Committed Hero
Hero
Urban Arcana Incantations?
Knowledge (Occult) roll against high DCs.
Powerful effects
Knowledge (Occult) roll against high DCs.
Powerful effects
Let's summarize the various d20 magic systems up there
- Thread starter Turanil
- Start date
Vigilance
Explorer
Legends of Excalibur/Legends of the Samurai
Spell points rather than spell slots: Depending on the caster level and spell level spell cost can vary greatly.
Overcasting: A spell above the caster's usual level can be cast at a greatly increased cost, but this fatigues or exhausts the caster and typically takes 50% or more of his spell points.
Metamagic feats affect spell point cost.
New power manipulation feat acts like metamagic in reverse, reduce spell efficiency to decrease the cost.
All spellcasting is spontaneous.
Magic item creation is a function of the skill (as in skill points) and personality of the maker. No Xp costs for creating magic items (but see below).
A feat is required to use certain magic items, and the potency of the item varies according to the wielder's personality and and level. This not only means a magic weapon could function differently in the hands of different wielders but also that it can grow in power with the wielder.
Chuck
Spell points rather than spell slots: Depending on the caster level and spell level spell cost can vary greatly.
Overcasting: A spell above the caster's usual level can be cast at a greatly increased cost, but this fatigues or exhausts the caster and typically takes 50% or more of his spell points.
Metamagic feats affect spell point cost.
New power manipulation feat acts like metamagic in reverse, reduce spell efficiency to decrease the cost.
All spellcasting is spontaneous.
Magic item creation is a function of the skill (as in skill points) and personality of the maker. No Xp costs for creating magic items (but see below).
A feat is required to use certain magic items, and the potency of the item varies according to the wielder's personality and and level. This not only means a magic weapon could function differently in the hands of different wielders but also that it can grow in power with the wielder.
Chuck
Red Spire Press
First Post
DARK LEGACIES
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Summarizing from various sections of the Dark Legacies Player's Guide... detailing not just the how's but also the why's, which are so important with a low-magic setting.
Classes: Arcanists are the only magic-oriented class, though a character of any class can learn and cast spells to a lesser degree. Magic in DARK LEGACIES is rooted in the Abyss rather than the Earth, thus there is no natural magic or druidic tradition. Likewise, there is no magical bardic tradition; bard archetypes can be emulated by creating an expert or rogue with ranks in Perform and Spellcraft, or even a musically inclined priest. Priests are the only divine-oriented class, replacing clerics, with militant priests taking the place of paladins.
Nature of Magic: The origin of all magic on Earth is Azrae and the Abyss. It is said that magic is the soul of Azrae, and that each demon is given life by being invested with a portion of that soul. Demons and their subtypes have an inherent ability to wield magic in the form of spell-like abilities. Mortals gain access to magic through the science of arcanism, whereby they transmute demonic energy into spells through incantation and alchemy; this science is dangerous, often vile, used sparingly, and then only when the desired result could not be achieved through mundane means.
Unlike the Voice, which is specific to priests, arcanism is accessible to all characters, regardless of class. It is an unrestricted power, the practice of which has grown steadily since the Great War, much to the horror of the churches of humanity. Those that use it do so knowing that they practice a forbidden science that exists in violation of the laws of Deihass and the Faith, but among those that travel the dark road, the promise of unrestricted personal power outweighs all concerns of retribution for heresy.
Divine Magic: Priests use the "Voice," rather than magic, to produce miraculous effects. This unique power, specific to priests, grants them supernatural abilities associated with their holy dominions, as well as the ability to augment their normal voice beyond human limits. Though priests have used the Voice freely for three thousand years, new questions as to the roots of this power have emerged as a result of a growing awareness of arcanism among the general populace. Similarities are drawn between the two powers, suggesting that the Voice is perhaps just a different kind of magic: “divine magic”. Such controversial views are generally kept private, however, as they attract vicious retribution from religious authorities.
How Does Spellcasting Work? Spellcasting in DARK LEGACIES is an involved process that requires great physical and mental sacrifice on the part of the caster, as well as exposure to additional risk and consequence should his spell fail. The spellcasting flow below outlines the process of casting a spell, and the descriptions that follow explain each step of the process.
Spellcasting Strain: In addition to the material components required to cast a spell, the act of summoning and manipulating demonic forces is fatiguing and inflicts casting strain in the form of nonlethal damage upon the caster. The amount of casting strain is equal to 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per spell level of the spell being cast. The spell’s effective level for calculating this nonlethal damage is reduced by 1 level for every point of casting resistance gained from the arcanist class, though this effective spell level can never be reduced below 1st-level, meaning you always suffer at least 1d4 points of nonlethal damage when casting a spell. Casters that are immune to nonlethal damage instead take half the rolled amount as regular hit point damage. If you fall unconscious as a direct result of taking nonlethal damage from spellcasting strain (regardless of any unrelated nonlethal damage previously incurred), all excess damage is applied as regular hit point damage.
Many powerful spells also exact additional strain in the form of temporary ability damage, permanent ability drain, or other effects such as hit point damage. These effects may occur as a direct consequence of channeling particularly powerful energy, to fulfill a requirement for an investment of the caster’s essence, or as a result of duress directly related to the nature or effects of the spell. Particularly risky spells also require that the caster suffer some damage or effect during the casting process that is neutralized only if the spell is successfully cast. Ability score damage and hit point damage heals normally but ability score drain suffered in this manner can never be restored. Nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, and any other additional effects are incurred in that order immediately following the completion of the spell (whether or not the spell succeeds) but before the spell result or failure effects.
Taint: Magic is inherently corrupting to mortals. The reckless channeling of demonic energy invariably pollutes the minds and bodies of characters that cast spells too frequently; the promise of ever-greater power draws them down a dark road that is devoid of friends and allies. A character gains 1 point of taint every time he casts a spell, regardless of the spell’s level and whether the spell is successfully cast or not. As a character accrues an increasing amount of taint, he suffers the effects of corruption, usually in the form of a loss of control over his own actions.
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Summarizing from various sections of the Dark Legacies Player's Guide... detailing not just the how's but also the why's, which are so important with a low-magic setting.
Classes: Arcanists are the only magic-oriented class, though a character of any class can learn and cast spells to a lesser degree. Magic in DARK LEGACIES is rooted in the Abyss rather than the Earth, thus there is no natural magic or druidic tradition. Likewise, there is no magical bardic tradition; bard archetypes can be emulated by creating an expert or rogue with ranks in Perform and Spellcraft, or even a musically inclined priest. Priests are the only divine-oriented class, replacing clerics, with militant priests taking the place of paladins.
Nature of Magic: The origin of all magic on Earth is Azrae and the Abyss. It is said that magic is the soul of Azrae, and that each demon is given life by being invested with a portion of that soul. Demons and their subtypes have an inherent ability to wield magic in the form of spell-like abilities. Mortals gain access to magic through the science of arcanism, whereby they transmute demonic energy into spells through incantation and alchemy; this science is dangerous, often vile, used sparingly, and then only when the desired result could not be achieved through mundane means.
Unlike the Voice, which is specific to priests, arcanism is accessible to all characters, regardless of class. It is an unrestricted power, the practice of which has grown steadily since the Great War, much to the horror of the churches of humanity. Those that use it do so knowing that they practice a forbidden science that exists in violation of the laws of Deihass and the Faith, but among those that travel the dark road, the promise of unrestricted personal power outweighs all concerns of retribution for heresy.
Divine Magic: Priests use the "Voice," rather than magic, to produce miraculous effects. This unique power, specific to priests, grants them supernatural abilities associated with their holy dominions, as well as the ability to augment their normal voice beyond human limits. Though priests have used the Voice freely for three thousand years, new questions as to the roots of this power have emerged as a result of a growing awareness of arcanism among the general populace. Similarities are drawn between the two powers, suggesting that the Voice is perhaps just a different kind of magic: “divine magic”. Such controversial views are generally kept private, however, as they attract vicious retribution from religious authorities.
How Does Spellcasting Work? Spellcasting in DARK LEGACIES is an involved process that requires great physical and mental sacrifice on the part of the caster, as well as exposure to additional risk and consequence should his spell fail. The spellcasting flow below outlines the process of casting a spell, and the descriptions that follow explain each step of the process.
- Choose a spell from those that you heave learned, and which you have either memorized or have the spell’s formula available to reference.
- While the spell is being cast (but before it has completed) make any Concentration checks necessary to avoid casting interruptions.
- If the spell completed without interruption, make a Spellcraft check to determine whether it was cast successfully or failed. If the spell is terminated prematurely or fails due to a failed Concentration check, make a modified Spellcraft check to determine if there are any additional consequences.
- Check off material components consumed by the spell.
- Apply spellcasting strain (nonlethal damage, ability score damage, ability score drain).
- If the spell was successfully cast, adjudicate the results; otherwise, apply the relevant spell failure consequences.
- Apply taint.
Spellcasting Strain: In addition to the material components required to cast a spell, the act of summoning and manipulating demonic forces is fatiguing and inflicts casting strain in the form of nonlethal damage upon the caster. The amount of casting strain is equal to 1d4 points of nonlethal damage per spell level of the spell being cast. The spell’s effective level for calculating this nonlethal damage is reduced by 1 level for every point of casting resistance gained from the arcanist class, though this effective spell level can never be reduced below 1st-level, meaning you always suffer at least 1d4 points of nonlethal damage when casting a spell. Casters that are immune to nonlethal damage instead take half the rolled amount as regular hit point damage. If you fall unconscious as a direct result of taking nonlethal damage from spellcasting strain (regardless of any unrelated nonlethal damage previously incurred), all excess damage is applied as regular hit point damage.
Many powerful spells also exact additional strain in the form of temporary ability damage, permanent ability drain, or other effects such as hit point damage. These effects may occur as a direct consequence of channeling particularly powerful energy, to fulfill a requirement for an investment of the caster’s essence, or as a result of duress directly related to the nature or effects of the spell. Particularly risky spells also require that the caster suffer some damage or effect during the casting process that is neutralized only if the spell is successfully cast. Ability score damage and hit point damage heals normally but ability score drain suffered in this manner can never be restored. Nonlethal damage, ability damage, ability drain, and any other additional effects are incurred in that order immediately following the completion of the spell (whether or not the spell succeeds) but before the spell result or failure effects.
Taint: Magic is inherently corrupting to mortals. The reckless channeling of demonic energy invariably pollutes the minds and bodies of characters that cast spells too frequently; the promise of ever-greater power draws them down a dark road that is devoid of friends and allies. A character gains 1 point of taint every time he casts a spell, regardless of the spell’s level and whether the spell is successfully cast or not. As a character accrues an increasing amount of taint, he suffers the effects of corruption, usually in the form of a loss of control over his own actions.
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The spellmaster in GR's Advanced Player's Manual has to observe a spell being cast and then make a (wis modified) level check vs a DC related to the spell's level. He has a limited number of slots but can cast more spells with the risk of lethal and Con damage. Magic takes either rounds (slotted spells) or minutes to build up and then can be held for 10 minutes per caster level (up to 5 spells, at 20th level, can be held this way).
Kesh
First Post
Quintessential Chaos Mage
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Chaos Magic is an innate form of magic, relying on dynamic effects and allowing the player to make up a 'spell' on the fly. If you're familiar with Mage: the Ascension, this is actually quite similar in a way. It's also quite similar to Elements of Magic, mentioned above, though the original Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chaos Magic came out first, IIRC.
Each spell is a combination of an Effect, an Area, a Range, a Duration and an optional Saving Throw modifier. Thus, in order to emulate a fireball, you would have:
Direct Damage (Raw fire) + Burst + Medium range + Instantaneous duration.
Something similar to mass improved invisibility would be:
Transformation (Total) + Allies Only + Close range + By Minute
Once the components have been chosen, you determine the DC of your casting check to cast the spell (1d20 + caster level + Wisdom modifier). Each component modifies the base DC of the primary Effect up or down. Thus, our fireball is DC 20, while mass improved invisibility is DC 36!
However, the system specifically notes that it does not handle Healing, Divination or Summoning effects. The book claims that these ideas don't mesh well with the concept of Chaos. Personally, I'm working on making just such effects for myself, to use in a homebrew world.
Once you've made the casting check, you have to deal with the results. If you succeeded, your chaos mage then takes subdual damage from the effort of channeling that much raw chaos into form. The mage suffers one HP of nonlethal damage for every 5 full points in the DC of the spell.
However, if the casting check failed, the mage suffers it as lethal damage instead! Thus, let's assume our mage succeeded in casting the fireball but failed the mass improved invisibility. She would now have lost 4 HP in nonlethal damage, and 7 HP in lethal damage.
In addition, should the mage botch their casting check (rolling a 1 on their d20 roll), they suffer a chaos backlash. This advances the character along a chosen Path of Chaos, which imposes a variety of physical, mental or stat penalties. The Path of Berserk Growth, for instance, causes the chaos mage to begin growing plant material from their body. At the tenth step on a Path, the mage is killed or otherwise rendered unplayable... in the Berserk Growth example, our doomed chaos mage spontaneously transforms into a grove of twisted and haunted trees, while the Path of Whispered Madness sweeps the mage into a pocket hell dimension of their own creation.
Overall, the Chaos Magic rules allow for a character capable of a wide variety of effects, without the raw power of D&D's traditional Vancian magic system. A Chaos Mage cannot do anything approaching a wish, much less most other high-level spells. At lower levels, though, they can be a devastating force on the battlefield (especially if a friendly cleric can keep healing them).
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Chaos Magic is an innate form of magic, relying on dynamic effects and allowing the player to make up a 'spell' on the fly. If you're familiar with Mage: the Ascension, this is actually quite similar in a way. It's also quite similar to Elements of Magic, mentioned above, though the original Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chaos Magic came out first, IIRC.
Each spell is a combination of an Effect, an Area, a Range, a Duration and an optional Saving Throw modifier. Thus, in order to emulate a fireball, you would have:
Direct Damage (Raw fire) + Burst + Medium range + Instantaneous duration.
Something similar to mass improved invisibility would be:
Transformation (Total) + Allies Only + Close range + By Minute
Once the components have been chosen, you determine the DC of your casting check to cast the spell (1d20 + caster level + Wisdom modifier). Each component modifies the base DC of the primary Effect up or down. Thus, our fireball is DC 20, while mass improved invisibility is DC 36!
However, the system specifically notes that it does not handle Healing, Divination or Summoning effects. The book claims that these ideas don't mesh well with the concept of Chaos. Personally, I'm working on making just such effects for myself, to use in a homebrew world.
Once you've made the casting check, you have to deal with the results. If you succeeded, your chaos mage then takes subdual damage from the effort of channeling that much raw chaos into form. The mage suffers one HP of nonlethal damage for every 5 full points in the DC of the spell.
However, if the casting check failed, the mage suffers it as lethal damage instead! Thus, let's assume our mage succeeded in casting the fireball but failed the mass improved invisibility. She would now have lost 4 HP in nonlethal damage, and 7 HP in lethal damage.
In addition, should the mage botch their casting check (rolling a 1 on their d20 roll), they suffer a chaos backlash. This advances the character along a chosen Path of Chaos, which imposes a variety of physical, mental or stat penalties. The Path of Berserk Growth, for instance, causes the chaos mage to begin growing plant material from their body. At the tenth step on a Path, the mage is killed or otherwise rendered unplayable... in the Berserk Growth example, our doomed chaos mage spontaneously transforms into a grove of twisted and haunted trees, while the Path of Whispered Madness sweeps the mage into a pocket hell dimension of their own creation.
Overall, the Chaos Magic rules allow for a character capable of a wide variety of effects, without the raw power of D&D's traditional Vancian magic system. A Chaos Mage cannot do anything approaching a wish, much less most other high-level spells. At lower levels, though, they can be a devastating force on the battlefield (especially if a friendly cleric can keep healing them).
Bagpuss
Legend
Turanil said:
This lifefore drain occurs if you pass or fail the spellcraft roll?
By better you mean higher or lower? As any spell higher than 2nd level could be potentially fatal for a lot of characters.
So they could be potentially paralysed (which is as good as dead in D&D in many cases).
Old Fezziwig
this is a low-flying panic attack
Yes. A character needs to pass the caster level check in order to cast the spell. He suffers spell burn whether or not he actually manages to cast the spell. Spell burn is applied to Str (for trained casters) or Con (untrained casters). As for the fatality of spells, it's true, but not overwhelmingly so. For instance, if I'm playing a spellcaster with 17 Intelligence, the Magical Adept feat, and Improved Caster Level (bumping him up to 2nd) that casts a fog cloud spell, things are going to look something like this:
- Caster level check (in this case, a roll of 17 on the d20, +2 for caster level, total 19, clears the DC 12 easily).
- Spell burn is applied. This campaign uses a d6 for spell burn, so I roll 2d6, getting a 4 and a 2 — my spell burn resistance is +4 (+3 Int, +1 Improved Caster Level), meaning that I can subtract that from both dice, giving me a spell burn of 0 here. You can't resist 1s at any time, and this character can't resist 5s or 6s (taking 1 point of Str damage on a 5 and 2 on a 6).
- Apply spell effects as usual.
Nick
Old Fezziwig
this is a low-flying panic attack
Missed this. You're right again, but GT isn't meant to model D&D. It's meant to be a low magic toolkit, so if you're flinging spells around, you've got some bad stuff coming to you, unless you're wicked lucky. In neither game I played did my spellcaster actually get to this point during actual play (although I came damn close in both, but as they were one shots, I was playing a little bit fast and loose with the spells).
The Master Eldritch Flow talent actually can mitigate this a bit, too, as it allows PCs to choose their burn die (making the standard d6 into a d4 or d8; both of which can be better or worse, depending on the caster's burn resistance).
Nick
Sorcery in Conan d20
Spellcasting is basically a class feature of the Scholar class (your other option being the Dabler feat which grants anybody very limited spellcasting). Spellcasting uses a Power Point system to cast and a proprietary spell list which is not compatiable with most other d20 spell systems (though many CoC spells are quite easy, and fun, to port over!). Every spell in the core rulebook is an attempt to simiulate a magic effect from a REH Conan story.
The Scholar Class: is the primary way to become a spellcaster but, as the name indicates, is flexiable enough to do other things. As a Scholar level he gains Sorcery Styles and Advanced Spells as class features which he can either use to learn more magic or else trade in for bonus feats and skill points (his choice). With 8 sill points per level and a bardic-knolwedge type ability he can be quite the loremaster. With the Priest feat and Leadership feat he could be a powerful political power-broker. With the right selection of spells and feats he can become a strong kung-fu type martial artist. Each scholar selects a background at 1st level which indicates how he comes by his knolwedge. I.e. a scholarwith the Demonic Pact background has sold his soul to a demon, he can learn prety much whatever spells he wants but will slowly become Corrupt. A scholar with the Acolyte background belongs to a coven and can only learn the spells his master (the DM) teaches him and is bound to his master in servetitude. A scholar with the Independent background has no superior and may learn whatever spell he wants but must make Knolwedge (arcana) checks or fail to learn any spell at all.
Ability Scores: magic requires the use of all three mental stats. Inteligence grants a scholar bonus Advanced Spells. Wisdom gives a bonus (or penalty) to Power Points. Charisma modifies the Magic Attack Roll.
Magic Attack Roll: most spells require a magic attack roll which sets the DC for the target to resist the spell. The magic attack roll is 1d20 + Magic Attack Bonus + Cha mod. The magic attack bonus is a class based bonus, think of it as magical BAB. Every class has a magic attack bonus progression but the scholar has the best progression (this makes multi-classing a viable option for scholars).
Power Points: spellcasting requires the expenditure of PP. Most characters do not have a reserve of PP, only spellcasting characters do. A scholar starts off with a Base PP of 4 + Wis mod and this number is raised with levels in the scholar class. This number is the number to which PP will regenerate with normal rest (at a rate of 1PP/2 hours rest). There are ways to boost your PP above your base PP up to your Max PP which starts at twice your Base PP but also increases with levels in scholar. Ways to recover/boost your PP aside from mundane rest include Sacrifices (which can be boosted with certain feats as well), organizing Power Rituals, Draining other creatures (including other scholars!) and creative drug use.
Sorcery Styles and Advanced Spells: as you level in scholar you gain access to a few Sorcery Styles, you gain one Advanced Spell at every level after second plus some for a high Int. Sorcery Styles are basically like schools of magic (Nature Magic, Counterspells, Hypnotism, etc) and when you gain a new Sorcery Style you also gain access to its Basic Spell which is a minor effect. When you gain a new Advanced Spell you can pick any Advanced Spell which you already have the Sorcery Style for and which you meet the prerequisites for (much like picking feats).
Spellcasting: once you know a spell you can cast it at any time provided you can pay the cost of casting (usually just a number of PP). Many spells have looong casting times which precludes their use in combat. Most all spells have components including V, S and M components (and all suffer from Arcane Spell Failure for wearing armor). Actually casting spells works much like it does in standard d20: provoke AoO's, Concentration checks, line of sight/effect, etc. Spells range in power from Astrological Prediction (which gives you a +1 bonus to one check within the next week) to Black Plague (which can slaughter armies wholesale or even wipe out entire cities).
Magic Items: magic items in the traditional sense are rare and usually introduced by the DM as plot devices. However the Craft (alchemy) and Craft (herbalism) skills have both been expanded in their uses. The wise sorcorer will keep plenty of Stygian Tomb Dust and Black Lotus Blossom on hand as they will be his most reliable weapons in combat. Poisions too, a little Great Serpent Venom on an arrowhead goes a long way.
Corruption: corruption is a game mechanic which can affect anyone. Its effects are somewhat similar to Dark Side Points in SWd20 if you are familiar with that system. Basically anytime you come into contact with a corrupting influence you must make a Corruption save (will save) to which you apply your current corruption score as a penalty. Sorcorers have an unplesant tendancy to bump into Things Man Was Not Meant To Know more frequently than other characters as they go poking around in the dark corners of the world (espically if they choose to persue some of the darker options open to them).
Other Rules: there are severall other game mechanics to support sorcery including: a master dominating his students, rules for two sorcorer's "sizing each other up", rules for Runaway Magic (which can literally result in apocaplitic scenarios) and, most interestingly, rules for a War of the Souls which is mechanically much like a grapple but is psychic combat for spell-casters.
Overall I think that Conan does a good job of emulating Swords 'n Sorcery style magic. This is not a "low magic" system. Magic is both powerful and almost common. It is simply that magic is so damned expensive you have to either gather massive resources or else take one of the "dark paths". Although it is not easy to port spells directly in from other systems it is easy to add/subtract spells. You simply decide which Sorcery Style the spell belongs to (or else start a new Style) and what PP cost and prerequisites the spell should have (as I said, most CoC spells are easy to port in). As for actually runing sorcery in game: I have found that it is no harder than DnD, like DnD most spells tend to be a succede/fail this check and effects X, Y and Z take hold but a small number of spells are of the sort that they have their own little subset of rules attached. With the limited number of Advanced Spells that most scholars have I have found that the best way to approach it is to encourage my players to be creative; tell them that if they have a spell that is vaguely similar to the effect they want to achieve and they can make a good argument for it then I will let the effect take hold (maybe with some bonuses/penalties to the rolls involved). The only really bad thing I have to say about the system is that building a scholar NPC of above level 6 or so requires about as much time as building a DnD wizard of a similar level.
Later.
Spellcasting is basically a class feature of the Scholar class (your other option being the Dabler feat which grants anybody very limited spellcasting). Spellcasting uses a Power Point system to cast and a proprietary spell list which is not compatiable with most other d20 spell systems (though many CoC spells are quite easy, and fun, to port over!). Every spell in the core rulebook is an attempt to simiulate a magic effect from a REH Conan story.
The Scholar Class: is the primary way to become a spellcaster but, as the name indicates, is flexiable enough to do other things. As a Scholar level he gains Sorcery Styles and Advanced Spells as class features which he can either use to learn more magic or else trade in for bonus feats and skill points (his choice). With 8 sill points per level and a bardic-knolwedge type ability he can be quite the loremaster. With the Priest feat and Leadership feat he could be a powerful political power-broker. With the right selection of spells and feats he can become a strong kung-fu type martial artist. Each scholar selects a background at 1st level which indicates how he comes by his knolwedge. I.e. a scholarwith the Demonic Pact background has sold his soul to a demon, he can learn prety much whatever spells he wants but will slowly become Corrupt. A scholar with the Acolyte background belongs to a coven and can only learn the spells his master (the DM) teaches him and is bound to his master in servetitude. A scholar with the Independent background has no superior and may learn whatever spell he wants but must make Knolwedge (arcana) checks or fail to learn any spell at all.
Ability Scores: magic requires the use of all three mental stats. Inteligence grants a scholar bonus Advanced Spells. Wisdom gives a bonus (or penalty) to Power Points. Charisma modifies the Magic Attack Roll.
Magic Attack Roll: most spells require a magic attack roll which sets the DC for the target to resist the spell. The magic attack roll is 1d20 + Magic Attack Bonus + Cha mod. The magic attack bonus is a class based bonus, think of it as magical BAB. Every class has a magic attack bonus progression but the scholar has the best progression (this makes multi-classing a viable option for scholars).
Power Points: spellcasting requires the expenditure of PP. Most characters do not have a reserve of PP, only spellcasting characters do. A scholar starts off with a Base PP of 4 + Wis mod and this number is raised with levels in the scholar class. This number is the number to which PP will regenerate with normal rest (at a rate of 1PP/2 hours rest). There are ways to boost your PP above your base PP up to your Max PP which starts at twice your Base PP but also increases with levels in scholar. Ways to recover/boost your PP aside from mundane rest include Sacrifices (which can be boosted with certain feats as well), organizing Power Rituals, Draining other creatures (including other scholars!) and creative drug use.
Sorcery Styles and Advanced Spells: as you level in scholar you gain access to a few Sorcery Styles, you gain one Advanced Spell at every level after second plus some for a high Int. Sorcery Styles are basically like schools of magic (Nature Magic, Counterspells, Hypnotism, etc) and when you gain a new Sorcery Style you also gain access to its Basic Spell which is a minor effect. When you gain a new Advanced Spell you can pick any Advanced Spell which you already have the Sorcery Style for and which you meet the prerequisites for (much like picking feats).
Spellcasting: once you know a spell you can cast it at any time provided you can pay the cost of casting (usually just a number of PP). Many spells have looong casting times which precludes their use in combat. Most all spells have components including V, S and M components (and all suffer from Arcane Spell Failure for wearing armor). Actually casting spells works much like it does in standard d20: provoke AoO's, Concentration checks, line of sight/effect, etc. Spells range in power from Astrological Prediction (which gives you a +1 bonus to one check within the next week) to Black Plague (which can slaughter armies wholesale or even wipe out entire cities).
Magic Items: magic items in the traditional sense are rare and usually introduced by the DM as plot devices. However the Craft (alchemy) and Craft (herbalism) skills have both been expanded in their uses. The wise sorcorer will keep plenty of Stygian Tomb Dust and Black Lotus Blossom on hand as they will be his most reliable weapons in combat. Poisions too, a little Great Serpent Venom on an arrowhead goes a long way.
Corruption: corruption is a game mechanic which can affect anyone. Its effects are somewhat similar to Dark Side Points in SWd20 if you are familiar with that system. Basically anytime you come into contact with a corrupting influence you must make a Corruption save (will save) to which you apply your current corruption score as a penalty. Sorcorers have an unplesant tendancy to bump into Things Man Was Not Meant To Know more frequently than other characters as they go poking around in the dark corners of the world (espically if they choose to persue some of the darker options open to them).
Other Rules: there are severall other game mechanics to support sorcery including: a master dominating his students, rules for two sorcorer's "sizing each other up", rules for Runaway Magic (which can literally result in apocaplitic scenarios) and, most interestingly, rules for a War of the Souls which is mechanically much like a grapple but is psychic combat for spell-casters.
Overall I think that Conan does a good job of emulating Swords 'n Sorcery style magic. This is not a "low magic" system. Magic is both powerful and almost common. It is simply that magic is so damned expensive you have to either gather massive resources or else take one of the "dark paths". Although it is not easy to port spells directly in from other systems it is easy to add/subtract spells. You simply decide which Sorcery Style the spell belongs to (or else start a new Style) and what PP cost and prerequisites the spell should have (as I said, most CoC spells are easy to port in). As for actually runing sorcery in game: I have found that it is no harder than DnD, like DnD most spells tend to be a succede/fail this check and effects X, Y and Z take hold but a small number of spells are of the sort that they have their own little subset of rules attached. With the limited number of Advanced Spells that most scholars have I have found that the best way to approach it is to encourage my players to be creative; tell them that if they have a spell that is vaguely similar to the effect they want to achieve and they can make a good argument for it then I will let the effect take hold (maybe with some bonuses/penalties to the rolls involved). The only really bad thing I have to say about the system is that building a scholar NPC of above level 6 or so requires about as much time as building a DnD wizard of a similar level.
Later.
Spellcasting in BESM d20
BESM d20 uses a point-based character creation system. Characters have a number of points with which to buy "attributes" (and can also take "defects" to gain points back). It has two different spellcasting mechanics both of which are expressed as attributes. The thing about BESM is that since it attempts to be a quasi-generic system it puts a heavy burden on the DM to tinker with the system to produce the exact results desired for his campaign.
The first spellcasting attribute is the Dynamic Sorcery attribute which is basically an attempt to port over DnD spells to a point-based system. Dynamic Sorcery costs 8 character points per rank of the attribute (thats a lot of character points for those of you who who are wondering). Having 1 rank in the attribute lets you cast spells which are the equivalent of 0th level DnD spells. Having 10 ranks in the attribute lets you cast spells which are the equivalent of 9th level DnD spells. Casting spells costs Energy Points and the number of EP required depends on the rank of the attribute you are manafesting at (so casting at Rank 1 costs 1EP and at rank 10 costs 100 EP) you need to manafest at a rank equivalent to the power of the effect you desire. There is no system for "memorizing" spells and no mechanic for "spells known" beyond what the DM imposes. The basic system lets you have spontaneous spellcasting from your entire list as soon as you are of an appropriate rank to cast those spells. The rulebook also suggest cutting the cost of the attribute in half if the player is casting spells from one related discipline (all abjurations for example) or cutting it to 1/4 the cost if the magic only works in an "alternate world" type setting (such as powers that only work in the world of dreams, etc).
Personally I'm not terribly fond of Dynamic Sorcery. It is more of a framework mechanic that offers the DM a place to start out crafting his own magic system than anything else. Its only real positive value is that it is designed to readily accept spells designed for the core DnD system thus meaning that the DM/player does not have to invent his own spell list. In theory you could invent spells on the fly using Dynamic Sorcery and simply decide that "this spell is about equivalent to a third level spell so it will cost that much to cast" but without some guidlines for doing this it will take some very good DM's and players to play that fast and loose.
The second spellcasting attribute is the Magic attribute and this one is a lot more interesting I think. A character aquires the Magic attribute at a cost of 4 character points per rank and the attribute returns 10 character points per rank to be spent on other BESM attributes which then become "magic powers" for the character. These powers also cost the character energy points to activate.
Given the wide variety of attributes in BESM, the near-infinite combinations and how easy it is to invent new attributes and slot them into the system this mechanic offers a way to create almost any magical ability you can think of without having to confine yourself to the stricture of a "level" system for spells. The only real downside is that you have to define what each magic power is when you buy it, no making up powers on the fly. However given that many BESM attributes are themselves broadly defined this is not as much of a problem as it would seem. For example if you buy a couple ranks of the Telekinesis attribute as a magic power that is itself a prety versatile "spell".
Anyway, like I said the mantra of BESM is that it is a toolkit for DM's to play with but given that these are some prety usefull spellcasting mechanics that a DM can tear apart and customize.
Later.
BESM d20 uses a point-based character creation system. Characters have a number of points with which to buy "attributes" (and can also take "defects" to gain points back). It has two different spellcasting mechanics both of which are expressed as attributes. The thing about BESM is that since it attempts to be a quasi-generic system it puts a heavy burden on the DM to tinker with the system to produce the exact results desired for his campaign.
The first spellcasting attribute is the Dynamic Sorcery attribute which is basically an attempt to port over DnD spells to a point-based system. Dynamic Sorcery costs 8 character points per rank of the attribute (thats a lot of character points for those of you who who are wondering). Having 1 rank in the attribute lets you cast spells which are the equivalent of 0th level DnD spells. Having 10 ranks in the attribute lets you cast spells which are the equivalent of 9th level DnD spells. Casting spells costs Energy Points and the number of EP required depends on the rank of the attribute you are manafesting at (so casting at Rank 1 costs 1EP and at rank 10 costs 100 EP) you need to manafest at a rank equivalent to the power of the effect you desire. There is no system for "memorizing" spells and no mechanic for "spells known" beyond what the DM imposes. The basic system lets you have spontaneous spellcasting from your entire list as soon as you are of an appropriate rank to cast those spells. The rulebook also suggest cutting the cost of the attribute in half if the player is casting spells from one related discipline (all abjurations for example) or cutting it to 1/4 the cost if the magic only works in an "alternate world" type setting (such as powers that only work in the world of dreams, etc).
Personally I'm not terribly fond of Dynamic Sorcery. It is more of a framework mechanic that offers the DM a place to start out crafting his own magic system than anything else. Its only real positive value is that it is designed to readily accept spells designed for the core DnD system thus meaning that the DM/player does not have to invent his own spell list. In theory you could invent spells on the fly using Dynamic Sorcery and simply decide that "this spell is about equivalent to a third level spell so it will cost that much to cast" but without some guidlines for doing this it will take some very good DM's and players to play that fast and loose.
The second spellcasting attribute is the Magic attribute and this one is a lot more interesting I think. A character aquires the Magic attribute at a cost of 4 character points per rank and the attribute returns 10 character points per rank to be spent on other BESM attributes which then become "magic powers" for the character. These powers also cost the character energy points to activate.
Given the wide variety of attributes in BESM, the near-infinite combinations and how easy it is to invent new attributes and slot them into the system this mechanic offers a way to create almost any magical ability you can think of without having to confine yourself to the stricture of a "level" system for spells. The only real downside is that you have to define what each magic power is when you buy it, no making up powers on the fly. However given that many BESM attributes are themselves broadly defined this is not as much of a problem as it would seem. For example if you buy a couple ranks of the Telekinesis attribute as a magic power that is itself a prety versatile "spell".
Anyway, like I said the mantra of BESM is that it is a toolkit for DM's to play with but given that these are some prety usefull spellcasting mechanics that a DM can tear apart and customize.
Later.
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