Out of a desire to eventually GM an RPG set in JKR's world, I've decided to create my own system scrapped together from bits of Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade and the Dresden Files RP. A quick google search shows a few other people have tried their hand at this, but none of them appealed to me.

What I want to do:

1) Keep the sense of awe. What made Harry Potter such a great story for me was the sense of awe when you read the books. The magic feels magical, for lack of a better word. This will be one of the bigger challenges for me, I think, as having rules inevitably means detracting from that feeling and making it feel more mechanistic (like in DnD). The hope here is to create a compromise that is easy to pick up, flexible and minimize rules that make the magic boring.

So no magical cores.

2) Explore the world. A bit related to point 1. This seems like a great exercise to dig deeper into JKR's world and built on what's there. Thus, the feel is more akin to the first 4 HP books than the last 3, keeping campaigns as adventures rather than a life-or-death struggle against Evil.

Initially, I'm making this system assuming players start out at a magical school as Firsties (probably in Beauxbaton), but I intend to make it easily adaptable for players who want a more DnD feel (such as exploring the Egyptian Pyramid with Bill or traversing the dangerous Amazon in search of rare ingredients).

3) Freeform Storytelling. There's adventure waiting behind every corner. I don't intend for this to be a linear tale that forces players to hit certain events, checkpoints or "Stations of Canon" in order to advance. It also assumes that the adventures Harry, Ron and Hermione went on in canon are the norm rather than the exception (though with consequences that are far less dire).

Google Doc Link [WIP]

There are ideas for your Heritage [Pureblood, halfblood, muggleborn, half-goblins, werewolves and others], a system to play Quidditch, Magical Combat, and improving your character tentatively in the doc or being planned out which you can feel free to check out and leave your thoughts on. That said, below is what I've managed to think through more completely.

How good is my character?​

Attributes - This represents your innate capabilities.

Brawn - Represents your physical strength, stamina and resilience. Determines your health alongside Willpower. Affects muggle fighting, for the barbarians who enjoy that sort of thing.

[ 1 ] - A flobberworm hits harder than you [First year Neville]
[ 2 ] - More comfortable indoors than adventuring [Lavander, Parvati]
[ 3 ] - You can take a few punches [Draco, Baseline Wizard]
[ 4 ] - You’ve been in a few fistfights [Ron, Harry]
[ 5 ] - More muscle than brain, aint’cha? [Crabbe, Goyle]
[ 6 ] - You sure you’re not part giant? [Hagrid]
[ 7 ] - Are you a giant or a dragon? [Grawp]


Social - Represents all kinds of social interaction, from convincing Fudge Voldemort is real to “Of course I’m not sleeping with your wife, Bill.”

[ 1 ] - You barely make sense when you talk [Grawp]
[ 2 ] - It’s not that you can’t talk, you just prefer not to. [First year Neville]
[ 3 ] - You’re okay, I guess? [Fudge, Baseline Wizard]
[ 4 ] - Your opinion is valued. [Mad Eye Moody]
[ 5 ] - When you talk, people listen. [Lucius Malfoy]
[ 6 ] - You have fans. [Albus Dumbledore]
[ 7 ] - You can start your own death cult. [Headboy Tom Riddle]


Dexterity - How coordinated you are. Affects wand motion, speed and physical reaction time.

[ 1 ] - Walking is a challenge for you [Kid in a wheelchair]
[ 2 ] - Dancing with you is a torture we inflict on enemies.
[ 3 ] - You can manage just fine. [Baseline Wizard]
[ 4 ] - Definitely some talent there. [Ron]
[ 5 ] - You could be a Professional Quidditch Player or Dueler. [Harry, Dumbledore]
[ 6 ] - You make falling look good. [Ballet Dancer]
[ 7 ] - You’re either half cat or into some really fucked up rituals. [McGonagall, Voldemort]


Perception - Covers the acuteness of your physical senses. Affects aiming, navigation and exploration.

[ 1 ] - Other people travel. You walk randomly hoping you arrive where you’re going eventually.
[ 2 ] - You’re not blind...technically.
[ 3 ] - Your senses are working fine. [Baseline Wizard]
[ 4 ] - You’re good with directions.
[ 5 ] - You can spot a Snitch in a Haystack.
[ 6 ] - You never get lost.
[ 7 ] - Your sense of smell must be supernatural. [Werewolf]


Wits - Covers quickness of thinking, initiative, common sense, intuition, deduction and logic.

[ 1 ] - The school could be burning down around you and you wouldn’t know what to do. [A House Elf]
[ 2 ] - A bit thick, aint’cha? [Crabbe, Goyle]
[ 3 ] - You can react to emergencies if necessary, but prefer to have time to think. [Baseline Wizard, Ron]
[ 4 ] - You could have worked out Snape’s Potion Trial. [Hermione, Harry]
[ 5 ] - You always have a snappy comeback.
[ 6 ] - You find riddles painfully easy.
[ 7 ] - You react as soon as you see what’s happening.


Intelligence - Covers book smarts, magical theory, and memorization

[ 1 ] - “What’s an Africa?”
[ 2 ] - You’re lucky you’re pretty.
[ 3 ] - You are the definition of mediocre. [Baseline Wizard]
[ 4 ] - You get good grades. [Ron, Harry]
[ 5 ] - You’re top of the class. [Hermione]
[ 6 ] - You are wasted on school.
[ 7 ] - You’re a genius. [Dumbledore, Voldemort]


Wisdom - Covers judgment, insight and morality.

[ 1 ] - Poor life choices is your middle name. [Sirius]
[ 2 ] - You should probably get a second opinion before you do anything.
[ 3 ] - You’ve made some bad choices. [Voldemort]
[ 4 ] - You’re the one friends go to for advice.
[ 5 ] - You rarely make mistakes.
[ 6 ] - The world would be a better place with you in charge [Dumbledore]
[ 7 ] - You must be a Saint.


Willpower - Covers mental strength, ability to deal with pressure, conviction and perseverance.

[ 1 ] - You give up before you begin.
[ 2 ] - The slightest inconvenience deters you.
[ 3 ] - You’ll only go so far for what you believe in.
[ 4 ] - It’ll take torture to break you.
[ 5 ] - When you commit, you commit. [Dumbledore, Harry]
[ 6 ] - Nothing changes your mind.
[ 7 ] - Society better change for you, or else. [Voldemort]

Feel free to leave me your thoughts.

 

Not sure how to edit my first post. After review, I've decided to scrap the Wits Attribute, dividing it's functions between Perception, Dexterity and Wisdom. Mechanically, it didn't seem to have much use for most of the sample rolls and actions I ran. More aesthetically, this gives the system 7 Attributes with 7 levels, and we all know how hard the number 7 gets me.

To expound a bit more on the guiding principles,

4) Character Development. The base game is intended to be less "Kill shit, get loot" and more character-driven, open-end world building. Developing your character and watching him grow and change are emphasized in the Rewards and Character Creation mechanics. One example is the implementation of FATE points, High Concept and Troubles from the FATE system (Link for explanation). Another one is the Mechanic of Spell Evolution. Put simply, your spells change and react to how you act. A more sadistic wizard might find all his spells (such as Lumos trying to burn your eyeballs out) try to cause pain to their targets.

5) Modularity. I'm aware that not everyone likes to play RPGs the same way. Thus, there are rules which are considered optional for play and should still work without affecting balance too much. Other features might become too computationally cumbersome for some groups and can be ignored or quick play features might exist (Choosing a Wand or Using Lifepaths during Character Generation come to mind).

As always, feel free to check out the Google Doc Link for a more comprehensive update on everything worked on so far.

Difficulty - This is modified from the Cypress System. Basically, each roll has a Difficulty Level from 0 to 20. The number you need to roll in order succeed is the Difficulty Level * 2. Each action is a 1d20 Roll.

"But wait Halt! Doesn't that mean some actions need a roll of 0? And that others need a result greater than 20? What then?"

This is where your bonuses and penalties come in. Unlike in DnD or most other RPGs, bonuses under this system comes as reductions to difficulty (so a -1 represents a bonus of 1) and penalties are increases in difficulty. This implies that at a high enough skill level, you won't even need to roll to succeed. So someone like Dumbledore would always succeed at casting a Lumos during a fight because he's just that good, whereas under DnD he'd still have a 5% chance to fail (a 1 is always a fail no matter what bonuses you get in DnD).

A roll usually takes into account your level of relevant Attribute and Skill, plus whatever bonuses you might receive from Items, Aspects, or Specialties (more on this last bit later).

An Attribute of 3 grants no penalty or bonus. If you have less than 3, it is ((3 - Current Level)* 2). Basically, if you are at 1 you have a penalty of +4, and at 2 the penalty is +2. If you have more than 3, it is (Current Level -3) bonus. So at 5 you have a -2 Bonus to Difficulty. At 7 it's a -4 Bonus.

Skills
- These represent learned abilities that can be honed and developed over time. Each skill has a skill level from 1 to 5 (Firstie - Student - OWL - NEWT - Professor). Like Attributes, a level of 3 (OWL) is considered standard and incurs no penalty or bonus. Again, as before, having a score below standard has a higher penalty (+4 and +2 respectively), while a score higher than standard has a bonus of (-1 and -2 respectively).

Skills are divided into three types: Branches of Magic, Magical Skill and Muggle Skill. You'll notice in the list below that each Skill has 3 or more groups under it. These are Subbranches, breaking down broad skills into more specific segments.

"What the fuck is that for you over-categorizing twat?"

I'm getting there. Whenever you have a Skill at 4, you can choose a Specialty. A Specialty grants you a bonus on top of your skill level. You can choose to either have a Subbranch Specialty for a -1 bonus to all rolls related to that subbranch OR Specialize in a Single Spell for a -4. The tradeoff being you can have a small bonus that applies to a lot of things or a huge bonus that ensures you basically auto-succeed but for one spell.

The 5 Branches of Magic - Important thing to note about this, not all spells strictly belong to one branch or subbranch of magic. Most hexes, for example, would belong to both Pacifier under DADA and the general Dark Magic Branch. That doesn't mean you can stack bonuses though.

I've tried to remain as canonical as possible, but for the sake of balance some spells were moved around to different subbranches. Other things are fanon that were added in because they seemed like cool concepts.

Endgames are not meant to be the be-all, end-all to a certain specialty. These are meant to be a snapshot of what you could do at the height of this field, represented as either a canon character's style or a certain spell. Ideally, the endgame of any magical branch is up to whatever your devious imaginations can concoct.

One last thing: A Brief Primer on Wizard to Wizard Combat. Some of the bonuses apply to this. Basically, a 3-volley system is used from Burning Wheel. At the start of combat, you have a number of actions (everyone starts with 1, and some things add to it, like a high Dexterity Skill) that you group into 3 volleys.

So say I have 5 actions. I can choose to Stupefy and Run Right on the my volley, Protego on my Second, Bat-Bogey and Avada Kedavra on my Third. These are all declared at the start with opponents not knowing what the other is going to do and are resolved near simultaneously. When one side has not won, a new volley begins.​

Branches of Magic
​

Spoiler

Defense Against the Dark Arts Branch “Fighting with a side of Utility.”
-Pacifier - “To kill an enemy with a thousand bat bogeys.” Hexes, Shields and Counterspells are your forte. (Endgame Harry)
-Disruptor - “Focus Potter! Clear your mind!” You excel at disrupting the concentration of others through a combination of speed (+2 Actions), verbal and magical harassment. (Endgame Snape)
-Exterminator - “Did someone call for the Exterminator?” You specialize in dealing with dark magical creatures that cannot be tamed, looked after or are just generally useless pieces of shit. Dementors, Boggarts, Pixies and pests. (Endgame Patronus)

Transfiguration Branch “Control the Field of Battle.”
-Living Transfiguration - “Ever wanted to turn your enemies into ferrets?” You specialize in human, living-to-living, living-to-nonliving and nonliving-to-living transformation. (Endgame Animagus)
-Non-Living Transfiguration - “Avatar Aang’s got nothing on you.” You specialize in the transformation of nonliving-to-nonliving things as well as the manipulation of complex substances like fire or smoke. (Endgame Fiendfyre)
-Conjuration - “If you don’t stop bothering me, I will make you disappear.” You specialize into making things appear and disappear. (Endgame Vanishing a Person)

Healing Branch “I NEED HEALING!”
-Spell Damage - “Who did you piss off this time?” You specialize in reversing spell damage. (Endgame Keeping your friends from dying, even if they deserve it.)
-Magical Maladies and Mishaps - “Stop touching things you’re not supposed to!” Your specialties include Creature Induced Injuries, Magical Bugs and Diseases, Artefact Accidents and Potions and Plant Poisoning. (Endgame Keeping your friends from succumbing to poison, God help you.”
-Alternative “Medicine” - “You’ll make them stronger, better, faster.” Creating silver hands, magical eyeballs or penile enhancement potions - you do all of it and more! No experiment is too mad for you to try as long as it makes your allies and yourself better. (Endgame Magical Frankenstein)

Dark Magic Branch “Burn, Rape, Pillage - not necessarily in that order.”
-Death Sentence - “I am a true egalitarian. Men, women, children...I kill them all.” You specialize in spells that inflict severe bodily harm or kill. (Endgame Killing Curse)
-Doom of Damocles - “Oh, what a lovely teapot.” You specialize in the creation of cursed Items and trojan horses such as Horcruxes or even Voldemort’s curse on the DADA Professorship. (Endgame Horcruxes)
-Desecration - “I’m not going to kill you, silly. No, it’s so much worse than that.” You specialize in pain and control. Any spell that fucks with the mind or soul more than the body is your jam. (Endgame Cruciatus, Imperio)

Charms Branch “Finding new and interesting ways to piss people off.”
-Enchantment - “I made this.” You specialize in imbuing items with effects, longer lasting charms, warding, trapping and locking. (Endgame Brooms, Portkeys, a Magical Bomb)
-Infiltration - “Can’t hit what you can’t see.” You specialize in disillusionment, memory and emotional manipulation, and invisibility. (Endgame Lockhart)
-Vexation - “Is this bothering you? Want me to do it again?” You take normal charms and dial them up to 11. Lumos? You mean a blinding spell. Sonorus? Bye-bye hearing. Scrubbing charm? I suppose your skin isn’t too important. (Endgame The Magnate’s Grindelwald)

Magical Skills​

Spoiler

Incantation Skill “There will be no silly incantations in this class.” Grants a +1/+2 Actions depending on Skill Level.
-Thought Casting - “Memorization, memorization, memorization.” Casting only requires you to think the incantation. The effect of your spells are predictable, and more powerful. Reduces difficulty on high power spells
-Effect Casting - “I am a god.” Incantations no longer serve a purpose. You will the world to change, and magic makes it so. Grants you greater freedom to manipulate spells and charge them with emotion.
-Idea Casting - “Dead languages? Who needs ‘em.” You have not foregone incantations entirely, but those long Latin words feel clunky. Instead, you’ve tied the spells to words of your own choosing. Using shorter words allows you to cast faster. +2 Actions.

Wand Motion Skill “There will be no foolish wand waving in this class.” Grants a +1/+2 Actions depending on Skill Level.
-Chained Spells - “Practice makes perfect.” Through years of practice, you’ve noticed some movements flow into others naturally, allowing you to pick up speed as a fight progresses. As the fight goes longer, you get more actions at the cost of losing some intelligence temporarily. -1 Int, +1 action/volley at max of 3; Requires the player have pre built sets of spells to use, spells that require more than 1 action to cast cannot be chained.
-Point and Shoot - “Pew pew!” Nothing fancy here, just point and shoot. This allows you to react faster than others, but using a shortcut makes the power of your spells weaker. +2 Actions; +1 Difficulty for Spells.
-Economy of Motion - “The boring choice.” You need only make the smallest of movements to cast a spell. +1 action.

Potions “Bottle Fame, brew Glory, or put a stopper to Death.”
-Medicines - “If you have to drink it, you will.” You specialize in cures and antidotes. (Endgame Not dying)
-Poisons - “You wouldn’t want to drink this.” You specialize in killing or otherwise incapacitatin with your brews. (Endgame Veritaserum)
-Enhancement - “It’s not drugs, I swear!” While not medicinal, your liquid magic helps out at times. (Endgame Felix Felicis)

Core Knowledge “It’s cute you think you have a choice.”
-Herbology - “When plants have fangs, you better pay attention.” You specialize in magical plants and their properties.
-Astronomy - “Red Mars in the sky, someone’s about to die.” While others scoff at your knowledge, you know better. The positions of the planets can affect many aspects of magic such as potions, the behavior of Magical Creatures and Plants, divining the future and even the power of certain rituals.
-History - “The most interesting subject in the world.” You specialize in the lore and histories of people, which might yield insight into the current political paradigm and power structure. Or you would, if you paid any attention in class.
-Care of Magical Creatures - “He’s mostly ‘armless, I tell ya!” You specialize in the care and taming of magical creatures...well, the useful ones at least.

Elective Knowledge “What we teach is important!”
-Divination - “Perfecting the Art of Drinking Tea, one cup at a time.” You gain occasional glimpses into the future. Sometimes, you think you even see words in your teacup. Some say it’s time to lay off on the weed, you say it’s time for more.
-Arithmancy - “1 + 1 is 7 because it’s the most magical number.” If you thought normal math was hard, try this.
-Muggle Studies - “101 Reasons why Muggles are inferior.” You have an understanding of the muggles and their strange ways, including their eleclicity and techlology.
-Ancient Runes and Linguistics - “The study of squiggles, wibbles, and #!-&^$. That means “Your Momma” in Eldest Blorj Runes.” Languages have always intrigued you.

Flying “Just believe.”
-Dodge - “You are passionate about not getting smashed by a bludger.” You have a grace on the broom that lets you evade things with ease.
-Chase - “She’s just playing hard to get.” Speed is your utmost priority in the air, injuries be damned.
-Block - “You shall not pass!” Keeping is a thankless job, but you’re the one that buys Seekers enough time to catch the bloody snitch.

Muggle Skills​

Spoiler

Alertness “Nothing escapes you.”
-Orient - “We’re not lost.” Directions are your strength, even apparating into a new area gives you little pause.
-Sense - “Something’s wrong.” You have an almost sixth sense when it comes to picking up on things, even when you’re distracted.
-Detect - “You know that curtain doesn’t hide your feet, right?” Your eyes are sharp, when you bother to look.

Athletics “Parkour!”
-Maneuver - “I have the high ground!” You always seek to engage from the most favorable position.
-Evade - “Can’t fight what you can’t hit.” You dance around spells like a madman.
-Pursue - “Come back here, thief!” On foot, other wizards are no match for you.

Muggle Fighting “Why you bother with this nonsense is beyond me.”
-Melee - “Aw, the caveman think’s he’s a threat.” You are skilled with melee muggle weaponry.
-Ranged - “Is that a gun or are you just happy to see me?” You have some experience with muggle wands. You know, the loud ones that can’t do anything but kill?
-Unarmed - “Fight me man to man.” You are proficient in the ancient fist of beat you bloody raw.

Survival “You can conjure water, but can you find food?”
-Shelter - “Tu casa, mi casa.” You can find shelter just about anywhere and make yourself feel at home.
-Hunt - “Killing animals is second only to killing people.” You can find and kill animals with ease.
-Track - “Look at those beautiful footprints!” You’re almost as good as a bloodhound.

Investigation “I spy with my little eye.”
-Find - “Finders keeper.” You can find things others cannot.
-Research - “To the Library!” You know where to look to get information.
-Inquire - “I know a guy who knows a guy.” You know who to ask about these things.

Art “And how does that make you feel?”
-Performing - “What? Like in front of people?” You have experience in theatre, dance, music and oratory.
-Visual - “It’s not porn if it’s in a gallery.” You are skilled at painting, sculpting and other visual arts.
-Literary - “Sometimes, the blue chair just means it’s a blue chair.” You are a writer of songs, stories and poems.

Intimidation “I dare you! I double dare you!”
-Fear - “Fuck Everything And Run.” Your presence cows people. Others are intimidated by you and will not act against you.
-Project - “Any man who says ‘I am the King’ is no true king.” You are respected and people know you are serious business. Few dare disagree with you or go against your direct orders.
-Interrogate - “Talk, or else.” People are loathe to keep secrets from you, especially when brought to your attention.

Charisma “Do as I say, not as I do.”
-Leadership - “Die for me!” You are a natural leader, causing others to face less difficulty in the tasks ahead.
-Persuasion - “These are not the Jedi you’re looking for.” You can make others see things from your point of view. Sometimes, 1 + 1 = 3.
-Seduction - “Sleep with me. Please?” You are a smooth operator, especially when it comes to members of the opposite sex.

Stealth “Sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak, sneak!”
-Concealment - “They can’t see you.” You are adept at using shadows to hide yourself.
-Disguise - “They see you, they just don’t recognize you.” Some make-up and a wig is all you need to wear a new face.
-Ambush - “But it was I, Dio!” Much like the Spanish Inquisition, people never expect you.

Etiquette “Good manners never hurt nobody.”
-High Society - “Some wine, good sir?” You feel at home among the elite.
-Different Cultures - “Voulez-vouz coucher avec moi?” You feel at home even abroad.
-One of the People - “Sup, bruv?” You feel at home at the bar.

Law and Politics “Order in the court!”
-I know what’s up - “You’re not as clever as you think, Cersei.” The implications of political actions are clear as day to you.
-I know who you are - “You remember those worth knowing.” You know the movers and shakers of the world.
-I know the rules - “Aurors hate you!” You are familiar with local and international regulations, down to their very minutiae at times.

A big thanks to Luolang (Rayndeon?) for his help in thinking up of ideas and names for some of these things. Also to the members of #thestudy for their input during the process.

​

 

@enembee @Hawkin That's actually interesting to hear. Granted that the games are different conceits, but if you can think of anything in particular that you liked about the system - whether, rules, mechanics or features - which you think helped make Harry Potter work, I'd be glad to hear and potentially incorporate such things. As it is, my system is already a frankenstein of pasting together bits from different systems and using duct tape liberally to keep it together.
--- Post automerged ---

Choosing A Wand​

The wand chooses the wizard. Among all your prized and earthly possessions, the wand is the greatest. Without it, you are nothing. It is not merely a tool, it is a partner on your journey and must be treated with respect. Ignore it and it’s desires at your own peril. Much like people, your wand has certain stances, preferences and peculiarities and no two wands are exactly the same. The player is encouraged to work alongside their Game Master to develop the wand’s personality alongside their own. That said, the following are some useful links to help you get started. These are more guidelines than hard and fast rules, and as long as your Game Master believes your personalized wand to be balanced, than one may even ignore the work here.

Pottermore - Cores | Pottermore - Woods | Compiled Reference Sheet

All wands have a Potency, Loyalty, and Autonomy, which is the sum of their core and wood’s own scores. The final rating will always be some number between 1 and 7.

Potency - This measures your wand’s potential and strength. Mechanically, this measures the maximum potential bonuses your wand can grant you. Beware though, stronger wands have a tendency to be more autonomous and if your wand turns on you, it’ll have more power to screw you over.

[ 1 ] - Your wand is flimsy. Max Bonus to Difficulty 0

[ 2 ] - Your wand is weak. Max Bonus to Difficulty 0

[ 3 ] - Your wand is mediocre. Max Bonus to Difficulty -1

[ 4 ] - Your wand is great. Max Bonus to Difficulty -1

[ 5 ] - Your wand is superior. Max Bonus to Difficulty -2

[ 6 ] - Your wand is excellent. Max Bonus to Difficulty -2

[ 7 ] - Your wand is outstanding. Max Bonus to Difficulty -3

Loyalty - This measures your wand’s happiness with you. The values provided in the Compiled Reference Sheet is its starting happiness assuming that you are a good fit for it. If your personalities clash but you insist on the wand, it’s loyalty will be decreased. Acting in a way that the wand expects from you increases it’s happiness. A highly loyal wand will serve your interests and lend you more of it’s power, while a disloyal one might resist your spells or even outright work against you to seek a new master.

[ 1 ] - Your wand is in open rebellion. It actively seeks a new master. Penalty to Difficulty +4.

[ 2 ] - Your wand is disloyal. It will accept a new master. Penalty to Difficulty +2.

[ 3 ] - Your wand does not feel strongly about you either way. It might accept a new master. Bonus to Difficulty 0.

[ 4 ] - Your wand likes you. It is unlikely to accept anyone else, unless it is in it’s nature. Bonus to Difficulty -1.

[ 5 ] - Your wand has grown fond of you. It will resist a new master. Bonus to Difficulty -2.

[ 6 ] - Your wand is loyal. It will actively resist a new master. Bonus to Difficulty -3.

[ 7 ] - Your wand loves you. It will not work for anyone else. Bonus to Difficulty -5. This is only applicable for the Elder Wand.

Autonomy - Where Loyalty measures the wand’s happiness with you, Autonomy dictates to what extent it will act against you or for you, depending on it’s Loyalty. A highly independent wand is a double-edged sword, for it may not be as consistent or reliable as subservient wands but you may find it has a mind of it’s own. Highly independent wands are less likely to change their nature for you and are easier to please but also easier to insult.

[ 1 ] - Your wand is entirely subservient. It will never make it harder for you to cast a spell or aid your enemies if they try to take it from you, but neither will it go all out for you in times of need. It’s loyalty will very rarely decrease and it will easily change to fit with you. Rate of Change 0

[ 2 ] - Your wand is mostly subservient. It will never aid your enemies if they try to take it from you, but you may find spellcraft harder. It can change for you. Rate of Change 1

[ 3 ] - Your wand is sometimes subservient. It will aid your enemies if it is in open rebellion and make spells harder when unhappy. It will take some time for this wand to change for you. Rate of Change 1

[ 4 ] - Your wand has some ideas. It will take a while before it changes for you. Rate of Change 1

[ 5 ] - Your wand has ideas of how things ought to be. It will never change it’s nature, but you will find it warning you when it senses danger. Rate of Change 2

[ 6 ] - Your wand has an opinion on everything. You may find it suddenly in your hand when it is lost or taken. Rate of Change 2.

[ 7 ] - Your wand is a strong, independent wand who needs no wizard. It will go to great lengths to see a good owner prosper, even coming to his defense and casting spells without prompting. Rate of Change 3

The above three stats are the more mechanical features of wands. Aside from that, all wands have a Price, Affinity, Restriction, and Personality.

Price, put simply, is the amount of Galleons you need to pay for the wand and the easiest thing to understand. Rarer wands cost more, wands in greater demand cost more, and more powerful wands cost more.

Affinity determines what types of magic a wand is predisposed towards and where it’s bonus will apply. Note that the penalty you incur when a wand is unhappy with you applies to all tasks that require a wand. Wands that have an Autonomy of 4 or lower can change its affinity over time to better suit the wizard in question.

Restriction determines what types of magic a wand refuses to deal with. Using spells of that nature decreases its happiness with you and it will only accept that type of magic as it’s Affinity if the wand has an Autonomy of 0.

Personality is how the wand expects its owner to behave and how it wants to be used. Going against this decreases its happiness while using it as it wishes will increase happiness. Try to keep the personality of a wand concise and to the point, using descriptive words to capture the core of its desires.

Whereas Spell Evolution and Aspect Points are meant to be the carrot to good roleplaying, Wands are the stick to bad roleplaying. Players that choose a wand that they have no intention of getting along with will quickly find themselves dead...or worse, expelled.

Quick Play Rules​

For those less inclined or less interested in exploring the nuances of wands and how these interact with different characters, the following quick play rules may be used as an alternative.

1. Pick One (1) Magical Branch for your wand to specialize in. Reduce difficulty of all aspects of that branch by One (1).
2. Subtract Seven (7) Galleons from your character.