Low Magic

While some people use "Low Magic" to refer to rare magic, in GURPS it refers to home remedy magic that anybody might pick up, without systematic formal study, and used in everyday life or emergencies.

Craft Magic

Special rituals can imbue items or people with magical powers. "Superior ability to use a nonmagical skill can itself be an expression of magic." It can be modeled with Talent with Preparation Required or by incorporating inherently magical ingredients according to a specific recipe as outlined in "Enchanting for Non-Mages" by Ricky Hunt (5/5/2000)

Creation as Deed

A related aspect to Craft Magic is Creation as Deed where the very act of creating the item itself may be a sufficiently worthy deed to spontaneously enchant it. Mechanically this is achieved by a critical success followed by another die roll. If that one is a critical success then the item has a minor enchantment related to its function. For example, a sword could gain Accuracy +1 and Puissance +1 but not the ability to shoot fireballs.

Craft Magic note

Creation as Deed does not apply to items made with Inspired Creation or Soul Creation. In 4e Inspired Creation cost 5 HP and 10 FP which are recovered normally (in Classic it cost 1 HT permanently) while Soul Creation (a Classic only spell) costs one point of HT and 5 levels in the relevant skill permanently. Also Creation as Deed applies to the process of making the item not deeds performed with the item.

Mysteries of the Trade

"Various professions have a reputation for magical knowledge." The easiest way to emulate this is with a variant Ritual Magic where a relevant mundane skill replaces the Ritual Magic or Thaumaturgy skill. A IQ/Very Hard (Profession) Magic skill replaces College but everything else is per the Ritual Magic system with Magery 0 (or Power Investiture) required to cast spells in low- or normal-mana regions.

So someone with Physician-16 would have Physician Magic-10 as their default and have Minor Healing-8.

Important Note: "In a high- or very-high-mana setting, any professional can cast any spell based on his profession, if only at default." make no mention of Magery requirements imply other then needing Magery 0 for low or normal area the magery requirement is waved.

This is very similar to S. John Ross' Hedge Magic but it involves understanding of the magic within mundane skills. But one example in the piece expressly uses the term "mage" meaning that Magery was effectively part of the Hedge Magic advantage.

Oaths

In a world where magic works oaths may have their own power.

Single Spells

A person can use a single spell which is instinctive or learned under stress, picked up as a knack. In any case, it can be either be bought as an advantage or as a skill using One-Spell Magery with, at least, the following: No Spell Prerequisites (+30%), Inspired Learning (+20%), and No Magic Item Sensitivity (-20%) for (+30%)

For Great Healing (assume IQ 10) it would be

• Magery  (-50%: One-Spell Magery, -80%; No Spell Prerequisites, +30%); Inspired Learning, +20%), No Magic Item Sensitivity, -20%) [18]
• Great Healing (VH) (IQ-2) — 12 (IQ+Magery) [2]
• Total is 20 points

Based on the description Racially Innate Spells (-40%) components are: No Spell Prerequisites (+30%), Inspired Learning (+20%), No Magic Item Sensitivity (-20%), Can't Use External Energy (-15%), and One-Spell Magery (4 spells, -55%)

True Faith

A person's belief in itself has power. Ace demonstrated a form of True Faith in the Doctor Who episode "The Curse of Fenric" which she lost when the Doctor caused her to doubt her faith in him.

See Also

• Low Fantasy
• High Fantasy
• High Magic
• Sword and Sorcery
• Natural Magic