Lookings for a d20 magic system ...

[Irda Ranger]

Is that topic broad enough for you?

Briefly, I'm taking a poll of the audience for recommendations of a magic system. I'm trying to draw up a house rules spellcaster for my campaign, and rather than whole-cloth it I'd rather take advantage of someone else's good hard work (and pay the $ for it, of course). Due to a paltry d20 library on my part, I'm here to tap your collective knowledge.

My ideal magic system would be:
1. Primarily Feat & Skill based, rather than a spell progression like a Core Wizard, Cleric, Sorcerer, etc.
2. Allow for some learning new spells / powers "on the go" independent of level advancement (as opposed to the Core Sorcerer), but not be "anyone can learn anything" (like the Core Wizard). If all AE Magisters were forced to take one (but no more than two) "X Magic" feats, so that some folks were clearly "Fire Mages" or "Storm Mages", etc., that would be a step in the right direction.
3. Some kind of resource mechanic other than "You can do this X times / day, because I say so." Pretty much any other resource mechanic would be better than that, whether its fatigue, or money, or subdual damage, or special "stress tokens", what have you.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[EditorBFG]

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Perhaps skill-based spellcasting, as featured in Monte Cook's "Year's Best d20" compilation, with AE casters and a psionic-like spell point system?

 

[Michael Dean]

I'd highly recommend True Sorcery by Green Ronin. It's a revised magic system that originally appeared in The Black Company Campaign setting by Green Ronin. It's crunchy, but not limited by the x spells per day regime.

 

[Wrathamon]

TRUE 20 has a feat based system i believe, but TRUE SORCERY sounds like what you are looking for.

 

[Vigilance]

I'd like to recommend Legends of Sorcery, by me. It's a skill-based magic system that still works with the existing spells and spell levels, allowing you to port in spells from any book of spells.

Here's part of John Cooper's 4-star review:

In any case, Legends of Sorcery does a good job of doing what it set out to do: create a new spellcasting system that works a bit more in line with the concepts that Charles Rice has already created in his other various Legends lines, which have thus far (to my knowledge, anyway) been set on historical Earth at various points in the past (feudal Japan, Europe in the Dark Ages, the Camelot era), and in which magic was "tacked on" to historical events. Legends books seem like they work best when self-contained anyway (by that I mean everyone using the rules in the ruleset for that Legends campaign exclusively, and not "porting in," say, a PH druid or wizard character - or something even more exotic, like a ninja from Complete Adventurer). As this will be the "core" book of future Legends releases, I can highly recommend it to anyone planning on running any Legends campaigns, as it really will be an essential product to the smooth running of such a campaign. (Unless, of course, you were planning on running a more "accurate" historical campaign where magic isn't a factor - which again, is what makes pulling all such "spellcasting" rules into a standalone product such a nice move on Charles' part.) From this point on, they can focus on the nonmagical (and thus more accurate) aspects of any Earth time period and leave all of the "fantastic" stuff to supplements like this. I can envision, say, perhaps a future Legends of the Vikings product sometime down the road (note: I'm just making this up whole cloth; don't necessarily expect such a product) that focuses almost exclusively on historical accuracy, with perhaps a sidebar at the end referencing which spellcasting classes from this product would be logical add-ons for a more "magical" Vikings campaign. It's a very good way to go about things, and lays the groundwork for some very cool future products.

I also greatly appreciate the fact that Charles has managed to find a way to completely rework the entire spellcasting system in such a way as to keep virtually all d20 spells viable in the campaign. Many variant magic systems force the user to ignore the spells from the PH (or other d20 sources) because they're not compatible with the new system; Charles' spellcasting system works nicely with the pre-existing spells, so your Legends PCs won't have to do without their magic missiles or their bull's strength spells.

I'm sort of wavering between a high "3 (Average)" and a low "4 (Good)" on this product. I think I'll bump it up to the higher score if only because I appreciate the elegance of the system Charles devised. I can definitely recommend it to anyone running any of the various Legends campaigns, but those interested in a variant skill-based spellcasting system might want to give it a look as well.

You can read the full review here:

http://www.enworld.org/reviews.php?do=review&reviewid=2977573

 

[Koewn]

I also recommend True Sorcery.

One of these days I'm going to make my fortune selling a book that is the PHB spell list converted to True Sorcery, just to win converts.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Only echoes, sorry: Legends of Sorcery, to keep it simple. . . or True Sorcery, to um, not. If you want a lot more free-form potential, TS would be the way to go. Spells ported directly in, go for LoS.

Alternatively, there's the Psychic's Handbook. Not exactly "magic". . . unless you call it that, anyhow. But yeah, it's skill- and feat-based, pretty 'open', and works well.

Elements of Magic gets suggested a lot around here (or one of them does, anyway), but to be honest I wasn't particularly sold on the system therein, FWIW.

 

[jdrakeh]

Only echoes, sorry: Legends of Sorcery, to keep it simple. . . or True Sorcery, to um, not. If you want a lot more free-form potential, TS would be the way to go. Spells ported directly in, go for LoS.

Is LoS the same basic point-based spell system found in Legends of Excalibur and Legends of the Samurai? If so, it rocks and I highly rceommend it (in fact, it's a big part of what sold me on the two aforementioned Legends hardcovers).

 

[Aus_Snow]

Is LoS the same basic point-based spell system found in Legends of Excalibur and Legends of the Samurai?

Actually, not quite. Though incidentally, I also like those books a lot, as it so happens.

Casting in Legends of Sorcery is based on a skill check, which can result in fatigue or worse (f'rex). In this way, it's a bit more similar to say, the Psychic's Handbook [or True20], than the Spell Points system from the books you mentioned, or the one from the SRD (by way of Unearthed Arcana).

 

[jdrakeh]

In this way, it's a bit more similar to say, the Psychic's Handbook [or True20]. . .

Is it effect-based like powers in True20? If so, it might work for the OP, though I'm pretty certain I'd hate it. The specific nature of effects having to be individually calculated based on character intent for each and every casting attempt really slowed down actual play for my group. This is part of why I liked the LoE and LotS systems so much -- the versatility of point-based casting attempts with the static effects of spell lists. Mmmmm. . .