The Best Magic (and stuff) System of them All!

[Tsyr]

I am saying EARTHDAWN, even if it isn't d20. I still think it had the best magic system and the best way to handle magic items and weapons.

I'm more or less indiferent to their actual magic system (some good points, some bad), but I'll agree on the magic items. They were handled very well.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm more or less indiferent to their actual magic system (some good points, some bad), but I'll agree on the magic items. They were handled very well.

Here's an idea how to simulate this kind of thing:

Create a new Item Creation Feat called: "Create Legendary Item". As a prerequisite, require a character level at which you think your campaign becomes decidedly heroic - 10th level or so might be appropriate for most campaigns. No spellcasting ability is required to take this feat.

The character in question can put aside any amount of XP for the purposes of item creation. When the character does some sufficiently impressive deed, such as slaying a dragon or stabbing the king in the back, the DM can use this XP to make one of the character's possessions enchanted.

The deed in question must be impressive, however - killing off a couple of kobolds, for example, shouldn't trigger this feat (though killing off several clans might do the trick). And the enchantment should be appropriate to the trigger - slaying the dragon might yield a dragon-bane sword, while the assassin would get some kind of constantly poisonous dagger, or maybe a cloack of hiding if he was particularily sneaky.

The downside to this is that the character cannot choose the specific enchantment - the DM does. Obviously, the player must trust the DM with this. The upside is that this does not require any gold expenditures for the enchantment...

In certain campaign worlds, this could be the only Item Creation Feat!

 

[Dagger75]

The part I liked best about the magic items in Earthdawn was you had to learn to history of the item to increase its power. 3/4 of my Earthdawn adventures where the party searching dusty Kears to find the name of the blacksmith who forged the weapon. One character had a magis crossbow for his entire career, up to like 10 circle or so. Was cool.

 

[EarthsShadow]

When it comes to magic items, EARTHDAWN is the best. To get a weapon, or item, and attune yourself to it, now that's just COOL. And it only gets more powerful the longer you unlock its abilities.

As for a system, for d20, I voted Star Wars and the Force because it simulates tapping into something rare, powerful, and taxing on the body.

As for any system, non d20 I like Shadowrun because you get the spell at a specific power level and it does a good job in the fact that when you cast the spell you have to resist a drain effect, which is depending on the power of the spell cast. Pretty awesome.

 

[Geoffrey]

I voted for Call of Cthulhu. The dark, alien feel of the magic is great. I also like the heavy penalties for casting a spell. A man can only rarely cast spells, or he'll be dead or insane. This is a wonderfully self-limiting system. No lobbing spells right and left in this system.

 

[JeffB]

Y'know..I totally for some unknown reason blanked on the ED magic system...ED's system is way, way cool..I've adapted it's treatment of magic items to my homebrew world (rare, each is something akin to a minor artifact, and as the wielder attunes himself more to the item, he discovers more of it's powers)....

OK..tie...for subtle magic, LotR...for "flashy" or "high" magic..Earthdawn...

 

[Hand of Evil]

Ars Magica very nice system.

Earthdawn is a well done system, magical items are done very well.

 

[Kesh]

I'm torn, because I absolutely love the spell system in Call of Cthulu d20. But, I ended up voting "Other."

I'm sure someone's gonna kill me for hyping it so much, but I love Mongoose's Encyclopaedia Arcane: Chaos Magic. Flexible, powerful and it scales properly to the character's levels.