Ars Magica Definitive Edition, Chapter Eight: Laboratory

A magus spends much more time in his laboratory engaged in study and other activities than adventuring in the lands outside the covenant. There are Arts to study, books to write, spells to invent, and items to enchant. Time between stories is recorded in seasons, each of which is enough time to accomplish a single long-term laboratory activity. Each of those activities is described in this chapter.

Magical Enchantments

Physical creations, as surely as magical knowledge, can increase your power as a magus. In addition to talismans, which you can use to concentrate your magical powers, you can create invested devices, which mimic the powers of spells; lesser enchanted devices, simpler versions of invested devices; charged items, which can be used a limited number of times; and longevity rituals, which extend your mortal life. Since magical enchantments are unique creations that follow the logic of individual magi, determining how to use one that someone else has created can be a lengthy and even dangerous process.

Magical enchantments are created through a type of ritual magic, and therefore require a great deal of time, effort, and magical resources. You must take the time to prepare your laboratory for the task, gather all the necessary materials and equipment, and then craft your work in earnest, exercising great care with the details of the enchantment. In the end, you have an item that is independent and that generates its own magical energies in order to function, but that is uniquely tied to your magical abilities. Your magical sigil figures just as prominently in the effects produced by your magical enchantments as it does in the effects produced by your spells.

Raw vis is often required to create magical enchantments. The process of enchanting an item transforms the vis, linking the magic power inexorably to the item in which it is instilled. Vis used for enchantments is thus transformed so that it is no longer usable for any other purposes, and it can never be extracted from the enchantment it is used to create. Magi sometimes refer to the magic of enchantments as "spun," rather than "raw," vis. Effects matching those of Ritual spells may not be placed in any enchantment. The elaborate rituals needed to control that much magical power simply cannot be contained in an unthinking physical item. The exception is that spells that are Rituals only because the spell level is over 50, not because of Duration, Target, or major effect, may be placed in items.

Types of Enchanted Item

Charged Items Example

Mari Amwithig wants to make a wand that casts Agony of the Beast, but she doesn't have much vis, so she considers doing it as a charged item.

Agony of the Beast is a level 15 effect, and for a charged item she decides to leave it unchanged. She isn't planning to use the item against creatures with Magic Resistance, and it doesn't really matter if other people can use it.

Her Perdo Animal Lab Total is 15 (Perdo 12 + 3 from Puissant Art) + 7 (Animal) + 3 (Intelligence) +4 (Magic Theory) +5 (Magic aura at Semita Errabunda), a total of 34. As she knows the spell, she adds a similar spell bonus of +3, because the spell is third magnitude. In addition, a wand gives a +4 bonus to destroying things at a distance. This gives her a final total of 41. She could create the item even if she didn't know the spell, but she does get some benefit from her prior knowledge.

41 is 26 higher than the level of the effect, which means she gets six charges, five from the five fives by which she exceeds the level, and one from the one point that is the final fraction.

Neil, Mari's player, decides to look at making a lesser enchanted item instead, because Mari's Lab Total is a lot higher than the level of the spell.

Enchanted Item Example 1

Mari turns her attention to making her wand as a real enchanted item. A wand gives a +4 bonus to destroy things at a distance, which makes it a good choice. Animal bone also gives a +4 bonus. Unfortunately, Mari's Magic Theory is only 4, so she would get no additional bonus from making her wand from animal bone. She decides to stick with wood, which is less conspicuous.

Similar Spells

A magus gets some benefit from knowing a spell similar to the effect he is creating. He gets a bonus to his Lab Total equal to the magnitude of the highest-level similar spell that he knows. Only a single spell grants a bonus; there is no laboratory advantage to knowing dozens of similar spells.

Similar Spell Bonus
Magnitude of highest-level similar spell known

A spell is similar if it meets one of the following requirements:

• Same effect, at a different Range, Duration, or Target. All three may differ.
• Closely related effect, at the same Range, Duration, and Target.

Two spells have the same effect if the rules description of the spell is the same, apart from the Range, Duration, or Target. Closely related effects include such things as doing damage with Creo Ignem, or turning a human being into a land animal. This is, ultimately, a judgment call on the part of the troupe. The similar spell bonus is not, generally, very large, so there is no problem with erring on the side of generosity.