D&D 5E Too Much Spellcasting in Your D&D? Just Add a Little Lankhmar!

[Jack Daniel]

I'd love to figure out how to use the spell system in BTW with Old School Essentials without breaking something. I think the spell system they have is so much more evocative, in that different casters have different access: elves in BTW have spells and rituals. Mages have Cantrips and Spells, another type might have Cantrips and Rituals, or just Cantrips. Definitely makes magic feel different and less reliable.

In my home campaigns, I tweak the BtW magic system in a few minor ways to make it fit a B/X aesthetic a bit better.
• I don't want ability scores to have a direct impact on spell ability (which they largely don't in BXCMI), so instead of Int and Wis checks, I have cantrips and rituals require a d6 roll. Cantrips succeed on 1–5, as do rituals with a level lower than the caster's; and rituals of the same level as the caster succeed on 1–4.
• In BtW, if a cantrip roll fails and the magic starts to spiral out of control, the caster can "snap the thread" to prevent the cantrip from backfiring or taking effect in reverse. But this cuts the caster off from all of their magic for the rest of the day, until they can take a long rest. I found this a bit harsh in play, so I allow a caster to snap the thread by sacrificing a daily spell slot. A mage is only cut off from their magic if they choose to snap the thread and they're also out of daily spells to give up.
• Just for a touch of flavor, I renamed "The Patient Word" ritual to "Nevca's Mnemonic Nave" (Vance anagram + alliteration FTW!)
• I treat elves more similarly to B/X, where they're a straight combination of fighter/mage, but with a level limit (7th for elves vs. 10th for humans — drawing from LBB D&D, where halflings are limited to FM 4th, dwarves to FM 6th, and elves to FM 4th/MU 8th, I decided to make my version of demi-humans level-limited to 6th for halflings, 7th for elves, and 8th for dwarves).

Spoiler

I also use the system in the revised edition of my OSR steampunk game, Engines & Empires (thank you, OGL and Open Game Content!), where it's expanded in two ways:
• In addition to the mage class, I add a scholar class that functions like a cleric, bard, or fighter/mage; its combat abilities are in between fighter and mage, but it can only use a tiny subset of the available spells (the "cleric" flavored ones) and only those cantrips and rituals which are cleric or druid flavored (the ones based on Wis in the original BtW). Also, as BtW mages don't keep spellbooks, I decided to have scholars be very much reliant on grimoires.
• The technologist class (which drew its original inspiration mostly from Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura) uses a system of minor gadgets, chemical preparations, and leveled inventions that parallels and balances against the mage's cantrips, spells, and rituals.

 

[Cruentus]

In my home campaigns, I tweak the BtW magic system in a few minor ways to make it fit a B/X aesthetic a bit better.
• I don't want ability scores to have a direct impact on spell ability (which they largely don't in BXCMI), so instead of Int and Wis checks, I have cantrips and rituals require a d6 roll. Cantrips succeed on 1–5, as do rituals with a level lower than the caster's; and rituals of the same level as the caster succeed on 1–4.
• In BtW, if a cantrip roll fails and the magic starts to spiral out of control, the caster can "snap the thread" to prevent the cantrip from backfiring or taking effect in reverse. But this cuts the caster off from all of their magic for the rest of the day, until they can take a long rest. I found this a bit harsh in play, so I allow a caster to snap the thread by sacrificing a daily spell slot. A mage is only cut off from their magic if they choose to snap the thread and they're also out of daily spells to give up.
• Just for a touch of flavor, I renamed "The Patient Word" ritual to "Nevca's Mnemonic Nave" (Vance anagram + alliteration FTW!)
• I treat elves more similarly to B/X, where they're a straight combination of fighter/mage, but with a level limit (7th for elves vs. 10th for humans — drawing from LBB D&D, where halflings are limited to FM 4th, dwarves to FM 6th, and elves to FM 4th/MU 8th, I decided to make my version of demi-humans level-limited to 6th for halflings, 7th for elves, and 8th for dwarves).

I also use the system in the revised edition of my OSR steampunk game, Engines & Empires (thank you, OGL and Open Game Content!), where it's expanded in two ways:
• In addition to the mage class, I add a scholar class that functions like a cleric, bard, or fighter/mage; its combat abilities are in between fighter and mage, but it can only use a tiny subset of the available spells (the "cleric" flavored ones) and only those cantrips and rituals which are cleric or druid flavored (the ones based on Wis in the original BtW). Also, as BtW mages don't keep spellbooks, I decided to have scholars be very much reliant on grimoires.
• The technologist class (which drew its original inspiration mostly from Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura) uses a system of minor gadgets, chemical preparations, and leveled inventions that parallels and balances against the mage's cantrips, spells, and rituals.

I like that @Egon Spengler , particularly the d6 mechanic for spell failure.

It seems then that I'd have to sit down and classify the spells and rituals and cantrips according to the spellcasters in the game. In OSE Advanced, they have Bards, Rangers, Paladins, Clerics, Wizards... probably would be easy to work with.

Quick question: how do you handle spells per day? Do you use the B/X charts for gaining spells, etc.? Or is that all out the window, and its just "spells known" like in BTW.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Quick question: how do you handle spells per day? Do you use the B/X charts for gaining spells, etc.? Or is that all out the window, and its just "spells known" like in BTW.

Since spells don't have levels in BtW (and they're all roughly as powerful as D&D 1st or 2nd level spells), I keep it like BtW, one per day per caster level.