Studying Books
At their most basic these new study rules operate
as described in the 3rd edition; if the score of a
book is over the Art score of a magus, he gains 1
point in that Art, if it doubles his Art score he
gains 2 points, and if it triples he gains 3 points. If
not, he gains no benefit for the season. Both Arts
and Knowledges can be learned in this fashion,
although Knowledges must be transferred into
Experience Points for all calculations (eg, a
Knowledge of 3 with 2 Experience points should
be treated as an 8). Use the chart on page 54 of
the 3rd edition for reference.
The value and usefulness of a book can be determined by the total number of levels it contains. Subtract the Comprehension Level from the Study Level (see below) to determine how many levels that is (for Knowledges, each Experience Point is considered a level). Most books will hold less than 10 levels worth of knowledge (or 200 levels of spells); anything greater is a sizeable tome and likely difficult to transport. Larger volumes also take significantly longer to write, and will therefore be rare and expensive.
Comprehension Level
In the 3rd edition rules any beginner can read a
highly advanced text and understand it without
difficulty. Not only is this unrealistic, but it robs
the game of a great deal of colour. Under these
rules, books have a Comprehension Level; the
score necessary to study them effectively. Magi
who have an Art score lower than the
Comprehension Level of a text can only study it
with difficulty, and may not understand it at all.
| Example: A Vim text with a score of 12 might have a Comprehension Level of 6, meaning any magus with a Vim score less than 6 will have difficulty understanding the work. |
For every point the Art score of the reader falls below the book's Comprehension Level, one point is subtracted from the amount the reader can learn for that season. For example, if the magus studying the 6/12 Vim text has a Vim score of 4, he will have difficulty understanding what he reads. As his Art score is two points lower than the Comprehension Level of the book, he must subtract 2 points from whatever he learns from the text that season, meaning he can improve his Vim score by 1 point at best. Since the most a magus can ever learn from a text in one season is 3 points, a magus whose Art score is 3 lower than the book's Comprehension Level cannot learn anything useful at all; the book is too far beyond him.
Study Level
The Study Level of a book determines up to what
level it is useful (Study Levels are the same as the
normal book scores used in the 3rd edition). The
Intelligence of the reader is added to the effective
Study Level of a work, but you cannot raise an Art
or Ability higher than the actual Study Level of
the book you are reading.
| Example: A Magus with an Intelligence of +3 reading a Vim book with a Study Level of 12 studies it as if it had a score of 15, but cannot raise his Vim higher than 12 with it. |
Studying Foreign Texts
The above rules assume that the scholar is
competent in the language of the book he is
studying. A character is competent to read a work
if he has a score of at least 3 in Scribing and
Speaking the language in which it is written.
Obviously then, most magi will have no trouble
reading Latin texts, and they can ignore this
section. The magus who wants to study a Greek
work, or an Ex Miscellanea magus with a weak
grasp of Latin, however, will have extra difficulty.
The penalty for poor language skills works in the same way as the penalty for a lower than required Art score. For every point of difference between the scholar's Scribe or Speak score (whichever is lowerst) and a score of 3, one level is subtracted from what the character learns that season. For example, a character with a Scribe Greek Ability of 2 and A Speak Greek Ability of 4 loses one level from what he would normally learn from a Greek text.
This rule keeps scholars from using a work effectively until they are competent in the language. It also means that a character with a weak grasp of the language is unlikely to learn anything from a text that is written above his Comprehension Level (the penalties are cumulative).
Studying Multiple Volumes
Magi can study from more than one book per
season, providing they are compatible. Compatible
books must be about the same topic, and one must
be more advanced than the other (studying two
books of equal level may be possible but grants no
tangible benefits). The Comprehension Level of
the more advanced book must be equal to or lower
than the Study Level of the lesser book.
| Example: The Vim book of 6/12 would be compatible with a more advanced book of 10/15, or a lesser book of 3/7, but not a book of 15/20. |
Studying with more than one volume has no effect on the rules; a 3/7 book with a 6/12 book is simply treated as a 3/12 text (simply use the lowest Comprehension Level and the highest Study Level). It adds a little colour to the rules, however. The magus who finds a book beyond his comprehension now has incentive to search out a lesser-powered book to use as a primer.
Since you cannot gain more than 3 levels in a season, there is a practical limit to the number of volumes a magus can benefit from studying at the same time. This number will vary however, depending on how many levels the books contain.
Scribing Books
When scribing a book a magus must first decide the book's Study Level, which can be up to half his score in the relavent Art or Knowledge. He may set the Comprehension Level of the text at whatever he chooses, although the greater the difference between the two, the more ambitious the work. The magus starts writing at the Comprehension Level of the book and accumulates his Com + Scribe worth of levels each season. He completes the book when he reaches the Study Level. Once you begin scribing a book, you cannot alter the Comprehension or Study level intentionally (because your Art improves, for example), though it may change unintentionally (see below).
| Example: A maga begins writing a 6/12 Vim text. Her Communication + Scribe score is 4. As the total levels contained in her book is 6, it will take her two seasons to finish. |
Scribing Rolls
Writing a book is more of a hit-or-miss activity
than studying one (especially in an age when ink
and vellum are too precious for rough drafts), and
magi may not always end up with a work that does
exactly what they set out to do.
After your magus spends a season scribing a volume, you make a Scribe skill test (simple roll + Com + Scribe). If you fail to exceed an ease factor of 9+, your book is one level less than you had intended, because it is confusing or you forgot to put important information in (raise the Comprehension Level by one or lower the Study Total by one). If your Scribe roll beats an ease factor of 12+ you have written exceptionally well and add a level to your book. These levels do not affect the number of seasons necessary to complete your work, but instead represent the quality of the writing.
| Example: The magus writing an 8/17 Ignem text writes at 4 levels per season, and thus will finish the book in 3 seasons. After his first season he proceeds to make a Scribing Roll. He makes a roll of 13, and chooses to increase the Study Level of the book by 1. The score of the unfinished text is now 8/13. The next season he writes another 4 levels and makes another Scribing Roll, a 10. His book is now 8/17, which is what he intended, but he must still complete the third season of scribing and make a 3rd Scribing Roll. |
If for some reason a book ends up with a Comprehension Level equal to or higher than its Study Level, the book becomes useless. Anyone who can actually understand the book would already have learned everything it has to offer.
Glossing Books
Important books were well cared-for, and would be
studied from for centuries if possible. Scholars
would frequently add their own notes to the
margins of the work to clarify points or update
information, in a practice known as glossing.
Glossing allows a scholar to add more information
to a book, either by lowering the Comprehension
Level or raising its Study Level. Note that you
cannot lower a Comprehension Level below zero,
nor raise a Study Level higher than two-thirds your
own score in that Art. The total number of levels
you may add to a text is also limited to half the
total levels of the volume (round down), or 3,
whichever is less. For example, a 3/8 text (5 levels
total) may only be improved by 2 Levels. It is
rarely worthwhile glossing small texts because of
this.
In order to gloss a volume, a magus must have the required Comprehension Level, and must be competent in the language of the text. It takes a full season to gloss the book. At the end of that season, a stress die is rolled, and is added to your character's Communication, Scribe and Concentration scores. To this is added your score in the book's Art or Knowledge, resulting in your Glossing Total (stress die + Communication + Scribe + Concentration + Art = Glossing Total). For every ten points, or fraction thereof, that your Glossing Total exceeds the book's Study Level, you add one level to the work. Botching the Glossing Roll usually means the book is damaged somehow, through spilled ink or confusing comments.
Although in reality books were often glossed until there was no space remaining in the margins, Storyguides should feel free to limit the number of times a book may be glossed in a single saga. Certainly no book should be glossed twice by the same person. A scholar may gloss his own work, but only after improving the relevant Art or Knowledge.
Virtues and Flaws
Changes to the appropriate Virtues and Flaws are listed below. Only those effects that relate to studying or scribing are listed; consult the 3rd edition rulebook for additional information.
- Book-Learner, +1: When you study from books you add your Intelligence (or +2, whichever is higher) to the Study Level of the text for all purposes, and can thus increase your score higher than normal.
- Strong Writer, +1: You may write up to two thirds your score in an Art or Knowledge. You gain a +2 to your Scribing and Glossing Rolls, and an additional +2 to the number of levels you may scribe in one season.
- Weak Writer, -1: You suffer a -2 to your Scribing and Glossing Rolls. You also subtract 2 from the number of levels you may scribe in one season (though you may never scribe less than 1). Writing anything other than short texts is very difficult and time-consuming.
- Poor Reader, -1: You do not add your Intelligence to the book's Art Score if it is positive. Additionally, you can never improve an Art or Knowledge by more than 2 levels in a season by studying books. You cannot study foreign texts. Magus: -3 Flaw.
- Incomprehensible, -2: Your writings on magic are extremely cryptic and difficult to understand. Any levels lost to Scribing Rolls must be taken from the Comprehension Level. Studying from Incomprehensible texts requires an Int roll on a stress die which is added up each season; when the score reaches twice the total levels of the book, the character benefits from the text as if studying it normally. In order to study from the book further, the same process is repeated. On a botch, the character will never understand the work (malicious Storyguides will hide the dice results from the players).
- Unimaginative Learner, -3: You have trouble figuring things out for yourself. You may not study from more than one book per season, and cannot study from foreign texts.
© 1997 Eric Pommer