[3.5] Incantations instead of classic magic

[weenie]

I had a wild idea for a campaign I'm planning. The world is going to be low-magic, so regular casters just don't feel right in it. Instead I was thinking that I could use a system of incantations, that would allow people to replicate some spell effects, but with much higher requirements. Incantations have to be studied in depth and most of them require a ritual to work, but other than that, anyone with a high enough ability score can learn them with enough time.

Now my question is, which spells should rituals be able to replicate, and how hard should they be to pull off?

To be able to fly you should have a broom, or a carpet for example, and the incantation should only work on a full moon. If you use an incantation to become invisible it only works for as long as you keep to dimly lit spaces etc. Any other ideas on what could work?

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Secret Chest, Rope Trick, Mount, Phantom Steed, Polymorph... I guess by making skill checks?

But we all know how badly that can turn out...

[FlamingKobold]

No! Not skill-based casting! Anything but that :smallsmile:

Truenamer references aside, one of the easiest was to determine what spells to allow is to start with "everything with an hours/level duration or longer" and then add subtract other specific. Start with 10 minutes/level if you want slightly more spells. These are the ones that can be made into a ritual most easily, because they are less combat-caster oriented, more preparation is involved, and the effect is slightly toned down.

[Jack_Simth]

I had a wild idea for a campaign I'm planning. The world is going to be low-magic, so regular casters just don't feel right in it. Instead I was thinking that I could use a system of incantations, that would allow people to replicate some spell effects, but with much higher requirements. Incantations have to be studied in depth and most of them require a ritual to work, but other than that, anyone with a high enough ability score can learn them with enough time.

Now my question is, which spells should rituals be able to replicate, and how hard should they be to pull off?

To be able to fly you should have a broom, or a carpet for example, and the incantation should only work on a full moon. If you use an incantation to become invisible it only works for as long as you keep to dimly lit spaces etc. Any other ideas on what could work?

Well, I suppose if I wanted to do a straight-up conversion....

Base skill DC: 10 + Spell level * 3.
Duration Factor (nonhurtful spells - buffs, healing, and the like):
-4 if spell's duration is day's per level (or longer, but less than Permanent)
-2 if spell is hours per level (or longer, but less than days/level)
+0 if spell is 10 minutes/level (or longer, but less than hours/level)
+2 if spell is 1 minute/level (or longer, but less than 10 minutes/level)
+4 if spell is not instant, but still less than than 1 min/level.
+6 if spell is instant or Permanent

Duration Factor (hurtful spells - debuffs, direct-damage, and so on)
+6 if spell is Permanent or Instant
+4 if spell's duration is day's per level (or longer, but less than Permanent)
+2 if spell is hours per level (or longer, but less than days/level)
+0 if spell is 10 minutes/level (or longer, but less than hours/level)
-2 if spell is 1 minute/level (or longer, but less than 10 minutes/level)
-4 if spell is not instant, but still less than than 1 min/level

Casting Time Factor:
-4 if the spell takes an hour or more to cast.
-2 if the spell ten minutes (or longer, but less than an hour) to cast.
+0 if the spell takes 1 minute (or longer, but less than ten minutes) to cast.
+2 if the spell takes 1 round (or longer, but less than 1 minute) to cast
+4 if the spell takes a standard action (or longer, but less than 1 round) to cast
+6 if the spell takes a swift action
+8 if the spell takes an immediate action

Components:
-(log(XP cost * 5), minimum 3) if the spell requires an XP component
-(log(price), minimum 2) if the spell requires expensive material components
-((log(price/100)), minimum 1) if the spell requires expensive focus components
-1 if the spell requires inexpensive material components
-1 if the spell has verbal components
-1 if the spell has somatic componets
-1 if the spell requires an inexpensive focus

Example:
Mage Armor (1st level spell):
Base DC (1st level spell): 12
Nonharmful, hours/level: -2
Casting time: 1 standard Action: +4
Components: V, S, F (nonexpensive): -3
Final Spellcraft DC: 11

You can adjust each of those off the base spell - however, when you do so, changes that would reduce the DC of the spell only reduce it by half the expected (so going from the standard Action casting time of Mage Armor (+4) to an hour-long casting time (-4) reduces the DC of the base spell (Mage Armor) by 4 rather than 8 (difference between +4 and -4 is 8, and you only get half that)), while changes that would increase the DC of the spell cost double the expected increase (so changing Shield from a standard action casting to a Swift-action casting (+4 to +6) increases the spell's DC by 4, rather than the expected 2).

Base skill: Spellcraft, and it's still Int-based, Trained only, class skill for some classes and not for others.

[Mongoose87]

Why is it easier to cast a permanent spell than an instant one?

[Zaq]

If you've ever read the Iron Heroes d20 setting, the Spiritualist has a halfway decent "skill"-based (it's actually a level check with a few other factors thrown in) casting system. It's designed for combat use, so you'll have to fiddle with the time factor, but basically for each spell, your check result gives you a number of "tokens" which you can spend on different factors (duration, range, power, different functionalities, area, etc.) Each spell is built as you go, rather than trying to come up with a pre-existing set of DCs for different effects which may or may not be really relevant to each case. So, you'd have to increase the casting time, throw in effects for having multiple participants or similar factors, and figure out how you wanted to let the players learn about each ritual necessary, but I really like the system and I think it's got potential. Where it says "Spiritualist level," just substitute "character level." Charisma, I think, could stay relevant, to give it some use in a world without much casting.

Just porting it over wouldn't work for your purposes, but I like the concept of "this is how well you succeeded, so you have this much capital to spend on this spell. Go." and I think it works well with the concept of incantations. YMMV.

[Lysander]

Animate Dead, Lesser Planar Binding, Dominate Person would all work great as lengthy evil rituals.

Contact Other Plane would be a great ritual, only performable on hallowed or unhallowed ground. Hallow and Unhallow could be temporary effects that last as long as an operational church is present there.