Artes Liberales

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Artes Liberales (a Latin phrase meaning "liberal arts") are the academic studies that form the foundation of a medieval education. They are important to magi and to scholarly characters.

The Seven Liberal Arts

The Artes Liberales consists of seven distinct subjects divided into two sub-catgeories, the Trivium and the Quadrivium.

The Trivium

The Trivium includes the three subjects of grammar, logic, and rhetoric.

The Quadrivium

The Quadrivium includes the subjects of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music (meaning music theory, not performance).

Artes Liberales in Fifth Edition

In ArM5, the Artes Liberales Ability covers literacy. Characters without it cannot read or write. For each point in Artes Liberales, a character is eligible to know one writing system (such as the Latin alphabet, the Greek alphabet, and so on).

Artes Liberales for Magi

Since Hermetic Magic relies heavily on the ability to read and write, every magus needs an Artes Liberales score of at least 1.

The magus's score in Artes Liberales adds to the Casting Total for ritual spells. Presumably this is because knowledge of the Quadrivium helps the magus properly take account of astrological influences, draw geometric figures during ritual spells, and so on.

Similarly, Artes Liberales adds to the Casting Total for ceremonial casting.

Artes Liberales for Mundanes

Artes Liberales is an Academic Ability so it is only available to characters who have access to those Abilities. The rules provide relatively few opportunities for mundanes to use Artes Liberales: the main uses are in learning writing systems and in disputatio.

References

Artes Liberales, ArM5 page 62
Artes Liberales, Art and Academe pages 12-19
Writing Systems, Art and Academe page 19
Disputatio, Art and Academe page 104