Bobbybobby99
2016-03-17, 05:43 AM
Hello! I've been on something of a semi-freeform kick lately, and find myself in need of a magic system. Now, there's nothing wrong with just going wholly free form, but with magic in particular you can't just determine what's reasonable and what isn't, because it itself is sort of unreasonable. Hence the following.
Title/Rank/Population.
Philosopher. Rank 70. 4
Thaumaturge. Rank 65. 16
Incanter. Rank 60. 64
Sage. Rank 55. 256
Sorcerer. Rank 50. 1,028
Sha'ir. Rank 45. 4,096
Wizard. Rank 40. 16,284
Witcher. Rank 35. 65,536
Warlock. Rank 30. 262,144
Magus. Rank 25. 1,048,580
Mage. Rank 20. 4,194,310
Magician. Rank 15. 16,777,200
Adept. Rank 10. 67,108,900
Dabbler. Rank 5. 268,435,000
Mundane. Rank 2. 536,870,000
Casting spells; Roll Rank+Time bonus*+Specialty**+Mana***+1d20. If the total equals the difficulty of the spell, it succeeds; if below by 1-10, it does nothing; if below by more than 10, the spell backfires. A backfire is of equal power to the spell cast, turning equal power against the caster, making difficult spells dangerous to use.
Subtract a person's rank-20, to a minimum of 0, from any spell unwillingly cast upon their person (unwillingly being the default state).
*A spell normally requires a single second to cast. By instead taking a minute, one can gain a +5 bonus on the roll; by taking an hour, one can gain a +10 bonus. Further, a spell normally lasts about as long as it took to cast; for a +5 bonus to the difficulty this duration can be multiplied by 60, and for a +10 bonus to the difficulty it can be multiplied by 3600. Note that this is the duration of the 'active' maintenance of a spell; something destroyed stays destroyed, for instance.
**Everyone has a specialty, which is generally something fairly narrow, or around a third of a major aspect. They then have a +5 bonus with the associated major aspect not covering the actual specialty, and a +10 bonus with the specialty itself. They also have a secondary specialty, in a different major aspect, which they have a +5 bonus with.
The major aspects and associated specialties are Mind (Reason, Emotion, Soul), Senses (Vision, Hearing and touch, Olfactory), Outsider (Faerie, Demon, Spirit), Animal (Predator, Herbivore, Bug), Human (Birth, Death, Between), Plant (Large, Little, Fungus), Earth (Metal, Stone, Soil), Water (Vapor, Liquid, Ice), Air (Electricity, Weather, Gas), and Fire (Flame, Light, Heat).
***A person has a maximum mana capacity equal to their rank, and regenerates mana up to this maximum every five days. A single mana point can be spent for a +2 bonus, four points for a +4 bonus, nine points for a +6 bonus, sixteen points for a +8 bonus, twenty-five points for a +10 bonus, and so on.
Difficulty 10. Receive simple, emotion driven warnings by that which you are concerned with, hear your deity speaking to you, perform simplistic divinations.
Difficulty 20. Create seemings or transparent illusions, such as fairy lights, or minor real effects, such as lighting a candle or lightly warming a seat.
Difficulty 30. Perform accurate yet mundane divinations about the present, past, or anything which can be mathematically predicted of the future.
Difficulty 40. Produce simple wards or otherwise act to preserve something, prolong something already in existence, or generate stasis.
Difficulty 50. Create new but not extraordinary things, a partial thing, increase the rate at which something is created, or simple enhance a thing.
Difficulty 60. Erase something simple from existence, destroy something, hasten the destruction of something, or divine something of the uncertain future.
Difficulty 70. Twist and remake something into something entirely different with new properties, or preserve something in a grandiose or long lasting fashion.
Difficulty 80. Create a new, extraordinary thing, of extraordinary nature, or grandly hasten the production and growth of a thing.
Difficulty 90. Completely erase something from existence for a period, or produce destructions or general ruin on much larger scales.
Difficulty 100. Change anything into anything of similar category, on a continental scale, or cause truly strange alterations on more local levels.
Difficulty 110. Perform any magic of difficulty 50 or lower on a permanent basis.
Difficulty 120. Perform any magic of difficulty 100 or lower on a permanent basis.
What do you think? Is it workable for use, provided everyone is of the same 'rank'? Anything in particular that would be dysfunctional? General comments?
Title/Rank/Population.
Philosopher. Rank 70. 4
Thaumaturge. Rank 65. 16
Incanter. Rank 60. 64
Sage. Rank 55. 256
Sorcerer. Rank 50. 1,028
Sha'ir. Rank 45. 4,096
Wizard. Rank 40. 16,284
Witcher. Rank 35. 65,536
Warlock. Rank 30. 262,144
Magus. Rank 25. 1,048,580
Mage. Rank 20. 4,194,310
Magician. Rank 15. 16,777,200
Adept. Rank 10. 67,108,900
Dabbler. Rank 5. 268,435,000
Mundane. Rank 2. 536,870,000
Casting spells; Roll Rank+Time bonus*+Specialty**+Mana***+1d20. If the total equals the difficulty of the spell, it succeeds; if below by 1-10, it does nothing; if below by more than 10, the spell backfires. A backfire is of equal power to the spell cast, turning equal power against the caster, making difficult spells dangerous to use.
Subtract a person's rank-20, to a minimum of 0, from any spell unwillingly cast upon their person (unwillingly being the default state).
*A spell normally requires a single second to cast. By instead taking a minute, one can gain a +5 bonus on the roll; by taking an hour, one can gain a +10 bonus. Further, a spell normally lasts about as long as it took to cast; for a +5 bonus to the difficulty this duration can be multiplied by 60, and for a +10 bonus to the difficulty it can be multiplied by 3600. Note that this is the duration of the 'active' maintenance of a spell; something destroyed stays destroyed, for instance.
**Everyone has a specialty, which is generally something fairly narrow, or around a third of a major aspect. They then have a +5 bonus with the associated major aspect not covering the actual specialty, and a +10 bonus with the specialty itself. They also have a secondary specialty, in a different major aspect, which they have a +5 bonus with.
The major aspects and associated specialties are Mind (Reason, Emotion, Soul), Senses (Vision, Hearing and touch, Olfactory), Outsider (Faerie, Demon, Spirit), Animal (Predator, Herbivore, Bug), Human (Birth, Death, Between), Plant (Large, Little, Fungus), Earth (Metal, Stone, Soil), Water (Vapor, Liquid, Ice), Air (Electricity, Weather, Gas), and Fire (Flame, Light, Heat).
***A person has a maximum mana capacity equal to their rank, and regenerates mana up to this maximum every five days. A single mana point can be spent for a +2 bonus, four points for a +4 bonus, nine points for a +6 bonus, sixteen points for a +8 bonus, twenty-five points for a +10 bonus, and so on.
Difficulty 10. Receive simple, emotion driven warnings by that which you are concerned with, hear your deity speaking to you, perform simplistic divinations.
Difficulty 20. Create seemings or transparent illusions, such as fairy lights, or minor real effects, such as lighting a candle or lightly warming a seat.
Difficulty 30. Perform accurate yet mundane divinations about the present, past, or anything which can be mathematically predicted of the future.
Difficulty 40. Produce simple wards or otherwise act to preserve something, prolong something already in existence, or generate stasis.
Difficulty 50. Create new but not extraordinary things, a partial thing, increase the rate at which something is created, or simple enhance a thing.
Difficulty 60. Erase something simple from existence, destroy something, hasten the destruction of something, or divine something of the uncertain future.
Difficulty 70. Twist and remake something into something entirely different with new properties, or preserve something in a grandiose or long lasting fashion.
Difficulty 80. Create a new, extraordinary thing, of extraordinary nature, or grandly hasten the production and growth of a thing.
Difficulty 90. Completely erase something from existence for a period, or produce destructions or general ruin on much larger scales.
Difficulty 100. Change anything into anything of similar category, on a continental scale, or cause truly strange alterations on more local levels.
Difficulty 110. Perform any magic of difficulty 50 or lower on a permanent basis.
Difficulty 120. Perform any magic of difficulty 100 or lower on a permanent basis.
What do you think? Is it workable for use, provided everyone is of the same 'rank'? Anything in particular that would be dysfunctional? General comments?