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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Galethorn" data-source="post: 2307580" data-attributes="member: 7888">So, I was thinking about how spellcasters generally function in most game systems...At the most general terms, casters tend to trade frailty for 'big' effects (damage, turning people into stone, becoming invisible, teleportation, etc.).My proposal is this: a system where there are two main kinds of magic; combat magic (for fighting), and ritual magic (for doing 'big' things outside of combat). This would be for a 'lower than D&D-level magic' setting, of course, but the concept could easily be used for something fairly high-magic (on par with or even above D&D).Combat magic would consist of things like imbuing weapons with fire, 'plain old magic', or whatever, as well as throwing around balls/rays of things for the more powerful magic-users.Ritual magic would consist of, well, rituals. Rituals would be for things like blessing stuff/people, banishing spirits, making magic items, screwing with the weather, etc...you know, ''traditional' "real" magic. There would probably be 'minor' rituals which would be more like short prayers (which would tend to do very minor things, as opposed to setting things on fire, or summoning a demon from the abyss)........................................................Now, how would characters gain access to these two types of magic? well...First of all, I think a sort of 'magic sensitive' feat/talent/whatever (depending on the system you want to start from) would be in order, sort of on the same theme as Force Sensitivity...it would give characters some extra 'supernatural' sorts of options for spending action/hero/courage/whatever points, as well as allowing them to manipulate magic.For combat magic, it would vary with the power of what you were doing. To make a sword cut supernaturally well, it would be a matter of annointing/blessing/whatever the blade that morning, and then reciting some words before drawing it in combat; something any magic-sensitive character could do if they knew the right words. More advanced things (like whacking people with a staff at a distance, ala Gandalf/Saruman in the movies) would be based on an actual skill (or skills) that would require a certain amount of (semi-)formal training to learn.Rituals would be a matter of magic-sensitive and being smart enough to remember the steps. Learning rituals would involve research in private libraries, finding someone who's willing to teach them, going into meditative/contemplative trances, or even conversing with spirits/demons.If you were going to go with d20 as the base system, you might see a list of combat magic skills like this...Enhance AbilityImbue WeaponElemental ControlAnd feats like Flameblade (prereqs.: 5+ ranks in Imbue Weapon, 5+ ranks in Elemental Control, Magic Sensitive), and so forth.*********************Now, the big question: what would 'magic users' look like in such a system? well...The classical (as in 'what people thought of when they heard "wizard" before the advent of D&D) wizards would tend to be very intelligent characters who sought obscure writings to learn new rituals. Most would probably know some simple combat magic, but would focus on rituals. The most powerful wizards would know how to stave off old age, and research new rituals in their spare time. Even so, wizards wouldn't be terribly feared in an unexpected fight--but nobody would want to make a wizard angry; after all, they would probably know how (or be able to figure out how) to curse you and your whole family with bad luck.(Evil) 'Sorcerers' would be the ones who were skilled with the more diabolical rituals (like summoning demons and raising the dead), and know lots of combat magic...they would be the ones that the [Heroes] would be fighting to oppose.'Priests' would be the saints or prophets of a particular religion, and use the rituals they learned from their deity (or deity's representatives) to do, well, whatever it was the deity particularly wanted them to...usually healing for the good deities, and smiting of infidels for the less-than-'Shamans' would know a number of useful rituals that their mentor had taught them, and be the go-to guy/gal in a village when you needed to know your fortune, or have a curse lifted, or place one on an unfaithful spouse.It could go on and on...a PC caster could be anything from a 'warrior of light' who imbues his sword with holy fire, to a 'traveling wizard' seeking to learn more arcane rituals, to a 'sly magician' who uses his powers for persuasion, to a 'crazy old shaman' who summons spirits to do his bidding.So, was this an epiphany...or just a brain fart?</blockquote>

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