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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arilyn" data-source="post: 9731893" data-attributes="member: 6816042">Shadowdark has a lot less spells relying on saving throws. In D&D many spells fizzle because of saves. In SD, if you do not lose the spell you can keep casting it. Wizards start with 3 spells and priests 2. At 1st level you gain your first talent and all of them will make the wizard better at magic and the priest either better at magic or combat. Looking at the wizard. Since Shadowdark says characters must have at least a 14, we can assume that most wizards start with at least a 14 in Int. The talent table is weighted toward giving you a plus 2 intelligence or an advantage on casting one spell you know. If you roll outside the average range for a talent you could learn an extra spell, choose any talent you want or start with a magic item you made. The d20 is swingy, so yes, you might have terrible luck and have all your spells fizzle. But that will probably only be one session. I mean, I'm famous at our table for making strong warriors who cannot hit a single thing during their first sessions. And the spells are good! Charm Person lasts 1d8 days and no save if they're level 2 or less. No saves with a fireball. If you get a critical success, you can choose to double any aspect of the spell you want like damage, range, duration, effect, etc. And yeah, critical failures cause a mishap but magic shouldn't be something sane people dabble in. But adventurers aren't sane...Anyway, magic in SD is not just a 50/50 luck thing. You need an 11 to cast a 1st level spell. You'll probably have a +2 or +3, so that's an 8 or 9 needed for a successful cast. Magic Missile casts with advantage, so a good spell to take if you want something that'll be more dependable. Magic is definitely geared toward being more useful than not. It's just not fully reliable. And as players gain levels, the magic fails a lot less. And as much as you have bad streaks, you are also going to have hot streaks and just not lose spells. Overall, I find it fun and it feels more like magic.</blockquote>

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