FH Campaign Outline

Starting Points: 175

Matching Complications: 50

Maximum Complications Points Per Complication: 25

Maximum Active Points per Attack: 40

Maximum Active Points per Defense: 12

Characteristic Maxima: No

STR, CON: 25*

DEX, INT, EGO, PRE: 20*

SPD: 4****

OCV, DCV: 8**

OMCV, DMCV: 5**

Common Defenses (Physical, Energy, Mental): 12***

Uncommon Defenses (Resistant Defense, Power Defense): 6**

Damage Classes (DC): 8**

Skill Level: 13-**

* +1 per 10 CP of Experience

** +1 per 25 CP of Experience

*** +2 per 25 CP of Experience

**** +1 per 50 CP of Experience

The purpose of Resource Points is to help the GM manage his campaign better while maintaining the players’ freedom to create and play their characters in ways that simulate the campaign’s genre better. Resource Points, while an advanced option, are an ideal way to balance the equipment rich environment of a fantasy campaign.

• Equipment Points: 50
• Includes: Weapons, Armor, Tools, Spells
• Vehicle/Base Points: 25
• Includes vehicles, mounts, castles, apartments, estates, safe houses, ships, etc.
• Follower/Contact Points: 5
• Includes animal companions, assistants, etc.

These starting points define the character’s ‘Kit’ – the amount of resources available to him during an adventure. Regardless of how many resources he has available to him through his Armory, he can only use his defined kit until the adventure concludes or the GM agrees that a sufficient dramatic pause has occurred in the campaign.

In the scope of a resource intensive fantasy campaign that includes wealth acquisition as a core part of play, the character’s ‘Armory’ begins equal in size to his Kit x1.5. However, after the first session a character’s Armory can grow to whatever size the campaign provides for.

Standard rules suggest a GM award additional resource points throughout the campaign. However, it is also possible that equipment focused characters desire a larger Kit.

• Equipment: 1 CP for 5 Equipment Points plus 1 Equipment Point for every 1 experience.
• Vehicle/Base: 1 CP for 2 Vehicle/Base Points plus 1 Vehicle/Base Point for every 5 experience.
• Follower/Contact: 1 CP for 2 Follower/Contact Points plus 1 Follower/Contact Point for every 5 experience.

HeroDesigner is a great tool for building and tracking all of this information. However, Resource Pools and Magic Systems where spells aren’t paid for with points are often difficult to juggle within HD. The most precise way is to create a separate character file for a wizard’s grimoire, as well as a separate file for equipment. If vehicles and followers are built that means those are additional files as well. This will allow you to fully keep clear totals of all of your resources. There are also creative ways to store information in HD without assigning points or even using power builds – use the notes tabs in the file. These are nice, simple, text only spaces where you can document as much as you want. If you are using standard built gear from FH or HSEG you could simply record that you have a Broadsword and that is 7 points of your Equipment Pool.

Spellcasting can be one of the more challenging things to define in Hero because of the sheer volume of options. There is no one right way to cast spells, build spells, or design a magic system. I chose one of the defined systems from Fantasy Hero as the basis for all spellcasting, arcane and divine. This is meant to be a good solid system and a starting point. There are 16 magic systems defined in Fantasy Hero, and many more on the internet created by fans. Your campaign can be as unique as you want it to be. The goal with the system I chose was to be able to open the Hero System Grimoire to any page and simply cast a spell without modification. I think I have achieved this goal while maintaining some difference in feel and flavor for wizardry and channeling.

The magic system used here is the Azgandian Magic system (FH 293) with some small tweaks that we will call, quite generically, Wizardry.

1. Intelligence Minimum (FH 270) is calculated as 8 + Active Points/5. Another way to look at it is double the Magic Roll Penalty (MR) modifier as a positive number and add it to 8. For example, Fireball (HSG 135) has a -5 Magic Roll Penalty so the INT Min of the spell would be 18.
1. If the character fails to meet the INT Min of the spell he suffers the following penalties for every 5 points (or fraction) the character is below the minimum INT:
1. -1 OCV (if applicable)
2. -2 to casting rolls
3. -5 active points worth of effect
2. For every full 5 points a character’s INT exceeds the INT Min of the spell, he receives the following bonus:
1. +2 to casting rolls
2. +5 active points worth of effect
3. This rule is effectively a -¼ limitation. What that means in the context of the Hero System Grimoire is detailed below.
2. The cost of arcana and which arcana are used is altered slightly.
1. The Major Arcana of Wizardry match the 28 Spell Categories as presented on HSG 5.
2. The Minor Arcana of Wizardry refer to the general subcategories of Offensive, Defensive, Movement, and Miscellaneous, as well as any category-specific subcategory such as the Spells of Metal subcategory of Elemental Magic: Earth.
3. With the GM’s permission, spells can be learned at almost any power level, but once learned at a specific level they may not be adjusted until another copy of the spell is found (or with appropriate skill rolls/story to justify the power increase). May of the spells in HSG have weaker and stronger version that are at correspondingly lower or higher Magic Roll Penalties. Simply note cost and effect of the adjusted spell and use that every time you cast.

The Grimoire makes some assumptions about how spells are built. Using the book as written therefore requires that we work with those specific spell builds and identify any variances as consistently as possible. Luckily, the spells in the Grimoire work very well with the Azgandian Magic system as defined with the following exceptions:

1. OAF Expendable (Difficult to Obtain; -1 ¼) is included in nearly every spell in the HSG. To enable use of that book as is, without any alteration, assume this is simply OAF (-1) and that the ¼ limitation difference is accounted for by Intelligence Minimum above. Now the limitation simply means the caster must use an arcane focus.
2. Arcane Focus – each character must define an obvious, accessible focus that is required to cast spells, typically a wand, staff, or a rod. This is the default focus he will use during spell casting unless he has bought off that limitation as described as an option in the Azgandian Magic System (FH 293).
3. Many of the spells in the Divine Magic category are already built assuming the above options. As such, assume that Gestures is not an active limitation for these spells as it has been displaced by PRE Min as defined above.

Adept (5 points): Detect. Since it is part of the Sight Group it has built in Sense, Range, and Targeting, but is affected by anything that can affect the wizard’s normal sight (such as blidness, flash, etc.). Magical objects can be perceived in normal darkness (with standard vision penalties), but cannot be perceived through the Darkness power. MR Limitation: -3 or less.

Mage (10 points): Discriminatory. The mage can now read the subtleties of the magic associated with an object, spell, or person.MR Limitation: -5 or less.

Archmage (15 points): Analyze. MR Limitation: -7 or less.

Magus (20 points): Partially Penetrative (through darkness and dead material construction,not through living rock or lead). MR Limitation: -9 or less.

Archmagus (25 points): Fully Penetrative (not through living rock or lead.MR Limitation: -11 or less.

Arcanist (30 points): Tracking. The arcanist can follow the trail left by any magical creature or effect.MR Limitation: none.

Power: Magic
– this skill is used for all magic casting rolls. The skill is based on EGO, not INT, to reflect the mental fortitude required to command and control the forces of magic. Failing a casting roll by 1-3 still allows the spell to be cast at a cost of 2 END per point of failure. Failing by 4 means the spell is not cast. There is no critical failure or success.

Analyze Magic
– this skill is used to understand what is perceived with Arcane Sight, as well as to identify any magical item or effect at -1 per 10 active points of effect as a half-phase action (extra time is allowed); only one attempt per day. Adepts are at a -6 to identify magic items, while Mages are at at -3 due to the level of enhanced sense they posses. KS: Arcana can compliment this roll.

Combat Skill Levels can be purchased for spells
:

• OCV w/ Single Spell (2 pts)
• Major Arcana (3 pts)
• All Magic (5 pts)
• 8-point All Ranged or All HTH, 10-point All Atacks, and 12-point Overall skill levels can apply where appropriate.
• CSLs can be allocated to the casting roll if the spell is a combat spell
• CSLs can increase DCV against spell attacks

Custom Skill: Improve Spell
– a wizard may buy off up to of of the Gestures, Incantations, or Focus limitations of a single spell for 1 point each. He can never buy off all three.

Channeling is very similar to Wizardry in how it is implemented. The magic system used here is the Azgandian Magic system (FH 293) with some small tweaks that we will call, quite generically, Channeling.

1. Presence Minimum (FH 270) is calculated as 8 + Active Points/5. Another way to look at it is double the Magic Roll Penalty (MR) modifier as a positive number and add it to 8. For example, Fireball (HSG 135) has a -5 Magic Roll Penalty so the PRE Min of the spell would be 18.
1. If the character fails to meet the PRE Min of the spell he suffers the following penalties for every 5 points (or fraction) the character is below the minimum PRE:
1. -1 OCV (if applicable)
2. -2 to casting rolls
3. -5 active points worth of effect
2. For every full 5 points a character’s PRE exceeds the PRE Min of the spell, he receives the following bonus:
1. +2 to casting rolls
2. +5 active points worth of effect
3. This rule is effectively a -¼ limitation. What that means in the context of the Hero System Grimoire is detailed below.
2. The cost of arcana and which arcana are used is altered slightly and they are referred to as spheres in the context of Channeling.
1. The Major Spheres of Channeling match the 28 Spell Categories as presented on HSG 5.
2. The Minor Spheres of Channeling refer to the general subcategories of Offensive, Defensive, Movement, and Miscellaneous, as well as any category-specific subcategory such as the Spells of Metal subcategory of Elemental Magic: Earth.
3. Spells may be deemed clearly at odds with a deity’s tenets and as such those spells are not allowed. The GM needs to define which spells are sanctioned by which gods but in general there are no systematic restrictions on spell selection for clerics.
4. With the GM’s permission, spells can be learned at almost any power level, but once learned at a specific level they may not be adjusted until another copy of the spell is found (or with appropriate skill rolls/story to justify the power increase). May of the spells in HSG have weaker and stronger version that are at correspondingly lower or higher Magic Roll Penalties. Simply note cost and effect of the adjusted spell and use that every time you cast.

The Grimoire makes some assumptions about how spells are built. Using the book as written therefore requires that we work with those specific spell builds and identify any variances as consistently as possible. Luckily, the spells in the Grimoire work very well with the Azgandian Magic system as defined with the following exceptions:

1. OAF Expendable (Difficult to Obtain; -1 ¼) is included in nearly every spell in the HSG. To enable use of that book as is, without any alteration, assume this is simply OAF (-1) and that the ¼ limitation difference is accounted for by Presence Minimum above. Now the limitation simply means the caster must use a divine focus.
2. Divine Focus – each character must define an obvious, accessible focus that is required to cast spells, and something clearly attributable to the cleric’s deity and is often referred to as the character’s Holy Symbol. This is the default focus he will use during spell casting unless he has bought off that limitation as described as an option in the Azgandian Magic System (FH 293).
3. Gestures and Incantations limitations are replaced by Only When Serving The God’s Purposes (-½). If a spell is encountered that uses limitations that are clearly counter to clerical magic, look to replace those with Gestures and Incantations.

Channel Energy is the ability of the cleric to directly channel the power of his god.

As an additional restriction on spell casting, a cleric must be able channel raw energy in order to command it and the more powerful the effect the more control he must have in order to harness that power. Thus, the level of Channel Energy defines the maximum Magic Roll Penalty at which a cleric may cast a spell.

Channel Energy:  Multipower, all slots OAF (Holy Symbol; -1), Increased Endurance Cost (x2 END; -1/2), Extra Time (Full Phase, -1/2), Only When Serving The God’s Purposes (-1/2)

• Healing Energy:  Aid  STUN 2d6, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +½); 4 END
• Positive Energy: HKA* 1 point, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +½ ), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Power Defense; +1), Does BODY (+1); Undead Only (-1); 4 END
• Negative Energy:  Aid  BODY 2d6, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +½), Undead Only (-1);4 END
• Killing Energy: HKA* 1 point, Area Of Effect (8m Radius; +½ ), Attack Versus Alternate Defense (Power Defense; +1), Does BODY (+1); Living Creatures Only (-½); 4 END
• * HKA:  If the cleric has a PRE of 17 or higher, add +1 DC to the damage. If he has 34 PRE add +2 DC.

Initiate (7 points): Aid 2d6 and HKA 1 point; 4 END each. MR Limitation: -3 or less.

Acolyte (12 points): Aid 4d6 and HKA ½d6; 8 END each. MR Limitation: -5 or less.

Priest (18 points): Aid 6d6 and HKA 1d6; 10 END each. MR Limitation: -7 or less.

Curate (24 points): Aid 8d6 and HKA 1d6+1; 14 END each. MR Limitation: -9 or less.

Elder (30 points): Aid 10d6 and HKA 1 ½d6; 18 END each. MR Limitation: -11 or less.

Heirophant (36 points): Aid 12d6 and HKA 2d6; 22 END and 20 END. MR Limitation: none.

Power: Faith
– this skill is used for all magic casting rolls. The skill is based on EGO, not PRE, to reflect the mental fortitude required to command and control the forces of magic.
Failing a casting roll by 1-3 still allows the spell to be cast at a cost of 2 END per point of failure. Failing by 4 means the spell is not cast. There is no critical failure or success.

Analyze Magic
– if the cleric knows a spell that allows him to perceive magic, this skill is still required in order to identify the effect or item.

Combat Skill Levels can be purchased for spells
:

• OCV w/ Single Spell (2 pts)
• Major Sphere (3 pts)
• All Channeling (5 pts)
• 8-point All Ranged or All HTH, 10-point All Atacks, and 12-point Overall skill levels can apply where appropriate.
• CSLs can be allocated to the casting roll if the spell is a combat spell
• CSLs can increase DCV against spell attacks

KS: Arcana
– knowledge of all things concerning magic, magical theory, and magical effects.

KS: Clerical World
– knowledge of who’s who, current events, and wizarding society.

KS: History
– knowledge of all things in the past.

KS: Nobility
– knowledge of noble society and matters of state.

KS: Planes
– knowledge of extra planar creatures such as demons, devils, elementals, and extra planar effects (e.g. teleportation, desolidification, etc.).

KS: Religion
– knowledge of all things associated with religion in general.