Character Creation Challenge: Day 23, Celeste & Cassandra

 Celeste and Cassandra are a duo of witches I have been playing around with for a few years. They are witches, yes, but something else as well.  Like some of the witches here, I have featured them in a previous challenge, in this case, back in 2021, along with Aviva's younger brother, Áedán Aamadu.

At the time I knew they were going to be witches of sorts, but I was using the language of D&D 5th edition (2014). So, Celeste Holmes was a Human Wizard (Sage) and Cassandra Killian was a Human Sorcerer (Divine Soul). Of the two, Celeste was a regular character of mine for a while, even getting a Holmes (her namesake) Basic version at one point. She was my occult scholar character whose background was purely learned. That is to say, in AD&D terms, she was a magic-user and not a witch. For me then, she makes for a perfect Magus.

Cassandra was a bit more difficult. In my mind, she was a character whose religion was science. She approached math with the same reverence that a cleric approaches a holy text. I tried her out as a Divine Soul Sorcerer, and that worked, to a degree, but it was never the right fit. I tried other things, including various mystic classes, including the one from Dungeoneer #16 by Jon Mattson. That one was one of the closest ones, but still not exactly what I had in mind for her. I have been playing her as a Wicce for a little bit. I am not 100% happy with that either, really, but it is the closest I have come. I think I need to make my own mystic class someday.

Both casters are part of the West Haven coven. For reasons that make sense in my games, Celeste, Cassandra, and Katrina have all worked together often. I would call them all friends to be honest. Mechanically, I see them as three aspects of different sorts of witchcraft. So Katrina "sees" the Magus and Wicce as being part of the larger collection of what is "Witchcraft" in the game. And by that I do mean, *I* see them as being part of the larger set of Witchcraft.

Together, Celeste Holmes and Cassandra Killian represent two different approaches to understanding the world: the Magus who believes truth can be rendered repeatable, and the Wicce who believes truth must be approached with devotion. Both are witches in the cultural sense, but neither practices witchcraft in the same way, nor in the same way as say Katrina or Larina.

I gave both cantrips based on Intelligence and Wisdom, respectively. I'm not sure whether there are differences in cantrips by class (like in D&D 5e) or if there are just a bunch of basic cantrips that teach the basics of spellcasting. Still thinking about that one.

Celeste Holmes
23rd level Human Magus, Chaotic Good

Secondary Skill: Scribe

S: 12
I: 19
W: 15
D: 13
C: 16
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 8
Petrify/Polymorph: 5  
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 3
Breath Weapon: 7
Spells: 4

AC: 1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 76
THAC0: 11

Weapon
Dagger +1 1d4/1d3

Powers
Occult Literacy, Esoteric Focus (athamé), Shared Ritual Craft (2nd Level), Ritual Theory, Ley Line Sense, True Name Hypothesis

Spells
Cantrips: Spark*, Clean, Warm, Lift, Freshen
First level: Read Magic*, Charm Person, Hold Portal, Protection from Evil, Shocking Grasp, Wizard Mark
Second level: Audible Glammer, Bind, ESP, Levitate, Flaming Sphere 
Third level: Lightning Bolt, Haste, Hold Person, Tongues, Fly
Fourth level: Confusion, Charm Monster, Fire Trap, Magic Mirror, Remove Curse, 
Fifth level: Conjure Elemental, Dolor, Contact Other Plane, Magic Jar, Telekensis
Sixth level: Chain Lightning, Enchant an Item, Legend Lore, Repulsion, Spiritwrack
Seventh level: Banishment, Cacodemon, Forcage, Power Word Stun, Simularcum
Eighth level: Antipathy/Sympathy, Binding, Mass Charm, Otto's Irresistible Dance, Trap the Soul

Theme Song: Walking on Sunshine (She is one of my most upbeat characters)

So who is Celeste? She is magus, so she sees magic as a science more or less, a high science, mabey akin to religion but not a religion. Celeste is deeply uneasy around magic that cannot be diagrammed, reproduced, or verified, a discomfort that often puts her at odds with mystics and visionary witches. She gets along with Cassandra due to shared experiences and a shared past. They are actually quite good for each other. 

Cassandra Killian
23rd level Human Wicce, Chaotic Good

Secondary Skill: Scribe

S: 11
I: 16
W: 18 
D: 10
C: 15
Ch: 17

Paralysis/Poison: 2
Petrify/Polymorph: 3  
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 4
Breath Weapon: 6
Spells: 5

AC: 1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 74
THAC0: 8

Weapon
Dagger +1 1d4/1d3

Powers
Moon-Blessed Magicks, Shared Ritual Craft (2nd Level), Sacred Circle (3rd Level), Blessed Be, Coven Bond. 

Spells
Cantrips: Flare*, Spark, Open, Clean, Warm
First level: Bless, Chill Touch, Command, Cure Light Wounds, Detect Evil, Faerie Fire, Glamour, Invisibility to Undead, Light, Purify Food & Drink, Remove Fear
Second level: Augury, Barkskin, Burning Gaze, Calm Emotions, Chant, Cure Moderate Wounds, Levitate, Resist Fire, Slow Poison, Speak with Animals, Spiritual Weapon
Third level: Astral Sense, Create Food and Water, Cure Disease, Dispel Magic, Locate Object, Meld into Stone, Prayer, Protection from Fire, Remove Curse, Scry
Fourth level: Analyze Magic, Cure Serious Wounds, Divination, Divine Power, Lower Water, Neutralize Poison, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Remove Curse, Speak with Plants, Spell Immunity
Fifth level: Anti-magic Shell, Commune with Nature, Cure Critical Wounds, Dispel Evil, Flame Strike, Magic Jar, Plane Shift, Quest, Wall of Fire
Sixth level: Aerial Servant, Forbiddance, Find the Path, Heal, Speak with Monsters, Weather Summoning, Word of Recall
Seventh level: Astral Spell, Holy Word, Regenerate

Theme Song: Shadows of the Night

Cassandra Killian approaches magic, math, and religion as one and the same. For her, it is devotion. An equation is a benediction. Mathematical proofs are a homily.  

Cassandra does not know a lot about her family, save that somewhere in the past, she is a relative of the great mage Killian Mazior. 

Magus vs. Archwitch and Wicce vs. Witch Priestess

Both the Magus and Archwitch are combined occult and arcane spellcasters. The Wicce and Witch Priestess are spellcasters that tap into divine and occult forces. But how do they differ?

The Archwitch and the Witch Priestess must begin as witches. At 8th level (now, was 7th) a witch takes on new training to better serve their needs or the needs of their covens. 

The Magus is a subclass of the Magic-user. It is, in my mind, what the "witch" was going to be as "promised" by Holmes Basic. For this reason (among many) Celeste is my iconic Magus. Maybe even more so, Esmé. Celeste helped me define the Magus, and Esmé helped me show that the Magus is a viable class. The magus gains some witch spells, the archwitch gets some magic-user spells. I have to make sure these lists are not identical. 

Likewise, the Wicce is a subclass of Cleric. It blends ideas of cleric, witch, druid, and, with Cassandra's input, the mystic. Both are divine-influenced spellcasters. This lets me go and use a bunch of ideas I have had about "divine" witchcraft. Again, the wicce gets some witch spells and maybe even a couple of druid spells. The witch priestess also gets some cleric spells. Like the magus/archwitch above, I want to make sure that these two classes do not outshine the cleric as the group's healer. One thing I think is important is the cleric be the only one to turn undead even if a case can be made for the wicce. 

Honestly, given this, I should come up with a Divine-Arcane class, the Theurge. Magic as religion. Sounds like a problem for another day.

Character Creation Challenge: Day 22, Katrina

Photo by Tayla Walsh,
Photoshopped by me

 It is no understatement that I have thousands of characters lying around in my game room. Between mine, the ones I have inherited, and my kids, there are folders, binders, and boxes full. Katrina is one of the many, many witches I have lying around here. 

Katrina started with a very simple, now-familiar premise: "What would Larina look like if she were evil?" She morphed a bit, as my witches often do, based on what I am reading or watching at the time. This witch didn't even have a name (though I think I was partial to "Eve" from the band "Eve's Plum") until the series "Sleepy Hollow" came on and I saw Katia Winter's "Katrina Crane." I always liked Katia Winter, and she had a very "Larina" look about her. As the character embraced more evil in the show, likewise my version of her in my games.

MY Katrina is not 100% evil. She is xenophobic and thinks the world would be a better place if it were run by witches. If that means subgating or wiping out all non-witches, well then so be it. This began to happen around the time Vin Diesel's "I want to put my D&D character on the big screen," The Last Witch Hunter came out. 

Over the years, she has evolved, but one thing has remained constant: her rivalry with my witch, Larina. Katrina simply thinks she can do a better job in West Haven than Larina does. She certainly has ideas. 

Larina is the witch who believes in balance, Katrina is the witch who believes in order through supremacy. Katrina has little patience for chaotic witches, hedge-practitioners, or lone crones who refuse oversight. Katrina believes that unregulated magic is as dangerous as unregulated power.

Katrina does not see herself as evil. She sees herself as honest. In her worldview, witches are objectively superior. They see the deeper patterns, feel the older currents, and shoulder the burden of knowledge that others cannot or will not. To Katrina, allowing non-witches to govern, vote, preach, or shape destiny is not immoral because it is cruel. It is immoral because it is inefficient. 

Larina believes power must be tempered by restraint. Katrina believes restraint is a luxury the world can no longer afford. 

Katrina’s xenophobia is not born of fear. It is born of disappointment. She has watched councils dither, towns rot, and mortals make the same mistakes generation after generation. Where Larina sees people worth protecting, Katrina sees patterns that should have been corrected centuries ago.

Katrina does not burn villages or summon demons for spectacle. She prefers infrastructure. She corrupts systems quietly. Katrina is the witch who asks: "Why do we still pretend restraint protects us?"

Katrina
22nd level Human Witch, Lawful Neutral (Evil)

Secondary Skill: Alchemist

S: 11
I: 16
W: 14 
D: 12
C: 12 
Ch: 17

Paralysis/Poison: 5
Petrify/Polymorph: 5  
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 6
Breath Weapon: 8
Spells: 7

AC:  1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 63
THAC0: 14

Weapon
Dagger +1 1d4/1d3

Familiar: Raven

Occult Powers
1st level: Familiar
7th level: Temporary Magic
13th level: Permanent Magic
19th level: Witch's Blessing

Spells
Cantrips: Sound, Sobriety, Clean
First level: Command, Comprehend Languages, Chill Touch, Glamour, Detect Spirits, Hecate's Spiritual Dog, Hold Winds, Minor Curse, Sour Stomach
Second level: Agony, Detect Thoughts, Delay Poison, ESP, Evil Eye, Ghost Touch, Nausea, Suggestion
Third level: Bestow Curse, Mind Rash, Dispel Magic, Fly, Lifeblood, Scry, Locate Thief
Fourth level: Air Walk, Analyze Magic, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Remove Curse, Withering Touch
Fifth level: Blade Resistance, Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting, Feeblemind,
Sixth level: Greater Scrying, Control Weather, Restore Youth (Healing), Eye Bite
Seventh level: Call the Restless Soul, Serpent Garden, Widdershins Dance
Eighth level: Destroy Life, Clone (Manikin) (Ritual), Trap the Soul

Theme Song: I Want it All (Eve's Plum)

Katrina has the spell "Clone" to reflect the idea that she was once considered an "evil clone" of Larina, much as Madelyne Pryor (Goblin Queen) is a clone of Jean Grey (Marvel Girl/Phoenix) in the Marvel comics X-Men. So Clone (Manikin) is an 8th-level witch ritual open only to High Witches. 

Katrina’s rivalry with Larina works best when framed as a policy and philosophical disagreement rather than a personal vendetta. She does not want Larina dead. She wants Larina to be proven wrong.

In Katrina’s mind, West Haven under Larina is a missed opportunity. A place of incredible power is being wasted on compromise, secrecy, and sentimental mercy. Katrina believes that if she were in charge, West Haven would be:

• A true witch-city
• A sanctuary for magical bloodlines
• A quiet empire hidden in plain sight

Larina governs West Haven by trust. Katrina would govern by control. 

I toyed with the idea of making them long-lost sisters or half-sisters, but that felt way too clichéd to me. So their common physical traits are red hair and blue eyes, but they are not related by blood. 

So she began as "evil Larina," but she has matured into something more dangerous: a plausible alternative. She is not wrong in the abstract. She is wrong in the particulars. 

If Larina is the witch who guards the crossroads, Katrina is the witch who wants to pave them.

Really. She is just so much fun.

Character Creation Challenge: Day 14 Taryn Nix and Warlocks

 I have not talked much about Warlocks here at all for this challenge, which is an oversight of sorts. I have Warlocks I am using in my Occult D&D game, but they feel a little overpowered at the moment. I am going to present one, my iconic warlock Taryn, and see where I might need to make adjustments. I am largely basing this on my The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry, but I think with other rules I have in place, I might need to tone it down and increase their XP. No idea just yet.

I mentioned Taryn already in this challenge. She is the daughter of my iconic witch, Larina, and she is a half-elf. Well...half Sidhe, but largely the same thing. She began life as a 4th edition character but became one of my more important 5th edition characters. 

Warlocks get fewer spells, but also gain invocations that can be used at least once per day. In Taryn's case here I am also granting her Cantrips, including one for her secondary skill. Unlike witches, warlocks do not gain bonus spells due to Charisma. Also warlocks can't participate in ritual spells unless stated, but this is not that big of deal. A lot of witches in practice don't participate in ritual spells.

Taryn
Half-elf 13th level Warlock (Fey), Chaotic Neutral

Secondary Skill: Initiate

S: 11
I: 17
W: 16
D: 13
C: 17
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 9
Petrify/Polymorph: 9
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 10
Breath Weapon: 12
Spells: 11

AC: 1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 48
THAC0: 16

Weapon
Sword (Pact Blade) +2

Familiar: Black Cat "Mojo"

Spells
Cantrips: Mote of Light*, Chill, Clean, Ghost Sound
First level: Mage Armor, Chill Touch, Cause Minor Wounds, Häxen Talons, Eldritch Fire, Arcane Dart
Second level: Blur, Burning Gaze, Grasp of the Endless War, Phantasmal Armor, Share my Pain
Third level: Fangs of the Strix, Malice, Witch Fire, Clairsentience, Starlight
Fourth level: Arcane Eye, Elemental Armor, Rain of Spite, Pit of Pain
Fifth level: Blade Dance, Cry of the Nightbird, Telekinesis

Invocations
Arcane Blast, Agonizing Blast, Beguiling Influence, Aura of Fear, Pact Blade, Eldritch Ball of Flame, Supernatural Protection 

Theme Song: I Am the Fire

Spells and Invocations combined are a lot for a 13th level caster, but some of those invocations are "passive" or have other effects; like Agonizing blast only effects Arcane blast. Pact Blade just effects a sword.  Still I might trim down the spells more.

Also warlocks top out at 5th level spells. 

I think my warlocks need some more work to be honest. 

Character Creation Challenge: Day 9 Aisling (Dreamer), Nida and The Shade

 I have been going through stacks of notes, character sheets, and just "stuff" from the days when I was playing AD&D all the time. Some things I find are fun, others are the typical gamer junk you expect from a 16-17-year-old. But sometimes I find something from a time long ago that makes me laugh out loud and wonder how on Earth I ever forgot it. The time was June (or so) 1989. The character was, is, Dreamer.

Dreamer was, is, an AD&D 2nd Edition character that I never played or really finished. That's not what makes her special. What makes her special is how much she reads like a rough draft of my Warlock character, Taryn. 

Dreamer, named after the movie "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors," was going to be a character who moved through dreams. She was Larina's daughter, but not from her husband, but my assassin character, Nigel. According to my notes, she was going to take some spells from the Dreamer class from Dragon #134. My thoughts were that she could invade people's dreams to kill them. But it never really worked out.

Taryn came much later. She is what I call my iconic warlock. She is Larina's daughter as well, but from a Shadow Elf Cavalier/Knight Scáthaithe, The Umbral Lord and Knight of Swords. She is a warlock, not a dreamer, but in both cases, Dreamer and Taryn are very specifically "Not Witches." They share some overlap, but only enough to make the differences more pronounced. Both live in a liminal world. Dreams for Dreamer (naturally) and shadows for Taryn. I take Taryn's liminality even further by making her a half-elf. Taryn is also named for Jennifer Rubin's character Taryn from Nightmare 3. Dark hair and a fondness for knives, yes, 10-inch mohawk, not so much.

Dreamer never got very far. I mean, she doesn't even really have a proper name, just a description and a couple of sentences of backstory (edit: A family tree suggests "Tarani," which is interesting, in one place, and "Belladonna" in another), BUT she does have something else. Notes. I know she was going to have some thief skills, not the whole set, but some. She was going to have some witch magic. I never got the dreamer class to work well for me, but I was going to use some of the spells.  I am taking all of this, along with some unused ideas for Taryn, and putting them into a blender.

For a class, well, the dreamer won't work, and this character is also not a warlock. She is not a witch, not completely anyway. I'd like to keep some aspects of the witch, but apply it to the thief class. Much like my Gallowglass is to Fighters. 

The Shade

Operating in the liminal places between light and dark, between law and illegality, and between the seen and occult worlds lies the Shade.  Subclasses of the thief they use the same to-hit and saving throw tables. They possess a sub-set of the thief's skills and a few unique to their profession.

Shades are those individuals who dwell at the margins of witchcraft, moving unseen between the powers of the Craft and the unknowing world beyond. Neither initiated into the mysteries of witches nor wholly ignorant of them, a Shade survives by caution, agility, and an instinctive understanding of forbidden boundaries. It is said that Shades are drawn to witchcraft as are witches, but never actually hear the Call of the Goddess (God).

Many Shades serve covens or lodges as messengers, watchers, scouts, or attendants, trusted to act where a witch’s presence would draw too much notice. Others arrive at this role by accident, having lived near old places, survived a failed rite, or been spared by powers that marked them but did not claim them.

Shades possess an uncommon familiarity with occult dangers. They learn where circles are drawn, which paths are watched by spirits, and when to flee rather than fight. Their talents lie in stealth, balance, swift movement, and the reading of subtle signs, and they often excel at tasks requiring silence, precision, and nerve. Witches value Shades not for their power, but for their discretion and survivability. Warlocks seek them out for services that a normal thief would shun. Even Magic-users, Druids and Clerics value a professional with an eye for magical artifacts and items.

Shades operate like thieves but lack some of their key skills.

Shades have the following thief skills: Climb Walls, Find/Remove Traps, Hide in Shadows, Move Silently, Open Locks.

Additionally they have the follow skills unique to their class: Catwalking, Detect Magic, Sleight of Hand.

Shades do not have a sneak attack as do thieves and assassins. They can learn the Thieves Cant, but they must learn it as per any other language (not a free option). Shades of an evil sort can use poison. 

At 6th level a Shade also has limited spellcasting ability. They make cast witch spells from their own list of spells. 

(obviously a lot more to detail here. But that is my one cup of coffee so far effort.)

To test this out lets bring back Dreamer aka Belladonna aka Tarani, but as someone new. For a name? Well, when in doubt use Irish Gaelic! I also think to properly compare this new class I should use a thief with some magic, thankfully I have one on hand.

Aisling Rinceoir
9th level Human Shade, Chaotic Good

Secondary Skill: Performer (Dancer)

S: 12
I: 16
W: 12
D: 17
C: 12
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 11
Petrify/Polymorph: 10
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 10
Breath Weapon: 14
Spells: 11

AC: 1 (Bracers AC 1)
HP: 36
THAC0: 16

Weapon
Dagger +1 1d4/1d3
Baton +1 1d4

Shade Skills
Cat Walk: 85%
Climb Walls: 94%
Detect Magic: 85%
Find/Remove Traps: 50%
Hide in Shadows: 53%
Move Silently: 60%
Open Locks: 62%
Sleight of Hand: 65%

Spells
First level: Detect Invisibility, Glamour
Second level: Invisibility

Theme Song: Sweet Child O' Mine (First to Eleven cover)

Aisling (Irish for Dream or Dreamer) is no longer Larina's long lost daughter. She is a girl she rescued from in my playtest run of "A Barbarian in Hell" and adopted her as a "little sister." This way she is part of the West Haven Coven without being a full member. Plus I never gave Larina a sister before and I am kinda wishing I had done that.

Now to compare and contrast. I believe you all know Nida.

Nida
Human 4th level Thief / 9th level Witch, Chaotic Neutral

Secondary Skill: Herbalist

S: 11
I: 16
W: 13
D: 17
C: 16
Ch: 18

Paralysis/Poison: 11
Petrify/Polymorph: 11
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 12
Breath Weapon: 14
Spells: 13

AC: 6 (leather armor, ring of protection +2)
HP: 21
THAC0: 18

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3

Familiar: Owl

Spells
First level: Bad Luck, Spell Dart, Minor Fighting Prowess, Blindness, Consecration Ritual (Ritual Spell)
Second level: Alter Self, Evil Eye, Hold Person, Rite of Remote Seeing, Weaken Poison
Third level: Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Toad Mind
Fourth level: Mirror Talk, Cloak of Intangible Shadows, Phantom Lacerations
Fifth level: Teleport

Theme Song: Spellbound

So Aisling is thief who has some witch powers and Nida is a witch with a thief's background.

Both characters have been fun in their respective games.

Character Creation Challenge: Day 3, Branwen and Eira

 Today's characters are pretty close to my heart. They are my attempts to take my original Netbook of Witches & Warlocks for 2nd Ed AD&D and back convert it to AD&D 1st Edition. 

The CNoW&W was built on my original witch ideas, but trying to fit into the structure of AD&D 2nd ed. Looking at it now, 25+ years later, there is a lot I would have done differently. Indeed, my Basic Era Witch book is exactly that.

There are still some things I want to do with it, though, that I didn't do with the Basic Witches. Among these are witches as divine spellcasters. Branwen and Eira here, two "Celtic" girls who are new to the Daughters of the Flame coven, are my ways to test this.

Branwen is basically a version of Larina if she had continued down the path of a divine witch. For her I am using my CNoW&W rules as written. She will, eventurally, become a Witch-Priestess. Eira is a newer concept, a Wicce. The Wicce is a sub-class of the Cleric, much like a druid is, but with more witch-related spells. You can think of Eira as like Rhiannon before she became evil. 

Branwen
3rd level Human Witch (Witch Priestess), Lawful Good

Secondary Skill: Translator

S: 10
I: 16
W: 16
D: 12
C: 12
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 13
Petrify/Polymorph: 13
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 14
Breath Weapon: 16
Spells: 15

AC: 9 (Padded armor)
HP: 12
THAC0: 20

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3
Sickle 1d4

Familiar: Dove

Spells 
First level: Faerie Fire, Purify Food & Drink, Sanctuary, Portent
Second level: Augury, Charm Person

Theme Song: All Souls Night

Eria
3rd level Human Wicce, Lawful Good

Secondary Skill: Weaver

S: 11
I: 15
W: 16
D: 13
C: 13
Ch: 16

Paralysis/Poison: 10
Petrify/Polymorph: 13
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 14
Breath Weapon: 16
Spells: 15

AC: 9 (Padded armor)
HP: 14
THAC0: 20

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3
Sickle 1d4

Familiar: Hare

Special Abilities
Moon Blessed Magicks, Shared Rituals (can cast ritual spells), Sacred Circle, Coven Bond

Spells
First level: Bless, Command, Light, Purify Food & Drink
Second level: Chant, Spiritual Hammer (manifests as a Moon bow)

Theme Song: The Old Ways

Ok. Both of these are great choices; they just differ a bit in spells and how their "occult powers" manifest. 

Also both of the classes need some tweaking, the Wicce starts out more powerful and has less XP needed, but the Witch Priestess begins to over take her at higher levels. Not a deal breaker by any means. Right now both girls are similar enough that the differences are largely minor or even cosmetic.

These two have been a lot of fun to play to be honest and I kinda wish I could play them more often. Plus I would love to do more with the Daughters of the Flame. They were a big deal for me once.

Larina "Nix" Nichols for Villains & Vigilantes

"Larina" by Jeff Dee

 Been meaning to do this one for a while.

Just got back from visiting my family. Anytime I meet up with them, especially my brothers and sisters, we get to talking about all the scary stories we know.  This time it was about a road where people, in particular single women, will often just vanish. Yes. We know the truth is a different sort of horror, but this is still where our thoughts took us. 

The "haunted road" tale is very old. This got me to think about who, or what, is haunting them and who, or what, should be guarding them.

While it is great for modern supernatural games, I was reading over Tim Knight's new blog, Cowboys, Capes, and Claws, and was reminded of how much fun I always had with Villains & Vigilantes.

And given that we both have Jeff Dee art of our characters, I can't help but think that they exist in the same universe. 

The Witch and The Road Warden

Larina Nichols did not become a hero because she wanted to save the world. She became one because the world kept losing people in the spaces no one watched. 

She had survived a house fire that should have killed her. Officially ruled an accident, it never sat right with her. From that moment on, Larina heard things others did not, felt the pull of grief and danger like a pulse beneath the skin of everyday life. Roads felt watched. Abandoned places whispered. Women went missing, and the silence around their absence was louder than any alarm. She learned early that evil did not always announce itself, and that survival carried an obligation.

The truth found her on a moonlit stretch of forgotten highway, following a pattern no one else believed in. What haunted those roads was not a man or a monster in the simple sense, but a thing older than asphalt, a guardian spirit twisted feral by neglect and blood. A Road Warden. When Hecate, guardian of the crossroads, answered Larina’s call, it was not with command but recognition. Strength came, clarity followed, but the magic was never a gift alone. Larina studied, bled, bargained, and learned the old ways. 

Her first act was not destruction but binding. She restored the Road Warden to its true purpose, and in doing so, saved some who were lost and mourned those who were found. The world called it a miracle. Larina called it insufficient and kept going. For this, she received the Blessing of Artemis and may call on her in her need. 

She wears no mask, only intention. Her power is divine and learned, occult and earned, sharpened by grief rather than dulled by it. In a world of capes and symbols, Larina walks the liminal spaces, guarding thresholds, sealing cracks, and watching the places heroes overlook. She does not promise salvation. She promises attention. Sometimes that is enough. 

Sometimes it has to be.

Larina "Nix" Nichols (formerly Larina Macalister), Villains and Vigilantes

SIDE: Good
SEX: F
AGE: 28
WEIGHT: 128 lbs

EXPERIENCE: 90,000
LEVEL: 13

TRAINING: Occult Studies, Folklore, Ritual Magic

POWERS
Magic Spells (requires speaking & gestures)
- Witch Bolt (Power Blast, 1d20, magical; +3 to hit)
- Witchfire Ward (Force Field +7 vs physical/energy)
- Glamour (Illusions, all senses)
- Mirror Walk (Teleport; medium = mirrors/reflective surfaces)
- Divination (Precognition/Postcognition; Detect Magic)
- Binding Curse (Paralysis/Affliction; Will/mental resistance applies)
- Flight (broom or spell)
Familiar: Cotton (small white flying cat; mental link; while nearby, Larina gains +2 Detect Hidden and +2 Detect Danger)
Weakness: Must be able to speak and gesture to cast.

ABILITIES

STRENGTH: 10
ENDURANCE: 14
AGILITY: 13
INTELLIGENCE: 21
CHARISMA: 22

DERIVED STATS
BASIC HITS: 3
HIT MOD: (STR 1.0)(END 1.4)(AGL 1.3)(INT 1.4) = 2.548
HIT POINTS: 8 (3 × 2.55 → 7.65, rounds to 8)
POWER: 58
CARRYING CAPACITY: 132 lbs
BASE HTH DAMAGE: 1d4 (STR 10)
HEALING RATE: 1.0/day (END 14)
ACCURACY MODIFIER: +1 (AGL 13)
DAMAGE MODIFIER: +3 (AGL/INT)
DETECT HIDDEN: 16% (INT 21)
DETECT DANGER: 20% (INT 21)
REACTION FROM GOOD: +4 REACTION FROM EVIL: –4 (CHA 22)

MOVEMENT
Ground: 37" (AGL 13)
Flight: 90 MPH (broom/spell)

INVENTING
INVENTING POINTS: 29.4 (INT-based)
INVENTING %: 63% (~INT × 3%)

LEGAL STATUS
Citizen of the US with no criminal record.

ORIGIN & BACKGROUND
Multiversal witch and occult scholar; protector of the gifted. Known in mystical circles as Nix the Witch Queen. Her familiar Cotton is psychically linked and often scouts or warns of danger.

VISUAL
Flowing dark purple costume with glowing runes, black boots, triple-moon goddess symbol, bracers engraved with warding symbols, and a faint aura of witchfire. Crescent moon burn scar near her left collar bone. Triple moon goddess tattoo on her back, between her shoulder blades.  

Red hair, blue eyes.

--

Ok, this is a good build and there are enough differences between this version of Larina and say my Mutants & Masterminds versions [2][3][4]. Larina was never one of my V&V characters back then. That honor goes to Johan as "The Paladin." But she certainly works here.

Given her Triple Goddess tattoo I am saying she is in contact with three goddesses, Artemis, Selene, and Hecate; representing the Maiden, Mother, and Crone. I went with Greek here because that is what I would have done back when I was playing V&V. If I had gone with my usual Celtic, then it would have been Brigid, Cerridwen, and the Morrigan. 

Links

• Taryn, Larina's (future) daughter (V&V)
• Johan, Taryn, and Larina for Mighty Protectors
• Justice and Iron Maiden for V&V
• Willow & Tara

I have enough here to work up my ARTEMIS group for V&V. Sounds like something to do next year!

WitchCraft Wednesday: The Hand Mirror of the Silver Witch

Photo by Esra Korkmaz

  I have a couple of threads of things I am developing at the moment. One has been my ongoing "Occult D&D" idea, which in itself grew out of my "War of the Witch Queens" campaign. The other is an idea based on my rereading of a lot of things I have written over the decades. Some of which I "re-discovered" recently, something I have been calling "The One Who Remains." 

This is the product of the intersection of many of these ideas and threads.

The Hand Mirror of the Silver Witch

This ancient handmirror is the final relic of the Silver Witch, who gave her life to halt the unraveling caused by The One Who Remains. In her last stand, the Silver Witch allowed herself to be unmade. Her memories, power, and will were drawn into the mirror she carried, preserving a single thread of her identity.

The glass is now cool and pale, like winter water. When the light strikes it just right it glimmers with a faint silver glow, as if the moon reflects upon it even indoors.

Only witches and warlocks may safely handle the mirror. Those who seek knowledge for selfish or destructive ends invite peril.

Description

The Hand Mirror is a finely wrought hand mirror of cold iron and silver alloy. Its back bears the mark of the Triple Moon. The mirror never tarnishes and cannot be cracked by mundane force. Looking upon the glass produces a reflection that appears slightly delayed, as if the viewer’s image moves a moment behind.

When held during a ritual, witches report a soft whisper like wind through winter leaves.

Primary Powers

The mirror grants the following abilities when properly attuned. Attunement requires one hour of meditation, incense, and a whispered invitation to the Silver Witch. These powers can be used by any spellcaster.

Second Sight: Three times per day the bearer may gaze into the mirror to cast detect invisibility, detect charm, or detect spirit (witch version). Each use requires one round of concentration.

Moonlit Guidance: Once per night the mirror casts a soft argent glow. While this glow persists, the bearer gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against magical fear, illusions, and enchantment effects. Duration: 1 turn.

Veil of the Silver Witch: Once per day the bearer may cloak herself in silver mist, as blur cast by a 10th-level magic-user. Duration: 5 rounds.

There is a cumulative 5% chance per non-witch use that the mirror becomes inactive in the hands of the user. Worse, echoes of The One Who Remains begin to seek out those who hold the mirror. (Treat as spectres).  

Greater Powers

The mirror holds deeper abilities tied to the Silver Witch’s sacrifice. These powers can only be used by a witch or warlock.

Memory of the Fallen Star: Once per week the bearer may commune with an echo of the Silver Witch. This functions as a limited form of contact other plane. The entity contacted is not a deity but the preserved remnant of Larina’s future self.

Answers are clear but tinged with sorrow. Each use risks emotional fatigue: after communion the bearer must save vs spells or be drained of 1 hp per level for 24 hours due to mental strain.

The Last Reflection: Twice per week the mirror allows the bearer to read a single moment from her own future. This functions as an augury, with a 75% accuracy rate. The glass reveals images of silver fire and shadow intertwined.

Mirror-Walk: Once per month the bearer may step through a reflective surface and emerge from another mirror within five miles. This requires full concentration and a quiet chant. The bearer becomes insubstantial for one round upon exit.

The Doom of the Silver Witch

The Mirror of the Silver Witch is powerful but dangerous. Within the artifact lies the remaining fragment of the Silver Witch’s mind. That remnant strives to protect others from the fate she endured, yet her presence is fading.

Each time a Greater Power is used, there is a cumulative 5% chance the mirror’s “echo” attempts to guide the bearer toward events tied to The One Who Remains. This influence is subtle. The bearer may feel prophetic dread, be drawn to gates of power, or suffer moonlit dreams.

If the chance ever reaches 25%,  the DM should require a saving throw versus spells whenever the mirror is used. A failed save means the bearer glimpses the Silver Witch’s unmaking and must roll a system shock check or fall unconscious for 1d6 turns.

If the chance reaches 50% the mirror loses one Greater Power of the DM’s choice, symbolizing the last of the Silver Witch’s memories fading away.

Texts, including the near-mythical Adnerg Codices (an artifact in it's own right), speak of even greater powers the Mirror once had. 

Destruction

The Mirror cannot be shattered, melted, or banished by mundane or magical means. It may only be destroyed if:

• It is placed at the center of a Witch Gate during a total eclipse,
• Seven witches of different traditions willingly break their coven-bonds for one night,
• And the bearer renounces her name while holding the mirror.

This ritual unravels the last thread of the Silver Witch. The mirror dissolves into silver dust. All memory of the Silver Witch fades from history unless preserved in text.

Larina Nix, The Silver Witch

Who Was the Silver Witch?

This is not something players would know, and it is certainly not in the histories of the mirror. But the Silver Witch is a future version of my witch, Larina. 

Back in January, I did TardisCaptain's New Year, New Character challenge where I took a lot of Grenda's characters and revised them for Wasted Lands. I mentioned before that in his stack of characters were a bunch of his versions of my characters. 

One of them was Larina. 

I didn't use her then because I was saving her for something special. But in my writings about The One Who Remains, I figured it out. Those versions of my characters? They are all gone. Unmade. Well, maybe one or two survived, but Larina, that Larina, did not. 

Why would I kill off one of my beloved characters? It was because of love that I did it. Or rather, that Larina's sacrifice. She loved her world enough to warn others via her Mirror. Since here she was an NPC her fate was entirely of my own design. Her world, a reflection of my own game world, was unraveled by The One Who Remains, or at least a part of him. Funny, I can hear Grenda in my head now saying, "You destroyed my version of your world, all because I am dead? What a dick!" 

That is the REAL power of the Mirror. Not the magics in it, those are just side effects. The real power is that it will fall into the hands of those who could do something about The One Who Remains and maybe, just maybe, prevent it from happening to their own world.

Who, or What, it The One Who Remains? Well. That is going to be a much longer post.

Urban Fantasy Fridays: WitchCraft RPG & Unisystem

 It is Halloween! The best day of the year. For that, I want to share one of my all-time favorite Urban Fantasy Horror RPGs.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

WitchCraft is, hands down, my favorite game.  Period.  Picking up a copy of this book back in 1999 was just like picking up a copy of the Monster Manual in 1979.  Everything I ever wanted in a game was right there. Everything.

WitchCraft had such a profound effect on my gaming that I can draw a rather clean line between what came before and what came after it.  Granted, a lot was going on in 1999/2000, both gaming-wise and personally, that may have added to this effect; it was an effect all the same.

Back in 1999, I was really burned out on AD&D. I was working on my own Witch netbook and reading various games when someone, I forget where, must have been the old RAVENLOFT-L that TSR/WotC used to run, told me I really needed to check out WitchCraft.  At first, I balked.  I had tried Vampire a couple of years ago and found I didn't like it (and I was very much out of my vampire phase then), but I was coming home from work and my FLGS was on the way, so I popped in and picked up a copy.  This must have been the early spring of 2000.

I can recall sitting in my office reading this book over and over. Everything was so new again, so different.  This was the world I had been trying, in vain, to create for D&D, but never could.  The characters in this book were also all witches, something that pleased me to no end; it was more than just that.  Plus, look at that fantastic cover art by George Vasilakos. That is one of my favorite, if not my most favorite, covers for a game book. I have it hanging in my game room now.

WitchCraft uses what is now called the "Classic" Unisystem system.  So there are 6 basic attributes, some secondary attributes (derived), skills, qualities, and drawbacks.  Skills and attributes can be mixed and matched to suit a particular need.

WitchCraft uses a Point-Buy Metaphysics magic system, unlike Ghosts of Albion's levels of magic and spells system. Think of each magical effect as a skill that must be learned, and you have to learn easier skills before the harder ones first. In D&D, for example, it is possible to learn Fireball without having previously learned Produce Flame.  In WitchCraft, you could not do that.  WitchCraft, though, is not about throwing around "vulgar magics".  WitchCraft is a survival game where the Gifted protect humanity from all sorts of nasty things, from forgotten Pagan gods, to demons, fallen angels, and the Mad Gods; Cthulhoid-like horrors from beyond.  WitchCraft takes nearly everything from horror and puts it all together, and makes it work.

The Eden Studios version was the Second Edition, I was later to find out.  The first one was from Myrmidon Press. I manged to find a copy of that one too and it was like reading the same book, from an alternate universe.  I prefer the Eden Edition far more for a number of reasons, but I am still happy to have both editions.

The first edition (from Myrmidon Press) is like an alternate-universe echo of the later Eden Studios release. I own both, but Eden’s version is definitive. It’s cleaner, more playable, and it feels like the book C. J. Carella meant to write.

The central idea behind WitchCraft is the same as most other Modern Supernatural Horror games.  The world is like ours, but there are dark secrets, magic is real, and monsters are real. You know the drill.  But WitchCraft is different.  There is a Reckoning coming, everyone feels it, but no one knows what it is.  Characters then assume the roles of various magic-using humans, supernatural beings, or even mundane individuals, and they fight against the threats.  Another conceit of the game (and one I use a lot) is that supernatural occurrences are greater now than ever before.  Something's coming...  (dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria).

It is most often compared to World of Darkness, but there are aspects of WitchCraft that I prefer.  Unlike (old) Mage there is no war between the (good) Mages and the (evil) Technocracy.  There is a war certainly, but nothing so cut and dry.  Unlike the new Mage, there are rarely clean divisions between the factions.  Yes, yes Mage players, I am being overly simple, but that is the point, on the simple levels new Mage dives everything into 5 because that is how the designers want it.  There are factions (Associations) and different metaphysics for each, but they also overlap, and sometimes no clear and defined lines are to be found or established.  It feels very organic.

In my opinion, C. J. Carella may be one of the best game designers out there.  WitchCraft is a magnum opus that few achieve.  I took that game and I ran with it.  For 2000 - 2003, it was my game of choice above and beyond anything.  The Buffy RPG, built on the Cinematic Unisystem, took over till I wrote Ghosts of Albion, which also uses the Cinematic Unisystem.  I mix and match the systems as I need, but WitchCraft is still my favorite.

WitchCraft, in fact, is what got me into professional game design.

Back in the Spring/Summer of 2001, I started up a new game.  I had just purchased the WitchCraft RPG book about 16 months prior, and I was looking for something new.  That something came to me in the guise of Willow and Tara.  I had been watching Buffy for a bit, and I really enjoyed the character of Willow.  When she got together with fellow witch Tara, I thought they were perfect.  I had become very involved in the online Willow/Tara fandom, so I created a game, focusing on just them.

The game would focus on just these two, no one else from the show (which I would soon become an ex-fan of, but that is a different story).  Plus it gave me something to try out in a modern setting, something I have not done since my early days with the Chill RPG.

The trickiest part of developing game stats of any fictional character that belongs to someone else is knowing how to strike a balance between the game's rules and the fictional portrayal. A lot of "artisitc" license needs to be used in order to get a good fit. For example, how do you determine what some one's strength is when there is little to no on screen evidence? What spells would the girls have?

In the end, I decided to play it a little loose, but I love where their stats ended up.  In many ways, this is who Willow and Tara are to me, not the characters on TV or in comics, but the ones who were my characters since that day back in May 2001, when I decided they needed their own chance to shine.

After this, I worked on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG.  It should be no surprise then that the Willow and Tara stats that appear there are not that much different than my own.  I can be pretty vocal in play tests.  That got me the chance to write the Ghosts of Albion RPG. This also allowed me to meet, work with and remain friends with Christopher Golden and Amber Benson.

WitchCraft paved the way for so many other games for me, not just in terms of playing but in writing.  If it were not for WitchCraft, then we would not have had Buffy, Angel, or Army of Darkness. Conspiracy X would have remained in its original system. There would be no Terra Primate or All Flesh Must Be Eaten, and certainly there would be no Ghosts of Albion.  This game means that much to me.

But you don't have to take my word for it, Eden Studios will let you have it, sans some art, for free.

Download it.  If you have never played anything else other than D&D then you OWE it yourself to try this game out.

My thing is I wish it was more popular than it is.  I love the game. If I was told I could only play one game for the rest of my life then WitchCraft would be in my top 3 or 2 choices.

Larina Nichols for WitchCraftRPG

Like Willow and Tara, I consider the WitchCraft version of Larina to be the "main" or even "true" one. Not a shock. I was reading the WitchCraftRPG after completing my first publication, "Complete Netbook of Witches & Warlocks," which featured a six-year-old Larina learning she would become a witch.  

Later on, I played her in an online game where she went to Scotland, got married, got divorced, and moved back. In fact, it was her "return to America" stage of her life that I tried to capture with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. It was here that her "modern age" counterpart had made contact with her "fantasy age", aka D&D counterpart. 

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Wicce Seeker of Knowledge Gifted
Age: 30 (circa 2000/2001), Ht: 5'4", Hair: Red, Eyes: Blue

Attributes: Str 2 Dex 3 Con 3 Int 5 Per 5 Wil 6*

Life Points:  33
Endurance: 29 (27)
Speed: 12/6

Essence Pool: 76
Channeling Level: 10

Survival: 10
Lifting Capacity: 100 lbs

Qualities & Drawbacks

Gifted (+5), Attractive (+2), Essence Channeling (+5),  Hard to Kill (+1), Increased Essence Pool (+8), Nerves of Steel, Old Soul* (+3), Resources (+1), Emotional Dependency: Fear of Rejection (-1), Honorable (-2), Recurring Nightmares (-1), Obsession Magic (-2)

Skills

Cooking (1), Craft, Simple Crafts (2), Driving, Car (2), Humanities, History (2), Humanities, Religion (2), Humanities, Wicce Theology (2), Humanities, Psychology (1), Language, Latin (4), Language, Greek (3), Language Italian (3), Language, Gaelic (2), Magic Bolt (3), Magic Theory (3), Myth and Legend, Celtic (2), Myth and Legend, Greek (2), Folk Magic (4), Occult Knowledge (2), Play Instrument, Clarinet (2), Research (3), Rituals, Wicce (2), Singing (1), Survival, Urban (3), Trance (2)

Metaphysics/Powers

Affect the Psyche (Influence Emotion, 2), Blessing (Good Luck, 2; Protection, 2), Create Ward (2), Flame (2), Insight, One with the Land (1), Perceive True Nature (2), Protection vs. Magic (3), Soul Projection (4), Soul Fire (3), Sending (1)

Weapons

Knife d4x2
Baseball bat d8x2 / d8x3 (two handed)

Possessions: Books on magic, spell components, crystal ball, laptop computer (Mac PowerBook G3 "Lombard"), 1998 Volkswagen Beetle. 

As with Chill, this is not a starting character. I have said it already, but I consider this to be the "Prime" modern Larina, that is, until I wrote NIGHT SHIFT. I use the Old Soul quality not only to have her connect to past lives, but also to her "alternate lives." This would include her D&D and Mage versions. This is what allows her to exceed the human limit of 5 in Willpower. 

Larina's Timeline

Since this is the last post in this particular series, I decided to look back on the lifespan development campaign idea. 

• Childhood
• Tween
• Teenager
• Young Adult
• Adult
• Later Adult

There are certainly more games I could use to fill in some more. Even if I never play all these games, using them is a better solution than a huge backstory. It gives you the chance to build that backstory. 

WitchCraft as a D&D Replacement

I have talked about this one as much this month, even if it is a central feature of my Fantasy Fridays. But the WitchCraftRPG can be used as a replacement for D&D. Eden even published a book for it, Dungeons & Zombies. Overtly for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG.

It is no surprise then that Dungeons & Zombies comes from Jason Vey. Vey and I would later take all that we knew from WitchCraft, AFMBE, and Buffy and Ghosts, and design NIGHT SHIFT.

I even ran the Ravenloft I6 adventure using WitchCraft. It was fantastic.

Final Thoughts

Revisiting WitchCraft after Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition feels like returning to the root system after tracing the branches. Mage is about transcendence, belief shaping reality. WitchCraft is about endurance, belief surviving reality.

In Mage, Larina questions the structure of the cosmos; in WitchCraft, she defends it. Both games explore the same axis of power and consequence, but WitchCraft speaks to something older and more intimate: the soul’s stubborn refusal to go quietly.

Twenty-five years later, WitchCraft still reads like a love letter to the people who look at the dark and light a candle anyway. It’s hopeful without being naïve, mystical without losing its humanity.

When I flip through those pages now, I can still feel that same spark from 1999. The moment I realized that “urban fantasy” wasn’t just a genre; it was a worldview, and it was where I wanted to spend my gaming days and nights.

And Larina’s still there, at her desk, cup of tea beside a stack of grimoires, scrolling through student papers by day and summoning protective circles by night. The Reckoning may come, or it may not, but she’ll be ready either way.

Links

• C. J. Carella’s WitchCraft RPG – Eden Studios (DriveThruRPG)
• Ghosts of Albion
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel
• Eden Studios
• WitchCraft
• Ghosts of Albion
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer / Angel

Witchcraft Wednesdays: The Witch Queen Advanced Class

Photo edit of "Ginger Queen by Black-Bl00d"

For all my talk about witch queens here, I have no real witch queen class. Yes, there is my D&D 3x Prestige class, but nothing really for Old School games. So my oldest and I tried this one out during our AD&D games. Not 100% there yet, and in the tradition of the Arch Druid (Unearthed Arcana), she might get her own level progression above and beyond the witch class. I just have not crunched all the numbers just yet.

This is primarily for AD&D 1st Edition, but it should work in many other games as well.

WITCH QUEEN / WITCH KING

Advanced Class for Witches

When a Witch has reached the height of mortal power, there yet remains one step further upon the Path, the ascension to the mantle of the Witch Queen (or Witch King). This being is the supreme vessel of a Patron’s will, the living nexus of a Tradition’s power, and the spiritual sovereign of all witches within her realm. Like the Grand Druid of the Old Faith, she is both pontiff and prophet, counselor and conduit, a figure whose very presence can bend the ley and alter the seasons' turning.

Whether crowned by fate, prophecy, deed, or divine lineage, this witch has ascended beyond the coven to become a legendary figure. 

Only one Witch Queen (or King) may reign for each Tradition at any given time, making them as rare as they are powerful.

Requirements

To become a Witch Queen (or Witch King), a character must:

• Be a Witch of at least 14th level
• Possess Charisma 17 or higher. Additionally, the witch needs to have an Intelligence or Wisdom of 15 or higher.
• Be a member in good standing of a coven
• Must know the Supernal Language
• Have been chosen through omen, divine sign, or a coven-wide rite as the next Queen or King

Restrictions

• Only one Witch Queen or King may exist per Tradition at a time (GM’s discretion)
• To become a Witch Queen or King, the previous sovereign must abandon or relinquish their rulership.  This is often upon the death of the previous sovereign, but not required. 
• Occult Powers are gained differently (see below)

Spellcasting

• The Witch Queen continues to cast spells as a Witch of her full level
• May forego the use of Material Components. 

Witch Queen Abilities

Awesome Presence (gained at level 16): Witches perceive the Witch Queen as a radiant beacon of power. Allies within 60 feet receive +1 to morale checks and saving throws vs. fear; enemies must save vs. spells or suffer -1 to morale. All witches instinctively recognize her status and will defer unless magically compelled otherwise.

Occult Eminence (gained at level 18): The Witch Queen gains one choosen Occult Power of her Tradition. This power is gained as if at the appropriate level, but may not exceed the “Grand” tier unless already eligible. She may choose another Occult Power from a different Tradition at level 19 if desired.

A Thousand Faces (gained at level 20): The Witch Queen may alter her appearance at will, as per the disguise self spell, though the effect is real, not illusory. This change does not affect clothing or equipment, and may be maintained indefinitely.

Timeless Body (gained at level 22): The Witch Queen ceases to age. She gains immunity to magical aging and no longer suffers ability penalties due to age. Natural bonuses to Intelligence and Wisdom still accrue. Her lifespan is extended to 120 years, and she will still die of old age unless further extended by other magical means. 

Rulership and Influence

The Witch Queen or King is not merely a title, but a mantle of magical authority. All witches of her Tradition know of her. At the GM’s discretion, she may gain the right to command covens, invoke her Patron’s will across vast distances, or declare magical edicts that affect ley lines or seasonal flows. Along with this power and influence comes the wisdom and responsibility of how to use such power. 

Optional Rule: Mantle of Sovereignty

Once per month, the Witch Queen may perform a rite, calling upon her Tradition’s power. Effects may include summoning a spirit host, causing omens to appear across the land, or sealing a region against extra-planar intrusion for 1d4 days.

Experience Progression and Saving Throws

Continues to use the Witch class tables for all purposes.

Multi-Class and Dual-Class Use

Only single-classed Witches may become Witch Queens (Archwitches and Witch-Priestess are considered single-class witches). The transformation requires undivided devotion to the Patron and Tradition. Other characters may assist or serve such a queen, but may never claim her title.

The Witch Queen is both symbol and sovereign, oracle and enforcer. Her path is not taken lightly, for once crowned, her soul is forever marked by the gaze of the gods.

--

Still have details to work out, but I like it so far. Again, this is designed to mimic the Arch Druid to Hierophant Druid of AD&D 1st Edition. Though I do think the Hierophant is a bit overpowered.  

I briefly considered the more gender neutral title of Witch Sovereign, but that doesn't have the same weight to it. My influences should be rather obvious, but even "Simon King of the Witches" is called a King and not a Sovereign. 

Likely need some more work on this one, so feedback is appreciated. 

Urban Fantasy Fridays: Mage The Ascension, 20th Anniversary Edition

 I will admit, I love Mage. I love all versions of it, to be honest.

While I never really got into the original World of Darkness when it was all the rage, I did have Vampire: The Masquerade, and I recognized why and how it was good. Still, at the time, I had also just discovered WitchCraftRPG (next week!), so that was the game I had chosen to scratch my Modern-Supernatural itches.

I remember picking up a copy of Vampire the Masquerade back in the early 90s and thinking it looked interesting, but nothing I was going to play really.  Though my thought did go to moving the whole thing over to Ravenloft.  It wasn't until I had moved to Chicago to work on my Ph.D. that I found Mage.  

The ground floor of the commuter train station had a bookstore in it.  One of the pure joys of my daily commute. I picked up a copy of Mage: The Ascension (Revised) and thought that it was fantastic.  While I would ultimately stick with WitchCraft, Mage continued to have a fascination for me. Moving back and forth between the systems, I ultimately landed on the idea that a "Mage" was an evolved form of a "Witch."  I did some refinements, mostly after Mage the Awakening was released, so eventually came to the idea of an "Imbolc Mage," the term borrowed from a friend who wrote about "Ascended witches."  IT worked for me.  Even in my D&D 3.0 days, an Imbolc Mage was a witch prestige class. Even today I have a Mystic Class Starship kitbash called "The Imbolc Mage."  

Though I did really like Mage. A lot. I really like Sorcerer's Crusade; it was a cool idea and much more interesting to me than Mage: The Ascension at first.  That led me to Sorcerer: The Hedge Wizard's Handbook, which is not part of Sorcerer's Crusade, but part of modern Mage.  But I am glad I made that mistake, since I really liked this book, and it made me look again at the World of Darkness.

While Mage: The Ascension grabbed my attention, it was Mage: The Awakening that I created more material for.  I soon figured out why: it felt very similar to WitchCraft.  I wanted to do something that took the best aspects, or more to the point my favorite aspects, of both games and use them together.  I grabbed the Mage Translation Guide with great glee, but I never really did anything with it.  With the release of Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (and its nearly 700 pages), I just dropped all the work I was doing with Mage: The Awakening. 

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Mage: The Ascension is a massive, beautifully crafted tome that brings every prior vision of the game into focus. It’s not just a revision of the rules; it’s a celebration of what Mage has always been: the meeting of philosophy and passion, of science and sorcery, of power and the price of using it. 

It’s also the most “complete” version of Mage ever written. M20 doesn’t erase the differences between editions; it embraces them. The Traditions feel ancient and mythic again, the Technocracy has teeth and ideology, and even the Marauders and Nephandi have more depth than ever before, a LOT more depth. The lore isn’t presented as dogma but as perspective, filtered through the unreliable narrators who populate the Ascension War. This is hit home time and time again. Reality is what you make it. 

Reading it feels like walking through every era of the game’s evolution: the raw wonder of 1st Edition, the sleek paranoia of Revised (my previous favorite), the fiery metaphysics of Awakening, all of it bound together by the idea that belief shapes reality. If you’ve ever argued about whether magic is real, or what truth even means, M20 will make you feel like those questions matter again.

Plus the physical book is just so damn attractive.

Magic, Philosophy, and Price

What I’ve always loved about Mage, especially the 20th Anniversary Edition, is that it treats magic as both metaphor and mechanism. Every paradigm is true, and none of them are. The more you understand, the more dangerous it becomes to believe in only one truth.

That’s why Larina fits here so naturally. In earlier games, she learned that magic has limits. In Mage, she learns that those limits are hers.

The system itself still shines. M20’s rules strike a balance between the freeform wonder of 1st Edition and the structured precision of Revised. The magic system remains one of my favorites of any RPG ever written, not because it’s powerful but because it demands creativity and consequence. Every effect has a cost, every belief has friction, and paradox is always waiting for the arrogant.

This is where Mage transcends its own mechanics. It’s not just about bending the universe; it’s about how much of yourself you’re willing to give up to make that change. Every roll feels like a wager between your vision and the world’s resistance. It’s a game of philosophy disguised as spellcraft, where your paradigm defines not only your powers but your purpose.

In that way, it’s the most dangerous kind of fantasy: the kind that makes you ask, What if I’m the one who’s asleep?

The Mature Stage of the Lifespan Campaign

If Little Fears represents childhood beliefs, Monsterhearts embodies teenage Sturm und Drang, and Chill signifies early adulthood resilience, then Mage is mid-life transcendence.

By the time a character reaches Mage, the world has stopped being mysterious because they have seen too much of it. They’ve fought the Unknown, lost friends, made mistakes, and realized that survival is only the beginning. Mage is what happens when you stop reacting to horror and start defining reality for yourself.

For Larina, this is the phase where the witch becomes the magus. She’s no longer the frightened girl with ghosts in her room or the grad student who stumbled into S.A.V.E. She’s a woman in her mid-40s who has survived every shadow the multiverse could throw at her, and learned that power without wisdom is just another kind of curse.

Her story at this stage isn’t about discovery; it’s about integration. Every past incarnation, every spell, every trauma, they all thread together into something greater. The act of Ascension isn’t about escaping mortality; it’s about embracing it as sacred.

Like the rules, I want to integrate all the disparate threads of her life here. 

Larina Nichols in Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (2015)

By 2000 or so, Larina had returned to the States and lived quietly in Chicago. She teaches folklore and comparative mythology at a small liberal arts college, but that’s just the daylight cover. At night, she works as an independent consultant for the Traditions, specifically the Verbena, though she maintains uneasy friendships among the Dreamspeakers and Hollow Ones.

In the context of my Lifespan Campaign, this is Larina’s middle-age chapter, the reckoning after experience, when all her past choices catch up to her. The ghosts from Little Fears, the stress of Monsterhearts, the agents of S.A.V.E. from Chill, even fragments of her other lives like Lowis from Dark Ages, they all echo here.

Mage lets me weave those threads together into something coherent. Maybe those different incarnations were just past lives of the same soul, or echoes across parallel worlds. In Mage, that kind of metaphysical bleed makes sense. It’s one of the only games where her story could become mythic without losing its human edge.

At 45 (2015 in this build), Larina is a seasoned practitioner who has seen the price of awakening. She knows that every act of will leaves ripples in the world. She teaches her students that folklore endures because it speaks to something real, and when she’s alone, she can still hear the faint hum of the Tapestry, like a heartbeat under the world.

She’s part scholar, part witch, part weary survivor. The Ascension War has become quieter, now fought through memes, corporate sponsorships, and disinformation rather than fireballs and paradox spirits. Larina has learned that the Technocracy doesn’t always need to win; reality often fights their battles for them.

But she keeps the candle burning anyway.

Her focus remains rooted in belief: the Old Faith, the Goddess, the sacred cycles of life and death, but expanded now to the Universal and Multi-versal scale. She has studied Hermetic theory and understands the language of the Ethers, yet she still draws her strength from the soil, the stars, and the blood that ties them together. In M20 terms, she is a Verbena, a witch who believes in creation’s divinity but refuses to kneel to any monotheistic god.

She works minor wonders through old rites: candle flame, herbs, whispered prayers, moonlight on water, spreads of her well-worn tarot cards. Her paradigm has grown sophisticated; witchcraft, psychology, and spirit all merge into her personal practice. Where she once used spells, she now shapes Correspondences.

Her Avatar is older now, too, no longer the reckless maiden or disappointed wife, but a patient, keen-eyed woman who sometimes calls herself the Lady of Crossroads. 

Larina "Nix" Nichols

Chronicle: The New Millennium

Nature: Questing
Demeanor: Traditionalist
Essence: Visionary

Affiliation: The Traditions
Sect: Verbena
Concept: Mystic

Attributes 

Physical
Strength ••, Dexterity ••, Stamina •••

Social
Charisma •••, Manipulation ••, Appearance ••••

Mental
Perception ••••, Intelligence ••••, Wits •••

Abilities

Talents
Alertness ••, Art •, Awareness •••, Empathy ••, Expression •, Streetwise •

Skills
Crafts •, Drive ••, Etiquette •, Research •••, Survival •••, Technology •

Knowledges
Academics ••••, Cosmology ••, Enigmas ••, Esoterica •, Investigation •, Medicine •, Occult ••••, Science •

Spheres

Correspondence ••
Entropy 0
Forces •••

Life •••
Matter •
Mind ••••

Prime •
Spirit •••
Time ••

Advantages

Backgrounds
Allies ••
Avatar •••••
Dream •
Library ••••
Past Lives •••
Wonder •

Other Traits
High Ritual ••••
Seduction ••
Area Knowledge ••

Arete ••••• ••

Willpower ••••• ••

Quintessence xxxxx

Rotes
Talons (••• Life, • Prime or • Matter)
Far Speak (•• Mind, •• Spirit)
Astral Projection (••••Mind, • Spirit)
Past Life (•• Correspondence, •• Spirit)

Focus
Paradigm: Creation is Divine and Alive
Practices: Witchcraft
Instruments: Books, ritual tools, tarot

Wonder
Athame

Merits & Flaws
Languages (Celtic, Greek, Italian, Latin, Russian) 5, True Faith 2
Echoes -1

Age: 45, Apparent age: late 30s
Sex: Female
Ethnicity: White (Caucasian)
Hair: Red
Eye color: Blue
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs
DOB: October 25, 1969

Equipment
2005 purple VW Beetle
2013 Macbook Pro (Core i7, 2.6 ghz, 13.3" screen, 256gb ssd, 8gb RAM), silver

Notes: One thing I have not decided yet is whether or not this Larina has a 3-year-old daughter "Taryn" as her WitchCraftRPG counterpart would have at this point (Taryn born Dec 21, 2012, when the Meso-American calendar ran out.) I would like to think so, but I have not played this particular character to that point.

This is obviously not a starting character. I figured she began as a Mage character when I first discovered Mage (circa 1999) and she has had 15 years of experience since then. Granted, maybe she would be more powerful, but she had a lot going on in her life that was not Mage-related. 

I have always played my Mage and WitchCraft versions as similar, but separate universes. This Larina may be the Larina that keeps the others connected to the whole cabal/coven of them all. Actually, I really like this idea. Maybe I should reach out to Phil Brucato, "That Mage Guy," and ask him how he would craft such a character. 

Final Thoughts

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition isn’t just a rulebook. It’s a philosophy text disguised as a game manual, a challenge to imagine what reality could be if you dared to believe differently. It captures everything I love about urban fantasy, the collision of magic and modernity, of belief and disbelief, of hope against entropy.

For me, Mage represents the mature stage of the horror-fantasy journey. It’s not about surviving the darkness anymore. It’s about illuminating it, understanding it, and, if you’re brave enough, even becoming it.

Larina has learned that the Ascension War was never about gods or Technocrats. It was always about the soul’s struggle to stay awake.

And after all these years, she’s still standing at the crossroads, candle in hand, whispering to the night: "So mote it be."

Links

• Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition, DriveThruRPG
• Mage: The Ascension (Wikipedia)
• Mage: The Ascendion (White Wolf Wiki)
• Mage: The Ascension (RPG.net)
• Mage: The Awakening