From left – Erik, Martijn, Ewout, Floor, & me at the bottom

Last night my friend Martijn (second from the left, happily holding the knight pen) played WITCH for the first time. He loved the idea that Druids were lore keepers, but didn’t really connect to the idea that they also had nature powers. I mean why can’t someone keep their people’s lore on a computer? It is 2015!

So, he decided to use magic alteration to change the look and feel of his spells and it was awesome. While I have seen players do some magic alteration before, last night I felt like, “Wow! This is what I created the system for!” I thought I would show you how he changed his magic so you could get an idea of what you could do for your characters. To be honest, it was also nice to see that the magic alteration guidelines held up to someone doing a complete 180 on every single one of their cantos XD.

As always, Martijn I discussed the changes together to make sure they aligned with what we felt the core essences of his spells were.

Character: Darren, techo-junkie Nádúr Druid

Cosain – Cantrip Revive
The basis of the Nádúr Druid’s connection to the natural world is aether. With this cantrip the Druid is able to revive recently dead plants and small animals. In order to do this the Druid touches the recently dead plant or small animal transferring it a small amount of aether. The flora or fauna then reanimates itself for the caster. Small animals revived in this way (such as mice, bees, or garden snakes) can only have been dead for a few hours for this power to work.

With magic alteration: The basis of the Nádúr Druid’s connection to the natural world is aether. With this cantrip the Druid is able to magically repair broken technological objects – a broken phone screen, a scratched CD, a torn headphone cord. In order to do this the Druid must be touching the object and it must still have all it’s parts. Small technological objects that are completely obliterated may not be fixed in this way.

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Cosain – Canto I Taking the Hit – Martijn kept this canto the way it was. He liked the idea of being able to help his party members by stepping in front of a hit that would otherwise hurt them. Since this power didn’t have any real ‘nature’ flavour it was easy to keep as it was.

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Cosain – Canto II Harden
By focusing inwards, a Nádúr Druid may learn how to transform the protection nature has bestowed upon them into a weapon. The Druid hardens their hands into thorny fists that can cause fatal wounds. On a success, the Druid hardens their fists into spiky wooden weapons that inflict 1d6 + Strength + Spell Level damage.

With magic alteration: By focusing to their connection with technology, Druid may bend the technology around him to make into a weapon. On a success, the Druid pulls technology from around him that harden around his fists and inflict 1d6 + Strength + Spell Level damage.

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Fréamh – Cantrip Animal Tongue
With this cantrip the Druid may speak to an animal of their choosing. The Druid does not actually make sound, but simply connects their mind with the that of the animal. Animals tend to not speak in coherent language, but in frantic pictures and words. The animal must be non-hostile for this power to work, or the Druid should have calmed the animal enough to have it open to speaking to the Druid. A Nádúr Druid may try to use this power to speak to a Pagan’s familiar, but whether or not the familiar is willing to speak back is a up to the beast.

With magic alteration: With this cantrip the Druid may connect their mind to a computer of their choosing. The computer must be on and have power in order for this to work and it does not allow the Druid to hack into a secure system. However, once the Druid has connected their mind to a computer system they may try to hack from there. Druid’s using this power should carefully guard their psyche once in a computer system lest they loose it. 

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Fréamh – Canto I Summon Beast
The Nádúr Druid knows the beasts of the wild better than most and with this canto they may summon one. Using the power of their mind the Druid sends out a call to the nearest non-human beast in their vicinity. The time it takes the beast to appear depends on how close it is, as the animal must psychically make its way to the Druid (and therefore summoning a goldfish on land might be a problem.) How well the Druid can specify their call is based upon how well they roll with this power.

Difficulty Animal summoned
11+ Nearest animal
13+ Druid may specify an Animal Kingdom: mammal, fish, reptile, amphibian, bird, etc.
15+ Specific animal the Druid requests

With magic alteration: This Druid knows the frustrations of malware worse than most. With this power the Druid may summon ‘annoyances’ on to someone else’s computer. For secure computers the GM may up the difficulty, or require a hacking roll before the Druid is able to perform the action. While the malware is created magically, it may be dealt with as one would deal with mundane created malware.

Difficulty annoyance summoned
11+ Pop-ups, so many pop ups
13+ Adware
15+ Spyware

17+ Virus (minor)

19+ Virus (major)