Scarred Lands Question

[helium3]

In general, how does magic in Scarred Lands work? It's a low magic setting, correct? Are there spell casting classes? Do they have levels and if so, how high do they go?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Scarred Lands is not really a low-magic setting. According to the books, magic items are rare, so they are highly treasured (in other words no Magic WalMarts), although there seemed to be plenty of magic items in the SL adventures I purchased (maybe I'm just not recalling correctly).

Classes are no different in terms of spells and access to them. The only other change is the rule that casting arcane magic creates heat, so most arcane casters wear lighter clothing, and armor I think had a higher spell failure rate because of it. I don't recall much of the specifics of that rule since I didn't use it in my campaign.

 

[helium3]

Oh. Weird. I thought it was a low magic setting, at least for the PC's.

 

[Nightfall]

*feels a familiar pull*

Scarred Lands magic isn't low magic per-se. It is, however, a tad more than "magic trains" and "ancient magical empires." since neither of those exist currently.

It is currently a low magic item count in terms of being a buyers/seller's market for the most part. (Some like Hollowfaust can offer stuff). There's no mega Wal-mart outlet stores in most rural to semi-urban areas. There are, however, large to huge caches from the Divine War/Titanswar that are probably still hidden somewhere.

The core classes exist, with sorcerers and druids being kind of the "outcasts" of society. Wizardry is still not a wholly honorable profession, but it's more accepted by some than sorcery.

Ritual magic tends to take the place for when spellcasters run low on magic or need a power boost but only in very critical situation. Same is true for True Rituals, powerful spells that I feel can often exceed the Epic spells of Epic Player's Handbook.

The only reason it's considered "low magic" is not everyone is 100% spellcasters except for clerics and the more than occasional paladin/rangers. It's more about the rangers adding to the survival of others, (especially against their favored foes), the clerics offering solace and protection by serving the Gods of the Scarred Lands. Plus the paladins too but usually for only Corean, Madriel or Hedrada.

It's not FR where everyone and their mother can wield spells, or have spell-like powers (except for maybe a small handful of Titanspawn), dragons on Ghelspad tend to be much scarcer. It's not Eberron either, where the average spellcaster serves for a political country or even for a goal. The Scarred Lands magic is focused more on perserving, helping and causing thriving civilizations to thrive more. Plus the usual fighting as well.

That's what Scarred Lands magic is about.

See this thread for further insights into the Scarred Lands.

 

[helium3]

So the Conan feel comes about from how the DM presents the setting, rather than any real mechanical change?

 

[Nightfall]

Helium,

There's a few mechanic changes, (in terms of Arcane heat, possible alterations to the treasure tables for random encounters and some set encounters), but if you mean "Do wizards still cast spells like they do in Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms and Eberron?" Then yes they do. Same is true for clerics, save they tend to rely more on their innate connections more times (ie divine feats or choice of domains) to determine "power" than any particular spell.

Can you raise someone from the dead? Yes, but in my upcoming Scarred Lands Revised Campaign Setting, I'm planning on introducing either as optional or standard the need for any cleric that isn't a Belsmite or a Nemorgan a kind of sacrifice for raising dead companions and/or limited spellcasting (IE only certain high level clerics can use it without bad stuff happening). Otherwise raise dead works for most "willing" people.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

So the Conan feel comes about from how the DM presents the setting, rather than any real mechanical change?

I would say so since I certainly didn't present the setting with anything like a Conan feel. The feel for my campaign was more about establishment of power, whether it be by nations or a species. The Titanswar is over (at least for now), some semblance of "normal" has been reestablished, and various worldly powers are now trying to get a bigger slice of the pie. Tribes of titanspawn try to find ways to regain some power in the hopes of restoring the titans one day or of just being able to survive. Leaders of nations try to spread their control and/or dogma beyond their borders, while the everyday people try to rebuild a normal life that consists of more than just surviving day to day.

The party consisted of:
- A Paladin of Corean who was trying to make a mark on the world to impress his father.
- A young sorceress on the run from her wealthy parents who wanted her stop her from being corrupted by the filthy arcane magic she had begun to use.
- A Halfling Ranger who was lazy and cowardly deep down, but had built up such a persona of being a great hunter of undead that he had no choice but to try.
- A Druid who was trying to heal the land and convince people that he could be trusted despite his devotion to a Titan.

It was a fun and wild campaign while it lasted, but it was nothing like a Conan game as far as I see it.

 

[Twowolves]

All arcane casters give off a wave of heat while casting spells. The effects of this are two-fold: 1) it doubles the Arcane Spell Failure rate for armor (being immune to heat negates this increase, but Still Spell does not); 2) while in the process of casting, the caster gains the benefit of an Endure Elements: Cold spell.

Also, there is Ritual Magic. Three kinds, actually. One in which you can use extra casting time and expensive material components to offset the level bump from metamagic feats, or add to the save dc or the caster level for a spell you use, one in which several casters join in to do the same without the extra cost, and one which is a class of spell that just so happens to require multiple casters. The system for the first two uses first appeared in Relics and Rituals I, but was revised/streamlined by Steve Kineson in his Witch'd Handbook by Green Ronin, since it was OGL. It's also in Green Ronin's Advanced Player's Guide, IIRC. It's a good clean system, and we use it with no problems.

 

[Voadam]

In general, how does magic in Scarred Lands work? It's a low magic setting, correct? Are there spell casting classes? Do they have levels and if so, how high do they go?

Basic standard D&D with the following changes.

Arcane spellcasting generates heat, providing a little cold resistance and an excuse for scantily clad sorceresses (Ala Conan book art).

The first magic supplement book (relics and rituals) did not provide prices for magic items because it said as a campaign flavor issue they could not generally be bought in markets.

Relics and rituals also provided a new magic subsystem of ritual magic, group ritual skill casting over a long period of time to enhance normal spells or to create powerful generally one shot effects that cost a lot of resources.

Tattoo magic (again started in relics and rituals) as a new item slot.

Generally scarred lands is post divine apocalypse with lots of nations struggling to survive, many old and magically powerful past empires to be looted, and lots of hostile neighbors so there can be a Conanesque flavor to it (Shelzaar city of sin = Shadizaar the Wicked, Titanspawn = Pictish hordes, Old Aasathi empire = Stygian serpent men, etc.)

 

[Twowolves]

In general, how does magic in Scarred Lands work? It's a low magic setting, correct? Are there spell casting classes? Do they have levels and if so, how high do they go?

The "low magic" idea stems from the Relics and Rituals I book. Before they fully grasped the concept of magic item value as a measure of expected PC power, they wanted the setting to have an "old school" feel, with no magic shops etc etc. The in-game rationale for this was that the Divine War (over just 150 years) consumed most of the resources of the world, most of the existing items were destroyed, and those that were left were potentially cursed (the disruption of Mesos warped existing items, creating about triple the ammount of cursed items and also giving a 3% chance of any NEW items made being cursed). If you could buy any magic item at all, it was at three times the market price set in the DMG, and there was supposedly no real market at all for second hand (PC-sold) items.

The other thing of note about the Scarred Lands magic casting classes is the very distinct difference between druidic and clerical magic, and the split between sorcerers and wizards. Druids and sorcerers are the primary sources of magic for the titan worshipers, while wizards and clerics are the magic forces for the divine races.

I understand what Nightfall is suggesting above, but for it to work (in my opinion), one would need to have customized spell lists for every titan and every deity. Which is 100% feasable in the Scarred Lands, as there are only 8 major gods (and about as many demigods) and a dozen or so titans. Right now, there is a sort of "gentleman's agreement" among the gods, allowing spells that are clearly under the portfolio of one to be cast by clerics of another god, but they have to pay lip service to the granter. For example, an evil cleric of Vangal the Destroyer (CE god of plagues, destruction, war, anarchy etc etc) has to pray to Madriel the Redeemer (NG goddess of sun, healing, redemption, etc etc) whenever he casts any healing spells. That's what Nightfall is getting at when he speaks of clerics of gods other than Belsamath (NE goddess of murder, night, loss etc etc) or Nemorga (N god(ess?) of death, gateways, transitions, etc etc) tampering in their realms by casting a Raise Dead spell.