Further Reflections on Eldritch Magic

Shaded, Ceremonial, Studious, Indirect, Epic

Previously, I discussed how to update eldritch magic for ACKS II:

To continue in that vein then, in my time running and playing in eldritch campaigns that do not feature arcane and divine magic, it has become increasingly clear that it drives a number of subtle differences in the structure of campaigns. It is useful for Judges considering such a campaign to understand the impact eldritch magic has, and the way it changes some fairly fundamental assumptions built into gameplay. It is simply different, although I do quite enjoy it.

The Nuances of Eldritch Magic

Having established how it might be adapted to largely mesh with ACKS II, I can identify the points where it still differs greatly from the default assumptions of arcane and divine magic more precisely. To that end, four major distinctives emerge:

1. Shaded Magic

2. Ceremonial Magic

3. Studious Magic

4. Indirect Magic

Shaded Magic

Eldritch magic is shaded magic: its use or misuse has severe spiritual implications. A necromancer who often invokes black sorceries will find himself warped to resemble his practices. All casters have access to the same spell list, but instead there is tension and differentiation in whether or not they choose to pursue corrupting black magic, or remain pure hearted in white magic, or dabble in grey magics that will ever tempt them with misuse.

It is very much worth noting that each shade of magic has access to magics of a different sort, and these clear lines should not be muddled. In a very real sense, grey and black sorcerers do and should have better spells available than mere white magicians — pursuing white magics is a self-imposed handicap, that avoids the risk of crippling corruptions. Being subject to shaded magic grants a full ceremonialist or spellcaster a full four powers, equivalent to a priestess’ code of behavior that prevents violence against humans and demihumans and requires her to obey the laws of the land and orders of her rightful superiors, among other constraints, upon pain of losing her spellcasting and class powers. Given that the potential corrupting weaknesses, while awful, are not nearly so harsh as the loss of all spellcasting, and offer the same boon, the constraints they impose should be if anything even harsher. Players will plead for permissiveness in interpreting new potential white spells that expand their capabilities, and the fair-minded Judge should be extremely discriminating in approving them.

Further, when assessing whether a character takes corruption by their misuse of grey magics, remember that intent is not necessary (just as it is not necessary for any violation of a code of behavior!). If someone unwittingly harms a Neutral bystander, or magically infiltrates a site and happens to steal something of theirs therein, that is a corrupting act — “For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” Caution and discretion are the bywords of safe use of magic.

Understand then the impact that has on the broader setting, when all magic is subject to such constraints. As established in my prior post, hiring someone to perform black magic is expensive, because it imperils their soul and sanity, not to mention illegal. Hiring the use of grey magic would be something entered into with caution, because if someone then misuses that power, the caster suffers.

Though grey magic has its place in society, white magic will be most prevalent in Lawful realms. The applications of warcraft to magic are made more explicitly about reconnaissance, deception, construction, and the like, rather than battlefield spellcasting, unless one is open to corruption, or fighting the forces of Chaos itself (though it is worth noting that strategic applications of magic to warcraft of such sorts tend to be superior to tactical applications regardless). But likewise, the great power potentially offered by black and grey magic provides a temptation to dabble in dark powers, and the presence of Chaotic cults within society (and potentially even the authorities overlooking them) is more easily explained.

Incidentally, shaded magic also answers the problem of a caster endlessly summoning demons to learn their names and build a wide array of options — each shaded casting inflicts corruption, and thus comes with a small but meaningful cost that does not exist when the spell is translated to arcane magic.

One of my favorite of OldSchoolJelly’s pieces from the ACKS II Monstrous Manual. This guy is definitely taking corruption.

Ceremonial Magic

By default, the overwhelming majority of eldritch magic is ceremonial magic. A mortal magician works magic through ritual, incantation, and precise performance of ceremony. A being with spell slots is something supernatural, an inhuman power — faeries, demons, monsters, gods use spell slots. Mere mortals are limited to ceremonies. Perhaps among adventurers there may be a rare Zaharan, who has inherited bargains for demonic power, or a Nobiran who bears the touch of the gods, and these should be met with awe and fear and wonder, for neither is common, and neither is truly human, as evidenced for all to see by the powers that they wield.

This has rather significant impacts on gameplay, because ceremonies have very different availability from spell slots. Because of the way ceremonies work, low level spells will be relatively much more available; high level spells may be slightly less available (both in the market but also on adventure). Ceremonialists will carry lots of trinkets by the mid-game, and have incredible amounts of healing on tap should they need it, though it may take a bit of time.

Having time to prepare for things will in general be quite powerful. A mage can burn all his spell slots, and then sleep overnight to recover them and be back at full power; a careful ceremonialist might have more spells readied in trinkets at his best, but could well take weeks to recharge them. It falls to the Judge to keep up the time pressure, at both local levels (e.g. random encounters while adventuring) and the campaign (e.g. major events that proceed on a schedule if undisrupted, even if PCs waste time or spend weeks amassing trinkets), and to likewise make sure that enemy ceremonialists are themselves appropriately prepared and can respond in kind.

Studious Magic

In a traditional arcane/divine setting, while arcane spells may be scattered about and availability of any specifics is uncertain (that is, the fact that there’s an 11th+ level caster in town does not guarantee that he can cast stone to flesh), the standard array of divine spellcasters have prayerful repertoires. It is a safe assumption that you can always get basic healing with suitable donation, and even unusual spells like salving rest, remove curse, cure disease, and restore disability and dismemberment are all effectively guaranteed if the market is large enough to support a spellcaster of the requisite level (though cure disease being only on the priestess list by default in II makes that less absolute, it can still very much be expected in any Class IV or larger market).

In an eldritch setting, that is no longer the case. Repertoire slots are much more precious, and if it is not often useful, a given spell can and will be replaced. A Lawful temple in a Class III market is not at all guaranteed to have any of the above spells, unless the Judge specifically decided to include them. This is a different gameplay paradigm, but I think it’s quite an interesting one, in which rather than curses being fixed by getting back to town and making an appropriate donation, they can be more significant challenges that call for a pilgrimage to the Pillars of Ali-Ara where there is rumored to be a prophet who break them.

Moreover, by dividing such abilities up among competing factions, and leaning into the polytheism and mystery cults of Classical Antiquity, a Judge has one more lever by which to make politics and social interaction very gameable. In my own setting, the Temple of Elion holds the secrets of breaking curses, while the Temples of Rora and Aliya retain most other healing spells, and the Temples of Therin and Jash are the most militant and retain most combat buffs. Players who ally (and are members of, or take henches from) one or two factions still can’t generally cover all their bases, inherently pushing interaction and competition between them and other factions.

As I have recommended in the past, I strongly recommend building out the full repertoire of the highest level caster of each organization, and each caster of 7th+ level, in a settlement of note where you expect players to spend some time. Lower level characters can be assumed to study under them and have subsets of that repertoire. The availability tables in my prior post let you quickly assess how many (if any) methodical ceremonies of a given level are available to purchase on a given day in a given settlement; having repertoires built out in turn lets you quickly assess which spells are available, and from whom, to be fast in play and make the world richer and more relational. If there’s interest, I have quite a few of these built out, and could put together some examples.

Building out the repertoires for casters of 7th+ level in notable settlements is really useful to this end, because it tells you who can fix problems. If the answer is "nobody here", then you know to tell the character he must make a pilgrimage to the Pillars of Ali-Ara where there is rumored to be a prophet who can lift his curse.

Indirect Magic

It is not an uncommon observation that the eldritch spell list, generally speaking, removes many of the easy direct solutions to problems. Many of the classic ACKS spells are now black magic (conjure cacodemon, bewitch humanoid, panic), and standouts such as fireball have been removed entirely. Teleportation is off the table. Area of effect spells in particular suffer and tend to be fairly weak, or are reliant on environmental constraints, making tight formations (the “dungeon phalanx”) effective for longer into a campaign. The numerous spells with environmental power sources add a quite interesting dynamic to gameplay, where e.g. a pyromancer wants to prepare natural fires wherever he is going to do battle, and a sea-sorcerer will only have access to his best spells on open water.

The constraints on aerial movement effects (levitation and flight moved to much higher levels; arcane shift and teleportation cut entirely) are a boon to thieves, whose climbing and leaping talents can shine into the mid- and late- game. Likewise, buff spells stand out as one of the strongest options among white magic, which helps reinforce the fighter’s niche and drive intra-party coordination.

Another particularly significant example of the shifted focus of magic is that restore life and limb is a ritual spell. Restore disability and dismemberment is likewise much more expensive than normal (3600gp versus the typical 185gp). Neither is commonly available (both require an 11th+ level caster, who must have that spell in repertoire — not going to happen below a Class III market, and even there it's not more likely than anything else). People who take mortal wounds will probably have them for a while. But there are still lots of good ways to prevent the taking of mortal wounds! They just tend to require more foreknowledge and preparation, so that buffs to AC or boost saves or resist a damage type can be readied, or elements woven to control the field of battle, etc.

In the low levels, this tends to mean characters who might’ve been saved and healed are instead retired. In the mid levels, this tends to make parties more cautious, since they know they don’t have a safety net. By the high levels, that effect can be very pronounced, I think likely too much so, and having some reliable way to raise the dead without spending 150kgp+ is beneficial to the game. In 1e that cost for a 7th level restore life and limb would’ve been only 63kgp to commission, most of that being the caster’s wage for their time, with only a further 9kgp needed to upgrade to resurrection (compared to doubling the above value to 300kgp in the II), so this has also become rather more difficult than when the book was written. High level play with zero room for enemy victory can be fun, but tends to be pretty stressful for players, so if that’s not your aim then it’s good to provide some cheaper mechanism (though there’s still a lot of room for it to be quite expensive — 63kgp is never going to be pocket-change). There are lots of interesting ways to pull that off - mystic pools in inhospitable locales that can periodically provide healing, a much-hungered-after item of power, being able to invest in a clone for one’s soul to reoccupy upon death (priced as a construct of the character’s HD), angelic heralds that can be summoned by the worthy to receive true divine healing, terrible demons or cunning fae that offer similar services for a greater price . . .

On the whole, however, the fact that the spell list is split into distinct shades, and not dominated by some standout breakthroughs included for legacy reasons, helps support diversity among spellcasters and enables more niches (by making existing niches narrower or more focused). It also opens up more opportunities for research — you’ll never research a better fireball, but it’s very viable to hone many of the eldritch spells into a variation that’s more suited to your intended use case. Likewise, if the Judge includes esoteric sects and mystery cults that players can join (or hunt down and steal spells from), giving them powerful custom spells within their specialty is a very cool way to reflect that. The standard arcane spell list is a good model of a setting dominated by imperial institutions that have amassed and brought together knowledge over centuries; the standard eldritch spell list suggests a setting where mages are more cutthroat and secretive, where knowledge dies with its discover and sorcerers know they must keep tricks up their sleeve even from their apprentices to defend against betrayal.

Conclusions

Eldritch magic does not imply exactly the same sort of setting as do arcane and divine, and if a Judge swaps it in expecting it to provide a little different flavor but few substantive changes on gameplay, he is likely to be thrown off by unexpected consequences. That is largely as it should be, and in keeping with good simulationist principles — things that are different should work differently. That said, with a broader understanding of the impact eldritch magic has on a campaign, it has incredible potential to rework the setting, embracing Classical Antiquity, Swords & Sorcery fiction, and player agency. It also has the potential for experienced players to push them into a new paradigm, that forces reassessment and iteration on old tactics, and restores some of the wonder and mystery eroded by familiarity. The rules for eldritch magic are the high point of the greatest book of ACKS 1e, and I hope more Judges may be inspired to give them a try.