A "Hero" magician can be a very rewarding character to build and play, but there is no denying that they also take more work to build and play than many other types of character. The following will tell you most of what you need to know to run a wizard, shaman, necromancer or whatever.
The Magic Skill
To be able to perform magic at all, you must have a Magic Skill. This is a 3-point INT-based skill which is used whenever the magician wants to cast a spell. It can be improved by buying any of the following Magic Skill Levels:
| Cost | Effect of the Level |
| 2 | +1 to Spell Casting roll |
| 5 | +1 to Spell Casting roll, +1 OCV or +1 DCV with Combat Spells |
| 8 |
+1 with All Magic, and:
Only one of the above options may be in force at a time. |
The way in which a Magic Skill Level is to be used must be declared at the beginning of the magician's phase, just like a Combat Skill Level.
In order to be able to design your own spells, or to be able to manipulate a Variable Magic Pool, you must have this 3-point INT-based skill.
The Magical Inventor roll may be improved by +1 for 2 Character Points. An 8-point Magic Skill Level will also add +1 to the roll.
Spell Power Level
The most important thing to know when designing spells is that there is a 50 Active Point limit on all starting spells. This should be adequate for most things. If you wish to increase the Active Point value of a spell with experience, you may usually do so, though you may not cast a spell with an Active Point value greater than 5 x your INT.
If you start a new character with a Magic Skill, you must either:
You are either a full-time wizard or a dilettante, and a wizard simply doesn't have time to learn about non-essentials like fighting or body-building. If you start at dilettante level, your lack of application will be reflected in the size of any magic pool and skill-level, since 10 points doesn't go far.
Apart from that the main points to bear in mind are these:
Especially if you're a bit dim...you may not have more spells in mind than INT÷5. You may not cast a spell with an Active Point value greater than your INT x 5.
All spells must cost END to cast and maintain; "Reduced END" may be taken only with the express permission of the GM (which will not usually be forthcoming). If the spell is created with charges, it receives an additional -½ for also using END. Some spells, notably Transformations and Summons don't require END expenditure to maintain the effect once created, but the initial casting of the spell must cost END.
All spells should have "Side Effects" attached to a failed Skill-roll. You can make these as mundane as you like, but I will look favourably on those who entertain me. Rat came up with the idea of a variable side-effects chart, which seems to work well enough and certain spells or special effects will suggest their own side-effects. (This isn't compulsory, but it fits in well with my idea of how magic works)
or else the -3 above must be filled out by "Increased END". You can not have both "Reduced" and "Increased END" in a spell.
for a total of -3½ worth of compulsory limitations. These basic limitations apply regardless of the style of magician you want to play.
For example, Poon-Tang the Necromancer wants to devise an instantaneous self-protection spell to use against muggers, footpads and tax-collectors. Obviously he wants to be able to keep his wits about him at such a critical moment and he doesn't want to alert the swine with a lot of hocus-pocus. He doesn't want to have to rummage around for a Focus (material components) either, but he's willing to wear the ½ DCV Concentration penalty. All this leaves poor old Poon-Tang with a spell which he has to cast at -2¾ worth of Increased Endurance — a whopping x7 endurance multiplier! (The limitation is rounded up to the nearest multiplier, but you do get credit for any extra limitation.)
If the wizard can decide on the proportioning of the Limitations whenever the spell is cast, then the "Variable Limitations" Advantage must be bought at +½.
The individual limitations may be increased, or in the case of "Extra Time" decreased, but each individual limitation must appear in the spell description or be paid for in "Increased END". That is, increasing the value of "Concentrate" (for example) does not allow another compulsory limitation to be discarded.
Plenty more limitations can be lumped on top to further reduce the cost, but take note that many ranged powers' ranges are calculated from the Character-point cost rather than the Active points. Beware of creating a Fireball with a 20-metre radius Area of Effect if you've added so many Limitations that it only has a range of 10 metres.
You can make some spells more useful in a tight spot by using the "Delayed Effect" advantage, which allows you to store a spell in mind for later instantaneous release. This makes a lengthy and complex casting procedure less of a problem, since it can all be taken care of ahead of time and leaves the spell available until expended, or no longer required. There are a couple of minor differences between the letter of the rules and the way I want to use "Delayed Effect":
Note that in the example given a spell with charges also uses END. This is worth a limitation of -½, since charged powers do not normally use END; I distinguish between POWERS and SPELLS, spells being what mortals do to imitate those beings with powers. Spells always use END, while Powers need not. You almost certainly won't have any Powers, except maybe from some sort of magical item, unless you're some sort of inhuman monster. Such as an elf, for example. Or a man-eating carp.
A Word on Spellbooks
Unless you have a frighteningly gigantic INT or a pathetically tiny repertoire of spells, you will need some sort of spellbook to store all the magic you don't have in mind right at this very minute.
Even if you don't have a repertoire large enough to overflow your cranium, a spellbook is a good backup in case of a blow to the head, since a nasty knock (an Impairing wound to HitLocs 3, 4 or 5) can cause you to forget any or all of your spells. This might not be permanent, but then again...
Even calligraphically-challenged magicians can make use of a generic Spellbook. A tribal shaman, for example, might have a bizarre cats-cradle of string, feathers and shells which acts as a mnemonic aid to remembering how to make the chief supremely potent and his wives equally fertile, so that the numbers of his children runs into the hundreds. Just because it's called a Spellbook™ doesn't mean that it has to be a book, per se.
A spellbook can be a focus for a Power Pool, or (if you have to cast the spells directly from the book), for the spells themselves, or both. The nature of the Focus will depend on how you define the generic Book's special effects.
For example, a list of spells carved into the polished granite walls of a wizard's tower, from which he learns (but does not cast) his spells would be an Immobile Inobvious Inaccessible Focus, for a total limitation of -1¼. Inobvious because the powers do not obviously emanate from it when he casts them, but it is necessary to have access to it to be able to use the powers. Immobile and Inaccessible because it's a wall, for crying out loud - you can't take it away from him in combat and he can't move it around.
At the other end of the scale is the wizard who - god knows why - has written all of his spells in plain language that anyone with a magic skill can understand in water-soluble ink on dried oak-leaves carried in the same balsawood box as a half-gallon jar of naphtha (because it keeps the insects away). He has to cast the spells directly from the leaves because he has a terrible memory and couldn't possibly remember them, and they glow with a Mystic Aura while the power is in effect. This would be a very short-lived Independent Fragile Obvious Accessible Focus - I think you can work out why. It's worth a heap in terms of limitations (-3¼), but is it really worth saving all those points when you're only going to have any spells for the first five minutes of the game? I don't think so.
Power Frameworks
Elemental Controls (EC)
I don't particularly like Elemental Controls. I know that they have their uses, but for the purposes of my game, they suck, so we won't be using them.
Multipowers
A Multipower an easy and convenient way to run a magical repertoire. It works in exactly the same way as the "classical" roleplaying wizard, in that it allows you to build up a substantial array of spells, among which you must choose to suit the circumstances.
Advantages and Limitations can be applied to the Pool itself. The most common Limitation will be the Focus — the Spellbook. Most of the time, I would expect a Spellbook to be defined as Independent (-2 Limitation), which means that it can be stolen away from you. That would, I agree, be a real bummer, but what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander — if you can steal an Independent spellbook, you can make use of it yourself. Assuming, of course, that you avoid the nasty magical traps which make it hum with suppressed power, that you have a Magic skill and that you can break the cryptographic system the sensible wizard has written all his spells in.
Once you have your Power Pool, you can start building powers to draw from it. The maximum size of power you can have running to begin with is 50 Active Points, or as many Character Points as you have in your pool, or your INT x 5, whichever is smaller. But with this limitation in mind, you can have as many individual powers running as you have the END to pay for. . . which brings us to the next point: paying for your powers.
It may be helpful to think of the points in your Power Pool as RAM (Random Access Magic) when it comes to building and buying powers. Unless a power is bought with a limitation such as "Beam Attack", it can usually be run at any power-level you choose. If the power only uses as much RAM (as many character-points) as it requires to run properly, it costs 1 character-point per 5 Real Points to buy for a Multipower "slot". If, however, it always grabs the same amount of RAM regardless of the level at which you wish to run it (and therefore always costs the same END to run), it only costs 1/10th of the Real Points to put into a slot. There is a minimum cost per slot of 1 character-point, but these cheap slots (known as "Ultras" can allow you to build a substantial repertoire cheaply, at the cost of flexibility.
Variable Magic Pools (VMP)
More complex to run but much more flexible than a Multipower, a Variable Magic Pool is used to represent "natural" magicians; those with such a complete knowledge of the basic principles of magic that they are able to knock up a spell more or less on the spot rather than relying on set spells from a spellbook. This sort of magic pool will tend to be the domain of faeries and things rather than PC wizards; sorry about that. Ain't life tough.
The only PCs who will be able to make use of a Variable Magic Pool as a matter of course will be religious types, who don't so much cast spells as pray for miracles. The downside to this is that you never know for sure whether your god is listening, or whether or not it's in a good mood that day. I haven't really considered quite how I'm going to run clerical types, so I guess we'll just have to make it up as we go along. I expect it'll have a lot to do with activation rolls, indeterminate effects, unexpected summonings and what-have-you.
Alchemy
Magicians who create their magical effects by the use of potions and the like rather than through the use of spells are collectively known as Alchemists. Not all alchemists, however, are solely concerned with magical effects; alchemy is a very wide field which covers aspects of all of the physical sciences as well as divination and thaumaturgy.
In game terms, the use of potions is governed by the "Powers with recoverable charges" bit of the rules, or by defining it as an "Expendable Focus". If you want to be able to make the potion yourself, you will need to spend character-points to obtain the power. If a potion is tailor-made for yourself only, it is built straight, but if you want to be able to share it you must take the "Usable by others" advantage. The whole thing can be made "Independent" if the potion is made from a recipe which can be taken away from you, and Independent recipes are the only ones you can steal (or otherwise obtain) and make without spending points. Of course, any potion "Usable by others" can be gurgled down any time and by anyone, whether they have the ability to replace the charge or not.
Potions can be a good way to run your magic if you don't have much END to play with since they don't necessarily have the END requirements of Spells, though they do usually have a reasonably long start-time (finding the flask, opening it and drinking the contents will take several phases, and the onset time before the power begins to operate might be anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours). A potion with an instantaneous effect, such as a Potion of Fire-Breath, should be bought with the "Delayed Effect" advantage unless you want to belch flame the instant the start-time is up.
Changing Spells
You can voluntarily "forget" a spell at any time, to open up a slot so that you can learn a new spell. Note that using up all of a spell's charges does remove the spell from memory, but of course you have to use END to do so. The way in which you change your spells should normally be defined when you build you character, and will be dictated to a large extent by the sort of wizard you are. A nasty old necromancer might have to bathe in the blood of newly-killed two-day-old infants to recharge his magical energies so that he can undertake the arduous task of learning a new spell. A shaman might have to spend several days out of his gourd "purifying" himself. Mister Fluffy the Magic Man may psyche himself into the task by thinking a thousand Happy Thoughts. It's really up to you, but as a rough guide to the minimum time-frames I will allow, you can use the following: Removing a spell from mind takes one phase per active point in the spell; in an emergency the process can be speeded up to one segment per active point, but this will penalize the skill-roll for the spell filling the vacated slot by one per 10 active points in the deleted spell. (Spells can sometimes be instantaneously removed from memory by taking an Impairing blow to the head.... this method is not recommended for day-to-day use).
Learning a new spell is a slower process, and cannot be speeded up at all. It will take you one minute per active point to place a new spell in mind, but once there it remains available until voluntarily removed. If you are disturbed during the learning process you must make a Magic Skill roll @ -1 per 10 active points in the spell, or else start again from scratch.
Spell Components
Spell components, such as Eye of Newt or Tongue of Dog are "Expendable Foci" if they have to be replaced for each casting . This can be a real hassle when "Al's Arcane Emporium" has just closed and you're being pursued by a ravening horde of demons who want to sell you a Really Excellent Set of Encyclopaedias, but it is traditionally appropriate for magic spells. The value of the limitation depends on how difficult replacement of the focus is.
Spell Restrictions
Healing
Regeneration which is active all the time must be quite slow, not more than one BODY per hour, and will have to come from an Independent device such as a magical ring (unless you catch me in a really good mood and con me into letting you have something that can't be stolen). A regeneration spell can be faster, but the caster (and/or the recipient) must spend END throughout the spell duration. You need Regeneration to regrow severed limbs; Aid is insufficient. Regenerating limbs is like being killed in reverse — you have to Regenerate twice your BODY to re-grow a limb.
Invisibility
You must spend at least one END per phase per spell to keep the invisibility active on a living creature or an animate object, and it may not be made Persistent except on inanimate objects. In short, you can make a thing more-or-less permanently invisible, but not a person. The reason for this is that I don't fancy the idea of some invisible archer sitting back and potting off my valuable bad-guys, while the poor things run around frantically, totally unable to find their attacker. Invisibility should be a sneaky spell, not a combat spell.
Mind-scan
Mind-Scan is used to find one mind at a time. Though it does give an indication of the number of minds in the search area, it will only pinpoint the target mind with any accuracy. Remember that the target is always aware of a successful scanning attempt, and is that the scan is a two-way circuit: if you know where they are, they know where you are. Invisible Effects simply means that other mentalists can't tell that someone is being scanned. A non-mentalist target probably won't know the exact nature of the attack at first, but will just know that there's someone inside his head... EEEEK!
Modifiers are applied to the attack-roll, depending on how familiar the target mind is to the scanner.
A FAMILIAR MIND is one which has been successfully scanned at some earlier time... the more often, the more familiar it is and the greater the bonus applied to the roll.
An UNFAMILIAR MIND is one which belongs to somebody who:
Attempting to scan several minds simultaneously will severely impair the initial attack-roll, (-3 per mind being scanned) and will also compromise the effect roll... it is unlikely that anything beyond the first level of contact will be achieved. (Cumulative 5 pts Mental Def per mind in target group)
Summon
A Summon spell will normally only bring a certain class of creature, not a specific individual. If you want a spell to bring, for example, a particular demon whose name you know, you must add a +1 advantage: SPECIFIC. A "specific" Summon may not be reworked with the Magical Inventor skill to fit another individual; each spell must be tailored to the target creature, so if it is slain the spell becomes useless and might as well be thrown away.
END Reserves
You can get around the problems associated with running high-END spells by using an END reserve, but you must decide which spells feed from the reserve and which work from your own personal END when you build the spell. Spells which can feed from either are bought with a +¼ advantage.
The REC of a magical END reserve must be limited in some way - it cannot just recover on its own. For example, a talisman which only recovers while immersed in human blood, or an amulet which has to be "fed" with END from someone (by using a Transfer). The value of the limitation is dependent on how easily or conveniently the recovery process can be enabled.
A magical END reserve must be built into an item, that is, a Focus of some sort. You may not have an "internal" reserve. It is possible, even likely, that you will come across END reserves in the possession of NPCs; they are the most common form of magic item out there. The problem lies in identifying them and working out how to use them. Of course, only Independent reserves will be useable by you if you get one from someone else unless you pay the character points to adapt it to your own body.
There is no limit to the number of individual END reserves you can have at any one time.
Find Weakness
You cannot begin a new character with Find Weakness unless it is with a very specific attack or weapon, such as when fighting rapier-to-rapier. You cannot later buy the Talent without my permission. I might let you build it into a spell if you're especially nice to me and I'm in a good mood.
Resurrection
Aid and Regeneration do not work on a character who is dead, though Regeneration can be used to repair a damaged freshly-dead corpse. If the corpse is putrescent, a Csmetic Transformation will be needed to freshen it up before being brought back to life. To restore life to a dead body, you need an all-or-nothing Major Transformation (Dead Human to Living). Note that the Transformation does not repair damage, so if the body is damaged severely enough to have been killed, it will need some repair work done on it to make a resurrection worth while. Likewise, a diseased, aged or poisoned body will need some attention soon after being resurrected or else it will quickly die again of the same thing. (Note: You can build a poison antidote by using the "Dispel" rules)
Transformations
Though transformations are astoundingly useful for creating spells which would otherwise be very difficult or clumsy to design, they are not the key to anything you want. For a start, they may not be used to duplicate the effect of another power. Also, if you want to use a transformation to permanently change one element to another, you must have access to the "Philosopher's Stone", whatever that might be. (I am not 100% inflexible on this point, but might take some convincing unless I think that what you want will be fun for everybody and won't make my life too difficult). Transformations normally "heal" at the rate in which normal BODY is regained for creatures (though I'll allow resurrection-type Transformations to be permanent in so far as they can be, what with all those nasty swords and teeth and claws about), or at 1 BODY per five minutes for inanimate objects. The healing rate for inanimate objects can be moved down the time-chart at a +½ advantage per level, but can never be made permanent without access to the Philosopher's Stone.
Eidetic memory
Eidetic memory does not increase the number of spells you can have "in mind" at a time, nor does it improve your spell-learning time. It is not automatic; you must concentrate on whatever it is that you want to remember. You can use Eidetic memory as a spell book, but it has the disadvantage that you are likely to forget some or all of your spells if you ever take an impairing blow to the head. (This might be temporary, but then again....)
Detect Magic
Detect Magic will detect the presence of magic in a general area but will not pinpoint a magic item within that area. The larger the area of effect in which the spell works, the less specific it becomes.
Detect Magic is bought as Enhanced Sense (Detect), which at its most basic requires an object to be touched to be able to detect anything. A Detect Magic should be associated with one sense for the purposes of Special Effects. If you want to be able to use it to identify the type of magical aura, it must be bought Discriminatory, and it must be Ranged if you want to be able to use it without contact, in which case you can detect the magical aura when within 1 hex of it. If you want a longer range, you will have to buy the Area Effect advantage. Normal Perception rolls apply when attempting to Detect Magic, with the following additional modifiers: +1/10 active points to detect the presence of magic, and -1/10 active points to determine the type of magic when using Discriminatory. In other words, the stronger the magic, the easier it is to spot (or hear, or smell) but the more confusing to identify.
The level of identification will depend on how good a perception roll you make, and could be as vague as "Bad shit" or as specific as "the characteristic aura of the School of Plumbing, specifically the "Astounding Flush" spell as cast by an adept of the fourth circle whose ritual plunger was in need of slight repair".
Building Magic Items
Unless you start a new character with a magical doo-dad (which I will have to approve), the only way you are going to get hold of one is to find, steal or build one. Give up any thoughts RIGHT NOW about buying one; nobody in their right mind is going to sell one to you. (Well, fairies might, but they're not really in their right minds most of the time). If you want to build one, there is a good chance that you will have to imprison some sort of magical critter in it to do your will, you exploitative swine, you. This can be done with a Binding spell, but just how a Binding spell works and where to get one I will leave up to you to find out.
Building magic thingies is almost always an expensive business, not because you necessarily need expensive materials (though that is often the case), but because you almost always have to spend a lot of time and money on bribes and research, as well as paying lunatic Heroes to collect bits and pieces for you. This last is the most frustrating part of the whole affair, as Heroes are notoriously easily distracted from their real work, which is (of course) working for you. They dawdle, they lose things, they go chasing off to rescue the weak and downtrodden and generally fail to attend to the business at hand unless you are right there to keep them in line. Some wizards are driven into adventuring on their own behalf out of frustration at the incompetence of their proxies; this is almost always a Bad Thing™ since it not only puts you at personal risk, but also cuts into your valuable study time which is, as everybody knows, the real vocation of your basic wizard. Not power, oh no, not Cosmic Importance or anything as crass and vulgar as that. It's the study that's the thing. Really.
That and the parties.
As well as making magical widgets, it is inevitable that at some stage you will want to break somebody else's, or they will want to break yours. In the section dealing with Foci, (pp. 104 - 107, Hero System Rulebook) you will find the rules dealing with breakable or unbreakable foci. As an optional extra, if your focus contains the essence of some being you can define it's breakability like this: rather than progressively losing functions, the focus keeps working until destroyed whereupon the imprisoned critter is freed, and is probably mightily pissed off. This could make your focus a little less vulnerable, but you may not want to be around when it finally sucks the kumara and lets out Arioch in a really bad mood.
Take note that an "unbreakable" focus must have at least one way in which it can be unmade or destroyed, to be defined when it is created. Tossing it into the Pits of Doom is traditional, but I'm sure that with a little thought you can come up with something original. Just bear in mind that I will have to approve it.
Job-related Skills for Wizards
The first skill you need as a budding Wizard is a MAGIC skill. This is an INT-based skill, costing 3 pts for a basic 9+(INT÷5) roll, and may be increased for 2 pts per +1. The maximum skill you can start with is 14-, though this can be increased circumstantially by taking extra time over preparations and that sort of stuff. The Magic skill allows you to cast your own spells, and to read and understand any writings on magic which have not been encrypted and are in a language you can read. All Magic-skill rolls are made at -1 per 10 active points, rounded out, in the spell.
If you start a Magic Skill as an established character, you must start with a basic 9+(INT ÷ 5) roll. The skill can be increased with experience, but never more than one step at a time (that is, you could go from 12- to 13- in one go, but not any higher until the next time you can spend some experience points). Experience can usually only be spent a maximum of once per session unless special circumstances apply, and often not even that often. As a rough guide, the Runequest system of requiring a week of placid inactivity to spend one point of experience is an okay one. If you really honestly think that it would be reasonable to spend 15 points of accumulated experience to design a "Fly" spell in a moment of panic while plummeting down a bottomless shaft, then come up with some good arguments, bring them to my attention, and then I'll tell you to get real and describe your grisly fate in loving detail.
As an adjunct to the Magic skill mentioned above, you may wish to learn to read, and maybe even write. If you are unable to read you are automatically limited to the number of spells you can remember, and have been taught orally or by some sort of mind-link. This can be a real bummer if some ogre decides to bean you with a dirty great big club, since amnesia can put a real stopper on spellcasting if you don't have anything written down.
Because you may keep no more than INT÷5 spells "in mind" at any time, extras will have to be stored in a book, on rolls of parchment, engraved on marble tablets, etc. etc. for later reference. To protect your own spells, and to get at those of other wizards, a CRYPTOGRAPHY skill would be handy. You may build the Cryptography skill into a spell if you prefer.
If you want to be able to design your own spells or manipulate a Variable Magic Pool, you will need the MAGICAL INVENTOR skill. This will allow you to tinker with magical effects only; if you want to cobble up mundane gadgets as well you will have to buy the Inventor skill twice. Other skills can be used as complementary to a magical Inventor roll; for example, if you are trying to design a "Clairsentience" based eavesdropping spell, possession of a BUGGING skill will improve your chances of success. When you build a new spell, you spend the character-points and then make your Inventor roll...failure will not necessarily mean you lose the points completely, but the resulting spell may not be as reliable as you had hoped or you may get completely unexpected effects. You pays your money and takes your chance.
If you want to be able to Shape-change to imitate specific people, you need the DISGUISE skill. It may not be built into the spell itself. ACTING would also be helpful, but is not essential.
If you want to build a Golem, or create zombie servants you will need COMPUTER PROGRAMMING to be able to give them orders, or to change orders. See the sections on "Automatons" (pp. 180-181) and "Computers" (pp181-183) for details. I haven't come up with an appropriate fantasy-style name for this sort of thing just yet; suggestions gratefully accepted.
KNOWLEDGE, LANGUAGE and SCIENCE skills, while not strictly necessary for a wizardy sort of a chap, do go a long way towards establishing a persona as a bit of a brain. The SKILL ENHANCERS on p.41 make buying a huge swag of these skills cheaper; if you intend to buy three or more skills in any one field, the appropriate Skill Enhancer is well worthwhile as it does not increase the amount you spend initially and makes future skill acquisition cheaper.
OTHER SKILLS never go amiss, though the level at which you buy them would depend on what sort of mage you want...a Gandalf-type, for example, seems to know something about everything and be able to do just about everything, while a quiet scholarly type would be more likely to know a lot about things like camping without ever actually having done it ( KS Camping, or maybe an 8- Familiarity if s/he had actually been outside once or twice). Remember that unlisted skills can generally be fitted in under "Knowledge Skill" (theory) and/or "Professional Skill" (practical), and that unless you make a disastrous skill-roll, having a skill at any level will make you better at a thing than someone without.
Powers — non-mortal magic
Non-mortal magic is what comes out of things like demons, fairies, gods and a few mythical creatures. It is different from mortal magic in several significant ways:
Players can get access to POWERS, as this magic is called, in several ways. Having a demonic or divine parent is one, as is possessing faery blood. The chances of my allowing this route are becoming increasingly slim. Gods and demons (the distinctions between these two classes of immortal can be a little blurry) can both "grant" powers to a mortal, though dealing with either can be tricky unless you really know what you're doing. Magical items incorporating the essence of an immortal will allow access to some or all of the being's powers, usually without too much risk once the critter is safely trapped.
Demons are divided into as many different sorts as are mundane creatures, and are sometimes indistinguishable from their mortal counterparts. Some are non-corporeal, some are shape-changers, still others have fixed forms. The level of intelligence among demons ranges from virtually non- existent right up to supra-genius, and the physical form of a demon is not necessarily any indication of it's mental abilities. The only things which all demons can be said to have in common are an innate magical ability (of variable power), and an absolute disregard for mortals, especially intelligent mortals, except as playthings. Some of the more sapient types gather together in organized societies under leaders known collectively as the Demon Princes, and these sorts tend to have less contact with humanity than solitary demons. They are certainly the most dangerous ones to summon, since you are liable to get a whole bunch of them turning up to offer their Summoned cousin immoral support.... in which case you had damn well better have some way to appease, amuse or dominate them.
There is no connection between the Demon Lands and the normal mortal afterlife, but it is possible to end up there by annoying the wrong people. There is such a connection, however, between the Demon Lands and the Dreamlands, where it is possible to make contact with demonkind without summoning them into the world. Contrary to popular opinion, most demons can enter the world under their own steam without too many problems, but they can't usually be bothered. They can be kept out though, if you know how.
The reason that demons are of interest to mortal magicians is that they can be "tapped" for their magical powers. This can be voluntary, in the form of a permanent or temporary transfer of power by the demon, or it can be involuntary when the wizard traps the demon in an enchanted object with the purpose of accessing its abilities. A voluntary grant should always be viewed with extreme caution, as demons are not normally known for their philanthropy.
"Fairies" is the collective term for a huge range of elves, dwarves, sprites, spriggans, goblins, banshees, imps, gnomes, ogres, sylphs, dryads, pixies, kobolds, brownies, satyrs, etc. etc.
The number of fairy forms is as numerous as fairies themselves; like demons they need not be of any fixed form, or have any physical body at all. Unlike demons, they are native to the world and are more comprehensible to mortals - indeed, they share many of the same emotional attributes as us, notably greed, vanity, curiosity, sentimentality, cruelty, spitefulness and lust. They can be generally divided into two groups: the Light and the Dark. This nomenclature has nothing to do with how late they stay up at night, but is more to do with Good Guys and Bad Guys.... though it is true that the Dark tends to prefer the dark. On the other hand, so do many of the Light, and things can easily get a little confusing. The two sides are enemies and always will be, but that doesn't mean that each side doesn't have its internecine squabbles as well. And though some types of fairies tend toward one side or the other, it would be a mistake to assume (for example) that an elf was allied to the Light, just because most elves are. Fairy politics is a convoluted and prickly subject, best avoided by anyone who isn't a fairy.
As well as being a magical bunch, most fairy species have in common a fear of and vulnerability to iron or steel...they use metals like copper or bronze for preference. Notable exceptions are the gnomes and dwarves, who are quite happy playing with lumps of steel and do so at every opportunity. It is probably no coincidence that these two races have the least magic of all the fairy tribes.
The attitudes of fairy-folk to mortals is varied, but the most common attitude is one of suspicious contempt. They consider us (as a species) to be coarse and vulgar, brutish and uncultured. But from time to time they will adopt cordial relations with individuals, and in the case of dwarves and gnomes, will sometimes even trade with mortals on more-or-less equal terms.
As far as wizards are concerned, fairies are the most reliable source of magical knowledge around. They are not necessarily a generous lot, but most of them take their obligations seriously, and they will sometimes trade knowledge or magical doo-dads for something which takes their fancy. Bear in mind, though, that many of them are chronic practical jokers and are likely to attach eels to your nose or give you frog's feet if you give them any excuse. (Elves are more restrained than most in this line, and dwarves or gnomes don't have the magical facility for it.)
There is not a lot that needs to be said about gods. People worship them for any number of reasons, and sometimes gain some benefit from it. Most gods have little to do with the world or its inhabitants, but some are intimately connected with a place...these genii loci are the gods which are most often worshipped; they are venerated, supplicated, placated or a combination of the three. Gods have many features in common with demons, but whether they belong to the same species is a matter for (mostly pointless) debate. They are not generally of much use to magicians, but occasionally interfere in the lives of Heroes (seldom to the ultimate benefit of the poor schmuck who gets to play patsy).
This is really hot territory for your magical types. Bits and pieces of any number of endangered species are bunged into soups, stews and potions by wizards trying to gain access to their multitudinous powers, and sometimes with success. Dragons' blood is traditionally good for understanding the speech of birds and beasts, and a gorgon's head is the ideal thing for a garden-gnome business. The basic problem, of course, is obtaining the appropriate bits without being turned into dog-meat oneself..... this is where Heroes come in very handy, since they are generally easily talked into performing potentially suicidal feats on behalf of a smooth-tongued wizard who knows which buttons to push. And they are in reasonably plentiful supply, unlike the poor critters they are sent out to slaughter.
Any self-respecting wizard will own at least one Bestiary jam-packed with exciting pictures of unusual creatures, and informative essays on how to make use of them. (Jane's' "All the World's Monsters", for example). And well-preserved lumps of stuff can usually be relied on to bring in some cash if you don't have any use for them yourself.