Eternalknight
First Post
Is there any free-form magic systems for D&D out there? I'm looking for something akin to what is in the Epic Level Handbook, but for normal levels of play.
Free Form D&D Magic System
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Anime Kidd
Explorer
I don't know how they play, but Unearthed Arcana and the Urban Arcana SRD both have rules for incantations. I also heard that Green Ronin's Black Company book has some sort of free-form system, but since I don't have the book myself, I'm probably wrong. 
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
E.N. Publishing has printed some excellent books on the subject. Depending on your particular choice, you'll probably find what you're looking for with either Elements of Magic Revised (and its sequel product Elements of Magic II: Lyceian Arcana) or Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth. Note that Mythic Earth is a separate, stand-alone product, and not compatible with the former two products.
Matrix Sorcica
Hero
Anime Kidd said:I don't know how they play, but Unearthed Arcana and the Urban Arcana SRD both have rules for incantations. I also heard that Green Ronin's Black Company book has some sort of free-form system, but since I don't have the book myself, I'm probably wrong.
The Black Company free form magic system is being released as a stand alone system tweaked for d20. Compatible and all.
AFAIK, It'll be in late December or early January.
Fieari
Explorer
I -highly- reccomend the Elements of Magic: Revised system. My group refuses to go back to the old vancian system now. I will warn you that it'll take you a little while to figure out how it works (it really needs a "Quick Start" or "Summary" section) but once you've got it, it's really quite intuitive, incredibly flexible, and quite awesome.
Eternalknight
First Post
How different is Elements of Magic : Revised to the original? If it's pretty similiar (I assume it is) it's not quite what I am looking for.
RangerWickett
Legend
The original EOM took existing spells and placed them in spell lists, so that you might have Evoke Fire which went 1 - burning hands, 2 - flaming sphere, 3 - fireball, etc.
The revised EOM is very different. I'll explain it below, but heck, don't take my word for it. Read some reviews.
Some of the terminology is the same, but the system is designed to let you build spells from individual components. Different effects have specific costs in spell levels, and each spell level costs 1 MP (magic point) to cast. The amount of MP you have depends on your level. Also, as you level you choose which types of spells you have access to.
For instance, you might be 7th level, and thus be able to cast spells of up to 7 MP. If you were a combat heavy mage, you might have a lot of Evoke spells - Evoke Shadow, Evoke Lightning, Evoke Force - each of which would give you different effects you could purchase with MP. You might also have a good understanding of illusion magic, and have some Illusion spells - Illusion Light, Illusion Sound, Illusion Life.
Say you want to cast a spell that just fires a bolt of lightning, dealing 5d6 damage to creatures in a 5-ft. wide line, 150-ft. long. Easy. That's Evoke Lightning 4/Gen 3 -- meaning you have 4 levels of Evoke Lightning effects, and 3 of general enhancements (which can be used for any spell). The total spell level is 7, and when you cast it, you spend 7 MP.
Say instead you want a 10-ft. sphere of dark energy that extinguishes light and pulses with black lightning that stuns those trapped inside, dealing 3d6 damage at a range of 30 ft. That's Evoke Lightning 2/Evoke Shadow 3/Gen 2, another 7th level spell.
Say you want to create a persistent field of disruptive energy inside a 20-ft. deep pit, but you want to lure people in. The spell lasts for 1 minute, does 1d6 force damage per round, and makes the area around the pit look like it's actually safe ground. That's Evoke Force 4/Illusion Light 1/Gen 2.
What if you want to create an illusion of yourself to lead foes on a chase away from you. That could be Illusion Light 3/Illusion Sound 1/Illusion Life 1/Gen 2. The spell would last a minute, and could travel up to 150 ft. from you, and would react convincingly within a small range of parameters - namely to run away.
So yeah, it's a freeform magic system. There are some kinks in it, which I mostly fixed when I wrote Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth. The thing is, ME is primarily written to handle earthly-style magic, and thus it's got a strong d20 Modern focus. It has guidelines to make it work in D&D, and honestly I feel it's a smoother system than EOM-R, but it doesn't have the same number of crunchy bits like pre-made magic items. EOM-R is more D&D style magic. EOM-ME works better for games where the GM doesn't mind adjudicating stuff on the fly.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Cyberzombie (author of the original EOM) had a great idea to open up magic, and I saw potential for even more and ran with it. If you think EOM still isn't what you're looking for, tell me more about what you want, because I'll probably want to write something to handle it. One of my players used to say I didn't run D&D; I ran "Spellcasters are Cool."
The revised EOM is very different. I'll explain it below, but heck, don't take my word for it. Read some reviews.
Some of the terminology is the same, but the system is designed to let you build spells from individual components. Different effects have specific costs in spell levels, and each spell level costs 1 MP (magic point) to cast. The amount of MP you have depends on your level. Also, as you level you choose which types of spells you have access to.
For instance, you might be 7th level, and thus be able to cast spells of up to 7 MP. If you were a combat heavy mage, you might have a lot of Evoke spells - Evoke Shadow, Evoke Lightning, Evoke Force - each of which would give you different effects you could purchase with MP. You might also have a good understanding of illusion magic, and have some Illusion spells - Illusion Light, Illusion Sound, Illusion Life.
Say you want to cast a spell that just fires a bolt of lightning, dealing 5d6 damage to creatures in a 5-ft. wide line, 150-ft. long. Easy. That's Evoke Lightning 4/Gen 3 -- meaning you have 4 levels of Evoke Lightning effects, and 3 of general enhancements (which can be used for any spell). The total spell level is 7, and when you cast it, you spend 7 MP.
Say instead you want a 10-ft. sphere of dark energy that extinguishes light and pulses with black lightning that stuns those trapped inside, dealing 3d6 damage at a range of 30 ft. That's Evoke Lightning 2/Evoke Shadow 3/Gen 2, another 7th level spell.
Say you want to create a persistent field of disruptive energy inside a 20-ft. deep pit, but you want to lure people in. The spell lasts for 1 minute, does 1d6 force damage per round, and makes the area around the pit look like it's actually safe ground. That's Evoke Force 4/Illusion Light 1/Gen 2.
What if you want to create an illusion of yourself to lead foes on a chase away from you. That could be Illusion Light 3/Illusion Sound 1/Illusion Life 1/Gen 2. The spell would last a minute, and could travel up to 150 ft. from you, and would react convincingly within a small range of parameters - namely to run away.
So yeah, it's a freeform magic system. There are some kinks in it, which I mostly fixed when I wrote Elements of Magic - Mythic Earth. The thing is, ME is primarily written to handle earthly-style magic, and thus it's got a strong d20 Modern focus. It has guidelines to make it work in D&D, and honestly I feel it's a smoother system than EOM-R, but it doesn't have the same number of crunchy bits like pre-made magic items. EOM-R is more D&D style magic. EOM-ME works better for games where the GM doesn't mind adjudicating stuff on the fly.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Cyberzombie (author of the original EOM) had a great idea to open up magic, and I saw potential for even more and ran with it. If you think EOM still isn't what you're looking for, tell me more about what you want, because I'll probably want to write something to handle it. One of my players used to say I didn't run D&D; I ran "Spellcasters are Cool."
Eternalknight
First Post
RangerWickett: That actually does sound much more like what I am after. Thanks for the rundown. I'll definately give it a look.
Fieari
Explorer
If you want a pit that lures people in, I'd be more interested in sticking a Compulsion on there... will save or just jump in. Or possibly some Create Force to make a series of 1-way walls that prevent any movement but towards the pit (as you move forewards, the force blocks you from retreating, just like a lobster pot). Or Illusion Space to make it so that if you think you're walking away from the pit, you're REALLY walking -towards- the pit, and vise versa.
I mean, yeah, if you want to give the mundane examples, a mere illusion of safe ground is fine. But there are so many exotic things you can do instead! That's why I love the system.
I mean, yeah, if you want to give the mundane examples, a mere illusion of safe ground is fine. But there are so many exotic things you can do instead! That's why I love the system.
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