M:tg d20 (setting) (peach, obviously)

[fireinthedust]

It's been tried before, it'll happen again, but here's what I would use in a game where M:tg is the inspiration.

Races:
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Goblins
Merfolk (MM? new version with na?)
Winged celestials?
Goliaths
Half-orcs/elves
Gnomes
Warforged
Shifters
Changlings



Classes:
fighter
paladin
ranger
bard
barbarian
rogue
artificer (eberron CS)
monk(?)
Wildshaper
Planeswalker.

PrCs: virtually any, although using planewalker spellcasting rates for arcane and divine caster prcs. Note that all PrCs must wait until after 4th level, when a primary colour is chosen.

Planeswalker:
HD: d4
Skills: any on cleric, druid, wizard and sorcerer lists. 2+Int mod. x4; 2+int mod per level.
In Unearthed Arcana there's a rule for generic spellcasters: cleric/wizard/druid spells are on the same list, so they can cast whatever spells they find that they want.
Every few levels they would get feats, but like the rules variant they can choose class features also: domain abilities, turn undead, summon familiar, item creation feats, spontaineous casting (white=cure spells, etc.) etc.
Mana Shards: Planeswalkers search out Mana shards to create special magical runes allowing them to cast summoning spells (see magic, below). They can have more “mana-shards” or “mana-runes” as they increase in level, which they can use to summon creatures (see Summoning, below), and also for special feats (see Feats, below), or to cast additional spells in a round (see below). Certain creatures require particular numbers of mana-runes, many of particular colors, in order to be summoned at all. A planeswalker can have up to 2+ class level Runes of any color they are allowed to cast from.
Activating a rune is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and creates a glowing rune that appears in the air before the Planeswalker (much like dancing lights or faerie fire); if distracted, as with casting spells, the planeswalker must roll a concentration check or else release the rune. The rune is not destroyed, but the planeswalker must spend another move action to call it back again.

Preparing spells: Planeswalkers learn their spells from books, and create a list of spells they know. The list is permanent until they spend an hour in study. To prepare their new list, however, they must have a copy of every spell to be added to the list with them, such as in a traveling spellbook, when at a magical library, through the Spell Mastery feat, or written on the wall of an abandoned temple, for example. When the list is changed, no spell on the previous list is kept and it must be found anew. After their list is prepared, the Planeswalker may cast spontaineously from it. DC for saves are based on Int or Wis or Cha, chosen at first level.

Item creation and use: Planeswalkers can use any item, but rarely bother with item creation feats themselves, preferring to perfect their spellcasting technique and collect spellbooks. Item creation, as in the case of golems, potions and rings, is typically left to Artificers.

Armour: Planeswalkers suffer from spell failure when wearing any form of armour. This can be overcome by association with powerful magical beings, who grant armour use or other abilities in exchange for service, but that service comes with it’s own costs and limitations.
Magic:
Spells: I'd want to sort all known spells into the 5 colors (white, red, blue, green, black), and have wizards select which colours they would cast. In theory there would be generic spells or else spells that count as several schools, and spells without which wizardry would be impossible (example: fly, bull’s strength, etherealness, plane shift, teleport, read magic).
There isn’t School specialization, like with illusionists. Each caster would choose a primary color, which gives them special abilities as they rise in level, but give up one colour they can never again prepare spells from; this does not have to be an opposing color, such as white/black or white/red.
Certain spells also require Runes to be activated before they can be cast. This includes summoning spells, but also other spells such as Ressurection, animate dead spells, and others as noted in their entries. If the spell is cast without the Runes activated first, the spell fails and the slot is lost for the day.

Colors: Sorting spells follows flavour guidelines; in a pinch, use the following with caution:
RED: Evocations, polymorphing, fire, electricity, destruction, chaos.
BLUE: Mind-influencing, enchantment/charm, water, (fox’s cunning, owl’s wisdom, etc.), dream, illusion/phantasm, divination.
WHITE: Protection, law, good, healing, life, abjurations, banishment, dispelling, magic circle against X.
GREEN: Druid/ranger spells, plant, animal, earth.
BLACK: animate dead, undeath, trickery, death, necromantic effects.


Patron: some Planeswalkers pledge themselves to a patron (example: undying court, orcus, etc.), altering their spellcasting methods to align with that deity, in exchange for granted powers. Rather than casting their spells from particular spellbooks, the Planeswalker (often called an Acolyte) prepares from a set list of spells available to any spellcaster beholden to that organization/patron. They may prepare their spells without spellbooks, but the list never changes and is dependant upon their patron’s portfolio. Often spells are limited to one color (such as white), or a particular theme (such as undeath and evil). They must mediate for an hour each day at an appointed time (dawn, dusk, midnight, etc.) or else their spell list is wiped clean and they must wait another 24 hours to select their spells again. In exchange for this inconvenience, the patron grants two of the following special abilities:
Armour proficiency: spellcasting in light/heavy armour has no chance of spell failure.
Turn OR Rebuke/command Undead: as a cleric of the Planeswalker’s level
Turn/Rebuke elementals of forbidden/associated colors.
Domain abilities/granted power: select any from patron’s list.

Fallen Acolytes: should an Acolyte fall from their Patron’s code, or disobey them, etc., the Acolyte immediately looses access to spellcasting and abilities such as Turn Undead, until such time as they atone for their misdeeds.


Guilds: Planeswalkers often join organizations of spellcasters, to share knowledge and join forces for safety in numbers, but also to gain access to special magical abilities only the guild can grant. Joining a guild carries with it strict rules and dues, but grant additional spellcasting options. Duties to the guild range from hefty financial obligations to quests for powerful magical items and finding stolen spellbooks (usually both). Should the Planeswalker fail in their duties to the guild, they immediately loose access to guild benefits and abilities. Sample abilities below:
Circle Magic: see Red Wizard PrC. Any guild member may contribute to a circle; 5th level and higher may take a feat to lead circles.
Spellpool: as the Guild Wizard PrC (magic of faerun, complete arcane), the character takes level in Guild Wizard.



SUMMONING
All Planeswalkers can cast summoning spells. Unlike in the PHB, each creature has it’s own specific Summoning spell, rather than being selected from a particular list. To summon a particular creature, the Planeswalker must have that particular creature’s summoning spell prepared to their spell lists. As well, most creatures have particular numbers and colors of Runes that must be activated before they respond to summoning. If the Planeswalker casts the spell without enough Runes activated, that spell slot is lost for the day.
Virtually any creature can be summoned. Outsiders are most frequently called, as are dragons and elementals, some undead also. However, in many cases these creatures are created from the essence of the spell: rather than a particular Outsider, for example, the spell evokes the essence of that outsider type for the duration of the summoning. If the creature is slain in combat during the summoning period and it is a particular creature, it is not dead, and may return to haunt the summoner or the creatures that slew it.
Creatures are sorted by type and colour.
RED: Goblins, chaotic outsiders, slaadi, gibbering mouthers, fire elementals, fire subtype giants, fire type dragons, fire-based Outsiders, minotaurs.
BLUE: water elementals, sea creatures, ice creatures, cold subtype creatures.
GREEN: plant creatures, animals (dire, legendary, giant, etc.), vermin, earth subtype elementals, outsider and dragons, fey.
BLACK: Undead (wraiths, shadows, etc.), evil outsiders, vermin, some aberrations.
WHITE: Celestials, angels, archons, eladrin; Good outsiders, some lawful; Air Outsiders.


Artifacts:
Magic item creation can be done by Planeswalkers, but mostly by Artificers, who seek out the methods to create wonderous items. In ancient times such items were forged by the giants of old, or of races now forgotten. Examples include elemental binding for airships, portals for traveling the planes, golems that guard ancient sites, and other items of significant power oft buried deep beneath the earth.
Artificers travel with Planeswalkers and adventuring groups, searching for any sign of lost secrets of crafting magical items.

Dragons:
Alternate creation rules coming soon. Includes history with the Great Wyrms of ancient times.

History:
Coming soon. Expect ancient times, eras of legend and devastation, etc.

Deities:
Coming soon, but in general there is one creator God; all other patrons are powerful magical creatures (example: the Great Wyrms of ancient times, other DnD patrons of Clerics, etc.) who can grant spells through patron service and oaths.

[Delcan]

Three things spring to mind, one unimportant, two less so:

1. No love for the viashino? :smallsmile: You could probably use lizardfolk stats to represent them without much trouble.

2. Planeswalkers are very nearly godlike in nature in the M:tG world; these are people who can walk across the multiverse as easily as one walks across the street, can draw upon vast land masses for their power, and summon legendary and unique creatures with surprising ease. I'd save a Planeswalker PrC for epic levels.

3. Dragons are one of the creatures of M:tG that follow no pattern of color, especially from Legends onwards. Have their color be determined by their nature, and possibly their breath weapon. Red dragons are very clearly red, while gold dragons would fit well as white/red creatures. Remember that some of the most famous M:tG dragons are three separate colors. (And durned hard to summon at that.)

[Szatany]

I'd say good core races for MtG would be:

Humans
Elves
Goblins (normal and mogg)
Orcs (not sure)
Dwarfs
Leonals
Metathrans

Others might be added as well, such as auriok and viashino, but at the beginning things should be kept simple. What do you think?

There is also one very important thing to consider: Where and When in MtG universe do you want your game to take place. Dominaria from Ice Age is radically different from planar chaos one.

[fireinthedust]

Good points, both of you.

I am, erm, not a magic player per se. I was when I was younger (think ice age, then I quit due to low cash). Most of what I know comes from recent research online. Todd Lockwood has a load of card paintings on his site.
That's why I don't have all the real M:tg races on there; ditto the planeswalk PrC thing. I don't actually know what they are. However, I'm stubborn and want to do this. Lots of what I've got are my own ideas.

1) Races: litorians from Arcana Evolved would work well for the leonals. Metatarans and Lizard folk would also work well. What are Mogg goblins?

2) Classes: Call Planeswalkers Wizards, then, or Mages.
Szatany: your ranger variants are wonderful, eh? I would want to include them in there.

What do you think of warforged and artificers? I think it works, especially with the gnomes.

[Szatany]

I've been thinking about MTG game once, and I had this idea to incorporate colors somehow. I had 2 ideas about that: 1st: color replaces alignement. 2nd: there is one combat class and one spellcaster class for each color, 10 total. White has clerics (who are "good") and knights, green has rangers and druids, red has sorcerers and barbarians, black has necromancers and rogues, blue has wizards and something new.
If you follow that structure, you instantly have a LOT of flavor created for you, and you make your game quite different from typical D&D worlds at this early stage. If you don't.. well, normal classes might work with MTG as well I guess.

Planeswalker sounds to me like an epic prestige class or divine rank. I woudn't worry about it at this point of game development.

Litorians would indeed work very well.

Mogg are basically goblins with huge ears :). I think they are from Rath, but I'm not certain.

[fireinthedust]

Rather than black having rogues, it should have assasins. Think about a base class for Assasins, like Rogue for the first few levels until they'd normally qualify, then add in the Assasin abilities. They could even be a varient ranger without the animal companions and spells.
How would you create that, using the ranger varients you've got going?

I would keep the spellcasters generic, as above, but switch up the lists. White is basically the cleric class anyway, really, with selected special abilities that would come up, right? Ditto the others.

[TheThan]

Lets see…

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr184

This page will give you a lot of insight into each color. It’s not too hard to see where certain spells fall on the color pie. I see a class that has to choose a color, doing so decides which types of spells he has access to, sort of like specialist mages. Maybe the class could be forbidden from casting spells from enemy colors (like say a red mage being unable to cast blue or white magic). In exchange for +1 caster level for spells of his chosen color, (once again our red mage would get a +1 caster level for his (red) fireball spell).

[Yakk]

Mostly-mundane classes for each colour:
Blue: Trickster/Swashbuckler
Black: Assasin/Blackguard
Red: Barbarian/Warlock
White: Paladin/Knight
Green: Scout/Ranger

[Skydiving_Ninja]

heeby-jeebus PLANESWALKERS? You want players to become gods? I don't think a M:tG setting would work like that. Just as a setting it would be fine, and the planeswalkers in the series would replace the DnD deities (Freyalise being the prime example).

Now, assuming this setting is taking place on ria, this is what I would suggest for races:
Humans
Elves
Half-Elves
Viashino
Goblins
Half-Giants
Merfolk
Cephalids
Nantuko

I'm not too sure about adding warforged though. Most M:tG constructs are reallly, really big, and if you saw a tangle golem with a sword walking through your town, you'd probably try to kill it on sight.

Now as for classes, I'd say keep all the base classes, but replace monk with artificer. Then add classes from splatbooks as you wish (spirit shamans, dragon shamans, warmages, warlocks, swashbucklers, duskblades, and scouts all come to mind).

The planeswalker should be some sort of epic class that requires a godly amount of CLs and another epic feat that gives you a planeswalker spark.

For other spellcasters, I'd give each a feature that makes them a specific color of your choice. For example, Wizards can be black, red, or blue, while clerics can be black, white, or green. Druids are automatically green, bards are automatically blue, warmages are automatically red, sorcerers can be any color. If you want to be a dual-color mage, just take a level of blue wizard to complement your black wizard.

EDIT: I just noticed you said you played mostly during Ice Age, in which case scrap Cephalids and Nantuko.

[Orzel]

In MTG, the colors determented the nations and organization of the plane. The type of organization determines the type of classes you have avaible.

Look at Kamigawa

White
Konda's Human and Kitsune troops- Samurai(fighters/paladins), Wizards, Clerics

Blue
Ninjas- Rogues
Moonfolk- Wizards
Minamo School- Wizards

Black
Ogres- Warrior(fighters), Shaman (sorcerers), Rogues
Nezumi- Warrior(fighters), Samurai (fighters/paladins), Shaman (sorcerers), Rogues

Red
Godo's Bandits- Samurai(fighters/paladins), Babarians
Kumano's Shaman- Shaman (sorcerers)
Akki (goblins)- Warrior(fighters), Shaman (sorcerers), Rogues

Green
Monks- Monks, Druids, Shaman(socerers)
Oorochi- Warrior(fighters), Archers and Scouts (rangers), Shaman (sorcerers), Rogues


MTG classes would be based on where you come from or what organization you represent. Multiclassing would be VERY limited. What classes you could become and what variant you'd get would be based on your race/loyalty. Blue's school wizards would be different for white's royal wizards.

[Szatany]

Humans
Elves
Half-Elves - do they exist in MtG? Haven't seen any.
Viashino
Goblins
Half-Giants- do they exist in MtG? Haven't seen any.
Merfolk - won't fit in most games, as they have no legs

Where are dwarves? There were quite a few dwarf cards in fallen empires.

I'm not too sure about adding warforged though. Most M:tG constructs are reallly, really big, and if you saw a tangle golem with a sword walking through your town, you'd probably try to kill it on sight.
They might works - gnomes are small constructs (but I don't know if they are sentient - most likely not.

One other thing occured to me - you could use Chaositech book by malhavoc press to illustrate phyrexians.

[Orzel]

Humans
Elves
Half-Elves - do they exist in MtG? Haven't seen any.
Viashino
Goblins
Half-Giants- do they exist in MtG? Haven't seen any.
Merfolk - won't fit in most games, as they have no legs

Where are dwarves? There were quite a few dwarf cards in fallen empires.

I'm not too sure about adding warforged though. Most M:tG constructs are reallly, really big, and if you saw a tangle golem with a sword walking through your town, you'd probably try to kill it on sight.
They might works - gnomes are small constructs (but I don't know if they are sentient - most likely not.

One other thing occured to me - you could use Chaositech book by malhavoc press to illustrate phyrexians.


Half races are very rare. MTG Constructs are often too stupid and too large to be playable. Dwarves aren't in most settings. Merfolk were pretty much removed form MTG since they don't/can't do anything out of the water.

The only playable living races would be
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Goblins
Viashino
Ogre
Animal freaks

[fireinthedust]

1) changed Planewalkers to Mages. thnx

2) Colors: lots of folk play dual-color decks; I've heard people talk about white/black decks. As such, I think specialists for a color would be okay, but forcing everyone into one particular color based on region limits plot.

3) Alignment: color and alignment are different, but alignment is for RP in this setting in a big way. See above.

4) Region: like in FR, I'd want different planes/realms to have their own associated regional feats, skill bonuses, cultures. some regions would obviously work better with particular cultures, but I could imagine a merfolk who uses black or red; it's like forcing dwarves to never be wizards or bards, it's unnecessary (although I do see your point).
QUESTION: what lands are in magic? where can I look this up?

5) Constructs: Warforged would fit if we have artificers. They're minor constructs, unlike the iron golems and adamantine golems that are out there. The big ones would be ancient artifact creatures of old, sure. Having Warforged as PCs (newer inventions of the gnomes?) wouldn't change that,r eally, and would give a focus on the ancient cultures that may otherwise be ignored.

6) what are some of the races people mentioned? Leonals would belitorians, and I don't see why they can't be PCs (what's their story in-game?). Viashino I don't know.

I picture the setting as being a lot like Planescape used to be, y'know?

[Skydiving_Ninja]

go to the MTG Salvation wiki page to see all of the planes/continents of M:tG.

3. For alignment, I'd just keep it as it isin the SRD, and keep alignment from determining color spells. After all, look at Toshiro (from kamigawa). He is a black-aligned character, but still good. Look at Grand Arbiter Augustin (from Ravnica). He is U/W, but pretty evil if you ask me.

4. Well, just give the races the skill bonuses and favored classes. Cultures is probably going to be easy with a little research from the numerous books.

6. LeoNIN are cat-people, and from what I've gathered, there are two factions: The Efvarans, who live in the forest, and the plains-dwelling ones, who followed Jedit Ojanen out of Efvara. I'm probably wrong about some of that. The Viashino are descended from dragons, and live in the Ghitu/Shivan mountains, I believe. Cephalids are like merfolk, but more squidly, and the Nantuko are insect-like humanoid druids.

I'm not sure what Planescape is, but if you're thinking of having multiple planes and letting your characters travel between them, you'll have to catch up using the aforementioned wiki. A LOT of expansions have come out since Ice Age, and theres a bunch of new dominarian continents and new planes. But heres a list of planes that I can remember off the top of my head:
Dominaria
Serra's Realm
Phyrexia
Rath
Mercadia (I forget is it a seperate plane or just a city in Dominaria?)
Mirrodin
Kamigawa
Ravnica

Thats gonna be a lot of worldbuilding.

[Winterking]

Warforged would be great for the smaller kinds of artifact creature. I'm specifically thinking of Yotian Soldiers (one of my favorite cards), but there are plenty of other artifact warriors that are not massive golems.

As far as planes go, it might be a little simpler now, since Serra's Realm got used up and Rath shifted onto Dominaria, but....if you haven't played since Ice Age, there's a whole lot of catch-up that you'll need to do to understand what other Magic geeks are saying.

[fireinthedust]

looking forward to it. probably buy cards when I'm employed!

[fireinthedust]

Realms

1) Aeryth, the Realm of Skye: This plane is endless sky, oceans of clouds in all directions with islands of rock floating in it. On the islands live many races, or isolated farms in a larger belt, where mortal races pull water from the clouds or grow grasses and moss in farms. Larger rocks have cities on them, whether several islands bound together or else entire rocks worked into colossal statues and passages. Elsewhere exist citadels floating in the clouds where powerful Celestials dwell, apart from the chaotic mortal races, to focus on the healing energies and augmentations to White spells on the plane. Aeryth is lit by a cosmic body of flame somewhere beyond the Skye, a white-hot sun that rises and sets; Aeryth moves between deep blue and perpetual sunset, but never darker. The Skye has fields of small rocks, fields of roiling storms, perpetual blizzards, and peaceful vales of soft white clouds. Great flying vessels of every sort can be found moving between islands, from merchant junks to pirate skiffs. Disappearing in and out of cloud beds are, of course, dragons of many varieties that make their homes in hollowed out rock caves.

2) Undurot, the Endless Cavern: The endless caverns of Undurot are not beneath the surface, for there is none. The caves and tunnels of Undurot are the home of many creatures, from deep dwarves whose ancestral homes are marvels of stonecraft; to the dark elves who weave powerful spells; to strange dragons that breathe fear and darkness in caverns of liquid shadow. Unlike many realms, Undurot has zones where most colors are magnified, and a variety of Mana-Shards can be mined in those special tunnels: Red shards come from rivers of lava; Blue shards glow at the bottoms of midnight-black pools; White shards grow in caves of gemstones; Green, almost non-existent, can be found in the midst of fungal caves or glowmoss patches of the greatest size. Black spells benefit from being magnified in all areas, but where the Black Shards grow are lakes of viscous shadows, a darkness like mist, that can drain the life from mortals that travel in it. The major cities of the realm are dwarven, dark elven, and those of more alien creatures; yet in the dark are ancient realms of the living dead, powerful casters of Black magic or cults to alien creatures with cities of mummified corpses and powerful wards. The relics of ancient times abound, of realms older than the dark elves’ histories, locked away in ancient stone vaults awaiting discovery; one such fabled vault was found to contain a city of clockwork men and beasts working a perpetual machine. Unlike other realms, Undurot is thought of as a living tomb or endless graveyard. Even without the Undead, subsistence is difficult to come by and food sources of the smallest size are fought and killed for. Prisoners banished to its depths are sent there to die.

3) Azurea: A world of ocean, Azurea is filled with life. Glowing reefs stretch for hundreds of leagues, and are home to civilizations of incredibly varied races. Sahuagin and Merfolk vie for territory, or fight for control of precious Blue stones that give off the plane’s light.

4) Arboria (name pls?): A massive jungle world, Arboria is a land of earth and jungle. Entire peoples live their lives among massive tree branches without ever seeing the ground. Where ground exists, it is often volcanic fields or else stretches of ocean with islands populated by bizarre creatures. Beasts are found of the greatest sizes, with entire food chains larger than the humans and elves that make their homes in the trees. At the base of the trees are great swamps, collections of rot from the leagues of branches above. Great stones exist that pulse with magical power, or exquisitely carved figures whose only discernable feature is that they are indestructible: artifacts of the ancient days before the rise of the common races of today. Serpent people, dinosaurs and lizard folk alike dwell in the steaming realm.

5) Pyrea: The surface of Pyrea is molten rock, seas of it so hot they glow like the sun in other realms, or choked with chunks of slow-moving black rock. Above the flow rise giant cliffs and mountains, entire continents of red sand and ebon stone. The sky is perpetual night, and when not covered by clouds of ash it is lit up with far off stars; between the stars is never truly dark, as the fire seas cast a red glow over the horizon that can always be seen in the air. In the mountains are ancient dwarven citadels, but also the caves of hordes of tribes of orcs, goblins, trolls, and virtually every other goblinoid race imaginable. The green-skinned races craft weapons and devices to wage war on the dwarves and humans that live in much smaller pockets. Human tribes dwell in the deserts of Pyrea, taming brutish dragons to carry them into battle. Little lasts forever in this realm, and the chaos of war never truly ends. Legend holds that a strange race of serpents dwells below the sea’s flames, or of the towers of Red mages that rise and sink below the seas.

6) Celsun/Boreal: This land of ice and snow is the home of frost giants and caverns of pure ice.

7) The City of In-between: Not a plane but a massive artifact built by the high mages of old, it was meant to be a way-station between the multiple worlds reachable only by powerful spells. Hundreds of towers sit on islands connected by bridges of stone formed by magic, formed for creatures of varying heights and body types, floating in a field of stars and galaxies. Citadels and amphitheatres are scattered about, and market stalls ready for merchants from across the planes to trade, outlines by magically-filled aqueducts and streams pouring into waterfalls hundreds of feet to pools and fountains below. Everywhere, in every section of the city, are portals keyed to incredible numbers of worlds. Those who have found it hypothesize it was built for spellcasters during an age of legends, that it is a plane or demi-plane crafted entirely by magic. Whatever it’s original function, the City is now deadly because of a security measure gone wrong: built to conjure creature after creature to fight enemies, tailored to the specific weaknesses of each intruder, the city endlessly seeks to kill any who set foot in it. Adventurers who discovered an ancient survivor, a mysterious sub-race of elf who’d hidden herself in a spell eons before, saw images of a magical civilization wiped out by the city itself. They learned that, should an artifact called the Mythak be brought back to the City’s main palace, the danger will end; the City would become a hub of trade between worlds. The Mythak, however, was stolen and brought to one of the unknown worlds that connects to the City; the adventuring band, and others who know of it, are involved in a search for it. Should a group bent on destruction find it, they would gain a foothold in many worlds.

8) Draconis: A realm ruled by Dragons, where mortals serve their draconic masters. A council of the greatest Wyrms rules the realm, in which are ancient cities built for dragons of every size.

9) The Maze: This realm of perpetual imprisonment consists of several levels of labyrinths connected by passages, stairs and doors, all of which lead to often-overlapping areas and structures. Those mages who have made a study of the Maze believe it to be structured either as a chaotic mass of inter-dimensional spaces, or else as a giant puzzle-box whose exact measurements, function and control are beyond their capacity to understand or map. Its nature is also debated hotly. Some Mages think of it as the amusement of some incredibly advanced mind, due to the number of traps and puzzles built into it merely to open doors between realms. Others see it as a complex magical prison for powerful beings, as several structures exist with Outsiders and other creatures trapped within it. Still others see it as a living realm with its own mind, toying with lesser creatures inside it, keeping them in its bounds. Some equate this mind with an incredibly powerful Patron-level entity that wanders the maze, a being called Labyriis that displays mastery and control over it’s doors; others that Labryiis is merely another prisoner of the Maze, forced to wander the paths in search of a way to it’s own realm of mathematics and logic. Entire villages of mortal creatures reside in the Maze, drawn through ancient magical portals scattered in various worlds. Major organizations have formed, each with their own purposes. The Guild of Mages and Explorers, an open-minded group that will accept members of any sort, from liches to paladins, Mages of any color, so long as they search out and share all information about the Maze they can find, and help to find a way out for all members; they have made some progress, mapping out doors and their keys, creating spells that aide in this, and finding useful items or locations within the Maze. Another type of group is less cohesive, Acolytes and warriors of various Patron-level creatures trapped inside the alien structures of the Maze, seeking out ways to release their Patrons and get back to the other Realms.

[fireinthedust]

The game Magic: the Gathering is a really rich source for inspiration for me, and I’ve always wanted to see it put together as a campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons. While not aware of the gameworld itself, I’ve decided to do this and so I’ve researching the art, the cards, etc. Anyway, here’s what I’d do with it.

Races:
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Goblins
Merfolk (MM? new version with na?)
Winged celestials?
Half-orcs/elves
Gnomes
Warforged
Shifters
Changlings
Lizardfolk
Leonals (litorians from AE?)



Classes:
fighter
paladin
ranger
bard
barbarian
rogue
artificer (eberron CS)
monk(?)
Wildshaper (special)
Mage (special).

PrCs: virtually any, although using planewalker spellcasting rates for arcane and divine caster prcs. Note that all PrCs must wait until after 4th level, when a primary colour is chosen.

MAGE:
HD: d4
Skills: any on cleric, druid, wizard and sorcerer lists. 2+Int mod. x4; 2+int mod per level.
Class Description:
In Unearthed Arcana there's a rule for generic spellcasters: cleric/wizard/druid spells are on the same list, so they can cast whatever spells they find that they want.
Every few levels they would get feats, but like that rules variant they can choose class features also: domain abilities, turn undead, summon familiar, item creation feats, spontaineous casting (white=cure spells, etc.) etc.

Spell list and spells per day: Mages cast arcane spells. They use the Wizard spells per day rate; a 1st level Mage can cast the same number of spells as a 1st level Wizard, with additional spells per day per level if they have a high ability score for their primary stat (int, wis, cha at creation). When they prepare their spell lists, they select one spell known per slot. They can cast spontaineously from this list a number of time as they have spells per day of that level.

Runes and Mana Shards: Mages search out Mana shards to create special magical runes allowing them to cast summoning spells (see magic, below). They can have more “mana-runes”, or Runes as they increase in level, which they can use to summon creatures (see Summoning, below), and also for special feats (see Feats, below), or to cast additional spells in a round (see below). Certain creatures require particular numbers of mana-runes, many of particular colors, in order to be summoned at all. A Mage can have up to 2+1/Mage level Runes of any color they are allowed to cast from.
Activating a rune is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity, and creates a glowing rune that appears in the air before the Mage (much like dancing lights or faerie fire). Whatever color the Mana-Shard the Rune was crafted out of was, the Rune will be: White shards give white runes, red shards give red runes, etc.
Keeping a rune activated is strenuous, and the Mage must make a Fort save (DC10+number of active runes) after a number of rounds equal to (con modifier + Mage level), and every round thereafter. If the Mage fails this check, they become fatigued. If they keep the runes active after this, they wait another number of rounds equal to their Con modifier + their level, and failing this check they become exhausted, and so on until they loose consciousness.
If a Mage is distracted while holding Runes active, as with casting spells, the Mage must roll a concentration check or else release the rune. The rune is not destroyed, but the Mage must spend another move action to call it back again.
Preparing spells: Mages learn their spells from books, and create a list of spells they know. The list is permanent until they choose to change it by spending an hour studying spells in spellbooks. After doing this, they select their new list of spells from those studied. To prepare their new list, however, they must have a copy of every spell to be added to the list with them somehow, such as in a traveling spellbook, at a magical library, through the Spell Mastery feat, or written on the wall of an abandoned temple, for example. When the list is changed, no spell on the previous list is kept and it must be found anew. After their list is prepared, the Mage may cast spontaneously from it. DC for saves are based on Int or Wis or Cha, chosen at first level.
Item creation and use: Mages can use any item, but rarely bother with item creation feats themselves, preferring to perfect their spellcasting technique, find new creatures to summon, and collect spellbooks. Item creation, as in the case of golems, potions and rings, is typically left entirely to Artificers. Mages don’t get item creation feats unless there is a plot reason for them to have them.

Armour and weapon proficiencies: Mages gain no armour proficiency, and only simple weapon proficiency. They suffer from spell failure when wearing any form of armour. This can be overcome by association with powerful magical beings, who grant armour use or other abilities in exchange for service, but that service comes with it’s own costs and limitations.


Magic:

Spells: all known spells are sorted into the 5 colors (white, red, blue, green, black). Mages select which colors they will cast when they select their list, but they must have at least one Rune of that spells color in order to cast it. There exist spells that count as several schools, and spells without which spellcasting would be impossible (example: fly, bull’s strength, etherealness, plane shift, teleport, read magic). Also, many spells are limited to Mages who have selected that spell’s color as their primary color. No other Mages may prepare that spell, even with feats like Color Focus.
School specialization, like with illusionists, does not exist; while the colors tend towards certain schools of magic, they each have examples of most schools in them.
A Mage can choose a primary color that they favor, but not all do. Each caster would choose a primary color, which gives them special abilities as they rise in level, but give up one color they can never again prepare spells from; this does not have to be an opposing color, such as white/black or blue/red.
Mages who have not yet selected a primary color are called Grey Mages, and they can cast any spell not on a color’s special list.
Certain spells also require certain Runes to be activated before they can be cast. This includes summoning spells, but also other spells such as Ressurection, animate dead spells, and others as noted in their entries. If the spell is cast without the Runes activated first, the spell fails and the slot is lost for the day.

Colors: Sorting spells follows flavour guidelines; in a pinch, use the following with caution:
RED: Evocations, polymorphing, fire, electricity, destruction, chaos.
BLUE: Mind-influencing, enchantment/charm, water, (fox’s cunning, owl’s wisdom, etc.), dream, illusion/phantasm, divination.
WHITE: Protection, law, good, healing, life, abjurations, banishment, dispelling, magic circle against X.
GREEN: Druid/ranger spells, plant, animal, earth.
BLACK: animate dead, undeath, trickery, death, necromantic effects.


Patrons: some Mages pledge themselves to a patron (example: undying court, orcus, etc.), altering their spellcasting methods to align with that deity, in exchange for granted powers. Rather than casting their spells from particular spellbooks, the Mages (often called an Acolyte) prepares from a set list of spells available to any spellcaster beholden to that organization/patron. They may prepare their spells without spellbooks, but the list never changes and is dependant upon their patron’s portfolio. Often spells are limited to one color (such as white), or a particular theme (such as undeath and evil). They must mediate for an hour each day at an appointed time (dawn, dusk, midnight, etc.) or else their spell list is wiped clean and they must wait another 24 hours to select their spells again. In exchange for this inconvenience, the patron grants two of the following special abilities:
Armour proficiency: spellcasting in light/heavy armour has no chance of spell failure.
Turn OR Rebuke/command Undead: as a Cleric of the Mage’s level
Turn/Rebuke elementals of forbidden/associated colors.
Domain abilities/granted power: select any from patron’s list.
Fallen Acolytes: should an Acolyte fall from their Patron’s code, or disobey them, etc., the Acolyte immediately looses access to spellcasting and abilities such as Turn Undead, until such time as they atone for their misdeeds.



GUILDS: Mages often join organizations of spellcasters, to share knowledge and join forces for safety in numbers, but also to gain access to special magical abilities only the guild can grant. Joining a guild carries with it strict rules and dues, but grant additional spellcasting options. Duties to the guild range from hefty financial obligations to quests for powerful magical items and finding stolen spellbooks (usually both). Should the Guild member fail in their duties to the guild, they immediately loose access to guild benefits and abilities. Sample abilities below:
Circle Magic: see Red Wizard PrC. Any guild member may contribute to a circle; 5th level and higher may take a feat to lead circles.
Spellpool: as the Guild Wizard PrC (magic of faerun, complete arcane), the character takes level in Guild Wizard.



SUMMONING
All Mages can cast summoning spells. Unlike in the PHB, each creature has it’s own specific Summoning spell, rather than being selected from a particular list. To summon a particular creature, the Mages must have that particular creature’s summoning spell prepared to their spell lists. To decide what level spell would be needed to summon a particular creature (before researching it) compare the creature’s type and CR with those on the standard Summon Monster and Summon Nature’s Ally spells.
As well, most creatures have particular numbers and colors of Runes that must be activated before they respond to summoning. If the Mage casts the spell without enough Runes activated, that spell slot is lost for the day.
Virtually any creature can be summoned. Outsiders are most frequently called, as are dragons and elementals, some undead also. However, in many cases these creatures are created from the essence of the spell: rather than a particular Outsider, for example, the spell evokes the essence of that outsider type for the duration of the summoning. If the creature is slain in combat during the summoning period and it is a particular creature, it is not dead, and may return to haunt the summoner or the creatures that slew it.
Creatures are sorted by type and colour.
RED: Goblins, chaotic outsiders, slaadi, gibbering mouthers, fire elementals, fire subtype giants, fire type dragons, fire-based Outsiders, minotaurs.
BLUE: water elementals, sea creatures, ice creatures, cold subtype creatures.
GREEN: plant creatures, animals (dire, legendary, giant, etc.), vermin, earth subtype elementals, outsider and dragons, fey.
BLACK: Undead (wraiths, shadows, etc.), evil outsiders, vermin, some aberrations.
WHITE: Celestials, angels, archons, eladrin; Good outsiders, some lawful; Air Outsiders.


Artifacts:
Magic item creation can be done by Artificers, who seek out the methods to create wondrous items. In ancient times such items were forged by the giants of old, or of races now forgotten. Examples include elemental binding for airships, portals for traveling the planes, golems that guard ancient sites, and other items of significant power oft buried deep beneath the earth.
Artificers travel with Mages and adventuring groups, searching for any sign of lost secrets of crafting magical items.

Dragons:
Alternate creation rules coming soon; they cover the creation of unique dragons. Includes history with the Great Wyrms of ancient times.

History:
Coming soon. Expect ancient times, eras of legend and devastation, etc.

Deities:
Coming soon, but in general there is one creator God; all other patrons are powerful magical creatures (example: the Great Wyrms of ancient times, other DnD patrons of Clerics, etc.) who can grant spells through patron service and oaths.

[Szatany]

Sooo, you are not making a MtG setting, but rather your own that freely draws elements from MtG?

[fireinthedust]

yes and no. Technically Mtg has multiple planes, and these could be ones that havn't been found yet. oh well.

[Orzel]

Your MTG mages are a bit too complicated. MtG spellcasters are almost no different from D&D wizards. The only real difference is thier lack of a familiars and low amount of spells known. The colors of the spells a wizard known is mostly up to personal preference or lack of resources. In MtG, the mage guild is almost always destroyed and everyone knowns like 5 spells that are usable in combat. The average spellcaster knows 2-10 spells that have a casting time under a minute. That's why they mostly have powers of 3 or lower, they have few combat worthy spells.

The otherthing is that Mtg colors share many strengths and abilities. White and Green both heal. Blue, black and green all use divination (card draw). Red and green deal direct damage. Spliting the spells or classes up by color would cause inaccurate breaks in the system. The hardest part of MTG in a RPG system is how to handle the colors.

A good(read:easy) way to handle classes is simple variants.
Barbarian
Bard (removed most MTG planes have no bards)
Cleric (big change)
Druid (big change)
Fighter
Monk (optional)
Paladin (nonspellcaster variant)
Ranger (nonspellcaster variant)
Rogue
Sorcerer (big change)
Wizard (big change)

The MTG Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard are all the same as a D&D Wizard with minor tweaks. The MTG Wizard is a D&D wizard minus a familiar. The MTG Sorcerer (renamed Shaman) is a D&D Sorcerer with a spell book and no familiar. The MTG Cleric is a D&D wizard with a cleric skill and spell list and no familiar. The MTG Druid is a D&D wizard with a druids skill and spell list and of course no familiar.

[fireinthedust]

Your MTG mages are a bit too complicated.

you mean for dividing up the spell lists? or do you mean for the Mana shards and Runes drawn? The Runes are essentially Lands; you go to a land and get a crystal (dragonshard, manashard, whatever) from it, do a ritual, and you have a land. It's to make the gameplay more like Mtg. Also, I'm thinking of having a special summoning system, to let casters summon more varied and more powerful creatures, but I'll work on it.

I know what you mean. On the other hand, it allows for more interesting tactics round by round (for people who like that).



The otherthing is that Mtg colors share many strengths and abilities. White and Green both heal. Blue, black and green all use divination (card draw). Red and green deal direct damage. Spliting the spells or classes up by color would cause inaccurate breaks in the system. The hardest part of MTG in a RPG system is how to handle the colors.

that's why I'd have the spell lists share a number of spells. plant and animal would likely be green, but acid arrow could be green and red.




The MTG Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard are all the same as a D&D Wizard with minor tweaks. The MTG Wizard is a D&D wizard minus a familiar. The MTG Sorcerer (renamed Shaman) is a D&D Sorcerer with a spell book and no familiar. The MTG Cleric is a D&D wizard with a cleric skill and spell list and no familiar. The MTG Druid is a D&D wizard with a druids skill and spell list and of course no familiar.

if they're all Dnd wizards with different spell and skill lists, the second try at the Mage that I posted (just above) should do.

question: the Shaman (re Todd Lockwood's art) is a sorcerer with a spellbook? Doesn't that mean just wizards who have a different asthetic?

[Crystall_Myr]

It actually would be possible to be a non-god planeswalker, just look at Glissa from the Mirrodin books. She was a just a low-level planeswalker. You could just think of Urza, Freyalise, Karn, Serra, and the others to be epic-level planeswalkers.

As for a magic-based wizard, the best way to do it would give them a "mana pool" that replicates the psion's power point pool, and give them certain bonuses to their mana points depending on the distance they are from their aligned color. (Blue mages can't do as much in the mountains as they can while on an island.)

[Skydiving_Ninja]

listen to crystal myr and orzel. And now that I know that you aren't making anything on dominaria/mirrodin/ravnica/anything published, I won't be dispensing any M:tG flavor geekery.

Now as for spells: Heres an easy way to divide them:

Red: Evocation, orb spells, Fire/Sun/War domains
White: Abjuration, protection/healing domains
Green: Conjuration (except the orb spells or acidy stuff) enlarge person, bull's strength, bear's endurance, cat's grace, druid spell list, plant domain
Black: Necromancy, Acid arrow and other such spells, death/destruction domains
Blue: Transmutation(except for stuff in green), enchantment, divination, teleport, magic, trickery, knowledge domains.

Those are just basic guidelines. There are some spells that won't fit in with the color I assigned them to, and should be put in another color. I also think orizons/cantrips like read magic or create water should be available to all colors. Now the hard part is the spellcasting class, which I think could be done by just using the generic spellcaster class and giving it sets of skills, HP, armor proficiency, and skill points dependent on color.

[fireinthedust]

hey, mtg geekery knowledge is expected and invited on this thread! In fact, I just used the setting info there to get it out of my head and onto a thread. it works with it, but I'll eventually just read the books and get the info (currently backpacking across Europe, from internet cafe to stolen wireless!)

I agree about the color divisions for spells.

Mages: do you have the Dragonlance CS? The wizards there all enter the Wizard of High Sorcery PrC based on alignment.

I was thinking of having the Mages (or Planeswalkers; I assumed card-gamers were the Planeswalkers, not just Serra and the like; like when I play I'm a planeswalker; if I'm blue I'm called Wizard, etc.) be without color until they picked one: Grey wizards.

then they take te PrC of their chosen color, gain access to special spells and/or abilities only for them, and give up another color. They get a skill list for their class also.

Would that work with the flavour of the actual game itself?

[Skydiving_Ninja]

the card players are planeswalkers yes, but wizards are some of the creatures they summon. Like a planeswalker could summon a red goblin wizard or a human wizard.

I think it would be better if mages started out with a color then multiclassed into a different color mage to get another color. LIke a lv. 5 black mage multiclasses into mage again, except he chooses red. I don't think planeswalker PCs would work until at least epic levels. Even then, I think thats too low to recieve near godlike power.

[Fallen Martyr]

It actually would be possible to be a non-god planeswalker, just look at Glissa from the Mirrodin books. She was a just a low-level planeswalker. You could just think of Urza, Freyalise, Karn, Serra, and the others to be epic-level planeswalkers.

Glissa never did anything really “Planeswalkery”. Neither did Slobad or Glacian.
Urza, Jaya, and Teferi didn’t until their “ascension”.

They were all very special individuals. Urza and Teferi were absolutely brilliant, and Glissa and Jaya were both too tenacious to die. They were masters of their chosen field. It just seems to me that this is all kinda hard to represent as a class.

Maybe a template that could be acquired? Or a series of PrCs… like Nascent Warrior Planeswalker, Nascent Master Mage Planeswalker, etc.


I think it would be better if mages started out with a color then multiclassed into a different color mage to get another color. LIke a lv. 5 black mage multiclasses into mage again, except he chooses red.


I was thinking of having the Mages (or Planeswalkers; I assumed card-gamers were the Planeswalkers, not just Serra and the like; like when I play I'm a planeswalker; if I'm blue I'm called Wizard, etc.) be without color until they picked one: Grey wizards.

With regards to colors, every creature has a mana essence from birth. This, like the racial stereotypes in the PHB, gives suggestions for specific traits. But the only things at are really forced to act in accord with their essence are the mindless (animals, undead, etc) who don’t know any better and those whose existence is bound up in their essence (elementals and, oddly enough, Planeswalkers).

As far as I can tell, base essence wouldn’t really limit your class options. I’ve seen knights in black, red, and white. I’ve seen white undead, I think. And it didn’t seem to me like mages had trouble picking up new colors for their casting pleasure. I remember Jodah learning white spells as his first (light ball thingy and healy) then a blue spell. And this was before he knew what he was doing at all. And he faced Sima with red spells not long after.

That’s the flavor I got out of the books/cards. Can it balanced? That’s the tricky part. Maybe have an advanced class, a la D20 Modern, that could be entered into at level 3 and allowed a caster another color and “1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class”

[RMS Oceanic]

The way I perceive Magic in MTG is like the Force in Star Wars: You can use mana, or you can't. What type of mana depends on your memories of the land. If you lived on the plains, you'd use white mana. If you lived near a swamp and a forest, you could use both green and black mana. A white mage could spend time on a mountain and eventually learn to use red mana. Ultimately a Mage can learn to use all five colours, like Jodah. For more on this approach to magic, read The Gathering Dark by Jeff Grubb. Also remember there are spells which are multiple colours.

I think there should be a set of feats, Mana Proficiency (Colour), Improved/Greater Mana Proficiency and Mana Mastery. A 1st level mage would select Mana Proficiency of a certain colour, and could cast spells of that colour up to, say 3rd level. Every 3 levels or so, they could improve a colour they have knowledge of or select a bonus feat. Improved gets you 5th, greater is 7th and Mastery is 9th. Also, everytime a Mage levels up, they have the option of spending time training with a Mage with Mana Mastery of another colour (Say 1 month?) to gain Mana Proficiency of that colour as a Bonus Feat. If one was willing to go to epic levels, you could master all five colours.

[fireinthedust]

So you're saying they can have a regular wizard spell list, but that they need special feats to be able to prepare spells of that level? So access to the Red mage list needs the red mage feat (three in total) to cast highest level spells? They'd have to be class features on top of regular wizard bonus feats.
I may have wizards get an automatic proficiency with a given color, and then have the option of adding more colors with feats. ability to cast higher levels spells should just come with the regular progression.

I think I'll stick to mine. I probably havn't laid it out well enough, if it seems complicated, as it's technically simpler than even the regular wizards from PHB are.

The Mana-Rune things are lands. You can't have them just go to lands, or whatever, as they may be in dungeons. So they can "draw lands" but have only so many with them per level.
the added "how many do i have out now?" is balanced by the feats Mages can get: Resistant Runes gives them resistance bonus to saves equal to half the number of lands they have out. Protective Runes gives a deflection AC bonus of the same. That sort of thing. Mages focus on metamagic feats, not item creation, so they'll be pretty buffed out. It works out to the Mage equivalent of Power Attack and defence. considering the change in available spells, it probably will come in handy.

Other than that, pick the spells in your known spell list (regardless of color) whenever you want, and just cast as needed. No more agonizing about which ones to prepare for the coming battle, or being stuck mid-combat with nothing but raise water.

round by round:

1) move action to draw a Land/Rune. Standard to cast Mage Shield or Magic Missile.
2) Move action to draw another Rune, cast Magic missile (auto hit, damage)
3) Move for another Rune; standard to summon goblin warrior.

[fireinthedust]

by this point, with the meatshield in front, you've got a +1 AC and +1 to all saves with the right feats; the same number of spells cast, and something else to do than just stand around thinking about the next spell on your list.


I'm curious about whether the Mages would be too powerful in that case. Does it sound like it could balance out?

What do you lot think of the Acolytes? Does that sound cool?

meh, maybe I should just make up the whole setting as my own thing, rather than just MTG; hmmm....

[fireinthedust]

What about Mana Essence? how does that work? Would it be like Lands they can access at any given time?

I would assume Mages/Planewalkers/whatever would be like Paladins: you've either the potential or you don't.

[Fallen Martyr]

What about Mana Essence? how does that work? Would it be like Lands they can access at any given time?

A person's essence is the mana color(s) that they are based around.
Natural beings (mainly creatures born on a natural plane) are composed of all 5 colors, but one is dominant. This is usually based on thier home terrain. Unnatural creatures (creatures infused with magic [undead, constructs, etc.], creatures made of mana [summoned creatures, elementals, Planeswalkers]) tend to have one color totally dominate their essence.

Black tends toward destruction in the form of decay and manipulation in the form of lies.
Blue tends to the cerebral and manipulation in the form of trickery.
Green tends to be nurturing and protective.
Red tends to be destructive in the from of blowing things up and entropic.
White tends to be (relatively) peaceful and prone to teamwork.

Color does not equal alignment, though it gives general tendencies.
Urza had a White essence and was evil.
Xantcha had a Black essence and was a good person (newt).
Eron and Tahngarth were both Red, but Eron was evil and Tahngarth was good (and may even have been lawful).


I would assume Mages/Planewalkers/whatever would be like Paladins: you've either the potential or you don't.
The Planeswalker spark is an all or nothing thing. Ascension isn't a sure thing if you have the spark, but you can't ascend without it.

Spellcasting seems to be like any other skill. Some are good at it; others are OK; others shouldn't even try.

[Latronis]

Black tends toward destruction in the form of decay and manipulation in the form of lies.
Blue tends to the cerebral and manipulation in the form of trickery.
Green tends to be nurturing and protective.
Red tends to be destructive in the from of blowing things up and entropic.
White tends to be (relatively) peaceful and prone to teamwork.


Black seeks ominpotence, who cares about who is not you, and does whatever it takes to get there including the use of powers and paying prices for powers that other colours shy away from. That's why the undead related necromancy, life stealing, death and decay is all black.

Nuturing is blue, not green. Green maintains the status quo, and seeks natural growth its not overly protective either, that's white's stick its also the colour of life.

White is all about order, and the good of the many is more important then the good of the individual.




Color does not equal alignment, though it gives general tendencies.
Urza had a White essence and was evil.
Xantcha had a Black essence and was a good person (newt).
Eron and Tahngarth were both Red, but Eron was evil and Tahngarth was good (and may even have been lawful).


Colour doesn't equal alignment as DnD has it, but if you look at as alignment as a philosophy then the colours can replace the dnd alignmetn system very well.



The Planeswalker spark is an all or nothing thing. Ascension isn't a sure thing if you have the spark, but you can't ascend without it.



The spark is also a born with thing, so the epic feat mentioned early would have to cover that flavourwise.. But the fluff relating to the recognition and ascension rather then suddenly getting a spark at epic levels

but then for a long time even epic levels arn't powerful enough to represent planeswalkers accurately

[Orzel]

The Planeswalker spark could be handled as: when your character dies, roll a d100. If you get a 100, you character lives and gains 40 expert levels.... nah

Fax's topic on Anthropomorphic Creatures could give us the animal races easily

Viashino
Medium
1 Monstorous Humanoid HD (1d8 HP, 1 BAB, +2 Fort and Will save, 2+Int x4 skills)
+6 Str, +4 Dex, +6 Con, -2 Int, +2 Wis, -8 Cha
Low light vision
Bite 1d8

[Skydiving_Ninja]

Back when a Ravnica campaign was being made, a bunch of us, myself included, made Viashino, Vedalken, Imps, and Loxodon races. Here's the viashino:

Viashino *
~+2 DEX, -2 WIS, -2 INT *
~Medium size *
~Base land speed of 35ft *
~Low-Light Vision *
~Natural Weapons: 2 claws (1d4 slash/pierce) and a bite (1d4 slash/pierce/bludgeon) *
~+2 to Survival
~Automatic Languages: Common and Draconic, ~Bonus: Ogre, Goblin, Gruul (if 1000 Gruul faction)
Favored Class: Barbarian *

[Latronis]

Viashino need a slashing natural tail attack

[RMS Oceanic]

Okay, here's a revised mana proposal:

Mana Proficiency: At 1st level, a Mage chooses a colour or mana. He is considered to be proficient with that colour. Proficiency with a colour of mana allows one to cast spells of that colour up to and including the third level. As they advance in levels, Mages can choose to then have Improved Proficiency of that colour (Allowing the use of 4th and 5th level spells), Greater Proficiency (allows 6th and 7th level spells) and eventually Mana Mastery (8th and 9th Level). Mages can eventually learn spells of any level, but without the correct proficiency, they cannot cast them.

Every three levels after first (4th, 7th, 11th etc), a mage can choose to advance their knowledge of one colour of mana they are already proficient with, improving their proficiency. Alternatively, they can choose to spend time studying with a mage with at least improved proficiency in a different colour. Upon completion of this study, they now have proficiency of this new colour.

If they choose not to do either of these, for whatever reason, they may instead select a bonus feat for which they meet the requirements.

Is that any better, making it a class ability rather than a feat?