The Elements of Magic

[HellHound]

Formerly an Natural 20 Press Product
The Elements of Magic is a rules module designed to replace the "fire and forget" spell system of the d20 Core Rules. The d20 spell system, while balanced and usable, is not flexible enough to model the magic users from most fantasy books and movies. Few wizards have ever memorized or prepared a spell, and even fewer forget them immediately afterwards. In the Elements of Magic, each character has only a single spellcasting level, no matter how many types of magic she learns in her career. Each character also has a pool of magic points, keeping their spellcasting abilities balanced, but better modelling the flexibility of most fantasy spellcasters. The Elements of Magic gives characters many times the options of the standard d20 rules. Most divination spells have been converted into skills, expanding on the model of the Scry skill. Most other spells are replaced by spell lists. Instead of learning a fireball spell, for example, a mage could learn the Evoke Area Fire spell list. This list includes spells from 0th to 9th level and each spell can take on the form of a fan, line, cone, cylinder, or sphere burst. Nor is the mage limited to fire evocations – with 20 elements to choose from, she could learn Evoke Area Ice or Lightning, or an even more exotic spell list, such as Evoke Area Lava or Shadow. And this is only one spell list from the Elements of Magic – it would take literally thousands of standard spells to duplicate the effects of the spell lists in this 64 page book.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I had been waiting for Elements of Magic to be released ever since I had first heard about the project. I've really wanted an alternate magic system that gave the feel of mages and wizards I'd read about in books and seen on the big screen. Bottom line, Elements of Magic presents a system that is much, much closer to that feel than anything I've seen previously in D20 but unfortunately falls short on just a few points.

Basics
======
The artwork is good but not up to the standards of Wizards or Mongoose. I wouldn't say the art is bad... it's just not great. Fortunately, it's not overused and gives the book a more comfortable feel than straight text.

The layout is well done with convenient sidebars to make useful information stand out on the page. The only problem here is that some of the sidebars have textured graphics as backgrounds which can make them hard to read in the full-color version.

At 98 pages (including cover and OGL) it's reasonably hefty for a PDF and it's got plenty of crunch to it. There's nothing inside that gave the feel of padding the text and at the same time, other than adding even more spell lists (as if there aren't plenty as is) I can't think of anything the book lacks.

As is becoming standard, there's both a pretty, full-color version with the aforementioned art and a printer-friendly version with the page frames and some of the art removed. I say some of the art because only some of the pictures were removed and where they were removed, the hole in the text where they were is still there which makes for a slightly odd look on the printed page.

Chapter 1 - Concepts and Definitions
====================================
We get a good introduction to the new ideas in EoM. There's an overview of the new magic system, a good description of the 20 elements, and some general information on blanket rule-changes. I really like the elemental side effects... things like fire making things burn is obvious but to have rules for just how much smoke (and therefore concealment) is put out by an Evoke Area Fire spell (similar to a fireball) is pretty cool. And to have this for all 20 elements is wonderful. The only negative thing I could come up with is the name for the nature-oriented element... Biomatter. Literally my first house-rule is that I'm changing the name to the element of Nature.

Chapter 2 - Spellcasting Classes
================================
There's one main spellcasting class presented, the Mage. In addition, we're given five subclasses as examples of specialists. The Black Mage (an elementalist), White Mage (working with life and death magic), Green Mage (excellent replacement Druid), Grey Mage (focused on death and earth magic), and Red Mage (concentrating on Life and Air magic). Beyond that, we're given alternate classes for the Ranger, Bard, and Paladin. The Ranger is a definite improvement over the PH version. The Bard feels a bit lacking without the Bardic Music abilities... they've been converted by and large to spell lists. The Paladin gets a well-deserved boost in player choice but somewhere in the mix, turning undead is lost.

In fact, turning undead leads me to the big thing I didn't like about the classes... their handling of clerics. All of the spellcasters from the Player's Handbook could be replaced with their EoM counterparts pretty easily except for the cleric. The closest class presented is the White Mage who doesn't turn undead, doesn't get bonus domains from their deity, gets a d4 hit die, and can't wear armor... but can cast life and death magic at the same time? So here's my second house-rule where I'll be creating a cleric class that uses spell lists.

Chapter 3 - Magical Skills
==========================
Finally counterspelling seems useful! An excellent set of rules for dispeling magic and counterspells as a skill which draws on the caster's magic points. Several years of gaming in 3rd edition without ever seeing a player actually use a counterspell may finally be over. Equally good is the conversion of divination to a skill-based system similar to the scrying system (which gets several needed enhancements). Intuit direction gets boosted as well by making the detect spells a magic point fueled skill check. Virtually everything in this chapter is long overdue for 3e and I'll be happily suggesting it to my players.

Chapter 4 - worlds of Magic
===========================
Really this is a nice essay on magic in fantasy worlds including sources of power, the impact of magic on society, and help for DM's in bringing magic into a world and making it feel special. In addition, we get 50 character ideas several of which are really incredible. Great for sparking the imagination. And last we get several sample characters with spell information, appearance, history, and more to give you a good feel for just how this system works in creating a character.

Chapter 5 - Elemental Monsters
==============================
A nice brief template for elementals of various sizes which lets even a 1st level caster summon an elemental.

Chapter 6 - Spell Lists
=======================
Ah... the part we're all waiting for. Right up front they tell you that the spell lists give generic names and should be replaced in game to reflect the specifics of the spell... so that Evoke Fire 3 might become Sunbolt of Ra or Hirak's Heat Ray. But generic as they are, these spell lists can easily duplicate the effects of 80-90% of the spells that have ever been published for 3rd Edition.

Variant rules are presented for things like defiling magic, magic from a summoned patron (such as a demon, elemental, or spirit), magic based on living sacrifices, rune magic, wild spellcraft, and spellsongs.

The spell lists themselves are amazingly flexible and often surprising... have you ever thought what a 1st level Wish spell would look like? How about a cantrip version? It's in here and I have to admit, it's seriously cool. Even if you don't implement the full magic system into your game, this chapter alone is worth the cost of the PDF just to have the guidelines for creating new spells. There's 47 spell lists presented (by my count) and about 75% of them are specific to a creature type or element so the actual count is well into the hundreds if not thousands of spell lists... each with 10 spells from 0-9th level.

The Book as a Whole
===================
I really like Elements of Magic and it's well worth the 7.95 I spent on it. I'll be implementing EoM in my campaign with a few alterations to correct those parts I view as flaws. Things in my opinion like the poorly handled Cleric class, the absense of bardic music, and the semi-bland Paladin.

While EoM is designed to slot into an existing campaign and even co-exist with Player's Handbook defined magic, it doesn't have much flexibility when it comes to slotting in Player's Handbook spells and the rich library of 3rd party spells (like the Books of Eldritch Magic) into their spell system. While comprehensive, there are some magical effects that EoM's spell lists can't duplicate and there's no method listed to incorporate them whether by creating new spell lists or alternate rules suggesting how to handle the situation.

Don't get me wrong... comparatively these are minor issues compared to the overwhelming improvements in the magic system EoM presents. The very few issues I found fault with will be house-ruled away and what I'll have is a vastly better magic system that really lets the players be like the mages they've read about and seen on screen. I've enjoyed each of the products from Natural 20 Press and this one certainly did not disappoint.

 

[RangerWickett]

I'm posting this on the boards too, on the thread in the publishers' forum.

Just thought I'd point out a few things you might have missed, primarily the turning undead. We briefly considered including a "D&D power to Elements spell-list" conversion list, but really Turn Undead was the only ability that we thought people might not get right away. You can turn undead by taking Compel Undead, and using it as a repulsion effect, and it will create a very similar effect (only without having to roll for number of hit dice turned; instead, the undead gets a saving throw).

And, of course, you can repel all kinds of things this way. I think I personally would love to use it to keep away bugs.

You could make a cleric by multiclassing as a Mage/Fighter, taking Armored Casting as your chosen boon at 1st level, and using your bonus fighter feats for Toughness to balance out the slightly lower hp from the mage class.

As for the variant bards, they do use Spellsong, as presented at the beginning of Chapter Six, which I think is pretty cool.

I think that's all I really needed to clarify. I'm really glad you like the book, and I hope you'll be willing to post some of the ways you use it on the boards in the future.

 

[Terath Ninir]

Thanks for the review and comments.

On Biomatter -- I spent days trying to come up with a good name for that element. Not once, however, did Nature occur to me. Where were you when I needed you?

Clerics: use the red mage (or the grey mage, if you want the negative energy version). Turn Undead can be replaced with Compel Undead, Evoke Life, and Evoke Area Life -- you can either send the undead away or kill them. If you really want to put in the old-style power for your game, however, it's easy enough: just make it a major boon.

Spells: I put in as many different spells as I could. The book was original going to be 64 pages, and even at nearly a hundred pages I still couldn't fit everything in. The Player's Handbook spell section has very, very small print: there's a lot in there. Assuming enough people like tEoM, we'll give you even more spell lists, along with conversion guidelines for third party spells.

I'm glad you liked it overall, and thank you for the review!

 

[Messageboard Golem]

I purchased this pretty little pdf several hours ago and read it all in one sitting and I've got alot to say about it.

Art (this one's for Ranger Wickett)
And without the good ranger's prodding I probably wouldn't have given it much thought at all. On the whole I didn't like alot of the art it was either to "sketchy" or more like a charactire than a real picture (see the illustration on page 23). The only piece of art that I found myself liking was the Grey Mage on page 26, even though it was one of the sketchy pictures. Fortunatly there wasn't alot of this art to draw away from the rest of the book so that's a good thing.

Now onto the bulk of the book
When I first started to read I have to admit that I was overwhelmed by all the new things to learn. Trust me that'll be the big stumbling block for anyone familar with the current rules, the sheer wealth of information to absorb will discourage some people. Once I got over that slight problem I found myself emersed in just how flexible this magic system is. It has so much potentional that they provide us with several ways in which it can be used the black mage, the white mage, the green mage, the red mage and the grey mage.

I also like how spell caster level is used, no longer will a spell caster quiver in fear of falling behind the power curve by multi-classing. I'm a big fan of their alternate paladin as well though I think I'd be better off using the Bard varient from BoEM2. But these variants give me a place to start from for coverting prestige classes with indpendant spell lists like the Assassin.

The spell lists themselves are a more intuitive way of going about what spells someone knows. Does it make any sense that a dedicated "combat" wizard's favorite first level spell would use force, while he favorite second level would be acid, and fire or lightning for third level? It makes more sense if he knows alot of useful fire spells and build up around that maybe with related elements.

In all I'm enamored with this product. It overcomes some slightly below average art to deilver what I think Natural d20 does best top notch modular products.

 

[scholz]

I've now had a little time to digest "The Elements of Magic." I am impressed with it, and see a lot of potential in this system. The first thing I needed to do was get my mind out of the D&D core mindset. Trying to duplicate the spells in the core books with this system, while possible, is really not the point. They offer a new system and a new way of doing magic.
The two principle difference between EoM and the Core system are the use Magic Points and Spell-Lists instead of individual spells.
Magic Points incorporate the long variant idea of regulating the number of spells a spell caster can use from her repertoire by having each spell cost some mana, or spell energy. I will have to wait until play testing is done to determine if they have struck on the magic number of points to give enough, but not too much power to the spell casters. The point totals and progression seem to be based on the spell progression of core classes (roughly) so it should not be unbalancing from that perspective. I like the potential of the magic points, and think there are other things that can be done with them.

Instead of learning and memorizing (the "fire and forget" method of the core books) individual spells, in EoM a mage learns entire spell lists. A spell list usually takes a single idea (like shooting fire) and give 10 level versions of that idea (0th through 9th). These typically do not vary substantially, mostly just altering the damage, range etc.. Although in some cases, the various effects are quite different at the different levels (cursecraft for example). This is nice because it makes sense that person able to shoot fire at low levels could do it better at high levels whether or not she stumbles upon a new spell. The spell lists cover most of the sorts of common magical effects and the use of differing elements give it a wide breadth. That said, the spell lists are somewhat generic (intentionally) and it is suggested that they be customized and personalized. They give some examples, but few instructions are given in that matter. (A little more advice on how to customize spells would've been nice). Another interesting feature of the spell lists, is spell side effects. These are very cool and give reasonably specific indications of what else a spell can do besides the primary effect. This can make two relatively similar spell lists (evoke area fire - evoke area cold) considerably different. The side effects really make the generic system far more interesting. There are some side-effects which could benefit from more elaboration. For example the shadow element's side effect of "shadow" seems obvious enough, but it is unclear just who would be affected by it and how. If I shoot a "shadow missile" using a 4th level evoke shadow, does the target suddenly gain concealment from the shadows, or does the target exude shadows in a 60ft radius as the text suggests, or does the target herself suddenly see everything in shadow. It is not clear. So there is some room for interpretation.

Another interesting change to the Core system is incorporating the various detection spells, dispel magic, and other divinations as skills rather than spells. I like that change very much, and have already considered making similar alterations to Healing, and Herbalism to give them spell like effects. Some more information on how those skills interact with the core rules would be useful here. For instance is my Magic Point enhanced Intuit Direction a spell like ability or Supernatural or Extraordinary?

One area that is not developed but shows remarkable promise is magic items. I think the Magic Point system and Spell Lists work exceeding well for magic items. A Wand that gives you 50 magic points of evoke fire and evoke area fire is so much more interesting that a wand of fireballs. One could add the rules for spell completion so the wands can only be used up to the level the caster can cast. That would make the item both useful and balanced.

The Elements of Magic is a great system for someone interesting in something new, and willing to put some work into it. It is not system for those inexperienced in tampering or interpreting rules. Several issues with character generation have yet to be fully resolved, and there are some lacuna in the spell effects (no generic useful low level defensive spell, like shield or mage armor). I have high hopes for my new campaign using the system, and I am not afraid to tweak the rules as needed. I've also begun adding a few more spell-lists and homebrewed rules to the system.

The book is available in PDF in multiple formats (one for easy printing) and that is nice. It is not the prettiest text in the world. It could use some better art, and a few tables (a complete list of spell-lists and elements would be nice, as would a character sheet), but for less than eight dollars, you can't beat the value. Rumor has it they plan on releasing EoM II, probably under a different title. I will definitely get that as well.

 

[scholz]

I have playtested the EoM a bit and have decided to drop it from my games.
The main reasons are:
1. Unbalanced... Mages are like super Sorcerers with more spells, more flexibility, and more powerful spells. Ranged Healing for everyone!
2. Spells too ambitious.... Spells like infuse with element too useful, a single spell can duplicate a half dozen other spells.
3. To Generic (the spells have very little character and the system seems to discourage colorful spell).... The option to 'personalize' spells is interesting but entirely left to house rules, well you could do that with the core rules. Since the EoM give no advice except a couple of examples.
4. Easy to Abuse... Take Armor Casting Boon, then multiclass as fighter. Get the power of Arcane spells with no real limitations. This is not a huge problem (equivalent to 1st edition multiclasses) but not balanced with other classes, no reason not to multiclass as a mage really.
5. Some minor annoyances:
(a) detect magic should not also require intuit direction to find existing magic.
(b) missing some key spell-lists (a useful low level armor spell, or reasonably long term light for example)
(c) the elements and their side effects are still unclear, especially shadow, life, crystal, biomatter.

So... in the final analysis. I dropped it.
This was a good experiment. I am not sorry I played around with it. It really underscores the difficulty coming up with a system that is flexible but not too powerful. I think the spell list idea is interesting, and there is something be done there. Maybe Sorcerers could get something like that (maybe higher level spells of like kinds earlier). I am also optimistic that a MP system of some form could be developed. But I think basing the points on the sorcerer rather than the wisard would make more sense. Lastly, I do like the various spell-skill conversions. But, I think that there ought to be some features that do not cost MP.

If there were more support and any feedback early on I might have tried to stick with it. But I have little confidence that EN Publishing is really behind this product.

 

[Drew]

The Elements of Magic by ENWorld Publishing (formerly Natural 20 Press) presents an alternate magic system for your D&D game. The new system is meant to replace the standard "fire and forget" magic of core d20 fantasy with something far more flexible and flavorful.

Appearance
The Elements of Magic uses a layout that is fairly standard among d20 PDF products. The text is well spaced and easy to read, and is organized in two columns on each page. The disadvantage to this two column approach is that, if you're trying to read the book on your computer, you will have to scroll back to the top of the page when you reach the end of the first column. This can be kind of annoying and disjoining if you're trying to look something up quickly, or if you're trying (as I was) to read the entire product front to back. On the other hand, the two columns are ideal for reading the book once it's printed out. Your preference, I suppose, depends on how you typically read PDF products.

Like many third party PDF books, the art in Elements of Magic is not up to industry standards. I'm willing to forgive the poor illustrations, for the most part, but bad art certainly detracts from the book as a whole. Fortunately, there isn't very much art in this book, so it's easy to overlook.

Weighing in at 97 pages or so pages, The Elements of Magic is about the perfect length for printing. The PDF comes with a printer friendly version that is lighter on art and border graphics, ideal for the gamemaster who wants to conserve printer ink.

The New Magic System
The heart and soul of the Elements of Magic is the new magic system, which is intended to entirely replace the system presented in the core books. Instead of wizards, clerics, sorcerers, etc. players interested in learning magic need only take levels in one class: the mage. Depending on spell selection, mages can easily emulate standard spellcasting classes like clerics or druids. The mage is very versatile and can, for example, learn both healing and offensive magic. The book also contains specialized mage subclasses that focus on a narrower selection of spells. The white mage, for example, focuses on spells of a more spiritual nature, while the black mage's spells create and manipulate physical forces. If the subclasses presented aren't to your liking, the book contains information on designing your own.

The other big change to the magic system is the way spells are learned and cast. Rather than learn a set number of spells like a wizard, mages learn spell lists. These are basically generic and flexible spells that can be cast at multiple levels for a variety of effects. Once a mage learns a spell list, he automatically knows all the spells on the list, though he can't cast a given spell until he is high enough level. Casting a spell uses a certain number of magic points depending on the spell's level. One can almost think of each spell list as a single spell that increases in damage, range, or general usefulness with each mage level.

The key component to the spell list system is the list of magical elements, which is where the book obviously takes its name. There are twenty elements, which include traditional elemental forces such as earth and fire but also add new elements like biomatter, mud, and void. These elements, when combined with the magic list system, make for a wide variety of spells and effects. Create [Element] Object, for example, could allow the creation of an object formed from earth, fire, or even pure death. The book rewards characters that choose similar elements or creature types, encouraging players to select spell lists based around a theme.

Overall, the new magic system is very versatile. It's easy to create any kind of spellcaster, from a tribal shaman to a bookish wizard, with relative ease. The end result is a kind of ultra versatile sorcerer that can cast a wide variety of spells on the fly, shaping the magic he knows to fit a number of situations.

Implementation
My biggest concern about using Elements of Magic in my game is the daunting task of tossing out the entire core magic system. The book addresses this, but only moderately. The author suggests that all the magic items, NPCs, and magic using creatures already in your game will work alongside the new magic system with little difficulty. I agree, but the idea of scraping the core magic system and then leaving the creatures and items built around that system unchanged seems a little silly. If I think that the spell detect magic is boring and contrite, why would I want to continue handing out wands of detect magic? And, though most of the magic items will still remain balanced and useful, I'm sure that some items will either outshine or be outshined by the new system. I realize that a complete overhaul for the magic item system is probably beyond the scope of this book, but it would have been nice for the authors to include some ideas about items or creature abilities that may be problematic if not changed. The book suggests that I tinker with the rules myself, and I will happily do that, but some more guidance would have been nice to get me started.

I'm also a little unsure how well the mage class will fit within the existing balance of power in core D&D. While the game has changed over the years, the magic system has remained relatively the same. Inserting the Elements of Magic into your D&D game is certain to have balance ramifications. No single spell list or element stands out as obviously broken, but the gamemaster will have to be careful to monitor the effects the new system has on his game.

The other problem with implementing the Elements of Magic seamlessly into my campaign is that the book was written for D&D 3.0. There are a few rules that will have to be changed for a 3.5 campaign. By and large, these are small changes that are easily spotted, and an experienced gamemaster could convert the book without too much trouble. As far as I know, this book is being updated and revised for the new rules, so this may soon become a moot point.

The Mage
It's not really that important, but I don't care for the name of this class. To me, it invokes thoughts of second edition fire-and-forget spell casters, which is exactly what this book is trying to get away from. The class is so generic that the authors would have been better to call it something like "magic-user" or "spell caster" and left it up to individual players to decide if their character called himself a shaman, a mage, or whatever.

The mage has access to a few brand new skills. I'm generally dubious of any book that adds new skills to the d20 core, but these mesh very well with the new magic system. Certain spells that are too good to be cantrips but too basic to be folded into spell lists are now represented by skills. Dispel magic, for example, is now a skill that can be used to end magical effects, albeit at a cost of magic points. The old 3.0 scry skill is on this list as well, but it actually works better as a skill under the new magic system and probably should stay that way. To compensate for these added skills, the mage receives more skill points per level than a standard wizard or cleric.

As he gains levels, a mage receives special "Magical Boons" every few levels. Magical boons are special class abilities that allow a player to customize his mage to better fit his spellcasting archetype. They include the ability to speak with animals, summon a familier, and cast spells in medium or heavy armor. Some, like Armored Caster, might be unbalanced, but overall the boons are a neat way to customize your mage.

Other Classes
While the principal spell casting classes are completely replaced by the mage, secondary spell casters like bards, paladins, and rangers are not. The Elements of Magic gives you two options: you can simply replace the spell casting abilities of these classes with the new magic system, using them otherwise as written, or you can replace them with brand new variant classes introduced in this book. I would likely go with the first option, as the new classes presented here don't really do much for me.

Final Thoughts
The Elements of Magic is very strong when it's trying to add flavor to your magic. An entire chapter deals with adding new and unique magic to your existing campaign. Although it's geared toward helping you make the new magic system less generic and more world specific, the suggestions are good for anyone looking to spice magic up in their world. I particularly liked the section on rune magic and how well the new magic system lends itself to runecasting. Even the notes on making the standard D&D magic system more exciting are worth reading.

If you are looking for an alternative to the fire and forget magic system of core D&D, you'll find no better product than The Elements of Magic. The system presented here is imaginative and versatile, and the mage class is customizable enough to easily fit any number of magic user archetypes.

I was initially going to give this book four stars. However, I have to deduct points because of the sub par art and a few 3.5 compatibility issues. So, my final rating is three stars. If you're looking for an alternate magic system, and don't mind doing some tweaking, you can't go wrong for less than $10.

 

[Morrus]

Just as a note - this is the old version of the book. The revised version (which is 3.5 compatible) is due out very soon. A preview is available on the EN Publishing website at: http://www.enworld.org/enpublishing/index.php

Nice, detailed review, BTW!