Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="PugioilAudacio" data-source="post: 2011252" data-attributes="member: 16042">Introduction:Elements of Magic is an add on supplement to the standard way of dealing with magic in the D20 system. Instead of memorizing spells, casters draws upon a pool of Magic Points (MP) to power their spells. Spells can be cast on the fly and are assembled from lists of different spell traits (spell lists). While such a system is obviously very different from the usual method of dealing with magic, it is completely modular and can be added into an existing D20 campaign with little difficulty. Elements of Magic is the first in a set of two volumes detailing this system.  The second volume, Lyceian Arcana, will contain additional rules and information including spells and world building guidelines.Layout:Elements of Magic begins with a short introduction before immediately launching into new classes, skills, and feats (Chapter 1). While this layout may be useful for quick reference purposes, it can be a bit disorienting to the first time reader. As the actual rules that the classes, skills, and feats are based on are contained in later chapters, the first time reader might find themselves having to skip the first chapter, as they will not understand much of what is being said until reading the later chapters.After classes comes the meat of the system. Chapter 2 deals with the actual rules and frameworks that make up the system while chapter 3 contains detailed information concerning the actual spell lists and magical skills used in the system. Finally, chapter 4 deals with item creation.Overview:Elements of Magic (EoM) describes a system in which casters draw upon a pool of Magic Points (MP) to power their spells. While an EoM caster does need to meditate for an hour a day, they do not actually have to memorize specific spells. Instead, casters create spells on the fly from specific spell lists that they know. A spell list can be defined as a type of spell that consists of an action type and a target or effect category. For instance, "Evoke Fire" is a spell list that describes all the things you can do that involve evoking (or calling forth) fire. (You can think of spell lists as templates that are applied to your spells.) The type of spell that is actually cast depends on the amount of magic points that are put into that spell list. You can also, using magic points, purchase enhancements to your spells. To illustrate this mechanic, consider again the Evoke Fire spell list. Spells cast using the Evoke Fire spell list have five different levels of extra, add on enhancements. Each level of enhancement costs a certain extra amount of Magic Points to use. If one wanted their fire spells to be able to catch things on fire, they might spend another few magic points to add the Moderate enhancement to their fire spell. Additionally, all Evoke Fire spells have the ability to increase their damage output by spending an extra Magic Point per 1d6 damage. For instance, one could choose to cast an Evoke Fire 6 spell (Evoke Fire spell list with 6 magic points put into it) to do 4d6 damage (3 Magic Points - the first 1d6 is free) and to be able to set such materials as logs and creatures on fire.This system is very well thought out and provides an easy method for spell creation. A player or DM only needs to select the various spell lists that they want to include, select the enhancements that they want to add to those lists, and calculate the total cost in Magic Points. The final spell is a combination of the effects described in the individual spell lists. (Again, it may be easier to think of spell lists as different templates that are applied to the spell).Break Down:Chapter one covers three basic classes to be used with Elements of Magic - The Mage (standard caster), Mageknight (combination caster/fighting type) and Taskmage (caster focusing on skills). All in all nothing special*. Also included in this chapter is a list of feats usable with this system. Many of the feats are variations on feats in the PHB (item creation and metamagic feats), while others (called Mage feats) are new to the system.* More classes will be presented in the companion volume Lyceian Arcana.Chapter two covers the actual magic system itself. A brief description of the mechanics in this chapter follows.All casters have an added statistic called Spellcaster level. This is similar to a warriors base attack bonus. An interesting benefit of using a Spellcaster bonus reveals itself when multiclassing. For instance, if a sixth level Mageknight (4 1/2 spellcaster level) were to multiclass and take two levels of Taskmage (1 1/2 spellcaster level) the total spellcaster level of that character would equal 6. As all Magic Points/casting ability is measured in terms of spellcaster level, it provides an easy way in which to keep track of classes with different spellcasting ability.Another interesting feature is Magical Traditions. Magical Traditions allow the DM to create custom spell casting types based on such things as language, religion, or any other factor in the DM's campaign world. These traditions include availability, thematic elements, specific spell lists, and other miscellaneous information specific to that tradition. Given the flexibility of the system it is very easy for the DM to add in his own custom elements into his campaign world.While all this customizability is great, Elements of Magic also includes safeguards to keep the system balanced and smooth. For starters, all spells cast on the fly using spell lists take two rounds to cast. The caster is, in effect, sacrificing casting time for versatility. This was added in part to make sure that casters using this rule system won't bog down the gameplay while they calculate all of their spells effects. For those who feel that two rounds is far too long for the average spell, Elements of Magic introduces Signature Spells. A Signature Spell is a spell that has all of its variables, spell lists, and effects set ahead of time. Casting a Signature Spell takes only a standard action. These spells represent a casters "favorite" spells - ones he uses most often. While there is a limit to how many signature spells a caster can have at any given time (based on caster level), a caster can choose a new set of signature spells at the beginning of every day. These spells can still be cast spontaneously as long as the caster has the required amount of Magic Points left.Chapter three describes the different spell list action types long with the type of category that action can affect. The action types are:Abjure [Alignment], [Creature], or [Element] - Deals with protection and containment type spells.    Hex - The opposite of Abjure spells, Hex spells detract from the enemy what abjure spells give to the allies.Charm [Creature] - All emotion/creature state affecting spells.Compel [Creature] - Type of spell dealing with the control of other creatures.Create [Element] - Deals with spells that create objects or energy.Evoke [Alignment] or [Element] - Deals with spells that deal (heavy) damage.Heal [Alignment] or [Element] - Healing/Curing type spells.Illusion [Element] - Illusion type spells. Certain illusion spells (those with the Force element) can actually do damage.Infuse [Alignment] or [Element] - Deals with all type of buffing and enhancement spells.    Drain [Element] - The opposite of Infuse type spells - it Drains power/stats from other creatures/things.Move [Element] - All forms of movement; from telekinesis to teleport to walking through walls.Summon [Creature[ - Summon type spells. Summoned creatures are not automatically under the control of the caster.Transform [Creature] or [Element] - Spells dealing with transformation type effects.The effects are grouped into the three major categories of Alignment, Creature, and Element. An action type with an effect category in brackets next to it can affect objects/creatures dealing with that effect category. Specific categories must still be satisfied (Fire is a specific example of an Element). The effect categories are:Alignment - Affects creatures or objects power deriving from the specified alignment. The five Alignments are Balance (neutrality), Chaos, Evil, Good, and Law.Creature - Affects only creatures of the specified type. Unlike the core D20 rules, Elements of Magic makes no distinction between creatures like undead, constructs, oozes, and normal living beings. The fifteen creature types are: Aberration, Animal, Construct, Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Giant, Humanoid, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, outsider, Plant, Undead, and Vermin.Element: Affects creatures or objects with the specified elemental energy. Elements of Magic has a complex array of elements. These elements are presented on two wheels showing the connection each element has to every other element. Elements have "friendly" elements that are similar to each other. For instance, a creature immune to the Water element would also be immune to the Mist and Ooze elements. There are a total of twenty two elements, each one dealing with a specific part of the world - including more abstract concepts such as space and time.A spell list is a single combination of these action and category types. Abjure Good, Create Ooze, and Transform Undead, are all examples of spell lists. As spell lists may be combined to produce hybrid effects, the amount of customizability in this system is mind-boggling. This system allows for a virtually unlimited number of spells, while implementing a system for balancing them out and eradicating unbalanced spells.Also of note in this chapter are the four Magic Skills: Dispel Magic, Divination, Scry, and Spellcraft. These skills can be fully combined with spell lists for added options. In effect (EoM seems to have a lot of those), these skills represent another form of spell list. Like spell lists, they also require Magic Points to use. However, they also have the more standard aspect of DC's and skill modifiers. Most of this is presented in a clear, easy to understand format.Finally, chapter four deals with magic item creation. Again, Elements of Magic does a great job with managing both customizability as well as balance. Magic item in EoM have three categories: Charged, Wondrous, and Permanent. A charged item is something that has a fixed pool of Magic Points that the item draws from. A wondrous item is an item that is worn and conveys some (permanent) effect to the wearer. This category spans all forms of worn items, from magic plate mail to hats of disguise (or hat of Illusion Humanoid). The permanent category encompasses all other forms of permanent spells. From magical traps and guards, to permanent enhancement spells cast on a creature. Again this is all handled in a very logical and balanced way.Cons:While overall, Elements of Magic is a great supplement, there are a few small problems with the manuscript:- Ambiguity: There are many statements in the book that are ambiguous. In many cases, the reader may not understand what is being said, or how a specific rule  affects a given situation. This is a pretty big problem throughout the entire book.- Layout: The book begins by talking about classes and feats without first introducing the rules that support them. The reader is often left wondering what a specific feat or ability is talking about, as the rules that cover them are in later chapters.- Typos: There are quite a few typos and editing bugs in this book. Generally they do not impact the understanding of the material, but sometimes they do serve to confuse the reader. As this is an electronically published document, it should be pretty easy to fix these mistakes and these problems should not persist for very long.Pros:- Customizability: The magic system presented in this book is extremely customizable - allowing for easy creation of spells, classes, magical items, skills, and the like.- Balance: Despite the dangers inherent in using a point based system, Elements of Magic manages to keep the spells and effects balanced. The DM will only have to veto new spells in very rare cases.- Robustness: This system is generally a lot more fun, interesting, and true to most fantasy books/movies than the standard D20 method.Summary: Elements of Magic provides a highly customizable alternate magic system that DM's and players alike will find interesting and fun to play.</blockquote>

Verification