bluesguy Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 So there is a location in my campaign world, that I expect the players will one day visit. It is a place where the god who is known as the benign god of magic, shadow, mysteries, and dreams. I would like the experience to be altering for the characters and players. The world is a high fantasy world - magic is known and has an impact on people's lives; there are magical creatures of various types; and the campaign world is 'gray morally'. A game mechanic for magic in my campaign is that magical ability comes in two flavors. One is a learned skill that allows anyone to learn a spell or two. They might be pretty good with that spell but they tend to lack the versatility and power of someone who was born with a talent for magic. Those with the talent for magic have a VPP. Those without a talent do not have a VPP (or any other framework). Here are some ideas I have: Mages with a VPP and have the xp can increase their VPP power and control pools. Mages without a VPP can increase the maximum active points of one spell by up to 2x, again they have to have the xp to do this. Potential raw and special components that could have value to a mage Allow the temporary enchantment of a single item Ideas, comments, criticisms.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ndreare Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 perhaps you should also consider giving them say at 10 Experience bonus to represent the empowerment. That way the players who banked up will feel the boost but the players who didn't have a chance to bank up or didn't think about it ahead of time can still get something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 This may not be what you're looking for, but if you really want the experience to be "altering" for the characters and players, I would suggest moving away from pure game-mechanical effects. "Shadow, mysteries, and dreams" can manifest in ways which may not significantly change the PCs' character sheets, but profoundly affect their lives in other ways: visions of the future; lost knowledge from the past; revelation of long-hidden truths about a character; meeting apparitions of lost loved ones; confronting and overcoming regrets or fears; the path to achieving their greatest desire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted February 9, 2015 Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 For a profound change, perhaps allow those who were not full magicians before to trade in their limited spells for the true wizard's Variable Power Pool, and allow those who were already so gifted to trade in their Pools for a Power or Powerset without the Gestures, Incantations, etc that are the usual trappings of magic, not as flexible obviously but innate to themselves (perhaps with Inherent) that expresses their "deepest magical selves." In some cases this may be a Multipower. Lucius Alexander Multiform to Palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesguy Posted February 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2015 Thank you these are all good suggestions. This may not be what you're looking for, but if you really want the experience to be "altering" for the characters and players, I would suggest moving away from pure game-mechanical effects. "Shadow, mysteries, and dreams" can manifest in ways which may not significantly change the PCs' character sheets, but profoundly affect their lives in other ways: visions of the future; lost knowledge from the past; revelation of long-hidden truths about a character; meeting apparitions of lost loved ones; confronting and overcoming regrets or fears; the path to achieving their greatest desire. I really like this suggestion... I can think of a few things that would be also altering to the characters but not 'game mechanic' type stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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