Ars Magica Definitive Edition, Chapter Thirteen: Bestiary
Creatures in an Ars Magica game serve a variety of purposes. The simplest is something to fight, but this may not be the most common. Most supernatural creatures are intelligent, and thus can be bargained with, talked to, or even come to the player characters for help. It's at least as interesting to have a dragon ask the characters to defeat a knight, as to have a knight ask the characters to defeat a dragon. It is best to think of creatures as characters in the game, rather than as obstacles to be overcome.
In most cases, the storyguide will want to create creatures that fit a particular role in his story, so this chapter provides a range of examples from the four realms, to help spark your inspiration. This doesn't even approach an exhaustive listing of possible creatures, and the creatures given here might well not exist in your game. Further creatures can be found in many of the supplements for Ars Magica, particularly the Realms of Power books and the regional sourcebooks.
Creature statistics are very similar to human statistics. The main differences are the Might Score, which determines the overall power of the creature and indicates the realm to which it is affiliated, and creature Powers, which work differently from supernatural abilities possessed by humans. Both of these differences are described below.
Creature Might
Supernatural creatures have one of Divine Might, Infernal Might, Magic Might, and Faerie Might, depending on the realm to which they belong. Might Score is very important, as it provides Magic Resistance, fuels the creature's powers, and determines the Penetration of those powers. The higher the Might Score, the more powerful the creature.
All powers have a Might cost, although sometimes it is zero. A creature that hasn't used any powers recently has a Might Pool equal to its Might Score. To use a power, it spends the appropriate number of points from the Might Pool. If the Might Pool doesn't have enough points in to use a power, the creature cannot use that power.
Might Pools almost always refresh to the creature's Might Score over the course of a day. Unless otherwise noted, the Pool refreshes at a constant rate, so that a creature with a Might Score of 25 regains a point in a little under an hour. If a creature's pool refreshes in a different manner, this is noted in the creature's description.
Creature Magic Resistance works against all forms of mystical power, just like Hermetic Magic Resistance. It is equally helpless against direct Divine miracles.
| Creature Magic Resistance | Might Score + Aura Modifier |
Creature Powers
Creature powers are not Hermetic spells, and thus are not bound by the restrictions of Hermetic magic. For a start, they do not have levels. Instead, every power has a Might cost, which is deducted from the creature's Might Pool when the power is used. Further, creature powers need not use the standard Hermetic ranges, durations, and targets. Nevertheless, Hermetic spells are a good source of inspiration for creature powers, and 'like this spell, apart from...' is a very good way to describe a new power.
The format for a creature power is as follows:
- Power Name, X points, Init Y, Form: Description.
The name is simply descriptive. X is the number of points the creature must spend from its Might Pool to use the power. Init is the Initiative modifier for the power; this determines when it is used in combat. The Form is the Hermetic Form that provides Magic Resistance against the power.
The description is everything else; what the power does, and the game mechanics, if necessary, for its effects.
The Penetration of a creature's powers depends on the creature's Might Score and on the number of points spent to use the power.
| Creature Power Penetration | Might Score – (5 x Might Point cost of the power) + Penetration Bonus |
The Penetration Bonus is calculated in exactly the same way as for Hermetic magi, so if the creature does not have the Penetration Ability, it is zero.
Some creature powers can be dispelled, if they have continuing effects. Their effective level is equal to the Might Score of the creature.
| Creature Power Level for Dispelling | Creature's Might Score |