Afgncaap5
2016-08-27, 02:59 PM
So, our gaming group is taking a week off in a few weeks so that we can arrange a birthday party for a friend who really likes Harry Potter, and the party will take that theme. I don't think we'll do much playing, D&D or otherwise, but I started toying with the idea to make a one-combat scenario that used Spheres of Power to replicate the magic seen in the Harry Potter books/movies/etc. It's not an original idea, I think, but Spheres of Power is usually fun for this sort of thing, and I was wondering if anyone had any improvements to what I came up with.
1) The magical tradition of most of the setting seems to be very "Wand-based". Having the Focus drawback makes a certain amount of sense. Given how significant "proper stance" is for wand duels, and how the fine-manipulation of the wand matters ("swish and flick"), it also feels like the somatic drawback is important, though probably only once instead of twice. Finally, we naturally need magic words (most of the time), because as we all know, it’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, with the ‘gar’ nice and long. There *are* instances of wizards and witches using some spells without magic words, or sometimes with words and no gestures, but those could probably be easily justified through things like the Silent Spell feat or the Still Spell feat. Even better, they might be the result of Spellcraft instead of Sphere casting, meaning that the different people in the series who generate magical effects in unique ways have just streamlined certain effects into easily-executed spells instead of sphere effects. I'm tempted to think of the Patronus as a successful attempt at a (usually tricky to pull off) spellcraft. (Harry sort of perfectly goes through the process of being shown a spell and then practicing it until he gets it right. A Patronus feels like a cross between the Conjuration and Protection spheres, possibly with a pinch of Fate tossed in.)
2) It's tempting to think of potion-brewing as an entirely different magical tradition that uses Skill casting (with Craft (Alchemy) or Profession (Herbalism), most likely, as skill-based drawbacks), and the SoP system does allow for people to have multiple traditions, but I think the simpler solution with Potions is to make each individual potion be a unique Incantation using the Incantation system. Almost all of them (at least, all the ones the players would see) would be very low level, but would ultimately involve a handful of Craft (Alchemy) checks, Profession (Herbalism) checks, or similar checks.
3) Broomsticks. We've got the Ride skill, and we've got the Fly skill. These both seem pretty useful. In a pinch, one might even substitute Profession (Quidditch Player) or something like that. I feel like the Ride skill is what you want, but the Fly skill probably provides a circumstance bonus, as might Quidditch Player, though I could see Fly or Quidditch Player being the primary check in specialized situations. Speaking of Broomsticks, though, this brings us to...
4) Wondrous Items: The Harry Potter franchise is lousy with them. (You're welcome in advance, people who edit things to say "fixed it for ya." :smallwink: ) I don't think a one-shot would need to focus on their creation, but it feels like any attempt to make a game like this without Wondrous Items being in the mix would be doing a disservice to the world. The Artificery feat is surprisingly appropriate for this, making it possible for nearly anyone to make a magic item as long as they're skilled in some way. Most of these would be very low level in D&D terms, but in a weird way I think a lot of them would qualify as "mundane artifacts". Basically, not very powerful, but also not craftable by your typical, mundane person. Ultimately, though, I think it's more important to *have* wondrous items than it is to let players *make* them.
5) Ministry of Miscellaneous Magic: So, you've got lots of little things around the edges. Magical Beasts, Apparition, and Divination are the ones that most immediately pop to mind. Divination is a sort of unreliable and/or hard to legitimately produce effect. This sort of feels like a different tradition than most "wand magic" use, sort of like potions. Unlike potions, I think that Rituals, rather than Incantations, would be the way to go. Basically, cast a Ritual as you would a Vancian spell, but with longer casting times and more expensive materials, but very cheap rituals might be handled by students through the use of a non-wand focus device (crystal ball.) Magical Beasts, meanwhile, feel like they'd be handled as they would in any D&D game: figure out what they want and use that to avoid them or cajole them into assisting you, probably with the Handle Animal, Diplomacy, or Wild Empathy skills/abilities factoring in. Apparition is probably also a collection of Rituals, given how they seem to take some time and pre-existing knowledge of the way magic works to be usable. Other odd areas of magic (Herbology, Arithmancy, etc.) can probably be handled with skill checks and assorted rituals, spellcrafted spells, or incantations.
6) Character Classes: I almost feel like custom classes are the way to go since all of the standard D&D classes would be a bit tougher than your typical Hogwarts student. On the other hand, using some NPC classes as a quick starting point might work: the Magewright NPC class from Eberron, and the Expert class (when given the Advanced Magical Training feat) might be good ways to represent some things. On the other hand, just giving everyone the Wizard class (or the Witch class as suggested by the DMG) might be a better way to go. I've also wanted to convert the Adept class from 3.5 to SoP, I can see some good coming from that direction.
Anyway... those are just a few of my quick thoughts for how the system might generate characters for quickplay one shots. See any places that it might be better to do something different?
Thanks for the patience, folks who can't stand Harry Potter. You're great sports. :smallcool:
Edit:
For quick reference, I think this leaves the world's primary Magical Tradition as...
Hogwarts Student: gain one extra spell point per odd level in a casting class.
Drawbacks: Focus Casting (Wand), Somatic Casting (1), Verbal Casting.
Removed: No access to the Warp or Divination effects allowed as typical sphere use effects.
Special: Potions, Divinations, and Apparation (Warp) magic exists as Incantations, Rituals, and Spellcraft.
1) The magical tradition of most of the setting seems to be very "Wand-based". Having the Focus drawback makes a certain amount of sense. Given how significant "proper stance" is for wand duels, and how the fine-manipulation of the wand matters ("swish and flick"), it also feels like the somatic drawback is important, though probably only once instead of twice. Finally, we naturally need magic words (most of the time), because as we all know, it’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, with the ‘gar’ nice and long. There *are* instances of wizards and witches using some spells without magic words, or sometimes with words and no gestures, but those could probably be easily justified through things like the Silent Spell feat or the Still Spell feat. Even better, they might be the result of Spellcraft instead of Sphere casting, meaning that the different people in the series who generate magical effects in unique ways have just streamlined certain effects into easily-executed spells instead of sphere effects. I'm tempted to think of the Patronus as a successful attempt at a (usually tricky to pull off) spellcraft. (Harry sort of perfectly goes through the process of being shown a spell and then practicing it until he gets it right. A Patronus feels like a cross between the Conjuration and Protection spheres, possibly with a pinch of Fate tossed in.)
2) It's tempting to think of potion-brewing as an entirely different magical tradition that uses Skill casting (with Craft (Alchemy) or Profession (Herbalism), most likely, as skill-based drawbacks), and the SoP system does allow for people to have multiple traditions, but I think the simpler solution with Potions is to make each individual potion be a unique Incantation using the Incantation system. Almost all of them (at least, all the ones the players would see) would be very low level, but would ultimately involve a handful of Craft (Alchemy) checks, Profession (Herbalism) checks, or similar checks.
3) Broomsticks. We've got the Ride skill, and we've got the Fly skill. These both seem pretty useful. In a pinch, one might even substitute Profession (Quidditch Player) or something like that. I feel like the Ride skill is what you want, but the Fly skill probably provides a circumstance bonus, as might Quidditch Player, though I could see Fly or Quidditch Player being the primary check in specialized situations. Speaking of Broomsticks, though, this brings us to...
4) Wondrous Items: The Harry Potter franchise is lousy with them. (You're welcome in advance, people who edit things to say "fixed it for ya." :smallwink: ) I don't think a one-shot would need to focus on their creation, but it feels like any attempt to make a game like this without Wondrous Items being in the mix would be doing a disservice to the world. The Artificery feat is surprisingly appropriate for this, making it possible for nearly anyone to make a magic item as long as they're skilled in some way. Most of these would be very low level in D&D terms, but in a weird way I think a lot of them would qualify as "mundane artifacts". Basically, not very powerful, but also not craftable by your typical, mundane person. Ultimately, though, I think it's more important to *have* wondrous items than it is to let players *make* them.
5) Ministry of Miscellaneous Magic: So, you've got lots of little things around the edges. Magical Beasts, Apparition, and Divination are the ones that most immediately pop to mind. Divination is a sort of unreliable and/or hard to legitimately produce effect. This sort of feels like a different tradition than most "wand magic" use, sort of like potions. Unlike potions, I think that Rituals, rather than Incantations, would be the way to go. Basically, cast a Ritual as you would a Vancian spell, but with longer casting times and more expensive materials, but very cheap rituals might be handled by students through the use of a non-wand focus device (crystal ball.) Magical Beasts, meanwhile, feel like they'd be handled as they would in any D&D game: figure out what they want and use that to avoid them or cajole them into assisting you, probably with the Handle Animal, Diplomacy, or Wild Empathy skills/abilities factoring in. Apparition is probably also a collection of Rituals, given how they seem to take some time and pre-existing knowledge of the way magic works to be usable. Other odd areas of magic (Herbology, Arithmancy, etc.) can probably be handled with skill checks and assorted rituals, spellcrafted spells, or incantations.
6) Character Classes: I almost feel like custom classes are the way to go since all of the standard D&D classes would be a bit tougher than your typical Hogwarts student. On the other hand, using some NPC classes as a quick starting point might work: the Magewright NPC class from Eberron, and the Expert class (when given the Advanced Magical Training feat) might be good ways to represent some things. On the other hand, just giving everyone the Wizard class (or the Witch class as suggested by the DMG) might be a better way to go. I've also wanted to convert the Adept class from 3.5 to SoP, I can see some good coming from that direction.
Anyway... those are just a few of my quick thoughts for how the system might generate characters for quickplay one shots. See any places that it might be better to do something different?
Thanks for the patience, folks who can't stand Harry Potter. You're great sports. :smallcool:
Edit:
For quick reference, I think this leaves the world's primary Magical Tradition as...
Hogwarts Student: gain one extra spell point per odd level in a casting class.
Drawbacks: Focus Casting (Wand), Somatic Casting (1), Verbal Casting.
Removed: No access to the Warp or Divination effects allowed as typical sphere use effects.
Special: Potions, Divinations, and Apparation (Warp) magic exists as Incantations, Rituals, and Spellcraft.