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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Custom spellcrafting, libraries and experiments, exploding chickens



Melzentir
2014-10-14, 02:45 PM
Playgrounders! I have a dream. A dream about exploding chickens.

Example: a player wizard character wants to create a new spell that allows them to summon chickens that can fly at 40 ft and explode in a 10ft burst of damaging Cold magic that also lowers the enemy's AC. Amazing, right? The character runs off to the city library, leaving behind a mildly amused rogue and a bewildered paladin that keeps uttering "But... why?!". No my friend, the question today is "How?". And that is exactly what we'll be figuring out.

Let's get started!

Spell research and DM-ing it

As you can see, the above mentioned spell is quite complex. That is because it includes many so-called characteristics. One of these being the Exploding Summoned Creature characteristic. Another being the Cold Elemental Aspect characteristic. Characteristics are like a bit like feats, but for spells, and they can be used to form recipes, as you will. To make such a thing work, the player needs to formulate the spell using these characteristics. They can be interpreted rather loosely by both the player and DM, but this provides at least some system to base the following research system on.

After explaining to the DM what the player intends for the spell to do, the characteristics are counted using the Characteristics table. The DM must judge which and how many characteristics are required. Each additional characteristic adds to the spell's complexity, and the the more complex a spell is, the more experienced the spellcaster needs to be to perform it. More on this later.

Per default, each stage of research takes up one full day (8 hours) and players may only make one research roll per day.

Bonuses to this roll include the character's current spellcaster level and also libraries or similar locations. This motivates travel to such locations as well as providing a lore-sensical reason for the party to actually use Ye Olde Mage Towere™ for something other than buying potions and quests. Larger and richer libraries of course constitute bigger bonuses. Dedicated research stations perhaps even allow two research rolls per day, theoretically allowing two stages to be completed in one day. Others may perhaps allow two simultaneous rolls, taking the highest. And the rarest and most precious ones may grant both of those boons.

After spending the day researching or practicing, the DM rolls whether or not progress has been made against a certain DC.

For example:
"You find the autobiography of a Halfling Sorcerer who specialized in conjuring chickens for his hungry family. You're certain this journal will come in useful." (Roll was great, progress is made)
"You spend the day straining your eyes on a promising tome written in Elven. Perhaps finding a translator would allow you to advance your research." (The roll was close to the DC, progress is uncertain, reroll later if the player pursues this lead)
"You collect various tomes, scrolls and manuscripts detailing various processes that should be useful. After digging through all of them however, you haven't found anything remotely useful." (Failure, no progress, try again tomorrow)

If the player fails the stage of research, the time spent is lost. Dedicated research can be as strainful as a full day of traveling. Therefore, the player can try again later, but would typically need a night's rest first.

Characteristics: It's not Magic Missile science...

Range:

Touch : +0
10-40ft: DC +1
40-120ft: +2
120ft +: +3


Elemental aspects:
(Acid, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, Sonic)


First: +1
Additional: +1 each
Conflicting: +2 each (conflicting elements would be cold and fire, etc. At DM's discretion.)


Summon creature:

Origin: Material plane: +1
Origin: any other plane: +2
Creature level: +1 per level or HD (apply for each creature, so three level three chickens means +9)
Twin creatures: +1
Three creatures: +2
Additional creatures:


These are just a few of the possible characteristics. Readers, DM's and players are encouraged to come up with their own and are invited to share them in this thread.


Experiments! I need more experiments!
An experiment is needed after every three stages or at the end of research. An experiment is a test-firing of either part of or the entire spell. It is much like a stage, but with the total difficulty modifiers of the past three experiments combined. Thus, the DC for experiments can easily exceed 20 or more.

An experiment must be performed in a suitable environment chosen entirely at the player's discretion. A spellcaster's experiments can go wrong, however, in varying degrees of apocalypse. Some environments can give bonuses to make the roll easier, this must be judged by the DM. The suitability of your rented room at the local not-so-fireproof inn is debatable.
If the experiment is a success, progress up until this experiment is saved. You'll always be able to continue from this point on. If the experiment fails, all progress up until the last saved experiment is wiped. However, if this was just the first (or only) experiment needed that does mean you have to start all over. (Countless hours of research, wasted! I need a new vantage point! Gaston, more chickens!).

An experiment is also needed at the end of the entire research process, dubbed the Master Experiment. It's DC is that of actually using the spell as one would in combat. If the research consists of three stages exactly, pick whichever experiment has the highest DC. This way, the player won't have to do two experiments in a row (because the purpose of this kind of experiment is to figure out if something works or not). If this succeeds, the player has completed the process and now has access to the functional spell.

Failed Experiments: Has Spellcrafting gone too far?
When an experiment fails, the DM has the opportunity to implement events that detail just how wrong things are going. It might be as simple as a sizzle and some smoke, or in the case of high-end spells with characteristics the classic "I accidentally the whole village.".
While players should be rewarded for exercising caution, sometimes the risk of explosive failure can not be eliminated. It is recommended to have a table with various outcomes. Due to the on-the-fly nature of players coming up with ideas, prepping such tables is neigh impossible for the DM and thus I can only provide a general rule of thumb table:

Failure by:
1 to 5: Experiment just didn't work. No terrible consequences, perhaps a poof of smoke.
6 to 10: Experiment failed mildly. The player suffers a minor, temporary inconvenience. Examples: some HP damage, or the character's skin turns blue for three days, or an overwhelming smell of cinnamon fills the area.
11 to 20: Experiment failed harshly. The player suffers a significant non-lethal inconvenience. Examples: loss of a finger, a challenging hostile creature is summoned, or everything in a 10ft radius where the spell hit is turned to stone.
20+: Oh boy. At least you have a compelling plot hook for your next character. (So instead of hunting down the BBEG, you just had to go and bring another one into this world. Great.)

It lives... IT LIVES!

When the required amount of completed experiments and stages is reached, the player's project has achieved success. The spell can then be used by the player like any other known spell. This means that depending on the player's class the spell may need components or daily preparation; DM's are to fluff and adjust to whatever is preferred and needed.

TL;DR

Player comes up with an idea. Formulates spell using characteristics. Count the amount of characteristics. This equals the amount of stages. After each three stages there's an experiment in addition to the stages. An experiment does not count as one of the stages. One stage of research represents each characteristic. Stage DC is 10 + characteristic difficulty modifier. Experiment DC is 10 + all three previous characteristic difficulty modifiers. Add bonuses such as those from libraries and assistance to the player's rolls. Only one stage of research progress can be performed per day unless stated otherwise. Like stages, experiments take a full day (because it also includes preparation and reflecting on the results, documenting findings etc.). Up to 5 allies can use Aid Another checks to help the player with a +1 bonus each. Allies with at least half the researching spellcaster's spellcaster level provide a +2 bonus instead.

It lives on

I also want to add that previously completed research projects can become the basis of new research projects. For example the player successfully researched being able to conjure three burning chickens. If the player opts towards the DM to use that as a starting point for a spell that conjures three burning chickens with fire resistance, that would only require one more stage of research and a new Master Experiment since it adds only one characteristic to something that already works. Perhaps not as intended, but hey, it does what it says on the tin. DM's are encouraged to exploit this be-careful-what-you-wish-for loophole as much as they think is necessary to teach the players to be careful. What's a wizard's career path without a few scorched eyebrows and colleagues (temporarily) turned into toads?

Furthermore, I'd like to add the optional rule of assisted research. Think the Paladin and the Rogue were useless? Think again! Tomes need to be carried around, bits of knowledge must be found within the hundreds of pages, coffee must be poured and reagents must be fetched from the market. Allies can use the Aid Another check which is already implemented in D&D to add +1 to the main character's research rolls. The ally must state how he or she is helping the researching spellcaster, and the DM must approve this would make life easier for the researcher. Up to five allies may aid the spellcaster in total. If an ally has at least half the researching spellcaster's spellcaster level, their bonus by using Aid Another is +2 instead.

Now, this idea may have been thought of a thousand times before and a thousand times again, but I hope this will provide a functional easy to implement system that can be adjusted to various campaigns, settings and rule systems. It would be an honor if you guys would steal this in exchange for recommendations, ideas, adjustments and comments in general. Thank you for reading.

Melzentir
2014-10-14, 02:46 PM
Reserved for future usage. If you think the above post is too long, just read the TL;DR paragraph.

Melzentir
2014-10-14, 04:23 PM
Example of play:

Player: So how's the city library?
DM: It's the best within several days of travel. Quite respectable, in fact. They even have a Mage College here.
Player: Sounds good enough to me. Hey, I've been thinking. Since that Gnoll ambush, I want something that'll keep dealing damage even when I'm pinned down.
Rogue: Make a spell where flying skulls swirl around and shoot fireballs at enemies.
Player: ...that would be awesome.
DM: Okay, sounds like a summon creature spell. How many do you want?
Player: You mean I can actually pull that off? Uh... well, I'll start with just one. If I get that to work it'll be easier to get more.
DM: Smart thinking. That does make the experiments less difficult.
Player: Alright. The skulls will be just 1 HD d6.
DM: The DC modifier for d4 is lower. If you're going for glass cannons, you might consider getting those.
Player: No, I want them to have at least some hit points.
DM: Alright.
Player: Okay. Now for their attack: 10-40ft range and a fire aspect, so that's +1 for each.
DM: Okay. Skulls can be found on the material plane, so that's +1. You want d6 HD instead of the standard d4, so that's another +1.
Player: Sooo... 4 stages of research, right?
DM: Correct! Also, one experiment after 3 stages, then one stage and then one Master Experiment. And the library gives you a +2 bonus.
Player: Guys, you wanna help me out with my research?
Rogue: Sure. I've got no spellcaster levels, but +1 is better than nothing.
DM: What do you do to help?
Rogue: I'll help by climbing up those high ladders to grab the best tomes. They're always hidden in the dustiest backs of shelves.
DM: That'll do.
Player: Cool. Paladin, you want to help too?
Paladin: There's no way I'm helping you bring fire-spitting skulls into this world.
Player: Hey, I didn't say they were evil fire-spitting skulls.
Rogue: Dude, come on. They'll help us vanquish the weak. I mean, the evil weak.
Paladin: :smallannoyed:
Player: Okay, okay.

Day one, stage one: Summoning skulls. DC 11. Player rolls a 14+2, succes.
DM: Research shows summoning skulls should be doable.
Player: Alright. Nothing new, really.
DM: Actually, you didn't know any spells that involved summoning skulls yet.
Player: Well, when you put it like that...

Day two, stage two: Improving skulls to be d6 HD. DC 11. Player rolls a 1+2. Failure by 9.
DM: You try to summon tougher skulls, but you end up almost summoning your own skull out of your body. Take 1d6 damage, and your head hurts for a few days. *rolls 5*
Player: Ouch. Paladin, can you heal me?
Paladin: I can't hear you over the sound of justice.
Player: Fine.

Day three, stage two: Improving skulls to be d6 HD, second try. DC 11. Player rolls a 18+2. Succes.
DM: You finally manage to summon skulls that look notably tougher than the ones before.
Player: There we go.

Day four, stage three: Spitting fire.
Player: More like drooling fire if it's a touch attack.
Rogue: Dude, just let 'em be like this. You don't even need the range; they'll just creep out the enemy making it even worse.
Paladin: And they'll be in melee range for my hammer to smash.
Rogue: Did somebody say flanking? I could swear I heard-
Player: Enough of that. Let's roll!
DM: Fire aspect, so that makes the DC 11. You rolled an 11+2, so that's a success. You've completed three stages, so it's time for an experiment.
Paladin: If you fail, the rules state you have to start over.
Rogue: I'll see if I can find a local sorcerer mercenary to help out. Can I make a streetwise check for that?
DM: Go ahead.
Rogue: *rolls 20*
DM: You enter an inn not far from the library and spot a rebelliously looking apprentice sorcerer. Fascinated by your tale of the research, the young magic user offers to help for free if he can watch you summon burning skulls of death and destruction. They don't teach that stuff at Mage College.
Rogue: Yeah baby.
Paladin: Is this legal? Sounds like he's a kid, too. I'm not sure about this.
DM: The Kingdom's army consists partially of mercenaries. It's frowned upon by the populace, but not illegal. The 'kid' seems well versed in the arts of magic for his age. He's more of a young adolescent, really.
Paladin: Well... okay, then I'll let them go ahead. Just don't try your experiment near an orphanage, please.
Player: We can head out into the forest.
Rogue: No witnesses. I like it.

Day five, experiment one: Summoning one d6 HD skull that spits fire as a touch attack.
DM: The four of you head out into the forest and find a nice, secluded opening that would be perfect for an experiment.
Player: Okay, is everybody ready?
Paladin: I'll smite that thing if it reads on my Detect Evil.
Player: Relax. I haven't even used the Necrotic characteristic. They're just ordinary skulls.
Paladin: You could have gone with just floating crystal orbs, y'know? Anyway, I'm ready.
Rogue: Ready.
DM: The sorcerer is ready too. DC is 10 plus 3 from the three previous stages' characteristics modifiers. The sorcerer's aid gives you +2 on your roll, and the rogue another +1. Go ahead and roll.
Player: Paladin, if you help, you'll actually decrease the chance of something going horribly, terribly wrong.
Paladin: Fine, I'll help.
DM: That's another +1. Total bonus is +4 for your roll. DC remains 13. Ready when you are.
Player: Okay. Rolling. *shakes d20 in two hands* Here goes nothing... *rolls 11*
DM: 11 + 4, that's a 15. Focusing upon the mental image of a burning skull, you attempt to bend the forces of magic to your will. A skull with glowing red eyes appears, it's mouth drooling with embers. It looks at you, ready to obey your every command.
Player: Phew. Close call.
Rogue: Thanks for the help though, Paladin.
Paladin: If it weren't for that mercenary, we'd have a problem on our hands.
DM: Probably. Congratulations, though. The sorcerer is impressed and asks you if you can teach him the spell.
Player: It's not ready yet, but maybe he's willing to help out again tomorrow.
DM: Make a check and add your charisma modifier.
Player: *rolls 6+1* Oh. Bugger.
DM: The sorcerer tells you that he's got little time to waste away from the Mage College. He can't help you unless you're compensating him somehow.
Player: Fine, I'll teach him the spell once it's done. For free.
DM: Alright, he's down for that.
Rogue: Kids these days.
Paladin: It's only fair.

Day six, stage four. Spitting fire 10-40ft. DC 11.
Player: You guys helping out again?
DM: The sorcerer is.
Rogue: Me too.
Paladin: Unlikely as it seems... yes.
Player *rolls 15* Plus 4 from their help.
DM: That's a succes. You find an old tome about dwarven defense mechanisms that magically propel firebals across entire hallways. From what you've learned you can figure out how to make the skull's fire reach a lot further.
Rogue: Knowledge (traps) never fails me. Nailed it.
Paladin: I could be saving orphans right now.
Player: Hush, we can use these to do whatever we want.
Paladin: That's what I'm worried about.

Day seven, Final Experiment. d6 HD skull that spits fireballs at a 10-40ft range.
DM: Do you head out into the forest again?
Player: Yep.
Paladin: Also, can I buy a large bucket of water before we leave?
DM: Sure.
*the DM and players handle the purchase of water, then prepare the final step*
DM: Okay. Any last words?
Player: Is the DC that high?
DM: 10+1, actually. But if you roll a natural 1, you'll still fail by 10.
Player: A natural 1? If I pull that off, would we die?
DM: *laughing*
Paladin: It would be extremely painful...
Player: You're a big guy.
Paladin: For you.
Rogue: It doesn't matter who we are...!
Player: Alright, alright, are you guys ready?
Paladin: Go ahead.
Player: *rolls 2*
Rogue: HOLY- I DIDN'T SAY I WAS READY!
Player: Dammit.
DM: You do get a +4, so that makes it a failure by only 5.
Paladin: What happens?
DM: The skull is summoned, but as it tries to spit, it swells up bigger and bigger. Cracks begin to appear and before long, it bursts apart in a cloud of dust and embers.
Player: *sighs* Well, back to stage four.
Paladin: I douse those embers, just in case.
DM: Trust me, a bucket of water wouldn't have saved you from a natural 1.

Kamai
2014-10-15, 02:35 PM
At this point, I'm not even sure how this is better than putting it completely to fiat. The DCs (assuming they end with Spellcraft or Knowledge(casting type) checks are probably too low for anyone to fail except with hilariously complicated spells. The example is also a little odd because the skull, although part of the spell, is only part of it superficially. Sure, I have a fire shooting skull, but I could just have an orb of fire shaped like a skull, and as it is, it seems to be better. Breaking it up into tiny parts, then forcing the experiment after 3 parts can pile into a mess depending on the elements you're adding in, although logic might state to do a bunch of simple steps and test, or to test after an extremely complicated part, normal testing aside.

This, unfortunately, also says nothing about what level the spell should be, for example.

qazzquimby
2014-10-16, 12:31 AM
Be wary that custom spell casting is usually either boring, or grossly unbalanced. It looks as if you're more interested in the grossly unbalanced and interesting side (I would be also), which means it is likely to come down to dm fiat what level the spells is. You're competing with the core rules for making custom spells, which are as simple as "come up with a spell, and try to put it at a spell level where it's roughly on par with its peers." You can't really beat that, because it's probably as straight forward and balanced as something based on dm fiat can be. There are many, many free form spell casting systems for you to look at. Epic casting is the closest failure.

What I would do in your position, is try to make something resembling gramarie, with spells. In this case, balance will not be great, but the system could potentially be strong (these being true if it turns out to be anything like gramarie). The goal I would work towards is hindering spell power with various complications, rather than ever increasing numbers, when possible. Rather than, or as well as, the normal trend of buying range, buying damage, buying damage type, ect. spell building might look more like many tiny spells combined with contingencies and various side spells. Exploding chickens (imagine in a flow-chart?) could appear as summon (creature(chicken)*3)->command(attack spell target)->contingency(proximity, explode(5ft range, 3d6, fire)). I might be programming too much. Limit access to certain aspects, and give them out gradually, so that both breadth of abilities and raw power increases.
And make it a class.

Your system costs downtime, which is an unreliable resource. In a fast campaign, it will never get used, because there just isn't time. In a slow, sandbox, or otherwise player-paced campagin, it essentially gives out free spells. The difficulty of the spell should go towards spell level more than, or as much as, research time. Note also that researching and failing at researching isn't fun for everyone.

I realize I might sound very negative, but I think it's a good idea and hope you keep working on it. :smallcool:

Melzentir
2014-10-21, 05:37 PM
This is actually kind of disheartening, I'll be honest, but I realize that gramaire is a brilliant system that does a bunch of things a lot better. My pride being hurt as it is I feel unable to copy paste that system and repaint it for spellcrafting purposes alone. I'll just chew on my original concept a bit more and try to come up with something that doesn't fill 6 pages in Word.

And yes, I am a huge fan of DM fiat and improvisation. I consider myself to be a Chaotic Good DM, though reading about George R.R. Martin's philosophies has taught me the value of exposing players to true danger which will create true tension and excitement when their next characters face the same challenge... and succeed by being more cautious, tactical and prepared.