Kelleris
Explorer
[/lurk]
My campaign has gone on a hiatus for the time being, giving me a chance to finally ponder the setting in a systematic way rather than simply improvising as I go along. :\ One of my bigger projects in this regard is adding to the flavor and distinction of the traditions of magic - I have seven of them. The biggest problem is coming from the Wizard; I want it to be more research-oriented and with a fuller sense of getting somewhere as a discipline through this research.
Anyway, Wizards. Part of my problem is easily solved; I plan to introduce players to older, less efficient spells in-game, like a fireball that only goes out to medium range or a magic missile spell from days of yore that only does d4s.
The state of the art of magecraft is at something of a stand right now; there haven't been any major revolutionary advances for a while, so as to avoid spell power creep. Of course, the PCs may make some kind of breakthrough of this sort themselves, but that's a flumph of a different color.
However, I also want this research thing to be forward-looking and more immediately useful. The spells in the PHB and elsewhere represent the "standard-issue" versions of those spells, purified of any idiosyncrasies that would make them impossible for the vast majority of wizards to cast. However, spell research also allows players to improve these standardized spells by adapting them to the uniquenesses of their body, mind, and soul. Essentially, it is possible to research a spell that is always cast with a metamagic feat-like bonus, but still takes up the same level slot. For example, you could have Melisander's Sweeping Immolation, a custom fireball that is always Widened as per the feat. Only Melisander (and probably his clones and eidolons) would be able to cast this improved spell.
I want a system that allows for this sort of thing, and is paid for via gold piece costs and time expenditure. The actual research should involve Knowledge (arcana) and other applicable skill checks, and the casting, I'm thinking, will require a Spellcraft check to make the proper modifcations.
The problem is, I'm having trouble generating a good system. I've been using the metamagic feat rods in the DMG and Tome and Blood as a base, but I'm still not sure how to take into account the skill checks, time spent researching, and so forth. I'd like the system to be able to cover Wizards from 1st to 20th, so that it's a pretty pervasive class feature (as I intend).
Any help, O erudite posters?
P.S. If you aren't sure, please err on the side of "too powerful" - it's easier to entice them and then nerf it than the other way around.
P.P.S. Aaargh! I had to type all that twice!
Stupid automatic sign-out! I feel your pain, O person who has read my long post. 
My campaign has gone on a hiatus for the time being, giving me a chance to finally ponder the setting in a systematic way rather than simply improvising as I go along. :\ One of my bigger projects in this regard is adding to the flavor and distinction of the traditions of magic - I have seven of them. The biggest problem is coming from the Wizard; I want it to be more research-oriented and with a fuller sense of getting somewhere as a discipline through this research.
[excursus]
Magic in my setting is a way of manipulating the instabilities of natural and physical laws created when they morphic nature of a plane comes into contact with either the Far Realm or Limbo, depending on where you are in the cosmology. The seven traditions of magic I mentioned all have a somewhat different relation to the "planar static" so created and use it to affect reality (with two exceptions).
Sorcerers and Wilders practice blood magic, an instinctive and hereditary ability to sense static and manipulate it. I have fiddled with the Sorcerer class so all Sorcerers have an intermediate bloodline.
Psions and Psychic Warriors are able to mentally disrupt the area around them and create low levels of static that they use for their effects. They tend to be chaotic, as they have made a career out of warping reality. I also require psionic characters to rename their powers to something more creative than energy blast variant #47 or yet another crystal thingy.
Druids, Clerics, Rangers, and Paladins all practice the ability to use the fundamental morphic nature of a plane to their advantage, acting as a proxy for their deities' ability to alter reality and shaping it as best they can.
Monks and Ascetics (an altered and rennamed Psychic from the Green Ronin book) use a poorly-understood manipulation of the ambient static that relies on the mysterious use of ki. Ascetics are to Druids as Monks are to Rangers.
Alienists (a revised version of the Chaos Mage from Mongoose's Quint Chaos Mage book) cause gross distortions of reality by bleeding the Far Realm or Limbo directly into a more stable plane. Bards in my game have historically had an odd relation with Alienists; they are sort of the almost accepted version of the Alienist. Alienists tend to be insane, and their form of magic can have obviously disasterous consequences, so this is the Forbidden Tradition.
[/excursus]
Magic in my setting is a way of manipulating the instabilities of natural and physical laws created when they morphic nature of a plane comes into contact with either the Far Realm or Limbo, depending on where you are in the cosmology. The seven traditions of magic I mentioned all have a somewhat different relation to the "planar static" so created and use it to affect reality (with two exceptions).
Sorcerers and Wilders practice blood magic, an instinctive and hereditary ability to sense static and manipulate it. I have fiddled with the Sorcerer class so all Sorcerers have an intermediate bloodline.
Psions and Psychic Warriors are able to mentally disrupt the area around them and create low levels of static that they use for their effects. They tend to be chaotic, as they have made a career out of warping reality. I also require psionic characters to rename their powers to something more creative than energy blast variant #47 or yet another crystal thingy.
Druids, Clerics, Rangers, and Paladins all practice the ability to use the fundamental morphic nature of a plane to their advantage, acting as a proxy for their deities' ability to alter reality and shaping it as best they can.
Monks and Ascetics (an altered and rennamed Psychic from the Green Ronin book) use a poorly-understood manipulation of the ambient static that relies on the mysterious use of ki. Ascetics are to Druids as Monks are to Rangers.
Alienists (a revised version of the Chaos Mage from Mongoose's Quint Chaos Mage book) cause gross distortions of reality by bleeding the Far Realm or Limbo directly into a more stable plane. Bards in my game have historically had an odd relation with Alienists; they are sort of the almost accepted version of the Alienist. Alienists tend to be insane, and their form of magic can have obviously disasterous consequences, so this is the Forbidden Tradition.
[/excursus]
Anyway, Wizards. Part of my problem is easily solved; I plan to introduce players to older, less efficient spells in-game, like a fireball that only goes out to medium range or a magic missile spell from days of yore that only does d4s.
The state of the art of magecraft is at something of a stand right now; there haven't been any major revolutionary advances for a while, so as to avoid spell power creep. Of course, the PCs may make some kind of breakthrough of this sort themselves, but that's a flumph of a different color.
However, I also want this research thing to be forward-looking and more immediately useful. The spells in the PHB and elsewhere represent the "standard-issue" versions of those spells, purified of any idiosyncrasies that would make them impossible for the vast majority of wizards to cast. However, spell research also allows players to improve these standardized spells by adapting them to the uniquenesses of their body, mind, and soul. Essentially, it is possible to research a spell that is always cast with a metamagic feat-like bonus, but still takes up the same level slot. For example, you could have Melisander's Sweeping Immolation, a custom fireball that is always Widened as per the feat. Only Melisander (and probably his clones and eidolons) would be able to cast this improved spell.
I want a system that allows for this sort of thing, and is paid for via gold piece costs and time expenditure. The actual research should involve Knowledge (arcana) and other applicable skill checks, and the casting, I'm thinking, will require a Spellcraft check to make the proper modifcations.
The problem is, I'm having trouble generating a good system. I've been using the metamagic feat rods in the DMG and Tome and Blood as a base, but I'm still not sure how to take into account the skill checks, time spent researching, and so forth. I'd like the system to be able to cover Wizards from 1st to 20th, so that it's a pretty pervasive class feature (as I intend).
Any help, O erudite posters?
P.S. If you aren't sure, please err on the side of "too powerful" - it's easier to entice them and then nerf it than the other way around.
P.P.S. Aaargh! I had to type all that twice!
Stupid automatic sign-out! I feel your pain, O person who has read my long post.
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