Realms of Power: Magic
Front cover
Rules Edition: Fifth Edition
Author(s): Erik Dahl, Timothy Ferguson, Andrew Gronosky, Richard Love, John Post, Mark Shirley, Andrew Smith, Sheila Thomas
Editor: David Chart
Publisher: Atlas Games
ISBN: 1-58978-102-3
Release Date: July 2008
Format: Hardcover, 144 pages
Availability: In print
The full Table of Contents is available from Atlas Games.
Table of contents
Subject and Contents
The third of the four books about Ars Magica's Realms, Realms of Power: Magic is about the Realm of Magic, maybe the most tangible of the four Realms as far as magi are concerned. The book is about magical places and creatures, about their interaction with one another as well as with representatives of other Realms.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The introduction explains what what the Magic Realm is and what characteristics magical creatures and things share.
Chapter 2: Magic Auras
This chapter describes the concept of tethers, which give magical places there powers. Several example tethers are presented: for example tethers that might be found in magical caves or bodies of water.
It gives rules for magic auras strengthening or weakening over time. These are probably too much book-keeping to apply to every aura in your saga, but might make sense to use for an aura in or near your home covenant.
Some auras are aligned with specific magical influences, which might be particular Forms or Techniques but could also be abstract concepts like "hunger" or "greed."
Chapter 3: Magic Realm
This chapter several theories of what the Magic Realm is like. Some of these are different from what House Criamon believes. The Magic Realm is not well understood by magi so it is not clear who is right.
Methods for entering and traveling in the Magic Realm are given.
The Twilight Void is described as a special part of the Magic Realm.
There are new spell guidelines for traveling through and manipulating the Magic Realm.
Chapter 4: Magic Characters
The emphasis in Chapter 4 is on creating magical creatures for use as player characters. For non-player characters, RoP:M introduces the concept of a Character Guide, which is a partially-completed character with enough details for the storyguide to use it in a game session.
Magic characters have a Season that replaces age. Many magic creatures, such as spirits, are ageless so age isn't used to determine their starting experience points.
Magic creatures have Qualities and Inferiorities, which are powers and vulnerabilities associated with their magical natures. In some ways these are similar to Virtues and Flaws, except that the magical character's number of Qualities and Inferiorities is tied to its Might Score.
Chapter 5: Magic Animals
Full statistics are given for about fifteen magical beasts of various kinds, from mice to dragons.
Magical cats have their own section including example powers.
There are rules for training magical animals and for what can happen when animals are Transformed by Warping.
Chapter 6: Magic Humans
Magic humans include giants, spirit votaries, several examples of magic kin (lineages of humans infused with the power of Magic]], and Transformed humans, including the undead.
In addition to example characters and their powers, this chapter includes some optional combat rules for fighting against giants and similar large creatures. It introduces the free Supernatural Virtue, Spirit Votary, that makes the character a Magical Mythic Companion.
Chapter 7: Magic Spirits
This chapter introduces airy spirits, which are Magical spirits native to the material world and that personify a thing, place, or idea. In contrast, daimons (which were introduced in TMRE) reside permanently in the Magic Realm but can affect the physical world through their powers.
This chapter gives an extensive list of powers for spirits and full statistics for several spirits.
It also discusses how ghosts fit into the cosmology of Mythic Europe and explains some of the beliefs of the Mythic Church regarding ghosts.
Chapter 8: Magic Things
The Magic Things chapter introduces the idea of extraordinary vis. There is lesser enchantment vis and spell-like vis which have naturally-occurring powers, and dedicated vis, which is especially useful for either casting spells, studying, or creating enchantments.
Herbs and Objects of Virtue can be Enriched by a hedge wizard to create a kind of magical charm that grants a Virtue to its possessor. Enrichment does not require a laboratory but it does require a knowledge of Magic Lore.
This chapter also contains the Fifth Edition rules and statistics for mandrake root.
Appendix: the Book of Mundane Beasts
Included as an appendix is the complete text of the Book of Mundane Beasts. It is exactly the same as the version available for free from the Atlas Games Web site.
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External links
- Realms of Power: Magic page at Atlas Games