PDA

View Full Version : Changes to Magic (Belgariad Adventure)



Endal
2016-10-02, 01:08 PM
These are a few changes that I'm developing for an adventure I'm putting together based on the Belgariad books by David Eddings.

Spell Sound

Casting of any magic spell creates a certain type of sound that only other magic users can hear using a passive Arcana check. The noises intensity is determined by the DM at the time of casting.
The more external the spell, the louder the sound
The sound can be muffled by ambient noise
The noise is like any other noise, you can tell what direction it came from and generally how far, but it is an estimate by the listener.


Casting Higher Level Spells

The only way to learn a spell to cast in this way is to find someone who can instruct you in the spell who already has it. It takes 1d4*SpellLevel days to learn a spell in this way.
If you know a higher level spell than you can normally cast (through a scroll or similar method) you are able to cast it by using two spell slots of the previous level.
Example: 5th level Wizard wanting to cast a 4th level spell slot. He has no spell slots, so he uses two of his 3rd level spell slots. This works down the line, so if you only had one 3rd level spell slot, you could use two 2nd level to grant an extra 3rd level and then the three 3rd level to cast the 4th.
Using this feature causes one level of exhaustion for each use (the second example would give two exhaustion tics). Additionally, the DM will roll a 1d4 and add a +1 for each level above the character's max spell level. If the roll comes out 6 or higher the caster immediately takes 4 points of exhaustion and is knocked unconscious for 1d6+12 hours

Naanomi
2016-10-02, 01:12 PM
Don't forget the setting had more magic than 'the will and the way'; for example you may want to keep warlock casting as is to represent the witch of the fens and the Demon summoners

Endal
2016-10-02, 01:47 PM
Well, so far as I understood it all magic makes the noise. There's a part towards the end of the Mallorian series where a necromancer speaks with someone and Garrion said he heard a strange feeling sound.

Mjolnirbear
2016-10-02, 04:34 PM
Read the Seeress of Kell and the rest of the Malloreon to get ideas for other magics besides the Will. Aldur's disciples and the grolims were plot central, not Magic-central. As someone mentioned, the witch of the fens... there are also the magicians from the north, the Dals, the dryads, Salmissra, the Necessities and their tools the Orb and the Sardion, and the Gorim.

Endal
2016-10-03, 06:25 AM
My hopeful goal is to get more people like Silk, Hettar, and Mandorallen than Belgarath, Polgara, and Beldin. The restrictions and drawbacks of magic are more designed to have people draw a bit away from the practice than to dive into it. The whole world is going to be more Sandbox than a recration of the Belgariad/Mallorean series. I want them to be bandits or treasure hunters or even wagonieers/shipmen than I would want them to be the mighty adventurers of legend.

Also, I'm making sure they all know that there is no way to bring someone back from the dead. Death is permanent and we wouldn't want them to waste themselves on some meaningless skirmish.

Naanomi
2016-10-03, 07:47 AM
Hettar would be either a totem barbarian or ranger of some sort, but his gift (represented by spells or spell like ability) didn't make 'noise'