Reosoul
2016-12-15, 02:21 PM
I'm creating a High-Magic campaign where magic is considered 'volatile'. It's not convenient, it's difficult to control, and the stronger you become at wielding magic, the more stress it places on your mind(more credence to the Mad Wizard trope). Also, the mana(spell slots) used to cast magic isn't owned by anyone. You can sap other lifeforms of their mana and restore your spell slots, if you like. If you're empty on spell slots, you can still cast more, but have to make constitution saves as a result, and will walk away with exhaustion, even if you pass(worse things happen if you fail).
So, an important thing, is I'm wanting magic and mana to have that different feeling. I'm not worried about the idea of a player deciding to roll up an evil character and just cart around a bunch of slaves or henchman for extra spell slots(I have ways for dealing with this), but I like the elegance and simplicity of 5th edition.
So, how do I make a mechanic based around people being able to mana-drain each other?
Initial thought was that a creature can take an action to begin a contest with another nearby creature(30 ft?). Both creatures roll Intelligence(Arcana) checks, and the loser of the contest having a spell slot stolen for every 5 that they lost the contest by(minimum 1).
I'd like some feedback on the above interaction/mechanic. Specifically on how this could possibly be refined to be made more elegant and not bog down play.
Thank you, Playgrounders!
So, an important thing, is I'm wanting magic and mana to have that different feeling. I'm not worried about the idea of a player deciding to roll up an evil character and just cart around a bunch of slaves or henchman for extra spell slots(I have ways for dealing with this), but I like the elegance and simplicity of 5th edition.
So, how do I make a mechanic based around people being able to mana-drain each other?
Initial thought was that a creature can take an action to begin a contest with another nearby creature(30 ft?). Both creatures roll Intelligence(Arcana) checks, and the loser of the contest having a spell slot stolen for every 5 that they lost the contest by(minimum 1).
I'd like some feedback on the above interaction/mechanic. Specifically on how this could possibly be refined to be made more elegant and not bog down play.
Thank you, Playgrounders!