Making my own system; suggestions for spell effects?

[System Ufera]

Hello... As some of you may be aware, I am making my own pen and paper RPG system. Recently, I ended up completely scrapping the previous system for spells in favor of one which would better fit the flavor of how magic works in the game's setting; where previously, the system was similar to DnD, in which you would have a huge list of spells with predetermined effects, the new system takes a modular approach by having a list of effects and other traits (such as range and size of effect) which could then be combined into a spell upon casting (I'm planning to include spell cards on which players can arrange effects and calculate the different aspects of a spell beforehand, for the players' convenience).

The flavor of magic in my game is that it's an application of science; it does not bend, bypass, or otherwise violate the setting's laws of physics, and in order to successfully and reliably cast spells, one must learn how the universe works. To cast a spell, one must think a thought in what is essentially an arcane "language" (it's a language in a sense that C++, Assembly Language, or Binary/Hexadecimal Code are languages, not in the sense that English is a language). The mental manifestation of the thought itself does nothing, but the physical processes in the brain which produce the thought interact with arcane energy in the brain, acting as "instructions" for the energy to follow. The arcane energy then acts accordingly, producing an effect as instructed.

Of course, in order for a particular effect to be manifested, a wizard must know how the effect works; for example, producing a flame would require a wizard to know what thermal energy and heat actually are, the conditions which must be present for combustion, and so on. The wizard must also know how to command the arcane energy to create enough heat for combustion, and possibly how to command a separate amount of arcane energy to act as fuel for the flame, if no other fuel is present.

Anyway, with all that said, I was wondering what sort of effects I should include in my game. What effects would you consider to be essential to a particular type of wizard, what effects would you like to see which you haven't seen before, etc.? Thank you in advance for any suggestions.

 

[steenan]

1. What is the "arcane energy" in your model? Where does it come from?

If it's easy to get and channel in big amounts, the most popular spells will be telekinetic and explosive effects. They require energy, but not much finesse.

If energy is hard to get, detection spells become popular, as they are among the least power-consuming.


2. How hard is the magical language by itself? How hard is it to represent complex concepts and complex algorithms?

If the language is simple, or if it is possible to cast spells that someone else designed, you'll get a lot of pseudo-intelligent, composite and indirect spells. Forget about lines of sight and casting in combat. Spells will wait ready, activating on appropriate triggers; they will scan surroundings for targets, discerning friends from foes; they will counter other spells by themselves. Magic combat looks like hacking or like hard sci-fi starship battle.

If the language is complicated and hard, spells will use only simple physical processes. Push something. Heat it up. Make a flash of light. Things like this.


3. How does the magical language describe living creatures? What about minds? From purely physical point of view they are awfully complicated - but in your setting this does not have to be true.

In one extreme, you have no magical healing, transforming or charming. It's much easier to kill with magic than to affect someone in a positive, or at least non-lethal way - disturbing a complicated system is much easier than repairing it.

On the other end of scale, you have vital energy or emotional energy working like thermal and kinetic energy. Healing somebody or making them fall in love is as easy (or as complicated) as moving something or heating it up. This may be more fun in play, but you have to design the "natural laws" of your world very carefully. because they differ drastically from the real world.

 

[System Ufera]

1. What is the "arcane energy" in your model? Where does it come from?

Well, in my setting, energy in its purest form is "ether." On its own, ether is practically useless; however, ether is shaped into other forms of energy by interacting with its environment. Ether turns into arcane energy when it comes into contact with an interaction between "qi," or life energy, and brain matter - basically, ether becomes arcane energy in your brain when you think (the thoughts need not be in the arcane language; any thoughts will do). In most cases, the subject of the thought does not influence how much arcane energy is generated, but rather the intensity of the thought. Therefore, an effective wizard will not only want to be knowledgeable and wise, but also strong of will. Some wizards, however, can train their minds to produce a similar effect with complexity of the thought process, rather than intensity, to compensate for a lack of will.

The rate of production of arcane energy also depends on how much ambient ether is available. In most areas, ether is abundant enough to make many energy-intensive spells viable; given a few weeks of gathering or constantly replenishing ether in these areas, even forming small amounts of matter would be possible. In some areas, there is less ambient ether, either due to over-usage of ether or a general lack of ether in the first place. Primary magic-users tend to avoid these areas.

2. How hard is the magical language by itself? How hard is it to represent complex concepts and complex algorithms?

The magical language is rather simple once mastered; the problem is mastering it, as in order to actually master a particular spell effect, one must think the thoughts necessary to produce it. This can be worked around through the use of arcane-suppressing or draining magics, which would prevent the spell from being cast while still allowing prospective wizards to think about the spell.

There would be relatively few "commands" which would be commonly applied in the arcane language; the versatility of magic would come from how the command is used. On the other hand, there would be "ritual" magic which would utilize many more commands, but would be far more complex - in the setting, there are actually trees which were specially created by an ancient empire to have parts which mimic the structure and function of the brain, and in many rituals, these artificial brains can be dedicated solely to performing calculations and storing data and variables.

3. How does the magical language describe living creatures? What about minds? From purely physical point of view they are awfully complicated - but in your setting this does not have to be true.

Well, in my setting, life is still rather complex, but I've sort of enhanced the potential of life's abilities to compensate. In other words, the sapient life forms in my setting naturally have a somewhat higher mental capacity than in real life, and with adequate education and effort can plausibly exceed some of the greatest minds in our reality.

That said, there are some "shortcuts" built into life in my game's setting which would take some of that complexity away from the task of the spell; by learning to take advantage of these shortcuts, one could, for example, cause a change in a creature's phenotype, then force the genotype to adapt to the changes on its own. That would be extremely risky, of course, but it can be done. It would be less risky to perform a ritual to modify the DNA and allow it to temporarily "assume" another configuration; an analogy to describe this would be having the DNA "wear a mask." This would allow polymorphing, or having multiple forms, and so even if a new form were dangerously ill-designed, one could always switch back and start over.

Healing would also take advantage of shortcuts, basically by speeding the metabolic processes in one's body to help ensure a quick recovery. Unfortunately, if there's something causing continuous harm, such as poison or disease, doing that would also make the poison or disease more effective. Extremely complicated processes in restorative magic would actually involve mending individual tissues, but of course that would take time.

 

[Tonguez]

I designed a similar system, skill based, using 8 Techniques as below:

1 Conjure - forming energy from aether (used for fireballs, wall of stone etc)
1a Abjure - dispelling (transforming energy back into aether)
2 Manipulate - manipulating and moving energy (telekinetic effects, levitation)
3 Transmute - changing energy from one form to another (rock to mud, mist form, freeze, heat metal)
3a Transform - changing solid forms/rearranging matter (frog-form, disguise, water to wine)
4 Transpose - changing location in space and time (teleport, summon, gate)
5 Somatic Enhancement - stimulating/supressing natural organic processes (heal, cause disease, growth, haste)
6 Thought projection - projecting and receiving mental energy (ESP, Illusions, Qi)

other factors were Range, Duration, Target size, Power (weight or damage), Special Effects.
Additionally PCs would choose one Tradition to follow (eg Elementalism, Witchery, Fae, Psychic etc) and could use feats for more traditions of additional skills

So a PC might take the Pyromancer Tradition and have skill in Manipulation and Transmutation. She could then create spells like Flaming Hands (Transmuting her hands (Matter = energy) to flame) or create a fireball provided she had a natural source of flame to manipulate.

 

[System Ufera]

I designed a similar system, skill based, using 8 Techniques as below:

1 Conjure - forming energy from aether (used for fireballs, wall of stone etc)
1a Abjure - dispelling (transforming energy back into aether)
2 Manipulate - manipulating and moving energy (telekinetic effects, levitation)
3 Transmute - changing energy from one form to another (rock to mud, mist form, freeze, heat metal)
3a Transform - changing solid forms/rearranging matter (frog-form, disguise, water to wine)
4 Transpose - changing location in space and time (teleport, summon, gate)
5 Somatic Enhancement - stimulating/supressing natural organic processes (heal, cause disease, growth, haste)
6 Thought projection - projecting and receiving mental energy (ESP, Illusions, Qi)

other factors were Range, Duration, Target size, Power (weight or damage), Special Effects.
Additionally PCs would choose one Tradition to follow (eg Elementalism, Witchery, Fae, Psychic etc) and could use feats for more traditions of additional skills

So a PC might take the Pyromancer Tradition and have skill in Manipulation and Transmutation. She could then create spells like Flaming Hands (Transmuting her hands (Matter = energy) to flame) or create a fireball provided she had a natural source of flame to manipulate.

I'm not so sure our systems are all that similar. Based on what you describe, it seems like your system is more like that found in DnD, with spell "schools" that pre-made spells may belong to. I could be wrong, but that's just how I interpret what you're saying.

In case I wasn't clear before, spells are made by the players, who combine effects and other traits for the spell to have. While the actual effects themselves belong to "schools," the schools are not defined by desired application, but by the academic discipline of the method. For example, Arcanomancy covers spells that manipulate arcane and arcane-like (such as qi) energies, Electromancy covers spells which involve electricity or radiation, Psychomancy covers spells involving examination and manipulation of the mind, Thermancy covers spells involving thermal energy (and the lack thereof; it's basically a combination of Pyromancy and Cryomancy), and so on.

The effects and other traits which are chosen to combine into a spell determine not only the results which occur when the spell is cast, but also things such as AP (the equivalent of MP or Mana) cost, time to cast, and whatever else. Because the stats of the character are also important, it would be far too complicated to calculate everything every time a spell is cast; thus, I will design cards on which everything can be pre-calculated.

Either way, I want to get back to the original point of the thread, which is to obtain suggestions for spell effects which I should include in my game.

 

[Smoss]

In my magic system, I generalized effects down to a very simple level - not sure if it will be useful - but hey, maybe it will give you ideas.

Area (This determines if it is a ray, touch, AoE, etc)

Duration (Fairly obvious)

Meta (For metamagic style affects - Casting silent, still, etc for 3e style concepts of this)

Boost (Add a bonus - or penalty to rolls)

Creation (Change forms, create matter, telekinetic effects)

Damage (Energy, physical, armor piercing, etc)

Healing (Of wounds, toxicity per disease of poisons, invigoration vs being fatigued)

Mind (Charm, fear, command)

Perception (Detections, illusions)

And that was it (No fancy teleportation in my world. Or ressurection...)
Hope I spark an idea or forty.
Smoss
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https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/almightysmoss

 

[am181d]

I want to say that the old Enworld created alt-magic rules worked like this. I thing I own the PDF, but I'm blanking on the name....

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I don't have any specific suggestions, but I can suggest some things that might be helpful to look at. Ars Magica, Elements of Magic, and HERO would all probably be good sources of ideas and material for your system.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't have any specific suggestions, but I can suggest some things that might be helpful to look at. Ars Magica, Elements of Magic, and HERO would all probably be good sources of ideas and material for your system.

Ditto on that- esp. HERO- and add True 20 and Mutants & Masterminds and its fantasy supplements (Book of Magic and Warriors & Warlocks) to the list. Maybe GURPS' magic stuff, too.

 

[System Ufera]

I actually have a book for Ars Magica; I took a quick glance at some of the rules, but I had a hard time understanding them. I don't have any HERO books, and I'm kind of short on cash, so that suggestion will have to wait.

Also, at first I wasn't thinking of adding Metamagic, but the mention of "Casting Silent" by Smoss made me change my mind on that. Making a spell you cast untraceable definitely falls beyond the category of the effects and spell shapes I was already working on.