Elements of Magic: Lyceian Arcana

[HellHound]

E.N. Publishing’s Elements of Magic – Revised Edition gave you a system to create any sort of spell you desired on the fly, breaking free of the traditional forms of d20 magic. In Lyceian Arcana, we present guidelines, examples, and new rules to help you turn that system of game mechanics into any sort of magical world you desire. Discover an academy’s worth of knowledge, including:

* Nine sample magical traditions, including the Dreamers of the Inner Path – mages who draw power from the horrors they find in their dreams – and the Taranesti Diabolists – opportunistic dark Elves who gain their greatest powers by bartering with the infernal.
* Conversions of the core spellcasting classes, to let you use the Elements of Magic system while keeping the same feel in your games.
* Five new magical classes, such as the Godhand – a warrior who receives magical boons from his deity – and the Anima – a flexible class that lets any character imbue herself with permanent magical abilities.
* Twenty-five magical tradition feats, a way to make yourself part of a particular magical tradition far more easily than taking a prestige class.
* Expanded magic item and spellcasting rules. Create intelligent items, or cast powerful spells in massive rituals.
* Information on the Lyceum itself, an academy devoted to teaching diverse magical knowledge, and a perfect way to introduce the Elements of Magic system to an existing game.

 

[MonsterMash]

Lyceian Arcana

Lyceian Arcana

Ryan Nock
EN Publishing PDF 55pp $8.95 pdf $15.95 print + pdf

Complimentary review copy of pdf recieved.

This is a supplement for Elements of Magic Revised, from ENPublishing. It covers a set of magical traditions. Elements of Magic Revised is referred to as EoM and Lyceian Aracan as LA throughout as I'm being lazy with the typing or cut and paste.


Content
This pdf is very largely rules content. Probably about 90% of each page is used for text and the majority of this is rules based.

Chapters

• 5. Worldcraft
• 6. Worlds of Magic
• 7. Spell Mastery
• 8. The Lyceum

The chapter numbering continues that in EoMR. I have discussed the content on a chapter by chapter basis.

Worldcraft
This section contains information on how to integrate magic into the campaign world, discussing sources and spellcraft and worldcraft. This includes using EomR with core magic rules from D20 Fantasy.
Familiar magic is discussed including Vancian magic, Arcane and Divine, Rune Magic and Powers of the Mind. Vancian magic and Arcane and Divine discuss the usual core D20 fantasy styles of magic and how these can be dealt with using the EoMR rules. Rune magic gives an optional system based on runes, but also suggesting other types of script can be used, where the magic is linked to a written character. Powers of the Mind discusses using the rules to represent psionic powers.
Optional rules are given for sources of magic


Worlds of Magic
This chapter includes the example magical traditions/schools of magic which can be used by the GM either as they stand or used as examples to develop their own. Twelve of these traditions are presented, each with explanations of their spell lists, traditions and thematic elements.

Some have sample spells and creatures included. Examples are the Dreamers of the Inner
Path, dream based magic which is a more distinctive style and mentioned as most suitable for modern games, personally I could also see this being useful for a setting like the Lovecraftian Dreamlands. Elemental Guardians are specialists in Geomancy. Gate Keepers of Aeriechellaak are specialists in written magic, with the Scirge of Worlds tradition allowing portals to be created to other worlds, this is one of the more original traditions in my opinion.

Classes
Revised versions of several core classes are presented in this chapter these are:

• Bard
• Cleric
• Druid
• Paladin
• Ranger

These have the adjustments to fit with the EoMR system of spell points and caster levels, with channeling positive or negative energy replacing the turning or commanding undead for clerics, but giving similar in game effects. The BAB progression, hit dice, and saves are unchanged for the classes. Abilities from EoMR are used to reproduce the core rules for divine casters being able to cast in armour. It looks like most of the classes are at a similar power level to the core versions, but it is possible that the Cleric and Druid's spellcasting is slightly less powerful, but more flexible, which is the general effect of the EoMR system.

The classes have additional skills sue to the difference in how the systems handle things, for example the Paladin has skills for Dispel Magic, Diviniation and Scry.

Variant classes are presented, these are:

• Anima - this is a magically powerful individual rather than a 'pure' spellcaster - these
  powers act in a similar way to magic items. This is very different from most of the core
  classes and is as noted in LA similar to a superhero type.
• Arcanist - specialist arcane researcher, refining others spells, closest to a variation on the EoMR Mage class
• Exalten - this is a variant on the bardic type, but with an emphasis on the heroic aspects of being an adventurer. The inspirational attributes of this class are clearly comparable to those of the bard.
• Godhand - in many ways this is a cleric replacement, but with inferior saves and a better BAB
• Longwalker - this class has elements of the Druid and Ranger, but is more of a wilderness explorer overall.

Spell Mastery
This section includes rules for:

• Intelligent Magic Items
• Power Components
• Ritual Magic
• Spell Mishaps

Intelligent Magic items can be created in a similar way to magic items in the EoMR rules, with generally a higher cost and more consistent mechanics to the core rules. Up to 11 permanent spells can be put onto one item, with example items included.

Power Components are special components that can be used to increase the MP limit for one spell, with the DM able to restrict them by cost and rarity. It is noted this requires more book keeping to use, and a list of sample material components by spell type is provided.

Ritual Magic can be used to cast spells with a greater MP cost than the caster's limit and that require more than one application of MP. There are three types of ritual magic - solitary, communal and directed, with explanations of when each type is appropriate. At least one of the casters involved must have a caster level of 3+, with each caster in an ritual donating MP each round towards the total. There are good examples for this and simplified rules for a solitary spellcaster performing a short ritual.

Spell Mishaps are rules to cover what happens when spellcasting goes wrong, usually in instances where mages try to cast spells beyond their MP limit. Not all the mishaps will necessarily harm the caster.

Feats
Mage and tradition feats are presented with 9 mage feats and 25 tradition feats. Access to the tradition feats could be limited to particular schools of magic at the GM's discretion. The feats mainly seem balanced and mechanically appropriate for EoMR.


The Lyceum
This is presented as a college of magic, hence the title of the product. This is the shortest
chapter at three pages, with one prestige class presented. This is brief and probably the weakest section.

Appendices
Two appendices are supplied as word (.doc) documents, the first of these is a list of all the
spells in EoMR and LA by action type, together with a list of all the spells in one place giving around 100 example spells. The second appendix is the errata for EoMR.

Appearance
The design is consistent with EoMR with a border on the outside edge of each page, the same fonts and page layout and the same artist used. There is little wasted space if the pages are printed out and the design is readable both on screen or hard copy. The art is reasonable and does not take up an excessive amount of space on the page. The colour version of the pdf is bookmarked, but not the black and white version.

Pluses:

• Expands EoMR with useful information on how to incorporate the rules with core magic rules
• Usable to expand on how magic fits into the world even without using the EoMR rules
• Some of the variant classes could be fun in play and offer good opportunities that aren't met by any of the core classes.
• Examples provided for rule content

Negatives:

• Requires EoMR to really be useful
• More sample spells for traditions would be useful
• The section on the Lyceum could use some additional content

Downloads:
None at present.

Overall
I give it an 8.5 out of 10 rounding to four stars.

 

[Alzrius]

Elements of Magic: Lyceian Arcana review

Elements of Magic: Lyceian Arcana is a 55-page PDF from E. N. Publishing. It can be purchased through RPGnow.com as either a PDF for $8.95, or in print and PDF formats for $15.95. This review concerns itself with the PDF format only. The size of the download is 4.7 meg, which is impressive since the zipped file has color and black-and-white versions of teh PDF file, an appendix in Microsoft Word (.doc) format, which contains a complete spell list for both this file and Elements of Magic Revised, and a second appendix in Word format that has errata for EoMR. It's interesting to note that the color version of the PDF has bookmarks whereas the B&W version does not. It's worth noting that the B&W PDF version seems to be the only "printer-friendly" work here, though it still includes the interior art, and the chapter headers are now solid grey blocks.

Aside from monster books, artwork has never been that important to me in an RPG book. As such, this is the only time I'll mention the art here. The cover art is pretty cool, being an alteration of a piece of interior artwork, with the ubiquitous borders you find throughout the pages. The interior art (not counting the chapter headings and borders) is all black and white, and having been done by four different artists, runs the gamut from "pretty nice" to "somewhat cartoony."

Now, on to the review. (As an aside, this review is done as part of the Review Project.)

I try to review a product by evaluating it in the context of two questions: "How well does this product accomplish what it sets out to do?" and "How useful will this product be in an average game?" The latter question is a measure of how easy it is to plug the product directly into your game, either in whole or in part. However, when reviewing Lyceian Arcana, I found that the latter question didn't completely apply. This is because Lyceian Arcana isn't so much a sequel to EoMR as it is the second half of it. As such, you can't plug it into your game at all unless you're already using EoMR.

To reiterate, there's no point in purchasing Lyceian Arcana unless you have Elements of Magic Revised, as it builds directly on that book. To be fair, however, that is made quite clear on the product's page on RPGnow. Anyone who purchased this book shouldn't be able to claim ignorance of the fact that you need another book to use it.

Lyceian Arcana picks up where EoMR left off, literally. As the continuation of that book, the first chapter in this one is Chapter Five, where it begins talking about how to use its spell point system in your game world. This section starts off with asking questions that will mostly be useful if you're making a new campaign world, such as how prevalent is magic, or where does it come from. After that, it has some very interesting advice for how to use the EoMR spell system in more traditional themes, such as the Vancian "fire-and-forget" system, arcane and divine magic, etc. It has a short section on how to try and use this new spell system side-by-side with existing magic, but the space on this topic seems to show that the idea isn't regarded quite so highly as using the EoMR system for the totality of magic.

While utilitarian, this section is very good in terms of breaking down exactly what to look for when determining how you wants to use the EoMR in your campaign world. It seems to slant rather heavily in the direction of how to make this magic like more traditional d20 magic, but given the wide differences each system has normally, that's understandable.

Taking up just under half of the book, Chapter Six is the meat of the product. This chapter talks about magical traditions, something only lightly covered in EoMR. This section details nine groups, each of which takes a different view on magic. Some hold radical views on where magic comes from, while others just care to use it for practical purposes. Each group has a listing of how available they are to find/join, what the thematic elements of their spells are, typical spell lists that they use, and miscellanious notes. Each also has a sidebar on how to use this group in your game, as well as at least one magical tradition feat, and one sample spell, though some have more.

After this is, interestingly, not one but two sections on adapting standard d20 spellcasting classes to using this system. The first adaption is the most direct, breaking the Core Rules Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, and Ranger down into EoMR terms and giving them to us here. Afterwards, we're given five new classes, the Anima (EoMR version of the Hero class from E. N. Publishing product Four Color to Fantasy Revised), the Arcanist (wizard), the Exalten (bard), the Godhand (paladin), and longwalker (druid). The explanation here is that the first adaption is the most literal, changing only what is necessary to make the core classes playable with the EoMR rules. The latter adaptions (and the EoMR version of the Hero class is a nice touch) are taking the themes of some of the core classes and building on those themes in a distinctly EoMR style.

The magical traditions here are the heart of the product, and it shows. The ideas given here are incredible not only in the imagination they display, but in showcasing how flexible the EoMR system really is. The Gatekeepers of Aeriechellaak, for example, don't need to verbalize their spells...but they always have to write them as they cast them, since they believe in the power of the written word. This is so great, that with a single tradition feat, they can scribe gates that will take them to other worlds...even at 1st level (though the precision with where you go is easier to attain at higher levels). The only thing I thought was off about this chapter was that the adaptions of core classes would have been much better off in Chapter Five, along with the notes about how to adapt EoMR magic to a more familiar system. I confess though, seeing Zidi Wheatling, the Halfling Titan from Four Color to Fantasy Revised here again (as the Anima example character) absolutely tickled me.

Chapter Seven, Spell Mastery, is basically the chapter with expanded rules. Short sections deal with making intelligent magical items, power components, ritual magic (cooperative casting for greater effects), and spell mishaps. The last part of this chapter puts all the tradition feats from the previous chapter together, and introduces some new ones.

Like the last section of the previous chapter, I enjoyed this section, but wondered if it was somewhat out of place. Some of these sections feel like they should have appeared earlier, such as the intelligent items section in with the chapter on magic items in EoMR. That said, the understanding here is quite clear: that this chapter (the feats notwithstanding) deals with the optional things you can tack on. Each of the sections presented here is modular in how you can make it part of the EoMR spell system, or ignore it.

Chapter Eight, the last chapter, presents The Lyceum itself. This magical school is a melting pot of magical traditions, existing as an in-game plot device for introducing the materials presented in this book. This chapter is mostly flavor text of the history, environment, and surroundings of the Lyceum. Only at the end does it present a single prestige class, the Lyceum Loremaster. This prestige class allows a character to sample magical traditions, buffet-style.

This chapter is fairly transparent in that its giving a DM a reason to use the book. The school's background gives it plenty of reason to have people of different traditions congregate there, and the Lyceum Loremaster allows characters to sample various magical traditions, while at the same time encouraging them to go find more. It's quite artful even if it's not subtle.

On the whole, despite needing another book to make use of, I found myself compelled to give this book 5 out of 5 stars. Elements of Magic Revised lays down the system, but Lyceian Arcana is what really makes that system shine, showing off what it can do by giving you glimpses of the myriad things it can be. If you found EoMR to be somewhat utilitarian in how it laid out the mechanics, Lyceian Arcana will be a welcome breath of new life, making those rules in the previous book seem truly magical. In short, if you have EoMR, you owe it to yourself to buy this book.