Art by www.athelu.com

This cult started as a challenge, though those who laid it did not know at the time. Many on the Mythras Discord had asked about the power of the Wrack spell. It had become a sort of joke, and those who were more senior in Mythras had recommended it only be included at higher ranks, or perhaps even completely avoided.

I decided to make a sorcery cult that relied almost exclusively on it.

Part of this was because I didn’t like the answer being given. I felt it missed the point of Mythras magic systems – you are supposed to manipulate and alter them. After all, there are sections on how to use ritual magic and how to tune magic point recovery to match a particular tone. It felt rather glib to ignore this entirely.

The Battle Wizard makes heavy use of modifications in Sorcery. It gains limited access to Shaping Components and must increase rank to gain access to more. There is an in-game reason listed, but from a gameplay perspective, it is designed to limit the power of Wrack by itself.

Each form of Wrack has some nuance that may make it more or less useful in a particular situation. None of them completely bypass armor as well as force an evade check. All but one have a secondary effect that can be brought to bear. This gives each version its own reason for being, and incentive to gain more. Choosing which to gain as an Apprentice will shape many choices in the future.

Additional sorcery spells are picked to provide them with some options, but some are protected from being used in too many shenanigans by restricting them to this school. This gives the school an exclusive feel and makes it safer for most any campaign. These were picked to give it the flavor of being a military wizard. While replacement is certainly possible, careful consideration should be given to which will give the most flavorful effect, and what restrictions should be placed on them.

The first Gift they receive is designed to get by a question that had come up frequently – do you really mean it can be cast repeatedly for the Duration? Well, yes, it does mean that. Without Range or Target, though, your Battle Wizard is going to have to get up in the thick of it. Once they become Adepts, they can dish out a lot of damage over a long range, but also have reached a level where power should be seen.

Once they get to the Mage rank, they gain access to two Shaping Components – Targets and Ablation. This gives them a remarkable amount of flexibility with their spells, but also forces choices about where to put those shaping points. GMs who use the Battle Wizard should feel quite liberal in their use of protective magics, as would befit a world that has powerful Wrack-slingers. This will force the Battle Wizard to make a choice to erode the defense, increase the magnitude to overcome defenses, increase the number of targets, or increase the range.

Setting Suggestions

The Battle Wizard really shines in a fantasy setting, where a king rides onto the field at the head of a charge supported by a platoon of blasting bearded mages. It would mesh very well in a game that includes the Aegis Arcanum.

It probably works best in Medium to High Magic games, where Magic Points flow freely. In a Low Magic game, will take on a very different role, and will likely have to augment their magic skills with other skills greatly.

Four-Fold Battle Wizard

Mythos and History

Four-Fold Battle Wizards is frequently criticized by other sorcerers for a lack of diversity in spells. Largely focused on variations of the Wrack spell, others think of them as a “one trick pony”. The battle wizards, on the other hand, might argue they can do both kinds of magic, fire and lightning. 

However, they are viewed, no one can deny they are effective in battle. With the ability to create walls of flame or acid or wrap their fellow soldiers in protective armor, they are appreciated. Arch Mages (or Magus General) are particularly valuable, being able to coordinate between unit commanders quickly via telepathic communication.

Nature

The school itself focuses on mastery of destructive forces and manipulating them. Many accidents over the years have led them to develop new techniques and spell-weavings to minimize any collateral damage from their magic.

Organization

There are no official lay members of this cult, though more senior members do keep an eye out for likely apprentices to add into their ranks. Most Four-Fold Battle Wizards (often shortened to just Battle Wizard) learn their craft in a military magic school, with strict discipline and learning to control the magic. As Battle Wizards gain in rank, they also gain in responsibility, and learn to coordinate between mundane and magical forces.

Membership

Standard. While not required, it is common for those of this school to be from the upper echelons of society, with parents who paid their way into a “less dangerous” and more prestigious role in the military.

Restrictions

Battle Wizards start with a very limited set of Shaping components to work with, as to somewhat mitigate the damage a young sorcerer can cause. Eventually, they gain access to all of these and more. Apprentices in this school only have access to Combine, Duration, and Magnitude when casting spells with Invocation (Four-Fold Battle Wizard). Adepts gain access to the Range component, and Mages learn the Targets component.

Skills

Insight, Invocation (Four-Fold Battle Wizard), Lore (Strategy and Tactics), Shaping, Willpower

Magic

Apprentices are taught the Folk Magic spells Darkness, Disruption, Extinguish, Frostbite, Ignite, Light, Shock, Tire as well as the one of the Wrack variants of their choice listed below. Adepts learn another variant of Wrack as well as Protective Ward, and regularly use it to cordon off an area. Mages soon learn the value of defense and learn Damage Resistance and another variant of Wrack. Damage Resistance can only be cast Combined with Protective Ward when using Invocation (Four-Fold Battle Wizard) and cannot be Combined with spells from other schools. Finally, archmagi can be recognized by their mastery of all four variants of Wrack as well as their knowledge of the Telepathy spell.

Wrack - The Battle Wizards eventually learn 4 different types of Wrack

• Fire - Bolts of fire that bypass half armor, can be evaded or parried as a missile weapon, treated as a Small Force weapon at range. Can light objects on fire as per fire of half spell intensity
• Acid - a stream of acid that directly attacks armor, treating the armor points as the armor hit points. Armor must be destroyed completely before hit point damage to the target can be done. Can be evaded or parried as a missile weapon, treated as a Small Force weapon at range
• Cold - a blast of frigid air that bypasses armor completely and is resisted with Endurance.
• Lightning - Strokes of lightning that bypass half armor, can be evaded or parried as a missile weapon, treated as a Small Force weapon at range. Can gain the Stun Location special effect.

Gifts

All versions of the Battle Wizard Wrack spells have additional flexibility: they may change the targets they have with the spell as a Proactive action. This does not allow them to exceed the number of targets dictated by the Targets Shaping component, but it does give them flexibility in their use. This cannot be used when Combining with spells from outside this school.

Mages become Empowered, gaining access to the Ablation shaping component for spells in this school. When using this component, it cannot be combined with spells that are not in this school

Archmagi achieve total Mastery of their spells, gaining access to the Precision shaping component for spells in this school. When using this component, it cannot be combined with spells that are not in this school.