Making Arcane magic DANGEROUS

[Uller]

Two things I'd like to accomplish with this:

1) I'd like to make it a bit easier for arcane casters to wear armor. IMO, the rules on Arcane spell failure make it a bit too difficult to make fun Fighter/"Magic-users".

2) I'd like to make magic a bit more dangerous, less predictable. Give people a reason to fear wizards and sorcerers(by making accidents a possibility).

What I don't want to do is make things too difficult for wizards and sorcerers, thus making people not want to play them...

Hear is what I am thinking...

1) Do away with Arcane Spell Failure checks due to armor.

2) When an arcane caster casts a spell or uses a spell completion device(like a scroll), he must make a casting check(in addition to the caster level check for a scroll if necessary).

The check is as follows:

DC = Spell Level + Cast Level(so it is easier to cast a less effective spell)

Check = d20 + Caster Level + Ability Modifier + Armor Penalty(this is negative...applies only when somatic components are part of the spell)

On the roll of a natural 1 that is a failure, the player must roll again. If he fails a second time, it is a critical failure resulting in some negative effect(the spell is centered on an unintended target, give the opposite effect, etc).

Here is the break down of what a wizard who starts with a 16 Int needs to cast his best spell to maximum effect while not wearing any armor:

Level/min roll needed/% chance of critical failure
1/1/0
2/1/0
3/1/0
4/1/0
5/1/0
6/1/0
7/1/0
8/1/0 --Int mod = +4 now
9/1/0
10/1/0
11/2/0.25
12/2/0.25
13/3/.5
14/3/.5
15/4/.75
16/3/.5 --Int mod = +5
17+/4/.75

So your typical non-armor wearing wizard wll be weakened slightly assuming he gets no int boosting magic items by 11th level(then he'll be completely unaffected). Wizards with lower ints and or armor will be effected to a greater degree. A wizard without a high int or who wears too much armor will quickly find he is unable to consistantly control the forces of magic and will be a danger to himself and others...

I don't know if this accomplishes what I want or not...I'm open to suggestions.

Also...I'm considering making expanding the list of spells that are Good, Evil, Lawful and Chaotic...In my campaign world, magic is basically cast by manipulating/controlling/dealing with spirits of various sorts. If you want to cast a Fireball, you essentially call a fire spirit and request/command it to explode on a designated spot. If the you can't control the spirit or displease it, it explodes on you. So if this rule seems harsh, then maybe it would only apply to spells that are in opposition to you or something...I haven't thought it out that far yet...

 

[Bob Aberton]

cool idea

cool idea. I use a variation in my campaign: Spellcraft checks DC the spell save DC or suffer a random mishap. I use "Scroll Mishaps" on the DMG, reflecting that spells that are harder to resist, or higher level are harder to cast.

 

[whatisitgoodfor]

huh, all I did was apply an armor check penalty to Concentration.

 

[Starfox]

Would this replace normal spell slots? If not, I suggest you give Arcane Casters some type of benefit.

Why not make spell CRs opposed.

• Caster rolls d20 + Spell Level + Attribute Modifier
• Target rolls d20 + save modifier
• Highest result wins

Adding interesting side-effects to such a system makes more sense, IMHO.

Or, ypu could give some exceptional benefit on a 'critical' spell roll, then introduce feats that improves the 'spell threat' from the bare 20 and so on.

But this quickly gets very complex.

 

[Crothian]

On a side note, you may want to look at the Arcane Series by Mongoose. Each book is a different type of magic, and all of them have some sort of consequance in the system.

 

[Uller]

Re: cool idea

cool idea. I use a variation in my campaign: Spellcraft checks DC the spell save DC or suffer a random mishap. I use "Scroll Mishaps" on the DMG, reflecting that spells that are harder to resist, or higher level are harder to cast.

I'm not sure I like the idea of making a wizard or sorcerer spend skill points in order to perform their most important abilities. After all...that'd be like making fighters spend skill points in order to swing a sword...granted, Wizards pretty much need to have a good number of ranks in Spellcraft, but it isn't so necessary for Sorcerers...(unless they want to use scrolls).

 

[Ace]

If you don't want to greatly weaken mages you will need a replacement for the lost predictability.

Right Now magic is Fire and Forget and it works fairly well if you required a skill roll mages are significantly weaker and low level ones suffer even more.

I might suggest allowing Meta magic Feats to be applied to any spell.

Just add the normal slot mod to the DC of the spell.
OK The mage is silenced You know how to cast silently? Cool roll Spellcraft 10+ Spell Level +1 for the Meta Feat or whatever. You might allow casting more spells than you have slots at an extra difficulty of overcast level x number overcast that day.

Another option is too do away with slots. You can cast spells of the normal level you could have memorized before (3rd mage can cast level 2 etc) at will

A failed roll could drain HP (1 per level) or stun or disorient the caster or whatever. If you do the HP thing you may want to give mages d6 HP though....

My final suggestion is too check out Soveriegn Stone D20 it has a Roll and Add based elemental magic system that is relly cool and apparently produces magic items that are balanced with the DMG ones.
Also cool the supplemental magic system allows you to design your own balanced spells