Which game has your favorite magic system?

[BookTenTiger]

I'm a big fan of D&D, but I've got to admit the magic system leaves me wanting. Even though I usually play spellcasters, I find the spells to be overall a little too regimented and boring.

I've played some FATE and a small smattering of PBtA games, and though the magic systems are different than D&D, they still haven't scratched that mysterious itch.

So what I'm curious about is magic systems in other games. How does magic work in the TTRPGs you've played? Which systems do you really like? Which haven't worked for you?

 

[ichabod]

GURPS. You learn a spell. You can cast it any time you want. When you cast it it makes you tired. That lines up so well with much of the fantasy fiction I've read.

 

[kigmatzomat]

Shadowrun has a fairly fast system with layers. Spells have a "drain" that casters have to resist. A powerful caster suffers less from drain. You can make a spell more powerful and increase drain. At a certain point it goes from stun damage to lethal/physical. Magic items can only be used by casters or adepts so no cyborgs with magic swords. There are "advanced" forms of magic that can be learned via Initiation.

Earthdawn has a very deep system that is a weird cross of Shadowrun and D&D. Magic powers, including spell casting, have strain. Almost everyone can do some kind of magic. Warriors can levitate inches off the ground to move rapidly or leap twenty feet in the air to deal massive damage.
The Vancian part is that no matter how many spells you know, you can only have a small number "prepared" in Matrixes. The matrices keep you from being attacked by demons. You can raw cast any spell you know but it could result in you getting possessed. Powerful spells require Threads of magic, which require an ability check to create. Some spells let you add more threads for more power. Those ability checks add Strain. Advanced casters have special Matrices that can hold a Thread in addition to a spell, or matrices that can hold two spells.
Class levels (Circles) are not just a game mechanic but are known and discussed in the setting. Unlike DnD, each level has its own spells.

Mage is conceptually intriguing. You learn topics/domains of magic (forces, time, space, life, matter) and then combine them in recipes. Level 1 is usually "sense/analyze", level 2 is "lesser reshape", level 3 is "lesser create", 4 is "greater reshape", 5 is "greater creation".

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My own game, Crossroads, uses magic skills, ritual magic, and “spells”. Spells are basically advanced techniques relating to magic skills that you’ve trained and experimented with enough to get it down to implicit memory and maximum efficiency.

How that works in game:

Every magic skill has a description of the sorts of things it allows, and usually some parameters. The general rules govern different roll results, and stuff like spending more to increase scale or intensity or range.

Doing anything advanced costs attribute points, which are the same pool you draw from for physical strain, and to push checks up on the success ladder.

Improvised advanced actions are harder, reducing your dice pool, and if you roll poorly they cost extra attribute points. Taking the time to train and research such an action can convert it into a spell.

Ritual magic is somewhat alongside this, in that you must gather together certain elements, and it takes more time than battle magic or other fast magic.

Magic items are generally focus items, and still draw on your internal energy unless they’re rather advanced.

 

[Cruentus]

Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures - spells are safe (cast 1 spell/level), cantrips can be cast whenever based on attribute roll - failure means you choose between a bad thing happening, or not being able to cast the rest of the day; rituals - castings that take an hour per level of the ritual, and they get progressively more powerful the higher level you go.

I also read the magic of the Wheel of Time RPG (d20, based on 3e maybe?), and I really liked how it was structured and followed the books fairly well, as I remembered.

Those are me faves at the moment. I‘m using the Beyond the Wall system in a Greyhawk game now, and it really changes things up.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Ars Magica. Magic is basically (verb) (noun): Create fire, destroy life.

The fact you can gain XP for having your character take time to write research papers like some grad student is also very cool.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Fantast AGE system is probaby my favorite for its simplicity:

• Casters have MP pools, like in so many other medias.
• Spells are categorized by ''arcane type'' (Fire, Water, Creation, Fate, Wood, Air, Mind etc)
• You unlock the arcane types as you gain level, or you gain higher level spells from the types you aready know,
• Its a 3d6 system where rolling doubles gives you a number of points you can spend on bonus for your spells (reduced cost, more damage, more targets etc).

Shadow of the Demon Lord is also pretty great because while it still uses spell slots ala D&D, all spell requires a roll, and on specific roll (like 15+, or natural 20) you get too add a cool effect.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Castle Falkenstein uses a deck of playing cards. Each suit represents a type of magical effect - Hearts are for Emotional/Mental effects, Spades are for Spiritual effects, Clubs for Elemental effects (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), Diamonds are Material effects (Transformations). Each spell each grouped by type and has a threshold value that needs to be overcome before a spell is cast. The spells themselves can be designed to have a certain range, duration, etc which all affects the required threshold to cast.

The caster draws a card each round to accumulate enough ‘thaumic energies’ to cast the spell and totals the cards each time. If the suit matches the spell type, they accumulate the face value of the card. If the suit is not aligned, they accumulate just one point to the total. When they draw enough cards to meet the spell’s threshold, they cast it.

Here is the twist though: all the non aligned cards of different suits affect aspects of the spell's manifestation. So, for example, if you are casting something like a fireball (Elemental magic - Clubs suit with, say, a threshold of 15) and you draw a Nine and a Six of Clubs, along with a Queen of Spades and a 4 of Hearts, then you cast your Fireball with an extra emotional flavour and possibly summon a demon by accident!

It is very flavoursome and colourful in play.

 

[Bayushi_seikuro]

Castle Falkenstein uses a deck of playing cards. Each suit represents a type of magical effect - Hearts are for Emotional/Mental effects, Spades are for Spiritual effects, Clubs for Elemental effects (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), Diamonds are Material effects (Transformations). Each spell each grouped by type and has a threshold value that needs to be overcome before a spell is cast. The spells themselves can be designed to have a certain range, duration, etc which all affects the required threshold to cast.

The caster draws a card each round to accumulate enough ‘thaumic energies’ to cast the spell and totals the cards each time. If the suit matches the spell type, they accumulate the face value of the card. If the suit is not aligned, they accumulate just one point to the total. When they draw enough cards to meet the spell’s threshold, they cast it.

Here is the twist though: all the non aligned cards of different suits affect aspects of the spell's manifestation. So, for example, if you are casting something like a fireball (Elemental magic - Clubs suit with, say, a threshold of 15) and you draw a Nine and a Six of Clubs, along with a Queen of Spades and a 4 of Hearts, then you cast your Fireball with an extra emotional flavour and possibly summon a demon by accident!

It is very flavoursome and colourful in play.

Reminds me of Hucksters in Deadlands, where they use cards to cast their spells since.... Hoyle's Book of Games is a disguised paranormal tome

 

[James Gasik]

Shadowrun has a fairly fast system with layers. Spells have a "drain" that casters have to resist. A powerful caster suffers less from drain. You can make a spell more powerful and increase drain. At a certain point it goes from stun damage to lethal/physical. Magic items can only be used by casters or adepts so no cyborgs with magic swords. There are "advanced" forms of magic that can be learned via Initiation.

Earthdawn has a very deep system that is a weird cross of Shadowrun and D&D. Magic powers, including spell casting, have strain. Almost everyone can do some kind of magic. Warriors can levitate inches off the ground to move rapidly or leap twenty feet in the air to deal massive damage.
The Vancian part is that no matter how many spells you know, you can only have a small number "prepared" in Matrixes. The matrices keep you from being attacked by demons. You can raw cast any spell you know but it could result in you getting possessed. Powerful spells require Threads of magic, which require an ability check to create. Some spells let you add more threads for more power. Those ability checks add Strain. Advanced casters have special Matrices that can hold a Thread in addition to a spell, or matrices that can hold two spells.
Class levels (Circles) are not just a game mechanic but are known and discussed in the setting. Unlike DnD, each level has its own spells.

Mage is conceptually intriguing. You learn topics/domains of magic (forces, time, space, life, matter) and then combine them in recipes. Level 1 is usually "sense/analyze", level 2 is "lesser reshape", level 3 is "lesser create", 4 is "greater reshape", 5 is "greater creation".

I'll second Earthdawn, I really like the way it balances it's magic.