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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sepulchrave II" data-source="post: 3031603" data-attributes="member: 4303">This material is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.INTRODUCTIONDuring the time of the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons® game, a book authored by Skip Williams and entitled Dungeon Master® Option: High Level Campaigns was released. Within its pages, a system was outlined for the construction and adjudication of true dweomers – spells which exceeded 'normal' mortal capacity. For the first time in the game's history, this gave referees and players a mechanical framework within which powerful magical effects which otherwise relied entirely upon GM fiat could be explained.When the Third Edition rules were released, many of the ideas from the chapter on true dweomers found their way into the new ruleset in the guise of epic spells. As with other aspects of the revised game, a stricter set of operating principles were introduced, reducing – but not eliminating – the need for GM adjudications made on the fly. Nonetheless, a certain degree of criticism has been levelled at the rules regarding epic spells. The updating of the ruleset – from version 3.0 to 3.5 – gives a chance for many of those criticisms to be addressed. That is what this work attempts to do.Epic Magic is not for everyone: many players and GMs who have no interest in games which go beyond 20th-level will have little or no use for this resource. Others may be content with the rules regarding epic magic as they currently exist, or may have their devised alternative methods of dealing with epic spells.  The System Refererence Document, including the original section on Epic Spells is available in its entirety free to the gaming community online at <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35" target="_blank">http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/article/srd35</a> Design GoalsEpic Magic attempts to systematically tackle the problems with the rules concerning epic spells, without altogether reinventing them. Rather than attempting to redesign the system from the ground up, Epic Magic strips the current rules down to their bare bones and offers an alternative – and hopefully better implemented – means of adjudicating the most powerful of magics. In broad terms, the efforts of Epic Magic revolve around the following ideas: • The new system should be fully compatible with the revised Dungeons and Dragons® 3.5 Ruleset, but preserve the original game mechanic as far as is practicable. This makes adaptation to the system relatively painless for players who are already versed with epic spells as they presently exist.• Issues involving game balance should be thoroughly investigated, and solutions to the current imbalances offered.• Epic spellcasting should become a viable option for low-epic level casters, without bankrupting their resources. • A means of establishing a measure of parity between the epic spellcasting classes should be developed without diminishing the unique perspectives offered by those classes. This parity should extend to include epic characters who are members of spellcasting classes who have not taken the Epic Spellcasting feat.• The mechanics of the system should be transparent – i.e., where a specifc rule exists, its source should be readily apparent to a player. This makes any further rulings as necessitated by play easier to judge.• The system should scale tightly between 20th- and 40th- character levels, and reasonably effectively to 50th-level.• Epic Magic should be a resource which provides a compendium of new spells and ideas for players and referees alike.How Epic Magic is OrganizedThe chapters which follow introduce a number of new ideas, and it's recommended that the reader takes his or her time and digests them in the order in which they are presented. Familiar feats and mechanics have been overhauled, and new concepts – designed to expand the scope of epic spellcasting – have been introduced.Chapter 1: Overview paints epic magic in broad strokes, outlining basic ideas and operating principles. It aims for conciseness, while imparting the gist of 'what epic magic is all about.'Chapter 2: Feats presents a variety of feats which are available to epic level spellcasting characters. Some of these feats are unchanged from prior versions, some have been modified, and others are entirely new.Chapter 3: Seeds gives an exhaustive description of the building blocks of epic spells. The scope of individual seeds has been extended, and the mechanics brought into line with the revised ruleset. Chapter 4: Factors describes the way in which epic spells can be modified to best suit the needs of the individual caster. Factors have been expanded, and their implementation streamlined.Chapter 5: Combination sheds light on the difficulties involved in creating complex epic spells, and introduces a set of guidelines which make combining elements within epic spells more logical and consistent. It also introduces the idea of aggregates, combinations of seeds which can yield specific, dramatic results.Chapter 6: Rituals deals specifically with ritual epic spells, an important subset of epic magic which involve the collaborative efforts of more than one spellcaster.Chapter 7: Options illustrates a variety of paths open to epic-level spellcasters, highlights the problems of integrating nonepic and epic magic, and introduces new ideas including impulses and the magnum opus.Chapter 8: Spells presents a wealth of epic spells – some reworked, others entirely new – using the guidelines as set forth in the preceding chapters.</blockquote>

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