The Five Powers [WIP, input and suggestion needed]

[DualShadow]

Hey everyone, I'm trying to create a setting for myself and wanted to get some input and suggestion about what I have so far. Here is a few thing to consider:

1- I'm am trying to create it for DnD 3.5;
2- I hate when the rules don't reflect the fluff (ie: Fey blooded sorcerer have the same spell list that Dragon blooded ones)


The core concept in the world is that the whole of creation is made from 5 distinct elements namely: Divine, Eldritch, Life, Mind, Soul.

Eldritch
This energy is mostly used by spellcasters such as Wizards and Sorcerers and is known to them as Arcane energy. Eldritch energy is what the very universe is made from. Usual form of Eldritch usage include Arcane spells, Truenaming and Invocation.


Life
Pretty self descriptive, Life energy is what animate the physical creation made from Eldritch. Usual method of uses include drawing it from nearby massive sources such as the very planet or by drawing from their own source of life force often known as Ki or Chi.


Mind
Another self descriptive one, Mind energy is what give the Eldritch creation the power to think. The known uses of Mind energy is the manifestation of Psychic powers.


Soul
The energy responsible for emotions and overall conciense. Manifestation of Soul energies include Soulmelds (and other essentia-requiring abilities) and the exoteric Pact magic.


Divine
Last but not least, Divine energies is what binds the other four together, may it be the universe itself or the body of a human, this energy is what regulate the balance. Usually channeled by entities known as gods and granted as surges to their followers.


I still have Shadow energy (mysteries) to classify as I cannot really do it myself being one who favors shadow as an element. The way one can see it include that the plane of shadows is the reflection of the material plane who is near the Otherworld (plane of Life, see Quintessential Druid third party book) thus making Shadow as a subtype of the Life power.

Or, it is the reflection of Eldritch energy (the whole physical creation) and therefore in the Eldritch categorie making it similar to Arcane spells (as already the case).

Lastly, The reflection of everything which that Shadow is every type at once which introduce other problems.


--------------------------------

Separating into distinct class each type of magic brings me to another thing I need to create. Interaction between the many forces. Do I include some penalty to Dispel Magic, Counterspell and other interaction such as those?

My first idea is yes, Divine have no penalty against all and the reverse is also true, while the others have somekind of penalty? (Theory only, number crunching should be left to the homebrew thread)


--------------------------------

Any thoughts to anything I have writen?

[Wyntonian]

This looks promising, but i'm not sure what purpose it serves. how do you plan to tie this into a world? what effect will it have on the magic system?

[DualShadow]

Basically I want to fluff it out first and then make the rule (if needed) about it. I expect that it will have little effect upon the actual gameplay apart from the inter-magic interaction. I am doing this because I want to create something for my own pleasure and because when the fluff doesnt match the rules it kinda bring me down.

Other things I am currantly considering even if unbalacing even more mages is the pooling of all spell slots.

Making Wizard's 4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4/4 Spell-per-day into a big 180 spell slots + the spell slots for higher Int. The Wizard could then prepare his spells on the basis of spell level = spell slots required. Now this could lead to overpowered because of the sheer amount of lv 9 spells that could be prepared. This could be countered by adding a higher casting time to higher lv spells. I don't like the ability to reshape reality as a Standard Action (yes Wish is a Standard Action).

All these things are open to dicussion and suggestion.

[snowboule]

Pew pew pew

Seperate your spell points in 3 tier of spell levels

tier 1 = 123 tier 2 = 456 and tier 3 789 and epic

[Morph Bark]

The way shadow functions in DnD is the same as arcane stuff, fluff-wise. Alternatively, you could make it be the Eldritch energy of the Plane of Shadow, and thus the "shadow" of beings.

I'd describe it this way: Eldritch energy is like a jar. In the jar you stuff the Mind, the Life, the Soul and the Divine that glues it together. The Shadow is a differently-flavoured Eldritch energy which functions as the cap or cork stopper or whathaveyou.

[DualShadow]

Pew pew pew

Seperate your spell points in 3 tier of spell levels

tier 1 = 123 tier 2 = 456 and tier 3 789 and epic

That would limit the amout of high level spell that could be prepared. While it goes the way I want by allowing to fuse spell slots, it still does really explain why I can't use 2 lv 3 slots to prepare a lv 6 spell. I only need a half decent fluffy reason for why it is this way and I would go with it though.


The way shadow functions in DnD is the same as arcane stuff, fluff-wise. Alternatively, you could make it be the Eldritch energy of the Plane of Shadow, and thus the "shadow" of beings.

I'd describe it this way: Eldritch energy is like a jar. In the jar you stuff the Mind, the Life, the Soul and the Divine that glues it together. The Shadow is a differently-flavoured Eldritch energy which functions as the cap or cork stopper or whathaveyou.

You are saying an Eldritch that have some sort of Divine-ish role to play? Or Shadow is part everything since its the reflection of everything at once?

[Ajadea]

The title of the thread and the idea of shadow to me suggests some sort of antielement.

I would put shadow as the counterpart to divine-while the divine binds, the shadow breaks. Dispel Magic, Disintegrate, and Apopsi be Shadow effects then.

[Omeganaut]

I feel like shadow magic would be truely arcane and unnatural magic, while eldritch would use the materials at hand and so would be like Ranger Druid and Bard magic.