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View Full Version : [3.5] Lords of Magic Spellcasting Variant (and other world building ideas)



Hawk7915
2010-06-06, 04:06 PM
A few months ago, there was a Lords of Magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Magic) PbP on these forums that died a tragic death. I was thinking of a resurrection of this campaign (maybe even DM'ing it), but some homebrew is required. So this is a thread for me to keep my thoughts on that organized and get some help/feedback :smallsmile:.

For starters, one thing that threw me in that campaign was how spellcasting worked (or was going to work). As I sat around pondering it, here's the fix I was contemplating:

Lords of Magic: Faith Spell Lists

In the Lords of Magic world, each "faith" has a set of favored classes. Order tends to have studious wizards and archivists. Death has Dread Necromancers and evil clerics, etc. However, regardless of what class a player chooses to play, the spell list of that class gets replaced with a generalist spell list + the Faith spell list. That class may only learn spells at level-up from this list. Arcane, divine, other: it doesn't matter. A life sorcerer and a life druid and a life cloistered cleric all have access to the "Life" spell list only. Class is just a choice of, well, class features. The spell lists are listed below (and are currently a work in progress)
Generalist Spell List: - available to all spellcasting classes, regardless of faith.

Cantrips/Orisons:

Arcane Mark
Detect Magic
Mage Hand
Open/Close
Read Magic

1st level:

Alarm
Cure Light Wounds
Hold Portal
Mage Armor
Magic Weapon
Magic Missile
Orb of Force, Lesser
2nd level:

Arcane Lock
Bear's Endurance
Bull's Strength
Cat's Grace
Darkvision
Eagle's Splendor
Fox's Cunning
Identify
Owl's Wisdom

3rd level:

Arcane Sight
Dispel Magic

4th level:

Detect Scrying
Orb of Force, Greater
Scrying

5th level:

Dismissal

6th level:

Bear's Endurance, Mass
Bull's Strength, Mass
Cat's Grace, Mass
Dispel Magic, Greater
Eagle's Splendor, Mass
Fox's Cunning, Mass
Guards and Wards
Legend Lore
Owl's Wisdom, Mass

7th level:

Arcane Sight, Greater
Banishment
Scrying, Greater
Vision

8th level:

Discern Location
Moment of Prescience

9th level:

Disjunction


Life spell list: Available to the Elven Faith of Life. Life magic focuses on healing and protecting people, and destroying undead. Life would most likely have access to Cloistered Clerics, Favored Souls, and maybe Sorcerers as their spellcasters, although that's not set in stone. Spells with an option to them (the Summon line) must be cast as Good only.

Cantrips/Orisons:

Cure Minor Wounds
Disrupt Undead
Guidance
Purify Food and Water
Resistance
Virtue


1st level:

Bless
Faith Healing
Hide from Undead
Protection from Evil
Sanctuary
Shield of Faith
Summon Monster I
Vigor, Lesser

2nd level:

Aid
Consecrate
Cure Moderate Wounds
Enthrall
Hold Person
Protection from Arrows
Remove Paralysis
Restoration, Lesser
Shield Other
Summon Monster II

3rd level:

Cure Serious Wounds
Daylight
Glyph of Warding
Magic Circle against Evil
Magic Vestment
Prayer
Remove Curse
Remove Disease
Searing Light
Summon Monster III
Vigor

4th level:

Cure Critical Wounds
Death Ward
Holy Smite
Restoration
Spell Immunity
Summon Monster IV

5th level:

Break Enchantment
Cure Light Wounds, mass
Dispel Evil
Disrupting Weapon
Flame Strike
Hallow
Raise Dead
Spell Resistance
Summon Monster V


6th level:

Antimagic Field
Bolt of Glory
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass
Heal
Hero's Feast
Summon Monster VI


7th level:

Cure Serious Wounds, Mass
Holy Word
Regenerate
Repulsion
Ressurection
Sunbeam
Summon Monster VII

8th level:

Cure Critical Wounds, Mass
Holy Aura
Mind Blank
Sunburst
Summon Monster VIII

9th level:

Mass Heal
Summon Monster IX
True Ressurection


Chaos spell list: Available to the violent but spiritual tribes of Chaos. Chaos spells are a weird bag; there's a lot of tricky stuff on there, as well as some sonic-based damage stuff and animal-centric spells. The basic theme is "Bard stuff", with a dose of druidic magic. The "Nature's Ally" line can only be used to summon Animals.

Cantrips/Orisons:

Dancing Lights
Daze
Ghost Sound
Prestidigitation

1st level:

Color Spray
Confusion, Lesser
Disguise Self
Entropic Shield
Magic Fang
Orb of Sound, Lesser
Protection from Law
Summon Nature's Ally I
Ventriloquism

2nd level:

Aid
Animalistic Power
Blur
Glitterdust
Hold Animal
Invisibility
Misdirection
Shatter
Sound Burst
Summon Nature's Ally II

3rd level:

Alter Self
Displacement
Dominate Animal
Magic Circle against Law
Rage
Summon Nature's Ally III

4th level:

Chaos Hammer
Confusion
Freedom of Movement
Hallucinatory Terrain
Invisibility, Greater
Orb of Sound
Summon Nature's Ally III

5th level:

Animal Growth
Baleful Polymorph
Commune with Nature
Dispel Law
Summon Nature's Ally V


6th level:

Animate Object
Disintegrate
Mislead
Summon Nature's Ally VI


7th level:

Animal Shapes
Invisibility, Mass
Power Word: Blind
Prismatic Spray
Summon Nature's Ally VII
Word of Chaos

8th level:

Cloak of Chaos
Irresistible Dance
Insanity
Power Word: Stun
Scintillating Pattern
Summon Nature's Ally VIII


9th level:

Power Word: Kill
Shapechange
Summon Monster IX
Weird


Air spell list: Available to the frost giants and fae folk of the frosty mountains. Air magic focuses on weather, wind, and electricity (duh), but it also features some frost spells and pretty much every mobility-enhancing spell you can think of. Spells with options (the Summon Monster line, Elemental Swarm) can only be cast as "Air" spells.

Cantrips/Orisons:

Light
Message
Ray of Frost


1st level:

Endure Elements
Faerie Fire
Jump
Longstrider
Obscuring Mist
Orb of Electricity, Lesser
Shocking Grasp

2nd level:

Gust of Wind
Levitate
Whispering Wind
Wind Wall

3rd level:

Call Lightning
Clairaudience/Clairvoyance
Gaseous Form
Haste
Lightning Bolt
Summon Monster III

4th level:

Air Walk
Dimension Door
Freedom of Movement
Orb of Electricity
Sleet Storm
Summon Monster IV
Wall of Ice

5th level:

Call Lightning Storm
Ice Storm
Overland Flight
Summon Monster V
Teleport


6th level:

Chain Lightning
Control Winds
Summon Monster VI
Telekinesis


7th level:

Control Weather
Teleport, Greater
Teleport Object
Summon Monster VII
Wind Walk

8th level:

Reverse Gravity
Summon Monster VIII
Whirlwind

9th level:

Elemental Swarm
Foresight
Storm of Vengeance


Water Spell List: The spell list of the Amazons and Lizardfolk of the coasts focuses on ice spells with a dash of acid, as well as some healing and terrain control magic. Their Summon Nature's Ally spells can only summon aquatic creatures, and their Summon Monster line can only summon Water Elementals.
Cantrips/Orisons:

Acid Splash
Create Water
Cure Minor Wounds
Purify Food and Water
Ray of Frost

1st level:

Chill Touch
Entropic Shield
Grease
Obscuring Mist
Orb of Frost, Lesser
Summon Nature's Ally I
Vigor, Lesser

2nd level:

Acid Arrow
Chill Metal
Delay Poison
Fog Cloud
Resist Fire
Summon Nature's Ally II

3rd level:

Cure Moderate Wounds
Neutralize Poison
Protection from Fire
Quench
Summon Monster III
Summon Nature's Ally III
Water Breathing
Water Walking

4th level:

Control Water
Cure Serious Wounds
Orb of Frost
Rusting Grasp
Solid Fog
Summon Monster IV
Summon Nature's Ally IV
Vigor

5th level:

Black Tentacles
Cure Critical Wounds
Ice Storm
Summon Monster V
Summon Nature's Ally V

6th level:

Cone of Cold
Cure Light Wounds, Mass
Freezing Sphere
Summon Monster VI
Summon Nature's Ally VI

7th level:

Acid Fog
Heal
Summon Monster VII
Summon Nature's Ally VII

8th level:

Polar Ray
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass
Summon Monster VIII
Summon Nature's Ally VIII

9th level:

Cure Critical Wounds, Mass
Elemental Swarm
Regenerate


======================
So here's the questions:
1) Does this seem like an okay variant? Anything obviously broken by allowing certain classes access to these spells? Any bizarre corner cases that arise? (as a note, for clerics my idea is that they still choose domains, but only gain the associated powers, not the spells, since honestly the spell lists already include most of those domain spells.)

2) Not all Faiths are equal; that's part of the idea is that certain faiths have access to better areas. Life has a ton of spells, but most of them are "underpowered" healing spells. Meanhwhile, Chaos has batman's favorites and Air has the teleport line to complement its blasting. Still, are there any blatant offenders? Any faith's that have outright unplayable spell lists, or faiths that seem a bit overpowered?

3) I'm keeping this to core spells with a select few spells from completes and PHB2. Anything missing? Anything feel out of place from a flavor standpoint?

4) I have "Order" written, but haven't even started the rest...if someone is feeling ambitious :smallwink: