new magic type: nature

[fba827]

Quick Background:
Druids and Rangers of my campaign do not worship a god/godess of nature but rather nature as a force in of itself. To help separate the these two from the other divine casters, I am using a third magic type (first arcane magic, second divine magic, and the third called nature magic).

This helps make them more separate in the players mind and allows me to do a couple different things with nature casters (such as nature spells having slightly different effects depending on environment - though, that will be discussed in another thread later).

Having said all that ...

Question:
What sort of game mechanic changes would that impose on already established rules?

Things I can see:
* Would change what scrolls/spell completion items that nature casters can use (i.e. can't just use a scroll of cure light wounds, it has to be a nature scroll of cure light wounds and not a divine one).
* PrC prerequisites that have "able to cast level X divine spells" will need to either be divine spells or nature spells

Anything else I am missing?

(Basically, places where the type of magic makes a difference)

Follow-up question -
Does nature magic sound okay?
Others I was considering:
natural magic
evironment magic
environmental magic
ecomagic
geomagic

other suggestions?

 

[Draugin]

Hey, good idea!
I suggest you to give more flavour to "nature scrolls" (maybe they're written on oak's bark, or they're not scrolls at all, but herbs or totems or the like...).
I like "nature magic" more than any other name you've written, just because I feel that "nature" could be a force in fantasy worlds, and a bit more evocative than "environment".

I cannot see other problems in terms of game rules (just think that in Epic Level Handbook for epic spellcasting there is a difference between clerics and druids -they need different knowledges, so maybe they also felt that divine magic could be easily split in two parts and that's more logical).
BTW, I don't like the idea that a druid is a believer in a nature deity (in that case he should be a nature cleric...), I think he reveres nature itself, and maybe acknowledges the existence of a nature god.

Bye

 

[Aaron2]

Originally posted by Draugin I suggest you to give more flavour to "nature scrolls" (maybe they're written on oak's bark, or they're not scrolls at all, but herbs or totems or the like...).

Infusions (from MotW) are kinda like that.

I like "nature magic" more than any other name you've written, just because I feel that "nature" could be a force in fantasy worlds, and a bit more evocative than "environment".

Gaia ?
Spirit Magic?
Earth Magic?
Witchcraft?

Wasn't there a nature magic chick in that old cartoon "Pirates of Dark Water"? What was she called?

 

[netnomad]

Here is what I use for “nature” Magic in my campaign.

Aeromancy – Air Magic
Faunamacy - Animal Magic
Floramancy – Plant Magic
Geomancy – Ley Line Magic
Hydromancy –Water Magic
Pyromancy – Fire magic
Terramancy –Earth Magic

-NetNomad

 

[woodelf]

Wasn't there a nature magic chick in that old cartoon "Pirates of Dark Water"? What was she called?

Ecomancer, and her name was Tula.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Actually, we already did exactly this IMC, except there are FOUR types of magic (Psionic being the fourth).

Since we combined Wizard and Sorcerer into a single Mage class, that means each type of magic has a "pure" and a "hybrid" class: Cleric/Paladin, Druid/Ranger, Mage/Bard, Psion/PsyWar.

So, how to change Nature Magic to make it distinct?

1> They don't need any sort of focus at all (divine or otherwise). If a spell needs a focus for an obvious reason (the mirror for Scry, for example), the Nature version will use some appropriate part of the scenery (pool of water, heat mirage, etc.) to act as a substitute.
2> Any spells requiring expensive material components can be cast with inexpensive natural alternatives. Instead of crushing a diamond, you break an egg.
3> On the other hand, practically all of their spells require inexpensive material components (like arcane spells). So, unlike Clerics, they might need a supply of bat guano to cast fire spells.
4> Since there's no divine oversight involved, there's no alignment restrictions on spells. A Good druid could cast [Evil] spells, although doing so repeatedly would change his alignment. Druidic orders police behavior from within, it's not forced on them by a god.

(This was pre-3.5, when Druids couldn't swap for anything. If you want that ability, you'll need to tone these down)

 

[fba827]

Thanks for the comments, folks!

My first check was to make sure there weren't any game mechanics I was overlooking (and it seems by the posts there aren't -- and I don't use Epic level stuff so that doesn't factor in).

I plan on coming up with alternate stuff for the nature magic stuff.

Possible things I've been thinking about:
* conjuration (summoning) a creature (or base creature in regards to templates) are treated as one caster level lower if it is in a climate/terrain the creature would not normally be found.
* fire type spells are harder to cast (probably a lower caster level) in artic areas...
* spells that manipulate stones/rock work better in an underground / mountain terrain.
* spells that manipulate plants are a little weaker (some how) in a desert terrain ...

that sort of thing (making terrain affect the spells) -- though without making it too over bearing ...

again, really just playing with ideas in my head... will come up with something more difinitive later.