Cthulu-esque Low Magic System

[wolff96]

Just a couple of ideas... Looking for comments.

Note that this is for a low-magic world (Grim'N'Gritty rules) and that the Priest is essentially a cleric that doesn't have a good Fort Save and is only proficient with armor up to medium.

5th level spells are the highest in the game and achieved at 17th level. They are VERY powerful when the toughest warriors will only have between 34 and 42 hitpoints.

The idea is to make magic rare -- and costly to the mage -- but still exceedingly powerful when used.

Priests and Wizards are the only spellcasters in such a system and both are spontaneous casters with no spells-per-day limits.

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SCHOOLS OF MAGIC

STR: Evocation
DEX: Transmutation
CON: Conjuration
INT: Illusion, Divination
WIS: Abjuration, Necromancy
CHA: Enchantment

When a magi (Priest or Wizard) casts a spell, he makes a Spell Drain check. The Spell Drain Check is 15 + 1 per level of the spell + 1 per level of metamagic applied.

The magi's saving throw is 1d20 + Base Fort Save of Magi Levels ONLY + Con Modifier.

If they fail the save, they take Spell Drain in the attribute related to the school from which the spell was cast. This is a temporary ability drain and comes back at the standard rate.

0th level................1 point
1st level................1d2 points
2nd level................1d3 points
3rd level.................1d4 points
4th level.................1d5 points
5th level.................1d6 points

Metamagic can be added to any spell. For each "level" that they cost in standard D&D, they add 1 point of ability drain. The success or failure of a Spell Drain check does not affect this number; that amount of drain is ALWAYS added.

EXCEPTIONS:

1) Spells from a Priest's domains cause Spell Drain as if they were one level lower than their actual level. This has no effect on metamagic.

2) A specialized wizard casts spells from his specialized school as if they were one level lower than their actual level, to a minimum of one point of ability drain for a cantrip in the wizard's specialized school.

3) A wizard with a familiar can choose -- before the Spell Drain roll is made -- whether or not to have his familiar aid him in spellcasting. If he chooses to do so, half of the ability score damage is done to his familiar on a failed saving throw.

SAVING THROWS:
The saving throw of a spell is determined by 10 + 1/2 caster level + caster's current ability modifier for that school, before any Spell Drain from casting that spell is applied. (So if you fail a roll and lose 4 Dex before casting a Transmutation spell, the saving throw is calculated before the Dex penalty is applied.)

 

[Drawmack]

I think this seems like an easy fix to take the system low magic. Very elegant in some areas. I would like to see your priest and mage classes though to see how you've balanced limiting the magic.

I must say though that I would not recommend putting no spell limit/day in the game. Under grim -n- gritty even minor damaging spells like magic missle can be catastrophic. A 10th level mage is almost always going to pass the save on such a low level spell even if they meta magic it to do max damage. What you'll find with this is that at low levels the mage and cleric are nearly impossible to keep alive but that at mid to high levels they are wiping up the table with your BBEG. Look at the amount of hit points for the red dragon, then take a look at the fifth level spells and the amount of damage they do. Now picture a mage just casting those spells every round with almost 0 chance to fail their save.

I recommend that if you don't like the way spells/day works you implement some sort of magic points system and once the points are gone he's done casting spells.

 

[danzig138]

Interesting. Similar to a system I designed. I provide a save as an option only for kind GMs.

 

[wolff96]

I think this seems like an easy fix to take the system low magic. Very elegant in some areas. I would like to see your priest and mage classes though to see how you've balanced limiting the magic.

Thanks. The wizard has the addition of all simple weapon proficiencies. The priest loses Heavy Armor Proficiencies and gets a Poor Fortitude save. The priest gains one extra domain (at level 9) to compensate.

Since we're using Ken Hood's Grim'N'Gritty system, hit dice don't matter.

Both spellcasters are spontaneous. They gain new spell ranks every fourth level -- so you get 2nd rank spells at 5th level, 3rd rank spells at 9th level, 4th rank spells at 13th level, and 5th rank spells at 17th level. Anything higher than 6th level spells under the current system is epic-level magic.

Keep in mind that magic is intentionally super-deadly. Cone of Cold will kill most high-level fighters, severely weakening them on a save. However, under Ken Hood's system, the fighter-types get some protection from spells out of their armor, so that helps survival a bit -- and invalidates magic missile for any armor over Chainmail.

I must say though that I would not recommend putting no spell limit/day in the game. Under grim -n- gritty even minor damaging spells like magic missle can be catastrophic. A 10th level mage is almost always going to pass the save on such a low level spell even if they meta magic it to do max damage.

I appreciate the criticism. I had seriously considered putting in a scaling system -- something like an extra +2 per Spell Drain check for each previously cast spell. Would that be a good solution? I'm not sure.

Also, note that the saving throw doesn't affect the damage from metamagic -- the magic-user automatically takes that damage.

However, a dragon has nothing to fear. Keep in mind that there is a massive scaling factor of HP by size category in Hood's system. Plus, with Natural Armor that provides insane protection, a dragon is nearly godlike under Grim'N'Gritty rules. (A collosal red has 852 HP.)

I recommend that if you don't like the way spells/day works you implement some sort of magic points system and once the points are gone he's done casting spells.

Actually, I'm deliberately avoiding spell-point systems. We (my group and I) just don't care for them. It's the same reason that no one in the group allows Psionics when they DM.

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The idea for this system is to make it so that magic is -- rightly -- feared. A spellcaster resorts to spells when he has no other choice, knowing that it will likely damage him to cast the spell.

Also, I like the idea of making your familiar actually USEFUL in casting magic.

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I also considered the no-save option, as danzig stated. I'm not sure about that one. Would anyone play a mage (even in a world where magic is as dominant as it is under Ken Hood's Grim'N'Gritty system) if they automatically took ability damage to cast it?

It would certainly limit spells per day to do that, though!