William Ronald
Explorer
As I hae mentioned in a few threads, I am working on a homebrew campaign -- in addition to gaming with Mark and a few others at Games Plus. One question that comes to mind is the division between arcane and divine magic.
In some novels, there is not a division between arcane and divine magic. Some "wizards" can heal, and some "priests" can summon rather horrific creatures. On the other hand, there is an issue of game balance -- which is important to me as the last gaming group I was in had balance problems at the end.
One option that I am looking at is to use the D&D 3.5 rules as currently written. This has the benefit of being familiar to everyone -- although some on the boards have said that they find it difficult to find literary, mythic or legendary characters that closely match standard D&D spell casters.
Another option is to have limited access by arcane or divine spellcasters to some of the spells of the other lists. Wizards might have some limited access to healing, while clerics might have some access to spells that fit their role as representatives of their deities. (The domain concept in 3.0 and 3.5 D&D seems to take a step in this direction.) An advantage of this is that it allows somewhat more flexibility -- especially if an adventuring group only has one spellcasting character.
Perhaps another option is best represented by Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. For those not familiar with this book, he uses a single spell list with different levels of access by various character classes based on class and feats.
As for the type of world I am working on, it would have many parallels to different historical cultures in several areas. To me, the point of any rules system is to create a game that is fun, remorable, and has a distinctive feel to it. (I do not particularly want to use a commercially published setting as I tend to like homebrew campaigns.) I also STRONGLY believe in having games where every player feels that their characters can make a difference, so balance is an issue.
So, what do you think?
In some novels, there is not a division between arcane and divine magic. Some "wizards" can heal, and some "priests" can summon rather horrific creatures. On the other hand, there is an issue of game balance -- which is important to me as the last gaming group I was in had balance problems at the end.
One option that I am looking at is to use the D&D 3.5 rules as currently written. This has the benefit of being familiar to everyone -- although some on the boards have said that they find it difficult to find literary, mythic or legendary characters that closely match standard D&D spell casters.
Another option is to have limited access by arcane or divine spellcasters to some of the spells of the other lists. Wizards might have some limited access to healing, while clerics might have some access to spells that fit their role as representatives of their deities. (The domain concept in 3.0 and 3.5 D&D seems to take a step in this direction.) An advantage of this is that it allows somewhat more flexibility -- especially if an adventuring group only has one spellcasting character.
Perhaps another option is best represented by Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. For those not familiar with this book, he uses a single spell list with different levels of access by various character classes based on class and feats.
As for the type of world I am working on, it would have many parallels to different historical cultures in several areas. To me, the point of any rules system is to create a game that is fun, remorable, and has a distinctive feel to it. (I do not particularly want to use a commercially published setting as I tend to like homebrew campaigns.) I also STRONGLY believe in having games where every player feels that their characters can make a difference, so balance is an issue.
So, what do you think?