Eldariel
2010-01-14, 04:19 AM
Well, I know it's been done before. But I was thinking of Abjurations and how they fall into the magic system, and I realized that the school acts as a sort of a Metamagic-school; that is, magic that deals with magic rather than magic that affects reality somehow.
As such, I noticed that makes for a nice basis that requires a bit of reworking but leads to a surprisingly solid system. It also comes surprisingly close to the old system, just without the randomness with schools.
So, to start with:
Metamagic (or "Alteration" or something to effect; basically the school that deals with raw magic): Magical effects that interact or produce raw magical effects. This mostly includes every Force-effect, every Dispel-type effect, every spell-altering/improving effect and so on. Abjuration has much of this, already, but this'd also have offensive Force-effects, Mage Armor, etc. This'd also have 100% less Dismissal-type effects and such. Also, Mage Hand/Telekinesis-type effects could fall in here depending on how exactly you fluff them; I'd probably put them in Shaping though.
Conjuration: Basically, all manners of spells that move things through the Aether would fall here. In other words, spell that alter time or space around you. Summoning, Calling, Teleportation, Banishing, Plane Shifting, etc. Woulda renamed it but "Summoning" or "The School That Moves Things" didn't really have a ring to it. This'd mostly have one-half of the old Conjuration (no Glitterdust, Web, Grease & al. tho). This'd also be the "screw with Time"-school, so at least Time Stop could fall in here (unless you flavor it as "making yourself move superfast" as in 3.5).
Creation: The school that creates matter. Much of former Conjuration falls in here; Glitterdusts, Webs, X Creation, Acid-stuff, etc. Not much to say; really straight-forward split.
Elementalism: Basic elemental magic (going by the four Aristotelian non-solid elements in D&D, Fire, Cold, Electricity, Sonic). Every effect that creates or manipulates those elements would fall here. Fogs and Control Weather-type effects would fall in here.
Mindmagic: This'd basically include most of old Illusion and Enchantment. Stuff that alters the mind or its perception. Shadow-type spells would end up in their own school, but all kinds of Images, Fear-effects (sorry, Necromancy; Cause Fear is NOT Necromantic), and pretty much everything Enchantment used to have would fall in here. This'd also have much of the old Divination (reading minds, increasing your own awareness and the like), while the rest of it would fall under Conjuration (such as Contact Other Plane, seeing moment to the future [Foresight], etc.)
Necromancy: Basic negative/positive energy manipulation. This'd mostly remain intact, except Healing would of course fall in here. Necromancy is a bit of a misnomer, of course, but let that be forgiven.
Shaping: Basically, elemental magic deals with energy, this deals with matter. All creation, alteration and such of matter would fall here. One could also collapse magic that alters living matter in here, but of course, manipulating life/death is Necromancy. Still, there is no need for a differentiation between living and dead matter; just, this school can't alter that life itself, it can just alter the being. This'd mostly have most of Transmutation (minus things yoinked by Elemental magic and Conjuration).
Shadow: Mostly a school specialized in manipulating Shadow stuff. Shadow Conjurations/Evocations, Simulacrums and all manners of quasi-real crap would fall in here. The Illusions that fall in Mindmagic are strictly illusionary constructs that fool sensory abilities. Would probably require a dozen new spells to make it worth a new school; otherwise one could collapse it into Creation and Shaping or Necromancy quite easily. After all, creating Shadow Stuff is still creating and manipulating it is still manipulating. It shouldn't really be in Illusion at any rate. I find the old Illusion-school to be the second-most-illogical right after Abjuration.
I think that covers everything; Universal would lose a lot of spells (stuff like Permanency would now fall under Metamagic/Alteration). On counterbalance, one could make "Read Magic" Universal tho. Detect Magic, Arcane Sight and so on is clearly Metamagic here, but yeah.
Also, I think those schools are rather balanced; "Enchantment" and "Abjuration" got quite a bit, Conjuration and Transmutation lost some, Necromancy got some and Elemental magic has monopoly in energy effects now. Shadow is probably a bit lackluster so I'd personally just expand Necromancy to cover a third energy type in Shadow.
Does my logic break somewhere? Is some of the schools illogical? Am I committing a WoTC here? Also, why the hell do I even posting this? [The last one is rhetorical]
As such, I noticed that makes for a nice basis that requires a bit of reworking but leads to a surprisingly solid system. It also comes surprisingly close to the old system, just without the randomness with schools.
So, to start with:
Metamagic (or "Alteration" or something to effect; basically the school that deals with raw magic): Magical effects that interact or produce raw magical effects. This mostly includes every Force-effect, every Dispel-type effect, every spell-altering/improving effect and so on. Abjuration has much of this, already, but this'd also have offensive Force-effects, Mage Armor, etc. This'd also have 100% less Dismissal-type effects and such. Also, Mage Hand/Telekinesis-type effects could fall in here depending on how exactly you fluff them; I'd probably put them in Shaping though.
Conjuration: Basically, all manners of spells that move things through the Aether would fall here. In other words, spell that alter time or space around you. Summoning, Calling, Teleportation, Banishing, Plane Shifting, etc. Woulda renamed it but "Summoning" or "The School That Moves Things" didn't really have a ring to it. This'd mostly have one-half of the old Conjuration (no Glitterdust, Web, Grease & al. tho). This'd also be the "screw with Time"-school, so at least Time Stop could fall in here (unless you flavor it as "making yourself move superfast" as in 3.5).
Creation: The school that creates matter. Much of former Conjuration falls in here; Glitterdusts, Webs, X Creation, Acid-stuff, etc. Not much to say; really straight-forward split.
Elementalism: Basic elemental magic (going by the four Aristotelian non-solid elements in D&D, Fire, Cold, Electricity, Sonic). Every effect that creates or manipulates those elements would fall here. Fogs and Control Weather-type effects would fall in here.
Mindmagic: This'd basically include most of old Illusion and Enchantment. Stuff that alters the mind or its perception. Shadow-type spells would end up in their own school, but all kinds of Images, Fear-effects (sorry, Necromancy; Cause Fear is NOT Necromantic), and pretty much everything Enchantment used to have would fall in here. This'd also have much of the old Divination (reading minds, increasing your own awareness and the like), while the rest of it would fall under Conjuration (such as Contact Other Plane, seeing moment to the future [Foresight], etc.)
Necromancy: Basic negative/positive energy manipulation. This'd mostly remain intact, except Healing would of course fall in here. Necromancy is a bit of a misnomer, of course, but let that be forgiven.
Shaping: Basically, elemental magic deals with energy, this deals with matter. All creation, alteration and such of matter would fall here. One could also collapse magic that alters living matter in here, but of course, manipulating life/death is Necromancy. Still, there is no need for a differentiation between living and dead matter; just, this school can't alter that life itself, it can just alter the being. This'd mostly have most of Transmutation (minus things yoinked by Elemental magic and Conjuration).
Shadow: Mostly a school specialized in manipulating Shadow stuff. Shadow Conjurations/Evocations, Simulacrums and all manners of quasi-real crap would fall in here. The Illusions that fall in Mindmagic are strictly illusionary constructs that fool sensory abilities. Would probably require a dozen new spells to make it worth a new school; otherwise one could collapse it into Creation and Shaping or Necromancy quite easily. After all, creating Shadow Stuff is still creating and manipulating it is still manipulating. It shouldn't really be in Illusion at any rate. I find the old Illusion-school to be the second-most-illogical right after Abjuration.
I think that covers everything; Universal would lose a lot of spells (stuff like Permanency would now fall under Metamagic/Alteration). On counterbalance, one could make "Read Magic" Universal tho. Detect Magic, Arcane Sight and so on is clearly Metamagic here, but yeah.
Also, I think those schools are rather balanced; "Enchantment" and "Abjuration" got quite a bit, Conjuration and Transmutation lost some, Necromancy got some and Elemental magic has monopoly in energy effects now. Shadow is probably a bit lackluster so I'd personally just expand Necromancy to cover a third energy type in Shadow.
Does my logic break somewhere? Is some of the schools illogical? Am I committing a WoTC here? Also, why the hell do I even posting this? [The last one is rhetorical]