Wytch-Guard Contracts

There are a few ways for those without formal wizard-education to get access to magical abilities. You can make a pact with an Arch-Fey or Demon, you can try drugs or other illicit substances, you can try mixing a few raw-spells together and/or other generally unpredictable and likely dangerous methods.


You can also become a Wytchguard. It's not safe, but it is predictable.

See, Wizards are a different sort of noble-folk on their own. Court-mages and War-mages alike don't have to worry about food, shelter, or any of the peasant-needs that drive the rest of the populace.

To become a wizard though, you need to spend at least* half your life studying the Arcane Language.

But all that time exercising your brain to prepare it for the raw elements of creation leaves many wizards and would-be-wizards frail, delicate bodies in need of protection.

That's where you come in.

The Wizard Colleges, wealthy as they are in influence and power, often find themselves rather lacking in monetary currency (spell components can be expensive after all).

However, they do find themselves rich in spells and the ways of magic.

How it All Works 

A wizard in need posts a job to the town caller or job-board, if one exists. Say, a mage wants their apprentice to go make some etchings of an ancient language in a nearby, monster-filled ruin. Sure, they could just hire some adventurers to do it directly in exchange for the promise of "future favors", but wizards are notoriously paranoid and suspicious, even of their own apprentices.

There may be a short interview process, but the mage probably doesn't care terribly much about the life of their apprentice and so they may simply approve the first group that applies.

An interested party, experienced or not, contacts the wizard. The wizard draws up a contract with some law-magic. Maybe there's some negotiation, but wizards are notoriously stubborn. The terms vary with the legal-expertise and cruelty of the wizard, but typically looks something like the following:

1. You agree to protect the life of the person of interest until a certain condition has been met.
2. In exchange, the magic in the contract etches a rune in your brain that allows the raw-casting or empowerment of spells without the aid of a scroll or other magical implement.
3. If you violate the contract or fail the job, the rune "burns out" and you lose the abilities (Magic-Dice, to the GLOG-informed), become worse at casting spells due to the fire-headaches, and your sword-hand becomes blackened and shriveled and unusable.

That's pretty much the crux of it. Protect this person- get the ability to cast spells from your head or get better at it if you already can. Lose a hand and the magic dice if you fail.

You can only benefit from a Wytchguard contract once, though once you complete it you keep the mind-rune (magic dice) forever. Once you've proven yourself by completing your first Contract, you will likely be sought out by one of the many traditional mercenary-wizard knight orders. They always seem to be in need for more capable recruits and perform more involved tasks for powerful wizards in return for rare-spells and knowledge.

If you want even more spells you can try to form a Wytchguard Order or company of your own, but the established Wytchguard organizations frown upon the possibility of even more competition.


Failed Wytch-guardians typically take to becoming beggars and drunks. If you do see what looks to be a capable adventurer with a black and shriveled hand or one-arm, you should probably listen to what they have to say carefully, as unwise mercenaries without a sword-hand don't tend to live long.

Art by Bruno Leblanc

d20 Wytchguard Company Names (organically sourced from the OSR discord)

1. Order of the Staff
2. Order of the Cloak 
3. Order of the Scroll
4. Order of the Knuckle-Bones
5. Order of the Sigil
6. Order of the Arcane-Eye
7. Order of the Sword-Flesh
8. Order of the Dimension-Door
9. The War-Rune Consortium
10. The Octarine Watchmen
11. The Unseen Union
12. The Extra-Mundane Legion
13. Spell-Sword Legate
14. Tongue-Holders
15. Living Corpse-Bone Society
16. Guild of Wizardly Gentlemen
17. Conjurers of Cheap-Tricks
18. Fraternity of the Pointed-Hat
19. Mr. Bigby's Society of Barbers, Surgeons, and Wizardly Assistants.
20. Lady Darby's Company of Discrete Arcane Assistance

Plot Threads:

• A wizard puts out a call for a Wytchguard contract. They want guards for their familiar, an ornery blink-dog, while the wizard goes on vacation. The wizards rivals will probably all try to kill the dog and the dog will do it's best to escape.
• A Wytchguard Company reaches out to a group that's recently completed their first contracts. They offer magical blades in return for maps and magical reagents collected from a nearby cave. The cave is shrouded in an ancient zone of anti-magic and guarded by an undead ettin with both a ghoul-head and a ghost-head.
• Rumor has it that there's a one-armed blademaster searching for new pupils to teach her unique art. She lives on the top of a dangerous nearby mountain that's home to several vulture-drakes and harpies, but failed wytch-guards might be the perfect students.