Editing GURPS Magical Styles Fan Netbook (section)

=Way of the Wolf    =

Cost:  14 points

Style Prerequisite: IQ 12+, Animal Empathy, Magery, (not One College Only).

The Way of the Wolf is the art of the hunter and it originated not in the library but the forest. None recall how the style originated as its students care little for history – they may have been roaming the woods for centuries or even millennia. While it is certainly a practical art for those who wish to keep their families fed, those who master it have generally moved on from such mundane concerns and seek to better understand their environment, or to protect it, or to exploit their skills for money. Mages of the Way of the Wolf school are often solitary creatures and may sometimes forget how to interact with other human beings. Out in the wilderness, they are free to grow as eccentric as they like and some of them are odd indeed.

Required Skills: Bow, Camouflage, Climbing, First Aid, Naturalist, Stealth, Survival (Forest), Tracking, Weather Sense.

Required Spells: Find Direction, Keen Hearing, Keen Taste and Smell, Keen Vision.

Perks: Intuitive Cantrip (Friendly Undergrowth), Intuitive Cantrip (Gut of the Dragon), Limited Energy Reserve 1-5, Magical Weapon Bond, Mana Compensation, Melee Spell Mastery (Any), Mighty Spell (Any melee), No Gestures (Any), No Incantations (Any), Obscure True Name, Secret Spell (Eye of the Predator, Hunter’s Tread or Survivor’s Purge).

Optional Traits

Attributes: Improved ST, DX, IQ and HT.

Advantages: Absolute Direction, Acute Senses (Any), Allies (hunting beasts), Combat Reflexes, Hard to Kill, Night Vision, 

Disadvantages:  Loner, any Physical Disadvantage that could indicate injury from a hunt gone bad (e.g. One Eye, One Hand).

Skills:  Area Knowledge (Wilderness), Herb Lore, Traps, Veterinary.

Students begin their studies at the level of Walker in the Woods, entitling them to learn the following seventeen spells.

Walker in the Woods

Beast-Soother, Climbing, Detect Magic, Find Direction, Haste, Ignite Fire, Keen Hearing, Keen Taste and Smell, Keen Vision, Seek Air, Seek Earth, Seek Fire, Seek Food, Seek Water, Sense Danger, Tell Time, Test Food.

When a mage has learned 8 of the above, including Find Direction, Keen Hearing, Keen Taste and Smell, and Keen Vision, they become a Hunter or Huntress, entitling them to learn the following twenty spells.

Hunter / Huntress

Detect Poison, Great Haste, Hawk Vision, Hinder, Identify Plant, Identify Spell, Jump, Lighten Burden, Mage Sight, Mage Stealth, Might, Neutralize Poison, No-Smell, Purify Water, Quick March, Recover Energy, Seek Magic, Sense Observation, Silence, Tell Position.

When a mage has learned 8 of the above, they study the Tread of the Wolf, a discipline consisting of the following twenty-one spells.

Tread of the Wolf

Alertness, Analyze Magic, Beast Seeker, Boost Health, Boost Strength, Grace, Hide, Hide Path, Hold Breath, Hush, Know Location, Light Tread, Pathfinder, Plant Vision, Pollen Cloud, Prepare Game, Purify Food, Resist Poison, Seeker, Rooted Feet, Vigor.

When a mage has learned 8 of the above spells, they become a Shadow of the Forest, which entitles them to learn the following eighteen spells.

Shadow of the Forest

Balance, Boost Dexterity, Conceal, Delay, Eye of the Predator, False Tracks, Far Hearing, Forest Warning, Hang Spell, Hunter’s Tread, Invisibility, Link, Predict Weather, Reflex, Remember Path, Survivor’s Purge, Tangle Growth, Walk Through Plants.


Eye of the Predator (VH)    Regular

The caster is at +2 to any bow shot fired at any living target who doesn’t know the caster is there.  If the mage’s Eye of the Predator skill is at 15+, they are at +3, if at 20+, +4.

Duration:  Until one arrow is fired, or the sun rises or sets.

Cost:  2

Time to Cast:  3 seconds. 


Hunter’s Tread (VH)    Regular

The mage is at -2 to detect in any way – whether by direct perception, tracking, or by magical means.  This does not count as a spell “on”.

Duration:  Until the sun rises or sets.

Cost:  6

Time to Cast: 1 hour.


Survivor’s Purge (VH)    Regular, Resisted by HT

The caster must touch the subject’s bare skin with their bare fingertips for the entire time the spell is being cast.  Resistance by HT is automatic.  If the subject is not successful, they are very violently ill, taking 1 point of damage and being unable to do anything but vomit for HT/2 rounded down seconds, as sweat streams from their pores.  Their system will be purged of all normal poisons, toxins or drugs.  It will not cure an addiction, nor a hangover.

Cost:  1

Time to Cast:  2 seconds.