The Great Arcanist Migration of 2026

Games Fabula Ultima
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Here’s what would be involved in migrating Mizzle to using the Variant Arcanist material from the playtest packet:

  • Class skill selections? Al I have is “Bind and Summon” and “Ritual Arcanism”, both of which remain unchanged.
  • Class benefits? I already took +5 MP and there’s no other listed benefits, so no changes.
  • Existing arcana? Revisions below

Mizzle has four Arcana. Let’s remap those.

The Grimoire (V2)

This is a straight-up switchover to Qilin.

Domains: changes from “knowledge, revelations, understanding” to “knowledge, prosperity, temperance”. This is probably fine, as all the ritual divination I’ve done can still fall under “knowledge” - “revelation” and “understanding” feel like synonyms.

Merge: I lose the ability to speak all languages, but I’m also okay turning that into a ritual! I haven’t used it outside of Miz’s backstory.

Dismiss: I lean heavily on this and it still works the same, so we’re good!

The Neko Monarch (V2)

This is a supplemental Arcanum from the publisher.

Domains: remains unchanged.

Merge: this just starts tracking a Meowgic Nyamber and so can probably remain unchanged.

SUGGESTED Pulse: “Shifting Fortunes. Choose one option: you perform a free attack with a weapon you have equipped; or you perform the Spell action for free, casting an offensive (O) spell with a total Mind Point cost of 10 or lower without paying its MP cost. If this attack or spell deals damage, you may consume the Meowgic Nyamber to change the damage type, as with the dismiss effect.”

This is the same as Kuzunoha’s Pulse effect, but interfacing with the Meowgic Nyamber mechanic rather than being fixed to bolt.

UPDATED Dismiss: drop the damage from 30 points to 20, in line with other AOE damage-on-dismiss effects from the playtest packet.

The Storm Crow (V2)

This is a reskin of a supplemental Arcanum from the publisher.

Domains: remains unchanged.

Merge: changes to “You have Resistance to air and bolt damage; additionally, you are immune to dazed.” Remove the part about learning traits - we move that down into Pulse.

SUGGESTED Pulse: “All-Seeing Sky. Choose air or bolt; you deal 15 damage of the chosen type to each of up to two enemies that you can see. For each time an enemy lost Hit Points this way, choose one option: the Game Master reveals one of that creature’s Traits; or, the Game Master reveals that creature’s Affinity to one damage type of your choice.”

The damage is in line with other arcana such as Caladrius, Enkidu, or Moroz. The idea behind moving the learning mechanic into the Pulse effect is to make actively using the Arcanum more important.

UPDATED Dismiss: reduce the damage of each of the air and bolt attacks to 15, keeping it in line with other single-target damage-on-dismiss effects.

Grandfather Oak (V2)

This is a renamed version of the published Oak Arcanum. It’s probably okay to keep this one as it is.

Domains: no changes.

Merge: no changes.

SUGGESTED Pulse: “Strength of Ages: Choose one option: you deal 15 earth damage to each of two enemies you can see; or one creature you can see recovers from all status effects.”

This is a modified version of the Pulse effect from Caladrius, the healing-type Arcanum from the packet.

UPDATED Dismiss: reduce healing by 10 points, to keep it in line with Caladrius.

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Some potential questions!

What if Miz gains both Caladrius and Grandfather Oak? Doesn’t that mean he has two identical Dismiss effects?

Maybe! One option here is to reduce Grandfather Oak’s healing, maybe making it single-target, but letting it also cleanse status effects.

Some of these Pulse or Dismiss effects talk about the Spell action. Does this affect the Acorn Pixie?

As far as I know, no, I can’t benefit from spells the Acorn Pixie casts. The text of Faithful Companion says: “Your companion doesn’t get an independent turn during conflicts, but you can use an action to have them perform an action (once per turn).” So this is not a Spell action.

Could there be a class skill or a heroic skill that lets me do this? Maybe?

What would Mizzle’s tactics be for using Pulses?

Right now, the Acorn Pixie does okay damage (HR+5). With Side By Side, it’s gonna get better (HR+10). So Pulse effects doing 15 points of damage are on par. BUT, SBS will give me MP back! So if Miz is low on MP, he’ll want to use the Pixie wherever possible to regain MP.

The trade-off really comes down to elemental affinities. More Pulses with specific elements give Miz more ability to exploit Vulnerability. If Miz doesn’t have an appropriate Arcanum to exploit a given enemy, the Pixie is the better bet. In other words, the right move is situational, making this a valid tactical choice.

3

Here’s another take on Grandfather Oak. It goes a little further afield, but uses the “accumulated token” mechanic of some published Arcana.

Grandfather Oak (V3)
Domains: earth, plants, poison
Merge: Grandfather’s Blessing
You gain Resistance to earth and poison damage and are immune to poisoned. Whenever you recover Hit Points or deal earth damage, gain 1 Acorn Point. When this Arcanum is dismissed, you lose all Acorn Points.
Pulse: Strength of Ages
Choose one option: you deal 15 earth damage to each of two enemies you can see; or one creature you can see recovers from all status effects.
Dismiss: Life’s Cycle
Choose one: deal an amount of earth damage equal to [5 + (number of Acorn Points you lost by dismissing this Arcanum, multiplied by 5)] every enemy you can see, or every ally recovers the same amount of Hit Points.

This is a little weaker than some other Arcanum, so I’m still working on it, but I think it’s an okay direction to go.

4

What it were “Knowledge, Temperance, Preservation?” Feels like it fits the picture we’ve built of the Grimoire a bit more to me than Prosperity, which also steps on the Neko Monarch’s domains a bit (not that overlap between the Arcana is a bad thing).

:+1:

While you didn’t touch on it, I also think Qilin’s Pulse fits the Grimoire well. Still not terribly helpful for you at the moment (no spells) but you’ve been making great use of the upgraded Insight die and the Dismiss effect, so probably fine.

So there’s a couple Pulses for the Neko Monarch kicking around the Fabula Ultima community. One of them is just “Roll all your Attribute dice. You can make the result of any of those rolls your Meowgic Nyamber,” but those folks are also 100% behind the Arcana’s “trade the enemy’s best rolls for your party’s worst” aspects, which isn’t something you’ve dove into too much.

That said, I wouldn’t be upset with the Pulse you’ve pitched with one change: “If that attack or spell deals damage and you have an meowgic nyamber, that damage changes based on your number: [same numbers as the dismiss effect].”

The standard for defensive Merge effects with the new Arcana is 1 Resistance and 1 Status Immunity, so probably just Resistance to Bolt damage and lose the resistance to air damage.

The suggested Pulse and Dismiss effects look good.

Agree on all points. Given how much Grandpa Oak has eaten Caladrius’ lunch, I’m just probably taking them off the menu (though I will probably figure out a place to use that Protective Gaze merge effect, since it looks cool).

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I copy-pasted some text that mentioned bolt but didn’t trim that part off. The intended outcome of my Pulse suggestion is “you make an attack, you can get a number from that, and also you can trade in an existing number to vary the damage type”. Sort of a roulette wheel of elements that culminates in the Dismiss effect. So I think we’re in alignment here.

Since this Merge is otherwise a straight downgrade, I’d like to ask for “Choose one: you are resistant to either air or bolt damage. In addition, you are immune to dazed”.

How about we take Grandfather Oak as suggested, and I do a revision to Caladrius that emphasizes the exorcism aspects?

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Caladrius (V2)

Domains: exorcism, healing, sunlight

Merge: unchanged.

Pulse: unchanged.

Dismiss: Justice and Mercy

Choose one option:

  • You deal 20 light damage to every enemy you can see. This damage ignores Resistances. Enemies that lose Hit Points due to this damage suffer shaken.
  • You and every ally present on the scene are safely removed from combat to a place of the GM’s choosing. Enemies from the conflict will not immediately know your new location, but can otherwise attempt to locate you again if they so desire.
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So did a bit more digging into the Storm Crow and someone actually made an updated version of Huginn & Muninn that got Fabula Ultima’s creator’s thumbs up, which I think is a good sign.

The Merge bonus retained “You have Resistance to air and bolt damage; additionally, you are immune to dazed,” which I think you’d appreciate. The Dismiss effect was also the same as we laid out. The Pulse, however, was very interesting.

Raven’s Glare (Pulse): Choose a creature you can see, then choose one option: the Game Master reveals one of that creature’s Traits; or the Game Master reveals that creature’s Affinity to one damage type of your choice. Until the start of your next turn, that creature suffers 5 extra damage from all sources.

Kind of makes a much more tactical and supportive option.

What do you think?

8

Yeah, I feel like there’s a duality that comes with the Arcanum which justifies it.

Unfortunately this feels kind of useless.

  • I can spend my action learning one single thing about one enemy - or I can just Study and you’ve seen how my dice go. The reason I wrote my Pulse the way I did was to potentially let me learn affinities from two different enemies, as long as I also spread my damage, but even that’s not an option here.
  • If I go first, then we have four player actions filled by my companions and then I go last on the next round, that’s at best +20 damage (or up to +30-ish if Saraid successfully counterattacks them). That’s situational and based on my party size; 5 total PCs would almost double that. But to max out that damage I need to commit to going last on the subsequent round, rather than (for example) jumping in with a clutch heal or something.

If that’s what you decide to go with, I can’t really say no, but it’ll probably not be a Pulse I ever use. Which is also okay in a way - we don’t have any Pulses now. :smiley:

9

That’s an aspect I hadn’t thought about. Definitely a limited bonus in a 3 PC group, much better with 4 or 5 PCs.

While I don’t want to make all of the Arcana “do damage of different affinities,” it’s probably better to start at the baseline with the existing ones and then branch out with new ones later on.

I’ve updated the four Arcana handouts in the Roll20 with these new mechanics (along with a couple name changes). Take a look at them and let me know if everything looks good and I didn’t slip up when formatting everything.

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Also, I’ve been alerted there is a typo in the Playtest packet separate from the Arcana: the Quick Summoning skill for the variant Arcanist is listed as only going up to level 2. It should be level 4 for a max reduction of 20 MP. (Funnily, there was also a typo in the Italian version of the doc… listing it as going up to level 6. Oops!)

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I’m actually excited by non-damaging effects. I’m just careful about suggesting them most of the time. Why?

  • The game seems to be very cautious about creating sustainability cycles, e.g. HP recovery that didn’t come from some expenditure of MP, or recovering IP without spending some other resource (I can think of like 3 things in the whole game that let me do this, for example). So it’s easy to write damaging effects but hard to write healing ones.
  • Given the choice between doing 30 damage or inflicting shaken or something, 30 damage will typically get me to the end of the fight faster, which is where I want to be. There’s a lot more value here when I can tie it to something else e.g. “shaken targets take more damage” or whatever, but what I’ve been doing here is fitting new Pulse effects into existing Arcana and trying not to disrupt them too much.
  • Unique effects lack the confidence of playtesting compared to effects that touch damage, healing, resistance, statuses, and other isolated mechanics
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If you’re okay with Caladrius V2 as posted, I’d actually like to use my original Grandfather Oak (with the healing dismiss effect), and not get into the Acorn Point version. The only reason I started on that version of Oak was to distinguish it from Caladrius as written.