Your favorite Magic system?

[JVisgaitis]

So what are the differences with Talislanta and Black Company?

 

[diaglo]

for d02. i would say AU

for D&D. i'm gonna have to say OD&D(1974)

 

[Narfellus]

The bulk of the work would be converting spell slots/magic energy into Art scores. Figuring out the cleric's role would be the most challenging thing.

I LOVE Ars Magica, 4th edition, but i've never had the pleasure to acutally play it. Picked up the pdf a while back and just his past weekend I sat down to convert it to d20. Now, there is a fella who has already done this (http://www.users.qwest.net/~jordanerik/Gaming/index.htm)

but I wanted a crack at it. I simply took the Magnitude Ratings (5,10,15 etc) and said they were DC's. DC 5 is basically a cantrip. DC 15-20 is roughly a 3rd level spell. If you compare the spells in Ars Magica to DnD spells that do the same thing (such as a fireblast) you'll find that the level and Magnitude are about the same. It made the conversion process a whole lot easier.

Then i figured that all magi get magic skill points at 4+INT mod x 4, then 4+mod/level, just like regular Dnd. Every spellcaster automatically has the 5 Techniques at beginning of play: I Control, I Destroy, I Transform, I Create, I Perceive. You can't have more than 3 + your level in ranks, as per d20. Then you have the 10 Forms to choose from. This part offers tons of flexibilty in building a character. As a 1st level character you might have access to 5 of the forms, and pick up new ones later.

So you add skill ranks to Technique, and skill ranks to Form. Then, you average them together for your final roll.

Eh, there's more, but I won't go into it. Not in this thread anyway.

Oh, and Arcana Evolved has a fantastic magic system. And Conan d20 has oodles of flavor, but it's a little too wanky to use.

 

[Voadam]

core system sorcerer (and bard) style. I love spontaneous casters with slots and limited spells known that go up per level as a mechanic for in-game use. I dislike PCs and NPCs picking a suite of spells for the day and knowing but not having access to useful spells because they prepared different ones.

Living imagination's ritual spells are some of the coolest epic level flavor spells I've come across in a long while. And I like the mechanics better for use than epic spell seeds or Relic and Rituals style rituals for the most part.

 

[Shade]

The psionics system in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I wish the magic system used the same format from the beginning. I've tried using the Unearthed Arcana spell points system that emulates the psionics system, but the players aren't comfortable with their fireballs and other old standbys being so weak without "augmenting" them.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

The best "Fire and Forget" goes to Arcana Evolveds magic.

It makes even vancian magick fun.

What? Do you mean the best spell slot system? Because IIRC, both "Fire-and-forget" and "Vancian magic" refer to memorizing a spell and then forgetting it once you've cast it, like a wizard does.

AU/E does have a good system, though.

 

[Super Girl]

Without a doubt, the best spell system is that used by The Wheel of Time RPG.

• Spells are divided into different talents, (elementalism, Warding, Healing, etc) and casters start with one talent, and a bonus channeling feat that they can use to pick up more talents
• You can cast any spells in your talent that you know and have the slots for, and depending on your class can cast up to 2nd level spells of other talents
• Spell level varies from spell to spell, Fireball for instance can be cast using a level 2 slot up to level 6 or so, with greater effects the higher the spell slot used.
• spells are made up of the 5 elements, and each caster starts with an affinity to an element (and can pick up more via feats), if a caster has no affinity for any of the spells elements the slot required goes up one, if they have all element affinity's the slot cost goes down by one
• A dynamic over-channeling system that allows casters to make a check to effectively raise the spell level of a given slot, or to gain an extra slot, with the failure of the check meaning consequences ranging from fatigue, injury, the temporary loss of your ability to cast spells all the way to permanent loss of the ability to cast spells (depending on just how badly you fail, burning out is failing by 20+)

 

[Verequus]

While I see, that someone converted Ars Magica to d20, I would say, that there is no need for doing so - Elements of Magic Revised uses verbs and nouns for naming spell lists. I haven't looked at the link above, but in the case, that you have to make a check for casting in Ars Magica, then there is the difference, that EoMR uses a magic point pool, kinda like the psionic system.

 

[Narfellus]

I have Elements of Magic and i like it. But there's something about the FEEL of Ars Magica that is more appealing to me. It's hard to explain.

And the Wheel of Time system sounds interesting. In my campaigns i actually use many different magic systems depending on the character race or magical aptitude or training. Not everyone uses magic the same way, and yes, some systems are better than others.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I agree that Shadowrun does things well and like it a lot. But I actually preferred Earthdawn.

Ditto. Earthdawn's complete magic system is the most organic one I've seen with various "generations" of magic use. (Raw->Spell Matrix Objects->Spell Matrixes) Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. (Raw: speed/suicidial; Matrix Object: large # of matrices/item dependent; Matrices: safe & everpresent/finite #)