Here There Be Monsters

Wards and Circles

Warding is a powerful and useful ability in the Here There Be Monsters setting, and its usage allows those with an unlocked Mystic Pool and any of a variety of Lore skills (as described within this document) to erect powerful protections against various kinds of supernatural creatures and / or activities.

Characters that have unlocked their Mystic Pool and know one or more KS: Lore Skills can use them to create powerful long-lasting protective Wards, and also faster to set up but temporary Circles.

The supernatural Lore skills that can be used to create Circles and Wards are: Mystic Lore, Hermetic Lore, Necromantic Lore, Elemental Lore, Faerie Lore, Cthonic Lore, and Daemonology Lore.

Wards

Wards take many forms, always symbolic, but are not always visible to the unaided eye. They are apparent to anyone with Supernatural Awareness.

Warding a 2 meter area requires 5d3 Minutes of effort and an applicable Lore skill roll with a -1 penalty. Multiple Wards can be "stitched together" to Ward a larger area. Typically a Magi Wards an entire building by laboriously proliferating Wards throughout and / or around the structure.

Circles

A Circle is functionally identical to a Ward, but is quicker to draw and is far shorter lived. The most recognizable Circle is the classic pentagram, but there are quite a variety.

Drawing a Circle requires 5d3 Turns and an applicable Lore skill roll. A Circle can encircle up to a 2 meter radius by default, but a Magi can attempt to make a larger Circle. A cumulative -1 penalty and an additional 5d3 Turns is incurred for each doubling of the radius; thus a Circle with a 16 meter radius would impose a -3 Lore skill penalty and require 20d3 Turns to draw.

Lore Skills Only For Warding

A character can learn only enough about a supernatural Lore to draw Circles and Wards with by purchasing the skill with the -2 Limitation "Only for Warding".

Skill Levels Only For Warding

A character can purchase a +1 Skill Level with a Lore Skill for the purposes of Warding for 1 point each.

A character can purchase a +1 Skill Level that can be used with any Lore Skill for the purposes of Warding for 3 points each.

Materials

Some GM's may want to make the substances used to create Wards and Circles suitably esoteric and uncommon (or even rare), and might even go so far as to grant bonuses for particularly appropriate materials or endeavors being used.

However, by default there is no special significance to the materials used; paint, blood, "sharpie" markers, holy water, or whatever else is handy and can mark the surface the Wards are being applied to is sufficient. It is assumed that the empowering force is the magic invested into the Wards and Circles by the Magi that matters, not the medium they are drawn in.

Concealing Wards

A Magi can make a Ward or Circle invisible to mundane senses or to supernatural senses with applicable penalties to their Lore skill roll. To make them invisible to both, they simply take all cumulative penalties.

Invisible To Mundane Senses

A Magi can make a Ward or Circle invisible to mundane senses by taking a -2 penalty on their Lore skill roll. They are still very obvious to Supernatural Awareness or an equivalent ability.

Invisible To Supernatural Awareness

A Magi can make a Ward or Circle invisible to Supernatural Awareness by taking a -2 penalty on their Lore skill roll. They are still visible as symbols to the naked eye; thus they look like harmless mundane drawings, but are not.

Note that a special Detect that works versus Supernatural emanations built as a separate sense is not affected by this concealment and would thus see the Concealed Wards or Circle for what they really are.

Duration

Wards

Baring dismissal a Ward will remain effective for 1d3 Seasons and each 2 levels of success moves the time increment down the Time Chart one step; thus if a person made their Lore skill roll by 2 the Ward would last for 1d3 Years.

Circles

Baring dismissal a Circle will remain effective for 1d3 hours plus 1d3 hours per level of success; thus if a person made their Lore skill roll by 3 the Circle would last for 4d3 hours.

Dismissability

Wards

Wards can be "raised" and "lowered" by the creator as an act of will and a routine skill roll with the Lore skill used to erect the Ward. A Ward can also be dismissed by the creator at will.

Circles

A Circle can be dismissed by the creator at will or by accident by the creator or anyone that assisted in its creation, but no one else.

Combining Wards

Multiple Circles and Wards made using two or more of Mystic, Hermetic, Necromantic, Cthonic, Elemental, or Daemonology Lore skills can be intertwined to combine their effects by simply making skill rolls with each of the applicable skills. Their effects stack together.

Protective Benefits

A successfully created Circle or Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus incorporeal entities that are affected by "Mystic" SFX.

Further benefits are conferred by each of the various Lore skills that can be used to draw Circles and Wards, as described below.

NOTE: The surface that a Ward or Circle is enscribed upon also benefits from the Ward's protection.

KS: Mystic Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Mystic Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against "scrying" effects, which is to say magical spying.

A successfully created Mystic Circle or Ward made using Mystic Lore has the following protective benefits, in some cases based on how much the skill roll was made by:

Protection vs. Scrying:
- Clairsentience: The warded area is treated as a Darkness vs any form of Clairsentience that has a supernatural SFX
- Mind Scan: An OMCV penalty equal to the amount the Mystic Lore skill roll was made by is imposed to any attempts to use Mind Scan against a target within the warded area.
- Distinctive Features; Mystical Aura: A penalty equal to the amount the Mystic Lore skill roll was made by is imposed to any attempts to use Supernatural Awareness or similar Perception based abilities to perceive Distinctive Features with a "supernatural aura" effect possessed by a target within the warded area.

Mystic Circles and Wards are usually called Contego Privatus in ancient texts, but are just called "Scrying Wards" in modern usage.

KS: Hermetic Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Hermetic Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against Supernatural abilities and powers.

A successfully created Hermetic Circle or Ward made using Hermetic Lore has the following protective benefits, based on how much the skill roll was made by:

The Ward or Circle grants Supernatural Resistance +3 against any effect used across it's circumference or facing in either direction, with an additional +3 being granted for every point by which the skill roll was made.

Thus if a person made their KS: Hermetic Lore skill roll by 4, everyone outside of the Ward or Circle would have the equivalent of +15 Supernatural Resistance vs any Supernatural effects originating from inside the Ward or Circle, and vice versa anything inside the Ward or Circle benefits from equivalent protection vs effects that originate from outside of the Ward or Circle.

Hermetic Circles and Wards are called "Hermetic Wards" in most texts, but are also often referred to as "Sealing Wards" or simply "Seals". They are sometimes called "Circles of Protection" in modern usage by young Hermetics as a sort of inside joke.

KS: Necromantic Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Necromantic Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against the Undead.

A Necromantic Ward can take many forms, ranging from a line of salt to garlic or more mundane or esoteric items as the creator prefers, but must be anchored to some kind of physical object up to and including an entire building's superstructure.

A successfully created Necromantic Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus all Undead; they cannot cross the barrier, or use their native abilities across it, or bring themselves to employ objects such as poles or weapons across it. Intelligent Undead can order any non-Undead minions they might have to cross the barrier or to destroy or remove the physical object the Ward is anchored to.

Necromantic Circles and Wards are called "Aethyric Wards" in older texts, but are generally just called "Necromantic Wards" in modern usage.

KS: Daemonic Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Daemonic Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against all Daemons.

A successfully created Daemonic Circle or Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus Daemons (and similar extradimensional entitites), and abilties with the Dameonic SFX (or similar) have no effect if used across the warded area.

Daemonic Circles and Wards are often referred to as "Infernal Wards" in older texts, but are usually called "Summoning Circles" in modern usage.

NOTE: Daemonic Circles and Wards do not affect Daemons that their creator has lost an EGO test against in a battle of wills (such as a failed Summoning).

KS: Elemental Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Elemental Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against all Elementals.

A successfully created Elemental Circle or Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus Elementals (and similar extradimensional entitites), and abilties with the Elemental SFX (or similar) have no effect if used across the warded area.

Elemental Circles and Wards are often referred to as "Paracelian Wards" in older texts, but are usually just called "Elemental Wards" in modern usage.

NOTE: Elemental Circles and Wards do not summoned Elementals that a summoner has lost an EGO test against in a battle of wills (such as a failed Summoning).

KS: Faerie Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Faerie Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against all Faeries.

A successfully created Fey Circle or Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus Faeries (and similar extradimensional entitites), and abilties with the Fey SFX (or similar) have no effect if used across the warded area.

Fey Circles and Wards in antiquity were referred to as "Cosain Aos Si", but are usually just called "Faerie Circles" in modern usage.

NOTE: Fey Circles and Wards do not affect summoned Fey a summoner has lost an EGO test against in a battle of wills.

KS: Cthonic Lore

A person that has unlocked their Mystic Pool and also has a KS: Cthonic Lore skill of at least 11- can employ various protective magics that are effective against all Cthonic aka 'Elder Thing' related entities and magics.

A successfully created Cthonic Circle or Ward acts as an impenetrable barrier versus Cthonic beings (and similar extradimensional entitites), and abilties with the Cthonic SFX (or similar) have no effect if used across the warded area.

Alternately, Cthonic symbols can be used to instead attract the attention of Cthonic entities; long ago this was so easy anyone could draw such a sign but in the modern era it requires a skilled practitioner and imposes a -4 penalty.

Cthonic Circles and Wards in antiquity were referred to as "Apotropaic marks", but are usually called "Elder Signs" in modern usage.

NOTE: Cthonic Circles and Wards do not affect summoned Cthonic entities a summoner has lost an EGO test against in a battle of wills.