Designing new spells

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Are there any good guidelines out there for balancing new spells? The only source I've seen is the 3E DMG, which is probably what I'll end up using, and just convert from there to C&C.

One of my players in 3E is playing a warlock, among his other classes, and I'm planning on converting his most-used abilities into unique spells for him if we convert his character to a C&C wizard instead. But finding a baseline for creating balanced new abilities would help.

Anything you can point me to would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

None that I've seen, other than:

1) The energy substitution metamagic feat and similar abiltiies, IIRC, indicate that certain damage types (esp. sonic and force) are more valuable than others.

2) Eyeballing it against existing spells is really the only way to be sure.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but I'd suggest one of the following:

1. Unusual Core Classes: The Spellweaver
Unusual Core Classes: The Spellweaver - Misfit Studios | RPGNow.com
2. d20 Advanced Magic
d20 Advanced Magic - Guardians of Order | RPGNow.com
3. True Sorcery
True Sorcery - Green Ronin | RPGNow.com

I own 1 and 2 and like them quite a bit. I don't know much about True Sorcery, other than it's another drain based system and derived from the magic rules used for their Black Company supplement/game.

Both Spellweaver and d20 Advanced Magic give you the SRD spells converted over to their respective systems; I don't think True Sorcery does (it says 50 spells, vs 600+ of the SRD) but someone might have actually gone ahead and done all the work for you. I don't know.

Basically what I'd suggest doing is grabbing whatever spell it is you want to convert (or create) and use the system presented by one of the above products. They're all some sort of skill/drain based casting which might be an additional bonus for you, but you may not care. Either way, once you arrive at the DC for the spell, compare it to one of the already converted SRD spells with the same DC.

It's not foolproof, but it should help you get in the general area of where you want to be.

As an additional bonus, having a system like one of the ones above means you can tweak magic a bit and "reshuffle" spells as desired.

For quick and dirty, I'd go Spellweaver. If you want a more in-depth approach, d20 Advanced Magic. d20 Advanced Magic of course is a part of the BESMd20 rules, which might be a problem for some folks, but I happen to dig for a variety of reasons (even though it does have skill-based combat).

 

[Stormonu]

3.0's Tome and Blood had some good info on designing spells, if you can get access to it. Complete Arcane probably has a good section on spell design as well.

In the end, the best bet is always look in the PHB for a spell close to what you want, then look how that spell is advanced (for example, you might want to compare Eldritch Blast to how Magic Missile, Scorching Ray, and Lighning Bolt works for extention/expansion of the blast). Always remember that range, duration and targets are all part of the balancing factors - often as much as the spell description itself.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't recall anything like that in Complete Arcane; I'll give it another look. And I've been looking for an excuse to rebuy Tome & Blood -- I really liked the fluff in that one.

 

[nedjer]

at the end, or even middle, of the day - playtest it or playtest it

 

[Treebore]

I've always found gut instinct works well, but I also realize some people have lousy instincts. So if you trust yours, continue to do so. Outside of that I like True Sorcery best for spell building.

Plus when doing things for C&C from 3E I find toning down the power level, where you don't have a direct carry over, such as 1d6/level for damage spells, by roughly 20 to 30% works well. I usually have to do that with monsters, not spells. So just eye spells of similar level and determine if they are of comparable power, and go with it. If you don't like it, your CK, change it.

 

[Bihor]

Look for Badaxe Games Heroes of high favor: Elf It give a good baseline for all the schools to create new spells and the rest of the book is awesom.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

On another note, I just noticed that the most recent C&C PHB just has a paragraph noting that spell research is possible, but I don't see anything about how much it costs or how long it takes. Are there more C&C-specific rules out there?

 

[Eridanis]

The Ultimate Magic book for Pathfinder is due out in May, and it's supposed to include a good bit of material on designing your own spells.

Look for Badaxe Games Heroes of high favor: Elf It give a good baseline for all the schools to create new spells and the rest of the book is awesom.

Seconded. (Full disclosure: I was a playtester for this book. But even if I wasn't, I'd still think it was awesome. )