Magi represent the known, often mortal, element of magic within the world. They are the individuals who experiment and shape magic through spells and potion; through study and whimsy. Though mistrusted by society at large, they remain society’s anchor in the fantastical, and its best hope to understand it.
Magi gain specialized skills known as spell knacks which represent their magical knowledge of a particular topic. Not all magi can cast the same spells – a magus with knack for “Fire” has a very different purview than one with a knack for “Fungus.” Despite differences in focus, each magus can understand how the other pulls their spells together.
The LARP variation of this legacy can be found HERE
Playstyle
Magi focus on versatile spellcasting that allow them to to approach situations from many different angles. They can be exceptionally powerful if given the time and materials to prepare for a situation, but unlike some of the other legacies, Magi are notably frail without their spells to protect them. As a result of their in-the-moment spell crafting, magi are often the most complex legacy to play – requiring a decent understanding of the core rules and additional spell crafting rules.
Playing a magus means balancing the extremes of in-the-moment improvised solutions and early planning and preparation. It also means adapting to luck, as unlike many other merits, a magi rarely knows how well their spell will work. A well prepared magus may have many diverse temporary merits to rely on, but even then a magus will often find themselves needing to a creative application of their knacks to solve unexpected problems. Spells generally provide some utility by manipulating a knack, but they can also be used offensively to harm foes and defensively to create barriers or give resistance to specific types of damage.
Utilizing esoterics, magi spend much of their time searching for and harvesting the remains of living and once-living creatures, using these specimens to fuel their spells and many abilities.
Play a magus if you want a character that is constantly creating temporary new abilities focused on a specific theme (knack). However, avoid playing a magus if you want a consistent ability that always works in the same manner, or if you want a less naturally fragile character.
References: Wizards, Harry Dresden, Avatar: The Last Airbender,
Visual Identity
Magi are identifiable by how their body has spliced with their magic and knacks. When creating a magus, consider how their spellcasting has backfired, in what situations it wen weird merged into their body and how that might affect their attire.
Signature Ability: Spell Casting
Magi have the unique ability to create custom spells related to specialized interests – spell knacks. Spell casting involves a simple action check, replacing a skill with the knack the magus is focusing on (or the highest level knack if using multiple), and adding 1 for the spell casting merit. However, instead of simply taking the highest result of this check, the player spends the hits and glances they got for various spell components – different optional effects.
Spell components are the “atoms” of magic; fleeting memories and knowledge that can be pulled together around a knack to create a very real magical effect.
A player should have the general idea of the spell they want to create before making the action check to craft a spell, but they can manipulate the parameters of the spell based on the result of the check, spending the check results on various components in an attempt to meet the spell idea.
Reusing an existing spell, such as one a magus is concentrating on, does not count as spell crafting and instead acts like a normal action check.
See the Spell Crafting Merit below and its connected Spell Components for further details
Special Mechanics
Spell Knacks
A magus’s magical expertise is known as a Spell Knack. Spell knacks act both as normal skills, providing expert knowledge on a specific subject, and as focused subjects that magi can craft spells around. Magi can have up to 3 different knacks. Similar to Specialties, knacks should be discussed with the GM to confirm everyone is comfortable with the scope of what it covers.
- Tangible Spell Knacks
Knacks with a tangible material that can be manipulated. Examples include:- Matter
Water, Dirt, Air, Acids, Metal, Oil, Vapers, Alcohol, Crystal, Stone, etc - Natural Forces
Fire, Lightning, Gravity, Light & Shadow, Heat, Kinetic Energy, Inertia, Radiation, Velocity, etc - Life
Animals, Aquatic Creatures, Fungus, Plants, Blood, Insects, Disease
- Matter
- Abstract Spell Knacks
Knacks revolving around abstract concepts. Many abstract concepts may require specialized rulings to handle, and thus discussion with the GM is even more important than for tangible knacks. Furthermore, many abstract concepts are already defined within specific legacies, where the game highlight the possibilities and tricky considerations ahead of time. Some overlap is fine, but if you find yourself constantly needing to redefine what is possible with a knack, consider if a different Legacy better matches your concept
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- Examples: Emotions (love, fear, or happiness), Dreams, Hallucinations, Hunger, Relationships
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Core Spell Casting Knowledge:
- Overt Spells
Though the manner a spell appears is unique to the caster, crafting a spell is always overt, with a flash of light and pop of sound, all while requiring complex hand movements. Attempting to discreetly craft a spell takes a cut of 1. - Spell Range Matters!
A spell’s range is consistent for the full duration of a spell. This means that if a magus concentrates on a touch-range spell, the spell will only work while the target is being touched. However, the spell itself is not broken when out-of-range. Instead it is simply temporarily turned off.- Sympathetic Range
Represents the amount of shared resonance an item has to a target. Spells that utilize a sympathetic range create a two-way connection and will cause supernatural entities to notice the effect.
There are three degrees of Sympathetic Range:- 1st) Part of the Whole: The caster has something which used to be part of the original target. (blood, hair, wall clippings, etc)
- 2nd) Intimate: Something core to the identity of the target, even though it wasn’t part of the actual target itself: blood relative, heirlooms.
- 3rd) Facsimile: Something made to represent the target, such as a voodoo doll or miniature scale copy.
- Sympathetic Range
- Extended Spells
A magus can spend 2 esoteric when spell crafting to turn a spell into a temporary merit with a track of 2. - Artificing
Spend 1 additional esoteric when creating an extended spell to imbed control of the spell into an item (the esoteric). That item now acts as the spell’s Anchor, allowing whoever holds the anchor to control the spell. Artificed extended spells can be refueled (restore entire track) by spending 1 esoteric and a lengthy task. - False Creations
Unless a magus takes the “Essence of Reality” meta merit, any tangible things created by a spell are temporary and only exist while in their intended state and for the duration of the spell. Altering the state of a magical creation (such as by digesting food, killing a created creature, or burning magical wood) causes the magically created parts to vanish. - Spell Strength
Spells have the same physical strength of the caster. A “gravity” knack may be able to cause something large to fall upwards, but a “metal” knack can’t push a boulder around with a crowbar unless the magus could physically do so without it. Likewise, a ‘metal” knack can utilize the shape component to bend metal bars, but a magus with the “kinetic force” knack can’t bend metal bars by creating kinetic force unless they could physically bend the bars without magic. - Group Casting
Magi can combine their efforts to craft spells, each making their own spell crafting roll and weaving their spell into others, creating new possibilities as long as the group together contains the necessary knowledge. They cannot use spare hits/glances to assist others in the spell. If the spell needs a specific person to direct it, that person should be decided on before casting the spell (otherwise the GM can gain control).- Example: The players would like to create a metallic snake. One magus has a knack for “Snakes” and a different magus has a knack for “Metals.” Together, they can cast a spell to create the metallic snake.
- Spell Components are the “atoms” of magic. Magi spend hits and glances from their spell crafting rolls on various components to manipulate their knacks and create spells.
- Magus cannot cast spells while trespassing inside a threshold
The following list contains all of the options, each of which can be combined in various manners. Many simple components do not cost anything, and act as the baseline for a spell to build from. For example, all spells need an area, range, and duration, but a small area, self/touch-distance target, and instant or concentration durations do not require any investment.
| Success Cost | Spell Components |
| Free (No successes needed) |
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| 1 Glance or Hit |
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| 1 Hit or 2 Glances |
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| 2 Hits |
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The Spell Components can also be referenced on the Spell Components Sheet for easy reference at a table and to allow a player to physically maneuver dice to various components. Alternatively, the Spell Component Card serves a similar but more portable purpose when using a deck of cards.
Disadvantage: Spell Splicing
The magic that a magus dabbles with is, while fantastic, inherently volatile. Poor control of a spell can sometimes cause the magical energies to overwhelm the caster; splicing with their body and marking them for life. A spell Splice is exactly that, the magical mark of an uncontrolled spell.
When a spell crafting check causes a twist, the magus casting the spell gains a new splice; up to 5 (replacing or combining them beyond that). Though always present, splices truly become notable when a magus is under duress and gains an injury. As such, all splices have two states: dormant and active. An active splice takes a successful resolve action check to turn dormant again.
When gaining a splice, pick one of the following options that best applies:
- Manifestation
The splice manifests itself by transforming part of the magus’s body to resemble the knack.- Dormant: The manifestation has the traits of the knack, but holds its shape to the body and doesn’t cause any harm or interference to the body/veins/organs transformed.
- Active: Magnetic or Flickering: the material forming the splice randomly either flickers out to strike nearby things/creatures, or pulls in similar, nearby materials towards it.
- Example: Flaming hair, liquid arms, electric veins, onyx eyes, etc
- Assimilation
The splice manifests itself by imparting new character traits and personalities onto the magus that mirror the spell’s target- Dormant: The magus gains new habits, interests, personalities, or physical quirks based on the knack or spell’s target.
- Active: The magus starts to act on the instincts and desires of their assimilated splice, requiring a resolve check to resist.
Randomizing a Splice : If the player wants, they can roll a 1d6 to determine the location of a splice. 1: Arm, 2: Leg, 3: Torso, 4: Back, 5: Head, 6: Eye
Merits
Merits represent the core characteristics, traits, gear, and companions that a character has at their disposal. Merits Tracks represent a form of character health, merits help make actions easier to perform, and many merits provide unique powers and abilities for a character to take advantage of.
Each legacy has 1 signature merit (underlined below), a powerful and complex merit that provides the core ability characters within that legacy are known for. Signature merits can be further enhanced with the meta merits of the same legacy, up to the number of Meta Slots the signature merit has (see the following list after regular Merits).
| Signature Merit | Effect | Track | Meta Slots |
| Spell Crafting | As long as you have at least 1 free hand, you can weave magical energies from the environment to manipulate 1 or more of your knacks. Make a spell crafting roll, using your knack in-place of a skill, and allocate the hits and glances from the results on spell components. If you take at least a minute to cast the spell, you can add one additional glance to your roll’s results. |
1 | 4 |
| Magus Merits | Effect | Track |
| Peripheral Knowledge | Once per scene, when another player gains a lost word, you can also gain a one word lost word of your own creation, related to the same event. | 2 |
| A pair of earrings that record murmurs and mumbles. | ||
| Imbuement Gems | When creating an extended spell, you can mark this merit to add two boxes to the temporary merit representing the spell. You may do this multiple times for the same spell |
4 |
| A collection of crystalline, gem-like bottles that slowly accumulate a magical essence only you can tap into. | ||
| Witch Sight | Mark to see the supernatural auras lingering on and left behind by magical creatures for the remainder of the scene. This does not let you things that are normally hidden, such as spirits, invisible creatures, or sneaking individuals, but does let you gain some insight on the magical nature of creatures and objects. Lets you know 1 legacy of characters you can see. | 4 |
| Your eyes are no longer human- describe how. | ||
| Distanced Foil | You are immune to the effects of spells using a sympathetic range on you. | 3 |
| A small collection of foil jewelry that cannot rip or wrinkle. | ||
| Facsimile Goo | When you take a lengthy task, you can also create an esoteric that is a copy of any other esoteric you have. The new esoteric gains the “goop” tag. | 3 |
| A grey goo that moves around with a life of its own, consuming small amounts of nearly anything. | ||
| Arcane Osmosis | Once per day, recover one marked box on any magus merit. | 3 |
| Ritualistic lines wind around your entire body and emanate a soft glow. | ||
| Empathy Seasoning | Consume an esoteric to experience a recent thought or memory from a specified nearby individual. | 4 |
| A jar of swirling mist and black flaky moss used to “enhance” acroamatic meals. | ||
| Chaotic Magic [1] | As a magus, your spells never splice. Whenever you twist, add 1 to the number in brackets beside this merit and roll that number of d6s. Look up the total result on the chaos magic table. You may purchase this merit again to reset the number in brackets to 1. | 3 |
| Description TBD | ||
META Merits
Meta Merits alter or enhance a legacy’s signature merit and automatically extend that merit’s track with their own. Meta merits are unique to their legacy and cannot enhance any merit other than the signature merit of the same legacy.
| Meta Magus Merits | Effect | Track |
| Bottle of Tass | When creating an extended spell, you can mark to replace one esoteric. | 2 |
| Spell Runes | When creating an extended spell, you can spend a hit to increase the spell’s track by 1. | – |
| Engineer | When artificing, increase the track by 2 | – |
| Splicer | Before spell crafting you can increase the risk of splicing for free glances in addition to your check’s result. You must declare the use before making the check. At a risk of 1, gain 1 free glance to spend on spell components, but any rolled 1s count towards a twist. At a risk of 2, gain 2 free glances but any rolls of 1 or 2 count towards a twist. |
– |
| Essence of Reality | When you cast a spell that creates a physical object, the object becomes real and permanent, regardless of the duration of the spell. Ignore the rule of false creations. |
– |
| Quiet Casting | Your spellcasting makes no noticeable light or sound and can easily be disguised with other casual movements. Ignore the rule of overt spells. | – |
| Animate | Gain the spell component “Animate” which cost 1 glance. “Allow a target inanimate object to act based on its innate properties. (fire will try to spread, undead will try to eat, brooms will try to sweep)” |
– |
| Enhance / Diminish | Gain the spell component “Enhance/Diminish” which cost 1 glance. “Strengthen and intensify, or weaken and diminish, an aspect of a knack. Such as its durability or heat This does not let you completely snuff out that aspect.” |
– |
| Destroy | Gain the spell component “Destroy” which cost 1 hit “Spend 1 esoteric to completely and permanently annihilate part of a target, dealing high harm if appropriate.” |
– |
| Absorb | Gain the spell component “Absorb” which cost 1 glance “Store the spell’s knack within your body for the duration of the spell.” |
– |
| Infectious | Gain the spell component “Infectious” which cost 1 glance “Add this component to a spell to make its effects infectious to anyone that comes in contact with it. Infections have the same duration as the original spell, but range of touch centered on the infected..” |
– |
| Transmogrification | Gain the spell component “Transmogrification” which cost 1 glance “Transform a knack’s state of matter. For example, the knack ‘iron’ can alter an iron ingot into liquid or into an iron vapor. |
– |
| Hidden Strength | When spell crafting, your spell’s physical strength now has superhuman strength. Ignore the rule of Spell Strength. | – |
| Transformation | Gain the spell component “Transformation” which cost 1 glance and 1 mark on a magus merit. “Transform a target into something else within the knack’s purview. If the target was conscious it retains their cognitive abilities and control over their form. Targets revert to their original bodies and original health if the transformed body is killed/destroyed or if the spell ends.” For example, the knack ‘Metal’ can change one metal into another, but transform a tree into metal (unless the magus also had a knack for plants)” |
– |
| Guided |
Spend 1 esoteric when spell crafting to choose one of the following:
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– |
| Two Hands | If you have both hands available when spell crafting, gain an additional glance to your results. | 1 |
| Split Mental Processing | You may concentrate on up to two spells at a time. | – |
| Boomer | You can spend 1 esoteric when spell crafting to let your spell get the area component “Targets everything within a specific nearby-sized area, up to a 30ft radius sphere.” without spending hit for the component. |
– |
| Spell Sniper | When using the spell crafting ability, the “line-of-sight” range spell component is now free. | – |
| Triger | Spend 1 esoteric when spell crafting to declare a specific scenario that must occur for the spell to go off. For the remainder of the scene, the spell is not cast until the trigger scenario occurs. | – |
Alternative Concepts
Magi represent mortal experimentation of magic, and could easily be called wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, alchemists, mages, or a host of other names.