This is the FuRPiG implementation of the magic in the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. In those books, rare humans are born magi (sing. magus, fem. witch, masc. wizard).
Rowling's magi can perform a huge variety of magical acts and rarely tire from them, but virtually never use their powers directly in the manner of a fay, a Deryni, or a psychic of the United Earth setting. Instead, they almost always work by creating a magical tool – enchanting something – then wielding the enchanted object.
Wand magic might appear to be an exception but, in FuRPiG, it is not. For example, Rowling's magi do not levitate objects directly; they load the Wingardium Leviosa spell into a wand and then use the wand to levitate things.
(Wands are the norm in modern Europe. Other cultures use staves, amulets, rings, etc. in a similar manner.)
Magi spend years learning hundreds of separate spells. This skill models the net effect of knowing a spell, correctly loading it into your wand, and knowing how to operate the spell. It lets you combine any effects of the skills Levitation, Binding, Trigger, Pattern, Ectoplastics, and Shapecast. It specifically does NOT include effects of Dicing, Glamour, Telepathy, Clairvoyance, or psychic skills derived from them.
The effects of Wizarding are not permanent. Telekinetic activities, transformations, and created objects disappear after a length of time proportional to your skill level. The duration can be cut short with a second successful skill roll by the caster, by a Wizarding master (90+%), or by a non-master who knows or correctly guesses the exact spell used. The caster can also "pull their punch" when they cast and choose dice for a lower level.
The range and force of psychic actions is also dependent on your skill level. In effect, your PSY attribute depends on skill level, for things like range, strength, and speed of TK.
01% – 29%: Duration = 1d6 hours. Power = PSY – 4.
30% – 49%: Duration = 2d6 hours. Power = PSY – 3.
50% – 69%: Duration = 3d6 hours. Power = PSY – 2.
70% – 89%: Duration = 4d6 hours. Power = PSY – 1.
90% – 99%: Duration = 1d6 days. Power = PSY.
Modifiers:
+30% – Using a tailored wand.
+30% – Doing an exact or near-exact repetition of a past success.
perfect hit: either make cast Permanent or go up 1% (in addition to
learn rate)
critical hit: use duration and power of next level up (or 3d6 days for
90+%)
critical miss: annoying or hindering special effects
perfect miss: annoying or hindering special effects + 1 HP damage
prereqs: mage blood
This skill models how well you can steer a wand-loaded spell with gestures, incantations, and visualization. Use with a roll on Wizarding; both rolls count as a single action.
This skill seldom produces *no* result. Even failures usually produce some (useless) special effects, e.g. try to turn a stick into a sword and get a flimsy wooden sword; try to turn a candle into a sausage and get a wax sausage. At the very least, there's usually a shower of sparks or a puff of smoke.
Modifiers:
+30% – Using a dog-Latin incantation from the books, or a convincing
facsimile.
+20% – Using a tailored wand.
-50% – Using a damaged wand.
perfect hit: either make cast Permanent or go up 1% (in addition to
learn rate)
critical hit: use duration and power of next level up (or 3d6 days for
90+%)
critical miss: annoying or hindering special effects
perfect miss: annoying or hindering special effects + 1 HP damage
prereqs: mage blood
This skill models how quickly and accurately you can point a wand for casting curses and other offensive spells, which are aimed and appear as bolts of colored light. You can use Combat Wand to parry against Combat Wand by another character. Use with rolls on both Wizarding and Wand Use; all three rolls count as a single action.
Wizard dueling does not aim at inflicting hit-point damage, though that can easily result. The immediate goal is a painful or disabling effect (bonds, transformation, instant disease, etc.).
perfect hit: add 1d6 nerve-pt damage to attack
critical hit: use duration and power of next level up (or 3d6 days for
90+%)
critical miss: annoying or hindering special effects
perfect miss: annoying or hindering special effects + 1d6 HP damage
prereqs: mage blood
This is the skill of combining pre-enchanted ingredients to create a potion producing a magical effect. Like mundane cooking, it presupposes a very large but finite and traditional ensemble of prepared ingredients, which can be combined in an almost endless number of ways. A potion can produce any combination of effects listed under psychic or fay skills, but it is usually activated only when consumed by, or applied to, a living being, which it is intended to affect.
Unless they are lethal, the effects of a potion are temporary. The duration is a function of the recipe, not the character's skill level. It may also be a function of the quantity used, the concentration, or the quality of the ingredients.
Like Wand Use, Potions usually does something, even on a failed roll. A brief or partial result is common.
Potions may have strict conditions for successful use. E.g., a Polyjuice potion, with someone's hair added, will turn you into a duplicate of that person, but it is only intended for human-to-human transformation; substituting cat hair for human hair in a Polyjuice Potion won't turn you into a cat, but into a cat-human hybrid.
Potions is the basis for all the magical candies mentioned in the Harry Potter books, but creating these also requires a successful Cooking roll.
Inventing a new potion requires use of a suitable version of the Engineering skill *or* detailed roleplaying of the experimentation process, which could be amusing...
critical hit: triple normal duration
critical miss: annoying or hindering special effects; up to 1d6 HP
damage
prereqs: mage blood
This skill models how well you can fly on an enchanted broomstick. Anyone, even a non-mage ("muggle"), can make a suitably enchanted broomstick carry them about; use the Broomstick skill for precision flying, fast or tricky landings and take-offs, and other difficult manoeuvers.
The top air-speed of an enchanted broomstick is B * V mph, where B = PSY - SIZ and is never less than zero. V depends on the individual model of broomstick. Commercial descriptions assume B = 2. Examples:
Comet 260: V = 50 (commercial top speed 100 mph), 30 sec.
acceleration time
Cleansweep 7: V = 60 (commercial top speed 120 mph), 25 sec.
acceleration time
Cloudsweeper: V = 75 (commercial top speed 150 mph), 20 sec.
acceleration time
Nimbus 2000: V = 100 (commercial top speed 200 mph), 20 sec.
acceleration time
Nimbus 2001: V = 100 (commercial top speed 200 mph), 18 sec.
acceleration time
Firebolt: V = 110 (commercial top speed 220 mph), 15 sec.
acceleration time
critical hit: audience admiration; extra learning roll
critical miss: crash landing; 1d6 HP damage
This skill models how well you can understand the broomstick-based game of Quidditch. Combine with Broomstick to play Quidditch well.
perfect hit: automatic score
critical hit: with a successful Broomstick roll, automatic score
critical miss: a critical hit for the opposition
perfect miss: automatic score for the oppposition
prereqs: Broomstick, if you are playing, not just watching
Enchantment is the basic skill of Harry Potter mages; Wizarding and Potions are simplified specializations of it. Enchantment produces magical objects – broomsticks, flying carpets, magic mirrors, animated pictures, talking letters, etc. It can produce any combination of effects listed under psychic or fay skills and metaskills, except for precognitive effects; also, teleportation and similar effects (e.g. flitting and witchwalking) are only possible at 99%.
The effects of Enchantment are not permanent. Telekinetic activities, transformations, and created objects disappear after a length of time proportional to your skill level. The duration can be cut short with a second successful skill roll by the caster, by an Enchantment master (90+%), or by a non-master who knows or correctly guesses the exact spell used. The caster can also "pull their punch" when they cast and choose dice for a lower level.
The range and force of psychic actions is also dependent on your skill level. In effect, your PSY attribute depends on skill level, for things like range, strength, and speed of TK.
01% – 29%: Duration = 1d6 hours. Power = PSY – 4.
30% – 49%: Duration = 2d6 hours. Power = PSY – 3.
50% – 69%: Duration = 3d6 hours. Power = PSY – 2.
70% – 89%: Duration = 4d6 hours. Power = PSY – 1.
90% – 99%: Duration = 1d6 days. Power = PSY.
Modifiers:
-50% – Using no wand
-30% – Not using a dog-Latin incantation from the books, or a convincing
facsimile.
+30% – Using a tailored wand.
+30% – Doing an exact or near-exact repetition of a past success.
perfect hit: either make cast Permanent or go up 1% (in addition to
learn rate)
critical hit: use duration and power of next level up (or 3d6 days for
90+%)
critical miss: annoying or hindering special effects
perfect miss: annoying or hindering special effects + 1 HP damage
prereqs: mage blood
Using this skill removes the limited duration from Wizarding, Potions, or Enchantment. However, you must then pay the full cost in psi points for whatever effects you produced, reckoning it up as a combination of psychic and fay skills and metaskills.
Permanence has three levels, normal, critical, and perfect, depending on the kind of roll that produced it. Permanence can be undone only by a second Permanence roll of the same or higher level.
When you use Permanence in combination with Wizarding, Wand Use, or Wand Combat, you do *not* combine all the rolls into a single action. It is not easy to use Permanence in combat.
critical hit: cost and no effect
critical miss: no cost
prereqs: 90% in skill being enhanced (Wizarding, Potions, or
Enchantment)
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Copyright © Earl Wajenberg, 2010