Shopping for a new magic system

[celewritor]

Well, not actually. But a friend is. And so I'm helping her look looking for a legendary beast: a somewhat flexible magic system that's not too complicated. A bit more on the fly without overwhelming people. Basically less you cast this spell and more you create this effect.

Now I know there are a number of systems that try to do this, so my question what do you think of the ones you know?

As a side note, my brief search about the web turned up True Sorcery, which looks promising. I'd like to hear more about it though.

 

[Slander]

As much as I like True Sorcery, it likely falls in the "overwhelming" category. It's such a departure from DnD magic and is likely to be very jarring the first read through. That said, once you do learn it, its an awesome system IMO.

The "spells" are really broad effects your character knows. However, how you decide to apply the effect is very flexible. Range, duration, AoE, etc are all completely within your control. The more you modify the base spell, the more difficult it becomes to cast. You can also blend spells to create unique effects not covered by a single spell. It's the shear flexibility of the system that makes it daunting when you first look at it. But it's totally worth the time it takes to set aside your DnD preconceptions to learn the system.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Um. You have checked out psionics, yes? Augmentable spells, choose energy types at casting, and other goodies. And it's in the SRD, to boot.

If you're willing to look at 3rd party systems, Monte's AE is probably your next best choice (or best, depending on your preferences). More complex, but much, much more flexible is the system from Green Ronin's Black Company Campaign Setting.

If you want more than that, and are willing to leave d20 behind entirely, you have Ars Magica, Mage, or even Fantasy hero.

 

[Mighty Veil]

The systems I know of.

Spell points. Wizards even has their version of it (SRD has it for free). AEG's Magic has its. Wizard's version is similar to the way Psionics is done.

Psionics. Call it magic instead of psionics. Now magic comes from one cource. No arcane or divine garbage. And with Complete Psionics, you have a PSI version of cleric. PSI classes replace divine and arcane classes. Psychic Warrior given a LG alignment can replace Paladin easily (and be called Jedi).

That stupid "dead babies soul" magic system.

Spell-like ability magics. Tome of Magic and Complete Arcane have some new ways to deal with magic too.

 

[Glyfair]

Basically less you cast this spell and more you create this effect.

In general, you don't see this often in D&D (or games directly evolved from D&D) and it rarely works. Usually you see this in more open ended flexible (as in "make rules up on the spot") game systems.

The closest to this feel I've seen is the warlock (from Complete Arcane), and that's not really that close.

 

[Storyteller01]

Choas Magic from QUint. Chaos Mage.

It's a bit jarring at first but it gets intuitive. The base for effect is X, additional effects add +5, including increasing range beyond personal/touch. Triggers and extended casting times reduce the DC.

All damage effects are force unless you add a +1 to add an elemental effect.


Five catagories total: Direct Damage, Materialization, Movement, Domination, and one other I can't remember. No divinations, summoning or healing.

Casting a spell is a level check with Wis bonus. Success means you take nonlethal damage (1 point per 5 full points of DC. DC 23 = 4 points). Failure converts it to lethal damage with the possibility of getting nailed via it's apth system.

You can do away with the steps and step up the damage taken to reduce some of the complexity.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Arcana Unearthed / Evolved has a magic system worth looking into.

 

[arscott]

Psionics is a pretty neat system that's got a lot of flexibility and customization while still remaining pretty close to standard D&D.

For something more abstract, Elements of Magic: Mythic Earth is pretty nice. It's a skills-based system that's very open ended and allows you to incorporate flavor elements into your magic via tradition feats.

 

[Voadam]

Ars Magica. 4th edition is free as a pdf. Great verb, noun based magic system so you have, say 35 levels of fire and 20 of create you can then do neat create fire effects on the fly. Also has predone spells you can learn as well as a caster. Not d20.

Elements of Magic for D&D, d20 works too, though I haven't really slogged through my copy to get a true handle on it as a system.

 

[celewritor]

hmmm

I suspect AE is not what she is looking for (though I have found it to be a wonderful magic system). I'll run that and psionics past her.

My recollection of Ars Magica is somewhat foggy, I'll have to look over my copy. I did notice someone trying to do d20 conversion, didn't look at it though.

Chaos magic sounds too limited. As to the rest the her problem is with static spells not flexibility of casting so spell points, spell-likes, warlocks, etc. doesn't do it. ToM is a book I somewhat regret getting.

Thanks.