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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 5833391" data-attributes="member: 20323">This idea - called Spell Paths - was suggested way back in 2e by Wolfgang Baur (in Dragon, can't remember issue #) and picked up a bit later by Sean Reynolds over here: <a href="http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/pathmagic.html" target="_blank">Path Magic</a>.It could represent an option for wizard advancement that strikes a middle ground between simple damage dice scaling and complex similar spells, while also taking a strong stance about giving each wizard a distinctive theme. In the path system, for example, a wizard might pick up &quot;Flame&quot; which begins with burning hands and progresses into fire ball and eventually minute meteors. However, a bunch of traits of &quot;Flame&quot; magic, like casting time, type or damage dice, and secondary effects (the stuff [MENTION=55485]mcintma[/MENTION] mentions), are the same for each spell. So you don't have to reproduce large swaths of text, instead just distinguishing what improves on the past spell. For example, fireball might simply be an area burst version of burning hands with more damage.I'm not saying this should be the one system for magic, but it could make a handy setup. Then if a wizard player wants to really get into customizing their spells they could &quot;step off the path.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 5833391, member: 20323"] This idea - called Spell Paths - was suggested way back in 2e by Wolfgang Baur (in Dragon, can't remember issue #) and picked up a bit later by Sean Reynolds over here: [url=http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/misc/pathmagic.html]Path Magic[/url]. It could represent an option for wizard advancement that strikes a middle ground between simple damage dice scaling and complex similar spells, while also taking a strong stance about giving each wizard a distinctive theme. In the path system, for example, a wizard might pick up "Flame" which begins with burning hands and progresses into fire ball and eventually minute meteors. However, a bunch of traits of "Flame" magic, like casting time, type or damage dice, and secondary effects (the stuff [MENTION=55485]mcintma[/MENTION] mentions), are the same for each spell. So you don't have to reproduce large swaths of text, instead just distinguishing what improves on the past spell. For example, fireball might simply be an area burst version of burning hands with more damage. I'm not saying this should be the one system for magic, but it could make a handy setup. Then if a wizard player wants to really get into customizing their spells they could "step off the path." [/QUOTE]

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