Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Tellerve said:
Well, yes and no. If you take the right talents, and you roll well, you could cast spells all day. It's just not likely and the repurcussions are bad enough to make you think twice about it.
Unfortunately, due to the restrictions on the d20 license, I was not able to discuss ability score generation in the book. Personally, I think the standard array, or a low point buy, is best.
Using those methods, character ability scores will be lower across the board than most D&D games with magic-boosting spells and items, and certainly lower than the results produced by 4d6 drop lowest.
The net result is that I think a starting character should count on no better than a 16 in his prime stat.
Now he wants to be a spellcaster, so he'll take the Magical Adept talent. That does several things for him. First, he gains caster level 1. Second, he gains Spellcraft as a core skill. And finally, he gains Spell Burn resistance equal to his primary spellcasting attribute modifier.
We'll assume he wants to be an arcane caster. He has a 16 Intelligence, +3 mod, so he has 3 points of spell burn resistance. And he can now cast up to 6th level spells (ability score -10, same method as D&D) and take STR, rather than CON, damage.
He can cast any spell he "knows." Learning a spell requires a Spellcraft check (DC15 + spell level) and more importantly, you're at the mercy of the DM as to which spells you get.
If you, as the DM, want to keep out flashy D&D spells and concentrate on more mood-appropriate spells, that's fine. You can use any spell from any product as long as it uses the standard spell "statblock." Technically, you don't even need that-- any spell with a spell level contains pretty much all you need to be able to "plug it in" to Grim Tales.
Now let's look at essentially two cases of casting a spell.
In the first case, because any character can learn and cast a spell, you have what we call an "untrained caster." (This also goes for spellcasters who cast spells outside their tradition-- arcane vs. divine and vice versa.) They take spell burn equal to 1d6 CON damage, and they have no resistance. They won't be casting many spells, but they could, if the fate of all mankind depended on it.
In the second case you have a magical adept. If he casts a spell of a level he can handle (ability score -10) he takes STR damage instead of CON damage. In addition, he gets spell burn resistance equal to his attribute modifier (on any spell he casts).
The unpredictable part that has not yet been mentioned is that when you roll spell burn, any die that comes up a "1" cannot be resisted. This is the mitigating factor that helps make spellcasting always dangerous and unpredictable and to put a realistic limit on it.
So... Our example magical adept (Int16, mod +3) casts a 3rd level spell. He takes 3d6 STR damage from spell burn. On each die of spell burn, he reduces the total by 3-- except for 1's, which he cannot reduce:
Die Roll ---> Damage
1 ---> 1 STR
2 ---> 0
3 ---> 0
4 ---> 1 STR
5---> 2 STR
6 ---> 3 STR
He's looking at anywhere from 0 to 9 points of STR damage for a single 3rd level spell, though the probabilities cluster towards about 3 STR. Still, even if he rolls amazingly crappy (all 6's) he can probably still cast two spells before he's helpless. If it's the right 3rd level spell at the right time, this could be pretty heroic and rewarding.
This is probably a good place to mention the caster level check-- you do have to make a caster level check to successfully cast a spell (DC10 + spell level). I highly recommend that if you are a fledgling spellcaster, you use an action point on this d20 check!
Now let's advance this caster to 20th level. Let's assume he puts +1 into his Intelligence every 4th level, bringing his Int to 21 and his spell burn resistance to +5.
Now when he casts a spell, he only takes a point of STR damage on a 1 and a 6. He can probably sling a few spells.
The real trick is that spellcasting is unfriendly enough to the caster, difficult to cast, very difficult to learn spells (completely at the mercy of the DM as to what and when you find new spells) that it takes a VERY dedicated person to want to be a "major" spellcaster. Most players would never invest the attribute boosts and the talents into spellcasting in the possibly futile hope that the DM will drop a spellbook where they can find it, only to possibly kill themselves when they finally do cast a spell.
From a meta-game, player's point of view, it's not very efficient (though granted, you have to opportunity to really come across as a major hero if you cast the right spell at the right time...)
Wulf
