Ars Magica
“The Art of Magic”

Ars Magica is a fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein•Hagen, that entered its fourth edition in December 1996. It is currently owned by Atlas Games, having arrived there by way of Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf Game Systems, and Lion Rampant. (The Ars FAQ explains the convoluted chain of connections.)

Ars Magica has many features in common with other FRPGs, and many unique features that distinguish it from the crowd. Ars Magica is a game about covenants and magic, and the characters who must deal with them. The canonical setting is “Mythic Europe”, a world very similar to Medieval Europe: the same kings rule, and the same cities dot the landscape. The difference is that the legends are true: there are dragons in the Pyrenees, and faeries in the deepest forests, while demons seek to corrupt the innocent, and magic – within the game! – is real.

The central “character” in a standard game of Ars Magica is the covenant. This is both the place where most of the characters live, and a term for all the people who live there. Some of the inhabitants are magi, powerful wizards, others are companions, skilled individuals, generally without magical power, and the rest are grogs and covenfolk, the guards and the servants.

The covenant also lends itself to troupe-style play. In a conventional FRPG, one person runs the world, and the other players always play the same characters. In Ars Magica every player has at least two characters: one magus (or maga, if a woman) and one companion. The companion is associated with the covenant, but not the player’s own magus particularly, and only one of the two characters is played at a time. This style of play is useful because magi are much more powerful than companions, but companions are (or should be) vital to the ongoing campaign.

Ars Magica is Latin for “The Art Magic” or “The Magical Art”, not “The Art of Magic”, whatever the cover of the rulebook may say. Magic is at the heart of the Ars Magica rules. This is the best magic system in any FRPG that I have come across.

Magic in Ars Magica

The magic system is a modern rationalisation of “historical” Hermetic magic, using five “Techniques” and ten “Forms” – collectively the “Arts of Magic”.

Spells may be spontaneous, formulaic, or ritual; each spell combines at least one Technique and one Form. Spellcasting is based on the spellcaster’s abilities in the necessary Technique(s) and Form(s). Ritual spells require one or more “pawns” of “vis” (pronounced “WEES”) for the necessary Technique(s) and/or Form(s); formulaic spells can be enhanced by the use of vis. Vis – raw magic power – can be found stored in some suitable physical substance discovered during gameplay.

The following descriptions of Techniques and Forms are taken from the Ars Magica rule books (Third Edition; copyright © 1992 White Wolf, and Fourth Edition; copyright © 1996 Trident, Inc. t/b/a Atlas Games).

Techniques

Creo (Cr) “I create”

Pronounced “CRAY-oh”. This Art allows you to produce objects from nothing. It turns dreams into reality. When using a Creo spell, you enter a momentary state of transcendent meditation and contact the realm of Forms, in which all objects that ever were and ever could be exist as perfect ideas. [Plato!] Your magic finds the proper form and impresses it on the real world, creating an expression of it. Objects created in this way are closer to the world of Forms than to natural objects, so they are always perfect and flawless. You can also use the Art of Creo to perfect things that have deteriorated from their ideal nature, such as to heal a broken arem or to mend a broken vase.

Intéllego (In) “I perceive”

Pronounced “in-TEL-lego”. Intéllego is the Art of perception. All things in the world are connected to each other, and Intéllego allow magi the ability to see, read, and learn from these connections. What others hear as the winds in the branches is to an Intéllego magus the language of the trees.

Muto (Mu) “I transform”

Pronounced “MOO-toe”. This is the Art of transformation and transmutation. Through this Art, magi can direct and control the essential mechanisms of change itself. A transformation is easiest when there is a strong connection between the original object and that resulting from the transformation: for example, it is relatively easy to turn a leaf into an apple. However, turning a leaf (living, flexible, and vegetable) into a sword (inert, unyielding, and mineral) is quite difficult.

Perdo (Pe) “I destroy”

Pronounced “PARE-doe”. The one trait held in common by all objects and creatures in the temporal world is that some day, inevitably, they will cease to exist. The magus who understands the Art of Perdo knows this, and uses magic to control the universal process whereby things are destroyed. Aging, disease, decay, and dissolution are all properties inherent to objects and living things and can be drawn on through this Art.

Rego (Re) “I control”

Pronounced “RAY-go”. The Art of Rego allows a magus to regulate matter or compel the actions of living things. One kind of Rego spell might lift someone into the air – or slam them into a wall! – and another might make a person act in a certain way.

Forms

Animál (An) “animal”

Pronounced “an-nee-MAHL”. Animál concerns animals of all kinds, from the fish of the sea to the birds of the air. Animál spells cannot affect people, for they have souls whereas animals do not. Animál magi develop a keen appreciation of the power of the animal spirit and form, and some prefer the company of beasts to that of humans.

Aquam (Aq) “water”

Pronounced “AH-kwahm”. Aquam concerns all manner of liquids. Through this Art, one gains access to the might of a roaring flood and the gentleness of a clear pool.

Auram (Au) “air”

Pronounced “OW-rahm”. Auram is the Art of air, wind, and weather. True flight is possible only through this Art. The heart of an Auram magus is in the sky, among the roiling storms, rushing winds, cool fog, and gentle rains.

Corpus (Co) “body”

Pronounced “COR-poos”. Corpus is the Art of humans and humanlike bodies. It governs the intricate interactions that occur in those bodies with souls, as well as those that once had souls. Some [magi] use their arts to heal, others to harm. [Was “Córporem” (CORE-pore-em) in the Third Edition.]

Herbam (He) “plant”

Pronounced “HARE-bahm”. This Form concerns plants and trees. This includes plant matter of all types, including that which is no longer alive – like dead wood and linens.

Ignem (Ig) “fire”

Pronounced “IG-nem”. This Form concerns fire, heat, and light. Fire is the most lifelike of the four elements: it moves, it devours, and it grows. Also, just as a living thing, it can be killed by the other elements – smothered by earth, quenched by water, or blown apart by wind. Fire’s position midway between inert matter and living being gives it the advantages of both.

Imáginem (Im) “image”

Pronounced “ih-MAH-gih-nem”. This Form concerns illusions and phantasms. It affects only the senses and can never affect matter. Masters of this Art have learned to separate the impressions a thing leaves on the senses from the thing itself, and many of them likewise become separated from what those around them see as reality. [Was “Imágonem” (i-MAH-go-nem) in the Third Edition.]

Mentem (Me) “mind”

Pronounced “MEN-tem”. This Form concerns minds, thoughts, and spirits. It comes as close as magic can to affecting souls. Through this Art, magi manipulate what they call the body of the soul: memories, thoughts, and emotions. They can also affect the “bodies” of noncorporeal beings, such as ghosts, as these are maintained in the physical world directly by a spirit’s will.

Terram (Te) “earth”

Pronounced “TARE-rahm”. This Form concerns solids, especially earth and stone. Indeed, Terram affects the very foundation of the world. Although Terram magic is mighty, the earth proves resistant to manipulation. Just as stone is heavy and hard to lift, it is inert and hard to change, even through magic.

Vim (Vi) “power”

Pronounced “WEEM”. This Form concerns raw magical power. All the Arts rely on the raw energy and potential of magic, but this Art refines the use of magic itself, allowing magi to assume even greater control of their spells. Vim also affects demons, which are inately magical creatures. Dealing with demons, however, is dangerous because of the risk of corruption and because it is against the code of the Order of Hermes.

Magical Colleges

Magical Colleges are an extension to the Ars Magica rules in my campaign, somewhat complementary to the Houses of Hermes. There are five Colleges, corresponding to the vertices of a pentagram, each specialising in different Forms, viz. —

Sorcery

Aquam, Auram, Ignem, Terram – i.e., all elemental Forms.

Thaumaturgy

Imáginem, Mentem – i.e., both “cognitive” Forms.

Zoturgy (or Zotikoturgy)

Animál, Herbam – i.e., both “biological” Forms. (This is my own coinage, on the model of thaumaturgy and theurgy, from the Greek zotikotis, vitality.)

Somaturgy

Corpus. (Another neologism, from the Greek somatos, of the body.)

Theurgy

Vim.