Empedocles
2012-05-24, 08:39 PM
The wizard. Magic. Vancian magic.
Magic in D&D, particularly 3rd edition, has always been a hotly debated subject. The brokenness...but also the inability of anyone to seem to be able to fix it. Sure, we got some good ideas (Codex of Spellshaping pretty much doing it for a lot of people) but the ones that worked also lost the old school magic feel: the preparing magic, but more importantly the fragility of the spellcaster. If I can summon meteors or monsters, transform into enormous dragons, jump between planes as a free action, or just create my own plane...well...:smallconfused:
In good old fashioned D&D, the wizard cowers behind the fighter, who wallops at the ogre (who the rogue is sneaking behind) until the wizard can unleash fiery death. Spellshaping is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it's doesn't really capture this.
What does succeed in capturing this is the Sovereign Stone campaign setting's magic system. It's ****ing brilliant. Spells, which are less powerful but more utilitarian, all have a set DC. Higher level spellcasters are better at making these DCs. But here's the thing: you can spend more than 1 turn casting a spell. In fact, you can take as long as you want to cast a spell.
So while the wizard hums and chants and prepares to raise the dead as mindless zombies...he needs to avoid having his head chopped off. And what's that I hear? THE FIGHTER IS USEFUL AGAIN!
The spell system goes on to include rules for dark ("void") magic and awesome spell book rules, but it's this basic, almost ritualistic, aspect of magic that D&D needs more of. It's perfect.
Magic in D&D, particularly 3rd edition, has always been a hotly debated subject. The brokenness...but also the inability of anyone to seem to be able to fix it. Sure, we got some good ideas (Codex of Spellshaping pretty much doing it for a lot of people) but the ones that worked also lost the old school magic feel: the preparing magic, but more importantly the fragility of the spellcaster. If I can summon meteors or monsters, transform into enormous dragons, jump between planes as a free action, or just create my own plane...well...:smallconfused:
In good old fashioned D&D, the wizard cowers behind the fighter, who wallops at the ogre (who the rogue is sneaking behind) until the wizard can unleash fiery death. Spellshaping is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but it's doesn't really capture this.
What does succeed in capturing this is the Sovereign Stone campaign setting's magic system. It's ****ing brilliant. Spells, which are less powerful but more utilitarian, all have a set DC. Higher level spellcasters are better at making these DCs. But here's the thing: you can spend more than 1 turn casting a spell. In fact, you can take as long as you want to cast a spell.
So while the wizard hums and chants and prepares to raise the dead as mindless zombies...he needs to avoid having his head chopped off. And what's that I hear? THE FIGHTER IS USEFUL AGAIN!
The spell system goes on to include rules for dark ("void") magic and awesome spell book rules, but it's this basic, almost ritualistic, aspect of magic that D&D needs more of. It's perfect.