Players creating new spells?

[random user]

If this belongs in another forum, please move it. I don't think it's exactly a rules question, nor is it exactly a custom rules question, but certainly I wouldn't object if it gets moved there.

One of my players wants to create/research a new spell.

I've read the bit in the DMG about creating new spells, so I'm clear on (what I assume are) the rules for it, though it just talks about it from the DM's side, not the player's side. Or is this just talking about the DM creating new spells that everyone knows? (Now that I think about it, I saw a mention on another thread about a unique spell feat?)

However, my question is: In a realistic world, why don't hundreds of alternate little spells exist? If it's possible for a person to create a spell easily, why don't more people create them?

I'd like to give my player the freedom to create a new spell (it's not even that powerful of a spell), but it needs to make sense, and I can't figure out a justification of why if he can make a spell, why hundreds of NPC's don't all make their own custom spells as well.

Or do they all make them but they don't become popular for some reason?

Has anyone else allowed their players to make custom spells, and if so, how did you handle this issue?

 

[mercucio]

First, there probally are hundreds of spells out there that don't reach the general spellcasting public. This is typically for one of two reasons:

1. The spell is researched for a specific use, for instance shape ice, a variant of stone shape researched by a wizard who likes to make ice sculptures).

2 Because the creator wishes to keep the spell a surprise--after all we do a hell of a lot to insure that foriegn countries to do not gain knowledge of how to make an atomic bomb, because it gives away a strategic advantage, and makes them a threat to us. This would hold equally true with any powerful spell.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

One possible explanation is that magic is not science. In the real world, we're used to using the scientific method. We start with a theory based upon current knowledge, extrapolate from that, test, fail, try again, eventually expand our understanding a little bit, and than repeat the process.

With magic, there may be no such process. Take 'Fireball' for example. Why bat guano and sulfur, but not pitch and charcoal, or some other combination of flammable components? Why doesn't more of a component, or components of better quality result in a more powerful spell? Dire-bat guano, anyone? The same with somatic components, etc.

I see spells as coming from a variety of sources. Most would be the old standards that have been in use for so long that no one can remember why they work, they've just been passed down from master to apprentice for centuries. Some might have been researched with the aid of divine or infernal outsiders -- maybe a fire elemental lord taught a mage how to cast a fireball ages ago in exchange for some service.

Because so much of magic will be trial and error, expermentation can be very dangerous. Gesture clockwise instead of counter-clockwise, and the range of your improved fireball might go from 10' per level to 10". And pity the poor mage who had to test 'Featherfall'

 

[Zappo]

I figure that, in a magical world, spells are somewhat like computer programs in real life. They have similar properties: they can be copied rather easily but are relatively difficult to make from scratch. They can be more or less useful, more or less efficient, or obtain the same effect in different ways. People may make one just for themselves, or release it to the public. People may sell them, or they may offer them for free.

So, here's the way I do it. NPCs often have one or two unknown spells which they researched themselves. They may or may not have ever let anyone else copy them, and often they'll just be variants of well-known spells. But few people will make a new spell if an existing one already does what they want.

Spell research follows DMG rules, with the following interpretation. A character proposes a spell to the DM, and then spends the specified time doing research. If the DM decides that the spell is balanced, it happens and that's the end of it. Otherwise, the DM gives the spell enough drawbacks to make it fit the level which the PC assigned to it - basically, the spell tries to do what is required of it but it doesn't have enough energy, so it either partially fails or uses unforeseen tricks and shortcuts to achieve something vaguely similar to the desired result. The PC will probably notice this the first time he tries this, and he will have to research the spell again at an increased level, or decrease its power, or live with the drawbacks.

Picture a wizard, 5000 years ago, developing bull's strength. He thinks that level 1 is reasonable, the DM does not. After the research time, the character ends up with a spell which does increase strength, but it also makes you irritable and dumb as a bull... back to the drawing board.

Additionally, I rule that characters who have some experience in a specific field (fire mages researching new fire spells, for example) may get a reduced research time, just as scientists with experience in the topic can work much faster. This also means that a character doesn't really take as much time to "debug" the latest failed spell.

PCs haven't done much research IMC for now, but I think that has more to do with the fact that the 3.X PHB spells cover the vast majority of all problems that you may want to solve with magic.

 

[Torm]

I'm starting a new campaign for a group of 1st level characters in about 12 hours, and I actually made Wizards making up their own spells MANDATORY. We'll probably spend a bit of time discussing balance on them, but it will do wonders for the flavour, I think.

 

[Elephant]

I'm starting a new campaign for a group of 1st level characters in about 12 hours, and I actually made Wizards making up their own spells MANDATORY. We'll probably spend a bit of time discussing balance on them, but it will do wonders for the flavour, I think.

What about the Divine casters?

 

[Torm]

What about the Divine casters?

It's a low magic world with distant gods (gods that no one has seen in the current lifetimes - or if they have, they aren't talking about it) - divine casters are RARE, and most people perceive them as being self-powered somehow, rather than divinely powered. They "know" better, of course, but only by faith.

Spells are normal, though, for the very few who have them.

 

[scott-fs]

I'm starting a new campaign for a group of 1st level characters in about 12 hours, and I actually made Wizards making up their own spells MANDATORY. We'll probably spend a bit of time discussing balance on them, but it will do wonders for the flavour, I think.

Heh, this reminds me of a little story of a session I joined a few years back. I had just rejoined the group after an absence. The DM as I learned beforehand was going to (as usual) run FR. Now, I despise the FR, but I wanted to play, so I decided to simply ignore the FR references, and play in blissful ignorance. I decided to play a cleric, but I didn't want to choose a deity (desiring to remain blissfully ignorant... yes, I really wanted to play badly). The DM didn't like that. Looking through my PHB, I decided that Pelor (or atleast the FR equivalent) would suffice. The DM and I butted heads on details for a bit (apparently there are no deity-less clerics in FR), but the DM allowed me to play a cleric of the sun), but eventually we started.

When I was trying to decide what my character's name was going to be, the other players were expecting me to use my old standby of Ish. Ish has a very interesting background, used by no less than 6 characters of mine

Anyway, since the DM wouldn't let me call my "deity" Pelor, I decided that the character would be named.... Pelor

This annoyed the DM somewhat, and probably what led to my characters death. As I was going through the cleric spell list, I started renaming all the spells my character would use to reference the sun, or the light. My character carried a candle (or lamp) that he would light whenever he meditated.

Anyway, during the session, I decided to have my character meditate outside with the sun shining. Some dwarves came by and wondered what I was doing. I made some comments that I was praying to the sun. They thought I was a heretic that I prayed to something other than... gasp... a god. They left me, but returned with some town guards and I got thrown into jail.

The highlight of the campaign was when I found it funny that my "cellmate" was a drow. I couldn't resist having my character say to the drow "let the sun soothe your soul".

The character died later in the session on a trip to a larger city to deliver me and the drow to the authorities for trial. The other players were getting annoyed that the DM wanted to "punish" me for not playing an FR cleric, and when they tried to attack the escort to protest this, a coup-de-gras by one of the guards (before the guards took on the other PCs) ended my character's life (and that of the drow).

Yes, that DM ran horribly bad games, but in many ways he was the only one who wanted to run a game (everyone else was either too busy, or didn't have anything that they wanted to run).

 

[Kastil]

I have a player that would come up with all kinds of new items. They were interesting and they had the proper skills, feats, etc to do them.

I'd say let them go for it if they have the time to research etc. I think it brings a new flavor to the table. RPing is a creative art, IMO.

 

[Faerl'Elghinn]

The world actually is filled with custom spells. Tenser's Floating Disk, Bigby's this and that, Evard's Black Tentacles... Many wizards just don't take the time to create new spells, as they are often content with the usual options. You may decide that it is fairly common for a wizard to have one or two "signature spells" which haven't been widely discovered. Additionally, the Metamagic Feats allow for quite a bit of customization, to the point that many spells are adaptable to different power levels, thus basically negating the need for the creation of many new spells.

I feel that it can add immensely to the pleasure of the game for a caster to be allowed to do a few things that nobody else knows about. This helps to create an individual identity for each character, as always doing everything straight out of the book can often become repetetive and tedious.

Just my 2 bucks (Inflation)...