…still waiting for a clever title…

One of my first big breaks was when I had two articles and two reviews published in the now long defunct Shadis magazine. I think I hold the honor of having the first article dealing with Warhammer FRP appear, as well as one of the few pure AD&D 2E pieces appear as well.

New Styles of Magic originally appeared in Shadis #42 vol. VI, number V, and is one of the things I am most proud of. Why? I really had a neat little idea here, and I really enjoyed the slight tweak I made to viewing 2E magic from a different perspective.

New Style of Magic

Magic in Advanced Dungeon and Dragons is always the same. Yes you can have specialist Mages, but the approach to spell casting is still the same. Eventually a player will become bored with spellcasters, and start to take them less than serious. A DM, short of beefing up NPC Mages, would be hard press to instill a sense of confusion and wonder to spellcasters. That is where this article comes in.

The Tattoo Mage and the Spellweaver are two magic-users who approach their spell casting differently. Each is unique and will offer new challenges to the players. The two are Mages in all sense of the word, but have different philosophy to how they cast their spells. We will start with the Tattoo Mage.

Tattoo Mages

When Magic-Users cast spells, usually they use some form of material component; be it a glass rod and lambs wool, or a dried spider. Some wizards grow tired of always carrying the components of their favorite spells with them, and to overcome this some tattoo a representation of the spell onto their body. Using tattoos to cast spells is very similar to how a normal wizard cast his spells. They first most verbalize it, maybe do some form of gesture, and then use the component. In the case of the Tattoo Mage, the component is the tattoo. The Mage must be able to physically touch the tattoo to cast his spell. If he can not, the spell fails and is wiped from memory.

Tattoos must also be touched even if the spell does not require a physical component. Burning Hands only requires Verbal and Somatic components, but if the Mage has the spell tattooed, he must touch it. Tattoos act as the physical component no matter how many times the wizard cast the spell. For example Greycloak, a 2^nd Level Mage, has Magic Missile tattooed on his hand. Each time Greycloak wishes to cast the spell he must touch the tattoo. Greycloak can only cast a spell if he has it memorized, regardless if he has it tattooed.

Tattoos take up space on the Mage’s body, and the skin surface only has so much room. For simplicity sake, a Mage can have up to 20 levels of spells tattooed on him. The amount of space the tattoo takes depends on the spell level. For example, a 1^st level spell would take up 1 space while a 9^th level spell would take up 9 spaces. A Mage can have a mixture of spell levels, but he can never go above the 20 maximum. In addition to the space that spells take up, a Mage is limited to the spells that can be tattooed. A Mage can only have spell levels he can cast tattooed. Thus, a 2^nd level Mage is allowed to have 1^st level spells placed on his body. The Mage must also know the spell and have a copy of it in his spellbook. All Tattoo Mages begin their careers with one 1^st level tattoo, and this does not count against the twenty level limit. As the Mage advances in his levels he can add more tattoos to his body.

Saying a Mage wants a tattoo, and actually getting it done are two separate things. The Mage must first find an artist who is capable of doing the work. For game purposes this usually takes 1d8 weeks, but the DM should create some form of adventure and have the player role-play the process. Once the artist is found, the Mage must decide on the tattoo and the spell level he will have done. The tattoo can be anything the player desires. Keep in mind the more powerful the spell the more intricate the design is. A 9^th level spell would cover the Mage’s chest, back and shoulders and would be a intricate multi-colored design depicting many things. A 1^st level spell would be a small simple tattoo maybe two colors, but usually in one. The tattoo will cost the Mage 1000 GP per level of the spell, thus a 6^th level spell would cost 6000 GP.

Most in the wizard community frown upon Tattoo Mages. They feel that they are savages and lesser wizards. This idea comes from the fact that most primitive cultures practice this art of magic. These wizards are usually weak and have a hard time casting anything more powerful than a magic missile. Yet, a true Tattoo Mage is formidable. He will limit his memorized spells to what is tattooed on him. In battle the Tattoo Mage is relentless, and usually goes heavy on combat spells. This does not mean that a Tattoo Mage is one dimensional. They still use spells that are not tattooed on them, but these tend to be ones that the Mage rarely uses. Why waste precious body space on a knock spell when you can have shield permanently tattooed.

Humans and half-elves can be Tattoo Mages. Elves can not study this form of magic. The reason is simple-they view this practice as barbaric. Men and women can both become Tattoo Mages, but men typically gravitate to this style. All Tattoo Mage’s use the same HD’s, Experience Level’s and Spells Allowed Per Day, THAC0 and Saving Throws as a Magic-user. The Mage must still memorize his spells and use spellbooks. Tattoo Mage’s are considered to be Specialist Wizards and must begin their career using this form. Because of this, they can never become multi-class or dual class. They do not have any other penalties and for all purposes are treated like all other Magic-users.

The Tattoo Mage is one new approach to spell casting. A second approach is with the Spellweaver; they see the force of magic as various threads of power.

Spellweavers

Spellweavers are magic-users who view magic different from others. Weaver’s as they are known, view magic as threads of power. To cast a spell, Weavers use different threads to get the effect they desire. There are seven threads of power: Earth, Fire, Wind, Air, Time, Body, Soul and Water. These threads make up all life and by using them, a Weaver can get any effect that she desires.

In order to weave the threads of magic, a Weaver must learn the weaving proficiency. This skill is learned at no cost when the Weaver is created. When the Weaver wants to cast a spell, she must first make a weaving proficiency check. If the check is failed the spell is wiped from the Weaver’s memory. A Weaver can increase their weaving proficiency through the normal ways as described in the Player’s Handbook. With each raise to the proficiency the weaver gains a +1 bonus to all spells cast. A Weaver can never go above a +5.

Weavers view magic in a different way than most magic-users. Wizards are taught that the magic comes from within, and that by memorizing spells, they the caster, serve as the trigger to release the magic. A Weaver is taught to view the world as threads of magic. All life has the threads in them in varying degrees. True magical power comes from knowing how to use these threads and control them.

Weavers learn how to cast spells by the weaving process. They do not know how to use Verbal, Somatic or Material components. They simply weave unseen threads to create their magic. A Weaver spellbook resembles others, except for the fact that it contains instruction on how to weave the threads to create a spell. Because of this, non-Weavers are unable to learn Weaver spells. The same holds true for a Weaver who discovers a normal spellbook.

Weavers begin their career with a small book of twelve spells. This book is a gift from the teacher, and is a stepping stone on their path of weaving. All books contain eight 1^st level spells, three 2^nd level spells and one 3^rd level spell. Any new spells must be discovered by the Weaver during their career. There are not many Weavers and the chances of finding a new spell is slim. So how does a weaver learn a new spell? They teach themselves.

Starting at 2^nd level, a Weaver has a 15% chance each level, up to a maximum of 90% to learn a new spell. This spell represents the Weaver’s intuitive investigations of magic. By their constant weaving, a Weaver learns how the threads effect each other. As they advance in levels, so does their knowledge . The spell that is learned is random, and is left up to the DM to choose. The only guideline is that the spell must be from a level she can cast; a 2^nd level Weaver can learn a 1^st level spell, but not a 9^th level one.

The threads that are used in the casting a spell are up to the player. Creativity is the key. Fireball, would use threads of Fire and Air. Slow, would require Wind, Air and Time. To choose the threads the player should use common sense and creativity. The threads that are used never change, and should be remembered.

Most in the magical community view Weavers as charlatans. Many wizards have a hard time understanding the weavers view of magic. They feel that the Threads of Power are just a myth and that the Weavers simply fake what they are doing. Responding to this charge the dwarf Gregory Stonefist once said: “I don’t know about those pansy Wizard’s, but a Weaver once zinged me with a magick missile. Singed me damn beard it did!”

Weaver magic harkens back to primitive days and is the root of magic itself. Before wizards started to organize schools and bring order to magic, all Wizards used weaving. As time progressed, magic became structured and the process of weaving was forgotten. Weavers hearken back to these ancient days, and that scares most Wizards.

Humans, elves and half-elves can become Weavers, and can be from either sex. Yet more women are weavers than men. One explanation is that women are more open to this form of magic. Another reason can be that most men show no interest and look for more practical ways to work magic. Weavers are also very skilled tailors and basket weavers. Their work is very intricate and is sought after by many. It is rumored that the best loom workers are also the most skilled Spellweavers.

All Spellweavers use the same HD’s, Experience Level’s and Spells Allowed Per Day, THAC0 and Saving Throws as typical Wizards. Spellweavers still must memorize their spells and use spellbooks. They are considered to be Specialist Wizards, and they can never become multi-classed or dual class.

Both Tattoo Mages and Spellweavers can be used as player characters, but it is recommended to introduce them as NPC’s first. With these two new spellcasters, magic now has the sense of wonder that it should have.