Rules

A mystic’s culture and belief system help guide her practice of hedge magic. Lifestyle, ethical code, favored foci, and methods of instruction determine the appearance and method of a hedge mage’s power. A worker of Appalachian hoodoo magic might use very different gestures, foci, and special ingredients to work a healing magic than a medicine man or a voudon priestess. The rituals all result in healing, but the look, form, smell, and feel of the actual workings are very different. Hedge magic tends toward a set pattern of actions, or ritual, and does not have the advantage of flexibility in casting that Awakened Magic has, but it still alters the way things are.

Hedge magic is cast through rituals. Each level in a hedge magic Way (also called a Path) describes a range of powers available at that level, but the hedge magician cannot simply cast these willy-nilly — she learns and casts specific effects through specific rituals, and can only use those effects for which she knows a ritual. For instance, two dots of Conjuring allow the hedge magicians to move objects or to teleport (“conjure”) them across a distance. Each type of object requires a separate ritual. A hedge magician who can pull rabbits from a hat cannot necessarily cause a coin to disappear from his hand to reappear in someone’s pocket. He needs at least two separate rituals for these tricks.

Each time a student learns a new level, he receives a new ritual for that level. Thus, a character with two dots in a Way knows two rituals automatically. Storytellers and players can work together to create new rituals that suit their chronicles. Kinfolk hedge mages might have slightly different rituals than non-Kin practitioners.