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Paragon Badger
2007-08-24, 10:13 PM
New Concept: Spellcasting die.

Every spellcaster, upon choosing a spellcasting class, can select any die (except 1d100) to be his or her innate amount of magical control. Everytime you cast a spell, this die is rolled.

If you wish, You may roll a 1d6 to determine your spellcasting die. A 1 equals 1d4, and a 6 equals 1d20. Ect.

New Concept: Magic Points(MP)

Every spellcaster now has an MP, similiar to their Hit points, but it will not be gained in the same manner of hit points. Not so sure, yet.

New Concept: Spell Difficulty Level(DL) and MP cost.

Every spell now has a Difficulty Level and a Magic Point cost. Rolling exactly on the DL of a spell allows you to cast it at optimal efficiency and at a 100% MP cost. Rolling below the DL for a spell will make the spell less powerful (even to the point of not even working) and you will still spend the same amount of MP. Rolling OVER a DL will not make the spell any more powerful, but you WILL spend much more MP than is normal for that spell.

New Skill: Control.

Control is used to add or subtract to your spellcasting roll. This is entirely different from spellcraft, which is gained knowledge. It is also different from concentration, though you will get many synergy bonuses from those two skills contributing to your vital Control skill.


Examples


Prozac (Level 1 Wizard) has a 1d20 spellcasting die and 4 ranks in Control with no modifiers.

He wants to cast a Difficulty Level(DL) 5 spell. He rolls a 1d20 and gets a 12. He subtracts 4 from that roll to make his final check 8. He put too much power into his spell and ended up paying 160% more MP than usual for the spell.


Prilosec (Level 1 Wizard) has a 1d4 spellcasting die and 4 ranks in Control with no modifiers.

He wants to cast a DL 5 spell. He automatically succedes, not needing to even roll, because even if he rolls a 1, he can add 4 ranks to it, equalling a 5. If he rolls a 4, he just adds 1 rank. He can't conceivably go over the DL limit, either...because you can't 'control too much'... >_>

MP Consumption formula for overpowered spells:

(Spellcasting check-DL)/(DL) = Factor added to the cost of the base MP.

Examples:

(8-5) = 3.
3 / 5 = 0.6% Total Cost: 160%

(5-5) = 0.
0/5 = 0% Total Cost: 100%

Basically; if your roll ends up twice as much as the DL, you spend twice as much MP. Ect.

This is inspired by the Narutoverse fluff... Though I'm not sure if Naruto D20 used this kind of system. The PDF doesn't want to work for my computer. >_>

If you applied this system to the Naruto characters:

Sakura: 1d4 with excellent control.
Sasuke: 1d10 with good control.
Naruto: 1d100 with crappy control.

This explains why Naruto can't preform basic jutsu at the beggining of the series, while Sakura can't preform almighty powerful jutsu like Naruto can. Sasuke is slightly more powerful than average (1d10) but has the control to back it up.

Some Miscellanious ideas: Perhaps charisma is added to your spellcasting check as a positive only modifier? So high charisma spellcasters are more powerful, but require more control.

Then perhaps the Control skill has a wisdom modifier?

Spells like Magic Missile which scale up in damage with your levels would no longer depend on your level... but you can still increase their damage/duration/ect. by increasing the DL and MP cost before you start casting it.

As a general rule of thumb, you can cast any spells with 100% accuracy, if the spell has a DL that is lesser than or equal to your Control skill ranks minus your maximum die roll. You have a 5% chance of casting any spell that equals your Control skill ranks plus your maximum die roll.

Note, I very well may be creating entirely new D20 spellcasters with this system, so don't try to apply it too heavily to the D&D classes.

Basic Theme-
Spellcasting die: Innate power, ranging from weak but controllable to powerful yet eratic.
Control Skill: Learned/practiced control over that power.

Of course, with the advent of 4th edition, who knows if this will become applicable or not. :smallwink:

Paragon Badger
2007-08-24, 10:19 PM
It just occured to me that, fluff-wise, this is a bit more applicable to sorcerors than wizards... Meh, I was never good with D&D's crappy explanations of universe physics/rules. :smalltongue:

Deesix
2007-08-25, 12:21 PM
It seems kind of neat...However, being stuck with a d4 for all eternity would kind of bite. I think that you should be able to increase (never decrease) the dice maybe once or twice over your career and only by one die step. Otherwise, not choosing d20 would really bite eventually, as even d10 can only get half as high.

Tower
2007-08-25, 08:10 PM
Maybe you should link the level to the spellcasting die