Iberia Campaign

House Rules

We have agreed on a few special rules for the campaign.  Many of them are simply some of the alternate rules suggested in official sourcebooks, and clarified here.

Character Creation (Guidelines)

Magi, Mystic Companions, and Companions are created using the Purchase method.  Grogs are created using the Random Generation method.  Both methods can be found on p. 32 of the Ars Magica book.

Being bilingual Spanish/Arabic is a good thing for Companions and Grogs.  However, both languages can be learned through Exposure at the Covenant for those who feel like being mini-maxers (and who are willing to put up with their characters not being able to talk to anyone for a few seasons).

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Experience and Advanvement (Clarification)

Characters cannot advance or spend experience during an adventure.

During the course of a single season, a character may advance in the following ways:

EXPOSURE - this is a freebie - all characters get to check for Exposure each season for any casual knowledge that they have access to. Characters on long adventures should check with the GM for what Casual Knowledges they are exposed to. For characters hanging around the Los Ermitos covenant, the following Casual Knowledges are available:

Grogs and Companions

Magi

TRAINING, PRACTICE, AND STUDY - in addition to learning through Exposure, characters can choose to advance themselves through Training, Practice, or Study.  However, there are some restrictions.  Characters cannot benefit from Training, Practice, or Study if they perform any of the following activities during that season:

In order to benefit from Training the character must locate a trainer (obviously).  Normally any characters can only spend one season a year adventuring or Training, though this may be waived by the GM in certain circumstances.

The rules for Practice from Ordo Nobilis (p. 43-44) are being used.

(To be continued).

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Encumbrance, Fatigue and Wounds

Combat Encumbrance:
(Ordo Nobilis, p.84).  Divide any cumulative encumbrance penalties by 3 for attack and defence purposes – this is a character's Combat Encumbrance.  In all other cases (jumping, running, spell casting, or checking for fatigue loss for example, even when those activities take place during a melee) the encumbrance panelties remain unchanged.
 
Fatigue:
(Ordo Nobilis, pp.84-85).  Instead of rolling for fatigue every round, characters make Stamina-based Athletics stress rolls against an ease factor of 9+ each time they roll a natural 0 for attack or defence.  (Note that this may be in addition to a normal botch result).  If the Athletics roll fails, the character automatically loses a Fatigue level.  If the roll fails by more than 3, another Fatigue level is lost; if by more than 6, yet another level, and so on.  If the Athletics roll is also botched, subtract an additional Fatigue level per severity of the botch.
 
Grievous Wounds:
(Ordo Nobilis, p.86).  A human or animal target losing half (rounded down) of its initial complement of Body levels as a result of a single blow suffers a Grievous Wound.  So, for example, a Size 0 or +1 character losing 3 Body levels would suffera Grievous Wound, while a Size -1 character would only need to lose 2 Body levels to suffer a Grievous Wound.
 
The effects of a Grievous Wound vary according to the location of the wound.  Determine the location by rolling a simple die, then apply the relevant effects as described in Ordo Nobilis, p. 86.

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Weapon Skills

(Ordo Nobilis, pp.89-90).  Fighting from horseback is not as simple as fighting on foot, and requires specialized training.  Conversely, while fighting with a "single weapon" is different from fighting with "shield and weapon", the two are not normally taught separately. in the 13th century.  Finally, using two weapons in combat is rare and exceptional in Mythic Europe, and is normally only resorted to when one of the weapons can be thrown, or when the fighter has no shield with which to defend himself.  The following rules simulate these factors and simplify the Weapons Statistics table (Ars Magica 4th Ed., pp.172-173).

Fighting From Horseback:
Characters fighting from horseback use the lower of their Riding or Weapon Skill when calculating Attack Scores and Defence Scores.
 
Single Weapon and Shield:
The Skills "Single Weapon" and "Shield and Weapon" should be combined into a single new Skill, "Single Weapon and Shield".  This Skill may be used in the place of either of the Skills it replaces.  For existing characters, add the experience totals for both Skills to determine the new Skill level.
 
Two Weapons Skill:
The Two Weapon Skill operates differently depending on whether or not the character has the +1 Ambidextrous Virtue.  Instead of using the Two Weapons section of the Weapons Statistics table, a character first decides, for a given attack, which of the two weapons will be used for offence and which will be used for defence.  His weapon statistices are then modified as described in Ordo Nobilis, pp. 89-90.
 
If, when adopting an all-out attack (Ars Magica 4th Ed., pp.170) while using two weapons, a character's Attack Total exceeds his opponent's Defence Total by 3 or more, the second weapon's Damage Bonus is also added to total damage.  Characters using all-out defence add +6 to their Defence Scores and may not attack, as per the standard rules.

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Magic Definitions

Magi with appropriate backgrounds may, at their option, use the rules for Middle Eastern Magic found on pp. 62-64 of the Levant Tribunal sourcebook (range, duration and target).  However, it is the player's responsibility to make the correction to his/her spells as appropriate.  You can't mix and match spells either (i.e., you can't have some one way and some the other).

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Baal Shem Lesser Amulets

The baal shem's lesser amulets from Kabbalah: Mythic Judaism (pp. 106-111) can lend themselves to abuse.  For example, there are no penalties for multiple attempts in case of failure on the first try.  We added a few house rules:

(To be continued).

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