Spell guidelines

Spell guidelines (also spellcasting guidelines or spell design guidelines) are the starting point in creating a new Hermetic spell or item effect. They recommend a Level for the spell or effect based on what it does. This base Level is then modified according to Range, Duration, Target, and Size (and, occasionally, other factors such as Requisites).

Bear in mind that spell guidelines are meant to be exactly that: guidelines. While they cover a great many possible effects, they are by no means comprehensive. Sometimes, applying them may result in a spell whose Level seems too high or too low for the players' liking. In those cases, players should let their judgment (and group consensus) override the written guidelines.

Deuterocanonical Spell Guidelines

The core rulebook provides an extensive list of spell guidelines in the Spells chapter. Further guidelines were later provided in supplements, forming the "deuterocanonical" (i.e. "belonging to the second canon") spell guidelines. Atlas Games provides a download of these extra guidelines. Note that the current file (as of March 2010) is updated through Realms of Power: Magic, containing all deuterocanonical spell guidelines published up to and including it.

Spell Guidelines in Past Editions

Spell guidelines were introduced in ArM4. Compared to ArM5, they were fewer and less consistent. They were also more complicated to apply because every Technique-Form combination had a different default Range, Duration, and Target. The spells in the rulebook did not include any notes saying what guideline was used, so players had to reverse-engineer the spell Level to figure that out.

In ArM1, ArM2, and ArM3, there were no formal guidelines for designing spells. Players had to estimate the Level of new spells by analogy with existing spells.

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:spell_guidelines