LightPhoenix
First Post
I was thinking about this today, and I figured I'd share it with everyone for critique, or simply inspiration. Notes will be in parentheses, usually.
There are, in this system, six schools of magic, based on the 3.5E schools. There is no Necromancy or Illusion, but I'll discuss them later. For reference, Evocation and Abjuration are opposite, as are Transmutation/Enchantment and Divination/Conjuration.
(As an aside, I'm not a huge fan of Abjuration being a school. But I wanted six. More later.)
The six spell schools are defined as such -
Evocation: Evocation spells directly deal energy, divine, positive/negative, or force damage. Spells that do not do damage, or do other types of damage, are not evocation. There is one exception - any spell that heals damage but does damage to undead as a side-effect (ie CLW, Heal) is Transmutation, not Evocation. Spells that do multiple types of damage (ie Ice Storm) are always Evocation.
(This was my base definition, all others followed from this)
Conjuration: Conjuration spells create something from nothing. They do not necessarily deal damage, energy or otherwise, but otherwise can create "energy." Spells that deal physical damage are Conjuration spells (ie, conjure a spear to stab a foe). Creating energy that does not directly damage an opponent can be, but isn't necssarily, Conjuration. For example, Wall of Fire is Conjuration (in fact, most Wall-spells are).
Transmutation: Transmutation spells change the physical properties of a person, place, or thing. They do not create anything, but they may destroy something (ie, Purify Food and Drink destroys poison). Healing falls mostly under Transmutation. Transmutation, like Conjuration, does not directly cause damage, but the effects of the change may. For example, Transmute Rock to Lava doesn't do damage, but being in lava does. Physical ability score damage and buffs (Str/Dex/Con) are in this category, usually. Most Necromancy spells fall into this category, but should be assigned on a case by case basis.
Enchantment: Enchantment spells change the mental, spiritual, or other properties of a person, place, or thing. Some healing may fall into this category - Restoration comes to mind. Negative levels and level drain (and curing them) are in this category, as are mental ability score damage and buffs. Most Illusion spells fall into this category, but as with Necromancy, should be assigned on a case by case basis.
Divination: Any spell dealing with information and knowledge goes here. Divination spells, under no circumstance, deal damage, of any type. Divination spells, under no circumstance, provide a bonus to AC, SR, or DR, nor do they provide armor bonuses, but may add bonuses of other types.
Abjuration: Any spell that provides a defensive benefit, without falling into another school, goes here. Mage Armor is a good example. Additionally, any spell that affects magic - Dispel Magic, Anti-Magic Field, Disjunction - goes here as well.
Notes:
Starting off - I don't like Abjuration. It really seems to me to be a catch-all school. However, there are a number of spells that really don't fit anywhere else, that fit here, and together.
Regarding balance - as with before, Evocation, Conjuration, and Transmutation are all much more powerful than the others. The latter in particular gains the most from this system. I blame this on an inherent abundance of spells that go boom, due to the nature of the game. Enchantment actually gets a hefty boost as well. Divination stays the same, and Abjuration takes a bit of a hit.
Following that, regarding specialist wizards, I would make an Evoker, Conjurer, or Transmuter choose one of those three schools to lose. Similarly, a Diviner, Abjurer, or Enchanter would lose one of the three in their group.
There are spells that fall into more than once school. Heal, for instance, affects both physical and mental attributes. Ice Storm, as mentioned earlier, does physical and energy damage. In this instance, I would just allow them to be dual-school spells. However, should that not be satisfactory, I would assign it to the first school in this order: Evocation, Conjuration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Abjuration, Divination. Thus, Heal is Transmutation, and Ice Storm is Evocation.
An interesting effect of this is to seperate Inflict and Cure spells into seperate schools - the former is by definition Evocation, the latter Transmutation. I kind of like that.
One thing I'm a little unsure of is spells that alter time and space. For example, Teleport and Time Stop. I think that whole-scale alteration of position in space would fall under Conjuration. As for time, I would imagine it would fall under Transmutation. In this manner, Teleport would be Conjuration, and Time Stop would be Transmutation - which matches the RAW.
Another difficult case (in my mind) is Disintegrate. It doesn't do typed damage, so it would fall under Transmutation as it does in the RAW.
On the other hand, instant-kill spells are dependant on their function - they may fall under Evocation, Transmutation, or Enchantment. Heck, a spell that intentionally teleports someone into rock or space would be Conjuration. Additionally, one could argue a spell that kills instantly certain affects both the physical and mental properties of a creature. I think it needs to be determined in a case by case basis.
There are, in this system, six schools of magic, based on the 3.5E schools. There is no Necromancy or Illusion, but I'll discuss them later. For reference, Evocation and Abjuration are opposite, as are Transmutation/Enchantment and Divination/Conjuration.
(As an aside, I'm not a huge fan of Abjuration being a school. But I wanted six. More later.)
The six spell schools are defined as such -
Evocation: Evocation spells directly deal energy, divine, positive/negative, or force damage. Spells that do not do damage, or do other types of damage, are not evocation. There is one exception - any spell that heals damage but does damage to undead as a side-effect (ie CLW, Heal) is Transmutation, not Evocation. Spells that do multiple types of damage (ie Ice Storm) are always Evocation.
(This was my base definition, all others followed from this)
Conjuration: Conjuration spells create something from nothing. They do not necessarily deal damage, energy or otherwise, but otherwise can create "energy." Spells that deal physical damage are Conjuration spells (ie, conjure a spear to stab a foe). Creating energy that does not directly damage an opponent can be, but isn't necssarily, Conjuration. For example, Wall of Fire is Conjuration (in fact, most Wall-spells are).
Transmutation: Transmutation spells change the physical properties of a person, place, or thing. They do not create anything, but they may destroy something (ie, Purify Food and Drink destroys poison). Healing falls mostly under Transmutation. Transmutation, like Conjuration, does not directly cause damage, but the effects of the change may. For example, Transmute Rock to Lava doesn't do damage, but being in lava does. Physical ability score damage and buffs (Str/Dex/Con) are in this category, usually. Most Necromancy spells fall into this category, but should be assigned on a case by case basis.
Enchantment: Enchantment spells change the mental, spiritual, or other properties of a person, place, or thing. Some healing may fall into this category - Restoration comes to mind. Negative levels and level drain (and curing them) are in this category, as are mental ability score damage and buffs. Most Illusion spells fall into this category, but as with Necromancy, should be assigned on a case by case basis.
Divination: Any spell dealing with information and knowledge goes here. Divination spells, under no circumstance, deal damage, of any type. Divination spells, under no circumstance, provide a bonus to AC, SR, or DR, nor do they provide armor bonuses, but may add bonuses of other types.
Abjuration: Any spell that provides a defensive benefit, without falling into another school, goes here. Mage Armor is a good example. Additionally, any spell that affects magic - Dispel Magic, Anti-Magic Field, Disjunction - goes here as well.
Notes:
Starting off - I don't like Abjuration. It really seems to me to be a catch-all school. However, there are a number of spells that really don't fit anywhere else, that fit here, and together.
Regarding balance - as with before, Evocation, Conjuration, and Transmutation are all much more powerful than the others. The latter in particular gains the most from this system. I blame this on an inherent abundance of spells that go boom, due to the nature of the game. Enchantment actually gets a hefty boost as well. Divination stays the same, and Abjuration takes a bit of a hit.
Following that, regarding specialist wizards, I would make an Evoker, Conjurer, or Transmuter choose one of those three schools to lose. Similarly, a Diviner, Abjurer, or Enchanter would lose one of the three in their group.
There are spells that fall into more than once school. Heal, for instance, affects both physical and mental attributes. Ice Storm, as mentioned earlier, does physical and energy damage. In this instance, I would just allow them to be dual-school spells. However, should that not be satisfactory, I would assign it to the first school in this order: Evocation, Conjuration, Transmutation, Enchantment, Abjuration, Divination. Thus, Heal is Transmutation, and Ice Storm is Evocation.
An interesting effect of this is to seperate Inflict and Cure spells into seperate schools - the former is by definition Evocation, the latter Transmutation. I kind of like that.
One thing I'm a little unsure of is spells that alter time and space. For example, Teleport and Time Stop. I think that whole-scale alteration of position in space would fall under Conjuration. As for time, I would imagine it would fall under Transmutation. In this manner, Teleport would be Conjuration, and Time Stop would be Transmutation - which matches the RAW.
Another difficult case (in my mind) is Disintegrate. It doesn't do typed damage, so it would fall under Transmutation as it does in the RAW.
On the other hand, instant-kill spells are dependant on their function - they may fall under Evocation, Transmutation, or Enchantment. Heck, a spell that intentionally teleports someone into rock or space would be Conjuration. Additionally, one could argue a spell that kills instantly certain affects both the physical and mental properties of a creature. I think it needs to be determined in a case by case basis.
