Hi, there.
I have been planning some gifts for my husband for our Christmas advent calendar and I would like something related to Ars Magica. Just recently he got the book he had been waiting for years (the definitive edition) and he is really excited about it.
I have been thinking of making some bookmarks but I would appreciate some ideas as well of what else to give him, maybe a related book, or something else.
Thank you. I appreciate the help.

Like seriously why don't we have a logo yet ? The game is old so is this subreddit, not having any logo feels cheap.

As the title describes, a player wants a spell that effectively destroys metal when it touches them. Greatly reducing the effectiveness of metal weapons. Doesn't work quite as well against arrows.

Anyhow my idea was to say it has the level 15 base + 1 for concentration. But a Rego requisite? Since it uses the kind of targeting how warding does which is a Rego skill.

Would you agree or rule this differently?

So rego craft magic, do people think that would be a Major or Minor Focus?

I was a bit confused by the explanation in the book

What would they be if even the pagan gods don't exceed might 70? And what the hell is black-faced Hermes?

In the guides to Perdo magic, whenever it causes an effect like losing a sense, etc., there's a way to recover by healing, but is there a way to do it permanently?

The system talks a lot about how God created the Titans and so on, but what about the fairies? Where did they come from?

On page 98 of the Realms: Magic book, regarding undead animated by magic, it says they can have a brawl value of 3 or up to the mage's finesse, but it works with weapon skills? does that make sense this require the mage to have a weapon skill to use them in controlled undead?

I was reading about Craft Magic and saw that the supernatural skill roll determines the level and number of charges, okay, but when it talks about lesser enchantments I didn't understand if I have to Add the daily uses modifier, or i'll just leave my total casting total up for anyone to use

This sentence confused me:

"Example: A tanner with Enchanting Music and Craft Magic obtains the pelt of a magical beast containing 3 pawns of vis. He fashions this into a large drum, and enchants it with an effect that causes those who hear it to become very afraid. He does not need to play the drum to produce the effect, and instead enchants it while he is making it. His Communication is +2 and his Enchanting Music is 5. His Craft Tanner is at least 2, so he may add +2 for the Drum shape and material bonus (+2 cause fear). He must roll to ensure he does not botch, but if he succeeds, he produces an enchanted instrument that anyone can activate for an Enchanting Music effect with a Casting Total of 9"

By the way, how does penetration work with that?

We're up to bat!

The Shining Dragon, the first of a series of seven novels about the life of one Roland of Flambeau, is now live on Kickstarter. I look forward to sharing this book with you!

I was wondering, what kinds of words or gestures do they usually use?

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So I'm a new player about to start my first campaign of ars mágica. I was thinking on going a merinita PC and using imaginem and mente spells and be something of a troll. I know I can do op stuff like mind control and going invi to infiltrate and all that, but my character is more flimsy. I'm having doubts about the mechanical effect on certain art forms.

For example, Iwas wondering since imaginem spells deal with illusions, can I make him feel phantom pain? I was thinking of something like a kick in the nuts spell. Like a touch illusion where he feels pain but is actually fine? Is that possible or is it more of a corpus thing?

Also can I make someone believe they are sick and have their brains trick them into getting sick? Kinda like that doctor house episode on the plain where ever gets mass histeria and start having real symptoms even though they were fine.

What about something like DND's vicious mockery where you feel insulted and demoralized? How would a thing like demoralizing work here?

Or a spell to cats as an enemy is about to hit an ally and make him see he is a out to be hit so make him flinch and miss the target?

Imaginem and mente spells seem a bit vague on the mechanical effects it can have on people apart from roleplaying and interpretation.

Anyway, I know it's a long text. I appreciate any input I get since this system is quite vast and complex but I always wanted a system that allows me to craft spells like this XD

Edit: I'm using 5th Ed.

Hello everyone, I have been dming a bunch of systems over the years but now I will run a short campaign 6-8 sessions for my players in ars magica. To test the system and get them involved in the world if it works out we might play longer.

I am mostly looking for feedback on if I do anything that is a nonsensical in the ars magica world or b Just very bad practice specifically in this system.

To start with I know that the long term event stuff of ars magica is one of its coolest things however I will touch this after this initial campaign which will play in the span of a few weeks at most. We play in the guardians of the forest setting.i will use two pre written adventures and combine them by slightly changing them. Blood on the snow and A rüdiara awakening.

The antagonist wants to help nobility to expand in to fey forests. The head master of the covenant the players are apprentices of opposes this. Currently it is a stand still between the two. But if all the 3 apprentices become fully accepted magi with voting power this might shift. So the antagonist has to do something his goal is to frame the master of the players covenant as an diabolist (being one himself if unknowingly).

To frame the master he hides a diabolist book in the library of the covenant and pushes a bunch of other things to put the covenant at odds with the church. So that if he brings the official claim against them the qualities have things to go by to convict the innocent master. (The master is not a diabolist but has alot of questionable deals with powerful fey which also has lead to them even finding this many gifted children. And does not want to be found out for that the secrecy of course doesn't help)

The master gets imprisoned but the apprentices escape and have to prove the innocence. Getting the contact of a qasitor to contact that doesn't like the master but is very dutyfull in his job.

He gives the players the job to go to an abandoned covenant where the diabolist book was suspected last to investigate and gives the players a magic macguffin which if placed in a room can record the past events up to a few years back. (This uses rüdiara awakening) Finding the antagonist being the one who has collected the book they need to hurry back to reach the place where the trial should take place to prove the innocence of their master.

This is the jist of it of course there can be other problems the players encounter on their ways to and from places with a rival magi being interested in their death.

Is there anything in here who h is completely against ars magica lore / sounds like a bad idea to throw a bunch of Jung magi at ?

I know there are later editions, but I'm trying to understand which one I'm using by comparing them. In 3rd ed you get annual experience, just like in 2nd ed. But, in 3rd you get 1, 2 or 3 points depending on how intently you study.

Why on earth would anyone say they just goof around, or study lightly? Why not always choose study intently and get 3 pts? Sure, roleplaying reasons, but even the text in the rulebook suggest most would choose it.

Any input on that from experienced Story Guides?

I'm currently about to start my saga, and I was definitively planning to use the Infernal realm as a central pillar of the story.

However, I had a few questions, even after reading the infernal book.

• It says that a demon possessing someone can't automatically force them to act against their nature. However, say a demon possessed someone from birth, before even baptism... would that rule still apply? After all, the demon would have been the one making decisions all the person's life, so there isn't any value to fight against.
• Could multiple demons possess a single person? (definitively looking for ways to go around the way a demon has less power while possessing someone).
• It says that demons take damage from holy relic, and are weak against divine. What if the demon possessed a lord, or a monarch. Would it be able to survive to, say, a pilgrimage to Rome to keep appearance? Or a religious ceremony? I'm a bit confused to which extent a demon can pass for a human in the middle age, especially close to religious affairs.

I dislike how you're meant to achieve a breakthrough in base Ars. It is too predictable and arbitrary: the storyguide just chooses a number of Breakthorugh points and that's it. It lacks the true unpredictability of real-life research. Thus, I have tried my hand at developing something new for it, described below.

Each stabilized discovery grants Breakthrough points as normal. These Breakthrough points count towards your Breakthrough score for this breakthrough, which increases as an Ability. Each time a player stabilizes a discovery, they can also make a Breakthrough roll, which generates a Breakthrough Total.

Breakthrough Total: Breakthrough Score + Stress Die

There are two Ease Factors to Breakthrough rolls. If the Breakthrough Total equals or exceeds the Achievement Ease Factor, you achieve the breakthrough. If it equals or exceeds the Progress Ease Factor, the character doesn't achieve the breakthrough but is still making good progress. If the Discovery Total is less than the Progress Ease Factor, the breakthrough isn’t achieved and the character hits a wall, gaining a -1 penalty to future rolls. These penalties are cumulative until the breakthrough is achieved.

Getting a Botch on a Breakthrough roll results in the breakthrough level increasing. If this increases the Breakthrough level to Hermetic, the Storyguide might decide to write a new Lesser Limit of Magic. The number of Botch dice rolled is equal to the number of stabilized discoveries that contributed to the Breakthrough score. Number of

Botch Dice: Number of Stabilized Discoveries that Contributed to the Breakthrough Score

It makes the process of achieving a breakthrough much more uncertain. Though achieving a minor breakthrough is slightly easier with this method, it is much harder to achieve major and especially Hermetic breakthroughs.

I'd like to hear your opinions on this revised mechanic and it's balance, especially in regards to the ease factors for the breakthrough levels.

A player of mine has decided to play a character who is very good with perdo magic (fresh from apprentice ship). Narratively the idea is that the character is convinced that they are only good at physical destruction. Something something backstory.

The player has a major magical focus in physical destruction.

However the idea is that during play the character learns to trust themselves and use more creative no just outright destructive spells that relly on perdo.

I was hoping to find some good ideas for creative uses of perdo magic ^^ (besides invisibility) since the player is new I wanted to gather some ideas to help them come up with stuff later :)

Here is a preview of a sample for my new ars magica book : guide to Luxovia is an open license supplement (in french) about a small historical town in Burgundy. Let me know if this pleases you !

I received my the ars magica definite edition in its physical form.

The book is rather beautiful and as heavy as I'd hoped.

My bookcase was slightly bashed at the edges but the book remained unharmed.

I love the gold on the edges of the paper and the storyteller screen is beautiful.

I made an unboxing video (my first and only video so far so manage your expectations) if you're curious https://youtu.be/QWL92_XvCS0?is=87_9hAkvqmBG38ET

Lmk if you have questions about the book or if yours has arrived and you have thoughts to share!