Cubicle 7 Studies Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play’s Magic System
July 24, 2018 by brennon
Cubicle 7 has been delving deeper into the Old World as they discuss the Magic System for Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 4th Edition.
Gone are Magic Points and hidden skills and talents. Now spellcasters from the Old World make a simple Skill Test against Language (Magick) and if they pass then the spell is cast. If they fail then it has fizzled, as are the fickle winds of magic, and if they miscast then you may indeed suffer a terrible backlash.
Magic is broken down into a variety of different levels starting with Petty Magic and running through to Arcane Spells, Colour Spells, Hedgecraft Spells, Witchcraft Spells and Dark & Chaos Spells. Your spellcaster, dependant upon their profession, will be able to draw from spells of the Lore that they study and the basic Arcane Spells.
The example given is a Witch who will be able to draw from Witchcraft and also Arcane. There are 135 spells to choose from just within the core book and many break down alongside the different Lores.
You will also be able to purchase ingredients to lessen the effects of miscasts or otherwise aid you in your casting. Some will help you Overcast which unlocks the ability to do more with your spells (duration, effect, scope etc).
Warrior Priests and other devout followers of the Gods will also be able to draw on sixty different miracles and blessings from across the spectrum.
I always loved playing as Leopold, my Warrior Priest, in 2nd Edition and it would be great to go back to that and maybe pursue the life of a Witch Hunter!
Will you be snagging this when it releases?
"There are 135 spells to choose from just within the core book and many break down alongside the different Lores..."
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Well that’s interesting.
When Warhammer FRP 4th edition was announced, I was interested.
When the preorder went up I was hesitant as they seemed to be keeping the system hidden.
With each new rule update I feel less confident of the rules.
Might head to eBay for 2nd edition instead.
What about the updates has had you questioning the new edition?
Feels like they are dumbing it down so it’s more like a video game and making it less Warhammer Fantasy, more a generic fantasy game.
I think they’ve kept a lot of what made 2nd Edition very fun to play and just added a few things in to help with the mitigation of bad luck – that was one of the problems with the d100 system; that sometimes you just fluffed and couldn’t help it.
This has some interesting new things put into play which should help with that and make you feel a bit more cinematic.
I do hear the word cinematic a lot now in games. I interpret cinematic as ‘making the game easier’, more Indiana Jones than Film Noir and the Old World is Noir…. Sigmar is lighter and they are doing a separate RPG system for that.
The possibility of outright failure is something i like in system and i do not want bad luck to be mitigated away. I’m happy to have ‘fall forward’ as part of the mix, but not as a way of removing the possibility of outright failure. ‘Fool forward’, as it were.
That said i actually quite like the look of this system. Its too early to tell, but it’s looking more similar to my notes for a system than the 1st edition magic system.
This looks solid. Can’t wait to take it out and give a spin. Thaks for the updates lads. I like the look of this a lot more than 3rd edition and it;s adventures with special dice.
This sounds promising. I haven’t been overjoyed at some of the decisions they’ve taken with this edition, but this seems like the best of both worlds: reflecting that spell casters draw on the winds of magic to cast (rather than a battery of power) but also a nod to the old school with a role for ingredients.
So is this set in the old world? The art is cool but the mage looks like something from warmachine than WFB or WHFRP
Yes it is set in The Old World and that’s just because I needed to find a good picture of a Battle Mage drawing on their power @mage
Fair enough 🙂
A lot of people miss the old world setting, I sure do. This is a solid product and setting to have coming.
You forgot to mention the sneak peek at the end of the article:
http://cubicle7.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fimir.jpg
nice to see oldhammer getting some attention.
So far the rules updates haven’t been inspiring me, but they have also been very descriptive as opposed to detailed, so will wait and see, it maybe a marketting strategy as opposed to obfuscation. I will however wait for the starter, there are too many questionable bits for my liking. I want it to make me give up on 2nd, the issue 3rd had as well, that while it was ok it gave me no reason to move onwards.
I thought third was an unmitigated load of old bollocks mate, you are being very kind ….. are you feeling well? 😀
Not really being overly kind, the dice mechanic had some interesting concepts for driving story telling, and the range abstraction was fairly well considered. The party mechanics as concept were something new and different. It was however, unintuitive and a big departure from standard rpg towards a more board gameesque approach. The dice were the fore-runner to the Star Wars rpg system which seems to be popular, although I find hideously mechanical. I can completely see people disliking it, but as a test bed and for some of the ideas it was quiet interesting, but really not designed for the… Read more »
‘Twas the dice mechanic and it’s clunkiness and the move away from First and Second’s general feel that really rotted my socks.
Glad the warm summer in the UK is suiting you .. because the last fortnight’s cold snap we had over here has been the worst we’ve had in a while … and I don’t cope well with only 10 and half hours of daylight …. bloody winter.
and Cook’s guild ??? I know nothing please elucidate
Steamforged reveal the butchers minor guild at the UK championship – the cooks guild, in my mind terrible looking guild and lazy design. To the point were as far as I am concerned the butchers have no minor guild. Sorry for the delay mate, not on here as much lately