Spell Schools for D&D Legacy

[Jasperak]

I have two questions that I would like to get some assistance with.

First. I am looking to set up different schools of magic for a S&W/OD&D game like AD&D had with the Illusionist. To clarify I want to break down the spells into different "spheres or schools" that I can base some specialist mages around. I was wondering if anyone knows if this has been done before and available online.

I know I can do this myself (I have all three edition PHBs), but I have found that the strict 8 schools in 1e and 2e do not really encompass all of the schools very well. For instance Fly or Teleport do not really fit the schools they are in.

So second and more importantly, are there any other systems that anyone has seen that break down the spells (or spells in general) by a different metric?

I like the idea of having generalist Magic-Users, Illusionists (like 1e), elementalists/invoker types (2e), and Necromancers (2e). Part of the reason why I am interested in other ways to break down spells is that I do not want to limit the class or spell selections to only what has come before but try and add new choices that can expand upon what magic can do in the game.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[rgard]

I have two questions that I would like to get some assistance with.

First. I am looking to set up different schools of magic for a S&W/OD&D game like AD&D had with the Illusionist. To clarify I want to break down the spells into different "spheres or schools" that I can base some specialist mages around. I was wondering if anyone knows if this has been done before and available online.

I know I can do this myself (I have all three edition PHBs), but I have found that the strict 8 schools in 1e and 2e do not really encompass all of the schools very well. For instance Fly or Teleport do not really fit the schools they are in.

So second and more importantly, are there any other systems that anyone has seen that break down the spells (or spells in general) by a different metric?

I like the idea of having generalist Magic-Users, Illusionists (like 1e), elementalists/invoker types (2e), and Necromancers (2e). Part of the reason why I am interested in other ways to break down spells is that I do not want to limit the class or spell selections to only what has come before but try and add new choices that can expand upon what magic can do in the game.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Ok, here is what I remember:

1. The first 3 issues of Different Worlds had Specialty Mages. They had Fire, Lightning, Water, Earth, etc. This was for OD&D. These were some of my favorites and probably your best bet for what you are looking for.

2. There was a Necromancer class in one of the issues of the White Dwarf. It had 'grades' instead of spell levels.

3. Also in the White Dwarf there was an Elementalist class. The spell list for the class was all Earth, Water, etc. spells.

4. For 2E, TSR sold the AD&D CD-ROM: Core Rules. It had a boatload of spells so you could divide up the spell lists by standard AD&D schools all on your PC if you wanted. This would save you time re-typing stuff. You could also put the spells in an MS Access database and sort by whatever metrics you want.

If I think of more, I will post here again.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[rgard]

5. Again in the White Dwarf...there was a Black Priest class. Mostly an evil NPC class that lost heavy armor, but got lots of cool critters as followers at high level.

 

[Jasperak]

Excellent, thanks for the help.

I have The Core Rules v2 that if I can find I will take a look at.

Unfortunately I do not have any White Dwarf mags for what you mentioned but the info you presented should help me continue my searches.

 

[rgard]

Excellent, thanks for the help.

I have The Core Rules v2 that if I can find I will take a look at.

Unfortunately I do not have any White Dwarf mags for what you mentioned but the info you presented should help me continue my searches.

I'm fairly certain I have all those mags, but most are in storage. I think I may have photocopies of the articles somewhere in a box in the basement. If you send me your address via pm, I'll see if I can locate them and mail you copies.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Jasperak]

I'm fairly certain I have all those mags, but most are in storage. I think I may have photocopies of the articles somewhere in a box in the basement. If you send me your address via pm, I'll see if I can locate them and mail you copies.

Thanks,
Rich

Thank you for reminding me about this thread, and thank you for your generous offer.

After reading my initial post, I realize that I didn't make my request very clear because I am not exactly sure what I am looking for, though I will try a give a few examples.

For the S&W/OD&D player's handbook for my campaign/sandbox that I am currently working on, I want to create different classes that match the different archetypes that we see throughout fantasy that are not properly covered by the Fighter, Cleric or Magic-user. First off I want to create an Illusionist class very similar to the one found in AD&D, but I also want to create a Necromancer/Warlock that would have some spells from Necromancy, Abjuration, Divination, and some Negative energy spells from the Cleric lists. I also want to create an Elementalist that draws his power from the Elemental Planes and would primarily use Evocation or Conjuration.

As you can see I am using 1e/2e terminology, but I find it sometimes lacking. Spells like Fly or Teleport do not fit real well into those schools, so essentially what I am looking for a different ways that spells can be categorized. I guess similar to the thread about Chronomancy. That is a different way to group similar spells that have to do with manipulation of time. Haste is listed as an Alteration spell in 2e along with Gust of Wind.

Speaking of manipulation of time. I wonder what would be a good name for a magic-user that manipulates space-time. Spells like Astral Spell, Reverse Gravity, Dimension Door, Imprisonment, Succor, Silence, Levitate, Fly, Time Stop, or Temporal Stasis would fit the idea well. He could even draw from the Positive and Negative Material Planes and then give him Light and Darkness spells.

The last paragraph is probably the best example to show what I am looking for. It is a new category for grouping the spells with either a like function or effect. Hope this makes it a little bit more clear what I am trying to accomplish.

EDIT: @rgard: Your info does help with what I am looking for and has given me some more ideas. Thanks.

 

[rgard]

Thank you for reminding me about this thread, and thank you for your generous offer.

After reading my initial post, I realize that I didn't make my request very clear because I am not exactly sure what I am looking for, though I will try a give a few examples.

For the S&W/OD&D player's handbook for my campaign/sandbox that I am currently working on, I want to create different classes that match the different archetypes that we see throughout fantasy that are not properly covered by the Fighter, Cleric or Magic-user. First off I want to create an Illusionist class very similar to the one found in AD&D, but I also want to create a Necromancer/Warlock that would have some spells from Necromancy, Abjuration, Divination, and some Negative energy spells from the Cleric lists. I also want to create an Elementalist that draws his power from the Elemental Planes and would primarily use Evocation or Conjuration.

As you can see I am using 1e/2e terminology, but I find it sometimes lacking. Spells like Fly or Teleport do not fit real well into those schools, so essentially what I am looking for a different ways that spells can be categorized. I guess similar to the thread about Chronomancy. That is a different way to group similar spells that have to do with manipulation of time. Haste is listed as an Alteration spell in 2e along with Gust of Wind.

Speaking of manipulation of time. I wonder what would be a good name for a magic-user that manipulates space-time. Spells like Astral Spell, Reverse Gravity, Dimension Door, Imprisonment, Succor, Silence, Levitate, Fly, Time Stop, or Temporal Stasis would fit the idea well. He could even draw from the Positive and Negative Material Planes and then give him Light and Darkness spells.

The last paragraph is probably the best example to show what I am looking for. It is a new category for grouping the spells with either a like function or effect. Hope this makes it a little bit more clear what I am trying to accomplish.

EDIT: @rgard: Your info does help with what I am looking for and has given me some more ideas. Thanks.

Ah ok, sounds like a fun project. You could also take a look at ICE's Spell Law and SPI/TSR's Dragonslayer. Both have different ways of categorizing the spells.

Good luck!

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Jasperak]

Here is an example of the class that i posted about earlier

The link to the file is here http://jaspersrantings.blogspot.com/2010/07/sympanomancer.html

 

[rgard]

Here is an example of the class that i posted about earlier

The link to the file is here Jasper's Rantings: The Sympanomancer

That's cool. Thanks for sharing. This makes me want to dust off my 1E books!

Thanks again,
Rich

 

[rgard]

Jasperak, not sure if you are still working on the schools thing, but I found this in the store here:

Old School Magic - Vigilance Press | EN World PDF Store

Not too expensive at $3.50