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A Few Thoughts on a New Magic System
- Thread starter johndaw16
- Start date
Occhronustinrist
First Post
Example Systems
I run a 3.5 Forgotten Realms Campaign and use a combination of the Elements of Magic Rules and the "Slayers" rules for magic. This is a long post, but adopting and adapting the following two systems should meet your needs.
1. For your wizard requirements, I highly recommend the Elements of Magic (EOM) and Lycian Arcana (LA) published by EN Publishing. They are PDF downloads and thus are very inexpensive. I have established that magic system for my game's wizards. The factors of that system that really sold me are the use of magic points, the separation of magic into separate learned fields, the highly flexible counterspelling rules, and the kewl ritual magic rules.
a. Magic Points. The magic points rules in EOM work well for me because it allows a progressive recuperation of spell points over a period of hours, not days. I have never been comfortable with the spell preparation rules and the requirement that a spellcaster rest for 8 hours to cast spells...etc., etc. In this system, I simply allow a character to recoup their expended spell points at 10% per hour of not casting spells. Complete rest is not a requirement for me as I believe that it creates an unneccessary time mechanic. There is no requirement to prepare spells ahead of time, but all spells are now a full round action. The exception to this rule is a limited number of "signature spells" that represent a pool of "practiced" spells that can be cast as standard actions.
b. Fields of Magic. In EOM, spells are no longer solely one-size-fits-all. Spells are now a combination of "actions" and "effects", for example "Abjure" and "Fire". Spellcasters gain access to increasing numbers of action and effect combinations as they advance in level, which nicely represents their growing understanding of magic. As they develop, casters will be able to combine effects to cast more and more complex spells. One example would be combining Evoke Ice, Evoke Death, Evoke Time, and Dispel Magic (a skill, not a spell!) to encase your opponent in a block of ice that slowly drains them of levels, ages them and is resistant to dispelling by their allies. The visual effects of your spells are extremely flexible, so you could conceiveably cast the spell so the spell seems to contian them in what appears to be a block of frozen carbonite. (Note: this would still require a significantly high level to pull off, but the flexibility is near-perfect.) Traditional spells can still be cast, as conversions are simple as well.
c. Counterspelling. As aluded to above, counterspelling is available through the use of the dispel magic skill. Scry and Spellcraft are also key skills to have. The addition of Magic Points applied to these skills is what enables meta effects such as dispel magic, anti magic, scrying, and counterspelling. Again, very flexible.
d. Ritual Magic is covered in Lycean Arcana, but it allows any caster to expend MPs over a long period of time to generate effects that they could not normally generate in one round, kind of like a magical capacitor. It even has well-thought out rules for collaborative casting and the like.
2. I have included the table of contents below
Table of Contents
Introduction to Elements of Magic..3
So What’s Changed?............................. 3
Differences from the Original
Edition .................................................... 4
Conversion Issues ................................. 4
Iconic Mages ........................................... 4
Layout........................................................ 4
Chapter 1: Magical Classes..............5
Mage.......................................................... 5
Mageknight............................................. 9
Taskmage...............................................10
Skill Revisions .......................................12
Magic Feats............................................12
Chapter 2: Spell Elements .............17
Spellcasting Basics..............................17
Magic Points..........................................17
Caster Level ..........................................18
Spell Lists ...............................................19
Action Types.......................................19
Effect Categories...............................19
The Categories of Elements ...........20
Magical Skills.....................................20
Spellcasting ...........................................20
Magical Traditions...............................22
Learning Spells.....................................23
Spell Expertise and Mastery ............24
Magical Elements ................................24
Elemental Relations .........................24
Chapter 3: Spells ............................27
Spell Basics ............................................27
Spell Enhancements...........................28
Magical Skills.........................................29
Abjure [Alignment], [Creature],
or [Element]........................................30
Enhancements ..................................30
Hex............................................................32
Enhancements ..................................33
Sample Abjure and Hex Spells.......35
Charm [Creature].................................36
Enhancements ..................................39
Sample Charm Spells.......................39
Compel [Creature]...............................40
Enhancements ..................................42
Sample Compel Spells.....................43
Create [Element]..................................43
Enhancements ..................................44
Sample Create Spells .......................47
Dispel Magic (Magical Skill, Cha) ...48
Counterspell.......................................49
Dispel...................................................50
Antimagic...........................................50
Overmaster ........................................51
Dispel Magic and Non-
EOM Magic ......................................51
Sample Dispel Magic Spells ...........52
Divination (Magical Skill, Wis) .........52
Translate.............................................53
Questions ...........................................53
Evoke [Alignment] or [Element].....54
Enhancements ..................................54
Sample Evoke Spells.........................59
Heal [Alignment] or [Element]........60
Sample Heal Spells...........................62
Illusion [Element] ................................63
Resisting Illusions .............................65
Enhancements ..................................65
Sample Illusion Spells......................66
Infuse [Alignment] or [Element] ....67
Enhancements ..................................68
Drain [Element] ....................................69
Move [Element]....................................70
Sample Move Spells .........................73
Scry (Magical Skill, Wis)......................74
Remote Viewing................................74
Remote Casting.................................75
Special Vision.....................................75
Sample Scry Spells............................75
Spellcraft (Magical Skill, Int).............76
Identify Magic ...................................76
Summon [Creature]............................77
Enhancements ..................................78
Transform [Creature] or [Element] 78
Enhancements ..................................81
Sample Transform Spells ................83
Chapter 4: Magic Items..................84
Magic Item Creation...........................84
Charged Items...................................85
Wondrous Items................................87
Permanent Spells..............................87
Sample Items.....................................89
3. For sorcerors, use a separate magic system. One I highly recommend is the Slayers Role Playing System based off of the Anime of the same name. The rules work beautifully for sorcerors and I have adapted that system for all sorceror-style classes in my game (including Bards and such). The only limit on the number of spells a caster can achieve per day is how much nonlethal damage they can sustain from channeling spells. A good review can be found at the following link: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10275.phtml
4. Making Divine Magic different from Arcane is covered in Lycean Arcana, but I am still trying to determine a more effective way of doing this. Clerics basically have the same spell system as wizards. For inspiration, I am considering an adaptation of the Faith Points system outlined in Mongoose Publishing's Quinessential Paladin book.
Hope This Helps,
-
I run a 3.5 Forgotten Realms Campaign and use a combination of the Elements of Magic Rules and the "Slayers" rules for magic. This is a long post, but adopting and adapting the following two systems should meet your needs.
1. For your wizard requirements, I highly recommend the Elements of Magic (EOM) and Lycian Arcana (LA) published by EN Publishing. They are PDF downloads and thus are very inexpensive. I have established that magic system for my game's wizards. The factors of that system that really sold me are the use of magic points, the separation of magic into separate learned fields, the highly flexible counterspelling rules, and the kewl ritual magic rules.
a. Magic Points. The magic points rules in EOM work well for me because it allows a progressive recuperation of spell points over a period of hours, not days. I have never been comfortable with the spell preparation rules and the requirement that a spellcaster rest for 8 hours to cast spells...etc., etc. In this system, I simply allow a character to recoup their expended spell points at 10% per hour of not casting spells. Complete rest is not a requirement for me as I believe that it creates an unneccessary time mechanic. There is no requirement to prepare spells ahead of time, but all spells are now a full round action. The exception to this rule is a limited number of "signature spells" that represent a pool of "practiced" spells that can be cast as standard actions.
b. Fields of Magic. In EOM, spells are no longer solely one-size-fits-all. Spells are now a combination of "actions" and "effects", for example "Abjure" and "Fire". Spellcasters gain access to increasing numbers of action and effect combinations as they advance in level, which nicely represents their growing understanding of magic. As they develop, casters will be able to combine effects to cast more and more complex spells. One example would be combining Evoke Ice, Evoke Death, Evoke Time, and Dispel Magic (a skill, not a spell!) to encase your opponent in a block of ice that slowly drains them of levels, ages them and is resistant to dispelling by their allies. The visual effects of your spells are extremely flexible, so you could conceiveably cast the spell so the spell seems to contian them in what appears to be a block of frozen carbonite. (Note: this would still require a significantly high level to pull off, but the flexibility is near-perfect.) Traditional spells can still be cast, as conversions are simple as well.
c. Counterspelling. As aluded to above, counterspelling is available through the use of the dispel magic skill. Scry and Spellcraft are also key skills to have. The addition of Magic Points applied to these skills is what enables meta effects such as dispel magic, anti magic, scrying, and counterspelling. Again, very flexible.
d. Ritual Magic is covered in Lycean Arcana, but it allows any caster to expend MPs over a long period of time to generate effects that they could not normally generate in one round, kind of like a magical capacitor. It even has well-thought out rules for collaborative casting and the like.
2. I have included the table of contents below
Table of Contents
Introduction to Elements of Magic..3
So What’s Changed?............................. 3
Differences from the Original
Edition .................................................... 4
Conversion Issues ................................. 4
Iconic Mages ........................................... 4
Layout........................................................ 4
Chapter 1: Magical Classes..............5
Mage.......................................................... 5
Mageknight............................................. 9
Taskmage...............................................10
Skill Revisions .......................................12
Magic Feats............................................12
Chapter 2: Spell Elements .............17
Spellcasting Basics..............................17
Magic Points..........................................17
Caster Level ..........................................18
Spell Lists ...............................................19
Action Types.......................................19
Effect Categories...............................19
The Categories of Elements ...........20
Magical Skills.....................................20
Spellcasting ...........................................20
Magical Traditions...............................22
Learning Spells.....................................23
Spell Expertise and Mastery ............24
Magical Elements ................................24
Elemental Relations .........................24
Chapter 3: Spells ............................27
Spell Basics ............................................27
Spell Enhancements...........................28
Magical Skills.........................................29
Abjure [Alignment], [Creature],
or [Element]........................................30
Enhancements ..................................30
Hex............................................................32
Enhancements ..................................33
Sample Abjure and Hex Spells.......35
Charm [Creature].................................36
Enhancements ..................................39
Sample Charm Spells.......................39
Compel [Creature]...............................40
Enhancements ..................................42
Sample Compel Spells.....................43
Create [Element]..................................43
Enhancements ..................................44
Sample Create Spells .......................47
Dispel Magic (Magical Skill, Cha) ...48
Counterspell.......................................49
Dispel...................................................50
Antimagic...........................................50
Overmaster ........................................51
Dispel Magic and Non-
EOM Magic ......................................51
Sample Dispel Magic Spells ...........52
Divination (Magical Skill, Wis) .........52
Translate.............................................53
Questions ...........................................53
Evoke [Alignment] or [Element].....54
Enhancements ..................................54
Sample Evoke Spells.........................59
Heal [Alignment] or [Element]........60
Sample Heal Spells...........................62
Illusion [Element] ................................63
Resisting Illusions .............................65
Enhancements ..................................65
Sample Illusion Spells......................66
Infuse [Alignment] or [Element] ....67
Enhancements ..................................68
Drain [Element] ....................................69
Move [Element]....................................70
Sample Move Spells .........................73
Scry (Magical Skill, Wis)......................74
Remote Viewing................................74
Remote Casting.................................75
Special Vision.....................................75
Sample Scry Spells............................75
Spellcraft (Magical Skill, Int).............76
Identify Magic ...................................76
Summon [Creature]............................77
Enhancements ..................................78
Transform [Creature] or [Element] 78
Enhancements ..................................81
Sample Transform Spells ................83
Chapter 4: Magic Items..................84
Magic Item Creation...........................84
Charged Items...................................85
Wondrous Items................................87
Permanent Spells..............................87
Sample Items.....................................89
3. For sorcerors, use a separate magic system. One I highly recommend is the Slayers Role Playing System based off of the Anime of the same name. The rules work beautifully for sorcerors and I have adapted that system for all sorceror-style classes in my game (including Bards and such). The only limit on the number of spells a caster can achieve per day is how much nonlethal damage they can sustain from channeling spells. A good review can be found at the following link: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10275.phtml
4. Making Divine Magic different from Arcane is covered in Lycean Arcana, but I am still trying to determine a more effective way of doing this. Clerics basically have the same spell system as wizards. For inspiration, I am considering an adaptation of the Faith Points system outlined in Mongoose Publishing's Quinessential Paladin book.
Hope This Helps,
-
Well I've been really surprised by the awesome feedback thats coming my way. As is I'm pretty swamped by exams and am struggling to keep my head above water so I don't have much time to devote to this project right now. But I've read whats been said so far and the concept of MP's keeps popping up. I'm assuming that MP stands for Magic Points ??? Anyways it'd be helpful if I had clue as to what this is or how it works. Any books you could point me towards that I could read to educate myself ?? Anyways thats all I can muster for now. Once again thanks for all the responses.
John
P.S. One thing I almost forgot, I'm thinking the DC for the roll to cast a specific Intercession is going to be 5 + Spell Lvl. Sooooo....For example asking for the Intercession Destruction (arbitrary cleric spell choice) would be 5 + 7 for a DC 12. So the cleric attempting this would need to roll as D20 add his Wis. mod. and get a 12 or better. Assuming an average PC cleric of say 10th lvl. is trying to cast this and has a +4 Wis. modifier an 8 or above on the roll is needed. That gives the PC cleric roughly a 35% of failure. If he fails the roll no more Destructions can be asked for that day. Do you think that chance of failure is appropriate considering a cleric with a great set of rolls could possibly cast 3 or 4 in a row before failing ? Or should I bump the base DC up some, possibly to a 7 + spell level ??
John
P.S. One thing I almost forgot, I'm thinking the DC for the roll to cast a specific Intercession is going to be 5 + Spell Lvl. Sooooo....For example asking for the Intercession Destruction (arbitrary cleric spell choice) would be 5 + 7 for a DC 12. So the cleric attempting this would need to roll as D20 add his Wis. mod. and get a 12 or better. Assuming an average PC cleric of say 10th lvl. is trying to cast this and has a +4 Wis. modifier an 8 or above on the roll is needed. That gives the PC cleric roughly a 35% of failure. If he fails the roll no more Destructions can be asked for that day. Do you think that chance of failure is appropriate considering a cleric with a great set of rolls could possibly cast 3 or 4 in a row before failing ? Or should I bump the base DC up some, possibly to a 7 + spell level ??
Ok so instead of writing a take home final essay I'm goofing off dreaming up magic systems for DnD. Academics what ?? 
Anyways on to things other than my academic apathy.
I have read and reread all of the suggestions on arcane magic. I've also gone through a bunch of my books looking at different treatments of magic and alternative/optional rules. What I've come up with after all of this has been a rough framework for how I think I want my new magic system to work.
I decided that I really wanted to bring out the different schools of magic already built into the system. I have already done this in my D20 game so it wasn't too hard to come up with something. First off I went about relating each school to an appropriate mental attribute, instead of just making magic entirely an excercise of ones Intelligence. Here's the break down:
Conjuration, Illusion and Enchantment => Charisma
Abjuration and Divination => Wisdom
All other schools => Intelligence
One minor problem I have with this is the inclusion of Conjuration with Cha. The school almost entirely fits well with the theme except for the Healing/Teleportation subschools, neither of these make sense as Cha. based. So does it makes sense to move the Healing and Teleportation into another school of magic ? If so which school ? Or should I just move Conjuration from the Charisma bracket ?
I like this idea but I'm not sure how it will actually effect spellcasting. Like I said this is just a rough framework.
One way I'm going to emphasize the difficulty of magic is to make the mastery of all magical schools more difficult and to encourage specialization. In my world magic is mysterious and difficult and endlessly varied, knowing a little bit of everything is hard to do and may not even be a wise decision. Knowing this detail I've decided that beginning wizards will not know the full range magical schools instead they will choose between 3 or 4 beginning schools. As a wizards progresses in levels they will gain access to the remaining schools of magic, probably a new school at every even level.
I'm going to keep spells basically split into two types, one type will be a lot like current spells in DnD, I'll call them Prepared Spells. The concept behind Prepared Spells is that magic to some degree in my world is much like a science, it has rules and laws that have been studied and learned by the world. By manipulating and working with magic within the prescribed rules a wizard can produce fantastic effects. The hallmarks of Prepared Spells will be a longer casting time, inclusion of material components, longer duration, and less variability in effects. Simple Prepared Spells of 1st-3rd level will probably look almost identical to current spells of the same level with the exception of changes in material components.
In contrast to spells of this careful studied nature are spells molded by the sheer will of the wizard. Magic is present in everything and available to a wizard to use as they like. However, harnessing magic without regard for the rules under which it operates is a costly and risky task. Spells created in this manner will make up the second type, I'll call them Woven Spells. Woven Spells represent magical effects created by a wizard who simply gathers the latent magical energy of the environment to him/her and weaves it into a tangible effect. Hallmarks of Woven Spells will be spontaneity, faster casting times, shorter durations, variable effects, and personal costs (i.e. damage, drain, etc. etc.). I think I will use some sort of rules similar to the ones Occhronustinrist described from EOM. I really like the idea of spells being built from different components of actions and effects. A wizards ability to weave spells will increase as their level increases representing a greater understanding and familiarity with magic.
Prepared Spells and Woven Spells appeal to me for a couple of reasons. First off they each in their own way stress the fact that magic is not as simple as memorizing a scroll and popping off a spell. Either you learn the painstaking rules that govern magic or you pay the painful costs of throwing magic around. Woven spells at high levels by allowing creative combinations of actions and effects will hopefully create a system with a high degree of flexibility for a high level caster. Prepared Spells will utilize material components to a high degree and the higher level Prepared Spells will require rare components worth the effort to get. Hopefully I can refine all of this a great deal more and give it a try. I want to see what works and what doesn't and see if I can find any points that will create unnecessary complication. Simplicity is a virtue in this case I think. A custom magic system is nice but I won't have anyone using it if it's too hard to learn. There's still a lot I have to do for this system but I think I have an ok start. More suggestions would be helpful, especially any ideas on the implementation of all of this stuff.
John
Anyways on to things other than my academic apathy. I have read and reread all of the suggestions on arcane magic. I've also gone through a bunch of my books looking at different treatments of magic and alternative/optional rules. What I've come up with after all of this has been a rough framework for how I think I want my new magic system to work.
I decided that I really wanted to bring out the different schools of magic already built into the system. I have already done this in my D20 game so it wasn't too hard to come up with something. First off I went about relating each school to an appropriate mental attribute, instead of just making magic entirely an excercise of ones Intelligence. Here's the break down:
Conjuration, Illusion and Enchantment => Charisma
Abjuration and Divination => Wisdom
All other schools => Intelligence
One minor problem I have with this is the inclusion of Conjuration with Cha. The school almost entirely fits well with the theme except for the Healing/Teleportation subschools, neither of these make sense as Cha. based. So does it makes sense to move the Healing and Teleportation into another school of magic ? If so which school ? Or should I just move Conjuration from the Charisma bracket ?
I like this idea but I'm not sure how it will actually effect spellcasting. Like I said this is just a rough framework.
One way I'm going to emphasize the difficulty of magic is to make the mastery of all magical schools more difficult and to encourage specialization. In my world magic is mysterious and difficult and endlessly varied, knowing a little bit of everything is hard to do and may not even be a wise decision. Knowing this detail I've decided that beginning wizards will not know the full range magical schools instead they will choose between 3 or 4 beginning schools. As a wizards progresses in levels they will gain access to the remaining schools of magic, probably a new school at every even level.
I'm going to keep spells basically split into two types, one type will be a lot like current spells in DnD, I'll call them Prepared Spells. The concept behind Prepared Spells is that magic to some degree in my world is much like a science, it has rules and laws that have been studied and learned by the world. By manipulating and working with magic within the prescribed rules a wizard can produce fantastic effects. The hallmarks of Prepared Spells will be a longer casting time, inclusion of material components, longer duration, and less variability in effects. Simple Prepared Spells of 1st-3rd level will probably look almost identical to current spells of the same level with the exception of changes in material components.
In contrast to spells of this careful studied nature are spells molded by the sheer will of the wizard. Magic is present in everything and available to a wizard to use as they like. However, harnessing magic without regard for the rules under which it operates is a costly and risky task. Spells created in this manner will make up the second type, I'll call them Woven Spells. Woven Spells represent magical effects created by a wizard who simply gathers the latent magical energy of the environment to him/her and weaves it into a tangible effect. Hallmarks of Woven Spells will be spontaneity, faster casting times, shorter durations, variable effects, and personal costs (i.e. damage, drain, etc. etc.). I think I will use some sort of rules similar to the ones Occhronustinrist described from EOM. I really like the idea of spells being built from different components of actions and effects. A wizards ability to weave spells will increase as their level increases representing a greater understanding and familiarity with magic.
Prepared Spells and Woven Spells appeal to me for a couple of reasons. First off they each in their own way stress the fact that magic is not as simple as memorizing a scroll and popping off a spell. Either you learn the painstaking rules that govern magic or you pay the painful costs of throwing magic around. Woven spells at high levels by allowing creative combinations of actions and effects will hopefully create a system with a high degree of flexibility for a high level caster. Prepared Spells will utilize material components to a high degree and the higher level Prepared Spells will require rare components worth the effort to get. Hopefully I can refine all of this a great deal more and give it a try. I want to see what works and what doesn't and see if I can find any points that will create unnecessary complication. Simplicity is a virtue in this case I think. A custom magic system is nice but I won't have anyone using it if it's too hard to learn. There's still a lot I have to do for this system but I think I have an ok start. More suggestions would be helpful, especially any ideas on the implementation of all of this stuff.
John
Occhronustinrist
First Post
Further Recommendations
Alright so here's even more stuff for this homebrew system of mine.
First off a few broader campaign things to note that I've firmly decided on so far. First of them being the elimination of sorcerers as a class. I simply don't feel that they fit well in my world, and as a second arcane caster I don't think they're necessary. The new system will change much of what it is to be a "typical" wizard and I don't think the inclusion of sorcs. would add much at all. Secondly, I've decided to keep bards around. I'm partial to them and have a bit of an irrational nostaligic attachtment to them (my first PC was a bard). That said I'll hopefully figure out where they fit in the grand scheme of things magically eventually. Lastly I know that my campaign is going to be on the lighter side when it comes to gods of any substantial power. This means that Prayers and Intercessions to a certain degree will be customized to reflect each god. Keep in mind though that certain simple universal divine spells will remain constant and unchanged regardless of the diety, for example things like Cure/Inflict spells.
On to some more mechanical goodness though. So for Woven Spells I really like the idea of using a mechanic similar to what was described in the EOM. Along that vein a Woven Spell will consist of a combination of a Weave and an Effect. An Effect must always be paired with a Weave, on a strict 1:1 ratio; however Weaves may in some cases stand alone.
Weaves will basically consist of the different schools and sub-schools of magic from the PHB. So far possible Weaves to choose from are (alternate names I'm mulling over are in parantheses):
-Abjuration
-Calling
-Creation
-Summoning
-Teleportation
-Divination
-Charm
-Compulsion
-Evocation (Evoke)
-Healing
-Figment
-Glamer
-Pattern
-Phantasm
-Shadow (Shades)
-Necromancy
-Transmutation (Transmute)
Whatever weave the wizard uses will largely determine the character of the spell and its implications when cast. Hence an Evoke weave would draw upon magical energy to form a wall of fire OR a Transmute weave would alter a real object's true nature, etc. etc.
Effects must always be paired with a weave. Effects will determine the details of the spell mostly, and narrow down what the wizard is applying the magical weave to. For example the Effect Elements (Primary:Fire) applied to an Evoke Weave could make a Woven spell similar to a Fireball or Wall of Fire. When I started this list I basically started looking at the descriptor list from the PHB and ran my way down it. Here's what I've gotten so far...
-Elements (Primary) (this effect set encompasses any air, earth, fire, and water effects)
-Elements (Compound) (this effect set encompasses any acid, cold, electricity, and sonic effects)
-Light & Darkness (not sure what I should actually name this group)
-Death
-Evil
-Fear
-Force
-Good
-Lawful
-Mind-Affecting
This is by no means an exhaustive list of effects. I hope to come up with a wider range pretty soon. Ideally I'd like to keep the list of weaves and effects to a reasonable size for the sake of simplicity and ease of use.
As to how these two things would actually work to create unique spells on the fly by a wizard I've yet to completely figure out. What I'm thinking of is the Weave well determine which Ability score (Int., Wis., or Cha.) will be applied to the weaving of the spell. The Weave specified will operate in one of the manners included in the Weaves description. Following that the application of an Effect would further narrow down the tangible results of the spell. To cast the spell successfully I imagine there will be a check similar to Spellcraft (or something???) if successful the spell acts as desired, on a failure the caster would pay a penalty for the strain of channeling the magical energy. On a botch or miserable failure unexpected loss of control or wild magic effects could happen.
The DC of the check will largely be determined by the caster and what he/she chooses to attempt. The factors would mainly include things like number of damage dice, number of targets, range etc. etc. I'm getting worried that this could be getting a bit too complicated so I'm going to really need time to mull this over and try some actual examples out. If I do choose this route for how Woven spells behave I'll definately keep some key aspects fixed to represent the basic nature of what a Woven spell. The two things off-hand that spring to mind that will always remain the same are the casting time and duration for Woven spells. As a way of eliminating complexity I'm thinking I'll make some other factors constant but if I do that too much the flexibility of the system right now would be ruined.
Well that was a whole ton of stuff, not sure if it's all that coherant but that just reflects how my brain is working right now. Occhronustinrist I really appreciate the comments and I'm seriously considering about buying EoM but I am poor and I really like doing things on my own so I may not. Keep the comments coming though for sure. Thanks a TON.
John
First off a few broader campaign things to note that I've firmly decided on so far. First of them being the elimination of sorcerers as a class. I simply don't feel that they fit well in my world, and as a second arcane caster I don't think they're necessary. The new system will change much of what it is to be a "typical" wizard and I don't think the inclusion of sorcs. would add much at all. Secondly, I've decided to keep bards around. I'm partial to them and have a bit of an irrational nostaligic attachtment to them (my first PC was a bard). That said I'll hopefully figure out where they fit in the grand scheme of things magically eventually. Lastly I know that my campaign is going to be on the lighter side when it comes to gods of any substantial power. This means that Prayers and Intercessions to a certain degree will be customized to reflect each god. Keep in mind though that certain simple universal divine spells will remain constant and unchanged regardless of the diety, for example things like Cure/Inflict spells.
On to some more mechanical goodness though. So for Woven Spells I really like the idea of using a mechanic similar to what was described in the EOM. Along that vein a Woven Spell will consist of a combination of a Weave and an Effect. An Effect must always be paired with a Weave, on a strict 1:1 ratio; however Weaves may in some cases stand alone.
Weaves will basically consist of the different schools and sub-schools of magic from the PHB. So far possible Weaves to choose from are (alternate names I'm mulling over are in parantheses):
-Abjuration
-Calling
-Creation
-Summoning
-Teleportation
-Divination
-Charm
-Compulsion
-Evocation (Evoke)
-Healing
-Figment
-Glamer
-Pattern
-Phantasm
-Shadow (Shades)
-Necromancy
-Transmutation (Transmute)
Whatever weave the wizard uses will largely determine the character of the spell and its implications when cast. Hence an Evoke weave would draw upon magical energy to form a wall of fire OR a Transmute weave would alter a real object's true nature, etc. etc.
Effects must always be paired with a weave. Effects will determine the details of the spell mostly, and narrow down what the wizard is applying the magical weave to. For example the Effect Elements (Primary:Fire) applied to an Evoke Weave could make a Woven spell similar to a Fireball or Wall of Fire. When I started this list I basically started looking at the descriptor list from the PHB and ran my way down it. Here's what I've gotten so far...
-Elements (Primary) (this effect set encompasses any air, earth, fire, and water effects)
-Elements (Compound) (this effect set encompasses any acid, cold, electricity, and sonic effects)
-Light & Darkness (not sure what I should actually name this group)
-Death
-Evil
-Fear
-Force
-Good
-Lawful
-Mind-Affecting
This is by no means an exhaustive list of effects. I hope to come up with a wider range pretty soon. Ideally I'd like to keep the list of weaves and effects to a reasonable size for the sake of simplicity and ease of use.
As to how these two things would actually work to create unique spells on the fly by a wizard I've yet to completely figure out. What I'm thinking of is the Weave well determine which Ability score (Int., Wis., or Cha.) will be applied to the weaving of the spell. The Weave specified will operate in one of the manners included in the Weaves description. Following that the application of an Effect would further narrow down the tangible results of the spell. To cast the spell successfully I imagine there will be a check similar to Spellcraft (or something???) if successful the spell acts as desired, on a failure the caster would pay a penalty for the strain of channeling the magical energy. On a botch or miserable failure unexpected loss of control or wild magic effects could happen.
The DC of the check will largely be determined by the caster and what he/she chooses to attempt. The factors would mainly include things like number of damage dice, number of targets, range etc. etc. I'm getting worried that this could be getting a bit too complicated so I'm going to really need time to mull this over and try some actual examples out. If I do choose this route for how Woven spells behave I'll definately keep some key aspects fixed to represent the basic nature of what a Woven spell. The two things off-hand that spring to mind that will always remain the same are the casting time and duration for Woven spells. As a way of eliminating complexity I'm thinking I'll make some other factors constant but if I do that too much the flexibility of the system right now would be ruined.
Well that was a whole ton of stuff, not sure if it's all that coherant but that just reflects how my brain is working right now. Occhronustinrist I really appreciate the comments and I'm seriously considering about buying EoM but I am poor and I really like doing things on my own so I may not. Keep the comments coming though for sure. Thanks a TON.
John
ChampionoftheTriad
Explorer
See: Elements of Magic from EN publishing...it's a decent PDF and it's exactly what you just described for arcane magic...
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