The Magic of Dusk - Magic The Gathering inspired setting.

[Michael Morris]

Removed for lack of replies.

 

[Michael Morris]

Updated the starting post in the thread and added three more spells. If I don't get any input though, I will cease further posting.

 

[Murkmoldiev]

I like it. And Im going to use you spells. I once made a MTG based module with the players journeying through various portals to the planes of various colors and fighting monsters and spells from those colors there

 

[Michael Morris]

I will probably post an updated version of the lists this evening. I'm closing in on having all the colors have the same number of spells. Why is this important? Class balance - specifically, color replaces the class lists.

Bards pick spells from the Blue and Green lists. Their class ability to steal off other class' lists simply let's them splash one of the three other colors. Green decks do this all the time anyway thanks to cards like Birds of Paradise and Utopia tree, so it fits. Clerics pick spells from the Gold and Purple lists. Druids pick from the Green (of course) and Gold lists. Wizards Blue and Red (making them highly elemental in feel) and Warlocks Purple and Red. I have ideas for the sorcerer that aren't fully fleshed out.

Paladin's and rangers are on my mind. Eldrich Knights and Arcane Tricksters will probably be limited to a single color.

EDIT: Access to a color will be split into minor and major. The access lists above are major access - all the spells for that color. Minor access is only half of them. The iconic spells of each color require major access - things that are also iconic to their classes - for example, Entangle requires major access to Green, Cure Wounds requires major access to Yellow and so on.

 

[Michael Morris]

Yeah, this is going to work. Let's look at just the first level spells.

Abora (Green): Minor - Charm Person, Detect Poison and Disease, Expeditious Retreat, Fog Cloud, Hail of Thorns, Longstrider. Major - Animal Friendship, Ensnaring Strike, Entangle, Goodberry, Hunter's Mark, Speak with Animals.

Valra (Yellow): Minor - Alarm, Command, Heroism, Mage Armor, Purify Food and Drink, Shield. Major - Bless, Cure Wounds, Divine Favor, Healing Word, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith

Balcra (Blue): Minor - Comprehend Languages, Create or Destroy Water, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Jump, Silent Image. Major - Color Spray, Feather Fall, Indentify, Illusory Script, Knock, Sleep.

Sodra (Purple): Minor - False Life, Grease, Inflict Wounds, Ray of Sickness, Unseen Servant, Wrathful Smite. Major - Bane, Armor of Agathys, Arms of Hadar, Duress, Dissonant Whispers, Hex

Shunra (Red): Minor - Compelled Duel, Faerie Fire, Quick, Reaching Weapon, Searing Smite, Thunderous Smite. Major - Burning Hands, Guiding Bolt, Hellish Rebuke, Magic Missile, Thunderwave, Witch Bolt


Repeating from the previous post - Bards have access Abora & Balcra. Clerics access Valra & Sodra. Druids access Abora & Valra. Warlocks access Shunra & Sodra and Wizards access Shunra & Balcra. Take a look at the lists above and see how much that changes these classes spell selections.

Sorcerers must have half their known spells match their alignment, whatever that is. The other half of their spell complement is comprised of the minor access spells of any color they choose.

Bards secret lore ability is still able to pluck spells from anywhere. A bard who picks the college of valor picks up minor access to Valra. A bard who picks the college of lore picks up minor access to Sodra. A new bard college will be made themed on Shunra and picking up minor access to her spells. Name suggestions for the college are welcome.

Clerics may pick up minor access to a color as determined by their path or god, or they will pick up some minor power to compensate for a reduced range of spell selection. Clerics who's ethos blocks them from actually using one more more spells from their home colors may be allowed to pick up a major. Overall this class may prove to be the trickiest to re-balance.

Druids of the moon pick up minor access to balcra, and druids of the land pick up minor access to shunra. "Golgari" druids, with minor access to Sodra, are coming.

Warlocks of the "old one" pick up minor access to balcra, warlocks of the fey pick up minor access to abora. Fiend warlocks need a small new power to compensate for a loss of access to spells. A new pact must be made for Valra

Wizards... oh boy. Wizards have access to all the spells of their school that are minor access. At the same levels that bards learn secrets the school wizards may learn one spell of their school regardless of color access restrictions.

Or... A wizard can forgo school specialization to pick up major access to a third color and minor access to the remaining two. Spells of the minor colors are considered one level higher than they actually are for these wizards.


As a draft, does this sound balanced?

 

[Michael Morris]

First post MASSIVELY updated. All the new spells and changed spells (about 50 in all) are present.

 

[Michael Morris]

Smother edited to add a material component.

 

[javierk]

This looks really cool, but a question first: what about eldritch knights?

 

[Michael Morris]

Class and subclass specific rules for the setting are coming, but I'll likely handle them in a separate thread.

 

[Michael Morris]

Spoilers added to make the first two posts more navigable.

I'm currently fleshing out the class options. The bard was easy enough - it only needed one new College. Clerics are turning out to be a pain in the neck. Seven domains won't go evenly into 5 alignments, and that's even if the domains lined up with the alignments - they don't. Some line up with the conflicts or shared traits of alignments

So I got out a notepad and wrote down the 5 alignments and their 10 pairings and picked out where the 7 existing domains go. This is what I came up with:

Alignments
G - Nature
Y - Light
B - Knowledge
P
R

Sympathies
GY - Life
YB
BP
PR
RG - Trickery

Antipathies or Conflicts
GB
BR - Tempest
RY - War
YP
PG

Tempest is a clash of elements, War a clash of law and chaos. Each sympathy is opposite to its shared opposition color, so Trickery opposes Knowledge. That's still 8 new gaps to fill in, but this structure clues in on what they must be..

Alignments
G - Nature
Y - Light
B - Knowledge
P - Death
R - Chaos

Sympathies
GY - Life
YB - Law
BP - Artifice
PR - Freedom
RG - Trickery

Antipathies or Conflicts
GB - Change
BR - Tempest
RY - War
YP - Spirit
PG - Decay

The gaps are the two I'm still thinking on.