Shackled Slayer
2023-06-18, 11:28 PM
SO, as you may or may not know, FATE core doesn't really provide much of an innate magic system, baked in. it gives examples of how magic COULD work, but it kind of just uses guidelines and says "look man, we don't know what kind of game you are playing, so here's some stuff to get you started, and we'll leave the game design to you. OKAY BYYYYEEE!" and leaves a GM holding a couple examples and not really clear on where to go. The system toolkit adds more helpful stuff but not buckets of it, it more or less just adds more examples and walks you through the thought process. these elements made it so that my caster in the weird west game we played felt very lacking. granted, she made a character concept that didn't really work, but we were all first time players and to be fair another player did more damage to the game than she did, but a dedicated ritualist flanked by two gunslingers shouldn't be surprised when the other members of the party solve the problem with GUN before she can conduct her hour long combat ritual. Hell, even the spirit magic system i made to counterbalance this was shaky at best. Still kind of salty about how she torpedoed the gam because she couldn't just say she wasn't feeling in the right headspace to play. but live and learn. Long story short, the caster and I as GM needed a more concrete system that didn't drain the meta currency and actually provided the structural support for a magic system that would have allowed us not to need to rely on a magic system i developed to make shadow run in a non-shadowrun setting, because shadowrun is a bit of a nightmare, serve as a functioning combat magic system. i needed something like what i developed later, shown below this overly long intro paragraph. brevity? who?
what follows below is my current standing magic system for fate. i tried my best to make it comprehensive and flexible, but im not sure even how good it is since it's been nearly a year since my "table" was down to play. it's been mostly Dungeons & Dragons since then. that and schedule conflicts...
I would appreciate feedback on how the system could be improved. the general intent is to have a system that is somewhat intuitive once you know how to do it, and which leaves enough wiggle room to get applied to a wide variety of styles. it's made with the idea that vancian magic has had it too good for too long and that players want something a bit more free form. it is not made with munchkins/power gamers in mind since FATE core is literally as close to just playing make pretend as you can get in a system that still uses mechanics.
you need 3-4 things to be able to use magic.
1) An aspect that grants the "narrative excuse" as to why you can cast magic, what allows you to do this? examples could be something like "i was taught evocation by the arcaneum magica" or "self taught elf illusionist" or even "i found this spooky amulet in a cave that lets me raise the dead." it can be flavored however you want, like a warlock's magic could be part of their trouble and it acts in a way that you don't exactly control.
2) By way having the aspect, you create an extra. this defines the scope and range of effects of that magic, such as "illusion initiate" or "high necromancer". the extra should detail several examples of the magic when using it, referring to the four action types: created advantage, overcome, attack & defend. if the magic can't do one of those, then simply write that it can't be used for that action type. as example, we'll use illusion:
>>>>create advantage: the player can create the illusion of terrain and obstacles that aren't there, forcing enemies to avoid them or try to roll a will roll to see through them. illusion may also be used to make food feel, look and taste other than it is, change the illusionist's outward appearance, and otherwise affect perceptions and emotions. as an initiate the illusionist can only affect 2 senses at a time with large illusionary effects, 3 with medium range effects, or all 5 on small effects by focusing on them completely. the roll modifier is based off the illusionist's lore skill.
>>>>overcome: illusion magic can be used to dull the senses of pain, fear, or apprehension by working on the user or target's mental state, using lore for the roll
>>>>attack: illusions, while lacking substance, can be used to cause mental stress as long as they are *perceived* as real. the attack is made rolling lore, and some may have a damage modifier as weapons do. however, if the target realizes the attacks are illusory, they can roll will to negate any more damage to them. the damage they already suffered however remains until they rest and heal that mental stress.
>>>> defend: illusions cannot physically stop attacks or damage, but may cause such threats to miss by tricking their source into believing there are barriers between them and their targets, or that the target is somewhere else entirely. on an exceptional success the target may even be tricked into harming allies or themselves, fooled into misidentifying allies or nearby objects as the target. this allows lore to be used as a defense role.
>>>>other: because the illusionist is well learned in deceptive magics they may have bonuses to perceive an illusion, could use the lore skill to see through other illusions, or could use the lore skill to interact with other magics in a counter-spell type way, either defensively or offensively.
3) as you can see in the example, a skill is also needed to cast magic. this can be done in two main ways for this kind of magical extra. as above the spell could be keyed to an existing skill, like lore, which is used as the main stat. illusion makes sense for this because in order to conjure something that looks like a noble's signet ring or like the face of a cliff, one must know what exactly that looks like to begin with.
the alternative option is that the magic has it's own skill named after it, which functions separately. the magic of necromancy is a good example, because while it could be tied to something like medicine, necromancy is stand alone in that it's a type of knowledge specific to raising the dead and dealing with life and death energies. so giving it it's own special skill allows the player to use that skill for it's own unique functions. lore wouldn't make sense as much unless the necromancer took a very academic approach to it. either way can be justified, so choosing the best option for your concept is important.
4) a cost. while not strictly necessary in every case, most of the time the internal logic of magic demands a payment for the magic. magic is functionally a way to make mundane things happen without the normal requisites, & we can simply make an alternate cost to the ends magic is the means to. for example, in conjuring a masterwork sword, using materials that have been gathered, the magic is replacing the time & skill of a black smith. thus, roughly a months work is being replaced. as such the spell could age somebody a month, or it could require the sacrifice of a creature that only has about a month to live, or it could just exhaust the user, as though they did all the work instantly themselves. alternatively, the cost may simply be the materials used, plus a hammer & anvil, which are destroyed by the spell meaning that is the only thing that hammer & anvil ever made, trading those items use for instantaneous reward. even farther, the masterwork sword may just revert to the raw materials after a few hours, it's existence being fleeting in order to not have the cost be so dire.
however, if the game makes sense to have a caster be sufficiently powerful the cost can be waived entirely. that would imply the caster is a rare or particularly powerful individual, & needn't sacrifice much to use her powers. as such, there should be a consequence for doing so often. perhaps repeated consecutive casts of the masterwork sword spell cause the swords to be sentient & evil, a reason the caster cant just go selling masterwork swords all the time.
a good format for magic costs is a focus, a fuel, & a catalyst, representing the forces to evoke the change. as the above, you could have the raw materials be the fuel, a smithing hammer & anvil as focus, & a fire as the catalyst.
the point being that that kind of magic has a reason why it's not just done on a whim, something that explains why the caster isn't just selling masterwork swords as a living instead of all this adventuring business. That example aside, at the very least the use of magic should take most of a turn in combat, so as to make things balanced.
5) Rituals, by contrast, are magic used by people without the aspect and extra that allows for them to cast spells instantly, OR they are used to heighten a spell's effect by somebody who has the aspect and extra. so a laymen is using the extra materials and time to accomplish what their caster opposite does. an example that works perfectly for this is necromancy, raising an undead minion. lets say somebody wants to raise the dead. the normal caster has 10 skeletons, and in short order raises them with a pinch of bone-dust, a hand-full of grave dirt, and 10 drops of blood, their own or somebody else's. if somebody off the street wanted to do the same they would need the same components, plus black candles for each skeleton, a ritual circle made in exacting precision, a tome of incantations, and a true sacrifice. in this example they are only raising simple skeleton minions, so a goat or some chickens would suffice, and the whole ritual takes about an hour and a half. the ritual removes the need for expert knowledge by substituting it with time spent and materials used for the ritual.
by contrast, a true necromancer doing that same ritual could raise 20 skeletons, or 10 powerful undead such as shades, whites or something like a huge composite undead, like a dragon made out of multiple corpses. by using both expertise from character costs as well as the ritual and it's components, the end result is heightened. however a ritual as a character's main expertise of magic is possible also, but would hamper the immediate effectiveness in combat, though the point of FATE is to create a narrative. it's possible that a ritualist could do a ritual as a series of steps, taking longer in combat but ultimately still able to participate. so a ritualist would describe what the ritual needs. for casting fireball the ritual may be an arcane chant, lighting a stick on fire, & focusing magical energy to magnify the now extant fire's destructive capabilities, so that's 3 checks. assuming the character foregoes movement & can do about 3 things in a turn, the fireball could be conjured as a full turn action composed of three distinct skill checks, in this case i would say it would consist of a lore check of medium difficulty, a craft check of low difficulty, & a will check of medium difficulty. supposing the caster gets 2/3 of those successfully & critically manages to get the fire started with the stick, the spell could succeed without all the checks needing to be perfectly executed. to reward this the ritualist's fireball may be more capable of dealing stress & damage than focused evokers, & the cost of failure of one of the steps is that the spell loses some of that extras oomph. another possibility is of rituals being used to create a spell waiting to activate. a voodoo doll for example is the end product of a ritual imbued with magic, & so it can be used simply because it was prepared as a magic item ahead of time.
this process is still a work in process so pleas read over it and tell me what you think of both normal casting and rituals as a concept, and any constructive criticism you can offer to improve this basic framework.
what follows below is my current standing magic system for fate. i tried my best to make it comprehensive and flexible, but im not sure even how good it is since it's been nearly a year since my "table" was down to play. it's been mostly Dungeons & Dragons since then. that and schedule conflicts...
I would appreciate feedback on how the system could be improved. the general intent is to have a system that is somewhat intuitive once you know how to do it, and which leaves enough wiggle room to get applied to a wide variety of styles. it's made with the idea that vancian magic has had it too good for too long and that players want something a bit more free form. it is not made with munchkins/power gamers in mind since FATE core is literally as close to just playing make pretend as you can get in a system that still uses mechanics.
you need 3-4 things to be able to use magic.
1) An aspect that grants the "narrative excuse" as to why you can cast magic, what allows you to do this? examples could be something like "i was taught evocation by the arcaneum magica" or "self taught elf illusionist" or even "i found this spooky amulet in a cave that lets me raise the dead." it can be flavored however you want, like a warlock's magic could be part of their trouble and it acts in a way that you don't exactly control.
2) By way having the aspect, you create an extra. this defines the scope and range of effects of that magic, such as "illusion initiate" or "high necromancer". the extra should detail several examples of the magic when using it, referring to the four action types: created advantage, overcome, attack & defend. if the magic can't do one of those, then simply write that it can't be used for that action type. as example, we'll use illusion:
>>>>create advantage: the player can create the illusion of terrain and obstacles that aren't there, forcing enemies to avoid them or try to roll a will roll to see through them. illusion may also be used to make food feel, look and taste other than it is, change the illusionist's outward appearance, and otherwise affect perceptions and emotions. as an initiate the illusionist can only affect 2 senses at a time with large illusionary effects, 3 with medium range effects, or all 5 on small effects by focusing on them completely. the roll modifier is based off the illusionist's lore skill.
>>>>overcome: illusion magic can be used to dull the senses of pain, fear, or apprehension by working on the user or target's mental state, using lore for the roll
>>>>attack: illusions, while lacking substance, can be used to cause mental stress as long as they are *perceived* as real. the attack is made rolling lore, and some may have a damage modifier as weapons do. however, if the target realizes the attacks are illusory, they can roll will to negate any more damage to them. the damage they already suffered however remains until they rest and heal that mental stress.
>>>> defend: illusions cannot physically stop attacks or damage, but may cause such threats to miss by tricking their source into believing there are barriers between them and their targets, or that the target is somewhere else entirely. on an exceptional success the target may even be tricked into harming allies or themselves, fooled into misidentifying allies or nearby objects as the target. this allows lore to be used as a defense role.
>>>>other: because the illusionist is well learned in deceptive magics they may have bonuses to perceive an illusion, could use the lore skill to see through other illusions, or could use the lore skill to interact with other magics in a counter-spell type way, either defensively or offensively.
3) as you can see in the example, a skill is also needed to cast magic. this can be done in two main ways for this kind of magical extra. as above the spell could be keyed to an existing skill, like lore, which is used as the main stat. illusion makes sense for this because in order to conjure something that looks like a noble's signet ring or like the face of a cliff, one must know what exactly that looks like to begin with.
the alternative option is that the magic has it's own skill named after it, which functions separately. the magic of necromancy is a good example, because while it could be tied to something like medicine, necromancy is stand alone in that it's a type of knowledge specific to raising the dead and dealing with life and death energies. so giving it it's own special skill allows the player to use that skill for it's own unique functions. lore wouldn't make sense as much unless the necromancer took a very academic approach to it. either way can be justified, so choosing the best option for your concept is important.
4) a cost. while not strictly necessary in every case, most of the time the internal logic of magic demands a payment for the magic. magic is functionally a way to make mundane things happen without the normal requisites, & we can simply make an alternate cost to the ends magic is the means to. for example, in conjuring a masterwork sword, using materials that have been gathered, the magic is replacing the time & skill of a black smith. thus, roughly a months work is being replaced. as such the spell could age somebody a month, or it could require the sacrifice of a creature that only has about a month to live, or it could just exhaust the user, as though they did all the work instantly themselves. alternatively, the cost may simply be the materials used, plus a hammer & anvil, which are destroyed by the spell meaning that is the only thing that hammer & anvil ever made, trading those items use for instantaneous reward. even farther, the masterwork sword may just revert to the raw materials after a few hours, it's existence being fleeting in order to not have the cost be so dire.
however, if the game makes sense to have a caster be sufficiently powerful the cost can be waived entirely. that would imply the caster is a rare or particularly powerful individual, & needn't sacrifice much to use her powers. as such, there should be a consequence for doing so often. perhaps repeated consecutive casts of the masterwork sword spell cause the swords to be sentient & evil, a reason the caster cant just go selling masterwork swords all the time.
a good format for magic costs is a focus, a fuel, & a catalyst, representing the forces to evoke the change. as the above, you could have the raw materials be the fuel, a smithing hammer & anvil as focus, & a fire as the catalyst.
the point being that that kind of magic has a reason why it's not just done on a whim, something that explains why the caster isn't just selling masterwork swords as a living instead of all this adventuring business. That example aside, at the very least the use of magic should take most of a turn in combat, so as to make things balanced.
5) Rituals, by contrast, are magic used by people without the aspect and extra that allows for them to cast spells instantly, OR they are used to heighten a spell's effect by somebody who has the aspect and extra. so a laymen is using the extra materials and time to accomplish what their caster opposite does. an example that works perfectly for this is necromancy, raising an undead minion. lets say somebody wants to raise the dead. the normal caster has 10 skeletons, and in short order raises them with a pinch of bone-dust, a hand-full of grave dirt, and 10 drops of blood, their own or somebody else's. if somebody off the street wanted to do the same they would need the same components, plus black candles for each skeleton, a ritual circle made in exacting precision, a tome of incantations, and a true sacrifice. in this example they are only raising simple skeleton minions, so a goat or some chickens would suffice, and the whole ritual takes about an hour and a half. the ritual removes the need for expert knowledge by substituting it with time spent and materials used for the ritual.
by contrast, a true necromancer doing that same ritual could raise 20 skeletons, or 10 powerful undead such as shades, whites or something like a huge composite undead, like a dragon made out of multiple corpses. by using both expertise from character costs as well as the ritual and it's components, the end result is heightened. however a ritual as a character's main expertise of magic is possible also, but would hamper the immediate effectiveness in combat, though the point of FATE is to create a narrative. it's possible that a ritualist could do a ritual as a series of steps, taking longer in combat but ultimately still able to participate. so a ritualist would describe what the ritual needs. for casting fireball the ritual may be an arcane chant, lighting a stick on fire, & focusing magical energy to magnify the now extant fire's destructive capabilities, so that's 3 checks. assuming the character foregoes movement & can do about 3 things in a turn, the fireball could be conjured as a full turn action composed of three distinct skill checks, in this case i would say it would consist of a lore check of medium difficulty, a craft check of low difficulty, & a will check of medium difficulty. supposing the caster gets 2/3 of those successfully & critically manages to get the fire started with the stick, the spell could succeed without all the checks needing to be perfectly executed. to reward this the ritualist's fireball may be more capable of dealing stress & damage than focused evokers, & the cost of failure of one of the steps is that the spell loses some of that extras oomph. another possibility is of rituals being used to create a spell waiting to activate. a voodoo doll for example is the end product of a ritual imbued with magic, & so it can be used simply because it was prepared as a magic item ahead of time.
this process is still a work in process so pleas read over it and tell me what you think of both normal casting and rituals as a concept, and any constructive criticism you can offer to improve this basic framework.