Campaign Guidelines

Prepared Casting	Gestalt Casting	Spontaneous Casting
Base System: Wizardry	Base System: Arcanis Magnicus	Base System: Sorcery

Variant: Stregari

Stregari Package Deals

Stregari Spells

VARIANT: Vancian Magic System

Stregari Sample Spells may be found here.

The style of Magic described in this document is not a complete Magic System with it's own mechanics; instead it is intended to extend, override, and/or change the look and feel of a more fully described Magic System, which is referred to as a "base Magic System".

To use this variant simply use the guidelines given for one of the base Magic System listed below in their entirety with the exception of any sections that have been "overidden" by this document, as indicated in the section headers below.

EXPOSITION: by Killer Shrike

Back when I used to play D&D one of the character types that always seemed overlooked, and oddly so, was that of a Witch or a Warlock, or even a Hedge Wizard. A brand of magic that had a more visceral, esoteric, and organic feel than the very crisp and organized Wizardry schools and other forms of magic. Later variants, kits, and base classes hedged around this area but I was never fond of any of them other than the Shaman class from the 3e Oriental Adventures.

At any rate, Stregari is a stab in this general direction. It's basically identical to Wizardry or Sorcery (as you prefer), and has access to many of the same spells. However, I explicitly ommitted certain kinds of spells and effects from them, and in return added in some effects normally reserved for Divine magic such as some healing and some animal oriented effects, plus a handful of exclusive effects. I also reduced the number of schools as compared to Wizardry / Sorcery which in the HERO System offers up some point savings, and also is friendly to even more focused specialization as there are fewer bases to cover.

Enjoy!

STREGARANS

NOTE: Practitioners of Stregari (streh-GAHR-EE) are called Strega (STRAY-gah) singular or Stregarans (streh-GAHR-ens) plural.

Stregari is a variant system that is intended to have more of a "witchcraft" flavoring, and demonstrates how an xD&D concept such as Wizardry or Sorcery can be altered to create a distinct style of Magic.

The basic concept of Stregari may be implemented with each of several base Magic Systems as described below.

SPONTANEOUS CASTING

To implement Stregari with Spontaneous Casting use the rules set forth in the Sorcery document, except where overridden below. Thus, the Stregari School Skills given below replace the Sorcery School Skills, the guidelines given for creating Magic Items replace the guidelines for doing so in the Sorcery document, and the Packages provided replace those provided for Sorcery.

PREPARED CASTING

To implement Stregari with Prepared Casting simply use the rules set forth in the Wizardry document, except where overridden below. Thus, the Stregari School Skills given below replace the Wizardry School Skills, the guidelines given for creating Magic Items replace the guidelines for doing so in the Wizardry document, and the Packages provided replace those provided for Wizardry.

GESTALT CASTING

To implement Stregari with Gestalt Casting use the rules set forth in the Arcanis Magnicus document, except where overridden below. Thus, the Stregari School Skills given below replace the Arcanis Magnicus School Skills, the guidelines given for creating Magic Items replace the guidelines for doing so in the Arcanis Magnicus document, and the Packages provided replace those provided for Arcanis Magnicus.

OPTIONS

Some settings could support Stregarans built on up to all three of the base Magic Systems described above concurrently without any ill effect. This might be used to represent several rival traditions of Stregari magic, or some other similar situation. Alternately, the separate base Magic Systems could be assigned to different eras to demonstrate a progression over time; perhaps a tradition of magic started off as a Spontaneous System, slowly developed into a Gestalt System, and eventually solidified into a Prepared System over some long span of time.

OVERRIDE: Magic School Skills

Stregarans use the following Stregari School Skills. Stregari is also compatible with Spellcraft.

School	School Skill	Focus
Conjuring	KS: Conjuring	Spells incorporating Magic dealing with non-planar Summonings and Transmogrifications
		A complex and diverse School, with a lot of indirect offensive capability but also some utility Spells.
		Wizardry Parallels: non-planar Conjuration, and Transmutation Spells that deal with adding things (rather than changing things).
Divining	KS: Divining	Spells that incorporate fortune telling and the summoning of spirits.
		Perhaps the most focused of the Schools, and the most overlooked. Providing very little offense or defense, Divining Magic can nonetheless be incredibly enabling due to the vast amounts of information that can be gained via its use.
		Wizardry Parallels: Most Divination Spells and spirit-based Necromancy.
Hexcasting	KS: Hexcasting	Spells that incorporate illusory effects and alteration of the senses.
		Hexcasting is one of the more complex and difficult to understand Schools of Magic. Lacking the direct physical effects of the less conceptual Schools, Hexcasting can nonetheless be used offensively, defensively, and augmentively.
		Wizardry Parallels: Most Illusion Spells, some Enchanctment and Evocation Spells that affect the senses.
Binding	KS: Binding	Spells that incorporate planar Summoning and the creation and tasking of the corporeal Undead and Golems.
		One of the most powerful and dangerous of Stregari Schools, Binding deals with dark forces and commanding them to do the Strega's bidding.
		Wizardry Parallels: planar Conjuration, and Necromancy dealing with physical Undead. Binders can also create Golems.
Cursing	KS: Cursing	Spells that negatively alter the fortunes of others.
		A Stregari specialty, laying down curses, banes, and haights upon those that displease them.
		Wizardry Parallels: Transmutation Spells that change a target for the worse, Spells using negative Adjustments, and some Change Environment effects.
Bewitching	KS: Bewitching	Spells that command the wills of others, command Magic directly, or involve concepts so basic that Magic Use would not be possible without them.
		The Bewitching group contains Spells that belong to no one School and encompasses both the most powerful and the most unassuming of Spells. All Spells dealing with the manipulation of others as well as universal concepts such as Luck or Time, direct crossing of Dimensional boundaries, or the powerful reality warping Wish Magic fall into Bewitching, alongside the most rudimentary building blocks of Stregari.
		Wizardry Parallels: Enchantments that deal with Compulsions, and Universal Spells.
Item Creation Skills
Brewing & Concocting	KS: Brewing & Concocting	Used to create simple Ephemeral "potions" and "charms" with 30 Active Points or less.

OTHER MAGIC SCHOOL SKILL GUIDELINES

All other guidelines given in the base Magic System document regarding Magic School Skills other than the Skill List above apply.

OVERRIDE: Creating New Magic Items

By default Stregaren cam make simple Ephemeral Magic Items of 30 Active Points or less using the KS: Brewing & Concocting Skill; following the guidelines for creating such items described on the Creating Magic Items Page. Potions, salves, ointments, poultices, fetishes, and other such items are typical but just about anything is possible with GM permission.

OVERRIDE: Package Deals

A number of Package Deals for Stregaren are provided here.