Homebrew Magic

[dustytomes]

OK

I'm putting a Magic system together for my Homebrew world.

I Know what I want but I'm not sure how to put it together... any ideas?

 

 

Magic

"Magic is relatively common. However magic is hard to control. Thus magic is focus-centric. The elite Magic-users are Wizards they use scrolls to focus magic. Your common magic-user is the Sorcerer. Sorcerers use potions to focus magic. Many clerics are actually Sorcerers and where quit upset when they where outed 175 years ago by Athenian heretics. Unaffiliated Sorcerers are some times know as Hedge-wizards. Warlocks are closest to the "classic Magic-user" we all know and love. Warlocks use wands and staffs to focus magic. Warlock spells are simple but effective. All modern armies employ Warlocks. Some call them War-wizards, but Wizards call the Cantrip-Casters. Artificers are the "craftsmen" of the magical world. You can't make a magic sword with out an Artificer. An Artificers skill is always in demand but rarely do they adventure beyond the walls of there workshops. Alchemists are an enigma. They would tell you that they are "not magic-users but users of magic." I fail to see the deference. To me they seem to be a combination of a Sorcerer and a Artificer. They some times refer to them selves as Scientists. Necromancers are t[ CENSORED ]n dead. As the author of this tome I feel I MUST apologize for for the previous entry. I lied I made the whole thing up. There are no Necromancers. There never where and I know absolutely nothing about the subject. Also I'm not being forced to recant by anyone. Especially not the Queens secret police. Not that she has any. D.T."

An Excerpt from Dusty Tomes' "Magic for Fools" from his popular "For Fools" series.

 

Magic

for wizardry and sorcery I'm thinking of using a very limited vpp. For now just buy a vpp with a -2 limitation call it ether "wizardry" or "sorcery". for warlocks use a multi-pool with skill roll, extra time,incantations and gestures licked to an endurance pool w/oaf(wand or staff) all slots must be energy/force based. Artificers can use any of the above or they can use another magic users spells to make magic items. Artificer is a skill artificer(Item) and a 3point perk. Alchemist is just a skill(replacing science ). All magic requires 3 things, Mana, a formula and proper casting.

 

Mana

 

Wild mana is unreliable and painful to channel directly threw ones body. So Magic-users use focuses and time to make up for the disadvantages of wild mana.

 

Formulas

 

Formulas are needed control and direct mana in a useful manner. Think of electricity. Light bulbs are pretty simple, a pc is pretty complex, but both are powered by electricity. Mana is the electricity and Formulas are the blue prints for the pc or the light bulb. Formulas for wizardry and sorcery are like the blue prints for the pc and warlock formulas are like the blue prints for a light bulb. A magic-user can memorize a few formulas int/3 for warlocks and int/5 for sorcerers and wizards. Additional formulas can be memorized for 1 or 2 points. Also if a magic-user has a properly deciphered formula in writing(sell book or scroll) he can simply follow the steps out lined in it. you can also wright your own spells with the Formula skill.

 

Casting

 

To pull together the right amount of mana and a proper formula it tricky. Each type of spell casting has it own power skill.

roll well and it works roll poorly and it mite blow-up in your face.

 

dusty

[Killer Shrike]

Re: Homebrew Magic

 

Magic Systems

[Doc Democracy]

Re: Homebrew Magic

 

OK, you got some colour there and, for gameplay, colour is all important.

 

What you need is how the various casters feel different to the players. Sure, one type drink and make potions others read scrolls and other ones use staves and wands. That doens't make a huge difference in feel. You do this a bit making warlocks work from multipowers rather than VPPs but nothing to distinguish wizards and sorcerers.

 

You might want to have power limits associated with each type of magic. You might want to have access to the higher levels of magic require people to switch type of magic and take on limitations to what they can do or wear. These begin to differentiate the casters in the eyes of the players.

 

Artificers look almost like an ingredient necessary for others to gain magic items. In the system, if you create a magic item then you spend points on it - probably using the independent limitation - and may lose both the item and the points. An artificer will rarely be sitting there making items for himself. He certainly wont be spending his own points for the benefit of others. What it looks like is that a player with points to spend needs the artificer as part of the creation process and this might be seen as a limitation on the item - if broken or damaged, it can only be fixed by a) the original artificer or an artificer from the same school as the original.

 

This begins to give the players reasons to know where artificers live and reasons to stay on good terms with them...

 

Killer Shrike has done a lot of work teasing out details for various magic systems - it would be well worth scanning through these - see what bits might work within the colour of your system to enhance the difference between the various different magic using types and stealing some, amending others before putting it all together in your homebrew.

 

 

Doc