Narfellus
First Post
I started this in another thread but wanted to elaborate. Anyone who has played Ars Magica please let me know if this conversion to d20 sounds feasible, or if it can be tweaked/improved. I'm not done writing it up yet.
I LOVE Ars Magica, 4th edition, but i've never had the pleasure to acutally play it. Picked up the pdf a while back and just his past weekend I sat down to convert it to d20. Now, there is a fella who has already done this (http://www.users.qwest.net/~jordanerik/Gaming/index.htm)
but I wanted a crack at it. I simply took the Magnitude Ratings (5,10,15 etc) and said they were DC's. DC 5 is basically a cantrip. DC 15-20 is roughly a 3rd level spell. If you compare the spells in Ars Magica to DnD spells that do the same thing (such as a fireblast) you'll find that the level and Magnitude are about the same. It made the conversion process a whole lot easier.
Then i figured that all magi get magic skill points at 4+INT mod x 4, then 4+mod/level, just like regular Dnd. Every spellcaster automatically has the 5 Techniques at beginning of play: I Control, I Destroy, I Transform, I Create, I Perceive. You can't have more than 3 + your level in ranks, as per d20. Then you have the 10 Forms to choose from. This part offers tons of flexibilty in building a character. As a 1st level character you might have access to 5 of the forms, and pick up new ones later.
So you add skill ranks to Technique, and skill ranks to Form. Then, you average them together for your final roll. The MAX DC you can cast is equal to your Level x 4 plus INT mod. So a 3rd level wizard with INT 16 can cast up to DC 15 (2nd level spells!)
What I wanted was to completely retain the flavor of Ars and the freeform style, while using mechanics from d20 we were completely familiar with. Magic users (and in this system as of now there is not really a difference between clerics/wizards/sorcerers, but there can be later) have their Readied Spells (such as 5 cantrips, 3 1st level, 1 2nd level) which take 1 action to cast (as in DnD) and are preselected by the caster. I used the default example spells from the Ars corebook and said that my spellcaster could have five Magnitude 5 spells readied at 3rd level (I think i used the chart for the witch from AE, but any chart would do).
Most of the skill checks were +4 for my sample character, to hit a DC 5 to get the cantrip off. In addition, Ars has for every spell listed a focus, from +1 to +5 that generally aids in casting your spell. It can be cast without it (not always) but it greatly helps. DnD has material components but i know a lot of players who don't care to use them. In Ars, every item you find potentially makes you a better caster.
So, this character could have five different cantrips, 3 1st level and 1 second level spell readied. They can ALSO cast any freeform style spell they want, but it takes 1 round for every 5 DC (or 5 Magnitude)
And then the subdual damage. I know a lot of people don't like damage with their magic, and i didn't want to include a whole lot of bookkeeping with this system. Here's what I did:
Readied Spell: Does subdual damage equal to the DC divided by 5. So, casting a cantrip does 1 point of damage, whether you make the DC or not. Casting a DC 20 spell, whether you fail or not, does 4 points subdual. Crititically failing a spell (natural 1 in most cases) doubles the subdual damage. A critical success will either halve it or negate it (haven't decided yet).
Spontaneous Spell: Does subdual damage DOUBLE the DC divided by 5. Casting a spontaneous cantrip would take you a full round and take 2 hp.
The main potential problem i see with Ars Magica as compared to DnD is that your magic is not reliable. You can fail. You can potentially fail at a REALLY bad time. A lot of people probably don't like that, even if the game mechanics of Ars are truly beautiful. It makes more sense logically if you think about a character having MORE power than a default DnD mage of the same level as a way to compensate for the occasional failures.
There's many many more ways to improve your casting success. Ars has rules for taking your time casting. For a readied spell, for every round you spend casting carefully, you get +1, up to the DC / 5. (DC 20 spell, takes 1 action + four rounds to cast with another +4 bonus, at max)
Ars has rules for waving your arms and shouting forcefully to improve the success. I added some other options.
Let's say you want to cast a DC 15 spell. You have it readied. But you want to make it easier, so you lower the DC to 13 by bumping the crit failure to 1-3. Maybe not the best idea, but it can be done.
Metamagic is achieved by bumping the DC by 5, or 10, or higher, depending on what you want to accomplish. I haven't decided if it should be feat-based or not. I like what Monte Cook did with UA and just lumped all the metamagic feats into one: Modify Magic. In Ars, spellcasters are free to tinker with their magic as little or as much as they won't so long as the DC boosted higher than what they can cast.
There are frequently DC's (or Magnitude ratings) in Ars that go over 70. These ritual spells take a long time to cast and need the combined help of others.
The trickiest part with a d20 conversion, that i see, would be going through the PH and simply converting Schools to Technique and Form. Some people might think that's a lot of fun. Others will undoubtably HATE it as it is time consuming and can be a brain teaser.
I LOVE Ars Magica, 4th edition, but i've never had the pleasure to acutally play it. Picked up the pdf a while back and just his past weekend I sat down to convert it to d20. Now, there is a fella who has already done this (http://www.users.qwest.net/~jordanerik/Gaming/index.htm)
but I wanted a crack at it. I simply took the Magnitude Ratings (5,10,15 etc) and said they were DC's. DC 5 is basically a cantrip. DC 15-20 is roughly a 3rd level spell. If you compare the spells in Ars Magica to DnD spells that do the same thing (such as a fireblast) you'll find that the level and Magnitude are about the same. It made the conversion process a whole lot easier.
Then i figured that all magi get magic skill points at 4+INT mod x 4, then 4+mod/level, just like regular Dnd. Every spellcaster automatically has the 5 Techniques at beginning of play: I Control, I Destroy, I Transform, I Create, I Perceive. You can't have more than 3 + your level in ranks, as per d20. Then you have the 10 Forms to choose from. This part offers tons of flexibilty in building a character. As a 1st level character you might have access to 5 of the forms, and pick up new ones later.
So you add skill ranks to Technique, and skill ranks to Form. Then, you average them together for your final roll. The MAX DC you can cast is equal to your Level x 4 plus INT mod. So a 3rd level wizard with INT 16 can cast up to DC 15 (2nd level spells!)
What I wanted was to completely retain the flavor of Ars and the freeform style, while using mechanics from d20 we were completely familiar with. Magic users (and in this system as of now there is not really a difference between clerics/wizards/sorcerers, but there can be later) have their Readied Spells (such as 5 cantrips, 3 1st level, 1 2nd level) which take 1 action to cast (as in DnD) and are preselected by the caster. I used the default example spells from the Ars corebook and said that my spellcaster could have five Magnitude 5 spells readied at 3rd level (I think i used the chart for the witch from AE, but any chart would do).
Most of the skill checks were +4 for my sample character, to hit a DC 5 to get the cantrip off. In addition, Ars has for every spell listed a focus, from +1 to +5 that generally aids in casting your spell. It can be cast without it (not always) but it greatly helps. DnD has material components but i know a lot of players who don't care to use them. In Ars, every item you find potentially makes you a better caster.
So, this character could have five different cantrips, 3 1st level and 1 second level spell readied. They can ALSO cast any freeform style spell they want, but it takes 1 round for every 5 DC (or 5 Magnitude)
And then the subdual damage. I know a lot of people don't like damage with their magic, and i didn't want to include a whole lot of bookkeeping with this system. Here's what I did:
Readied Spell: Does subdual damage equal to the DC divided by 5. So, casting a cantrip does 1 point of damage, whether you make the DC or not. Casting a DC 20 spell, whether you fail or not, does 4 points subdual. Crititically failing a spell (natural 1 in most cases) doubles the subdual damage. A critical success will either halve it or negate it (haven't decided yet).
Spontaneous Spell: Does subdual damage DOUBLE the DC divided by 5. Casting a spontaneous cantrip would take you a full round and take 2 hp.
The main potential problem i see with Ars Magica as compared to DnD is that your magic is not reliable. You can fail. You can potentially fail at a REALLY bad time. A lot of people probably don't like that, even if the game mechanics of Ars are truly beautiful. It makes more sense logically if you think about a character having MORE power than a default DnD mage of the same level as a way to compensate for the occasional failures.
There's many many more ways to improve your casting success. Ars has rules for taking your time casting. For a readied spell, for every round you spend casting carefully, you get +1, up to the DC / 5. (DC 20 spell, takes 1 action + four rounds to cast with another +4 bonus, at max)
Ars has rules for waving your arms and shouting forcefully to improve the success. I added some other options.
Let's say you want to cast a DC 15 spell. You have it readied. But you want to make it easier, so you lower the DC to 13 by bumping the crit failure to 1-3. Maybe not the best idea, but it can be done.
Metamagic is achieved by bumping the DC by 5, or 10, or higher, depending on what you want to accomplish. I haven't decided if it should be feat-based or not. I like what Monte Cook did with UA and just lumped all the metamagic feats into one: Modify Magic. In Ars, spellcasters are free to tinker with their magic as little or as much as they won't so long as the DC boosted higher than what they can cast.
There are frequently DC's (or Magnitude ratings) in Ars that go over 70. These ritual spells take a long time to cast and need the combined help of others.
The trickiest part with a d20 conversion, that i see, would be going through the PH and simply converting Schools to Technique and Form. Some people might think that's a lot of fun. Others will undoubtably HATE it as it is time consuming and can be a brain teaser.
