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Amros Aldarion
2009-09-03, 12:55 AM
Taking from Aristotle's view of Elements, I've come up with an alternative magic school system:

Alternative Spell Categories:

Rather than learning the eight spell schools listed in the SRD, the spell caster learns from seven various schools: fire, earth, water, wind, life, death, and fate.

Spell types:

There are three types of spells:

Enchantments: spells that effect target’s attributes or abilities.

Evocations: instantaneous damage spells or spells with a one moment effect

Conjurations: spells that call forth objects or creatures for a duration. The art of object summoning is called conjuring. The art of sentient summoning is called binding and is difficult process that binds a given entity of any plane to the spell. Either one of these generally only last for one encounter unless a site of summoning is used. The creature must be a willing participant of the binding, which begins as an enchantment ritual. Once this ritual is completed, the creature may be conjured by the caster at it’s will.

Three levels of binding enchantments are available:

L1: Lesser Binding: The creature only answers the ritual if it is willing.

L3: Binding: The creature follows and obeys the binding on a DC (Caster Level + 5) Will save.

L5: Greater Binding: The creature follows and obeys the binding on a DC (Caster level + 10) Will save.

Creating a site of summoning limits the summoning appearance to one location (10 feet radius per 100 gp and per hour spent creating the site) but increases the creature’s duration from an encounter to a day. A longer ritual spent on a summoning site also increases a creature’s duration:

For each hour spent beyond the summoning circle’s creation, the creature remains for an additional day per summoning. For a full week spent in ritual, the creature remains on the site for a year. In both cases, if the creature is brought to 0 in combat, it is dismissed to it’s native plane.

For most creatures, certain types of binding are required.

Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind can bind creatures and elementals native to their respective planes of focus.

Life can bind animals and spirits of sentient beings native to the plane who are unwilling to die.

Death can break binds with Dismissals and Freedom spells, letting souls go to rest and banishing outsiders. In addition, Death can bind outsiders contracted to bring in the souls of those who have avoided the call of the respective planes, often bringing in angels, demons and devils either to liberate trapped souls or capture those who would evade death.

Fate can bind any creature to the respective planes, regardless of affiliation.


ELEMENTS:
FIRE:
Fire spells conjure up smoke, certain clouds, and fire related outsiders and elementals. They are also associated with the ability to speak multiple languages and confer bonuses when dealing with others. Fire spells are also associated with illusions and images, as well as the dual feelings of anger and excitement.
WATER:
Water spells conjure up water related creatures and elementals, certain clouds, and water. Water is also associated with travel and enables those who use it to move expediently, untraceably, or simply to travel through alternative means through the Rites of the River. Water is also associated with the cold and has effects varying from snow to glaciers. Water spells can also be used as means of divination and purification. Water is associated with the feelings of openness- that is, calm and coolness – and conversely, sorrow.
EARTH:
Earth spells are associated with acids, made of special earth compounds, varying based on elemental properties, having the subsets of metal, wood, gems, and stones. Earth spells conjure forth elementals and outsiders associated with earth, as well as various earthen animals. Earth is also associated with stone and conveys resistance to damage and various elements, magic, enchantment, and sense (allowing one to blend in with various surroundings). Earth spells are also associated with Time and Gravity. Earth spells are also associated with confidence and focus, sometimes each to an extreme.
WIND:
Wind spells are related to lightning and communication at a distance. Wind spells conjure up air related outsiders and elementals, as well as mighty winds and lightning storms, which includes certain types of clouds. Wind spells allow for willful communication through various senses over a distance, and through wind erosion, allow certain runes of communication. Wind spells are also associated with dreams. Wind is associated with flightiness and light-heartedness.
LIFE:
Life spells generally are beneficial effects. However, overexposure to life magic (being healed beyond one’s hit points unnaturally) creates cumulative likeliness of contacting cancers. The hit points over the total healed any time healing is done magically are added up to cumulative checks made a week after such over-healing is done. For example, if Joric has 13 damage and is healed for 15 points magically, he has a 2% of contracting cancer. Some life spells can be cast simply to cause this, and such spells are cast as evocations with fortitude saves against them. In addition, life spells can be twisted to animate various objects including corpses, as well as certain dark rituals which twist life magic, creating undead.
DEATH:
Death spells generally are debilitating effects. Any exposure to death magic results in a bleak disposition, philosophically and physically. Death spells conjure outsiders that drag souls to their respective planes in the Afterlife, as well as dealing death and destruction damage, dispel some forms of magic such as conjurations, and counter life spells. Death spells, however, are also used to defeat the undead, returning them to their proper rest.
FATE:
Fate spells have a variety of effects, including bindings, guidance, and altering effects of magical spells. Fate spells are tied to the vary fabric of the universe itself, and can either make or unmake that same universe. Most often, fate can call on those from the outer planes to intervene in the fates of mortals, and can bind the souls of the treacherous or disloyal, or even the simply unfortunate, to wander an unfamiliar plane even beyond their death.

Old Schools, New Schools:

Where will I find…

Abjuration : Death Magic Especially, and some within each of the other schools.
Conjuration : Life and Fate especially for Bindings, every school has some form of more basic Conjuration. Every school has this, but each has a certain specialty.
Divination : Mostly Wind, Every school has this as well, the reliability of the divination varying on the effort put in.
Evocation : Especially Fire and Death magic, any element, however, has this ability.
Enchantment : All schools have this, but especially fate
Illusion : Especially Fire, though every school has some illusory magic.
Transmutation : Subsumed by enchantment, mostly in Earth and Life.
Necromancy : Mostly in Life, Death, and Fate.
Universal : Mostly in Fate Magic.

Elementals:

Various elementals can be conjured, with various types from the elemental planes existing. The energies channeled through an Awaken spell create elemental life in all materials, however, this is not categorized under Life Magic because the use of Life Magic in and of itself implies an element of control. The awakened energies of such beings are so raw and uncontrollable that only epic Life spells can cross over the below categories.

FIRE ELEMENTALS:

Fire elementals are the shortest lived elementals and are often called ‘vampiric’ in that they require the burning of other objects in order to exist. Fire elementals in their purest form have the shortest summoning time and can only be conjured for encounter durations. Fire elementals are weakest when they cannot feed: when they lose air or earth on which to feed, they are easily slain.
Types: Fire (Pure, Magma, Chemical, Ash, Pyre, Fury)
Weaknesses: Earth: stone, metal Water (pure), Wind
Strengths: Earth: wood, Water: Ice, animals

WATER ELEMENTALS:
Water elementals are the second longest lived elementals and often called ‘fading’ elementals in that, the more a water elemental does, the more it disippates: in their purest form, water elementals brush off their own personal residue quickly and frequently dissipate if they are over-active. Stationary water elementals last much longer than moving ones (unless there are favorable conditions, such as rain or bodies of water)
Types: Water (Pure, Ice, Snow, Hail, Sleet, Storm, Rain, Steam, Rapid, River, Stream, Deep, Liquid (various kinds, poisons), Fury)
Pure Weaknesses: Earth: wood, earth: stone, fire: magma, lightning
Pure Strengths: earth: pure, fire:pure, non-aquatic animals
WIND ELEMENTALS
Wind elementals are the second shortest lived elementals and the hardest to contract with. Unlike water elementals, wind elementals need constant motion and so cannot stay in one place unless there is a natural passageway, which often bores the elemental if it feels it is ‘running in circles.’ Pure wind elementals cannot exist long in an area without access to the open air, although places with myriad paths are fine by them. Wind elementals in their purest form also have short summoning times unless they are bound against their will, and will often form contracts which only bind them for short times (unless such contracts promise travel)
Types: Wind (Pure, Tornado, Hurricane, Storm, Breeze, Gust, Leaf, Disease, Dust, Chill, Warmth, Gas (Various kinds: chlorine, argon, freon, poisons), Fury)
Weaknesses: Earth: Stone, Water: Storm,
Pure Strengths: Fire (Pure)

EARTH ELEMENTALS:


Earth Elementals are the hardest elementals to summon, but the longest lived and the most reliable. They prefer stability and make excellent guardians. That being said, there are many varieties of Earth elementals, and some prefer motion and action to stability. These are generally ‘weaker’ earth elementals, less pure. Earth elementals have few weaknesses and many strengths. The most difficult thing about an earth elemental is getting one to be summoned, as the earth is an object at rest and tends to like that rest.
Types: Earth (Pure, Dust, Stone (Various kinds: boulder, pebble, mountain, volcano, magma), Sand (also ash), Gem, Metal (Various kinds: Iron, Titanium, Adamantine, Gold, Silver, Copper, Coin, Dagger), Material (Rope, Cloth, various fabrics), Wood (Deadwood (various types), leaf, brush), Rot (Fungi, Molds, Oozes), Mud, Sludge, Fury)

FURIES:
Furies are the combinations of all four elementals and are the greatest elemental force one can summon. Called upon – if they are called upon – only by the most powerful, furies, once summoned, cannot be commanded, and some say they cannot be stopped. A fury will not leave until its rage subsides, and woe betides those who get in its way. Even calming a fury has consequences: the fury dissolves into four of each kind of elemental that composed it, each operating with a cold, calm desire to destroy. More often than not, strong magical forces will inadvertently unleash furies. Indeed, the very first documented occurrence of a fury corresponded to the first Gate between planes – a magic tied to the school of Fate.

LIFE ELEMENTALS:
Life Elementals are called Golems and can be made of any substance but require Soulstones around which to exist. As such, Life elementals have a reliable duration regardless of their form but also a reliable weak spot.
Golems include flesh golems, iron golems, stone golems, fire golems, ice golems, wind golems, gas golems, water golems, bone golems, and so forth – if life magic infuses a soulstone and controls a surrounding material, one has a golem. That being said, the material costs for creating a golem are a bit different from contracting an elemental. Earthen or material golems are easier to make, as the soulstone and the maker can more readily create a workable shell. More powerful life magic is required to create water based golems, and more powerful still to make wind golems. The hardest golems to make are fire golems, as the incredible life energy required to sustain a fire’s hunger is massive indeed.
DEATH ELEMENTALS:

Death Elementals are called Shades and are contracted generally to protect ancient tombs from intrusion. Their power is tied to the death rituals of those buried there. Rather than corrupt the dead, they seek to preserve the burial grounds from invasion. In this manner, Death Elementals can create ‘ghosts’ of a sort, though these are not bound creatures or infected beings as one finds in the schools of fate and life magic, respectively – rather, they are guardian spirits looking over the tombs of the fallen, protecting the rights of the dead. Shades are both the weakest and strongest form of death elementals, with ghosts having more versatility in their abilities but also more weaknesses to common forms of attack and influence. Varying on the death ritual, different death elementals may be called forth – be it spirits of the family who take their turns guarding the corpses of the fallen, binding themselves from rest in order to protect their families in death, or simple death guardian spirits or shades, death given reason and drive. Death elementals do not wander or roam – they chiefly act as guardians of a certain area.
FATE ELEMENTALS:
Fate Elementals do not necessarily exist in a defined category. Rather, fate magic can be used to bind any elemental force to service. The stronger the magic – not the caster, necessarily, but the already existing universal tie – the stronger the bound force. This creation can be anything – be it ghost, golem, or elemental, shade or light. Any force of nature to which a certain fate is allocated may be bound by fate magic to a certain duration of elemental service.


Sample New Spells:

Fire:

Enchanting Flame (as Enthrall but on the flame rather than the speaker)

Water:

Boil Water: 1d4/level (up to 5d4) fire damage (lesser, 1st level) (1d6/lvl to 10d6 max) (normal, 3rd level), (1d8 to 15d8, greater, 6th level)

Freeze Water: 1d4/level (up to 5d4) cold damage, see above for levels.

Wind:

Steal Breath: Stun 1 round, Fort negates, cumulative increase in DC vs. go unconscious. Used against objects, this spell puts out lamps, candles, torches.

Earth:

Sap Blood: Regenerate 1 hp/ round up to level in hp.

Life:

Bolster: +2 to hits, damage, or to armor, ranged attacks, or to saves

Death:

Diminish: Choose one stat on target to diminish by -4.

Fate:

Doom: -2 for one target for all rolls.