Captain Zark
2018-01-19, 03:36 PM
So, I have a bit of an odd one here. I'm going to be running a campaign in which spells are not cast, per se, but magic does exist, particularly in the forms of nature, song, and certain runic magics. My issue is bards. I'd like for them to be able to weave a kind of magic, but not necessarily "cast spells". Definitely nothing reality warping.
EDIT: Clarifications
Clerics, Paladins, Monks, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards do not exist. Demons and devils do not exist. Gods exist, but don't interfere with their creations.
To start, there exist 4 races. Man, Dwarf, Halfling, and Firbolg. All but Firbolg are generally superstitious, seeing magic as an unknown element that may or may not actually exist. Runes aren't generally used except by dwarves, and even then, most of runecraft has been forgotten. Firbolg are just naturally magical, they do not cast spells but they do things that other races would see as miraculous.
Nature magic works in the sense of being able to speak with animals (not that they can necessarily respond vocally), plants, and inanimate, but natural things like water and earth (Stones and rocks, in particular). You could affect the growth of a plant, and even use trees to travel, though such things are considered myth and story by the majority — in fact, most of these things are only possible for Firbolg, and they don't go showing them off to other races.
Elementals generally exist, though they're naturally occurring and tend not to interact with man.
Dragons exist, though the dwarves killed most of the intelligent ones in a bloody crusade, leaving drakes and wyverns.
There's a frozen tundra that has a living, creeping cold essence that has recently begun slinking further into civilized lands. It's capable of twisting creatures into abominations and is generally regarded as "evil". There's a subrace of dwarves that can resist the cold, preventing them from becoming mutated by it for the most part. As it is capable of twisting things, it is capable of twisting nature magic and, to a lesser degree, musical magic into the sort of magic you'd find in, say, the Witcher.
Music has the capability to inspire — exaggerations of the effects music has on people in the real world, such as increasing focus, creating fear or hope, and even going so far as to influence minds such as with charm or suggestion —, and cause some small miracles, such as being able to mend things together and heal wounds.
Such things are not so much practiced as they are stumbled upon, like "I strummed my lute and it just sort of happened" kinda thing.
Runic magics work as they would in, say, Lord of the Rings. You can seal doors, create areas that which sound does not enter or leave — though not like [I]silence[/s], more like an aura of privacy in which those present can hear each other, but those outside cannot hear inside and vice versa — and some ancient things may even grant certain magical effects, not unlike the rings of power though, again, the common folk view such items as myth and legend. Most runic magics were used by Dwarves and have long since been forgotten, for the most part.
EDIT: Clarifications
Clerics, Paladins, Monks, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards do not exist. Demons and devils do not exist. Gods exist, but don't interfere with their creations.
To start, there exist 4 races. Man, Dwarf, Halfling, and Firbolg. All but Firbolg are generally superstitious, seeing magic as an unknown element that may or may not actually exist. Runes aren't generally used except by dwarves, and even then, most of runecraft has been forgotten. Firbolg are just naturally magical, they do not cast spells but they do things that other races would see as miraculous.
Nature magic works in the sense of being able to speak with animals (not that they can necessarily respond vocally), plants, and inanimate, but natural things like water and earth (Stones and rocks, in particular). You could affect the growth of a plant, and even use trees to travel, though such things are considered myth and story by the majority — in fact, most of these things are only possible for Firbolg, and they don't go showing them off to other races.
Elementals generally exist, though they're naturally occurring and tend not to interact with man.
Dragons exist, though the dwarves killed most of the intelligent ones in a bloody crusade, leaving drakes and wyverns.
There's a frozen tundra that has a living, creeping cold essence that has recently begun slinking further into civilized lands. It's capable of twisting creatures into abominations and is generally regarded as "evil". There's a subrace of dwarves that can resist the cold, preventing them from becoming mutated by it for the most part. As it is capable of twisting things, it is capable of twisting nature magic and, to a lesser degree, musical magic into the sort of magic you'd find in, say, the Witcher.
Music has the capability to inspire — exaggerations of the effects music has on people in the real world, such as increasing focus, creating fear or hope, and even going so far as to influence minds such as with charm or suggestion —, and cause some small miracles, such as being able to mend things together and heal wounds.
Such things are not so much practiced as they are stumbled upon, like "I strummed my lute and it just sort of happened" kinda thing.
Runic magics work as they would in, say, Lord of the Rings. You can seal doors, create areas that which sound does not enter or leave — though not like [I]silence[/s], more like an aura of privacy in which those present can hear each other, but those outside cannot hear inside and vice versa — and some ancient things may even grant certain magical effects, not unlike the rings of power though, again, the common folk view such items as myth and legend. Most runic magics were used by Dwarves and have long since been forgotten, for the most part.