Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chaos Magic Wild Sorcery

Encyclopaedia Arcane #MGP1003

by Sam Witt, Anne Stokes

Chaos magic is not for the faint hearted - those unwilling or unable to maintain the daring or force of will necessary to harness great, unwieldy energies will find themselves destroyed by the very power they sought. The true unfortunates will end their days locked into forms never meant for mortal eyes, let alone mortal flesh. Many are the failed practitioners of this art, and their wildly deformed bodies and warped minds serve as living testament to the dangers inherent in tampering with the basic forces of the universe. Yet there is no shortage of those willing to throw themselves into the teeth of the storm, hoping against hope they will be the one legends speak of, the master of wild forces, a true Chaos Mage. This volume of the Encyclopaedia Arcane series gives players and Games Masters alike the information they need to begin using chaos magic within their campaign. You will find chapters devoted to those who dare to tap into this primal energy, the methods used to channel primal chaos and information about the marvels and horrors of the Paths of Chaos. New feats, magic items and character types are also introduced to aid and hinder the neophyte chaos mage and his static magic counterparts.

Genres: Role Playing Games

64 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top notch, five stars!!! The role-playing opportunities I can think of from this book!! Of course, I'm not sure my imagination is quite up to the task of constantly having to craft the appropriate magical spell on the fly, although after a few tries I think I might could get quite decent at it.

Much like the other two books I've read in this series of supplements, the little stories and additional fluff and flavor text added in are excellent. The concept is extremely workable, and the potential penalties are staggering in their capability of controlling a player who just wants to get completely out of control and wreck a campaign or drive their other party members mad. One of the Prestige Classes even dabbles in a little Necromancy - which is always appreciated from one such as myself.

Think of everything you know about magic users in most RPGs and throw it out the window. There is no spell list or spell book for the Chaos Mage. They simply think of what kind of effect they are looking for, attempt to wield the very forces of magic/nature/chaos to achieve that effect, and hope for success. If they get it, prepare to watch the show...if they fail, well, that can be fun too. Also, unlike many a RPG mage, the only limit a Chaos Mage faces in spell capacity is how much damage they are capable of inflicting upon themselves, for Chaos extracts a price.

I would most definitely recommend for any table-top role-player.

[Brendan Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having traveled from 5e back through the annals of history, to the "perfect" version of D&D in my humble opinion, these books, this whole collection in fact, is a must-have! They breathe new life, and provide lore and rules aplenty for the avaricious, and omnivorous DM to utilize and format to his will. You will find plenty of goodies and "Rule of Cool" style play within the pages of these supplementary tomes of lore.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

great do book!