[Magic System]Thematis Magica

[LittleDevil]

Yo! Haven't been to these forums for quite a while now. Have I missed anything?

Anyways, I whipped up a quick magic system today, which I hope I've given the right name (latin isn't something I've bothered to learn) but I think it means Magical Subjects.

 

It's an academic system and it's very Vancian..ish.

In fact, the Colleges are ripped straight from a series of D20 supplements called Colours of Magic.

It's also an amalgamation of some of the better ideas I've seen here and in some HERO books.

 

I'll write up some example spells later, maybe.

 

Comments, questions, pats on the back, go ahead and write.

[tkdguy]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Interesting. I saved a copy to take a closer look.

[Seenar]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

I am a bit confused. The base is 10 points active. There is not a lot you can do with that. 5" Flight, or +5 " running or a 2d6 EB. It seems to be effective your mage is going to be bonkers.

 

Am I missing something?

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

You are quite right, powerful mages ARE bonkers (the Orange College is FULL with powerful mages that are completely bat**** crazy), or they use the different ways to overcome the small size of the pool, such as the Succor they learn as part of the basic training or developing spells as Talents.

So, either they learn to use the small Cantrip-level powers to the maximum, or they take a lot of time to get around the limits.

Essentially, mages from the Academy are the true Swiss Army-Knife. They have LOTS of tools, but I wouldn't want to carve a statue with them.

This is a design choice.

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Also, 10 AP really shouldn't be underestimated.

+5 Running? That's nearly twice the speed of a normal man!

Flying with nearly the speed of a running man? Powerful!

 

Sure, Attack Powers are a bit weak, but that's why those are Perfected Spells or boosted with Gathering the Strands and used from ambush (so they can run in, take care of what's left and get something for the headache the Mage has after using the Succor).

 

Simply, they are not blasters and those who are (the Reds), have College Powers that help them to do that efficiently. Like this one:

Conjuring the Wrathful Rays of Mother Sun: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6-1, Indirect (Always from the sky; +1/4), Penetrating (+1/2) (44 Active Points); Increased Endurance Cost (x3 END; -1), Power Does No STUN (-3/4), Gestures (Requires both hands; -1/2), Requires A Red Magic Roll (-1/2), Beam (-1/4), Inaccurate 1/2 OCV (-1/4), Incantations (-1/4), Noisy (-1/4)

 

Also, many favour HKA instead.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Thats 44 AP on that Spell...how would they fit that into their 10 Pool VPP?

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

That's a College Power, they're not meant to be purchased in the Pool itself. They're signature abilities that practioners of a style of magic can use when they've reached a certai level. They're very similar to spells mostly, but some aren't.

And if it had been a spell, they could fit in the Pool with the Succor (5ER, p. 109).

Or, as a Perfected Spell (essentially, a Talent), which would mean you use the RC as the AP (this is the most rule-breaking thing about this system, but it's still semi-canon).

[Thia Halmades]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Because his system has you buying up your VPP with disads, that's the crux on which its built. That 44 AP spell was improved by the Red Mage (we assume) who has taken a short pancake stack of additional lims to improve his AP in the VPP.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Hmm...I see the start of an interesting low fantasy Magic System in this, but honestly I think it lacks clarity and needs to be organized / described better.

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Well, that's for certain.

I'm not used to writing these kinds of text, and in my defence, most of it was written in the night.

I'll try to write a better version tomorrow (and I should probably study the ones you have created, Oh Great Killer Shrike).

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

And Killer, it's actually intended to be more High Fantasy than Low.

But that's a matter of definition, I guess.

And I think that these fellows, who can do nearly everything (assuming they've studied the Colleges) with their powers belong in the High Fantasy spectrum.

They just have to use their powers to their maximum extent. In other words, think like a munchkin.

Plus, don't you feel a little bit more proud of your Mage if he uses a 5 STR TK and the environment to bring down his foes rather than blast them with a 10 DC EB?

[Killer Shrike]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

It boils down to what you consider traits of "High" vs "Low" magic.

 

Personally, I consider Magic Systems that have an Impact control, like going insane in this case, or are otherwise difficult to use or master to be more "Low". I consider Magic Systems where the magic is easy and reliable to be more on the "High" end of the scale.

 

Power level is a seperate consideration; Low Magic can be powerful and High Magic can be weak. And some systems can be both Low and High because they scale smoothly across Active Point strata.

 

For instance, my Spellweaving Magic System and its variants can be both Low and High because its return on investment is steady -- low point characters struggle with it, and high point characters are very dangerous with it. Or to put it another way it's difficult with few points and gets easier in direct proportion to the amount of points sunk into it.

 

On the other hand my various Familiaritas Magic Systems can scale a bit, but their progression is very flat, or broad rather than tall if you want to think of it in terms of a progression bar graph -- a nice plateau rather than peaks. This makes it more of a "Medium" Magic -- in a Low Magic setting its a powerful Magic System, and in a High Magic setting its a little weak.

 

And so on and so forth. My point being that a Magic System such as this that makes it difficult for characters to get any amount of Active Points flowing and also has some lasting impact to the character (such as PsyLims assoicated with it), is going to struggle vs Magic Systems where power comes easy and without impact to the character.

 

For instance, compare this Magic System to the Magic System I roughed out a couple of weeks ago for Thia -- Metruvius.

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/Metruvius.shtml

 

That system is primarily limited by point economics and internal synergy, but its all about aggregating Active Points together to make powerful effects, and it does not incur any side effects or impact on the user other than the point costs involved. Similarly to Spellweaving, this system scales nicely and can serve as a Low Magic style in a low pointed campaign due to economy of scale deficits, but scales fairly well and ripens into a very dangerous Magic System as the point levels go up.

 

A decently designed Metruvian would blow the socks off of a decently designed Thematian (at least from my current somewhat fuzzy interpretation of your write up) of equivalent points 9 times out of 10, and is also unencumbered by any detriments from the system. Magic is easy and fairly reliable for a Metruvian (the associated RSR isnt too difficult), and is free from unpleasant encumberments. Even at its lowest, its more "High" Magic than Thematis Magica, if you see what I mean?

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Ah, then I understand completely.

And, on a sidenote, my respect for you just went up a few notches. I hadn't even considered half of those arguments. :hail:

 

And, yes, a Metruvian more than likely could whip a Thematian's behind any time, assuming the Thematian didn't have anything special prepared.

 

I guess it isn't a High Magic system.

It's supposed to be a common system, which is one of the reasons why the power is capped, that's very flexible.

The reason why I went with Psych Lims is mostly that I like the Mad Mage archetype a lot (and Colours of Magic: Orange had some really nice setting fiction) and it came after thinking:

If they store their spell in their minds... What happens when that storage becomes larger? Draw some parallells to Final Fantasy VIII, and this is the result.

 

Essentially, the Thematian in the village is the person you'd go to if you had a problem that normal means couldn't solve. He'd go over it for a while, a few days probably, then sit and chant for a few minutes (Gathering the Strands) and finally cast a spell.

They're not the fellows you'd want as walking artillery tanks (that's for another system), but as someone you'd expect to be able to come up with a solution to most problems, hopefully in time.

 

It could be a lot less restricted, but I want to avoid a system as flexible as this ruining every plot within a Full Phase with a nasty 40 AP power.

[LittleDevil]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

Also, before I start rewriting this, what needs clarification?

Everything? It seems the part on the Succor needs rewriting, at least.

I know I forgot to include the explanation about College Powers, I didn't bother to explain what the Spheres of the Colleges dealt with, I need to come up with some decent setting fiction regarding the Colleges (which is a bit hard, considering I don't have a setting to add them to *sighs*), I should probably add something about casting methods (basically, it's up to the caster himself) and I should add what I've written here on the purpose of the system.

[Markdoc]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

I have system like this in my game - check out the sorcery section here - to see how you can (legally) get useful powers out of a small pool:

 

http://fitz.jsr.com/roleplay/hero/fantasy/hq/index.html

 

Note - although I have this up on my own pages, Fitz has done a much better layout job, so the link goes there instead

 

It takes a little time, so spells are essentially useless in combat unless prepared in advance and set up with a trigger, but sorcerors are potentially extremely powerful.

 

cheers, Mark

[tkdguy]

Re: [Magic System]Thematis Magica

 

I have system like this in my game - check out the sorcery section here - to see how you can (legally) get useful powers out of a small pool:

 

http://fitz.jsr.com/roleplay/hero/fantasy/hq/index.html

 

Note - although I have this up on my own pages, Fitz has done a much better layout job, so the link goes there instead

 

It takes a little time, so spells are essentially useless in combat unless prepared in advance and set up with a trigger, but sorcerors are potentially extremely powerful.

 

cheers, Mark

Bookmarked and repped!