Magical Style: The Black Arrow of Zumzack

The Black Arrow School

Allies: The Church of Belam (God of Thieves).

The Black Arrow School was founded by former apprentices of the Mage Zumzack, who had taken over the course of his long life a series of seven apprentices.  These founders met for the first time at his funeral, held in 726 after Zumzack’s death at the astonishing age of 107.  They formalized the style and its teachings at a series of meetings arranged following the funeral.

The Black Arrow is an informal school, taught in a traditional master-apprentice relationship.  There are two ranks, Student and Master. A master of Black Arrow only has one apprentice at a time, and will not teach another until the current student has passed whatever tests the master devises.  A student automatically becomes a Master when he passes his master’s tests, and is then permitted to take on students of his own.  The tests can be quite difficult to pass. This mirrors Zumzack’s teaching style, which was learned from his masters Grimzack the Green and Etrius the Blue.

The Black Arrow School is not a formal member of the Brotherhood, and as such often lacks official sanction.  Stylists traditionally have good relationships with the Church of Belam, since Zumzack was his Champion for a time.  They aren’t required to worship him, but most will drop a coin or two at his shrines.  This can lead to suspicion in those places where Belam’s worship is illegal or discouraged.

There is a literal Black Arrow, an artifact the school is named for. It’s normally held by the school’s most prestigious Master. It has never been controlled since Zumzack’s death.  School traditions hold the arrow will only fire in the hands of its true, awaited master.

Black Arrow of Zumzack                                                                13 points

Style Prerequisites: Magery 2.

Black Arrow requires a considerable degree of talent, as most of its masters lack the patience needed to raise a student to the necessary degree of Magery before teaching the spells.  Thus, the normal student is either born with Magery 2 or has acquired it on his own before learning the style.

This is primarily a combat style.  Zumzack was an adventurer, and many of his heirs have followed the same profession.  Thus, many skills useful to the adventurer’s life can also be picked up by a student of the school.

Required Skills: Aerobatics; Body Sense; Flight; Innate Attack (Projectile); Teaching; Thaumatology.

Required Spells: Apportation; Flight (VH); Levitation; Poltergeist; Slow Fall; Winged Knife.

Perks: Enhanced Spell (Guided Winged Knife); Enhanced Spell (Increased Range Winged Knife); Fast Casting (Any); Gate Experience; Kill Switch (Any); Mighty Spell (Winged Knife); Missile Spell Mastery (Winged Knife); Reduced Footprint (Any).

Optional Traits

Attributes: Improved DX and HT.

Secondary Characteristic Modifiers: Improved FP.

Advantages: Combat Reflexes; Fit or Very Fit; High Pain Threshold; Night Vision.

Disadvantages: Impulsiveness; Overconfidence; Reputation (Belam cultist).

Skills: Gesture, Pickpocket; Shortsword; Smallsword; Stealth, Two-Handed Sword.

Spell List

For the most part, the Black Arrow School follows the standard prerequisite list.  There are some minor changes, listed below.  The style is very martial in focus, so there is a selection of excellent defensive spells and a few offensive ones.

Spell	Prerequisites
Apportation	Magery 1
Armor	Shield
Blink	Teleport
Clumsiness	Spasm
Conceal Magic	Magery 1, Detect Magic
Counterspell	Magery 1
Deflect Missile	Apportation
Detect Magic	None
Flight	Magery 2, Levitation
Frailty	Lend Energy
Glue	Haste
Grace	Clumsiness
Grease	Haste
Great Haste	IQ 11, Magery 1, and  Haste
Haste	None
Hawk Flight	Flight
Hinder	Haste or Clumsiness
Iron Arm	DX 11 and Resist Pain
Lend Energy	Magery 1
Levitation	Apportation
Lighten Burden	Apportation
Might	Lend Energy
Missile Shield	Deflect Missile and Shield
Pain	Spasm
Poltergeist	Apportation
Reflexes	Grace and Haste
Resist Pain	Magery 2 and Pain
Rooted Feet	Hinder
Share Energy	Lend Energy
Shield	Magery 2
Slow Fall	Apportation
Spasm	Itch
Stun	Pain
Teleport†	Hawk Flight
Trace Teleport	Teleport
Vigor	Frailty
Wallwalker	Apportation
Ward	Magery 1
Weakness	None
Winged Knife	Poltergeist

†: This spell’s prerequisites have been altered.

Notes

If the prerequisites seem a bit off, I've made some changes to the standard list in my houserules so they're consistent with that.  The Hawk Flight path for Teleport isn't really in there any more, but that's the path Zumzack used for it so it still exists for his heirs.

This is a school inspired by an ex-PC.  The real story here is I screwed up when I wrote it: the character Zumzack actually had an artifact-level arrow, but it was "The BRONZE Arrow", inspired by the Bronze Arrow of Law from the Elric books, not the Black Arrow. That ended up working out: Steve (his player) reminded me Zumzack was a Trickster, so it would make sense for him to leave his students a no-mana arrow and say "Only a true master can magic this!"  He probably died laughing.