Magic Levels in the Hero System

Introduction

Not all places have identical amounts of magical energy available. Some areas are drained, either purposefully or through spells intended to drain them. Some worlds have little or no magic. Some worlds are brimming over with magic. These rules are intended to simulate these differences in the amount of available magic.

There are six different ways the GM can represent this:

Active points of spells
Advantages and Limitations
Endurance cost of spells
Effective skill of the user
Who can use spells
Combinations

1. Active points of spells. In extremely high magic areas, the active points in spells might be increased, either by a fraction of the original amount (recommended) or by a set amount (as an Aid). For example, in a high magic area, all spells might be increased by half (increasing a 6d6 Energy Blast spell to 9d6, for example). Low magic areas might reduce the Active Points by one quarter, or one half, or three quarters (thus, in an extremely low magic world that same 6d6 Energy Blast might be reduced to 3d6, 2d6, or even 1d6!). It is not recommended to allow players to change the Advantages and Limitations on their spells using these points, but see number 2 below.

2. Advantages and Limitations. The GM may apply certain Advantages or Limitations to all spells cast in a high or low magic area. Added Advantages in high magic areas might include Reduced Endurance (see number 3), Area Effect, Explosion, or Increased Range, while Limitations for low magic areas might include Activation Roll, Increased Endurance Cost (likewise, see number 3) or No Range. High magic areas might also add the Side Effects Limitation!

3. Endurance cost of spells. Endurance frequently represents some kind of energy or fuel used to power magic with. This can be handled by applying an appropriate Advantage or Limitation, or can simply be handled by GM fiat. Reducing Endurance costs to half of their original value, or to zero, or increasing them by half or to twice their original values, can simulate high or low magic areas. Endurance Reserves are frequently used by wizards; a high magic area can increase or decrease the REC of an Endurance Reserve, or can even increase or decrease a wizard's own personal REC.

4. Effective skill of the user. This is only relevant in campaigns where spells take the Requires Skill Roll limitation. High magic areas might increase the user's skill rolls, while low magic areas might decrease them.

5. Who can use spells. In most fantasy worlds, only wizards can use spells. In higher magic areas, though, anyone, from the most highly trained archmages to the lowliest peasants might be able to cast some spell or other. The way to handle this might be to give everyone a certain spell, or group of spells they can cast, or even by giving everyone a small Variable Power Pool (perhaps related to some multiple of the character's Intelligence or Ego), usually with lots of limitations to make up for unskilled usage, such as high Endurance cost, Side Effects, etc. In some worlds, every character might have a unique spell they can cast!

6. Combinations of the above. A low magic area might double the Endurance cost of all spells (or removing any Reduced Endurance Advantages) and reduce all characters' effective skill in using them, while a high magic area might give a skill bonus and reduce Endurance costs.

GMs are encouraged to be consistent in their use of these methods, even to come up with specific levels of available magic; these can be referred to by name (for example, as High, Average, and Low), or can be referred to by number (one area might have a magic level of 7, while another has a magic level of 2).

Some additional possibilities with magic levels:

Aspected magic areas. These are areas that are aspected toward or against certain types of magic. For example, a volcano may be aspected toward fire spells (and against water spells), while a cemetery might be aspected toward death spells. Increase or decrease the effective magic levels for these areas.

Ley lines. In some worlds, magic flows in lines (usually called ley lines). The area directly under (or above, if they flow through the earth as well) a ley line might be a high magic area, while the area where two or more lines cross might be very high (and prime real estate). Also, this effect might extend out a certain distance from the line itself, making any area within six hexes of a ley line a high mana area. An excellent article with more information on ley lines (in the GURPS game system) is located at http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/Roleplayer/Roleplayer25/Ley-Lines.html.

Null areas. Some areas may be "null magic", either through overuse of the resources there, or by having been deliberately drained through spell or technology. In these areas, magic simply does not work. These areas can range in size from one hex to an entire continent, planet, or universe! The magic might come back, or it might be permanent. (Be careful when throwing wizards into a null magic area; they'll be understandably annoyed at having their powers reduced to zero through no fault of their own. Also, make sure the characters aren't stranded by suddenly having their magical dimension travel artifact rendered useless.)

Increasing or decreasing the magic level of an area. This should be extremely difficult, if not impossible. If the GM decides to allow this, it can be handled by a major Aid or Suppress; figure twice the base maximum Active Point level of the campaign to increase or decrease the level by one, and double that for every additional level raised or lowered. (In other words, if the campaign has an active point limit of 40, it would take an Aid or Suppress of up to 80 points to raise or lower the magic level by one.) This could be made Zero Endurance, Always On, and Persistent, perhaps built on an Area Effect, and Independent.

A world might be divided into the following types of areas:

Magic level 0. Acts as a null area.

Magic level 1. All spells' Active Points are reduced to one quarter of their original values. Any spells bought to Zero Endurance now cost twice their full base Endurance Cost to cast, while all other spells have their Endurance costs tripled.

Magic level 2. All spells' Active Points are reduced by half. Zero Endurance spells now cost full Endurance, while all other spells have their Endurance costs doubled.

Magic level 3. This is the campaign default ("normal" magic level). All spells work as originally built.

Magic level 4. All spells have their Active Points increased by half. The Endurance cost of all spells is halved as well; any spells already at half Endurance are reduced to 0 END. Any spells already at 0 END have their Active Points doubled. Regardless of how far the Active Points are increased, any skill modifiers are based on the original Active Points of the spell.

Magic level 5. All spells have their effective Active Points doubled. Endurance costs are reduced to zero; any spells that are already at zero Endurance have their active points tripled. Spells that require a skill or activation roll also gain the Side Effects Limitation, equal to the base effect of the spell (before any increase in points).

Magic level 6. This is the highest level of magic to be found anywhere. Everything is as in level 5, plus all characters gain a Variable Power Pool equal to their INT. These pools effectively require no skill roll to change, though characters must either be taught spells or cast them from reference materials. Characters who already have Variable Power Pools have their pools increased by a number of base points equal to their INT. Anyone who has grown up in a magic level 6 area gets Familiarity with INT-based Magic skill as an everyman skill.

All spellcasting skills (except everyman) receive a bonus equal to (magic level - 3).

Most areas in the world are magic level 3, though there are some in which the level is reduced to 2 or 1, and a few artificially created magic 0 areas; there are also a few magic 4 and 5 areas. Ley lines are two levels (to a maximum of 5) higher within 4 hexes, and one level higher up to 8 hexes further out. At the points where two ley lines cross, magic levels are four levels higher (to a maximum of 6 directly on the crossing, 5 elsewhere), three levels higher up to 8 hexes away (again, to a maximum of 5), two levels up to 16 hexes away, and so on, until the magic level is at the "ambient" level. Every additional line adds two levels and doubles all of the distances, so that a five-line crossing would be magic level 6 directly on the crossing, 5 up to 1024 hexes away, 4 up to 2048 hexes away, and 3 out to 4096 hexes away if the "ambient" magic level is less than 3. This would be a veritable magical city! Wizards would have wars over possession of this area. Needless to say, these kinds of crossings should be extremely rare.

The GM also determines that iron mined in a magic 0 area acts as a magic dampener; one kilogram of this iron reduces the magic level in the same hex by three, and for every doubling of mass, the radius is increased by one hex. Every three doublings of mass reduces the magic level by one additional level as well.

Note that these are just the way things work out on this particular world. The same GM might take the same descriptions of magic levels and apply them differently to a different world: another world may have lots of magic 6 areas as well as magic 0 areas.