ok guys, you guys are fairly smart, and fairly savvy with the system, how does magic work in this system?..

not really die rolls, but obviously magic works on some base level... is it similiar to *gasp* D&D with spells, or is it more free flowing like in Mage, or Riddle of Steel?

mainly im asking because if it works out great, im probably going to adopt that into the game im working on (which uses Rune as a base system, and in turn Ars Magica)

In essence, a Hermetic magus has knowledge of the Arts (that knowledge may be 0), 5 techniques and 10 forms. The techniques describe what you want to do with a form (verb - noun) so, if you want to create a fireball, you use Creo with the Ignem form.

Ars has formulaic spells which are the long practised and established formula of sympathies that magus uses to create the magical effect. In game terms, the magus sums his technique and form scores and a die roll. If he makes the level of the spell, he casts, otherwise he fails (this is so simplified it hurts).

A magus may also try and use magic without reference to a spell he has already learned, spontaneously. This is harder but follows the same pattern.

There are rituals too for effects beyond the power of normal formulaic magic. There are also lots of other elements like not being able to create anything permenantly and the like.

The book is well worth the investment, I recommend it highly.

Mark

i can figure out alot of the art stuff, since its all latin pretty much...

so the character im looking at now (Fabricor) has a creo of 10, and an ignem of 0... then roll a d10, alright cool...

as for buying the book, well the reason i posted here, was so i wouldnt have to, im working on my own super heroes game, and i was curious if i wanted the magic system to be like ars magica or not, and it basically is, to a degree

i do have a question though... mainly in reference to Tremere...

well Ars Magica deals with them, obviously, before they were vamps... as does Mage The Ascension... am i correct in guessing that mage came into the picture after Ars Magica went out?...

i do think its funny with the house symbol and all, being the symbol of the clan still, you'd think one of the other would change (from a company stand point)...

Which explains in part why in some ways Ars Magica's magic system seems similar to Mage. The two games are kind of like second cousins.

No No No

In ars magica a hermetic wizard (Hermetics are the kind of magic user that the game is really about, there are a dozen or so other types that I won't bring up here) has his magical power described with 15 traits 5 od these traits are verbs and 10 are nouns. When the wizard wants to do magic, he rolls using the appropriate 2 traits. As an example, if a wizard wanted to turn invisible he would use his "destroy" (perdo) and "image" (imagonem) scores. As a result of the descriptiveness of this system the Ars magica spell lists are not very important (although they're nice spell lists don't get me wrong) the particulars of almost any spell you can imagine can be easily derived from the rules.

Any wizard can try to do any effect at any time but if his scores aren't high enough he'll fail. A character can learn spells or cast spells spontaneously. A learned spell can be a bit over twice as powerful as one that that same character could create on the spur of the moment without knowing it.

There are several traits that deal with magic that can be raised by experience in the game such as magic resistance, spell finesse, and the ability to penetrate the magic resistance of others but the magical arts themselves (the nouns and verbs) can only be increased by study.

That's the crudest of thumbnail sketches. Download the jump start adventures from the Atlas website and look at the overviews and then buy the main rulebook.

It does both, it has all of the spells of D&D and has all of the free flowing nature of Mage (although the characters abilities are more stringently defined than in mage.)

The characters use of magic is restrained only when they are performing magic near the limit of their abilities. They can cast spells of lesser power all day and suffer only a small risk of ill efffects. The limiting facter is fatigue rather than the paradox of mage, the aging effect of Riddle of steel or the limited magical power of D&D. Similar to shadowrun if you are familiar with the mental damage effects that spell casting causes in that system.

The closest World of Darkness analoge may be the cantrip system from changeling.

i never sid they were divine gifts, i said they function in a similiar manner, and from what you described, yes they do..

they also work similiar to spheres from mage, this system simply gives you double the amount of things for combination, so that you combine two things, instead of one..

i looked at the promises, promises file, and was interested, but i really wish you people would stop telling me to go buy the book, i have no interest in the game itself, nor do i have the money to throw around on a game im not going to play...

i just asked how the magic worked, i wanted something else to compare things to, as is the magic in my game is based more on Mage and Riddle of Steel, and less on Ars Magica, because while the system is nice and all, my game isnt a mage only system...

"i have no interest in the game itself, nor do i have the money to throw around on a game im not going to play... i just asked how the magic worked"

Well, now you have the bare bones of it. I hope it all helps.

I've obviously failed miserably in my attempt to describe how arts function.

//they also work similiar to spheres from mage//

Or perhaps you don't see divine gifts in Rune as I do. I don't see how divine gifts from Rune (which are IMHO similar to virtues and flaws or, whatever they're called, in storyteller having a very specific effect) could be thought to function in a similar fasion to mage spheres (one of the most losely defined pieces of game mechanics this side of TWERPS).

Regardless, this discussion is no longer important because you can now download Ars Magica for free!!! Check the appropriate thread.

sure you would have, course, since im saving up to buy Mutants and Masterminds....lol, it doesnt matter much, i do think that i will buy Feng Shui eventually though, obviously not for help with my game, but just for something else to have......

as for news on my game, and i know how on the edge of your seat you guys are for that, i havent been able to update it in a while, been busy with RL...lo, and RP