| Original Source: GURPS Magical Styles Fan Netbook (wiki.rpg.net) Magical Styles Fan Netbook is the main reference page. |
Cost: 19 (16 skills + 2 spells + Magical School Familiarity) points
Style Prerequisite: IQ 13+, Magery, (not One College Only).
Background[]
The Children of Rowan are rural mages, falling under the heading of what are dismissively known as “hedge magicians”. While the power of such magics is often underestimated due to the number of dabblers in rural areas, anyone who expects a fully trained practitioner of the Words to be a bumpkin or a pushover is in for a rude shock. Words of the Child of Rowan requires years of hard study, practice and observation of the natural world and the mage who masters it is in a position to be a great benefit to their community, or a terrible curse, or to just leave home altogether for a life of adventure and use their formidable powers to grow rich. While many mages have strong codes of honor regarding the treatment of humans or nature, the school does not embrace any particular moral philosophy and practitioners with a callous or sadistic side may be greatly feared for the curses they can inflict.
Words of the Child of Rowan Style[]
| Required Skills | Animal Handling, Diagnosis, Esoteric Medicine, Exorcism, Farming, First Aid, Herb Lore, Hidden Lore (Folk Magic), Hidden Lore (Spirits), History (Folk Oral), Literature (Folk Oral), Naturalist, Physician, Survival (Forest), Veterinary, Weather Sense. | 16 |
| Required Spells | Beast Rouser, Beast Soother. | 2 |
| Secret Spells | Laying the Ghosts of Winter, The Old and Venerable Rites of Spring, Raising Up the Spirits, Whisper to the Angry Grave | 4 |
| Perks | Afflicted Casting (Mystic Stupor), Elixir Resistance, Frightening Side Effects (Any), Intimidating Curses, Intuitive Cantrip (Aid), Intuitive Cantrip (Corpse Smart), Intuitive Cantrip (Eye of the Storm), Intuitive Cantrip (Friendly Undergrowth), Intuitive Cantrip (Good with Animal, any mundane), Intuitive Cantrip (Intuitive Illusionist), Knower of Names, Obscure True Name; Secret Spell (Laying the Ghosts of Winter, The Old and Venerable Rites of Spring, Raising Up the Spirits, Whisper to the Angry Grave); Shaman’s Trance. | 18 |
| Optional Traits | Improved IQ,
Advantages: Absolute Direction, Autotrance, Channeling, Luck, Medium, Night Vision, Oracle, Outdoorsman, Reputation (Wise Healer) Disadvantages: Alcoholism, Appearance, Enemies (Other Hedge Mages), Enemies (Spirits), Gluttony, Lecherousness, Reputation (Witch). Skills: Area Knowledge (Rural), Area Knowledge (Wilderness), Cooking, Symbol Drawing, any craft skill. |
NA |
Rankings[]
The student begins their studies at the level of Childe, entitling them to learn the following 7 spells.
Childe[]
Beast Rouser, Beast-Soother, Counterspell, Detect Magic, Final Rest, Foolishness, Simple Illusion.
A mage who learns 4 of the above spells including Beast Rouser and Beast Soother becomes a Brother or Sister, entitling them to learn the following fifteen spells.
Brother or Sister[]
Bless Plants, Blight, Detect Poison, Forgetfulness, Identify Plant, Minor Healing, Neutralize Poison, Night Vision, Recover Energy, Relieve Sickness, Sense Emotion, Sickness, Sleep, Stop Bleeding, Stop Paryalysis.
A mage who learns 8 of the above spells becomes a Father or Mother, entitling them to learn the following seventeen spells.
Father or Mother[]
Command, Major Healing, Mass Sleep, Persuasion, Relieve Paralysis, Relieve Sickness, Resist Disease, Restore Hearing, Restore Memory, Restore Sight, Restore Speech, Remove Contagion, Resist Poison, Strike Dumb, Truthsayer, Turn Spirit, Vexation.
A mage who learns 8 of the above spells becomes an Honored Father or Mother, entitling them to learn the following twenty-five spells.
Honored Father or Mother[]
Clouds, Cure Disease, Divination (Augery), False Memory, Fog, Great Healing, Forest Warning, Healing Slumber, Lesser Geas, Paralyze Limb, Pestilence, Predict Weather, Rain, Shapeshifting, Slow Healing, Stop Healing, Strike Barren, Strike Blind, Strike Deaf, Strike Numb, Total Paralysis, Turn Zombie, Weaken Blood, Wither Limb, Wither Plant.
A mage who learns 8 of the above spells becomes a Grandfather or Grandmother, entitling them to learn the following 7 spells.
Grandfather or Grandmother[]
Dispel Magic, Gauntness, Great Geas, Relieve Madness, Remove Curse, Storm, Suspend Curse.
A mage who learns 8 of the above spells becomes a Elder, entitling them to learn the following 7 spells.
Elder[]
Bless, Corpulence, Curse, Laying the Ghost of Winter, The Old and Venerable Rites of Spring, Raising Up the Spirits, Whisper to the Angry Grave.
Secret Spells[]
Laying the Ghost of Winter (VH); Area[]
If cast in the last half of winter, this functions as Bless Plants (GURPS Magic, p. 161), except where otherwise noted. At any time of year, the spell tends to annoy ghosts if the area of effect includes their burial grounds. Clever mages have been known to find ways to exploit this annoyance effect.
- Base Cost: 0.5 of a FP.
- Time to Cast: 2 Hours
The Old and Venerable Rites of Spring (VH); Regular, Resisted by Will[]
If the caster can transfer an item at least the size of a pin or a human hair from one individual to another, the receiver will fall in love with the original owner and remain in love for as long as they have the item in their possession. The victim must already know the person they are to fall in love with and reaction modifiers for beauty or ugliness should be applied to the spell skill. This spell does not generally cause people to change their sexual orientations and PCs should never be required to do so. For the purposes of this spell, the victim is only in possession of the item if they have a close association with it, such as by wearing it or keeping it at work or at home (or, for the rich, that area of work or home that you spend your time in). At the GMs discretion, class-conscious victims may add Status and / or Wealth to their resistance roll, depending on how snobby they are and about what. The GM may apply similar bonuses when the love crosses other social or personal boundaries. The victim does not necessarily fall out of love when the spell ends, but the relationship gets no more magical support.
- Duration: Permanent
- Cost: 1
- Time to Cast: 3 seconds to cast the spell on the item to be transferred. The item must then come into the victim’s possession before the next moonrise.
Raising Up the Spirits (VH); Regular, Resisted by Will[]
The subject is occasionally exposed to minor but frightening supernatural effects at night. The GM should be creative in coming up with fresh oddness. Objects may move without being touched, strange noises might emerge from the attic, animals may behave in an unusual way, or people may have strange dreams or weird hallucinations. Victims with feelings of guilt relating to the dead or to demons will suffer hallucinations formed by these feelings, tailor made for them. Victims with latent psychic powers who are suffering from guilt or self-disgust will have these latent powers turn against them, producing additional frightening effects. The spell will not take effect until the victim has received a warning from the caster, though the warning can be anonymous and as obscure as the caster likes.
- Duration: Until the caster terminates it.
- Cost: 8 Time to Cast: 8 hours
Whisper to the Angry Grave (VH); Regular[]
The caster causes a dead body to rise from the grave and seek revenge in a manner of its own choosing. Dead people who don’t want revenge for anything will not rise and the caster has no control over what the subject wants revenge for. The caster may tell truths at the gravesite in order to convince the subject that it should want revenge. For example, an otherwise peaceful corpse might grow angry to learn that its only child has been murdered. The caster must be touching the corpse, the coffin, or the grave for the spell to function. The subject will have all of the abilities it had before it died as well as +5 ST, +5 HT, +10 FP (may not be used to power spells), Night Vision 9, Very Fit, no need to breathe, eat, drink or sleep, and an immunity to bleeding, stun and shock. The risen will be single-minded in pursuit of revenge. They can be informed but they cannot be negotiated with and are not likely to listen to anything not directly related to their vengeance. Risen who get their vengeance just want to go back to their graves.
