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In the latest in my series of articles on individualistic practitioners of non-Hermetic magic, I present a maga Ex Miscellanea whose magic is based on the construction and use of enchanted arrows. As always, I have included the character's statistics, appropriate rules and design notes.
Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Str +1, Sta 0, Pre -1, Com -1, Dex 0, Qik 0
Age: 19
Size: 0
Confidence: 2
Virtues and Flaws: Way of the Woods +4, Knack (Bows) +2, Outsider Trained in the Order +2, Animal Ken +1, The Gentle Gift +1, Fury (Cruelty to Animals) -3, Curse of Venus -2, Sheltered Upbringing -2, Low Self-Esteem -1, Uncommon Fear (Crowds) -1, Weakness (Those in Need) -1
Personality Traits: Animal Lover +3, Shy +3, Self-Critical +3, Kind +3, Determined +2, Brave +1
Reputations: Hedge Wizard 3, with Hermetic magi
| Weapon/Attack | Init | Atk | Dfn | Dam | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brawling (unarmed) | +4 | +3 | +3 | +1 | +3 |
| Longbow | +6 | +10 | n/a | +10 | +7 |
Soak: +1
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, �1, �3, �5, Unconscious
Body Levels: OK, 0, �1, �3, �5, Incapacitated
Abilities: Animal Handling 2 (Sick Animals), Animal Ken 2 (Forest Animals), Athletics 2 (Grace), Awareness 1 (Animals), Bowmaking 2 (Longbows), Bows 4 (Longbow), Brawling 2 (Unarmed), Chirurgy 1 (Bind Wounds), Climb 1 (Trees), Enchantment 4 (Animal), Fletching 4 (Speed), Hunt 2 (Tracking), Legend Lore 1 (Beasts), Speak Welsh 5 (Peasant), Stealth 2 (Forest), Survival 2 (Forest), Swim 1 (Rough Water), Wales Lore 1 (Forests)
Decrepitude: 0
Equipment: Longbow and Arrows, Quilted Leather Hauberk. Gwen's "standard" enchanted arrow set is one Arrow of the Weaver's Webs, one Arrow of the Pearls, one Arrow of the Revealed Sickness and one Arrow of the Gaping Earth. If she is expecting to go into combat, Gwen usually enchants two Arrows of the Weaver's Webs, one Arrow of the Searing Forge and one Arrow of the Gaping Earth.
Encumbrance: 0
Spells Known:
Arrow of the Weaver's Webs (CrAn 20, R: Far, D: Sun, T: Ind - As Weaver's Trap of Webs (CrAn 20). The web only ensnares the target struck by the arrow.)
Arrow of the Pearls (InAq 15, R: Far, D: Mom, T: Small - Gwen dips the arrow in a liquid, and learns whether or not the liquid is poisonous. Similar to Touch of the Pearls (InAq 10).)
Arrow of the Broken Wave (ReAq 15, R: Far, D: Conc, T: Ind - As Break the Oncoming Wave (ReAq 10), but the spell affects the water into which the arrow is shot.)
Arrow of the Revealed Sickness (InCo 10, R: Far, D: Conc, T: Ind - As Revealed Flaws of the Mortal Flesh (InCo 10). The target must be pricked with the arrow for this to work.)
Arrow of Weariness (PeCo 15, R: Far, D: Mom, T: Ind - As Invocation of Weariness (PeCo 10). The spell fatigues the target struck by the arrow.)
Arrow of Entwining Vines (CrHe 15, R: Far, D: Spec., T: Ind - As Trap of Entwining Vines (CrHe 10). Usually Gwen aims this arrow at the ground immediately in front of the feet of a target.)
Arrow of the Searing Forge (CrIg 15, R: Far, D: Mom, T: Ind - As Heat of the Searing Forge (CrIg 10). The spell affects the target struck by the arrow.)
Arrow of Flames and Smoke (MuIg 15, R: Far, D: Mom, T: Ind - As Show of the Flames and Smoke (MuIg 10) The spell affects the fire struck by the arrow.)
Arrow of the Sealed Earth (CrTe 15, R: Far, D: Sun, T: Ind - As Seal the Earth (CrTe 15), but only creates enough dirt to fill a pit one pace across, and six paces deep. The best way to use this is to shoot the arrow into a pit created with the Arrow of the Gaping Earth.)
Arrow of the Gaping Earth (PeTe 15, R: Far, D: Sun, T: Ind - As Pit of the Gaping Earth (PeTe 15), but creates a pit only one pace across and six paces deep.)
Description and Background:
Gwen was born near the village of Pwllheli in north-eastern Wales to a woodsman and his wife. Her mother died in childbirth, and so she was brought up by her father, who taught her all he could about woodcraft and archery. For the most part the pair were isolated from the outside world, living in a cabin in the forest surrounding Pwllheli, and so Gwen's experience of other people was limited to accompanying her father on his occasional trips to the village to trade his wares. These trips became even less frequent when Gwen reached puberty and her Gift became apparent, for her father was afraid that she might be mistaken for a witch and burned. So the young girl was left to wander in the woods, and formed a strong connection to its animal denizens, as a result of which she has a deep love of animals, but is painfully shy with people. Through trial and error Gwen taught herself to bind her magic into arrows, and developed a range of spells to assist her. Gwen's father died when she was 18 years old, and a year later she found herself being visited by a Hermetic magus who encouraged her to join the Order of Hermes. With his help she was inducted into House Ex Miscellanea, and is now seeking to make her way in this brave new world, and to overcome her shyness and lack of experience in worldly affairs.
Gwen is of medium height and build. Her mousy-coloured hair is shoulder-length, and is usually tied back in a pony-tail to keep it out of the way. Her face wears a perpetually nervous expression, with wide brown eyes that seem constantly frightened of the world they see around them. Her cheeks are dusted with freckles. Gwen usually wears rough woodsman's garb, consisting of a woollen shirt, a tunic, britches and calf-length boots, over which she wears her father's quilted leather hauberk, which is too large for her and hence makes her appear even younger; indeed, people often assume she is younger than she actually is and treat her patronisingly, something that does nothing to enhance her self esteem. When she speaks, she does so quietly, and frequently falters to a halt before reaching the end of her sentences.
Gwen enchants arrows to give them magical effects. The actual process of enchantment involves both ritual gestures and spoken incantations, so may not be performed if Gwen's movement or speech is in any way restricted. She must use Firm speech and Bold gestures. Gwen may enchant an arrow with any spell she knows, and may have a maximum number of arrows enchanted at any one time equal to her Enchantment Ability (specialities do not affect this) plus her Stamina score. This means she is required to keep track of how many arrows she has enchanted, and what spell is held in each. She uses small pieces of coloured ribbon to help her with this. The enchantment process for each arrow takes a number of minutes equal to the level of the spell to be enchanted into it. In order to enchant an arrow successfully, she must roll a stress die + Intelligence + Enchantment + Fletching + aura. If her roll is within 10 of the spell level, the enchantment process is successful, but she loses a Fatigue level. If she equals or exceeds the level, no Fatigue is lost.
Arrow enchantments are triggered when the arrow-tips strike their target. Thus to cast a spell on herself, Gwen has to prick herself with the appropriate, pre-enchanted arrow. If she shoots an arrow at a target and misses, the eventual landing-point of the arrow should be determined randomly, but will usually be somewhere behind the target. The spell effect will be centred on this point. Thus even if she misses her target with her Arrow of the Weaver's Webs, for example, the spell might still affect any other object or person struck by the arrow. She tries to avoid shooting into combats where her friends are near the target, for obvious reasons!Gwen may invent new spells. In order to do so, she must follow the usual rules for inventing spells in ArM4, pages 80-2. Gwen's Lab total for each season is calculated by adding up her Intelligence, Enchantment, Fletching, the local aura and a stress die. She may receive bonuses for knowing a Similar Spell. Each botched stress roll requires her to roll on the Extraordinary Results Chart (ArM4, page 93).
Gwen uses the Magic column of the Realm Interaction Chart (ArM4, page 239) to determine how she is affected by auras. Her magic is of sufficient power that she would normally be perceptibly Gifted, were it not for her having purchased the Gentle Gift Virtue. It does not grant her any Magic Resistance or resistance to aging.
Concept: The idea of a magical archer is one that I have been thinking about for a long time. Archers have long had a certain panache in fantasy literature and film, of which the latest expression is surely Legolas in New Line Cinema's version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy; they are always able to decimate an advancing army with lightning speed and unerring aim. In generating Gwen I attempted to take the concept further, to see how an archer would turn out if they were not only highly-skilled, but also magical. As a magus, Gwen is fairly weak, but her abilities give her archery an extra edge that combined with her wilderness skills makes her extremely useful member of a troupe.
Attributes: Gwen's attributes were randomly rolled, yielding scores of -2, 0, 1, 3.
Virtues and Flaws: Gwen was allowed to choose up to 10 points of Virtues and Flaws. The only Virtue she was required to take the +2 Virtue Outsider Trained in the Order, to account for her membership of House Ex Miscellanea.
Abilities: Gwen was given the following starting Abilities:
| Speak Own Language | 5 |
| Enchantment | 3 |
| Bows | 3 |
| Fletching | 3 |
| Bowmaking | 2 |
"Enchantment" is a new Exceptional Talent, unique to Gwen, and is used for enchanting her arrows, as explained above. Subtracting the experience point cost of these Abilities from 55, the standard for a starting magus, left her Age + 19 points to be spent at her discretion (note that she also received one level of Animal Ken as a result of taking the Virtue), with the same access to Abilities as normal Companion characters.
Magic: Gwen was allowed to take up to 150 levels of spells, effectively enchantments for her to use on her arrows. No restrictions were placed on her regarding Techniques or Forms. She was allowed to choose spells of a level no greater than her Intelligence + Enchantment + Fletching + 10. Due to the nature of her magic, it was made compulsory that all ranges be calculated as Far, no durations exceed Sun, and all targets be calculated as Individual.
Text copyright © Niall Christie 2003.