Hello Folks!

I hope you’ve been having a good summer thus far. Today’s article is written as a supplement for the Magic: RPG we began discussing in March, check out the original here. The basic core concept is simple. You create Planeswalker characters within the rules of the system, and then you play Magic games against others, and win experience points that you can use to level up, and spend on more abilities. And like all good characters, you have just started, so you don’t have Access to most of the cards in the game, nor with the power of a modern player.

Over time, you can build your Planeswalker up, and develop it with increasingly specialized characters and concepts. I envisioned four expansions for the core rules when I rewrote them in March for you. I wanted to give you time to play up with the RPG before beginning them. This is the first of those expansions, and it’s all about the combat step, and introducing a way for you, yes you the character, to be involved in the action!

Get ready to punch back when someone sends their creatures your way, and yes, with these rules, you can even attack back!

I also envision a set of Commander Magic RPG rules, as well as a multiplayer supplement and one giving players a lot of in-game answers to problems that plague some tables, and reintroducing a Beginning of the Game Phase with some fun abilities that take advantage of that Phase.¹

I created the Magic: RPG as a fun way to play the game from a different angle, and today I want to delve into a famous, but wonky, part of my initial Magic: RPG makeup, the Battle Mage and subsequent abilities.

My goal is to hack out the rest of the RPG articles this summer after working on them for a while, and play-testing results. So, you can get the Beginning of the Game Phase, Commander RPG, and Multiplayer supplements coming soon.

This article is all about Planeswalkers that smash!

Initially, the Battle Mage was created to solve what I thought was a creative issue. If you’ll recall, in the game of Magic, you are supposed to be a Planeswalker. You are a powerful plane-hopping character on the level of a (early in the game before they changed it) Urza or Serra, and later on a Jace or Chandra. So, given you are a Planeswalker, I want you to think about something (the rules text today will be normal, and the flavor italicized) . . . 

And that’s where today’s supplement steps in. Have you been playing already? Good! If not, maybe this will tempt you! The goal today is to reintroduce the Battle Mage, fully fleshed out with a variety of sub-mechanics all revolving around the Battle Mage. Thus, we are able to add another cog to players and groups already playing the RPG, and looking for another addition to the game. Now, I am changing it up . . . 

Today I am doing the following. Now, this supplement is optional. There is nothing here mandated for your playgroup. But I wanted to highlight the abilities of a variety of Planeswalkers to mix it up, from Nissa and her Sword of the Animist to Gideon Jura and his surals. Planeswalkers mix it up. So, should you.

So, I am adding Battle Mage back in . . .  but not as a Skill that you can upgrade over time, but as a full-on Stat.

Stats

Battle Mage — You begin with Battle Mage: 0. For each Mage Point invested in this Stat, you gain 1 power. During the non-first strike damage phase, you deal damage equal to the creatures that got through equal to your BM score, divided as you choose among the attackers. This is considered a colorless Planeswalker source of damage, as well as combat damage.

Even though you have power and exist, and even though you may have invested heavily in Battle Mage (BM), you still may not be targeted by any spells or effects that would normally target only a creature or permanent, like Terrifying Presence or the effect of attacking with a Zealot il-Vec, but you do count as a “defending creature” for various non-targeting spells, such as Fog. Fog prevents your Battle Mage damage just like it would a creature’s. Even Garruk can get lost in a little Fog.

Now, a few things. You will not deal damage in the first strike phase at all. Only in the final phase.

Secondly, note that this does not work on creatures that deal combat damage to you but not directly engaged because they were blocked, such as the rollover damage from trample or a creature such as Pride of Lions that was blocked, but chose to deal its damage directly to you. (However, see below if you want to do that)

Thirdly, note this only works on creatures that deal you combat damage. It won’t defend you against an Ophidian owner that deal no damage to draw a card, or against the life loss of Guiltfeeder. Also, non-combat damage dealt by creatures during combat is not handled either. Tapping a Fireslinger to shoot you for a damage during combat won’t trigger this. Your damage is always combat damage.

Quick example:

But it’s very strong against evasive creatures that slip in and hit you.

Traits

These Traits have been added to the game if you added in BM. Remember, Traits are only purchasable once. As before, abilities that grant Access to cards are bolded in Purple. We have 12 new Traits for your consideration, most of which deal with Battle Mage or this new Trait you are about to encounter . . . ³

Raider — You know it. You are the most powerful weapon in your arsenal. You may attack, and try to isolate your opponent or some of their minions in a 1:1 battle with yourself. I would recommend using a token, and set your BM as power and your starting life total via Mental Fortitude as your toughness. Tap yourself when you attack. You may be blocked, and exchange damage in battle as normal. Any damage you take is removed from your life total. Any damage you deal to an opposing Planeswalker permanent in combat will also strip off loyalty counters equal to your BM score. If you are blocked, just like normal, the defense will choose how your damage is dealt. Damage you take yourself from your foe (if they have invested in BM as well) will lower your life total.⁴

The Raider Trait will turn on a lot of new Traits and Skills. They will read, “When you attack with Raider, do X.” The Autumn Wind is a Raider.

Bound with Weapons — You wield a powerful binding weapon as your weapon of choice, such as a whip, net, bola, or sural. Whenever you deal BM damage to a creature, that creature does not untap during its next untap step.⁵

Enraged —Man it really pisses you off when something hits you! This removes the restriction on Battle Mage for creatures like Thorn Elemental or trample, and the Break Through Trait that resembles the above abilities. Now, this still requires you to split damage. So, if you took any damage from a trampler, and had two unblocked creatures snipe you, then you can deal your BM damage to any of those three, divided as you choose. The trample just becomes an option whereas it wasn’t before.

Hunting the Greatest Prey — You are up for battle against the biggest and most powerful prey in the multiverse — Planeswalkers. When you attack with Raider, any BM damage you deal to a Planewalker permanent will destroy that permanent. (This does not include your opponent)⁶

In Defense of an Ally — You know when to intercede to help keep a valuable ally from falling. You didn’t jump through a lot of hoops to bring someone on your side only to see it fall now! Whenever an opponent attacks a Planeswalker permanent you control, if you have In Defense of an Ally, then you can block that attack. You will take the damage instead of that permanent, and any Battle Mage you have will deal damage like normal.

Martial Artist — You understand a number of martial arts, and can use them accordingly. Any keyword you give your team through the use of Tactician, Master Tactician or Genius Tactician Skills you also gain. For example, if you give all of your creatures first strike, then you get it too and you would deal damage in the first strike round, not the latter one.

Quickcast —You are more than just a simple mindless warrior. You are a Battle Mage, with the emphasis on the “Mage,” and your foes had better not forget it, or else they will succumb to your abilities! When you attack with Raider, you may cast spells during combat as though they had flash.

Psychic Regroup — You have learned the ability to gain and regather yourself after a setback. But most importantly, you learn from it and grow quickly. At the end of any turn on which you were attacked, draw a card and then discard a card.

Racial Purity — You cannot tolerate any creatures but your chosen kind. But when you are with them, you can evoke a nasty anti-race anger from them that will smash others. When you take this Trait, choose a creature type. When you attack with Raider, if all of the other creatures you control have that type, then every other attacking creature deals double combat damage to creatures that do not share that creature type.⁷

Sifting Mind — You have learned how to gain some extra value early in a battle that can be used for intelligence or counterintelligence. At the beginning of your first turn, draw two cards, and discard two cards.⁸

Signature Weapon — Many Planeswalkers have a signature weapon they use, just like mages have a spell. You do too, and you rely on it heavily. Choose any one non-mythic weapon equipment. You gain Access to it. If you have at least BM: 1, you may equip yourself with that weapon, in addition to your creatures. (Weapons include something like a Sword of Vengeance, a Loxodon Warhammer or a Shuriken, not Lightning Greaves, or Skullclamp, or Swiftfoot Boots.) Additions to your power are considered bonuses to your BM while equipped, and bonuses to your toughness are considered extra health until the equipment is gone, and then your health drops back down to its pre-equipped version. The Access you gain via Signature Weapon is still limited by your Recall, so if you have a Recall: 1, you can still have just one copy of this card in your deck. You may not grant yourself an activated ability, and then tap yourself to do it, like with a Heartseeker.

Traited — Who are you? Or at least, who do you pretend to be? Choose one race and one class of a creature type when you take this. You gain both creature types. (Examples of races include Elf or Dwarf. Classes are Shaman or Knight). As long as you are alive, you count as those types, as the battlefield has one of them out for spells that care.⁹

Skills

These Skills have been added to the game if you added in BM. Remember, Skills are purchasable multiple times. As before, abilities that grant Access to cards are bolded in Purple. Actions are still in Orange. Seven Skills are new so far, and ready to be brought to your game.

Experienced Warrior — You know how to grow and develop fighters. And you know how to make the savage Beast even stronger. You excel at giving this knowledge to your fighters, so they can get even better and better over time. For each Mage Point spent in this Skill, during your upkeep, you may put that many +1/+1 counters on target creature.¹⁰

Gifted Aura — You are powered by auras that evoke holiness or death, glory or shame, power or impulse. When you purchase this Skill, choose an aura that could normally target a creature you control. You gain Access to it. If you have at least BM: 1, you may enchant yourself with that aura. For each Mage Point you spend here, you can choose another Aura to Access as well as use to enchant yourself. You may not have more points in this skill than you have points in Battle Mage. Additions to your power are considered bonuses to your BM while equipped, and bonuses to your toughness are considered extra health until the aura is gone, and then your health drops back down to its pre-auraed version. The Access you gain via Gifted Aura is still limited by your Recall, so if you have a Recall: 1, you can still have just one copy of this card in your deck. You may not grant yourself an activated ability, and then tap to use it, like Arcane Teachings or Fallen Ideal.

The result of a Gifted Aura or Signature Weapon is interesting. Imagine a Holy Strength on you. Now you get +2 health and +1 damage to your BM score until it’s removed. But note that if your life dropped to 1, and then the Holy Strength was removed, you would die as a state based effect, just like a creature would. Note that it is very, very easy to find an answer for this with just one point spent in the main article, if someone invests in this too much and gives themselves the craziness.

Inviolable — Can you raise your Force Field, shields, or a fast growing Wall of Roots and keep yourself from taking damage? This is an Action. Once per game per point you have spent, until the end of the turn, your life total may not change, and you cannot lose the game due to any effect.¹¹

Illusionary Strike — Some Planeswalkers are well-suited to illusionary magic, and those that are often find themselves using it, not defensively to keep them from harm, but offensively to smash face. That’s how you defeat your opponent, after all. For each Mage Point you spend in Illusionary Strike, when you attack with Raider, put a duplicate token into play attacking another target, such as a Planeswalker or another opponent in multiplayer. You will deal your normal Battle Mage score in damage to your targets you engage in, but you will not take any damage dealt to the Illusion token.

Object Liberation — Sometimes you attack to smash face, but sometimes, you have to know how to steal stuff as well. You need to liberate it for your side. Do you steal with strength and just rip stuff out of the hands of your foes? Or do you slip around with misdirection as your hit them and take their stuff? This is an Action. For each Mage Point invested in Object Liberation, once per game, when you deal damage to a creature, Planeswalker, or player, with Battle Mage, you may gain control of an artifact that player or permanent’s controller controls. Note that this does not target.¹²

Pack Leader — You have trained and learned how to bring out allies from various places unexpected, over and over again, as the leader of your Pack. When you choose this Skill for the first time, choose a creature type and color. For each Mage Point you invest into this Skill, when you Attack with Raider, put into play, attacking the same target, a number of 1/1 token creatures with the chosen type and color equal to your Pack Leader score.

Wall of Thorns — You have learned to growth defenses that can keep people busy for days. Attackers that are bothered by the quickly shorn defenses won’t come calling to you. For each Mage Point spent in Wall of Thorns, creatures that attack you get -1/-0. So if you have two points here, they get -2/-0.¹³ Your opponents are unaffected should they attack with Raider.

And there we have it!

I hope that you enjoyed our little look at all things combat related in the Battle Mage. We added 20 new Stats, Skills and Traits today! Don’t forget to check out the Endnotes for background information, or a quick shout out to where something inspired me, and so forth. You can see some rules questions down there as well as clarifications. With notes, this article is at 4000 words, and I wanted to keep the main article as clean as possible.

Enjoy, and we’ll hope to see you soon for the next few iterations of this game!

¹ I am going to tell you right now, that I have a fun trait added to the multiplayer expansion that I could not be more excited to show you. It’s chaotic to the max. I also love the Ode cycle you’ll be seeing in a future article for the Beginning of the Game phase, that use the core mechanics in a very different way that I think have some good chops. Hint Hint.

² And that’s where the idea of the Battle Mage came from. For each point you invested in Battle Mage, you gained another power you could use if stuff got through. And then, like a defending creature, you deal damage, divided as you chose, among creatures that hit you. So that was the initial concept of the Battle Mage and how it worked for my first RPG. Now, there are a lot of issues with the Battle Mage in theory, that I had to make work. I even later added (in the First Edition) some Battle Mage supplements that would make your Battle Mage stronger. Because of the over complexity of the BM and such, I decided to pull that concept from the RPG for the core rules for later editions, but I always liked the central idea, I just felt it was a bit confusing.

³ For those readers that care, or followed my earlier editions of the game, virtually all of the new additions today are brand new, and not repackaged from previous games. I have at times brought back older, useful abilities, but not many today will be that, given the major change involved in making Battle Mage a Stat.

⁴ Because of how key Raider is, I dropped its point cost to 1 MP, and I also removed all weaknesses. I don’t think any tweaking is needed post-playtesting, but if Raider doesn’t work, I initially had a weakness of, “During your opponent’s turns, if you are tapped, take double damage from combat damage”, or a double point cost here to prevent real craziness.

⁵ Gideon Jura says hello.

⁶ If you could not catch the reference, this is a direct evocation of Garruk, Apex Predator. Garruk definitely has a high BM score and Raider.

⁷ This is a hard shout-out to the initial Nissa Revane character as the “Elves are Pure” character, and it fits the Lorwyn Elves perfectly. It also evokes the Spirits in the Kamigawa War. Note that you do not have to necessarily choose a creature type that you have with Traited. It only looks at “other” creatures, and not yourself, so you could be a Human Knight who has Racial Purity for Soldiers, and your Soldiers would deal double combat damage to non-Soldiers when you attacked with Raider, if you controlled no non-Soldiers other than yourself.

⁸ This is, quietly, one of my favorite additions to the game. I originally intended it in the multiplayer addition to the game, but it’s not a heavily multiplayer ability, and I only had 11 Traits here, and wanted the rounder 12 number, so I added it here. Enjoy, graveyard users. Or someone who wants to drop a 1st turn Hollow One.

⁹ Note that Traited is a cool way to prevent Racial Purity damage to yourself. So, if you choose Elf, then Timberwatch Elves would tap for one more in its +X/+X ability. You get the idea.

¹⁰ This is one of the few repeats from an older edition. But I like it here themed as experience, and I wanted to add another Skill, since those are harder to create, and it got me to 20 total Skills, Traits, and Stats added here for today’s article.

¹¹ The initial version of this Skill also removed all poison counters you had, but I didn’t want to hose them too much with such an obvious counter. If they are running amok in your metagame, and this is a useful tool there but not too much of a shutdown to that strategy, then feel free to have it work on that too.

¹² Dack Fayden anyone?

¹³ This Skill was originally a Trait that proved way too powerful too quickly. The idea was to have an ability that turned your offensive capability into a defensive one, and attackers got -X/-0 equal to your BM score. That was way too powerful in playtesting. Even after I neutered it to, you deal no BM damage in that turn, it was too powerful. Then I moved to this template, and began with 2x equal to the number, and again, way too powerful. So this is left, and it’s weaker than other Skills often are, but it’s the only route left, and there is some value in adding together some of the various Pillow Fort Skills and Traits for a deck that wants a little more protection.