Thia's Current Magic System

[Thia Halmades]

On request, I'm posting this for general consumption. Please remember that this is unedited, and is likely missing a vast amount of information, and lastly, it's a work in progress. The system is ripped largely from d20, and is designed to create a low/middle magick system, NOT recreate the 'High Magic' of the d20 system.

 

Wizardry/Magery - Ars Arcanum

 

The Wizardry system is designed around an IVPP - an InVariable Power Pool; the caps for power are generally set by the DM, but a rough guage follows the pattern set by Killer Shrike on his website. However, one of the keys to this design is the X/X*2 Active Cap limit.

 

My vision here was, instead of having a '60 point cap' to instead have, say, a 30 point cap with an extra thirty points for modifiers; this is done largely to encourage people from taking their 2d6 RKA/6d6 EB and think more outside the box. That isn't set in stone, but to keep the feel of the system and to in part mimic d20, you rarely see an Xd6 damage spell that doesn't have an additional effect - Line, AOE, Explosion, and so on.

 

Second, the Spells are slotted within the VPP and take the limitation "Must be prepared in advance, -1/2," "Only spells known, -1/2," "All Spells Require a Skill Roll (-1/2)" and so on, see Killer Shrike's site for more details, but you get the gist. I am not using his '1 charge' system since it isn't quite what I wanted and makes the spells WAY too cheap, however, his point there was that the Charge simulates stocking the spell and then expending it; I'm not sure if this should be done with Charges, or if "Must be prepared in advance" handles this.

 

The structure for the system hinges on the Skill Rolls, which replace the Saving Throws required in the d20 system. The system is broken into 9 schools (8 core schools, or Arcanum). They are:

 

Major: Evocation, Conjuration, Alteration

Lesser: Illusion, Enchantment/Charm, Abjuration

Minor: Divination, Necromancy

 

The 9th Arcana, 'Universal' cannot be taken as a barred school, and is not categorized. Keeping with the d20 theme, a Wizard may take a barred school as a Physical limitation; Major is 15 points, Lesser is 10, and Minor is worth 5.

 

It's also important to note that Active Caps for the Pool should not be the absolute guide to active caps for the spells - if you don't want 30 AP force fields flying around, then cap those (in d20, your average Mage Armor is worth a Chain Shirt - DEF 4).

 

Now, that we've gone over Arcana, the next big thing is that each Arcana requires a Skill Roll whenver you attempt to cast a spell - so if you're going to fire off a 45 AP Fireball, that Requires a Skill Roll (Evocation). All Spell Skills (regardless of school) are purchased as 3:2 skills, and for Wizards, all are based on INT. You cannot cast a spell Untrained.

 

Learning New Spells: Again, this simply requires a skill roll, and then additional time (usually 1 hour: 10 Active Points in study to learn, understand and scribe the spell).

 

Common limitations are Gestures, Incants, Foci, Extra Time, and the other classics. A variation on this system is the Extra Phase rule; for every 10 AP, the spell takes one extra phase to prepare (Incantations Throughout, Concentration, and so on). This is an additional level of 'pucker factor' and an additional control to keep wizards in check. People will think twice before committing to five phases to cast a 55 AP spell. This is not in my current design, but it's something I've strongly considered adopting.

 

Now soliciting comments and quesitons. The more you ask, the more I can refine the design.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Thia's Current Magic System

 

You asked for (constructive) criticism, so here are a few points and questions:

 

A) Your write up is a bit murky; it could benefit from some organization and a few clarifying paragraphs here and there. For instance, you're referencing me, and even I'm not 100% sure what you mean -- thats gotta be a bad sign

 

What is the logic behind the Major / Lesser / Minor categories? Based on number of Spells in the school, the general utility, or something else? I don't think its power based, as for instance Necromancy is usually one of the more powerful schools of Magic while Conjuration is one of the weaker, but Im not sure.

 

C) You may want to put some kind of cap on how many Barred Arcana a character can take -- there is a fine line between an actual disadvantage and a strong concept. For instance, a dedicated Necromancer could just take 80 points in Barred School Disadvantages, and if the player never intended to be anything other than a dedicated Necromancer they didnt really lose anything, and have no defining characteristics beyond "habitual Necromancer". One or two barred Arcana shows a character that is still interacting with the Magic System, while four plus is just clear cut min maxing.

 

Another way to do it might be to define "Universal" as another School with an appropriate name such as Thaumaturgy -- in the original Greek Sense of "Wonder Working" vice the more modern "practical magic" Similarity / Contagion connotation and inject some structure...perhaps something like:

 

There are Ten Arcana:

 

*Maturgy: (MAHT-ur-gee) meta-magic effects that are either so basic or so sublime or so holistic that they defy classification (ie Universal)

 

*Vokurgy: (VOHK-ur-gee) channelling and manipulation of raw forces (mostly Evocation, some Elementalism)

 

*Mogurgy: (MOHG-ur-gee) altering the appearance, or essense of things (Transmutation that deals with alertations of states of being, including total transmormations, and Illusion that deals with altering the appearance of things)

 

*Thrallurgy: (THRAHL-ur-gee) altering the minds and behaviors of others (mostly Enchantment, but also Illusions that affect the minds of others)

 

*Conurgy: (COHN-ur-gee) creating something from nothing, calling things from other places (Conjuration, Summoning)

 

*Nosurgy: (NOHS-ur-gee) discerning truth and the mystical knowing of the unknowable (mostly Divination)

 

*Thanurgy: (THAHN-ur-gee) mastery of negative forces, warping of the real, and the world of the dead and undying (mostly Necromancy, plus Phantasms from Illusions)

 

*Disurgy: (DISS-ur-gee) the destruction, cancelation, and control of Magic (mostly Abjuration)

 

*Obvurgy: (OHBV-ur-gee) magical wards, shields, and protections from harm (remove the defensive spells from all the D&D Schools and combine them)

 

*Anurgy: (AHN-ur-gee) manipulation and enhancement of life forces (Transmutation that deals with enhancing / improving / imbueing something without actually CHANGING it significantly, some healing and buff effects)

 

 

There are three Filla which represent both Active Point and Skill Roll level caps: Maoir (MAY-ORE; max 60 AP / 6 skill levels), Medio (MEE-DEE-OH; max 30 AP / 3 levels), Minimi (MIN-EH-MEE; max 15 AP / 1 skill level).

 

 

Each practitioner must declare for themselves three Maoir, three Medio, and three Minimi Arcana from the Ten Arcana, which leaves one Arcana that they are not able to use at all which is called the Macaza.

 

A practitioner can buy their Skill levels up to the indicated levels, and can learn Spells with AP up to the limit of each of their Filla, and use them via a Variable Power Pool limited in such a fashion to only allow Spells from the practitioners Known List. RSR: Arcanum Skill Roll is required...the VPP would probably look like this at its highest (60 AP) level:

 

Arcanum Magic Pool (Arcane Magic), 60 base + 30 control cost, Powers Can Be Changed As A Zero-Phase Action (+1), No Skill Roll Required To Change Powers (+1) (150 Active Points); Only To Cast Arcana Spells From Known Spell List (-1); all slots Requires An Appropriate Arcana Skill Roll (-1/2), Variable Limitations (requires -1 worth of Limitations from (Incantations, Gestures, Extra Time, Concentration, Material Components) and similar "Spell" oriented Limitations; -1/2)

 

There are three meaningful levels to the VPP: 15 Pool, 30 Pool, and 60 Pool, which equals Apprentice, Journeyman, and Master Arcanum status.

 

At the GM's discretion, a Master can continue to enlarge their VPP past 60 Pool up to 90 Pool. Such a character promotes one of their Arcana to a fourth Filla called Multimo (MULL-TEE-MOE; max 90 AP / 9 skill levels), and can learn and use Spells of that Arcana with up to the Active Points of their VPP. A character with a 90 Pool VPP is an Archmaster.

 

A Master can also chose to take a 10 Point Talent called "Improved Arcana" any number of times to promote an Arcana to the next higher Filla (from Minimi to Medio, Medio to Maoir, Maoir to Multimo, etc).

 

Any practitioner can chose to take a 10 Point Talent called "Complete Arcana" to promote their Macaza Arcana to a Minimi Arcana.

 

 

Endurance Reserves are not allowed, but Reduced END Advantages are.

 

 

 

Something like that is pretty clean, and introduces a good deal of variety between individual practitioners. Apprentices will be very similar in capability, differing only in their Known Spell Lists and Macaza, while Journeymen differ more according to their Medio and Minimi Arcana, and Masters differ quite a bit by their Maoir, Medio, and Minimi Arcana, and particularly if the GM allows progression beyond 60 Pool.

 

I was going to make a few other points, but I got a little distracted there and ran myself out of time...so hopefully the above isnt a completely wasted effort.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Thia's Current Magic System

 

Not wasted at all, and certainly some great suggestions. The idea here was simply to import the d20 model wholesale and then start manipulating it from there, since the whole thing is for my converted d20/HERO campaign, which I started talking about ages ago, worked on, started, got derailed, and have since shifted to a secondary project, my 'sci-fi' campaign. Which is ... very hodge-podgy, but also very good, and entertaining.

 

I need to regain some conciousness, but some notes together, and I'll post something cleaner & more concise. When I started the whole system, I myself hadn't finalized my plan, but hopefully in the next week or so you'll have a clearer idea of what I'm doing.