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This article is intended to update The Magic Archer to Ars Magica Fifth Edition. As in the earlier version of the article, I have included the character's statistics, appropriate rules and design notes.
Characteristics: Int +1, Per +2, Str +2, Sta +1, Pre -1, Com -1, Dex +2, Qik +1
Size: -1
Age: 19 (19)
Decrepitude: 0
Warping Score: 0 (0)
Confidence Score: n/a
Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Arrow Enchanter; Archer's Arts: Earth, Destroying Metals, Destroying Stone, Destroying Fire, Creating Fire; Gentle Gift, Way of the Woods; Animal Ken, Improved Characteristics, Puissant Ability (Bows), Wilderness Sense; Curse of Venus, Low Self-Esteem; Fear (Crowds), Hedge Wizard, Sheltered Upbringing, Small Frame
Personality Traits: Animal Lover +3, Brave +1, Kind +3, Self-Critical +3, Shy +3
Reputations: Hedge Witch 3 (Order of Hermes)
| Weapon/Attack | Init | Atk | Dfn | Dam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fist | +1 | +3 | +2 | +2 |
| Kick | 0 | +3 | +1 | +5 |
| Dodge | +1 | n/a | +3 | n/a |
| Longbow | -1 | +12 | +7 | +10 |
Soak: +2
Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, -1, -3, -5, Unconscious
Wound Penalties: -1 (1-4), -3 (5-8), -5 (9-12), Incapacitated (13-16), Dead (17+)
Abilities: Animal Handling 1 (Sick Animals), Animal Ken 2 (Forest Animals), Athletics 1 (Grace), Awareness 1 (Animals), Bows 3+2 (Longbows), Brawl 1 (Dodge), Chirurgy 1 (Bind Wounds), Hunt 2 (Tracking), Latin 2 (Hermetic), Profession: Bowyer 3 (Longbows), Stealth 1 (Forests), Survival 2 (Forests), Swim 1 (Rough Water), Wales Lore 2 (Forests), Welsh 5 (Peasant), Wilderness Sense 1 (Forests)
Arts: Earth 5, Enchantment 5, Destroying Metals 0, Destroying Stone 0, Destroying Fire 0, Creating Fire 0
Equipment: Partial Quilted Leather Armour (Hauberk), Longbow and Ammunition
Encumbrance: 0 (2)
Spells Known:
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, where she 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 maga who encouraged her to join the Order of Hermes. With her help she was inducted into House Ex Miscellanea and is now seeking to make her way in this brave new world and overcome her shyness and lack of experience in worldly affairs.
Gwen is of short stature and rather skinny. 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. To do this, she makes use of a number of non-standard magical Arts, the most important of which is Enchantment, which counts as the equivalent of a Hermetic Technique in all enchantments that she uses. She also uses a number of other Arts, each of which take the place of the Hermetic Forms. The actual process of enchantment involves both ritual gestures and spoken incantations, so it may not be performed if Gwen's movement or speech are in any way restricted. She must use Firm speech and Bold gestures. Gwen may enchant an arrow with any spell she knows, and she may have a maximum number of arrows enchanted at any one time equal to her Enchantment Art plus her Stamina score. This means that 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 + (Appropriate "Form") + aura. If her total is within 10 of the spell level, the enchantment process is successful, but she loses a Long-Term Fatigue level. If she equals or exceeds the level no Fatigue is lost. The total should also be noted down; the penetration total of an enchantment in one of Gwen's arrows is equal to her total minus the level of the spell used.
Gwen also makes use of a new Range category in her magic, "Shot," which is considered to be the equivalent of Voice for determining spell levels. In effect, Gwen's arrow enchantments are triggered when the arrows she shoots (or more specifically, the tips thereof) strike their targets (Parma Magica and other forms of Magic Resistance protect as normal). Thus she can cast a spell on anything she can touch with an arrow; to cast a spell on herself or others within arm's length, Gwen has to prick the target with the 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 Shattering, for example, the spell might still affect any other object 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 ArM5, page 95. Gwen's Lab Total for each season is calculated by adding up her Intelligence, Enchantment, the appropriate "Form" Art, 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 (ArM5, page 109).
Gwen uses the Magic column of the Realm Interaction Chart (ArM5, page 183) 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, but it is relatively weak compared to that of most magi; thus Gwen responds to Warping in the same way as mundanes (ArM5, pages 167-68), and her magic 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.
Virtues and Flaws: For Gwen's Virtues and Flaws, I took inspiration from the rules for hedge wizardry given in Hedge Magic, page 56. Thus Gwen received 10 points of free Virtues, assigned specifically to her magic. I decided that her ability to enchant arrows, dubbed "Arrow Enchanter," should be a Major Social Status Virtue, giving her both the ability to enchant arrows and access to Martial Abilities. She was allowed to spend the remaining seven points to take other "Archer's Arts," each of which could be as broad as a Major Magical Focus (ArM5, pages 45-46), chosen as a Major Supernatural Virtue, or a Minor Magical Focus (ArM5, page 46), chosen as a Minor Supernatural Virtue. Thus I gave her the Arts Earth (Major), Destroying Metals (Minor), Destroying Stone (Minor), Destroying Fire (Minor) and Creating Fire (Minor). Gwen was then allowed to choose up to 10 points of Virtues and Flaws, with the same restrictions as those placed on Companions. The only Virtue she was required to take was the The Gift (Special). She was also required to take the Minor Hermetic Flaw Hedge Wizard; she is, after all, one of the more unusual members of House Ex Miscellanea.
Attributes: Gwen's attributes were generated normally.
Abilities: Gwen was required to take the following starting Abilities:
| Bows | 3 |
| Profession: Bowyer (covers making both bows and arrows) | 3 |
| Hunt | 2 |
| Survival | 2 |
| Latin (a small amount learned on joining the Order) | 1 |
This comes to a total of 95 experience points, approximately matching the recommended minimum for Hermetic magi (ArM5, page 32). She was allowed to spend her remaining experience points in the same way as a Companion character.
Magic: Gwen was allowed to buy her Arts and spells as any other magus character. The spells are effectively enchantments for her to use on her arrows. She was allowed to choose spells that fitted, in the storyguide's view, with the Arts she chose, of a level no greater than her Intelligence + Enchantment + (appropriate "Form") + 5. Due to the nature of her magic, it was made compulsory that all Ranges be calculated as Shot, all Durations be either Momentary, Diameter or Sun, and all targets be Individual, Part, Room or Structure.
Miscellaneous Notes:
Text copyright © Niall Christie 2005.