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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old Drew Id" data-source="post: 1040108" data-attributes="member: 12175">Sidebar: Rules for Spellcasting in MedallionsSince there appears to be some interest in this file, here are the rules that I put gave the players for spellcasting in Medallions. The goal of these rules was to evoke a certain "feeling" and "tone" of magic. Despite the existence of hard-coded game rules for spellcasting, I wanted magic to remain mysterious, unpredictable, rare, shadowy, and dangerous. At the same time, I wanted the rules to encompass all possible magical "traditions" within the game world, from Voodoo to Kabbalah. So, these rules make it slow to learn magic, dangerous to cast, and costly to maintain. That's pretty close in actual play to what I wanted. The second half of this (the other side of the Medallion, if you will <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />  ), is the spell list. Because choosing what spells are in the game makes a huge difference in that tone that I was just talking about. The first nice part of this design for me, as DM, is that I get to choose and specifically design or re-design every spell that goes into the game. No splatbooks, no unexpected errata, etc. In one fell swoop, no divinations or evocations, just like that. No spells that directly cause damage as their only function. No spells that replace the use of skills. No spells that are potential game breakers. Nothing that is cool but just too flashy. And for other spells, I can up the cost or the level as needed, or throw in little twists to them to keep them interesting. The second nice part of this design is that the players have no knowledge of the spell list, beyond that knowledge. Is there a Raise Dead spell? They don't know. Are there any spells above third level? They don't know. It is all unknown, and therefore mysterious.Finally, a quick word on magic items, since I am doing the sidebar thing anyway: The players are unaware of any rules, if they exist, for magic item creation. They do not know where the Dealer gets his items or how they are made. This makes each trip to the Dealer a lot of fun because they really are ooh-ing and aah-ing over anything he pulls out, because they have no expectations for how things work or what kinds of things are available for sale. Anyhow, enough of me jabbering on, here's the doc. (And thanks for reading.)</blockquote>

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