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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Baduin" data-source="post: 3804854" data-attributes="member: 45562">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:<a href="http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_classicworm" target="_blank">http://ww2.wizards.com/books/Wizards/default.aspx?doc=main_classicworm</a><a href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/two10.htm" target="_blank">http://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/two/two10.htm</a>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. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth_subgenre" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying_Earth_subgenre</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fantasy" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fantasy</a>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:<a href="http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/EneAll.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/EneAll.shtml</a>Arthur Clarke wrote a fairly boring book about such a contraption.<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Arthur-C-Clarke/dp/customer-reviews/0553104586" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Arthur-C-Clarke/dp/customer-reviews/0553104586</a></blockquote>

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