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Charmed RPG - Alternative
Charmed RPG - Alternative
Welcome
Hello and Welcome to my Charmed RPG site.
You can contact me at peregrine @ madasafish . com to say nice things or to send me the inevitable cease
and desist letter.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Introduction
In addition to being able to work magic with the help of their mother’s old spell book (the Book of Shadows) they each have a
particular power. Pru is telekinetic, and later learns to astral project. Piper has the ability to freeze time for a few moments. Phoebe can
see the future, like Cordelia in Angel but without the blinding headaches. Paige has the ability to ‘orb’, which is basically the power to
teleport herself. The three sisters are helped by a ‘Whitelighter’ called Leo, a form of guardian angel who also has the ability to orb and
to heal. Leo and Piper fall in love almost instantly, but still take at least four seasons to get together.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Characters
Creating Characters
Characters in Charmed follow the same basic mould as
those in Buffy and Angel. There may only be three
‘Charmed Ones’, but there are plenty of Witches. This
means your players could meet up with the Halliwell
sisters without messing with the canon of the show. So
you can have more than one ‘chosen one’ as witches are
not nearly as unique as slayers. While you could all be
Witches, there is also room for police detectives, helpful
supernatural entities, and even attractive next door
neighbours as player characters. It is up to the Director
as to how many Witches he will allow as player
characters. There is no hard and fast rule that limits this,
but remember Witches are still rare, so more than three is
probably too many. Including other character types in the
group would also give the party a wider range of skills
and abilities.
Attribute Points 15
Quality Points 15
Drawback Points Up to 10
Skill Points 25
Drama Points 10
Apart from that, character generation is very much the same. Obviously you can’t choose qualities like
‘Slayer’ or ‘Watcher’, but there are plenty more to choose from. Some qualities may still work statistically
in Charmed, but with a different name and background. For instance, you may allow an occult scholar to
take the Watcher quality to represent his experience with the occult, even though he isn’t actually a ‘Watcher’. The ‘Slayer’ quality
could be a convenient quality to assign to a powerful demon fighter; they just won’t be ‘the chosen one’. The ‘Initiative Agent’ quality
would suit any member of a military task force. Feel free to add a few more qualities to the list when running a Charmed game. You
will probably think of quite a few more, such as ‘Owns a club’ (which would be a 5 point quality, and if it begins to fail it could become
a 2 point drawback). However, there are one or two qualities (old and new) that we need to review in greater detail.
Whitelighters are the guardian angels of the Charmed world. They usually look out for Witches, but also keep an eye on those with the
potential to join their ranks. All Whitelighters have lived before, and died peacefully, but are under orders not to try and reconnect with
their old life. This is usually not a problem, as they lived content lives and rarely have any old business to continue. They have chosen to
return to help people in need, not carry on where they left off. It is suggested that this quality is used for NPC’s rather than player
characters. Whitelighters get messages from beyond that are helpful to guide the Witches, but have many demands on their time. In the
show, Leo (the Halliwell’s Whitelighter) often pops up to tell them the plot, and then vanishes off so they have to deal with it alone.
They are usually there to heal and offer advice, but not get involved. Having said that, as the series goes on, Leo becomes a more
definite part of the group and could easily be considered a player character. This quality costs 12 points, and grants the power to orb
and heal in the same way as a Witch. However, it grants no power to cast spells or use sorcery. In addition they are able to speak to
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Characters
any of their ‘charges’ in a language they understand (although they don’t get this ability with anyone else) and know when they are in
trouble or need help.
While most of the systems in Buffy work perfectly well for Charmed, the sorcery quality does need a few adjustments. Firstly, you
must be born a Witch, so if you don’t take the Witch quality (see below) you can’t get sorcery any other way. Well, not without selling
your soul or something similar anyway. Once you have the quality you can improve it as much as you like. The other downside is that
you do not get telekinesis as a bonus power for having sorcery. All it does is grant its usual bonus for spell casting and magic use.
However, those points were not wasted, as unlike ‘Buffy tVS’, only someone with the sorcery quality can cast spells at all. It doesn’t
matter how many books you read, in Charmed; you need to have the gift.
So if you choose to be a Witch, how does it work? The Witch quality costs 12 points and grants you one level of sorcery and a power
(see below). By the way, a Witch doesn’t have to be female either; a male Witch is just fine. This doesn’t give a Witch many more
Quality points to play with, but those are the breaks. If you want more sorcery you can improve your level with more character points
should you wish. The powers come in all shapes and sizes; many are already available in the Buffy game. However, you can only take
one power with the Witch quality, and no others at any other point in character generation. As your sorcery levels become more
powerful you may be able to take a second power as your primary power develops. However, you’ll have to wait a while for that.
Some powers may require you to make a dice roll to activate them, which we’ll call a ‘power roll’. Regardless of what the rulebook
may usually suggest, you should use Willpower and your sorcery quality rating plus 1D10. Using your sorcery quality means you do not
need a separate skill for your power, which also means it can only improve as your sorcery improves.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Magic
Charming Enchantments
Statistically, magic in Charmed and Buffy are pretty much
the same. There are no rules adjustments that need to be
made at all. Once you know a spell you can cast it as
often as you like as long as you can beat its power level
with your casting roll. However, the styles of the two are
very different. Firstly, as mentioned before, while anyone
can cast a spell in Buffy, only a Witch can use magic in
Charmed. There is nothing to stop someone gaining a
purely academic knowledge of magic in a Charmed
game, but they can never cast an actual spell. So there is
far less written about magic in the Charmed world, and
far fewer ‘magical tomes’. Charmed magic is also very
ritualistic, and more cookery oriented. Many spells
requires ingredients and components that often need
boiling together to the right consistency. However, there
are plenty of low-level spells that only require wrapping
some personal possession in the right leaf.
There are less direct power spells in Charmed. Rarely does any spell allow you to cast flaming bolt of energy. A Witch’s special power
allows her to use direct magic, so Charmed sorcery is a little more subtle. Most spells are used to destroy or vanquish a particular
demon or entity. This means a Charmed Witch often needs to invent more spells than a Buffy one. Each time the Charmed Witch meets
a new adversary she needs a new spell to defeat it. So it is not very often that she is able to use any spells she has already crafted and
researched. If a Witch wanted to use a spell on an enemy, she often needs to craft it into a potion. Such a potion is made before she
expects to deal with the bad guy, and then thrown at them when they are confronted. Often the potion just primes the target for the
spell, and a verse still needs to be recited to cast the spell. This may be a little unwieldy, but does allow the Charmed Witch to blast her
enemies with magical power. The Director should call for a casting roll when the potion is made, but not tell the Witch if it is a success.
The Witch shouldn’t know if her potion is right until she uses it. However, if they rolled high, they will know that there is a good chance
it will work. Another casting roll may be required when the potion is used, but if the potion is a failure the spell won’t work.
Magic in Charmed has less of an occult feel, and works more like asking a Genie for wishes. It tends to give you precisely what you
asked for, so you need to be careful with your question. Just as in Buffy, misfires can occur in Charmed, and with alarming frequency.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Magic
They seem to happen more frequently in Charmed, but are not quite so dangerous. You may wish to add a few side effects to any spell
that only just succeeds, although the spell should still work. You may also wish to make things less dangerous for Charmed misfires.
Charmed magic seems less of a powerful dangerous force, and more a strict mother. Misfires often teach the Witch in question a lesson
about the flippant use of power, much in the way a Genie may pervert the spirit of a wish. For instance, when Pru wants to understand
men, she gets turned into one. When Phoebe gets a flying power, she is unable to land. Magic is not an exact science, just like in Buffy.
However, spell misfires tend to teach the caster a lesson rather than harm them or cause real danger. The danger comes from fighting
evil when you are not at you best.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Powers
The Powers
Each Witch gets a particular power with which to fight
the forces of evil. It is linked to her sorcery quality, but
the loss of the power does not always deprive her of the
ability to cast spells. However the power provides a
quick and more convenient weapon than spell casting.
The Witch gets no choice about what her power will be,
it is simply something she is born with. A non Witch
could take a power quality as some form of natural talent.
However, they should stick to something ‘psychic’ like
Empathy or Telekinesis, as Time Freezing and the like is
harder to rationalise for a non Witch/Demon. If you have
taken a power as a talent rather than part of the witch
quality, you should use the system from the Buffy rules as
it stands. The Buffy Corebook and Monster Smackdown
have a variety of powers and abilities for characters and
demons that convert easily to a Charmed style. However,
for it is worth putting rules to the Halliwell’s powers so
you can use them in your own game with your own
characters.
Precognition (Phoebe) - Use the ‘Psychic Visions’ quality but for a more active power the Director may
allow the character to make a power roll to gain impressions from objects and people.
Time Freezing (Piper) - The use of this power requires a power roll, with the success level determining the
amount of people affected. For each two success levels achieved, one person is frozen in time for a minute.
If you roll well, you can use extra success levels to lengthen the time of the freeze. For each additional two
success levels you may add an extra minute of time. However, success levels can only be use to freeze
people or add to their time, not both. Many powerful Demons are immune to this power, also Warlocks modify the roll by -3 and all
Demons modify it by -5. For instance, Piper wants to Freeze her Warlock assailant. Her willpower is 7 and her sorcery level is only 2.
She rolls a 7 giving her a total of 16, but as her opponent is a Warlock the roll is modified by -3 for 13, a success level of 3. Luckily
she only needed 2 success levels to freeze one person, so the Warlock stops for 1 minute. If he hadn’t been a Warlock, she would
have gained 4 success levels and been able to keep him frozen for an extra minute, or frozen a second person.
Orb (Paige/Leo) – This power functions just like Teleport, but with pretty blue lights. It requires a power roll to activate, but luckily
failure just means it doesn’t work. This is not a power that will put you in a wall. It is possible but extremely difficult to Orb between
magical dimensions but apart from that most places are fair game. The Director will set higher difficulties for attempts to cross greater
distances. To give you a baseline, crossing a city should be a pretty average use of the power. The only proviso for using this power is
having at least some idea about where you are going. You must have been there before, or at least have a very good idea about where
it is. Saying ‘I’ll Orb to the bad guy’s lair’ is no use at all unless you know where it is. An ‘Orber’ can also teleport items into their
hands that are in their line of sight by calling them, such as the gun the bad guy is pointing at you. This requires you to be able to say the
name of the item aloud and make a power roll with a -2 penalty.
Healing (Leo) - This power is usually a power for a Whitelighter but it can be a Witch power as well. The mechanics are simple; it
costs one life point to heal someone of two life points worth of damage. You must decide how many points you wish to use before
making the roll. Then you need to get one success level for every ten life points you wish to heal. Failure costs you two life points, but
does allow you to try again. Of course, this only works for your friends. So the Witch with this power may also heal herself at a rate of
one life point each round. However, this counts as an action.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Powers
Upgraded Powers
Upon gaining her Sixth level of the Sorcery quality, a Witch may gain another power. It costs 15 experience points to gain a new
power, which must have some sort of relation to her original power. Whenever making a power roll for the second power, treat the
sorcery quality as if it was five levels lower than it is. The second power is never as strong as the primary one. Gaining a third power is
up to the Director, but shouldn’t even be considered without a Sorcery quality of at least twelve.
Astral Projection (Pru) – A secondary power to Telekinesis, this power allows the Witch to leave her body and become
insubstantial. While using this power the witch appears to pass out and remains unaware of what is going on around her body.
However any feelings of pain will register and allow her to return. While projecting the Witch moves twice as fast as normal and may
pass through walls and other mundane barriers. She is invisible to most people, but may become visible by making a power roll, and it
takes another roll for her to be able to be heard. She may never become substantial, or use other powers through her astral form. At
any time she may return instantly to her body, with no more effect that feeling a bit groggy as if just woken up.
Vanquishing (Piper) – The advance for a Time Freezing Witch is the ability to blast demons back to hell. Each success level gained
when using this power does 10 points of damage to a demon. However, if that isn’t enough to destroy the evil creature, the damage is
not applied. This power will not work on anything that isn’t a Hell creature, and many of the more powerful ones are immune to the
power, or at least very resistant. In such cases grant them more life points whenever this power is used on them.
Empathy (Phoebe) - This advance to precognition is detailed in 'The Magic Box' supplement for Buffy.
Other Powers
The Buffy and Angel games both offer more options for new Witch powers. The following can be found in the Buffy and Angel books
and work pretty much as they are for new Witch powers, Disembody, Flight, Hypnosis, Illusion (level 1 – level 2 as upgrade),
Influence, Regeneration and Telepathy. Some of these powers are fully detailed as player character qualities, and others are demon
abilities. Some are quite potent and should only be allowed as upgrade powers. The rules in the Angel Corebook for creating demons
may also be a useful source for more powers.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Bad Guys
Bad Guys
Even though a lot of Charmed seems to focus on the
social lives and relationships of the Halliwell sisters, they
are also in the bad guy fighting business. Lined up against
them are the forces of evil and the minions of Hell, much
in the same way as in Buffy. Each episode pits the
Halliwells against a new and dangerous bad guy. These
are usually Warlocks and Demons, but have also
included the ‘one offs’ like Leprechauns, Dream
Sorcerers and Ghosts that any Buffy fan is familiar with.
You will find that with a bit of adaptation, pretty much
any Buffy villain will fit into a Charmed game. Having said
that, Vampires were a little different, but as they
appeared in only one episode of Charmed you are better
off just checking that episode out. It won’t be too much
of a hardship as Paige makes a very good looking
bloodsucker (which is not surprising for one of Marilyn
Manson’s ex-girlfriends). However, before you go off to
check out Monster Smackdown for your Charmed
game, there are two particular enemies that need a bit
more detail. The Warlocks and Demons are the most common foes faced by any group of Witches, so pay
attention.
Evil Witches are just that, Witches that are bad and nasty through and through. Again, there is no need for them to be female, although
most seem to be in the show. The difference between an evil Witch and a Warlock is that while a Witch may be bad, she is not a
servant of Hell. Think of her as a freelancer, going about her business of causing evil and pain to further her own selfish ends. Hell
doesn’t mind, as the more evil in the world the better. However, now and again Hell and an evil Witch may find themselves working
against each other to get what they want. At times like these the fight can get very nasty indeed, as neither side is very good at
compromise or sharing. Evil Witches tend to be less reliant on their powers, but truly powerful with their spells. So they often try to
keep away from the good guys and curse them from afar. Many also invest a lot of power in artefacts, like a wand. Often they put so
much energy and essence into these artefacts that their loss can sometimes render them almost powerless.
Demons
In Buffy, Demons are simply extra-planer beings. Some are good, some bad, some weird and some human. In Charmed, they are
almost the complete opposite. Every Demon is a creature of Hell, and evil to the core, but they all look frighteningly normal. You need
not always be born a Demon. Some very special humans impress Hell enough to invest them with demonic power. Sometimes a human
who has given up their soul for such power can be redeemed, but this is very rare indeed. In Charmed, Cole is such an example, and
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Bad Guys
several seasons on we are still not sure if he can be trusted. So in general, Witches should have no problem with killing demons, as they
are doing the world a favour. There is no ambiguity; Demons are bad and only capable of evil.
Demons in Charmed, all look human, there are no horns and forked tails in Charmed. A few of the more powerful ones may have
glowing eyes or taloned fingers, but such things are subtle and easily concealed. All demons are adept at taking human form and are
very hard to spot in the crowd. So much of the Witches work is trying to uncover the demons in their midst before they can try to
destroy them.
The hierarchy of Hell is very strict, and demons must work their way up it. Each demon takes such power as they are able to hold
onto, and seeks to gain more. The higher up the scale a demon is, the more powers they will have and the more resistant to magic they
will be. The greatest demon of them all is called ‘The Source’. This demon is invested with the source of all evil, and is an
extraordinarily powerful demonic being. You are best off leaving him to the Charmed ones. They had their own way of dealing with
him, once they’d finished kissing him that is.
If I don't get told to take this site down, I may produce some stats for the various bad guys the Charmed ones have faced. In the
meantime the Buffy and Angel RPGs have more than enough nasties that are ripe for vanquishing.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Campaigns
As in Buffy, the adventures themselves usually focus on helping people against the forces of darkness.
Usually someone is being preyed upon by a creature of Hell, and needs the characters to vanquish it. The
characters need to try to figure out what they are up against and how to destroy it. All the while they also
need to protect the innocent victim, who is still the target of the Warlock or Demon. Sometimes the bad guy
will see the Witches as a bigger prize and go after them directly. In the early seasons of Charmed, the plot
arcs were often more about the sister’s social lives instead of demonic ‘Big Bads’. However in later seasons
their battles against ‘The Source’ became similar to the Buffy style. If anything, Charmed is really more like
Angel, but a lot less dark. You can’t erase evil from the world; some things are too big to destroy.
However, you can make sure the plans of the dark never come to fruition, even if it means helping every
victim one at a time.
Charmed is about more than just fighting the minions of Hell. It focuses a lot more on the characters as
fallible human beings. As such they often don’t want to keep their powers, and try to hold onto a normal life.
This is something Buffy and any Slayer can surely sympathise with. However, as Witches are not as powerful as a Slayer (or a mega-
Willow) they need to rely on outside help a lot more. There are people they can trust their secret with, and enlist their help. Usually this
is because the person in question saw too much and had to be told. However, many are prepared to help in whatever way they can.
There is more of a team feeling to a Charmed game, as everyone (Witch or not) is as powerful as anyone else. After all, evil is
everybody’s problem, not just the Slayer’s.
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - The Sisters Three
The Sisters
It wouldn't be right to have done all these RPG notes, without doing stats for the characters in the show. So
follow the links below to see my suggestions for the characters. If I get really organised I'll add more of the
supporting characters as well.
Pru Piper
Halliwell Halliwell
(Shannon (Holly-Marie
Doherty) Combes)
Phoebe Paige
Halliwell Matthews
(Alyssa Millano) (Rose McGowan)
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Pru Halliwell
Pru Halliwell
Character Type: Telekinetic Witch
Life Points: 43
Drama Points: 10
Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Constitution 4
Intelligence 4
Perception 3
Willpower 5
Qualities
Artist
Attractiveness +3
Fast Reaction time
Hard to Kill 3
Nerves of Steel
Resources (Well off) 2 (as an Antique Dealer)
Witch (Powers: Telekinesis, Astral Projection)
Drawbacks
Adversary (Various) 5
Dependants (her sisters) 2
Honorable (Serious) 2
Obligation (Protect her family) 1
Skills
Acrobatics 2
Art 4
Computers 2
Crime 1
Doctor 0
Driving 2
Getting Medieval 0
Gun Fu 0
Influence 4
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 1
Languages 2
Mr. Fix-It 0
Notice 5
Occultism 4
Science 2
Sports 1
Wild Card (Antiques) 5
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Pru Halliwell
Kick 3 6 Bash
Dodge 5 None Defense action
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Piper Halliwell
Piper Halliwell
Character Type: Temporal Witch
Life Points: 49
Drama Points: 10
Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Constitution 4
Intelligence 3
Perception 5
Willpower 3
Qualities
Attractiveness +3
Club Owner (P3)
Contacts (Clubs and Restaranteurs) 4
Fast Reaction time
Hard to Kill 5
Resources (Varies depending on club)
Witch (Powers: Time Freeze, Vanquishing)
Drawbacks
Adversary (Various) 5
Love (Leo)
Obligation (look after family)
Skills
Acrobatics 2
Art 1
Computers 1
Crime 0
Doctor 2
Driving 2
Getting Medieval 2
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 2
Kung Fu 0
Languages 0
Mr. Fix-It 2
Notice 3
Occultism 5
Science 2
Sports 0
Wild Card (Cooking) 5
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Piper Halliwell
Dodge 5 None Defense action
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Phoebe Haliwell
Phoebe
Halliwell
Character Type: Precognitive Witch
Life Points: 47
Drama Points: 10
Attributes
Strength 3
Dexterity 5
Constitution 4
Intelligence 3
Perception 3
Willpower 2
Qualities
Attractiveness +3
Fast Reaction time
Hard to Kill 5
Resources (Well off) 2 (as an agony aunt)
Witch (Powers: Precognition, Empathy)
Drawbacks
Adversary (Various) 5
Covetous (Mild) Greed
Love (Tragic)
Skills
Acrobatics 4
Art 0
Computers 0
Crime 0
Doctor 0
Driving 2
Getting Medieval 0
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 2
Kung Fu 5
Languages 0
Mr. Fix-It 0
Notice 2
Occultism 4
Science 1
Sports 0
Wild Card (Fashion) 3
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Phoebe Haliwell
Kick 9 8 Bash
Dodge 9 None Defense action
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29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Paige Matthews
Paige
Matthews
Character Type: Half Whitelighter
Life Points: 45
Drama Points: 10
Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Constitution 3
Intelligence 2
Perception 4
Willpower 3
Qualities
Attractiveness +3
Contacts (Alternative Scene) 2
Hard to Kill 5
Resources (Well off) 2 (as a social worker)
Witch (Power: Orb)
Drawbacks
Adversary (Various) 5
Covetous (Mild) Lecherous
Resources (Hurting) -2 (when unemployed)
Skills
Acrobatics 3
Art 1
Computers 4
Crime 3
Doctor 0
Driving 2
Getting Medieval 0
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 2
Kung Fu 2
Languages 0
Mr. Fix-It 1
Notice 5
Occultism 3
Science 1
Sports 0
Wild Card (Music) 3
…madasafish.com/…/spaige.htm 1/2
29.04.2011 Charmed RPG - Paige Matthews
Kick 4 6 Bash
Dodge 6 None Defense action
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