D&D 5E Earthsea Magic in D&D

[dave2008]

Honestly, I wouldn't. Any adaptation of Earthsea to 5e would be about as faithful of an adaptation as the SyFy Channel one.

Why is that? You can use the world of Earthsea pretty much straight up in D&D, they only thing you need is a new magic system or am I missing something?

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I think you're better off grouping effects into broad categories.

True Name: Fire

• Create fire: Deal fire damage to a single target or to multiple targets
• Destroy fire: Quench fires or deal necrotic damage to fire creature
• Charm: Charm a creature of fire

True Name: Plant

• Entangle: Restrain creatures with plants
• Wither: Deal necrotic damage to plant creatures
• Locate: locates plants of a specific type

True Name: Water

• Freeze: Creates a layer of ice over standing water, freezes rain to hail
• Conjure water: Drink up everyone
• Tidal Wave: Damage + pushing effect, quench fire

etc.

Possible True Names: fire, water, air, earth, plant, animal, mind, body, dragons, magic, illusions/shadow, space/time

 

[Dioltach]

Or take the Epic Spellcasting rules from 3rd edition, and require a Spellcraft check for every spell besides something basic. So Gust of Wind would be just the spell, but if you want to change the wind to steer your boat to safety in a storm, you make a Spellcraft check. Summoning a hawk to land on your wrist is basic, but to call a dragon to talk to you requires a significant Spellcraft check -- one that you can get bonuses on depending on how much time you've spent researching the dragon's name (like Ged did with the Dragon of Pendor).

 

[nevin]

I think you're better off grouping effects into broad categories.

True Name: Fire

• Create fire: Deal fire damage to a single target or to multiple targets
• Destroy fire: Quench fires or deal necrotic damage to fire creature
• Charm: Charm a creature of fire

True Name: Plant

• Entangle: Restrain creatures with plants
• Wither: Deal necrotic damage to plant creatures
• Locate: locates plants of a specific type

True Name: Water

• Freeze: Creates a layer of ice over standing water, freezes rain to hail
• Conjure water: Drink up everyone
• Tidal Wave: Damage + pushing effect, quench fire

etc.

Possible True Names: fire, water, air, earth, plant, animal, mind, body, dragons, magic, illusions/shadow, space/time

no if you are going to affect a creature of fire you'd have to have the name of that creature otherwise planar magic breaks. for plants that might work, though it could get dicey if you have to have a seperate name for each variety. Say the rose bush has pink flowers instead of red.

In earth sea each body of water and possibly each region of each body or even in the case of large bodies of water the true names of each current.

there wouldn't be truenames for illusions but if you knew the true names of other things you could probably create illusions of them.

I don't think Earth Sea magic had any thing that effected space and time if you were being true to it you'd probably not have that kind of magic.

The biggest problem I see with this in modern D&D is any heavy Skill focused Character could easily become overpowered. Also keep in mind in earthsea the easiest way to screw the players is to spread thier truename to the world. you'd have to think about every aspect of magic or your game could spin off in some wierd messed up ways.

 

[Aldarc]

Why is that? You can use the world of Earthsea pretty much straight up in D&D, they only thing you need is a new magic system or am I missing something?

I can't say that I agree with this. There are so many other TTRPGs out there, including Archipelago, that would be more suitable for Earthsea's style of fantasy and magic.

 

[practicalm]

The magic system of D&D really doesn't work like the Earthsea one at all. There are better systems to try to work with.
Mage: The Ascension
HERO
GURPS
Fate

 

[Ath-kethin]

How wonky do you want to make it?

Honestly, you can just rule that in order to work magic at all, you need to know the True Names etc; by this logic, what separates a member of the Wizard (or sorcerer or cleric or whatever) class from the Fighter etc. class is that the Wizard understands and knows how to manipulate True Names. Bam, done, with no new mechanics to learn.

Alternately, you could rule that the Sorcerer is the True Name caster, and the True Names are what allows the sorc's metamagic to work.

Or perhaps cantrips are minor magicks anyone can learn with though time and dedication. But to cast leveled spells you need True Names.

Don't be afraid to just jettison a class or two to keep the theme consistent. For example, pick one or two full casters and justify it from there. Maybe in this system warlocks gain their power by having their patron provide the True Names, this making an exception to the general rule of power acquisition.

And the Magic Initiate feat represents having picked up a couple of minor tricks but knowing one True Name (leveled spell).

I see a real (unfortunate) tendency for homebrewers to try and couple every new concept with new mechanics, and I think it's frankly unnecessary. You can model most things just by changing how you describe the causes and effects of existing mechanics.

 

[Dausuul]

Honestly, I wouldn't. Any adaptation of Earthsea to 5e would be about as faithful of an adaptation as the SyFy Channel one.

This is kind of where I'm at. The Earthsea series, like the Lord of the Rings, is very focused on the spiritual journey of its characters, and the magic of Earthsea is a core part of that. D&D is not built for spiritual journeys. A skilled DM and players can force it into that mold, but it's not a natural fit at all.

You could design a "true name" magic system for D&D, but it wouldn't capture the feel and flavor of Earthsea, any more than the many imitation-Tolkien elements capture the feel and flavor of Middle-Earth. I would rather start with the idea of a true-name magic system and build one from the ground up to fit D&D's swords-and-sorcery milieu.

(But then, I'm kind of a snob about that sort of thing. The imitation-Tolkien elements in D&D really grind my gears precisely because they rip off so many of the details while utterly failing to capture the essence.)

 

[Aldarc]

The magic system of D&D really doesn't work like the Earthsea one at all. There are better systems to try to work with.
Mage: The Ascension
HERO
GURPS
Fate

The Secrets of Cats for Fate uses Warding, Naming, Seeking, and Shaping as magic skills. That's closer to the sort of magic found in Earthsea.

 

[dave2008]

I can't say that I agree with this. There are so many other TTRPGs out there, including Archipelago, that would be more suitable for Earthsea's style of fantasy and magic.

I wasn't asking for agreement, I was asking for an explanation I am not familiar with Archipelago, so if you care to explain, what else beside the magic system do you think would need to be changed?

Also, the whole point of the OP was they want to adapt it to 5e, so saying use another system isn't helpful. They don't want to play Earthsea, they want to play D&D 5e Earthsea.