Looking for Alternative Magic

[Outrider]

I am in the process of crafting a homebrew setting for a campaign and I find myself unsatisfied with the 5e magic system. The vancian system is okay, but I'm looking to make the setting a bit more low-magic than the standard high fantasy setting, and I want magic to be suitable mysterious and difficult to use/master.

Something like the shadow magic and binder magic from the 3.x tome of magic are closer to what I am looking for, but I don't think either of those system would work in 5e (I could be wrong?)

Does anyone know of any alternative magic systems for 5e that might be closer to what I am looking for?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I am in the process of crafting a homebrew setting for a campaign and I find myself unsatisfied with the 5e magic system. The vancian system is okay, but I'm looking to make the setting a bit more low-magic than the standard high fantasy setting, and I want magic to be suitable mysterious and difficult to use/master.

Something like the shadow magic and binder magic from the 3.x tome of magic are closer to what I am looking for, but I don't think either of those system would work in 5e (I could be wrong?)

Does anyone know of any alternative magic systems for 5e that might be closer to what I am looking for?

Ask your players for any ideas if you haven't. You'll figure out what they like, not me over here.

Be aware if you take magic away from Bards or Sorcerers they will lag way behind the martial classes in optimization.

For simplicity sake you COULD give the full casters slots like Rangers and Paladins to cut down on magic. Not sure what to do with Warlocks.

[stack]

I have a great solution...next year.

I am currently adapting Spheres of Power to 5th edition from Pathfinder, which functions alongside core magic or as a full replacement. Kickstarter will run late this year, release next year, tentatively.

Since it is all OGL (open game license), there is a wiki (unaffiliated with the studio) with all the material here (http://spheresofpower.wikidot.com/).

I expect there are other 3pp magic options that don't require waiting, but I don't know enough about any of them to make recommendations.

[jjordan]

I've toyed with a lot of versions of how to do this. Ultimately, the most satisfying, logically consistent, and useful way to do it was to re-write the magic system to make it skill-based with spell-points. But rewriting the entire magic system is a boat-load of work and you shouldn't do it unless you enjoy that sort of work. Here are a couple of ideas that might spark something useful for you.

1) Make the existing system skill-based. Casting magic is hard and requires a DC15 + the level the spell is being cast at check versus the caster's primary casting stat (Int, Wis, Cha). Allow the caster to apply bonuses including knowledge based bonuses as appropriate (Arcana, Religion, Nature, etc...). Allow the caster to apply bonuses for using a focus (or multiple focuses, e.g. using a staff, a magic circle, material components). Allow the caster to roll at advantage or with a bonus or with stacking rolls if using more time than is required (e.g. the spell takes 1 round to cast and the caster declares they will take two rounds so at the end of the second round they get to roll with advantage or a +2 bonus or they get to roll two dice and add the results to produce their roll result). Allow others to assist the caster (which really complicates things but can make for fun play if players are so inclined). Cantrips are a straight DC10 check plus any bonuses. You can add environmental modifiers (that lightning spell is going to be a lot easier in the middle of a thunderstorm, that water spell is going to be more difficult in the desert, and etc...)

This makes magic more complicated and harder. It makes it more interesting, but it slows down game-play.

2) Reduce the amount of magic available in the game by slowing down progression. Simply insert a gap between the acquisition of spell slots at levels. For example: A wizard character gets all their first level spell slots on time. When they move up to level two they don't get any new spell slots. When they move up to level three they get the spell slots they would have gotten at level two. At level five they get the spell slots they would have gotten at level three. And so on.

[Man_Over_Game]

There are rules in the DMG about using a magic point system. I'd suggest you start there.

Then make all of the various casters all basically the same thing, but specializations into various magic. Clerics steal power from gods, Sorcerers amplify power from within that doesn't require any sort of "converting", Wizards treat magic like a science problem and pull several elements together to cast a spell, Bards use words of power, and Warlocks are given power in exchange for otherworldly duties.

You're no longer a "Bard". You're a caster that uses divine words. You're no longer a Sorcerer/Bard, but a caster that uses his internal magic to channel power into casting divine words.

Remove all of the existing fluff from casters and make it fit. Lastly, make it so that characters don't level up until you say they do, and level them up when it'd have the most narrative impact. For example, the Bard levels up upon defeating someone in a music battle, and discovers his opponent trying to cheat with a divine word in the middle of the song. The Fighter levels up after slaying a group of orcs attempting to swarm the group's back line. Those kinds of things.

[Vogie]

In Pathfinder Occult Adventures, the Occultist was their Wizard variant mechanically. However, the crunch was that they only actually knew cantrips. All of their leveled spells were based on Use Magic Device checks (UMDs) for various individual foci, such as bracelets, bones, amulets, and the like, that they rummage through and cast with.

You can do this as the way that magic exists in your world without the mechanical hand-waving - a magic-focused user is simply one who has a growing pile of magic items that each have a single spell associated with them. In that way, you could tie certain magic to items and then each player can learn how to use them on various levels.



Alternatively, you can delineate the magic Path-of-Exile style. In this system, magic is tied to gems that can be set into sockets in the players various pieces of gear. The schools of magic in the gems are divided into colors, and the sockets in the gear they purchase and/or find also have associated colors - and you either have to match the colors of gems and sockets precisely, or perhaps mismatching the gem & socket colors limit it in their use (such as longer cooldown or no scaling available). Martial characters would also have the ability to socket in gems that would make them better at their roles, similar to special features and spell-like abilities.

[bc56]

I would direct you to this article (https://theangrygm.com/fanservice-bs-low-magic/), and say that the best way to make low magic in d&d 5e is to change the world, not the mechanics. Players want to be powerful and unique, and altering the spellcasters messes with balance in favor of the martials. If you want the world to feel low magic, have npcs respond accordingly. If magic is rare, and most people don't see it in a lifetime, then to see someone use it should be shocking and frightening.