PRACTICAL MAGIC IV: Magical Mentors Are Useful Tyrants

🎨 David Mattingly You know a wizard mentor would teleport into your home, drink all your beer, & eat your snacks

For more in the Practical Magic series

In most editions of D&D, the relationship between NPC mentor and PC magic-user is only vaguely defined and perhaps a missed opportunity for world-building. 

OD&D says nothing about the relationship between a magic-user and a possible mentor. Only noting that MUs should have 1 spellbook per level of magic- one book for level 1 spells, one book for level 2 spells. Looking at the stronghold section, we see that a magic-user is 9-12th level, attended by 1d6 monsters, 1d6 low-level apprentices, and 3d6x10 men-at-arms led by Fighting-man lutients. And importantly is neutral or chaotic but not lawful.

In the Rules Cyclopedia, it is noted a level 9 magic-user with a stronghold will attract 1d6 MU level 1-3 and 2d6 normal people of above-average intelligence who want to become MUs but will quit after 1d6 months- discouraged.

While in the AD&D DMG, a DM is instructed to inform a magic-user player that they have just completed a course of apprenticeship with a master who was of unthinkably high level (at least 6th) and was presented with a spell book containing read magic and 3 other spells chosen by the DM or rolled randomly. And noted later that a MU will gain 1 spell, and only one, upon advancement, and will have gathered others from found scrolls, captured spellbooks, and or learned from other party MUs.

Most of the understanding about this relationship is really a collection of practices and assumptions perpetuated through play culture (and shared media) rather than deeply proscribed in the rulebook. In general, the MU mentor is the source of the starting spellbook, often the source of the MU's new spells, and, occasionally, might be called upon to provide a plot hook or identify a magic item. Or serve some other function under the general heading of "mouthpiece for the DM".

At my own table, I'd like to better clarify the costs and benefits of a mentor because it's an important relationship that the player should be able to understand in a more choice-oriented manner: Should I play apprentice or strike out on my own? If the PC chooses to undergo mentorship, we should contextualize the mentor and the relationship in the game world and beyond someone who just automatically provides spells. For the DM, this is a great opportunity for a connection to the game world and setting, providing another digetic avenue to convey information about the world without a lore dump.

Boons

• Known spells: The apprentice MU can choose the spell they want to know from the master's book
• Item identification: The vast knowledge of the master will easily identify most magic items
• Fully stocked arcane distillery: At level 2, the apprentice MU will be able to make the 7 basic potions: diminution, ESP, growth, gaseous form, healing, invisibility, & levitation
• Minor wand manufacture: At level 4, the MU will be able to use the facilities to make a wand containing 1d2 levels of spells; can cast in melee; recharge uses a component found in spells
• Got yourself in a bit of trouble: The mentor will help undo a curse, the effects of poison, or other malady (but not simply heal HP- just sleep it off), however, it comes at a cost below or some other task.

Banes

The mentors are going to want something from each apprentice. They aren't training people in dangerous arcane arts for a hobby. Each week, roll a 1d12 and consult the following table:

1-9 | Your service is not required and you may do as you wish.

10 | Esoteric needs: Mentor desires the gathering of something seemingly innocuous or inconcequential- Touch this amulet to these 3 spots, make rubbings of this relief, or gather dungeon mushrooms from three corpses.
11 | Demands a body: Mentor desires a body for...reasons. It can't be a skeleton, zombie, or rotted corpse. Humanoid is negotiable or might be the specific goal. If the mentor is "chaotic", it might be important that the unfortunate victim is still alive.
12 | Summoned to the tower: You will be required to take a week off from adventuring to help the master with something. On the upside, you get a free roll on the magical carousing table without the expenditure of coin, but you must make a save to avoid a negative outcome.

As the PC gains levels, the mentor might require further activities that take them wider into the wilderness. They might be envoys to fay kingdoms or intelligent monsters. Or have to perform some act on the master's behalf. And if the mentor is chaotic, that act might be an attempt to bump off the apprentice (shrug). Or something as mundane as tax collection. 

It could also be that the mentor wants magic items that a high-level PC is now capable of bringing back.

Insta-Wizard

Let's synthesize the above D&D sources into a unified table to create an interesting NPC mentor that is both a sort of regional lord and an institution. 

And again, ktrey's d100- Mercurial Mentors & Weird Wizards will help kick things off with who or what exactly this mentor is.

To establish a Mentor roll:

• 1d2 for Cosmic alignment:to determine MU Master alignment: odd- Chaotic even- Neutral
• 1d4+8 for Sorcerer, Necromancer, or Wizard: equals the level of the Mentor
• 1d6 for Those who serve: to establish the number of open apprenticeships, the remainder is the number of current apprentices (i.e. a roll of 2 indicates two open spots and 4 other apprentices)
• 1d8 for Monstrous patronage: to establish the rumored, but never seen, monsters that serve the mentor 1. Chimeras 2. Spirits 3. Dragons 4. Elementals 5. Gorgons 6. Minotaurs 7. Demons 8. Gargoyles; all at # encountered in the wilderness
• 1d10 for (Mostly) Trusted Right-hands: to establish the number of levels of fighting men serving the mentor; none higher than level 4 (i.e. a roll of 6 indicated six levels of Fighting-men, so one level 4 and one level 2 Fighter)
• 1d12+2 x10 for Foul Foot-soldiers:to establish the number of men-at-arms (if neutral) or beast-men (if chaotic) that serve the mentor

Reason the Mentor is Left Alone by the Crown & Church

It is foolish of me to list all the ways a mentor might be connected to your setting. However, one question we might want to answer immediately is why the Crown or Church not taken action against someone so dangerous? The results here can simply be a reason OR a seed for a subplot involving attempts by NPC to make the apprentice turn double agent.

Maybe because the wizard:

1. Defeated the Great Beast of the Fell Swamps
2. Made a 99-year pact with the Church
3. Has ensorcelled the Crown- a few advisors suspect something
4. Killed the last two commanders that tried and keeps a third as a songbird
5. Threatened the Crown with blight and the Church with plague
6. Pledged to revive the sleeping prince
7. Threatened to revive the sleeping princess
8. Knows the Crown is their bastard child
9. They keep a secret about an atrocity committed by the Church
10. Romantic entanglement with the Crown- so spicy!
11. Keeps the true child of the Royal Family
12. Helped get the new head of the Church the seat of power
13. The Fay only observe the Truce if they are alive
14. The Church requires yearly renewal of a particular set of arcane wards
15. Is the only one who can read the terms of the demonic licence
16. Has been building a great War Machine, wanted equally by the Crown & Church
17. Maintains the undead Council- former rulers & adversaries who give advice to the Crown
18. Enscorcelled all the animals in the kingdom to go mad upon their death
19. Is a child of the Pit and their death will bring forth a legion from the Fortress of Rust
20. Sends nightly dreams that depict terrible outcomes if they are removed

Mentor Example

Elizabeth the Lucky decides to seek a new mentor in the lands of the Rose Swamp. During downtime, the DM rolls: even, 4, 6, 7, 4, 3 + 78 on ktrey's table. And informs Liz the Lucky's player of the following:

Vertel the Absent has achieved mastery in the 12 dynamic orders (magic-user level 12) and concerned with cosmic balance. Which is why the magus is said to have stopped a great dragon from raveging the land not by killing it but by challenging it to a game of dreamland chess- a game which continues to this very day. Folks in the immediate area claim that luck has been upended and all for miles everyone's fate is connected to this game.  Being wholy occupied by this contest, and in accordance with the wizard's great power, no less than 8 spirits who travel to and from the tower on moonless nights doing the great mage's bidding. In addition, a hero (fighter level 4) of renown leads the wizard's personal guard. This captain and guard (50 strong) are said to be the knight and company sent to slay the dragon, but pledged fieldy to the wizard once Vertel's deft solution brought a sudden end to the creature's rampage.

Vertel is willing to accept any who desire apprenticeship along as they first pass through a wall of flame that guards the front door.* And why had the Crown not knocked down the tower? Vertel has threatened the Crown with blight and Church with plague.

If you want more on magic, just check out some other posts about running Magic-Users in D&D 

PRACTICAL MAGIC: The Collection

Vanitas - Still Life with Books and Manuscripts and a Skull by Evert Collier 

This is a small collection of posts about my experiences, thoughts, and advice on how to run 1st-level MUs as well as make them seem like more than just a 1 spell, 2 hp chump. The class has great potential in old-school D&D games, but its early fragility and seemingly low starting abilities are barriers to people's enjoyment. 

Having gotten a MU up to 6th level in a fairly aggressive megadungeon, I have thoughts which I've been putting into posts:

PRACTICAL MAGIC: Or what to do now that your 1st-level magic-user cast their one spell

PRACTICAL MAGIC II: Or A Magic-User's Tools of the Trade

PRACTICAL MAGIC III: Starting MUs Are Not Feeling the Magic

PRACTICAL MAGIC IV: Mentors Are Useful Tyrants

Foldable spellbooks for your game

PRACTICAL MAGIC III: Starting MUs Are Not Feeling The Magic!

A common refrain in old-school games, most often from those new to old-school play, is that 1st level magic-users (MU) suck, don’t feel like masters of the arcane, and are very limited unless you have sleep and/or get to the point of gaining fireball. To those new to the game, the best way to play a 1st level MU is to just wait in the 3rd/4th rank until its time to cast sleep then lean back and look at your phone. Boring.

Regarding what to do after a 1st-level MU has cast their only spell, I have covered that in a previous blog post (and it was featured in KNOCK! #3 woot!).

Continuing that series, I would like to address how a DM can get their MUs off to a better start using options that don’t stray far from BX as a base chassis. So let’s look at how we can layer some decisions on top of a starting MU so the character feels like a proper student of the arcane and not just 2 HP chump waiting to feebly cast their one magic missile then pray they make it to more interesting levels.

Rolling Up A New Magic-User

After throwing 3d6 down the line as Crom intended, the player has ended with average stats but a 13 in INT netting a +1 bonus and +5% XP gain by choosing a magic user. By BX RAW, this PC has a spellbook, a dagger, no armor, and on average, 100-110 gp, plus 2-3 hp. This PC is Elizabeth the Lucky.

First, DM is given leeway to define the spellbook and the mentor 

Out of the box, RAW in BX, the DM may choose which spells a MU character can start with. This advice is also mirrored by Gygax in AD&D when it is commented that MUs, after a successful apprenticeship, are gifted a spellbook from their mentor which includes read magic and 1 spell from an offensive, defensive, and utility 1st-level spell list. 

Here are three great resources for unique spins on these aspects of MUs: 

• Ben L.’s Six Starting Spellbooks which lists six spell books with 2 first-level and 1 second-level spells in them and includes information on a particular topic

• ktrey’s d100 - Mercurial Mentors & Weird Wizards which lists a mentor by starting spells.

• Carcass Crawler #4 & Dolmenwood Crawler contains new grimoires which are easy enough to modify to create “lesser copies"; Dolmenwood PHB contains some different starting spellbook too

Elizabeth the Lucky rolls an “3” on for the starting spellbook giving her a lesser copy of Geometry of Unseen Potencies which includes level 1 spells hold portal, floating disk, and level 2 spell levitate. Plus she is given the read magic (this always makes sense to me). A complete version of the tome is described as:

The work of Daglon the Geometer, mystical master of force and balance, architect of suspended structures. He had the original crafted by confounding Ubaes who constructed books like puzzles and conundrums. Geometry of Unseen Potencies is bound between polished stones taken from the hearts of substantial clouds in Wishery. Although ponderous in appearance, the book weighs almost nothing.

Now for the mentor. Using hold portal as the category, Elizabeth rolls a “5” under the hold portal table on the Mercurial Mentors. She was instructed by:

 Hernil's Flawless Clone and “[You swear] saw them dissolve into a puddle of goo once.” 

So the player’s MU’s mentor is potentially cloned, could be sentient black pudding, and maybe there is a flawed version out there? And what of this spellbook? Is there a way to get a true copy of Geometry of Unseen Potencies? All great questions for the DM to incorporate into world-building.

Second, let the player decide which 1st level spell has been memorized and which 1st level spell has been made into a scroll✤  

The decision on which spell to memorize and which spell to take as a scroll comes down to deciding which spell the player thinks will be immediately useful in the adventure and which spell might be situationally useful and so is good to “bank” in a paper spell slot- the scroll. 

Elizebeth’s player decides that hold portal might help them escape their first dungeon delve while floating disk might be important only when they locate a treasure they can’t carry and so “banks” it in a scroll.

Now the starting MU has potentially two spells to cast instead of the normal starting one spell and we’ve not really deviated from the rules of BX.

Third, let the player decide if they want more information, more hands, or more spells

Old-school MUs are given the most expensive item their class needs, the spellbook, and they can’t wear armor or weld any expensive weapons so how can the money be put to use in a way that is in the form of an impactful decision? How about letting the player decide if they want to gain a:

• Man-at-Arms (50 gp): A 1d6 hp fighting-type with a spear or axe (1d6 dmg) and leather + shield (AC 13) which might be good for protection and provide the player with a way to stay in the action 

• Another scroll (100 gp): This can be a copy of any spell currently in their spell book and allows increased casting potential

• Map of the dungeon (50-150 gp): Could be complete but without room contents, could by 2-3 very specific rooms, or the location of a particular treasure; information variable depending in the amount spent

In keeping with average rolling, Elizabeth’s player gets a “10” on their 3d6 roll for starting money equaling 100 gp. Looking over spells, the player thinks that hold portal might be good for a quick escape and floating disk can transport something large, so a treasure map might be a good option.

Fourth, introduce the concept of scroll production because it provides an immediate beneficial downtime action and sinks for gold

Not groundbreaking but I feel often forgotten or ignored. The Holmes Basic D&D prescription of 100 gp/week/spell level to transcribe is widely adopted in old-school circles. So a 2nd level spell takes 200 gp and 2 weeks to produce. This provides some immediate downtime activities and choices for the MU to make. And it increases the number of spells they can cast in a given adventure beyond what they can cast by spell slots! This might not seem a lot but if a game occurs weekly or bi-weekly, this can allow for an accumulation of 2-4 extra scrolls greatly augmenting the spell caster’s power.

Finally, introduce the (nebulous) concept of magical research

In the BX text, there is a reference to conducting magical research mainly to learn new spells- 1,000gp/spell level and it takes two weeks with a 15% chance of failure. There is an additional note about “other magical research” which opens up a lot of other options for study:

• Magical marganilia in their spellbooks

• Components✤✤ to augment a spell’s effects (or magical cooking)

• Answering in-game questions that might arise- like where a true copy of Geometries is located or how to hurt a particular monster

Starting Changes Summary

BX RAW we have this: 

Magic User 1st level, 3 HP, AC 10, dagger (1d4 dmg), hold portal, 100 gp

However, by layering more interesting starting decision-making choices, we get something like this:

Elizabeth the Lucky (INT 13), mentored by the Flawless Clone of the Mage Hernil, has finally departed the strange tower outside Greywold. The clone let her keep the ruined copy of Geometries she rescued from an errant nest of rat familiars and now she dreams of building cloud castles promised by a complete text. Until then, she recites the basics hold portal to herself and keeps a copy of the floating disk folded inside her hat. The small piles of coins the clone mage haphazardly dropped in her hands were used to buy information on the barrow complex north of the village- the home of a former wizard. Money from that venture could fuel a quest for a true copy of Geometries. Right now Elizabeth is trying to make floating disk last a little longer- so far past remarks have said by casting in the reflection of a silver charger depicting the god Pan, but Elizabeth has no gold for such an object- yet.

Cantrips Are Not The Answer, Just Give Them A Crossbow

Often I find that the cantrips people want are what 5e has given them: consistent damage-dealing spells that come at no magic-expenditure cost✤✤✤. But I don’t like this for four reasons:

1. Fighters, clerics, dwarves, elves, and thieves already do a decent range of damage 1d6 to 2d6 damage given particular circumstances, so throwing another 1d6 or so damage on top to me is not interesting

2. Often those cantrip damage-dealing spells also require a to-hit role further making them feel less magical; at least the lowly magic missile auto-hits which can really be clutch in the right moment

3. A magical 1d6 to 1d8, to-hit source of damage is also similar to starting the worse “fighter” in the party a magical +1 sword that sucks the magic out of true +1 swords (or other magical weapons)

4. It potentially draws a MU player’s thinking away from lateral strategies to utilize non-damage dealing spells which often are the more powerful and potentially lucrative options
   
   

If a player still insists on having something to do, then don’t change the magic just let wizards use a crossbow. Its ranged, does 1d6+ damage, fires every other round, but could be ever ready for a quick first shot– and it feels like a wizardy weapon they would fool around with instead of a bow.

But also as a DM, don’t forget to add magical stuff to your dungeon: scrolls, potions, arcane scrawl only magic users can read, bizarre contraptions or distillation equipment only they can use. Also think about allowing your player to incorporate components taken from dungeon foes in your games allowing a low-level magic augmentation in addition to scrolls.

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✤ If you are feeling really generous as a DM, you could say they have scrolls for one of the first and the second-level spell.

✤✤ ktrey at d4 caltrops has a ton of useful tables that span all sorts of fantasy gaming material

✤✤✤ I do, however, agree with the old-school trick of allowing a prepared spell to be burned in a released bolt of magic energy to deal damage, but that is because it comes at a cost

DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON: Let the Players Do The Creative Cooking

But seriously, "D-in-D" IS a good manga

Jumping again on the gravy train that is Delicious in Dungeon posting. Here is a post by Grinningrat looking at how to do a Delicious in Dungeon setup, but pointing out that one issue is that most systems are reactive instead of listing in the monster manual what ingredients are found on/in each monster. They lay out 3 nice versions of how to do monster parts.

BUT TO ME, THIS PROCESS TAKES TOO LONG: Each monster might have ~3-5 ingredients and, for instance, the Level 1 monster encounter table for BX D&D includes 20 monsters. This means that a DM would be generating up to ~60-100 unique “things”. I’d rather make a 60-100-room dungeon if I am going to come up with so many things. 

But before I tell you might alternative, the fantastic blog d4 Caltrops of course already has d100 tables for this sorta thing here (Monster Parts for Magical Research) and more distantly related here (Magical Marginalia). The AD&D DMG also has a listing of properties associated with gems that could be useful as well.

MAKE PLAYERS DO THE COOKING: The key piece: let the players provide the connection between the raw material harvested and its use. To me, that connection should be alchemical, occult, religious, or use dream-reasoning and not scientific (they can also use anything of IRL myths). Then write it down in your house-rules doc if you agree. This cuts a lot of time and offloads the creative work while also adjusting the depth of this “crafting” to the level of involvement your players want. If you have real Bobby (S)lay on your hands then they can have at it- you have a campaign to run!

NECTARS, SALTS, BILES, HUMORS, & ESSENCES: Monsters, creatures, and undead of the dungeon produce nectars, salts, biles, humors, & essences. 

• Nectars are from “plants” only or plant parts of monsters: e.g. yellow musk creepers or violet shriekers

• Salts are from rock/stone only, including things monsters turn into stone (I’d also put ground gems in here): e.g. living statues or victims of medusas

• Biles might have to be squeezed or processed out of some “organ” including venoms/poisons: e.g. paralyzing substance from carrion crawler or dragon breath weapons

• Humors would be liquids present in the corporal body: e.g. blood from giant rats which will putrify anything

• Essences might be from things like incorporeal undead, “cloud”-type things, or semi-liquid things like oozes/puddings that don’t have a real differentiated body. Essences could also be from things that are astral or ethereal in origin which might require special equipment to harvest: e.g. black pudding or displacer beast

These categories are not my own, but I think was another good blog post that I can’t seem to find– please, dear readers, if you know the post I’d love to link it. 

Distilling components takes time, prep, & skill

MANUFACTURE OF MAGICAL MONSTER MATERIAL

RAW MATERIALS PRESENT (2-in-6): This is the base chance that a character has to obtain the raw ingredients from the corpse/remains of some dungeon creatures that’s just been hacked apart in melee. Things are a mess and it is likely the desired part/organ has already been butchered by the end of combat. OR it might be the body quickly decomposes, dissolves, disappears, or detonates depending on the creature and can't be gotten to quickly enough.

RAW MATERIAL REFINING TO COMPONENT (DOWNTIME ACTION): During downtime roll 1+1d4 to determine how many raw materials can be processed (if a PC has multiples). Then spend 100sp for each chosen raw material and the DM rolls 1d20 (plus INT bonus) to determine the results of these efforts.  The character may add their level to the d20 roll, but a natural “1” is always “EXPLOSION!”. Gain 100 xp per successful component manufactured. Each refined component takes up a slot.

01 | EXPLOSION! No component & replace equipment, lodgings, and answer to the guard

02 | WHAT’S THAT SMELL? No component & your suspect activities land earn a guard visit

03 | POISON… yeah best not use that…

04-07 | RENDERED INSERT. Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble…for nothing. No component.

08-17 | SUCCESS! Manufacture 1 unit of nectar, essence, bile, salt, or humor

18-19 | IMPROVED YEILD: 3-in-6 chance manufacturing 2 units otherwise 1 unit

20 | DOUBLE YEILD: Manufacture 2 units of substance

Notes: “POISONS” can be used offensively, but likely will also endow the target with a monstrous property in a very negative, monkey’s paw sorta way. “WHAT’S THAT SMELL?”: remember until a PC gets their own domain space, they are essentially trying to cook fantasy meth in the village– this can have consequences in a world where magic is real/dangerous. If a PC would like to somehow modify some aspect of the process or take shortcuts, perform the same procedure as above, but roll 1d10 (if its really on the fly, 1d8).

HOW TO USE YOUR MYSTICAL SPICE RACK: Again this should be a conversation between the DM and player, but letting the player take the lead and provide the occult rationale as to why these components can be used or used in lieu of time/money/skill in the preparation of something. Here are also a couple of other thoughts on components:

• A substitute for 100 sp or 1 week of time when writing a scroll

• Enhance the spell if used during casting (+1 target, re-roll a “1”, or increase duration 1 turn)

• Speed up the creation of a spellbook

• 3 components to manufacture a potion at no cost provided the components are harmonious

• 1 component for each of the five senses is needed to create a magic weapon/item

• Be sold to a NPC MU for some negotiated amount (at least 100sp)

THIS POST WASN'T ABOUT FOOD! It wasn't. The post above has leaned more toward things a Magic-User (or Elf) PC might want to do mainly because it provides them with a way to enhance and augment their early-level magic. But this system could still be used for a cooking bit too. Same deal as above. Collect raw materials (meat). And prepare it rolling a 1d20 (+ WIS bonus) to see how well you did:

01 | W.T.F! No rations. Meat has gone wrong & something tracked the smell (roll on encounter table)

02 | WHAT’S THAT SMELL? No rations. The cooking might have attracted attention (encounter check)

03 | POISON… No rations. Yeah don't eat that...

04-07 | BURNED. But it looked so easy when nan did it. No rations.

08-17 | DELICIOUS! Feed everyone; +1 to HP and next hireling loyalty check

18-19 | THIS IS AMAZING!: Feed everyone; +1 to HP and hireling loyalty improves +1

20 | (SPEECHLESS STUFFING THEIR FACES): Feed everyone; next single save or death & dismemberment is at advantage

Ah, dungeon food. Delicious in dungeon.