Research

There are two kinds of magical research. one is in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages. You can find the rules for Original Research on p. 26-30 of that book. Original research does what it says: you set a goal, you work towards that goal, you achieve that goal. It's described in the first section below, because I have the book open to that section.

The second kind of Magical Research is Hermetic Integration. This is when a hermetic wizard takes some weird, non-hermetic magical thing or teaching and tries to figure out how it fits into the Hermetic Magical Theory. Rules for this can be found in the books Ancient Magic (p. 7-9) and Hedge Magic (p. 14-16). I'm copying the description from Hedge Magic in the second section below, again because I have that book open already. I'm pretty sure it's functionally identical to Ancient Magic's mechanic.

REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE: You can combine these two. say I'm researching Grerr's magical torc using the Hermetic Integration rules, and it's got some interesting results that give me an insight into a virtue that provides a whole new set of ranges. This will be a major breakthrough! I'm pumped. Early research goes well, and I get 7 breakthrough points from my first couple of items. Further, lets say Boy Reporter stops giving me stuff to study because he forgets about me (he's got a lot on his plate). That's OK. I can start doing Original Research, and get some more breakthrough points that way. The breakthrough points are totally compatible, so if I accumulate enough to get my result, it really doesn't matter what the ratio of original research to hermetic integration was. I could go all integration, all original, or some mix of the two, and no matter what, grerr is still gonna make some new enchanted items that will do things the other Verditus have never seen before.

BREAKTHROUGHS
By undertaking original research you are attempting to achieve some goal that has not been reached previously by Hermetic magic. These achievements are called Breakthroughs and there are three types: Minor, Major, and Hermetic.

A Minor Breakthrough is something that is immediately usable and teachable in the existing framework of Hermetic magic. A new spell Range or Duration is a good example of a Minor Breakthrough. In many sagas, Minor Breakthroughs happen often enough that a maga can

expect to achieve this goal once or twice during her lifetime. Minor Breakthroughs could be more common, but are few because most magi Bonisagi have loftier goals. Why invent a new Range when you can attempt to break a Hermetic Limit? Grandiosity usually propels magi toward harder projects.

A Major Breakthrough pushes the limits of Magic Theory without actually breaking them. These sorts of

Breakthroughs are often Hermetic Virtues that can be taught to the Gifted. Incorporating types of non-hermetic spell casting into Hermetic magic is another example of a Major Breakthrough; these then becoming teachable Supernatural Virtues. A Major Breakthrough can also allow you to adapt a standard application of a Hermetic idea in a variable way. Notatus’ development of the Aegis of the Hearth was a Major reakthrough, a variable spell based on Bonisagus’ Parma Magica. Major Breakthroughs make a magus famous. With persistence, a troupe playing in a fast speed saga could realistically see a player make a Major Breakthrough.

A Hermetic Breakthrough is a new Arcane Ability or the breaking of a Lesser Limit. Nearly anything is possible; this is magic in its most uncharted state. A new Arcane Ability could be the practice of sending mental images from the mind of one magus to another (crude telepathy) or the ability to walk through different levels of regiones without the use of spells. Breaking the Lesser Limits of Hermetic magic is also a viable goal. Depending on the sensibilities of the troupe, any of the Lesser Limits could be violated, which would deﬁnitely change the shape of magic in your saga. In a canonical Ars Magica setting, the Parma Magica is the only Hermetic Breakthrough that has occurred in the 450 years of the Order of Hermes. It is important to discuss your idea and the speciﬁc Breakthrough you are attempting with your troupe. Does the group want a Lesser Limit broken, for example, or will a teachable Hermetic Virtue upset the nature of the game? If the Limit of Creation is broken, then magi will be creating permanent items out of thin air, without the necessity for vis, which could undermine many of the storyguide’s upcoming stories.

SEEKING THE UNKNOWN:
Once you have determined what sort of Breakthrough you would like to accomplish, you must invent something Hermetically that somehow incorporates your idea. This can be a spell or a magical enchantment, either a lesser enchantment or a charged item. Detail the effect fully, as per the normal rules found in the Laboratory chapter of  Ars Magica  Fifth Edition. Since you are searching for clues aimed at surpassing regular Hermetic theories, you must experiment, using the rules found in the Arcane Experimentation section of the Laboratory chapter, including choosing a risk modiﬁer for your experiment and rolling on the Extraordinary Results Chart. For your original research to be fruitful you must roll the Discovery result on the Extraordinary Results Chart.

Fortune plays a large roll in the research process. However, you can hedge your bet with original research in a way that you can not with regular experimentation. Instead of calculating your risk modiﬁer into your Lab Total during the season, you use that modiﬁer to adjust your roll on the Extraordinary Results Chart. The risk modiﬁer still runs the range of +1 to +3, but you are restricted in your choice by your Magic Theory score. For every ﬁve points or fraction thereof of Magic Theory (including Puissant Magic Theory) you may choose a risk modiﬁer of 1. Thus, to chose a risk modiﬁer of +2 your Magic Theory must be 6 or higher, and a risk modiﬁer of +3 requires a Magic Theory of 11+.

Risk Modiﬁer: +1 per 5 points of Magic Theory or fraction thereof, up to +3 

Consult the Extraordinary Results Chart and add orsubtract the risk modiﬁer from a stress die roll. You must do one or the other, but this gives you a slight choice in your result. You do not have to use the whole modiﬁer. If you choose a +3 risk modiﬁer, for example, and it is more advantageous to use a +2 modiﬁer, you may. If you roll a 0 on the stress die you must still check for a botch, rolling an additional botch die for each level of risk modiﬁer you chose.

Breakthrough: roll Discovery on the Extraordinary Results Chart during a season of Arcane Experimentation

'''Risk Modiﬁer: Do not add risk modiﬁer into Lab Total. Add or Subtract risk modiﬁer from the stress die rolled on the Extraordinary Results Chart '''

You are hoping for a Discovery. If you do not roll a Discovery, your spell or item is still affected by the Extraordinary Results Chart. Most likely you will end up with a slightly odd Hermetic effect. If your original research involved a spell and that spell is ﬂawed or difﬁcult to cast, you may reinvent the spell using the rules found in the Arcane Experimentation section of the Laboratory chapter. If your research involved an item and that item is ﬂawed, you may attempt to reinvent that item, but all vis used in the initial experiment is lost.

If your spell or enchanted item research takes more than a single season to complete you must continue to roll on the Extraordinary Results Chart for each season. Having deciding how you will use your risk modiﬁer in a previous season, you must continue to use it in the same manner for consecutive seasons. If you subtracted 1 from your initial roll on the Extraordinary Results Chart in your ﬁrst season, for example, you must subtract 1 from every additional roll on the Extraordinary Results Chart in additional seasons until the item or spell is completed. You may accrue odd and weird results as your research progresses, but may continue to experiment providing you don’t receive a Complete Failure or Disaster result.

If you do achieve a Discovery during your experimentation then the original research was a success. Ignore the Discovery sub-chart of the Extraordinary Results Chart; that chart applies to those not investigating the deeper mystery of Hermetic magic, instead discovering something more intimate about their personal connection to magic and the Arts. You, however, have found that elusive element of magic that you started your original research searching for. Now you must stabilize that experimental process to better understand your discovery. Each spell or magical enchantment can only lead to one discovery. You may continually invent the same spell or enchantment experiment until a discovery is rolled, even if the experiment was a success. Thus, you may accumulate many usable versions of the same spell in process of your research. However, once a speciﬁc experiment yields a Discovery, you may no longer explore that spell or magical enchantment for further discoveries.

STABILIZING THE UNKNOWN
After you have achieved your Discovery, you must stabilize that process through exact repetition. You must repeat the experimentation, continuing for the same number of seasons and using the exact Lab Total and risk modiﬁer that you used to ﬁnd your Discovery. If you used vis during your process you must repeat the amount used.

You must roll again on the Extraordinary Results Chart, and you must modify your roll in the same direction as you did to make the Discovery. This means that if you added your risk modiﬁer to your roll your must add it again; if you subtracted your risk modiﬁer from your roll you must subtract it this second time. During the stabilization season you do not need to roll a Discovery to succeed. As long as you do not roll a harmful effect (Disaster, No Beneﬁt, Complete Failure) you stabilize your discovery. Ignore any beneﬁcial result you might roll. If you do roll a harmful affect your stabilization process fails. Your spell or magical enchantment is unaffected, having already been created in the previous season, but you have lost the chance to stabilize that Discovery.

Original research is the process of accumulating stabilized discoveries until a Breakthrough is achieved. If your stabilization season succeeds, you gain a point per magnitude of the invented Hermetic spell or enchanted item that you may use towards your Breakthrough. You also create a Laboratory Text that explains your discovery. When these points reach a certain threshold number, you succeed; your research has achieved a Breakthrough.

Magnitudes of Stabilized Discovery equal Breakthrough points 

As a side affect to this stabilization process, you receive Warping Points from your attempts to understand this new magic. The number of Warping Points gained is the magnitude of the effect — a simple die. If you gain more than 2 Warping Points you must roll to avoid Wizard’s Twilight, as explained in the Wizard’s Twilight section of Ars Magica 5th Edition’s Hermetic Magic chapter (page 88). You can obviously mitigate the chance of gaining Warping Points by experimenting with lower magnitude effects. However, this lengthens your original research process, since it is your accumulated effect magnitudes that ultimately add up to your Breakthrough. Experimenting with higher magnitude spells hastens you toward your Breakthrough and increases your risk of Wizard’s Twilight.

Warping Points gained: the Magnitude of the Stabilized Discovery minus a simple die

You receive Warping Points whether you succeed or fail at stabilizing your discovery. If your stabilization attempt fails, you may spend another season and try it again. You may continue to stabilize your discovery until you succeed, providing you spend consecutive seasons until you succeed and you do not suffer some dire event along the way.

SURPASSING THE LIMITS
Once the accumulated points of your stabilized discoveries reach a certain number, you succeed and invent a Breakthrough. A rough rule of thumb is 30 points are needed for a Minor Breakthrough, 45 for a Major and 60 for a true Hermetic Breakthrough. This is only a guide, however, and your storyguide will set the exact number of magnitudes necessary for your Breakthrough. It is vitally important that the player not know the number of points necessary for her Breakthrough success.

The reasons for this are twofold. First, this long process is fraught with disappointment and failure, and only the truly passionate will continue once repeated seasons spent in the laboratory fail to yield a Discovery. Not knowing the target number of needed magnitudes reﬂects the uncertainties that lie within original research. Secondly, this allows the storyguide to minutely adjust the target number off the cuff, as you work through your original research towards completion. If she feels that you are nearing your Breakthrough too quickly, she can raise the target number a little. Conversely, she may also lower the target number, if success would increase the pleasure of the game or add an interesting turn of events to the saga. This slight recalculation should be used for the overall beneﬁt of the saga, and not as a tool to reward or punish players. The intent of the original research rules is that Breakthroughs are difﬁcult and take a long time to achieve.

Original research is long and arduous and does not have to be done during consecutive seasons. You may work at a Breakthrough for a while and then stop, return- ing to it when you are reinvigorated or better learned in the Arts. Each individual experiment must be worked through to completion, and if a Discovery occurs you must proceed directly into the stabilization phase. You may certainly take breaks between experiments.

MULTIPLE LABORATORY TEXTS
There is nothing in the original research process that stops multiple magi from working together on a Breakthrough. Some small hindrances present themselves; the magi must be willing to share and each must be able to read the wizardly script of the others’ Laboratory Texts (see the Translating Laboratory Texts section of the Hermetic Magic chapter in Ars Magica 5th Edition, page 102). Rather, it is usually personality conﬂicts, selﬁshness, and self-centeredness that keep magi from working together on Breakthroughs. Even in House Bonisagus, which has an atypically high level of intra-House cooperation, magi are reluctant to share original research notes. Bear in mind that cooperation is not the only way to gain someone’s stabilized Laboratory Texts. Like any other valued Hermetic commodity, they may be stolen, bartered, given in gift or taken on March. Since it is such a lengthy, laborious process, Laboratory Texts of dead magi may also be recovered, perhaps in a mysterious location or as part of a mythic treasure. Your storyguide may include original research Laboratory Texts as an inducement to an adventure, a pivotal ﬁnd midway through a story, or as reward for a completed story arc. If you are lucky enough to have another maga’s Laboratory Texts, and they concern the same Breakthrough you are exploring, you may incorporate them into the accumulated points necessary for your research. You must successfully break the author’s code and spend a season reading the Laboratory Texts and following the experiment, requiring a Hermetic laboratory. You accumulate points equal to your Lab Total in the Arts concerned. Once your points equal the level of the Lab Text’s described experiment, you may add the magnitude of the effect to your total points. In effect, each researcher has a total accumulation of points. The Breakthrough will not happen until a single practitioner amasses enough points to reach its target number. Thus, if two or more magi are researching the same Breakthrough, the ﬁrst to reach the target number makes the actual Breakthrough. A magus does not gain Warping Points by reading another maga’s original research Laboratory Text. This is another powerful incentive to gain these valuable notes.

BREAKTHROUGHS IN PLAY
Once you have accumulated enough points from your original research, you complete your task and invent a Breakthrough. If you have created a Minor Breakthrough, it is instantly usable and understandable by Hermetic magi. You may incorporate it into your next invented spell or magical enchantment, and this is the usual path of transmission to your fellow magi. For example, magus Tillitus invents a new Range ‘Horizon’. He then invents a spell using Horizon as the Range and offers the Laboratory Texts of this spell to the Order. Those reading the Laboratory Texts both learn the spell and under- stand the new Range at the same time. They can then use this new Range in exactly the same way they can use any spell Range.

Major  Breakthroughs are more involved and must be taught to other magi, either by personal instruction or writing a tractatus describing the Breakthrough. Both of these instruction methods follow the standard  teaching and Books rules found in the Long Term Events chapter of Ars Magica 5th Edition, page 163. Learning a Major Breakthrough is similar to learning a supernatural ability, with two important distinctions. Major Breakthroughs still work within the Hermetic system of magic, and are often Hermetic Virtues, so that learning one is not as difﬁcult as learning a supernatural ability. You do not have to subtract your total Hermetic Arts score from the Source Quality of the teaching source. [you do have to subtract your other supernatural abilities from the teaching source, though - Liesmith]

A second exception is that, although Major Breakthroughs will most likely teach a Hermetic Virtue that does not have an associated Ability in game terms, they may still be taught in this manner. A Hermetic Breakthrough is a legendary event and its transmission depends on the nature of the Breakthrough. If it is an Arcane Ability, like the Parma Magica, then it must be taught just like any regular ability. If the Breakthrough exceeds one of the Hermetic limits of magi, then it must be taught like a Major Breakthrough, either through personal instruction or a written tractatus.

HERMETIC INTEGRATION
Ultimately, a magus researcher wants to completely integrate his Breakthrough into Hermetic theory. A perfect system of magic would let every practitioner perform every type of magical act without any necessary Virtues or Supernatural Abilities. This is easily accomplished with Minor Breakthroughs, but more difﬁcult with Major Breakthroughs. Hermetic Breakthroughs represent their own problems of integration. Minor Breakthroughs, by deﬁnition, work within Hermetic parameters and are instantly integrated into Bonisagus’ theory of magic. Major Breakthroughs create Hermetic Virtues, which must be learned, granting the use of the Virtue with an accompanying Ability. Breakthroughs may be further researched to allow a magus access to the Virtue without learning an Ability. Thus, making a Major Breakthrough on an existing Major Breakthrough will change the nature of Hermetic magic. For example, a maga achieves a Major Breakthrough and invents the Hermetic Virtue 'Life Boost'. She can teach this ability to other magi, granting each the Hermetic Virtue Life Boost once they learn it. A second Major Breakthrough would integrate Life Boost into regular Hermetic magic, meaning that every practitioner taught Magic Theory using this new technique would be able to use Life Boost.

Integrating Foreign Magics
I'm gonna skip the whole definition of breakthroughs here, because its the same. the points are the same, the effects are the same, the names are the same. So, jumping right into our main source of Breakthrough Points for Hermetic Integration: Insight.

INSIGHT:
insight is gained from studying some feature of the hedge tradition. Every insight the magus gains allows him to produce a partially Hermetic effect incorporating some aspect of the tradition in question. As he produces more of these effects, he gains the broader understanding necessary to incorporate that aspect into Hermetic theory as a whole. The seasons spent gaining insight produce Lab Texts. Any magus may study these Lab Texts over the course of a season in order to gain the same insight for himself, even without direct access to the hedge tradition. Summaries of Lab Texts are not useful in this way, however; only the whole thing can be used. For purposes of copying, insight Lab Texts have a level equal to the typical number of breakthrough points needed for the type of Breakthrough in question.

For every season a magus spends investigating a source of insight, make a stress roll of Intelligence + Magic Theory against an Ease Factor of 18. Inventive Genius adds 3 to this roll, and some sources of insight may add their own modifiers. If the roll succeeds, the magus gains an insight. If it fails, he learns nothing now, but may try again in another season. He may do other things before returning to his study. On a botch, the magus thinks he has an insight, but does not. He realizes this if he creates an effect, as described below, in an attempt to use the insight; the final product is entirely Hermetic, or simply non-functional.

There are three sources of insight: texts, relics, and teachers.

Texts are books, Lab Texts, or other explanatory sources that describe how to learn, perform, or cast a hedge magic effect. A text generally only provides a single insight and the same text provides the same insight for any magus who studies it. Texts are unlikely to be given away by hedge wizards and would usually need to be stolen or found abandoned. Of course, the magus must be able to read the language in which the text written, and many hedge traditions are oral and do not generate texts. If the text contains the information needed to gain a Supernatural Ability, a character could use it to learn the Ability as per the normal rules (ArM5, page 166). Most Hermetic magi however, cannot learn Supernatural Abilities due to prohibitive penalties from their Arts scores.

Relics  are mystical devices or items enchanted by practitioners of the hedge tradition, which incorporate unique aspects of that tradition, and may be investigated by a Hermetic magus. A relic may be an on-going mystical effect caused by the hedge tradition, and a laboratory used by a hedge wizard is also a relic, in this sense. Relics normally provide a single insight and the same relic provides the same insight for any magus who studies it. Even a laboratory normally only provides a single insight, although of course a laboratory will often contain texts and other relics that provide independent insights.

Teachers are individuals who are mem-bers of the hedge tradition who are able and either willing or persuaded to instruct a Hermetic magus. A teacher can provide a number of insights equal to his (Hedge Magic) Theory Ability, in  each Breakthrough associated with his tradition. A hedge wizard who has no (Hedge Magic) Theory Ability cannot act as a teacher, as he does not have the sort of theoretical understanding of his magic works that is helpful to a researcher — although he may, of course, be able to produce relics or texts that can be studied as sources of insight. If a magus has learned the relevant (Hedge Magic) Theory Ability he may act as his own source of insight, but he may not take a bonus to the Insight roll for assisting himself.

In addition, a Gifted teacher can act as an assistant to the Hermetic magus, in which case add the teacher’s Intelligence + (Hedge Magic) Theory to the magus’ when making the roll to produce an Insight Lab Text. A teacher may only assist one magus in a season, and a magus may only be assisted by one teacher each season when attempting to find an Insight — this is because additional teachers tend to confuse the issue with their own interpretation.

CREATING THE EFFECT
A particular insight allows the researcher to create one specified effect. This effect might be a spell or an effect enchanted into an item. It could, conceivably, be another laboratory project; anything that uses a Lab Total and creates something. However, spells are by far the most common, followed by item enchantments. The researcher does not get to choose the effect for which he receives insight, and as the level of the effect is fixed, the insight might be for an effect he cannot yet invent. For example, the effect might be level 40, while the researcher has a Lab Total of 32. In that case, the researcher can increase his Lab Total and then work on the effect.

The troupe should decide on the effects that result from particular pieces of insight, choosing ones that advance the saga without upsetting play balance. The following chapters give some examples of possible effects for the traditions detailed in this book. Player characters can vary things as much as they like once they fully integrate the system, so the restrictions at this stage should be accepted with good grace.

The researcher must invent exactly the effect inspired by the insight. He may not vary the Range, Duration, or Target, or any other parameters. As the magus must experiment while inventing the effect, the result may be slightly different as a result of rolls on the Extraordinary Results table. If the researcher has a teacher, that teacher (and other similarly skilled individuals) may assist in the invention process, acting as laboratory helpers (see ArM5, page 103): use their Intelligence + (Hedge Magic) Theory Ability as a bonus to the invention laboratory activity.

A spell is cast like a normal formulaic spell, and characters with Flexible Formulaic Magic may vary it at casting time in the normal way. The spell may also be Mastered, again in the normal way. The effect created may bend or break the limits of magic, as it incorporates nonHermetic elements. Setting the level of the effect may well require a judgment call by the troupe, as it may do something for which there is no Hermetic Guideline.

If the effect is successfully created, the magus gains a number of breakthrough points equal to the magnitude of the effect. This applies even if the final effect is warped or has a side effect. These points are added to the magus’ running total, and he must find another source of insight before repeating the procedure. The effect produced in this way can be reproduced by other Hermetic magi. However, they can only do so if they have access to a Lab Text describing it, and it is not possible to vary the effect in any way; it must be reproduced exactly as it was initially created. Reproducing the effect in this way does not grant breakthrough points unless the reproducing magus also gains the relevant insight, whether from investigating the same item or from reading the original investigator’s Lab Texts. It is possible to reproduce the effect first, and study the insight Lab Texts later.

AFTER THE BREAKTHROUGH:
Minor Breakthroughs are usable immediately in the game, and are understandable by all Hermetic magi. New Ranges or Durations may be incorporated into new spells or items, and the Lab Texts distributed for a spell that may be used by another Hermetic magus without his needing to research the Breakthrough. Any magus who has created an effect using the Breakthrough can then use that Range of Duration freely in his other spells, and any magus trained by that magus, in either Arts or spells, may also do so.

Major and Hermetic Breakthroughs must be taught to Hermetic magi directly. An Ability may be taught in the usual way, either in person or through books. The discoverer converts his breakthrough points into experience points in the new Ability, so that a magus who accrued 50 breakthrough points to integrate an Ability would start with a score of 4.

A new Virtue may be Initiated according to the normal rules for Mysteries. The discoverer gains the Virtue when he completes the integration, and does not need to be Initiated. He does need to design an Initiation Script, following the rules in  The Mysteries Revised Edition.

Inventing a Major or Hermetic Breakthrough that does not require teaching takes another Major Breakthrough, which may be achieved by these rules or the original research rules. If this succeeds, any magus may create an effect using the Breakthrough as long as he has a Lab Text, and then may use the Breakthrough freely. As for Minor Breakthroughs, the same applies to any magus taught Arts or spells by a magus who understands the Breakthrough.

INTEGRATION BY HEDGE WIZARD RESEARCHERS:
Some hedge wizards have recovered artifacts of other hedge traditions, and even some of Hermetic origin, and have attempted to replicate the effects they have discovered. Except for the invention of (Hedge Magic) Theory itself, a hedge wizard may only attempt research if he has a Score in the (Hedge Magic) Theory Ability. The possible effects of such activity by hedge researchers are too numerous to list here, but usually (due to the theoretical inferiority of hedge traditions) a hedge researcher requires double the number of breakthrough points that an equivalent Hermetic researcher would require. In addition, few hedge traditions have a culture that encourages innovation, and a hedge researcher’s peers are as likely to condemn as commend him for his achievements.