Skill Magic from The Farseer Trilogy, Adapted to the OSR
This is a followup to my post, Wit Magic from The Farseer Trilogy. I received some good feedback on that one, and I think that for this adaptation I will tone it down on the originality of the rules.
Today, I will be taking inspiration from the Mage class, by Gavin Norman (this can be found in one of the Carcass Crawler zines). For those not familiar with the class, it was a simple and clever attempt to create a more “Gandalf” type magic user, using magic abilities as “skills” and with the typical progression of the Thief class skills.
What is Skill Magic?
This gets into mild spoiler territory if you haven’t read the fantastic Realm of the Elderlings books by Robin Hobb.
Skill magic is a magic that is only present in certain individuals, which needs to be practiced dutifully to hone. It includes a number of abilities, all of them stemming from the mind, more or less. It can be used to communicate over great distances, influence people’s actions, make them see or believe things they normally wouldn’t, ride along in someone’s mind to see and hear what they see and hear. It also includes some healing abilities, as well as the ability to drain the life from someone. The main character, Fitz, can even use it to physically repel at individuals.
It also comes at the cost of being addictive, and can seriously drain or hurt the user.
Let’s turn these abilities into mechanics
Based on the nature of difficulty to master the Skill, it actually makes quite a bit of sense to use a skill progression of sorts such as the Thief class uses.
These powers are used in a much more subtle way than in most OSR games, so it is important to remember that these powers don’t require any gesticulations, words, or rituals. This inherently makes some of these abilities a little over-powered. I have taken the liberty of somewhat limiting the degree of power that these abilities have in order to make it more game-able.
So, I see a handful of different powers we need to flesh out. Here are the individual abilities and their rules:
Communication - Mental messages sent instantly over great distances. This one is pretty simple. Skill-users can send messages, but only other skill users can reply. You don’t need to know where the individual is, but you do need to know who you are reaching out to. The recipient hears your own voice in their head as if you are speaking to them aloud.
Influence- Influencing people’s actions is not too different from the Charm Person spell. Let’s say, choose one or more individuals within a 60’ radius, with a total HD no more than 1 higher than the Skill-User. On a failed save, they will believe whatever you tell them, and follow commands for up to one turn duration as long as it does not actively harm them. On a failed roll, the targets make a saving throw. On a successful save, the targets can sense that someone is trying to dig into their minds.
Hallucination - You must be aware of the general location of the target, or have knowledge of exactly who you are looking for. On a success, the target makes a saving throw. If they fail, you can make them believe or see something they normally wouldn’t, but not something that is completely unrealistic. For example, you could make the ogres in the next room believe they hear footsteps from the opposite direction. A maximum of Xd4 HD of creatures may be affected, where X is the Skill-user’s level. Creatures with 3 HD more than the Skill-User are unaffected.
Ride-Along - You can tap into someone’s mind and see, hear, and feel through them. The distance does not matter, but you must have at least seen the person before. The target must fail a saving throw, and they get a +1 bonus per HD higher than the Skill-user. If the targer is also a Skill-user, they get advantage on their save. A willing target need not save.
Healing - Something simple, such as maybe 1HP per level of the character, distributed any way they like, or spend 1HP of healing to force a successful health-related saving throw such as Poison.
Life Suck - Drain the life of an individual by touching them. Drains 1d4 HP per round of contact. If in combat, this requires a successful melee attack.
I feel we need to limit the amount of uses of these powers, and possibly have a potential negative effect. I think giving a set daily limit, and a chance for damage to be taken will be enough. (This is also consistent with the writing. Using the Skill is known to be draining to those who use it too much.)
The Skill-User Class
Requirements: WIS 10
HD: d6
Armor: Leather
Weapons: Simple, one-handed. No shields.
Skill Abilities: A Skill-user has the ability to use the Skill. A complicated, but very useful form of magic that stems from the mind. The following abilities may, cumulatively, be used (2 + WIS bonus + level) times per day. Each usage of the skill has a 1-in-6 chance of reducing the Skill-User’s HP by 1.
Communication - Send a mental message to anyone you desire, but you must know either their face or name. The recipient must be a Skill-User to send a reply. The link lasts 1d6 minutes.
Hallucination - You must be aware of the general location of the target, or have knowledge of exactly who you are looking for. The target must make a saving throw. Upon failure, they can be made to see or hear something that isn’t there. The hallucination may not be too unrealistic. A maximum of X-d4 creatures may be affect, where X equals the Skill-User’s level.
Healing - You may heal others up to 1 HP per character level per day, distributed in any way. 1 HP of healing may be spent to force a successful saving throw against a health related effect (such as poison). Requires physical contact and 1 turn of focus.
Influence - One or multiple targets totaling no higher than 3 HD more than the Skill-User must make a saving throw. Upon failure, the target will do what told, short of being forced to harm themselves of someone they care about.
Life Suck - Your touch can drain the life from an individual. Drain 1d4 HP per round of contact. In combat, a successful melee attack roll is required.
Now I want to play one 😊