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Denihilist
2012-02-08, 01:01 PM
I am creating a world where all have at least a small measure of magical ability (maybe a house wife might have prestigidation, or create water, etc), but I began to question my preconceived( 3.0/3.5/3.8/Pathfinder) notions of magic.
Does all magic create the actual thing that is desired, or does it create a simulacrum? Such as when creatures are summoned? Creatures from this world may actually be creatures summoned from one place to the side of the summoner to aid them, and when they die, it is their final death. Yet, beings from other worlds/planes of existence are summoned, and upon receiving enough damage are sent back to their world and can be summoned again at a later time. Why do fireballs act like they do, rather than act like real fire? Why is there no rushing of wind as the fire burns the oxygen in the air? Why is there no heated explosive concussion as the fireball comes into being?
I am looking at one of two ways to go with my design for magic:
I know there are rules considerations to be made, but could having varying types of magic in use (besides complicating things) add a measure of flavor? Maybe younger, less powerful magic users have the more uncontrollable effects, but as one becomes more practiced, the magic also gets more precise.’
The other option is that the non-mage/witches (i.e. non-professional spellslingers who only have limited access to spells) are the ones with the more “real” magical effects. I am still working on balancing the power levels available, but let’s say a Warrior/fighter wants to launch a fire orb at a target, well, his fire orb would hit, burn, have a small explosion, and then continue to burn consuming other things in the area and possibly causing more problems, whereas the Mage of the party might cast the same spell, but because the energy of the spell is magical in nature, rather than related to heat and “mundane energy” the Mage’s fire orb hits, does more HP damage to the target, and disappears leaving a scorched mark.
I would be very interested in hearing options and thoughts on this.

bobthe6th
2012-02-08, 01:42 PM
fire ball used to involve volume calculations back in 2E... but apparently WOTC realized geometry is a bit of a pain in a D&D game.

Denihilist
2012-02-08, 04:37 PM
I thought there was something like that back in the day, but I am hoping to figure out a way to make it simpler, not sure if that is possible.

bobthe6th
2012-02-08, 05:04 PM
give it a volume rather then an area. then its simple geometery... most of the time. say 4189 cupic feet rather then a twenty foot burst. or round to like 4000

jiriku
2012-02-08, 06:28 PM
Whatever you decide, I'd recommend you carefully write down the rules for your homebrew and share them with your players before character creation. Be willing to change something if it's clearly not working, but be also reluctant to change something unless you really have to. Players value a stable, predictable ruleset as their "home base" in a game world full of things that are trying to kill them.

First, how are you planning to approach the new magic system? Will it be open only to PCs, only to NPCs, or both? Are you planning to write new spells, modify existing ones, or just create new spell-like effects? Will you support the new magic system with custom or variant feats, character classes, or prestige classes? Planning out the scope of your work ahead of time and make sure you're not taking on a project that's larger than you wanted. For example, I find that writing a good 20-level base class takes me about 30 - 50 hours, with another 5-20 hours invested down the road in discussing and editing it later once playing reveals opportunities for improvement. Feats take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes depending on how complicated they are and whether I invent them myself or hunt the web for ideas.

Denihilist
2012-02-09, 02:48 PM
jiriku:
The magic will be open to PCs as well as NPCs. Some spells will be new, others modified, I am workign on creating a range of original feats, but since my sytem is loosely based on D20, I am paying careful attention to interoperability. These modifications are bbeing made to a setting I created for the 3.5 ruleset with the classes I made for that, still working on prestige classes.

bobthe6th:
I will definitely look at the concept of volume for the effective area of a spell, as well as what (how much) a given spell can affect.

Thank you both for your comments, it s nice to be able to have a discussion like this to help clarify my thoughts and be reminded of things I should be considering.

jiriku
2012-02-09, 06:53 PM
OK, sounds like you're coming from a real strong place with development experience and a good game plan. So basically you're considering:

Fundamental magic, intended to have permanent physical impact on the surrounding world
Stage magic, which works more like Hollywood special effects


Any other types?

Denihilist
2012-02-13, 03:47 PM
jiriku, that is a very apt and accurate designation of magic, and honestly, those are the only types I have considered so far, I don't want to complicate the world with psionics just yet, so thanks for the description