eidreff
2007-12-07, 07:30 PM
Here goes, I think that this is the right place for this one.
I built a world several years ago and have basically left it on the shelf because I had nobody to use it on (if that's the right way to put it).
This is a low magic environment, pretty much an early medieval setting (think pre Norman conquest England). Magic is frowned upon as meddling with things that man is not wont to know etc.
I have always really liked the Ars Magic system spontaneious casting system and think that a suitable simplified version would work in a D20 setting like mine.
So here is a brief outline of the ideas that I've had:
The mechanics of magic work in a similar way to the Ars Magica spontaneous casting.
Mages have a number of points in a sphere of influence (fire, water, flesh etc.) and another set of points in a way of manipulating that sphere (create, destroy, mold, command etc.) combining these two gives the score which must be rolled under on D20 to sucede in casting (as I said this is a low magic environment I want casting to be hard, costly, but also effective enough that it is actually worth playing a mage in the long run)
My thought is that based on intelligence a number of points could be allocated at character creation (with more added with level-up and if INT increases) and the character basically sets the flavour of their mage (ie the magic that they are best at) with the point that they spend.
This could also tie in to a level of magic resistance, low intelligence leading to a less effective defence against magic, and also potentially negative points is a casting sphere. Think of a dedicated water mage who decides to take a couple of points out of his use of Fire and Earth (a maximum would need to be set for this) to bolster his Air and Water powers.
This will leave all magic use very open. there are no set spells, but effects will be limited by the number of points that a character has in a sphere. For example points in Fire would mean that the character can create a ball of fire that would do 1D6 damage (the die is negotiable at the moment) for each point that they have in fire. Points spent in air might allow flight at a speed of 5m for every point. To actually be able to use a sphere the character must have at least one point in it. The only limit on magic is then the imagnation of the user and how good they are at casting.
I think that at least at first this system is self limiting, but might become a headache at higher levels. I don't think that a magic points system would work so instead I'm trying to think of a fatigue based system possibly based on a CON test which is modified by how powerful (how close to the characters maximum ability) a casting is, with some nicely debilitating effects for a failed role.
Clerical magic I'm leaving alone, I'm happy that that is doled out in limited chunks by deities (Still got a few rough edges to my pantheon, but ho hum..)
Any thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome. As I mentioned the above is a brief summary, and still needs lots of work!
I built a world several years ago and have basically left it on the shelf because I had nobody to use it on (if that's the right way to put it).
This is a low magic environment, pretty much an early medieval setting (think pre Norman conquest England). Magic is frowned upon as meddling with things that man is not wont to know etc.
I have always really liked the Ars Magic system spontaneious casting system and think that a suitable simplified version would work in a D20 setting like mine.
So here is a brief outline of the ideas that I've had:
The mechanics of magic work in a similar way to the Ars Magica spontaneous casting.
Mages have a number of points in a sphere of influence (fire, water, flesh etc.) and another set of points in a way of manipulating that sphere (create, destroy, mold, command etc.) combining these two gives the score which must be rolled under on D20 to sucede in casting (as I said this is a low magic environment I want casting to be hard, costly, but also effective enough that it is actually worth playing a mage in the long run)
My thought is that based on intelligence a number of points could be allocated at character creation (with more added with level-up and if INT increases) and the character basically sets the flavour of their mage (ie the magic that they are best at) with the point that they spend.
This could also tie in to a level of magic resistance, low intelligence leading to a less effective defence against magic, and also potentially negative points is a casting sphere. Think of a dedicated water mage who decides to take a couple of points out of his use of Fire and Earth (a maximum would need to be set for this) to bolster his Air and Water powers.
This will leave all magic use very open. there are no set spells, but effects will be limited by the number of points that a character has in a sphere. For example points in Fire would mean that the character can create a ball of fire that would do 1D6 damage (the die is negotiable at the moment) for each point that they have in fire. Points spent in air might allow flight at a speed of 5m for every point. To actually be able to use a sphere the character must have at least one point in it. The only limit on magic is then the imagnation of the user and how good they are at casting.
I think that at least at first this system is self limiting, but might become a headache at higher levels. I don't think that a magic points system would work so instead I'm trying to think of a fatigue based system possibly based on a CON test which is modified by how powerful (how close to the characters maximum ability) a casting is, with some nicely debilitating effects for a failed role.
Clerical magic I'm leaving alone, I'm happy that that is doled out in limited chunks by deities (Still got a few rough edges to my pantheon, but ho hum..)
Any thoughts or suggestions are more than welcome. As I mentioned the above is a brief summary, and still needs lots of work!