John Q. Mayhem
Explorer
I think that Still and Silent are gone because any magician can use magical focus to cast any spell without verbal or somatic components.
Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth (post-release proofread complete!)
- Thread starter RangerWickett
- Start date
RangerWickett
Legend
I'm highlighting the original text, and putting my replies in normal.
Okay, I've finally worked myself through EoM-ME. And I found several things:
Page 34: "Russell Vanderschmidt is too old to pin himself down with alleigances as he did in his youth." Allegiances isn't spelt correctly.
Page 39: "Because you are creating an entire spell, the dispel attempt takes only a standard action, not two full rounds. If your spell functions, you dispel the targeted spell." What do you mean with this sentence? Shouldn't be creating an entire spell last 2 rounds - or do you mean actually, that you don't create an actual spell?
It should be, "Because you aren't creating an entire spell. . . ." You can counterspell by readying a standard action, and even cast a normal dispel as a standard action. Because magic is easier to get ahold of, I wanted it to be easier to get rid of magic too. This way things like charms and such aren't so debilitating. Any spellcaster can try to dispel, and it isn't too hard.
Page 39: "The check is modified only by your ranks in Spellcraft, not by your Intelligence modifier or any other ability except those the specifically say they assist dispel attempts." The "the" after "except" should be "that".
Page 41: Confusion should be allowed to be taken as moderate and strong effects, although the only benefit is, that a simple save won't help the victim.
Page 51: No mentioning, what a scryed place counts regarding the Int check DC?
What do you mean? The only Intelligence check involved with scrying is to see whether you notice someone's scrying on you. A scryed place can't make an Intelligence check, because it's not intelligent.
Page 53: The class skill "Profession (Wis)" should be listed as "Profession (any) (Wis)".
Not in D20 Modern, and I didn't think so either in D&D. In D20 Modern, Profession is your 'make money' skill. It is not tied to a single job.
No telepathic communication with Charm?
I figure it can easily fall in with the existing telepathic compulsion enhancements. You're basically contacting their mind and choosing not to control it. They'd still get a Will save to boot you out, though.
How do you heal undead, if Heal harms them?
Not all the possible uses of spells are covered. I'm sure a character with an appropriate tradition could create a Cure spell that can heal undead.
Why are certain uses of enhancements restricted in the number of times, which they can be selected?
It's a guideline, mostly intended to keep magic items from going out of control. A Purchase DC 30 isn't that much easier than DC 35, so I either would have to drastically recost magic items to make anything other than 1st level spells unavailable, or I'd have to make detailed charts like in EOM-R showing a non-arithmetic progression. As usual, the GM can freely choose to let some enhancements be taken more times, thought I'd suggest they don't keep the same cost progression.
The goal was to provide a workable system that could do 95% of what you want to do in a game, and give the GM a baseline for winging the rest. For instance, in my game last night, a player wanted to cast a spell to find out whether his cel phone was being tapped. I ruled it as a 5th level Divine spell, and we ran with it.
I haven't seen an option, where Attack, Illusion, Move and Transform spells have no save.
What do you mean? Spells that can be hostile always have a save.
Why can't the mental stats be improved in d20Modern? And why is the option missing to improve a Constitution skill (although there is only one skill)? Why isn't the bonus for strength skills doubled?
I don't like stat-boosting items, especially not mental stat-boosting items. I just don't like the feel of them, especially since they're so ubiquitous in games. So I'm not saying such magic is impossible in a modern game, but it's something I feel the GM and the player should work out, and it shouldn't be assumed to exist.
Sure, boost Concentration. I'd suggest Cure, or possibly Charm.
Strength skills? Flying and such is harder to acquire than in normal EOM, so such skills are actually useful for longer.
I'm missing Still Spell and Silent Spell. Are other metamagic feats available?
John Q Mayhem had it right.
Okay, I've finally worked myself through EoM-ME. And I found several things:
Page 34: "Russell Vanderschmidt is too old to pin himself down with alleigances as he did in his youth." Allegiances isn't spelt correctly.
Page 39: "Because you are creating an entire spell, the dispel attempt takes only a standard action, not two full rounds. If your spell functions, you dispel the targeted spell." What do you mean with this sentence? Shouldn't be creating an entire spell last 2 rounds - or do you mean actually, that you don't create an actual spell?
It should be, "Because you aren't creating an entire spell. . . ." You can counterspell by readying a standard action, and even cast a normal dispel as a standard action. Because magic is easier to get ahold of, I wanted it to be easier to get rid of magic too. This way things like charms and such aren't so debilitating. Any spellcaster can try to dispel, and it isn't too hard.
Page 39: "The check is modified only by your ranks in Spellcraft, not by your Intelligence modifier or any other ability except those the specifically say they assist dispel attempts." The "the" after "except" should be "that".
Page 41: Confusion should be allowed to be taken as moderate and strong effects, although the only benefit is, that a simple save won't help the victim.
Page 51: No mentioning, what a scryed place counts regarding the Int check DC?
What do you mean? The only Intelligence check involved with scrying is to see whether you notice someone's scrying on you. A scryed place can't make an Intelligence check, because it's not intelligent.
Page 53: The class skill "Profession (Wis)" should be listed as "Profession (any) (Wis)".
Not in D20 Modern, and I didn't think so either in D&D. In D20 Modern, Profession is your 'make money' skill. It is not tied to a single job.
No telepathic communication with Charm?
I figure it can easily fall in with the existing telepathic compulsion enhancements. You're basically contacting their mind and choosing not to control it. They'd still get a Will save to boot you out, though.
How do you heal undead, if Heal harms them?
Not all the possible uses of spells are covered. I'm sure a character with an appropriate tradition could create a Cure spell that can heal undead.
Why are certain uses of enhancements restricted in the number of times, which they can be selected?
It's a guideline, mostly intended to keep magic items from going out of control. A Purchase DC 30 isn't that much easier than DC 35, so I either would have to drastically recost magic items to make anything other than 1st level spells unavailable, or I'd have to make detailed charts like in EOM-R showing a non-arithmetic progression. As usual, the GM can freely choose to let some enhancements be taken more times, thought I'd suggest they don't keep the same cost progression.
The goal was to provide a workable system that could do 95% of what you want to do in a game, and give the GM a baseline for winging the rest. For instance, in my game last night, a player wanted to cast a spell to find out whether his cel phone was being tapped. I ruled it as a 5th level Divine spell, and we ran with it.
I haven't seen an option, where Attack, Illusion, Move and Transform spells have no save.
What do you mean? Spells that can be hostile always have a save.
Why can't the mental stats be improved in d20Modern? And why is the option missing to improve a Constitution skill (although there is only one skill)? Why isn't the bonus for strength skills doubled?
I don't like stat-boosting items, especially not mental stat-boosting items. I just don't like the feel of them, especially since they're so ubiquitous in games. So I'm not saying such magic is impossible in a modern game, but it's something I feel the GM and the player should work out, and it shouldn't be assumed to exist.
Sure, boost Concentration. I'd suggest Cure, or possibly Charm.
Strength skills? Flying and such is harder to acquire than in normal EOM, so such skills are actually useful for longer.
I'm missing Still Spell and Silent Spell. Are other metamagic feats available?
John Q Mayhem had it right.
RangerWickett said:
I mean, that for a teleport spell the familiarity of the target sets the DC. A scryed place should increase the familiarity somewhat.
RangerWickett said:
Hmm, I'd like it better, if you can drop the control part and gain the ability to communicate for the entire duration freely. As I see it, you could only send one-way messages and this only once, unless you take Telepathic Domination.
RangerWickett said:
"If you roll a natural 20 on your spellcasting check to cast a Create spell, affected creatures
suffer a –4 penalty to their saves to resist. Create spells that do not grant saves are
unaffected." How do I cast spells, which don't require saves? The touch spell option isn't available.
What about alignment? In D&D it is still big.
Also I'm wondering about the 20 gp conversion for one craft point.
RangerWickett
Legend
I mean, that for a teleport spell the familiarity of the target sets the DC. A scryed place should increase the familiarity somewhat.
It'd probably count as 'viewed once' (DC 10).
Hmm, I'd like it better, if you can drop the control part and gain the ability to communicate for the entire duration freely. As I see it, you could only send one-way messages and this only once, unless you take Telepathic Domination.
I think two-way communication is fine for telepathic command, but each person should only be able to communicate something as complex as the command's actual complexity. By which I mean that if you cast Telepathic Command, Standard on someone, you could send a message that's one or two sentences long, and that person could reply with a similar length message. Real telepathic communication would require 'complex,' which would be unlimited, and both you and the target could talk back and forth.
"If you roll a natural 20 on your spellcasting check to cast a Create spell, affected creatures
suffer a –4 penalty to their saves to resist. Create spells that do not grant saves are
unaffected." How do I cast spells, which don't require saves? The touch spell option isn't available.
I meant that some Create spells simply don't require saves by their very nature. If you create a sword, rolling a nat 20 doesn't matter. But if you try to create a cage to trap someone, rolling a nat 20 makes it harder for them to resist.
What about alignment? In D&D it is still big.
Also I'm wondering about the 20 gp conversion for one craft point.
What would you like to know about using alignment in this system? Attack could theoretically gain a set of aligned energy types. Divine could gain the ability to discern alignments (already sorta included with Reading), and Illusion could hide it (also already sorta covered). The rest of the magical skills don't really need alignment rules, because unlike core EOM, targeting isn't limited by element or alignment or creature type.
The 20 gp per 1 CP cost is a pretty much a reverse engineering of the costs in EOM-R. I kept most MP costs in EOM-R equivalent to spell level costs for ME, and just divided gp cost by 20 to get CP cost.
It'd probably count as 'viewed once' (DC 10).
Hmm, I'd like it better, if you can drop the control part and gain the ability to communicate for the entire duration freely. As I see it, you could only send one-way messages and this only once, unless you take Telepathic Domination.
I think two-way communication is fine for telepathic command, but each person should only be able to communicate something as complex as the command's actual complexity. By which I mean that if you cast Telepathic Command, Standard on someone, you could send a message that's one or two sentences long, and that person could reply with a similar length message. Real telepathic communication would require 'complex,' which would be unlimited, and both you and the target could talk back and forth.
"If you roll a natural 20 on your spellcasting check to cast a Create spell, affected creatures
suffer a –4 penalty to their saves to resist. Create spells that do not grant saves are
unaffected." How do I cast spells, which don't require saves? The touch spell option isn't available.
I meant that some Create spells simply don't require saves by their very nature. If you create a sword, rolling a nat 20 doesn't matter. But if you try to create a cage to trap someone, rolling a nat 20 makes it harder for them to resist.
What about alignment? In D&D it is still big.
Also I'm wondering about the 20 gp conversion for one craft point.
What would you like to know about using alignment in this system? Attack could theoretically gain a set of aligned energy types. Divine could gain the ability to discern alignments (already sorta included with Reading), and Illusion could hide it (also already sorta covered). The rest of the magical skills don't really need alignment rules, because unlike core EOM, targeting isn't limited by element or alignment or creature type.
The 20 gp per 1 CP cost is a pretty much a reverse engineering of the costs in EOM-R. I kept most MP costs in EOM-R equivalent to spell level costs for ME, and just divided gp cost by 20 to get CP cost.
RangerWickett
Legend
I'm sending this out to folks who allow RPGNow publishers to contact them, but I wanted to post here too, because some folks were waiting for this news (and not everyone accepts emails). We'll be making a formal press release in a day or two.
Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth has received a few small updates and errata in response to feedback on the EN World messageboards and in the reviews at RPGNow. Magic item creation costs have been streamlined, the section on mythic themes has been expanded with examples and brief adventure suggestions, and new traditions have been added to the appendix to help add more D&D-specific content.
This email should include a link to download a copy of the updated file. Otherwise, I think you can redownload the book from here, but don't quote me on that.
Additionally, the book is now available in print format. This version includes all the updates mentioned above. Unfortunately, if you already purchased a pdf copy and wish to get a print copy, there's no easy system in place to reduce the print cost, but email me at RangerWickett@hotmail.com and I'll work out a deal.
Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth has received a few small updates and errata in response to feedback on the EN World messageboards and in the reviews at RPGNow. Magic item creation costs have been streamlined, the section on mythic themes has been expanded with examples and brief adventure suggestions, and new traditions have been added to the appendix to help add more D&D-specific content.
This email should include a link to download a copy of the updated file. Otherwise, I think you can redownload the book from here, but don't quote me on that.
Additionally, the book is now available in print format. This version includes all the updates mentioned above. Unfortunately, if you already purchased a pdf copy and wish to get a print copy, there's no easy system in place to reduce the print cost, but email me at RangerWickett@hotmail.com and I'll work out a deal.
RangerWickett said:
I mean, that every skill states something like above, but there doesn't seem to be a skill, which allows both use the save and no-saves option at once. Or do I miss something?
RangerWickett said:
That seems strange, because in core rules the conversion for 1 XP is 5 gp, not 20 gp.
Why is Death damage only through certain feats available? If it is too strong, why have those feats no higher prerequisites?
What happens, if I dispel magic items? Or things created with Create, but made permanent?
RangerWickett
Legend
RuleMaster said:
You missed something.
Okay, here's what I meant. Not every spell requires a save. To use a core example, create food and water doesn't require a save, because no one needs to resist anything. Detect Magic doesn't require a save either.
The 'natural 20' clause is there so that rolling a nat 20 on an attack spell, charm spell, or other hostile spell will have the same thrill as rolling a nat 20 on a melee attack. Rolling a nat 20 gets you a little extra boost by incuring a penalty to resist the spell's save. However, seeing as some spells simply don't require saves, rolling a nat 20 for them just has no effect.
There is no way in the system to make spells that should require a save, not require a save. An Attack spell that gives a weapon the flaming enhancement has no save; it doesn't need one. An Attack spell that deals direct damage always has a save, but if you roll a nat 20, that save is harder to resist.
Here's a weird metaphor. If spellcasting were a toll road, then the rule would be 1 in every 20 people on motorcycles don't have to pay the toll. People in cars shouldn't ask how to make their car into a motorcycle. Motorcycles are spells with saves. Cars are spells without saves. You can't turn a car into a motorcycle.
In the core rules, if something costs 250 GP market value, it costs you 10 XP and 125 GP to make. In the modern system, though, money is a much harder beast to wrangle, so I could not easily say, "The item has a Purchase DC 25. To make it, you must spend 10 XP and provide materials with a Purchase DC 15." To avoid having to make that sort of weird cost calculation, I made magic items cost only XP (or rather, Craft Points).
Thus, instead of the XP cost being 1/25 of the GP market value cost, it's 1/20. Does that make sense?
Death effects are more powerful, akin to the specialized movement abilities like fly, teleport, and turning ethereal. Only some people can access them. Generally, the tradition feats that provide access to Death damage are slightly weaker than the other tradition feats.
The following is in the updated version:
Dispelling Magic Items
If you successfully dispel a magic item, permanent spell, or curse, its effects are suppressed for one minute. When attempting to dispel a permanent effect, you can choose to increase the DC by 1 to increase the duration to 10 minutes, or increase it by 3 to increase the duration to one hour, or by 8 to increase the duration to one day.
Cheiromancer
Adventurer
Wait. So if you dispel a permanent spell, it comes back again? How do you get rid of it for good?
RangerWickett
Legend
You cast a permanent dispel magic. If you want to negate a permanent magic effect, you need to spend XP. Though there is an easier alternative -- just break or kill whatever the permanent spell is on.
Oh, and there's a fine line that I probably didn't do a good enough job delineating. A 'permanent spell' is one where you spend XP to make it like a magic item. That is different from a spell with a permanent duration, which is a spell with 30 MP spent on the duration enhancement. You can make the spell last forever that way, but if it's dispelled, the spell ends.
Oh, and there's a fine line that I probably didn't do a good enough job delineating. A 'permanent spell' is one where you spend XP to make it like a magic item. That is different from a spell with a permanent duration, which is a spell with 30 MP spent on the duration enhancement. You can make the spell last forever that way, but if it's dispelled, the spell ends.
Cheiromancer
Adventurer
OK. I'm waiting for POD to arrive in the mail before I really go over it, but I did glance through the PDF... what's up with squirrelmancy? Is there an inside joke that I'm missing?
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