House rules

Abilities

The following abilities have been combined. They count as Talents when rolling them without a score in the ability.

Alertness, Scan & Search have been combined as Alertness.

Guile & Subterfuge have been combined as Guile.
Pretend & Acting have been combined as Pretend.
Dagger and Shortsword have been combined.
Longsword, broadsword and 1H bastardsword have been combined.
2H bastardsword and greatsword have been combined.

Ablative Parma Magica

A magus has a Base Resistance equal to Form + D10.

When a magical effect is greater than Base Resistance, then the Parma Magica comes into play.

For every 5 points that the penetration is greater than Base Resistance, the Parma Magica is reduced by 1 level. If the spell beats the Parma, then the amount it has penetrated is compared to the level of the spell.

If the spell level is equal or less than the remaining spell penetration, the spell affects normally. If the level that gets through is less than the base level of the spell, some of the effect is mitigated (e.g. damage reduced). Spell effects that penetrate with less than 1st magnitude have no effect.

If the Parma Magica is effectively 0 - or the person simply does not have the skill - none of the spell effect is absorbed. If the penetration beats base resistance, the spell effects fully.

A round spent doing nothing but re-raising Parma will restore the Parma Magica to full for the following round. An Int + Concentration roll of 9+ means you can walk at the same time. A roll 12+ means you can restore the Parma whilst running.

However, if this is not attempted then each round the Parma magica may restore itself a small amount. Parma Magica score + D10 roll can be made. Each 6 points of the roll restores 1 point of Parma.

Intellego spells that are only detected by Parma do not ablate Parma, but such scrying spells may be detected if the spell effect would have normally been resisted.

Multi-casted spells only ablate Parma once - the first spell that lands can ablate Parma. Subsequent spells can be resisted (or have effect) but do not ablate the Parma Magica.

Spells that affect each round for a time period would only ablate on the first round. So the spell 'Mighty Torrent of Water' would only require a resistance roll for the first round it was cast at you. That first round might ablate your Parma, but subsequent rounds would not - and would affect you (or not) as they did in the first round. i.e. if it was initially resisted, then it is resisted over further rounds, if it had an effect then the effect would continue over the duration of the spell. This would also be the case for Intellego spells that can be resisted, but have a duration more than one round.

These changes would not affect The Aegis of the Hearth or Wards against Demons, Fantastic beasts etc.

ReVi items are simply ablative (i.e. confer no base resistance) and automatically restore 1 point each round.

Amici

Magi can designate another person (gifted or not) as an amicus. They can have only one amicus at any time. The non-magical amicus is considered 'part' of the magus for most legal purposes - but no special ritual is involved. Attacks or attempts to scry upon an amicus are treated as an attack upon that magus. Actions carried out by the amicus which lead to the code being infringed usually carries penalty for the magus. To nominate another person as Amicus the peripheral code requires you to publically announce that fact (in practice tell a red cap). Magical amici involves a ritual which takes two seasons to complete. The magi involved cannot break from this ritual for its duration (other than fetch food from the door, or sleep). It results in a magical bond between the two magi and a few Virtues and Flaws can be bought for this bond (e.g. Shared Pain for Direction Sense).

Apportation

Intelligence + Finesse roll determines how safely you land.

Easy (clear, firm terrain) 9+
Medium (lightly wooded, loose earth) 12+
Hard (forested, marshy/unstable terrain) 15+
Very hard (mountain ledges, crumbling surface) 18+

Each point by which you miss the target adds to a damage roll: Amount missed + D10 (simple) vs Stamina

This is treated as bludgeoning damage (i.e. fatigue first, then body levels).

Botches vary in severity; a single botch might be an temporary penalty to movement (strained ankle -3 to all athletics rolls until rested), multiple botches might result in serious injuries (broken legs, arms, etc). Obviously the difficulty of the jump will affect the number of botch dice.

Arcane connections must be recorded on your character sheet - and must be replaced every year (or so) to remain viable.

Books

When learning from books, the student must be able to speak the relevant language. If he has a score of four or higher, he can learn up to the level of the book. With a score below four, he can learn up to the level of his score.

Certamen

Someone who has challenged another to certamen is free to challenge again after a year and a day. However, if they chose the Technique in the first challenge, they must choose a Form for the next - and vice-versa. That way you can repeatedly challenge someone - but you have to alternate between picking the Technique and picking the Form.

Enhancing physical attributes

You can boost the following physical stats using MuCo or MuCo(An) spells: Strength, Stamina, Quickness, Dexterity. A basic MuCo25 will give you a bonus of +3 to the stat (R self/touch, D sun/moon). There is an absolute ceiling of +5 in any stat for these spells. At the end of the spell there are no side effects (though very frequent use might cause me to consider penalties).

Higher MuCo spells can improve the bonus, but because of the physical limitations of the body you will suffer penalties after the spell wears off, and any stat cannot be raised above +5 maximum. It takes 5 levels to improve the bonus by +1, and each boost beyond +3 means you suffer a long-term fatigue when the spell wears off. e.g. Gift of Hercules's Strength, MuCo35, R(Self/Touch) D(Sun/Moon). Raises strength by +5 to a maximum score of +5. After the spell wears off your character will suffer 2 long-term fatigue levels from strained muscles and aching limbs.

MuCo(An) spells reduce the level of the spell by 5 (so the basic for a +3 bonus would be MuCo(An)20). However, there is always a slight hint of the animal whose properties you take on (fur, animal personality traits, etc). Using MuCo(An) spells *only* you can go beyond the human maximum of +5 in a stat. It requires 10 levels to raise the maximum for a stat (normally +5) by +1. However, along with the animal traits (rather pronounced) you will also suffer a body level damage for each +1 the human maximum is boosted (as well as long-term fatigue if you boost above +3). e.g. Might of the Charging Lion. MuCo(An) 40 R(Self/Touch), D(Sun/Moon); raises strength by +5 up to a maximum of +6. Whilst the spell is effective the target's hair appears more mane-like, and their canine teeth are slightly elongated. When the spell wears off the character suffers 2 long-trem fatigue and a body level of damage from strained tendons and torn muscles. Of course, if you run out of long-term fatigue when a spell ends, then the remainder become body levels. It is possible to die at the end of these spells (of you run out of body levels too) - the shock and exertion of the magic on your body being too much to bear.

Item Activation

Fast activation: e.g. speak a short rhyme or touch an amulet to your sword. Item is activated quickly (i.e. effect occurs during the missile phase). a quickness + finesse is used as a 'first strike' in competition with any missile attacks. This activation allows the character to use a melee attack in the same round with no penalty. A missile attack has a penalty of -5 to first strike. No spell casting may be attempted.

Normal activation: e.g. chant words whilst making a specific shape in the air with a wand The activation takes significant portion of a round to be activated (i.e. effect occurs during the melee phase) a quickness + finesse is used as a 'first strike' in competition with any melee attacks. The character cannot missile attack or cast spells in the same round.

Slow activation: e.g. complex series of words and actions - possibly with the use of props (e.g. lighting a candle as well). The activation takes most of the round to activate (i.e. effect occurs during the magic phase) a quickness + finesse is used as a 'first strike' in competition with any magical attacks. No other combat actions can be taken in the same round.

To work an activation into your item you add a modifier to the spell effect total you need to enchant (i.e. like number of uses):

Slow: +0
Normal: +3
Fast: +6

Lab quality and learning from vis

Bonuses and penalties to your lab affect your roll when studying from vis. The modifier is added after the die roll is multiplied (like the bonus from the aura).

Library

Water damaged texts and scrolls can be used, bt there is a stress roll to see what happens to the original. 4+ indicates that the original book survives intact; <4 indicates that the original book is destroyed during the reading/copying process; <0 or a botch indicates that the text is useless and no knowledge can be gained from it. Lucky (the virtue) affects this roll. Individual scrolls are harder to keep intact the roll required is a 6+ for it to survive. A Magus can learn up to the score of the main text plus half (rounded up) the scores of any other texts with different specialities. Each text is considered to be independent when calculating the rate of learning.

Magical behaviour

You can't CrTe rocks in the air (rocks belong on the ground) or elephants, fish, trees, etc.

Magical breakthroughs

In general if you get an ability to a natural score of 10 (i.e. without knacks or other bonuses) you will get a minor breakthrough with that skill. With most skills I'll just make something up (not too powerful!) in discussion with you. With magical theory you can go on to get further breakthroughs at 15, 20, 25 ... etc. However, I shall expect some research (not just experimenting with vis) and probably set you some storylines to justify the breakthrough. To learn a breakthrough you must have a magic theory score no more than 5 less than that of the breakthrough (i.e. to learn a breakthrough of 10 you need a magic theory of 5+). It takes one years study (not necessarily continuous) to learn a 10 breakthrough. This doubles for each magnitude of breakthrough beyond that (2 for a 15, 4 for a 20, etc). To learn a single spell or ritual developed as part of a breakthrough it requires one season's study with a person who possesses the breakthrough and knows the spell in question. If youy know the breakthrough yourself, then you can learn the spell from a text as usual.

Mentem spells

Mentem spells with a base Range of Eye cannot have their Range boosted by increasing the magnitude. They can, however, have their Range boosted through the use of Vis.

Missile weapons

Your character adds their skill with the missile weapon to the damage listed in the book. (i.e. a character with a skill in Longbow of 4 would do +18 damage). The Rate scores for self bows and longbows have been reversed (to +6 and +3 respectively). Crossbows have an Attack score of +3 rather than +1.

Parma Magica

Items and potions worn or carried close to the body when you put your Parma Magica up are not resisted by your Parma. Thus your wand of flying will not summon winds which fail to affect you because of your Parma, and your potion of healing carried for emergencies will not fail because you resisted it.

Parma Magica is not affected by magical deficiencies.

Potions

Potions always activate in the magic phase of the round. A Quickness + Concentration roll is used to contest with spell casting.

Skill specialisation

When you spend an XP to go up a 'level' in a skill (e.g. from 2.2 to 3), then you can change your skill specialisation.

Soaks

Bears have a base soak of +15 not +25.

Transformation spells

Muto spells such as Shape of the Woodland Prowler have Range Self/Touch, rather than Touch/Near.

Wards

Spells with 'ring' duration cannot overlap and cannot have 'constant' operation within an item. Whichever ringl was cast last overrides any previous ring.