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Why only spell failure % for arcane spells?

IIRC, in the Scarred Lands, they say that arcane spellcasters actually generate heat as a byproduct of casting spells. This is why they have an arcane spell failure chance: the heat interferes with the proper channelling of mystic energy or hinders their concentration or somesuch. It also explains why female wizards tend to wear bikinis even in the middle of winter.


Hong "SUBSCIRBE" Ooi
 

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I'm with the original poster here. It really annoyed me, too; divine casters are still required to use somatic gestures, so why shouldn't armor impede them?

The best logic I could come up with is that while both arcane and divine magic may have the same basic results, they are based on completely different types of energy. Arcane magic is based on energy drawn from the elemental planes, while Divine magic is based on energy drawn from the positive and negative energy planes.

The argument would be that maybe positive and negative energy flow through solid matter (like armor) far more easily, and therefore while you're still using gestures, they're less about focusing the energy involved and more about the ritualistic aspect of this. That is, for Divine magic the exact gestures aren't as important, so you don't have to get them exactly right.

Still, it's weak logic. Divine magic SHOULD be subject to the same sorts of failure that Arcane magic is.

***HOUSE RULE ALERT***

So, IMC, it is.

"Arcane Failure" was renamed "Somatic Failure". Three of the four branches of magic (Arcane, Divine, Natural, but not Psionic) are subject to it.

Arcane magic is tied to chaos. It's inherently difficult to control, which is why it either requires a strong force of will or very precise rituals to focus. So, Arcane spellcasters receive the full Somatic Failure penalty for wearing armor.

Natural magic (Druids and Rangers) flows easily through organic material, but is difficult to move through inorganics. As a result, "natural" armors act as a sort of focus, helping the process almost as much as they hurt it.
So, Somatic Failure is 20% higher than listed for inorganic (metal, crystal) armors and 5% lower than listed for organic (leather, wood). At caster levels 6, 11, and 16 these improve by 5% in favor of the caster (so at level 20 it's 5% higher for inorganic and 20% lower for organic).
(NOTE: this replaces the Druid's armor restriction entirely. In addition, a Druid using a non-organic weapon suffers an additional Somatic penalty)

Divine magic (Clerics and Paladins) is the reverse, focusing through inorganics but is blocked by living (or recently deceased) matter. Use the same percentages as Natural magic, but reverse the organic/inorganic.

If a caster has classes in multiple types of magic, the Somatic Failure penalties or bonuses from one type don't affect the other types.

Add the "Armored Caster" Netfeat (-10% Somatic Failure) and a couple armor enchantments "Nature Focus" and "Divine Focus" that reduce the appropriate penalty by, say, 20%, and you're set.

End result: Clerics and Paladins don't just immediately put on the full plate. To make up for this drawback, Clerics, Paladins, Druids, and Rangers got minor boosts in other areas. Druids have no need for Divine Focuses, and have no alignment casting restriction (they can cast both Good and Evil spells), and Clerics handle spontaneous casting a bit differently.
 

Why is it there? Probably because it has always been there.

How can it be rationalized? In my view of it, arcane casters use very fine manipulations and gestures in thier somatic components. I.e. fine wrist movements, bent arm movements, or such. Divine casters, however, while still having somatic components have different kinds of somatic components - the divine casters use very grandiouse movements (moving about an entire arm up to the heavens, or such).... It's like visualizing a priest at a sermon with arms raised straight in the air saying "Praise the Lord" versus any fantasy flick where the sorcerer (whomever) is bending arm, flicking wrist, etc.. to toss a small orb of fire (or whatever...)...

(just my two cents).
 

Spatzimaus said:

Still, it's weak logic. Divine magic SHOULD be subject to the same sorts of failure that Arcane magic is.
You're asking for logic with regard to a supernatural yet fictitious phenomena? :p

All we can give you is explanation. Divine magic comes from your faith, whether it's a higher being or mystical force that grant you full VIP access to the magical resource. As long you are nice to your deity or stay true to the philsophy, armor won't limit you at all. They're gift from the gods.

Arcane magic comes from mortal trying to manipulate this magical resource on their own with no help from any higher being. They have to be precise in their "ritual" to cast a spell properly, otherwise it won't work, or in rare cases, some catastrophic failure.
 

Arcane somatic components are elaborate and complicated. It's like these Indian (from India) dances, where everything, down to exact finger place and eye movement, is codified and fixed.
Divine somatic components are rough and vague. Like making a cross sign. As long as you can move one of your arms, you may make it.

IMC, I think I'll replace ASF with a Spellcraft check, DC 10 + (ASF% / 5) + Spell level. More consistent with other mechanics (although other mechanics for spell failure use Concentration, but this is not a problem of maintaining Concentration there, but of making the proper movements despite a hampering suit).

Casting a prestidigitation (+0) while in padded armor (+1): DC 11.
Casting a meteor swarm (+9) while in full plate (+7) and bearing a tower shield (+10): DC 36.
 

hong said:
IIRC, in the Scarred Lands, they say that arcane spellcasters actually generate heat as a byproduct of casting spells. This is why they have an arcane spell failure chance: the heat interferes with the proper channelling of mystic energy or hinders their concentration or somesuch. It also explains why female wizards tend to wear bikinis even in the middle of winter.


Hong "SUBSCIRBE" Ooi
Not to detract from the bikini wearing female mages (really, I support that 100%), but this logic has a simple problem: inconsistency.
a) Shouldn’t a simple Endure Elements (fire) get around this?
b) Shouldn’t this require concentration checks, like continual fire damage (say a fire substation melf's acid arrow) would? Not a flat % failure rate?

Not that the PH makes any sense, anyway. If you only need one hand free to cast a somatic spell, why should a tower shield on the other arm matter? Why is using a weapon in the other hand to parry and feint not the least bit detrimental? Is there a penalty for casting with your bad hand (if you lack ambidexterity) which should inhibit you a lot more than a padded sleeve, I'd think...

Again, two words: Sacred Cow.
 

I'm with the guys in the "Elaborate-gestures-versus-hands-in-the-air"-camp.

IMC, even sorcerers and wizards have differing components: wizards have that formalized stuff while sorcerers have intuitive gestures and chants. And clerics are a different matter altogether: they just invoke the power of their gods (and they don't care whether clerics raise their arms by 45° or 46°).
 

Real Long, I'd recomend skipping this one, myself ;)

For what it's worth, I try not to think about it too hard for accual game play. Rather I spent some time working out something that works within the rules and makes some kind of sense a while back, and also to add flavor to my campaign.

THE CASTING OF SPELLS ON VAIL: COMPONENTS
Each class has it’s own distinctive feel and signature way to use components. The following is provided as role-playing background and suggestion, not as hard and fast rules. Players are encouraged to extrapolate and personalize their spell-casting signatures.

SORCERERS
Somatic: Typically a single powerful, flowing gesture requiring use of the entire arm.
Verbal: Verbal components uttered by sorcerers are typical no longer than four to seven syllables.
Material: Sorcerers usually do not use material components. They instead rely on foci.
Focus: A sorcerer generally has a single foci for all of his spells of a given level or type (all of his fire spells may be keyed to a piece of ash from the elemental plane of fire, for instance) that replaces the material components(sorcerers with Sorcererous Knowledge also have their racial foci). They generally do not need to handle the foci as part of the spell’s components, but it must be on their immediate person.

WIZARDS
Somatic: A wizard’s somatic components are sharp, precise and fine, and always incorporate any material component for the spell. Most often a certain rune or arcane pattern, the final part of the spells arcane formal which the wizard committed to memory when he learned the spell, is scripted out. These runes often glow, growing bright or faint in tune with the fluctuations of the wizard’s voice.
Verbal: Verbal components of wizards are generally the length of a short sentence or phrase.
Material/Focus: Wizards use material components as normal. The proper use of these is part of the somatic components for spell casting. The components are destroyed as the spell is cast.

CLERICS & PALADINS
Somatic: The somatic components for these spells are simple and to the point. In almost all cases simply pointing your divine focus or hand at the target or targets is sufficient. Clerics and Paladins who fight using both hands (shield and weapon) generally stow their holy symbol in their shield and have a leather loop on the pommel of their weapon, so as they cast their spell they simply let the weapon drop and hang off of their wrist to perform the proper components.
Verbal: A clear invocation of the name of your god and one or two words of a appropriate religious writ or of something pertaining to the spell (the true name of a specific creature you intend to summon with a summon monster III spell, for instance) are generally all that is needed. Clerics who do not follow a specific god use the true name of a proper source of their power (for instance the true name of positive energy plane is common among good-aligned clerics).
Divine Focus: Your gods’ holy symbol. If you do not follow a specific god a gemstone worth at least 10 GP can be used, if you spend one hour properly attuning it to your personal spiritual energy (any such cleric would know how to perform this act), though this expends one use of positive or negative energy used for turning or rebuking. It is often inscribed with a specific rune or symbol according to your beliefs.

DRUIDS
Somatic: Similar to those of a cleric, generally a simple gesture in the general direction the spell will be cast.
Verbal: Drudic verbal components are odd, to say the least. Druids are known to speak slightly quieter as they cast their spells, and make no coherent invocations but rather mumble, almost to themselves as incoherent babble. They generally persists for the full round during which they cast a spell (starting faintly, then rising to the loudest just as the spell is cast and fading back to inaudible after a few seconds).
Divine Focus: A druid’s divine focus must be a pure, fully natural object untouched by the hands of mortalkind, save the single druid who uses the focus. A small crystal globe filled with pure spring water, a piece of volcanic glass, a sprig of holly cut by the druids own hand, or even a rock off the ground, if it hasn’t been scratched or nicked by a living creature before the druid choose it. A druid can tell if an object would make a suitable focus by holding it and concentrating for one round.

RANGERS
Rangers either gain their divine spells from prayer to a god of nature (and thus use the same style of components as paladins) or are taught to use magic as a druid does.

BARDS
Somatic: A bard’s somatic components are similar to a sorcerer’s, only they more grand and fluid and less sudden and powerful, nearly being a form of dance in and of themselves. They also generally require more than one single motion and incorporate the bard’s entire body to some (limited) extend.
Verbal: Naturally a bard’s verbal components are primarily song, rhyme, poetry and similar. However the language of is very rarely common or even recognizable, while they often do not fit any known language the meaning and emotion of the song is generally somehow imparted into the audience’s minds.
Material/Focus: Similar to wizards, however it’s generally less involved as bards generally simply hold the component in the hand with which they perform the somatic component.
 

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