Vancian Caster Alternative in future sourcebook?

[Exen Trik]

Actually, this is not exactly Vance's system. This is the system devised by Zelazny for the second Amber series (Merlin books).

Ah, I didn't know much about the original source of the magic system, I just knew that they call it vancian, and that's the rationale behind it. How correct that is in the first place is a whole 'nother kettle of fish. I'm thinking I'll need to track down this stuff sometime and give it a read.

 

[Nifft]

I took diplomacy as my always-class skill and picked up a bit of bluff and sense motive, so I could be a Vancian ter rather than the typical D&D bookish nerd of a wizard.

I'm kinda curious about the IntelliFilter(tm)'d word here.

Can't think of many 8-letter swears which take "-ter" as a suffix.

Thanks, -- N

PS: I'm kinda-sorta writing a "more Vancian" spellcasting system, so any Vance experts, please chime in with characteristics such a system should have!

 

[Gloombunny]

I'm thinking I'll need to track down this stuff sometime and give it a read.

I highly recommend it. Just don't expect it to resemble D&D very much. ^_^

 

[Baduin]

As to "more Vancian" system my suggestion would be:

1) Get "Dying Earth RPG" - there is a lot of good ideas there. See also the Factotum class - it seems to be reasonably Vancian.
2) Only a few spell slots - up to 8 or 10 at high levels. More powerful spells use more than one spell slots.
3) You cannot memorize two "copies" of a spell.
4) There is no limit of "spells for a day". You can memorize spells as many times in a day as you like. It requires great concentration and some time, however.
5) Powerful magicians can learn simpler spells "permanently" and use them at will. Of course, you will have to be careful with allowing spells to be learned that way.
6) Cantrips don't have to be memorized each time. They are comparatively speaking simple, and can be learn permanently.
7) For a round to round damage dealing Vancian magicians should rely on swordplay and magical items. Useful at will attack spells should belong to high levels. Accordingly, they need fairly good BAB. As they don't use armor, they also need some way to boost AC. I think monks could be a useful example, with Int in place of Wisdom.
8) More powerful and time consuming effects such as Wish and similar, should be risky time-consuming, rituals, involving summoning powerful spirits. There is a beautiful description of such a ritual in the Worm Ouroboros by Eddison:
http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_classicworm
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/two10.htm
In Vance the equivalent of Wish is the command of Sandestins. When they are summoned they agree to effect a certain amount of Wishes before they are freed.
9) As for useful magic items for them, remember that Vancian mages belong to a science-fantasy genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth_subgenre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fantasy
they can use many sf items as magic items, with Use Magic Item skill. Some kind of plasma pistol, under the name of "Magic Missile" or "Scorching Ray" Wand would be in place. I seem to recollect that this had been done in D&D already.

The Dying Earth and other stories by Vance, Gene Wolfe's "New Sun" series, and Viriconium series by M. John Harrison, would be good sources for interesting magic items. Eg something like "Necklace of Fireballs" is present in the Lyonesse books, but it is disguised as ornate buttons on a jacket.

And my personal favourite - a simple explanation why no one uses gunpowder or similar explosives:
Gluck's Generator - a simple small magical items which causes gunpowder to explode, taken from a story by Jack London, of all people:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/EneAll.shtml
Arthur Clarke wrote a fairly boring book about such a contraption.
http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Arthur-C-Clarke/dp/customer-reviews/0553104586