waiwode

Re: FH Magic Colleges

Oh dear deity of choice. Not major players!! These would be THE major players.

And that's why I'd limit Hedge Magic to pretty folksy stuff. A willow-knot that helps a cow heal while it wears it, not a wand wave that springs up a whole field of crops from barren soil.

I would recommend against an organized healer collage or if you do make one then put it under severe restrictions in a non industrial economy these folks have all the power they want.

There was a college i made for a long ago f-hero game. All this orders magic had to work through their personal wand or staff but they were the only mages to have access to all powers and SFX. The only really nasty rule was that any effect over 15 active points had to be independent and enchanted in the wand. Effects under 15 pts simply had to use the wand as a focus. In the game a senior wizard of this order was killed and wars were waged over that wand. The order was called "the pristine order of the external soul" or the pristine order for short

I might do something like this for a couple Colleges, but I'd probably make the Focus personal. I'm not sure I want to have a tradition of "kill the wand-weilder to gain a 100 Real-point before Focus Grimoire." -makers!

Doug.

Re: FH Magic Colleges

I found that the best way of "coloring" the magic of each school was by setting which Advantages and Limitations the schools were: Required to use; Not allowed to use; Were allowed to use.

Something I'll certainly do once I start building things.

I do want flexibility of effect. I just want relative strengths and weaknesses so that other colleges can be jealous of each others' mystic lore, yet not have an outright advantage that would give them a phenomenal edge. The same is not true of the Schools. Even the Alembic School has an advantage: They may not be powerful, but they can make potions.

I gave them all horns or antlers. Weird, I know, but I liked the idea.

Actually, I think it's a really neat idea.

Doug.

Re: FH Magic Colleges

Cool idea. Carnal School

 

Another idea might be a group of commoners, like wise women or hedge wizards, who concentrate mostly on healing and crop production.

 

LOL. You caught me. I started this thinking about the Mage traditions (an obvious starting point). Very loosely, the Mournholders were Euthanatos (with Drains instead of Entropy) and the Green and Purple were Hermetic (with rays and walls instead of Forces).

 

The "commoner-wizards and hedge-magic" might be a good school but they'd make a bad college. I see the colleges ending up kind of as Medieval Bishoprics. Lands, a city, a college instead of a cathedral, mundane armsmen... ...and like the Bishoprics semi-independant from the rule of the nobility.

 

But I don't know, it's just ideas right now.

 

Doug.

So, instead of just owning Fantasy HERO, I started to read it.

There are some pretty neat ideas crammed into the magic section, and it got me thinking. Currently I'm working on a number (I'll say eight for now, but the number is neither relevant nor fixed) of "Colleges." Each one must have a unique "theme & method."

The goal is to create a world where a number of Colleges strive for political (and magical) dominance.

The 2 things to avoid: Elemental schools & "form" Schools (ie, a Conjuration school versus an Evocation School, to borrow some familiar D&D terms).

What you can help me with: Come up with a rough framework for me. Just a couple ideas strung together.

Two and a half examples:

Mournhold College

Their founder walked the realms of the dead for a century, and returned with dark lore best left forgotten.

Strengths: Aid & (past) divination spells. (Summoning "possessing spirits" to give strength, or to aid knowledge). Spells that drain or weaken the living (but no transfer, death not vampirism).

Weaknesses: Travelling spells, spells that effect non-living materials, including the undead.

Feel: Ash & bone, chilly breezes and unholy howls.

Dress: Mournholders normally dress in off-white (bone) coloured robes, and in public wear thin gloves and silk "skull" veils.

The Green and Purple College(and a kudo goes to Jack Vance for this school).

The lore of lost Panaguria, of the gleaming cities of glass and bronze, survive in this school's strange nigh-weightless metal tomes.

Strengths: Wards and walls. Destructive rays. Enchanting auras that enhance items.

Weaknesses: Sensory or stealthy spells, charms and spells that effect the mind.

Feel: Flashy displays of green and purple light. Shining glyphs annd sigils swimming across enchanted items.

Dress: Voluminous and richly embroidered robes and sashes ... featuring green and purple.

The Alembic School

Not a college, although they put on the airs of one, the Alembic School is a loose collection of Alchemists and snake-oil salesmen.

Strengths: Potions and philtres of great expense and only minor efficacy.

Weaknesses: Anything magical.

Feel: Like swallowing a Bromo and stove grease.

Dress: Gaudy costumes and paste bangles, to appear wealthy and successful.