New Rituals!!! (Was New AdC: Witch and Rituals to Follow)

[Mordane76]

I'll admit it -- I'm a Buffy and Angel nut.

I've been watching a lot of both, since Buffy is in syndication on FX, and Angel is in all-new episodes on the WB. But I've always been drawn to the way magic works (or doesn't always quite work) in the Buffy paradigm...

So, I started thinking about doing a Modern campaign in which I tossed out the Mage and Acolyte advanced classes from Urbana Arcana, and replaced them with a more dangerous Witch/Warlock advanced class that allowed fairly limited access to more "standard" spells, extended (yet more dangerous) access to spells slightly beyond the user's reach, and allow them to slowly become more capable with general rituals.

Also, there would be general rituals that anyone could attempt, given the right access to materials and understanding. These would be increasingly more dangerous as their power increased, and rituals would be iffy even if performed properly.


This wouldn't be a d20 Modern Buffy, it would be a magic system based on the elements present in Buffy, ported into a more standard Shadow Chasers/Urbana Arcana style game.

Does anyone else think this would be an interesting element and setting? Can anyone see difficulties with the theory (I know the actual mechanics might be a bit clunky to work out in practice)? Does anyone have some input/suggestions on rituals? Perhaps someone has some suggestions for the Witch/Warlock AdC, like class abilities, etc...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I always thought the Shadow Hunters' AdC's are good for Buffy...

 

[Mordane76]

I think the Shadow Slayer AdC is pretty decent.

I don't think the the Occultist manages the Buffy-style Witch too well, though. It kinda gets to the rituals side of it, but most of the magic-users in the paradigm have basic spells they can use without any undue risk, much like the standard Mage or Acolyte. The Occultist doesn't have this basic spellcasting ability. In the Buffy paradigm, a Witch or Warlock is somewhere between the d20 Modern Occultist and the Mage.

Also, in the Buffy paradigm, ANYONE with access to a ritual, understanding of the incantation (who can speak the language its writen in), and access to the materials required can work magic -- no real training necessary. However, those who are trained in magic (Witches and Warlocks) tend to be better at pulling off these rituals, especially the very difficult and powerful ones.


Also, remember -- I'm not looking to reproduce Buffy, just the feeling of the magic from the show. I want to port that over to campaign somewhere between the conceptual realms of Shadow Chasers and Urbana Arcana... probably a little closer to Shadow Chasers, with a bit more magical item access and fantastic creatures (as the story progresses) a la Urbana Arcana.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Hm... look into the Call of Cthulu Magic System. Everyone can work magic there, AFIAK, but they have to pay a terrible price. (And not just because Magic Inc is awfully expensive...)

 

[Mordane76]

I haven't looked at d20 CoC, but I have played some old CoC...


I know they kept Sanity in d20, and IIRC spellcasting in CoC always incurred some kind of Sanity cost. I figure this passed into d20 CoC, so can one truly use the magic from CoC without the accompanying Sanity mechanics? Some of the spells might be interesting has rituals...


So far, this is the basic premise I'm working on.

General rituals will be divided into four categories:
Minor -- fairly easy rituals that have little or limited use.
Moderate -- more complex, but more useful and powerful.
Major -- hefty effects, complex, rare components.
Great -- resurrect the dead (sorta), bind greater evils, take hours to perform, hefty consequences, rare components... the whole nine yards...


Ritual use will be based on Speak/Read Language, Intelligence, and Concentration checks; using a ritual will require the caster to be able to read it and properly understand the text read (languages), possess a minimum intellect to handle the magic involved (intelligence), and maintain proper concentration during the ritual (one or more Concentration checks).


Witches and Warlocks will have spell slots, but their spell progressions and spell lists will be limited to select spells. Their choosing of spells will be slightly different from standard as well. Here's my present idea --

A character attains her first level of Witch/Warlock, and gets to select several spells. These spells are considered workbook spells; not completely mastered, but still more or less viable spells. She has no completed spells except those she may find in other tomes, which she can use as normal. She can use her workbooks spells, but every time she uses one, she has to make a check of some sort (not sure the mechanic yet), or the spell fails -- a bad result on the check means the spell doesn't just fail, but has some horrible repurcussions.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Beyond the Sanity loss, you'll get ability damage with every spell (it's in the spell descriptions, like 1d4 Strength)

You also could make those things cost money (for ingredients) and XP

 

[jonrog1]

The THIRST mechanism from Spycraft's ritual magic system is pretty nice, although I'm not crazy nuts about the rituals themselves. The Hand of Glory sourcebook spiffed it out quite a bit, I have to admit.

Anyway, rough and ready -- do magic, make a saving throw vs. DC + spell level + existing Thirst points. Fail, gain another Thirst point. As you accumulate Thirst points, you accumulate side effects (some good, some bad), and the beginnings of an arcane addiction.

Dark Willow, anyone?

 

[Vigilance]

What you're describing is real close to what I did in the Blood and Relics sourcebook, which will be out in about 3 weeks (so says my editor) at rpgnow.

Basically, there's a ritual magic system, a Knowledge (Ritual) skill, which allows anyone to attempt the rituals presented in the book at a -4 to the skill roll. Taking a feat in the specific ritual removes the -4 penalty (a la Treat Injury and Surgery).

So, since I decided to do that sort of system myself, I think its a great idea and thought I'd throw out the basics of how I did it.

 

[Mordane76]

I will be posting my first draft of the Witch/Warlock AdC in the next few days, so I will ceremoniously BUMP this thread to pimp my future posting...


I'll should also be posting some rituals and rules for how they work in the next few days as well.

 

[Mordane76]

Here is my first draft of the Witch/Warlock advanced class.