New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

[Drell]

Hey there folks - here's yet another magic system open for critique & comments. I took my queue's from Killer Shrike as well as the 5th ed. Fantasy Hero Book, but it is, of course, altered.

 

The core idea behind this system is that some spellcasters draw their power from their surroundings; that the land itself holds magic, and that the overall intensity of magic waxes & wanes with the cycles of the moon (or in the case of some worlds - moons). Other things can affect the intensity as well - such as other celestial events like eclipses, passing comets, planetary alignments etc., but also a character using this system who's a necromancer, for example, might have their spells augmented when in a cemetery or burial mound, while a druid would be more powerful when in a sacred grove, etc.

 

Essentially, the character purchases a VPP setup very much like one of Killer Shrike's Prepared Casting Models, with a -0 restriction that all powers used in the VPP MUST cost Endurance. Then the character purchases an END Reserve of 1/3rd the total Active Points in the VPP (not counting control cost), with 0 Recovery. The END Reserve represents the character's ability to tap & store magical energies for use, which the VPP feeds directly from. The END Reserve doesn't have a Recovery of its own because it uses the Recovery score of the area they're in. One area may have a Recovery of 4, while another may have a 2, a 20, a 5/segment, 10/minute, or none at all - it completely depends upon what the GM decides an area has.

 

Unlike the base model from Killer Shrike's site, spells cast through this system do not have to have the 1 Charge limitation (but can if the Player wants). The idea here is that a character can "memorize", or set what spells they have for the day (still using the Real Points' worth of spells = 3 x the VPP's Active Pool), and they can cast those spells as much & as often as they like, so long as they have the END to do so. With an END Reserve Maximum of 1/3rd the size of the VPP, running out of END can be easy to do if the character's in an area with a low REC.

 

However, the character has the option of sacrificing STUN and/or BODY to replenish their END Reserve. For every 1 BODY, or 4 STUN sacrificed, the character's END Reserve recieves 3 END. BODY and STUN sacrificed can only heal back naturally.

 

Characters who become exceptionally adept at casting in this method, or who become more adept at harnessing & storing magic within themselves (or within their aura, or staff, or whatever the Special Effect happens to be) might be allowed to purchase Reduced Endurance 1/2 for certain spells, or even for the entire VPP overall, which can essentially double their overall casting efficiency.

 

Some options for the environment which casters of this type draw their power from are:

- X Recovery at normal rate, per phase, per segment, per minute, per 5 minutes, etc.

- Increased END Cost (as per the Power Limitation)

- +Xd6 AID to PC's VPP

- +Xd6 Suppress to PC's VPP

etc.

 

Again, what the environment does or doesn't do for the character is totally up to the GM to decide. If the character was born during a certain phase of the moon, their ability to cast might be enhanced when the moon is in that phase again while similar casters are unaffected. Perhaps the PC finds their way to an area where the border between the real world and the Abyss is thin - the Abyss pulling magical energy into itself from the real world like water into a drain, and the area not only has a 0 REC statistic, but acts as Xd6 Drain END (affecting only Magical END Reserves). Perhaps a Divine Cleric-type caster's spells are all at 1/2 END Cost when on holy ground of their particular god, or a Druid's powers are augmented when in a sanctified grove, whereas it would be doubled, tripled, or even worse when the Cleric is on unholy ground, or if the Druid enters an area that's been razed by a Defiler. It really depends on the flavor of the game, and what the character is. Let the imagination go crazy!

 

Anyway, let me know what you all think!

[Shadowsoul]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

Interesting idea. I did make something that was a little like this a while back.

 

When I was building the blood to End system for Vampires in my current campaign setting I built their ability to draw magical power from the stolen blood in their veins as an End Reserve with a Rec which could only work when they were drinking blood.

 

You might want to consider binding this magic system closer to the rules in that way. I.e. magic users would have a Rec for their End Reserves but it would have the limitation (Conditional Power, Affected by Environment). Basically a mage can't Recover more than the Rec of the area they are in, no matter how high they're Rec is. The flipside of this is that sometimes Mages won't be able to tap into the full potential of an area because their own Rec is too low.

 

In background terms some mages are more efficient at absorbing the latent energy in the area.

 

Of course if you wanted you could allow characters to effectively 'push' their Recs by drawing End from the area at a faster rate than their Rec. I'm sure you can think up some amusing consequences for pulling in more energy than you can channel properly.

 

But this idea may just add an extra complication that you don't need. If everyone in a given setting uses the same magic system then working out the particular advantages and disadvantages aren't such a problem. Although you should think about how this balances up against warriors who have to pay to increase their Rec.

 

One other thought. It might be interesting to create a ritual which turns an area into a Mage's home-ground. A tower, a cave, a stone circle or whatever. It would be a place where they got a higher Rec than normal for such an environment but others got the normal amount or perhaps even less.

 

It'd be built as a Transformation with quite a bit of Extra Time and a single Charge that only recovers if the area in question is destroyed or dispelled. The Extra Time means that although a new area can be transformed in this way it's not easy or simple. I'm not sure what the exact casting time would be but it should take at least a day, perhaps much longer.

[Drell]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

I dig the suggestions - it actually answers a couple problems I saw down the road. In my case, the character I was putting this together for isn't always going to be totally at the mercy of their environment for REC, and would eventually gain a REC score for their END Reserve - letting them use the lesser REC between their own REC score, or the REC score of the environment can take care of that.

 

I also dig the idea of a caster being able to, over time, change an area (their grove, church, tower, sanctum - whatever's appropriate) so that they personally recover more END for their VPP's END Reserve quicker (or in some cases could just make an area augmented magically for everyone in general).

 

Cool cool. Thanks Shadow!

[Killer Shrike]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

An ambient system then. Cool. I'm busy making dinner, but will circle back and read it in detail later.

[Blue Jogger]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

I like it, I'm a little worried with an unconditional 20 REC land and/or a 2d6 AID to the VPP (It's like candy only highly addictive and it makes you feel like a GOD!) Then again, every mage and their mother will be trying to sneak onto this land and topple the god-mage, so maybe it's not so off-balancing. But, you could balance it with getting horrible side-effects for staying too long or using too much power.

 

It's a very flexible system. You can make it even more flexible by coloring the END gathered (Red:Fire, Blue:Water, Green: Nature, White: Society, Black: Necromancy) and then allowing a spell to spend 3 Green to make 2 Red.

 

A question is how do they make Independent Magic Items?

[Drell]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

I like it, I'm a little worried with an unconditional 20 REC land and/or a 2d6 AID to the VPP (It's like candy only highly addictive and it makes you feel like a GOD!) Then again, every mage and their mother will be trying to sneak onto this land and topple the god-mage, so maybe it's not so off-balancing. But, you could balance it with getting horrible side-effects for staying too long or using too much power.

 

It's a very flexible system. You can make it even more flexible by coloring the END gathered (Red:Fire, Blue:Water, Green: Nature, White: Society, Black: Necromancy) and then allowing a spell to spend 3 Green to make 2 Red.

 

A question is how do they make Independent Magic Items?

 

Well, when I wrote the first post earlier I wrote it in such a way that it was generic enough to be used in anyone's world. In my world, it works a little differently because the actual setting itself is rather wonky. Basically, in my world, depending on the positions of the moons, the planets, and their various aspects to each other as well as the world itself, not only do certain spellcasters' magical power wane and wax, but the power an area has wanes and waxes as well. (Different forms of diviniation - Astrology in particular - are a powerful thing in my world, and if one has a high enough skill in it they might just be able to find the pattern of how the different celestial bodies affects the world, and thus be able to predict when & where great magical power will rise up). So, because the power an area has waxes & wanes just as the spellcasters own power, it's difficult to just find a powerful place and sit there like King Mage. However, it does make for good myths within the world itself about areas that are innately powerful on a grand scale...

 

I dig the idea about "coloring" the END certain areas gives you so that it functions better for certain things and not quite as good for others - I'm going to give that some thought 'cause that's just a cool idea all around.

 

About magic items, well - this system is just one in a handful of different systems for using magic. I have an entirely different system for crafting magical items. The thing with my world - in order to be able to cast magic a character has to purchase a custom Talent called Moontouched, which allows them to harness and wield magical power, as well as giving them a Magic Skill Roll that is Characteristic-Based. The exact Characteristic depends on what the caster wants to do/be - for example, the world as a whole doesn't recognize the difference between someone who's like a Psionic and someone who tosses arcane energy around, and both are considered casters and can use the same systems. The difference would be that the Psionic would use EGO for their Magic Skill Roll, while the arcane shmoe would use INT. Other "casters", such as someone who bases all their magic around shapeshifting (or shapeshifting parts of their bodies into different things at the same time) could use CON. Really just depends on the Special Effect they're going for.

 

But anyway - crafting magic items in my world has its own system that anyone with the appropriate skills can do - the appropriate skills being a Magic Skill Roll (which is given solely through the Moontouched talent), and Artificing, which gives the character a general knowledge on what materials are good for containing magic, how to craft the objects themselves, and how to properly infuse them once the object is ready. The crafting system itself doesn't depend upon spellcasting systems to function, it's just its own thing.

[tarragon]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

I would give the terrain END, not REC.

 

If you give the terrain REC a powerful mage can walk into a dead area and still cast for a while which seems to not fit your description.

 

By giving the land END instead powerful areas are powerful because anyone can walk in and cast a lot of magic. If the end is common to all mages that even gives you the ability to wear down an area with excessive castings.

 

I like the idea of colored end. Death magic is easy in a cemetery and hard in a jungle grove.

 

I once built an ambient magic system that's a bit similiar. I never played it it so I'm not sure how well it would have worked but I'll describe it here. You might find some ideas you like.

 

I had the land provide Mana (END) mostly along ley lines. When the lines crossed the greatest of magics were possible. But I also allowed mages to cast from their personal essence (Long Term End) so they could cast even in a dead or exhausted area, but it cost them. Resting in a high mana area would recharge the personal essence they had burned faster then normal LTE recovery at the cost of MANA from the area.

 

Some areas had good recovery but low-ish END; the cemetery is good for 20 END of Necromatic magic every day. Other areas had huge reserves, but low REC; the undisturbed forest provides a huge pool of magic but once used it takes years to return to it's former level.

 

Using mana from an area was limited (per phase), you could only pull it so fast. The limit was mostly related to the current mana available. As the mana dropped spells got weaker, until the mana was all gone and spells fizzled. A good magic skill roll increased the amount of mana that could be pulled.

 

The character determined the actual max possible effect, they bought spell to the max usable level. But the area they were in determined how strong any casting was because the end they could spend was limited. A powerful mage in a weak area was limited. A weak mage was a weak mage even in a strong area.

 

They Ley lines were generally stronger areas of mana. Where they crossed was even stronger. Also where they crossed the pull limit was raised.

 

The Ley lines moved with the stars and were effected by moons like tides. Conjunctions could indicate crossings and could be predicted. Fights would happen over areas that would eventually have strong crossings.

 

Finally not all lines were well mapped and it wasn't alway known what stars or constellation drove which particular line. Sometimes secret societies knew more about specific lines used that to their advantage.

[Drell]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

I actually do want powerful mages to be able to cast magic in dead areas - the idea of the characters having the END Reserve is that they are able to draw in & hold amounts of magical energy themselves, and would be able to cast (even though it's only a little bit) when entering a dead space.

 

Eventually, casters who use this system and who were also knowledgable in astronomy (or whatever one chooses to have affect the waxing & waning of power from area to area) could undergo a series of rituals to, essentially, make a dragontail (astrological term that is basically like a leyline between the celestial bodies) node within themselves or a magic item, which would give them a permanent REC (albeit a small one at first, and much larger as they become more knowledgable & undergo more rituals) for their END reserve.

 

But basically, I want for my players to know they're going into the mouth of the beast where their magic is going to be 100% limited, and then put them through the ringer knowing that they can only rely on their magic for so long. My hope with this is that they'll be forced to really use their heads & come up with some fresh solutions to dealing with the mess they walked into.

 

I love your idea though - I had only briefly considered going that way when I was first putting this together, but now that I've read over what you wrote, an all new idea popped up: an amalgamation of both. I think, for my game, certain areas will have pockets of END that casters of this type can draw upon in addition to the amount of magical energy they store in their own body/aura/whatever. It really only makes sense since I was already creating dinky to overly-powerful magic items that had additional END Reserves for casters of this type built into them. This way these casters can roll into an area and be even more empowered than usual, and if the players get used to areas having both REC and END, much less one or the other, then it will hurt all the more when they find themselves all on their own in a dead area.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: New(ish) Magic System - Critique Me!

 

Thinking about it this could have quite an effect on social conflict. Earth has seen a whole lot of wars over resources.

 

So would different societies battle over areas with a high amount of background magic? I can just imagine tribal raiders being urged on by power-hungry shaman or a ruthless colonial power invading new lands with landgrabbing mages at the forefront of its armies.