Ancient Magic

Ancient Magic

Ancient Magic is a collection of classes, archetypes, spells, magic items, and optional rules inspired by historical accounts of magic in the ancient world. Like the rest of the AvV setting, we are skipping the middlemen (modern fantasy fiction) and going straight to the source material. Anything written about magic after 400 AD is considered too recent and too derivative for this project.

Ancient Magic is a book that I have always wanted at my own gaming table, since it explains magic in the way ancient people believed it actually worked. This is is by far the coolest, most useful, and most interesting gaming book I have ever written. It is also the most heavily researched.

The spells in this book are taken straight from Norse sagas, Egyptian tombs, and Greek spellbooks. These are all (supposedly) REAL spells that have been adapted to 5e. But this isn’t just a book of spells. This book also includes new magic items, new concepts about magic, and new spellcasting classes all taken straight from ancient sources.

This book is so large (520 pages) that it is split into two volumes.

Volume I, For Players and GMs, Features:

31 New Academic Backgrounds for spellcasters including Alexandria, Khemenu, and the Scholomance
Two Bard Colleges (the Muses and the Skald)
Scholar Class and Three Subclasses (Astronomer, Doctor, and Philosopher)
Two Druid Subclasses (Curse Breaker and Wise One)
Priest Class and 17 Subclass Domains (including Death, Moon, and Prophecy)
Three Sorcerer Subclasses (Fate Bender, Rune Caster, and Spirit Binder)
Two Warlock Subclasses (Fallen Deity and Necrodaemon)
Witch Class and Three Subclasses (Fascinator, Hag, and Pharmacist)
Three Wizard Subclasses (Cosmic Adept, Primordialist, and Thaumaturge)
Origin Feats for Spellcasters
18 Spellcasting Feats (Alchemy, Astrology, Daemonology, Orphism, Necromancy, and more!)
Haruspicy, Lithomancy, Skiomanteia and other forms of Divination
More than 160 Real Spells Converted to 5.5 Rules (including Animate Shadow and Victory Charm)
Spellcasting Equipment (Curse Tablets, Oil of Sunlight, War Machines, Ambergris, and more)
A Discussion about the Aspects of Magic (Topics Include Daemons, Spirits, Dreams, Empowering Spells, Fate and Prophecy, History of Magic, True Names, Philosophy and Magic, Power Words, and the Undead)

Volume II, For GMs Only, Features:

40 GM Spells Including Alter Fate and Witch’s Blessing that GMs Can Use to Create Adventures
More than 30 new magic items (Spell Knots, Talisman of Homeric Power, Shabti Dolls, and more!)
Sixteen Artifacts including the Andvaranaut, the Helm of Terror, the High Seat, and the Aegis
Seventeen New Monsters (Empousa, Shades, Cacodaemons, Dactyls, and more!)
Spellcasting NPCs with Stat-Blocks, Backgrounds, and Ambitions (Many such as Canidia, Erictho, and Meroe, are from Ancient Literature)
Adventures in Magic: Outlines and Stat-Blocks for 19 Different Adventures Involving Magic and Spellcasters inspired by the research done on this project