct mental state to draw the power of nature to form the spell effects. It is posable to cast spells without these props but it requires great effort of consitration and skill. Because the casting of magic requires this litral song and dance, it is normal very obverse to all around that a Mage is going to cast a spell.

Spells are cast by rolling against the mages Cast Spells skill. The more powerful the magic called for, the more likely the sorcerer is to fail. If a mage fails to cast a spell they lose a single magic point, and may try again the following action phase. A critical failure will prevent any more spells from being cast until the next round and the full cost of the spell being cast. A critical success will reduce the cost to a single point, no matter how expensive the spell was.

Modifiers to casting can occur if the mage has special concentration focuses A focus can be a material component such as a crows foot, or a specially prepared location such as specially drawn magical circle. The rarer and more magical the focus the better bonus it has to aid concentration.

 BCS Modifier     Description
  +6               Magical artefact, tuned to spell
  +4               Very expensive and rare material component
  +2               Bog standard material component
  -4               No relevent material components
  +2               Special location significant to the spell
                    being cast. (e.g. a graveyard for necromancy)
  +1 (per round, max +50% of BCS)
                   Bonus per extra round a spell is prepared
                    before casting. (becomes 'per hour' for        
                    rituals)
  -2               Lost 50% of total hit points
  -4               Lost 75% of total hit points (or a
                    Critical Wound)
  -4               (compulative) inability to use each 
                    hand or month (ie tided or gaged)
  + ( spell list BCS - spell difficulty ) / 4
                   the more advanced the mages knowledge
                    in an area of magic the easer it is to cast
 - spell difficulty

How does a mage learn a spell?

To learn a spell requires at least a weeks worth of study. A roll is made against the mages spell-list skill with a negative modifier equal to the difficulty of the magic. If the amount the roll succeeded by is equal or greater than the spell difficulty then the new spell is learnt. If the sorcerer fails then they can try again the following week and add the next roll to the first weeks task points. And so on.

When the mage successfully learns a new spell, they may from then on cast it with their Cast Spell skill at a penalty of its difficulty.

Example: Artur, a sorcerer decides to learn the 'Flight' spell. He has a 'Spells - Battle' skill of 13 and a 'Cast Spell' skill of 15. The 'Flight' spell has a difficulty rating of 2 as it is quite a basic magic. Artur spends a week researching in his magical library and makes a roll. He gets a 12 which is but a single point under his spell list knowledge (13 skill - 12 roll), and doesn't learn it. So the following week he continues his research and makes another roll. This time he gets 5 under his spell list knowledge, and this added to the previous weeks total give him enough to comprehend the spell.

One day Artur finds that he needs to cross a river chasm and that the bridge has been cut. He decides to cast his flight spell. On his previous adventure he managed to locate a beautiful eagle's feather which he uses to focus on his spell. His chance of casting is a basic 15 (for casting skill) - 2 (difficulty of spell) + 2 (for the focus) which gives a total chance of 15 or less on a d20. Leaving nothing to chance, Artur prepares for 5 action phases before casting to give a total chance of 20 - an automatic success.

General spell guidelines