BBaarrddiicc LLoorreeBBaarrddiicc LLoorreeThe journals of Amergin Ó Míl

Once, when I was but a lad in trouble, I ventured deepinto the forest, thinking like that I could escape thewrath of my mother. Needless to sayI became lost in no time, one treelooking much as the other. After Icalmed down, I decided to try tofind my way by the sounds; Ifigured if I could find the creek thatpassed near the town, then allwould be well. After what seemedto me like hours I had not found anytrace of the creek, and the sounds ofthe darkening forest began to fill mewith dread. I then heard anunknown yet constant bangingnoise, like metal on metal, andthinking I could not be any morelost than I already was, I decided tofollow it to its source. The forestthinned out little by little, andeventually I came across a standingstone. Taller than me at the time, itbore what looked to me like notchesmade by a child all along the edge ofthe stone. The notches were varied,some straight, some crooked, some tothe left, others to the right, and afew in geometric shapes. I had noidea what they meant, and after studying them for amoment, I continued on my way, realizing the

banging noise was coming from just up ahead.Through the trees I saw an old man, bent over a stone

similar to the one I’d just seen,hammering away with a chisel,creating notches much like those onthe standing stone. I watched himin rapture. I had no idea who hewas, but the care he took whencarving each notch told me he wascreating something for the ages.After a while, without turning, hesuddenly spoke, asking me if I wasgoing to remain in the trees allnight. I joined at his side and hesmiled. He said he knew I was akid, as adults cannot pass throughthe magical barrier of his oghamstone. I asked him what that was,ogham. I will never forget hiswords. He said, “Ogham is a giftfrom the Mother Goddess to herchildren, the druids. She gave it toher son, Oghma, the Danannwarrior-poet, and he in turn gave itto us. It is a language of nature, ofmagic. It is as deceptively simple assome notches on a rock, but it hidesthe secrets of creation.” I told him I

wanted to learn the secrets of ogham, thinking hewould do as every other adult around me had always

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Ogham

This product requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons,Third Edition Core Books, published by Wizards of the Coast Inc.

This product utilizes updated material from the v3.5 revision.

done, laugh and shoo me away. But he didn’t. He putdown the hammer and the chisel and looked at mewith eyes wise beyond time that I know could see intomy soul. “You are not a druid,” he said, and my heartsunk. “You are a bard, a fili, and you must fulfill thatdestiny first.” He reached into a pouch and pulled asmall stone with four notches carved on it. “This iscoll. It will help you on your studies. When you are afili come back to see me, and I will teach you then.” Heled me back to town, and to my mother, and went backinto the forest. It was twenty-two years before I wentback to study with Connor McCroghan, but he wasstill waiting for me, and indeed he taught me thesecrets of ogham. And it is in his honor and memorythat I created the ogham stone that today marks hisresting place.

—From the journal of Amergin Ó Míl

The Celtic lands hold an undisputable sway overthe realm of the imagination, especially the modernone, where the perceptions of what druids, bardsand faeries are have been greatly—if not wholly—shaped by the myths and literature of these places.Out of a combination of these two we also getogham writing, an alphabet written as a series ofnotches and straight lines carved on the edge of apiece of stone or wood, boasting a mundane andmythical origin with only a very thin line separatingboth.

The earliest examples of ogham (OH-am orOH-gam) date back to 2200 B.C.E., based onmarkings found in small chalk slabs in excavationsin southern England. Ogham evolved with theintroduction of the Latin alphabet to Ireland,adopting letters not found in the native Irishlanguage, and providing a limited outlet for Irishthought in the written form. Ogham seems to havefound its heyday between the 4th- to 8th-century,though the alphabet never truly disappears from the

landscape, with samples appearing in use as late asthe 19th century. Most surviving samples of oghamstones are to be found in the south of Ireland, inCounties Kerry (with a 1945 survey finding anamazing 121 markers) and Cork (81), with asmattering scattered around the rest of Ireland,Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Cornwall, Scotlandand Wales. Although ogham is not used on a day-to-day basis in modern times, the knowledge of thealphabet is still alive and widespread in Irelandtoday, a link to the island’s mythical past.

Ogham was used mostly for short inscriptions,often in the form of a name and a patronymic,marking memorials to the dead or the bordersbetween two lands, with some also honoring localdeities. Ogham is not a language used to recordevents or information, since the Celts trusted theseto the prodigious memories of their bards. Thoughthere is no concrete evidence that ogham was everused by the ancient druids as a kind of magicalwriting, the notion has been hard to dispel; thearcheologist R.A.S. Macalister, for example, as lateas the 1930s, proposed that ogham was part of thelanguage of ‘druidic freemasonry,’ and manymodern ‘druidic’ groups use ogham in this capacity.It would seem that the alphabet’s legendary originprovides the source for such beliefs.

As described in The Book of Ballymote,compiled circa 1390 C.E. in the Co. Sligo town ofBallymote, ogham is a creation of Oghma,orator-warrior of the Tuatha Dé Danann, divinepatron of poetry and eloquence, as a secret speechmeant only for the learned. Ogham was more likelya secret due to the fact that only druids had any usefor a written language, though a few outside of thedruidic class would be able to understand thesymbols. From The Book of Ballymote we also getthe key to understanding the ogham alphabet.

The most commonly acknowledged form ofIrish ogham is called the Beith-Luis-Nion, theBirch-Rowan-Ash, which takes its name from thefirst, second and fifth letters. There were originallytwenty letters, divided into four families called

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aicme (fifteen consonants and five vowels), eachwith five sounds. A fifth aicme was added laterbringing in five diphtongs, while some Britishinscriptions feature an upturned arrow as a symbolfor the letter ‘P,’ a letter, much like ‘Q’ or ‘Z,’ whichwas not used in the early Irish language and cameinto use via loanwords from Latin, Romance andScandinavian sources. Each ogham character isnamed after a tree, and though together they formwords, individually each letter carries a symboliclink to the tree it is named after. Ogham is writtenbottom to top, and always along a foundation linedcalled a druim, or principal ridge. All oghamcharacters are in contact with the druim, scribed oneither side or across the ridge. When writtenvertically (the traditional form), ogham is read frombelow to above, while when written horizontally,ogham is written and read from left to right. Inparticularly long vertical inscriptions, along adolmen, for example, the ogham would be readclockwise, starting at the bottom-left corner,continuing along the top stone, and coming downthe right.

The..Beith-Luis-NionThe accompaning chart shows the 25 ogham letters,along with their Irish name, rough pronunciationfrom the Irish, and associated tree. It is interestingto note that the last aicme, the diphthongs, arepresented in some ogham keys as representing theletters ‘K,’ ‘P,’ ‘V,’ ‘X’ and ‘W.’ To avoid confusion,we have included five new ogham characters (left)to represent these letters common in English,allowing you to create messages in a language otherthan Irish.

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Ogham Letter Ogham Name Pronunciation English Letter Tree name

H Beith Beh B Birch

D Luis Loo-ish L Rowan

T Fearn Fair-un F Alder

C Saille Sal-yeh S Willow

Q Nion Knee-un N Ash

B Huath Hoo-uh H Hawthorn

L Duir Der D Oak

N Tinne Tin-uh T Holly

F Coll Cull C Hazel

S Quert Kwert Q Apple

M Muin Muhn M Vine

G Gort Gor-it G Ivy

P Ngetal N-getal Ng Reed

Z Straif Strauff S Blackthorn

R Ruis Roo-ish R Elder

a Ailm All-em A White fir

O Ohn Un O Gorse

U Ur Or-uh U Heather

E Eadha Eh-tha E Poplar

I Idho I-tho I Yew

7 Éabhadh Evahd Ea

9 Ór Ohr Oi

0 Uilleann U-lenn Ia

8 Ifín Eh-feen Ui

6 Eamhancholl Evan-chol Ae

> Eite Eh-deh Start of Inscription Feather

- Spás Sbaws Space Space

Ogham MagicAs mentioned, most ogham inscriptions servedpractical purposes, and while hard archeologicalevidence has so far dispelled any notion that thedruids used ogham for magical purposes, there is noreason to place this restriction in your campaignworld. Here are various ways to incorporate oghaminto your game.

Druids, Bards and OghamPerhaps historical druids did not use ogham in amagical capacity, but fantasy druids wouldcertainly find ways to tap into the arcane power ofeach letter’s tree, turning ogham for druids intowhat Draconian is for arcane spellcasters, thelanguage of magic. The easiest way to incorporateogham into your campaign world is to make it thewritten form of the secret Druidic language,allowing druids to communicate with each other ina seemingly ordinary way. It is possible thatnon-druids may learn the ogham alphabet (mostlikely through the use of the Decipher Script skill,DC 20 or higher, depending on the complexity ofthe message), but where they would see a gravemarker for Connor the son of Croghan, a druidwould be able to naturally read “between the lines,”as it were, seeing not only the letters, but the treesymbolism and the mystical associations encodedin each, thus reading a completely differentmessage (and that’s before having to use readmagic to see if there is a spell encoded in the oghamas well).

Bards, by their very nature, end up picking alittle bit of everything, even things supposed to be asecret. In a Celtic, or Celtic-inspired campaign,where bards are intrinsically linked to the druids,members of this class would be able to learn to readand write ogham without much problem (addOgham to the list of allowable choices for the SpeakLanguage skill), as well as use it as a magical script.In campaigns where the bard doesn’t exactly followthe Celtic model, it would still be possible for her tolearn it, though prior exposure would be necessary,whether it is from a mentor, a book showing the

ogham key (such as a version of The Book ofBallymote), or from prior successful attemptsthrough the use of the Decipher Script skill (at leastthree successful skill checks with DCs of 25 orhigher) and a period of study as deemed appropriateby the Gamesmaster.

Regardless of the class variations in yourcampaign, we strongly suggest that ogham remain arather secret language, or at the very least themastery of it. Druids should be the undisputedmasters of ogham, with bards running a closesecond, but beyond that, if the language becomestoo widespread, it looses some of its mystique.

Ogham MarkersOnce a druid learns the magical capabilities ofogham, it is possible to use this knowledge for thecreation of magical ogham markers. It is suggestedthat the following feat be limited to druids, andperhaps to bards as well. The feat prerequisitesspecify that the character know the oghamlanguage; if you are using the option that ogham isthe written version of Druidic then there is no needfor further limitations. If ogham is a separatewritten language from Druidic, however, we onceagain restate our suggestion that ogham be kept assecret a language as possible.

The Scribe Ogham feat acts in some ways ascombination Scribe Scroll and Craft Wondrous Itemlimited to ogham markers. It signifies that thecharacter has managed to tap into the magic of theogham letters and learned how to imbue thecarvings with eldritch energies. Since it is thewriting that possesses the magic, any suitable stoneor wooden surface can be enchanted with magicalogham writing. Note that it is not necessary to havethis feat in order to write ogham; any character withknowledge of the language can do that, though,unless they have this feat, the ogham will be of amundane nature. Magical ogham writing seemsmundane to the untrained eye, revealing its hiddentreasure only to spellcasters trained in the oghamlanguage or those using a read magic spell. TheSpellcraft and Use Magical Device skills can be

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used as normal to decipher if an ogham marker hasa spell stored and what it is by treating the oghammarker as a scroll and adding +5 to the DC. Notethat these skills can only be used to decipher if theogham marker has a spell stored. In order to cast thespell stored the user must know ogham or cast readmagic.

Sample Ogham MarkersThough all our modern samples of ogham arecarved onto stone markers, there is enoughevidence that ogham was also carved onto wood.Furthermore, beyond the use of markers, oghamcontinued to be used in regular writing, withvarious samples of ogham messages turning up inbooks over the last few centuries, many of themnotes passed between readers.

Following are some sample greater oghammarkers for your campaign. Any character with theScribe Ogham feat may create any of these markersby following the rules as presented in the feat’sdescription. The GM may allow characters with theCraft Wondrous Item and knowledge of ogham tocreate these markers as well. All greater oghammarkers crafted using this method have a base priceof 1,000gp. This includes the cost of the surfaceupon which the ogham will be inscribed, plusmasterwork carving tools and the associatedmaterials for the incantations that will allow themarker to retain the magic. In addition, the markerincludes a material cost instead of the hp cost equalto its spell level x caster level x 40gp for lessermarkers, and spell level x caster level x 1,350gp.The time taken by crafters using the CraftWondrous Item feat is a minimum of one day per1,000gp of material cost; it is more difficult to craftthese markers for those who use generalizedknowledge as opposed to those who make craftingogham a life path.

In the case of ogham markers activated by acommand word, the word is usually hidden as partof the ogham inscription. A character who knowsogham can decipher the command word by makinga Decipher Script or Spellcraft skill check (DC 20),

In the graveyard surrounding the ruins ofKilmalkedar Church, in Co. Kerry, Ireland, standsan ogham stone with a small hole bored at the top.Local legends say that those wishing to seal adeal or a contract would go to the stone, touchfingers through the hole and state their sides ofthe bargain, swearing by the bones of theirancestors beneath their feet. This sealed thecompact, and should one party not keep theirpart, they would suffer a curse.

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or by the use of an analyze dweomer, identify orread magic spell. If using ogham as the writtenversion of Druidic, druid characters can identify thecommand word without any effort.

Ogham Stone of Binding Promise This type of greater ogham marker normally standsin a holy or hollowed area, be it near a church ortemple, a sacred grove, or in a graveyard. Theogham inscription typically bears the name of aperson with a great reputation for honest dealings,be they alive or dead. The stone also has a smallhole, about an inch wide, bored at the top of thestone, through which those wishing to make apledge touch fingers. Any two creatures that canunderstand each other that touch fingers through theogham stone’s hole and state and swear to their sideof the bargain are bound by magical forces to keepthe agreed compact. Should one of the parties breakthe deal made, as long as they are in the same plane,they suffer the effects of a bestow curse until theygo back and keep their side of the bargain. Once thevictim fulfills their side of the compact, the curseremains for an amount of time in days equal to thecreator’s caster level. The curse placed by thisogham stone cannot be dispelled by breakenchantment or remove curse, though a limitedwish, miracle or wish spell can end it. The maker ofthe ogham stone chooses what type of curse thevictim will suffer. Some of these ogham stones areenchanted with a lesser geas or geas spell instead.

Moderate necromancy; CL 7th; Scribe Ogham,bestow curse; Price NA; Weight 12 lbs.; Cost 1,008XP + 12 hp + 1,000 gp.

Moderate enchantment; CL 7th; Scribe Ogham,lesser geas; Price NA; Weight 12 lbs.; Cost 1,008XP +12 hp +1000 gp.

Moderate enchantment; CL 11th; ScribeOgham, geas; Price NA; Weight 18 lbs.; Cost 2,376XP +18 hp + 1,000 gp.

Ogham Stone of Land TitleScattered all over the land, this most common typeof ogham marker simply lists in its inscription thename of the owner of the land into which a traveleris crossing. Though not all of these ogham markers

are magical, a small number of them, in the lands ofdueling clans or prejudiced landlords, bearenchantments to keep particular targets fromcrossing.

The magic of this greater ogham marker laysdormant until a designated target approaches within30 feet. The ogham marker immediately expendsone charge, creating a force barrier 10 feet tall and30 feet wide to either side of the ogham marker thatlasts for four hours, plus two extra hours for everyextra charge expended before this time is up. Theforce barrier allows the passage of any creatureexcept those targeted by the enchantment. Theogham marker can also be activated by a commandword. At the end of the four hours, the oghammarker must recharge for one minute before beingable to expend a new charges in response to theapproach of a designated target, though newcharges can be expended immediately with thecommand word.

The maker of the ogham stone chooses at thetime of creation the marker’s target. This can be assimple as all members of a particular family, suchas the McGregors or O’Malleys (defined as allpeople directly related by blood a member of thisfamily), all members of a clan (defined as membersrelated by blood or service to the family bearing thename of the clan), or as inclusive as all members ofa particular gender or race. This ogham marker onlytargets living creatures; constructs, outsiders, plantsand undead cannot be designated as targets.

Strong Abjuration; CL 12th; Scribe Ogham,Extend Spell, antilife shell, contingency; Price NA;Weight 18 lbs; Cost 2,592 XP + 18 hp + 76,000 gp.

Ogham Stone of Protection These ogham stones can be found in a variety ofareas, bearing inscriptions ranging from names ofdruids and legendary heroes, to names of feyguardians or deities, to passages from epic poems ortraditional stories. The inscriptions always bear arelation to the type of protection offering by thistype of ogham stone. Ogham stones of protectioncan be enchanted with a variety of protective spellsas described below. These greater ogham markershave 50 charges when created, and each use

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expends one charge. These ogham stones generate aprotective bubble 30 ft. in radius that lasts for1 minute per caster level per charge expended.

Ogham stones of protection can be enchantedwith the following spells: antilife shell, antiplantshell, hide from animals, protection fromchaos/good/evil/law, protection from energy, repelmetal or stone, repel vermin, repel wood, sanctuary.

Antilife shell or repel wood:Moderate abjuration; CL 11th; Scribe Ogham,

antilife shell or repel wood; Price NA; Weight 18lbs.; Cost 2,376 XP +18 hp + 1,000 gp.

Antiplant shell or repel vermin:Moderate abjuration; CL 7th; Scribe Ogham,

antiplant shell or repel vermin; Price NA; Weight12 lbs.; Cost 1,008 XP + 12 hp + 1,000 gp.

Hide from animals, protection fromchaos/evil/good/law or sanctuary

Faint abjuration; CL 1st; Scribe Ogham, hidefrom animals, protection from chaos/evil/good/lawor sanctuary; Price NA; Weight 3 lbs.; Cost 36 XP+ 3 hp + 1,000 gp.

Protection from EnergyFaint abjuration; CL 5th; Scribe Ogham,

protection from energy; Price NA; Weight 9 lbs.;Cost 540 XP + 9 hp + 1,000 gp.

Repel metal or stoneStrong abjuration; CL 15th; Scribe Ogham,

repel metal or stone; Price NA; Weight 24 lbs.; Cost4,320 XP + 24 hp + 1,000 gp.

Tree Ogham Though all ogham inscriptions have mysticalassociations with the trees represented by eachogham letter, this type of greater ogham marker ismeant to specifically tap into the magic of anogham character and its tree. Each tree oghammarker aids in the casting of a particular type ofspell or spells, and in order for these to aid inspellcasting, they must be held as a focus, in effectbecoming an extra material component. A characterneeds to know the ogham language to use thesemarkers. Tree ogham markers can be carved onto awood surface at least a foot long, or stone surface atleast 6 inches long. The inscription is the ogham

representing the tree being tapped, plus arcanewords in Druidic. Newly created tree oghammarkers have 50 charges and each use inspellcasting, whether the spell is successfully castor not, expends one charge. Tree ogham markersmay not be combined with one another to cast thesame spell, though they can be combined withmetamagic feats as normal. Once all charges havebeen spent, the marker crumbles into dust.

The types of tree ogham markers that can becreated, and their effects, are as follows:

Beith: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell feat to all Enchantment spells.

Luis: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell feat to all Abjurations spells.

Fearn: provides the effects of a MaximizeSpell feat to all [fire] descriptor spells.

Saille: provides the effects of a MaximizeSpell feat to all [cold] and [water] descriptorspells.

Nion: provides the effects of an ExtendSpell feat to all Divination and Knowledgedomain spells.

Huath: when used as part of the casting ofa spell that targets one creature (not two ormore), that target must make a Will save (DC15) or suffer the effects of a bestow curse spell.The caster chooses at the moment what type ofcurse the victim will suffer.

Duir: provides the effects of a Still Spellfeat to any spell cast by a druid from his spelllist.

Tinne: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell feat to all Conjuration (healing) spells, orto all [death] descriptor spells.

Coll: provides the effects of a Silent Spellfeat to all Divination spells cast by a druid orbard, plus grants a +8 circumstance bonus to allKnowledge (or Bardic Knowledge) skill checksmade for an hour after expending a charge.

Quert: provides the effects of a MaximizeSpell feat to all Conjuration (healing) spells.

Muin: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell to any druidic spell dealing with plants.

Gort: provides the effects of an ExtendSpell to any Transmutation spell.

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Ngetal: provides the effects of a MaximizeSpell to any spell cast from a scroll or lesserogham marker.

Straif: this ogham is always carved on awalking staff of blackthorn wood, and providesthe effects of a Still Spell feat to anyConjuration spell cast by a wizard or sorcererfrom his spell list.

Ruis: provides the effects of an ExtendSpell to any Necromancy spell.

Ailm: provides the effects of an ExtendSpell and Heightened Spell to any Conjuration(creation) spell.

Ohn: provides the effects of a Spell Focusand Greater Spell Focus to any divine spell castin one school chosen at creation.

Ur: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell to any [earth] descriptor spell.

Eadha: provides the effects of a QuickenSpell to any spell from the Protection domainand to any spell with the word ‘protection’ in itsname, such as protection from elements,protection from arrows, etc.

Idho: provides the effects of an EmpowerSpell to any Evocation spell.

Beith, Luis, Tinne, Muin, Ur, and Idho oghammarkers

Strong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,Empower Spell; Price NA; Weight 2 lbs.; Cost1,440 XP + 9 hp +1,000 gp.

Fearn, Saille, Quert, and Ngetal ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Maximize Spell; Price NA; Weight 3 lbs.; Cost2,400 XP + 16 hp +1,000 gp.

Nion, Gort, Ruis, and Ailm ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Extend Spell; Price NA; Weight 1 lb.; Cost 480 XP+ 3 hp +1,000 gp.

Huath ogham markersStrong necromancy; CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Cursed Spell; Price NA; Weight 3 lbs.; Cost 2,400XP + 16 hp + 1,000 gp

Coll ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Silent Spell; Price NA; Weight 1 lb.;

Cost 480 XP + 3 hp + 1,000 gp.Duir and Straif ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Still Spell; Price NA; Weight 1 lb.; Cost 480 XP +3 hp +1,000 gp.

Ohn ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

creator must cast divine spells; Price NA; Cost1,440 XP + 9 hp +1,000 gp plus while the creatorloses access to one 4th level spell slot while the Ohnmarker exists.

Eadha ogham markersStrong (no school); CL 17th; Scribe Ogham,

Quicken Spell; Price NA; Cost 3,360 XP + 22 hp +1,000 gp.

New FeatsScribe Ogham [Item Creation]You can create lesser or greater magical oghamwritings.Prerequistes: Craft (Stonemasonry orWoodworking) 4 ranks, Ogham language, Casterlevel 3rd.Benefit: You can scribe an ogham marker of anyspell that you know, or craft any ogham markerwhose prerequisites you meet. Scribing orenchanting an ogham marker takes one day for 1st-to 3rd-level spells, two days for 4th- through 6th-level spells, and four days for 7th- through 9th-levelspells. Ogham markers can be made to be lesser oneuse magic items or a more powerful greater markerwith fifty uses.

Although not financially difficult for acharacter to create an ogham it draws upon thecharacter in the form of experience as well as thecontainment of life force.

To create a lesser ogham, the creator mustinvest an amount of XP equal to the caster level xspell level XP and invest a number of hp equal thelevel of spell stored. These hp are locked within thelesser ogham marking and will not heal by magicalor natural means. When a lesser ogham is activatedas a spell completion item or the magic of thelesser ogham is dispelled (which the creator can do

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at will), the invested hp return to the creator as longas the creator is still living. The weight of a lesserogham marker is negligible.

To create a greater ogham that replicates a spelleffect, the creator must invests an amount of XPequal to the caster level x spell level x 36 XP andinvest a number of hp equal to three times the levelof spell stored. These stored hp cannot be healed bymagical means (not even by a miracle or wish spell)and return to the caster naturally at a rate equal tothe half the caster’s Wis modifier (minimum 1) perweek as the Green, from which the power of oghammarkers springs, rejuvenates him. Any greaterogham marking must be carved onto a stone orwooden surface of weight equal to three pounds perlevel of spell it contains (0-level oghams count as ½spell level and thus weigh at least 1.5 lbs.). Themagic stored within a greater ogham has commandword activation.

Though rare, it is possible to create greaterogham markers that do not have a spell effect. Suchogham markers must have their cost estimatedusing the rules presented in the DMG. A playerwanting to create such an ogham must work withhis Gamesmaster to determine an appropriate baseprice. Ogham markers never have a gp cost but stillhave an XP cost equal to 1/25th the determined baseprice, and a hit point cost equivalent to 1 hp per 150XP needed. The hp cost of these markers alsoreturns at the rate described for other greater marks.These unconventional ogham markers have areduced effectiveness when compared to similaritems created with other Item Creation feats. Thebase price is also not affected by the modifier forbeing charged, as this a requirement of the objectbeing an ogham marker. The Tree Ogham markersabove are examples of a greater ogham marker thatdo not have a spell effect.

Some ogham markers incur extra costs inmaterial components or XP, as noted in the spell’sdescription or in the description of specific markers.These costs are in addition to those derived by thebasic ogham creation cost. You must expend fiftytimes the amount of these material components orpay fifty times the XP cost.

Cursed Spell [Metamagic]You can add a curse to the spells you cast.Prerequisites: Caster level 9th, bestow curse onspell listBenefit: You can modify a spell with a curse effect.The altered spell works normally in all respectsexcept the cursed spell causes those affected to becursed as per the bestow curse spell (DC 10 +1/caster level). The caster chooses the effects of thespell at the moment of casting. The curse lasts for1d4 hours in addition to the normal spell effect. Theeffects of this feat can be removed with a removecurse spell. A cursed spell uses up a spell slot threelevels higher than the spell’s actual level.

Revised Druid Spell ListIn order to be able to craft some of the precedingogham stones, and to be more in tune with thelegendary abilities of the Celtic druids, we suggestthe following spells be added to the druid spell listat the listed levels.

1st-level druid spells sanctuary

4th-level druid spellsbestow curselesser geas

6th-level druid spellscontingencygeas

LoreUse the information below whenever a bard rolls aBardic Knowledge check regarding ogham. At theGM's discretion, a Knowledge (History) skill checkcould be used to learn some of these facts as well(add +5 to the DC for Knowledge skill checks).

DC: Type of Knowledge10: Ogham is a language composed of notches

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made on stone or wood, each one symbolizing aletter and a tree.20: Ogham is the secret written language of thedruids. Though it has mundane uses, it also is alanguage of magic.25: Ogham is a gift from the divine poet-warriorOghma to the druids. Mystic knowledge of oghamallows druids to create magical ogham markerswith only the force of their wills.30: Those who master ogham can createinscriptions that tap into the Green to create effectsthat alter the very nature of magic.

Ogham ResourcesThere is a wealth of information on ogham on theweb, be it of a scholarly, archeological ormythological nature. Here are just a few interestinglinks.

Wikipedia: Ogham:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham - Quick andeasy info on ogham, plus some links.

Clark Curtis’ Celtic Ogham:http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/ogham - ClarkCurtis offers lots of ogham information, as well asa free Ogham TrueType font.

The Ogham Stone:http://ogham.lyberty.com - Intro to ogham andinformation resources.

The Book of Ballymote:http://www.isos.dias.ie - At this website, IrishScripts On Screen, you can see digital photos of theoriginal folio pages from the Book of Ballymote,our source for the key to ogham writing. Chooseyour language, make your way to the list ofcollections and choose the Royal Irish Academy.From there, scroll down to the Book of Ballymoteand click on it. Though you are free to see the wholebook, the pages featuring the ogham key anddozens of variations are folio pages 169 and 170.Be sure to check them out.

SourcesClark, Curtis. Celtic Ogham. 2003. California StatePolytechnic University, Pomona. 10 Mar. 2005<http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/ogham>.

Mackillop, James. Dictionary of Celtic Mythology.New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

“Ogham.” Wikipedia. 2005. Wikipedia, the freeencyclopedia 11 Mar. 2005<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogham>.

“ogham writing.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2005.Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service09 Mar. 2005 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9056828>.

Stepanich, Kisma K. Faery Wicca, Book One. St.Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

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