land energy idea

[talse]

So I had this idea for a mechanic that allows of a sort of "ambient energy" in the environment, wherein the area has a certain amount of energy. I'll explain with a rough example
the land has 90 energy points a day, so at the beginning of the day some sorcerer casts magic missile 3 times, so the energy points go down to 87.
in the middle of the day some wizards get into a big ol' battle and now only 6 points are left, somebody tries casting a level 8 spell and he has a 50% chance of failing because there aren't enough points. and if points go to -10 or some negative number magic just stops working.

I think most cities or residences of heavy magic critters would have hundreds of points per day, because the town casters need energy, and even spell like abilities have some energy cost or something.

comments, critiques and suggestions?

[Rizban]

I think having magic sources be from a latent energy in the environment is a good idea. Cleric and Paladin spells shouldn't drain the energy, or do so at a reduced rate, as their powers come from a Divine source. Perhaps Druids could even restore energy to the region by using their abilities and/or give them an ability to restore energy points.

Further, I think you should define exactly what creates the ambient energy. Is it the life force of living things? Some exotic mineral? The chemical remnants of dead naturally magical beings that has seeped into the environment as their corpses decayed?

If the energy arises from the life force of surrounded creatures that has accumulated into the inorganic materials then radiated back out in a form that's usable to fuel magic, then places with less flora and fauna would have less magical potential. The very existence of thick wilderness or cities would cause a high concentration of magical energy. Alternatively, a rural farmland would have significantly less, as there just isn't that much life as compared to a city or jungle. Mountainous terrain would also have lesser magic potential.
In this case, perhaps magic doesn't cease to function if the ambient energy is depleted. Instead, maybe magic is then fueled by the life force of any living creatures in the area. It might even be possible to render an area completely devoid of life by continuously using healing magic...

If it's from some exotic mineral, then there can be all kinds of side effects. Can people use it in its raw or refined form to add extra power to spells? Is it consumed (ceases to exist or transmutes into other, unusable forum) when the power is drained from it or does it just lose power for a set time and have to "regenerate" somehow? Can it be mined and used to power mechanical devices and magic items? Is it harmful in large quantities, perhaps even causing mutations? (That might even be a good explanation for the source of all these crazy monsters inhabiting most RPGs...) Is it beneficial to health, restoring HP and curing wounds by rubbing it on the injury or eating it? Can weapons and constructs be built completely out of this material? Can it be added to weapons to make them cause magical damage?

If it's a chemical reaction from shed dragon scales or deceased magical creatures, then magic might only function in certain areas and be limited in scope. Or, perhaps, wizards don't exist, and sorcerers and psions are born only in areas with a high concentration of magic potential but can use their abilities anywhere; however, they can only regenerate their power points if they are in an area with a significant magic potential.

[Norr]

I like that idea too, it would make roleplaying more interesting, for one. It would also act as a counterpoint to repeatedly using high-level spells in any given area.

I'm a bit tired right now so I'm sorry if the following doesn't amke much sense.
What if the magic somehow recycles itself? Magic begets magic. This would work something like this: In any one place there is always a set amount of ambient magic in the ground. What a wizard actually does when he prepares spells is he creates a mental 'matrix' (or mold, or cast) which is empty at the time. When the wizard then casts the spell, he draws out magic from the ground and use it to fill the matrix (like pouring tin into a tin-soldier mold). When the matrix is full the spell manifest in the real world (i.e. the spell is cast and takes effect).

After the spell is cast the used-up magic dissipates as a kind of 'magic-slag', which is then slowly reabsorbed into the ground and ready to be used.
Also, some areas might reabsorb magic at a faster or slower rate depending on how you want the 'magic-slag' to work, which takes us to the next item on the list: Magic begets magic (or does it?).

If you want the magic slag to be somewhat harmful to the ground magic, repeated spellcasting may reduce the magic-potential of an area. If left unchecked, the area might become a dead-magic zone or take years to recover even a single 'magic-point'. Bad for city-folk, even worse for wizard colleges. We can call this scenario 'magic consumes magic' for ease of reference.

If you, on the other hand, go with the 'magic makes more magic' approach, things are the other way around. The 'magic-slag' accelerates the ambient-magic-regeneration, making areas of high-magic usage (like wizard towers and cities) hold even more magic and regenerate it faster. This also means that places where magic is not used for long periods of time can become dead magic zones, making adventuring spellcasters a rather bad idea.

Of course, these are extremes and there are always middle roads to be taken and secondary effects to be considered. If you go with the second 'magic-slag-regeneration' option, you might rule that these high-magic areas actually suck that extra magic needed from the surrounding areas, meaning magic-rich cities will be surrounded by magic-poor farmland/wastes.

Another thing to consider if you don't like dead-magic zones is that life itself might generate magic. This means that cities (if you go with 'magic consumes magic') would still have plenty of magic just because there are so many people living there, and spellcasting won't be a problem as long as there are relatively few magicians.
It also means remote locations (if you go with 'magic makes more magic') would have it's own magic as long as there are some plant/animal life around.

Now, so far I've only rambled about wizards, haven't I? What about sorcerers and psions and all the others?
A few ideas: As we have already seen, wizards prepare their spells first and draw power from the earth as they need it. Wizards are limited by the number of matrices (casts/molds whatever) they can keep in their head at any one time.
Sorceres, on the other hand, have a pool of power that can be used with a few spells known. They are limited by the amount of power they have available at any one time. Therefore I think that when a sorcerer replenishes his daily spell slots, he actually draws the magic he needs from the ground right then and there and then carries it within him until he needs to use it.
A metaphor would be that whenever a wizard wants to throw a rock, he bends down, picks one up and throws it. A sorcerer starts the day by filling up a back with rocks, and when he wants to throw a rock, he takes one out of the bag and throws it. Something very similar could be said about Psions.

This, in turn, creates a different kind of gameplay for preparation casters and spontaneous casters. Preparation casters are dependent on the current amount of ambient magic at any one place and time to successfully cast their spells. Spontaneous casters, on the other hand, don't have to worry about the ambient magic in their current location, but they might completely drain an area of ambient magic when they replenish their spell slots or power points.
Remember, a 20th level wizard have 180 spell levels + 4 cantrips, a 20th level sorcerer has 270 spell levels + 6 cantrips and a 20th level Psion has 343 base power points (193 spell levels). If a given area of land has only 90 energy points a day it would be totally exhausted after a suficiently powerful spontaneous caster has recharged. Of course, such powerful casters are rare so the effects on the land would not be severe enough to matter in the long term.

As to what would happen when the magic runs out there are a few options open to us. The spell could simply fail; the caster suffers backlash when the spell feeds off his life force for power; the caster must make a check to siphon magic from further off or deeper down; the spell is weaker than normal; a wild magic effect occurs (with or without check/save) or you could go the TwoKinds route (a webcomic where the templar draw magic directly from the ground to cast spells): When there is no more ambient magic in the area the caster siphons off the life force of nearby plantlife ('black mana') to fuel their spells. Potentially very hazardous.

Of course, these are just my thoughts. See if you can find something that fit your ideas in there somewhere

Now my sleep-deprived mind must dream. I'll check back on the morrow.

[talse]

I was thinking of having there be a value associated with regions, as an intrinsic value like elevation, and the prevelance of things was derived from that.

[Rizban]

If it's based solely on elevation, then you're assuming that the ambient energy comes from the core of the planet, which is somehow magical... Wait... did you just play Chrono Trigger recently? That would also mean that most magic colleges would be deep underground to take advantage of the increased magic potential rather than in soaring spires.

Alternatively, magic would come from space, and the higher you go, the more magic potential exists. This would make deep dungeons relatively impossible for a wizard to traverse. Sorcerers and Psions would be ok, but they wouldn't be able to recharge. It would, however, explain giant magical spires and wizard towers.

[Norr]

If it's based solely on elevation, *snip*

I think he menat something like "elevation is an intristic value of the topografy, some places are just higher/lower than others" and then "ambient magic is an intristic value of the topografy, some places just have higher/lower levels of it than others", I don't think he meant they would be connected.

However, it is an interesting idea.

[Pronounceable]

... 'magic begets/consumes magic' stuff...
Nice. Both of them are very usable.


A metaphor would be that whenever a wizard wants to throw a rock, he bends down, picks one up and throws it. A sorcerer starts the day by filling up a back with rocks, and when he wants to throw a rock, he takes one out of the bag and throws it. Something very similar could be said about Psions.

Wouldn't the reverse be more "logical"? The wizard starts the day with wandering around and collecting rocks that are suitable to be thrown. Whereas a sorcerer will just grab a handful of something nearby and throw it.


If it's based solely on elevation...

Quite interesting. All manner of interesting stuff can be made up with this approach. Magic comes from the sun; so spells are weaker on cloudy days, in the shade and especially so in underground or during the night. Or maybe one kind of magic comes from the sun, and one from the moon. Or perhaps magic comes from the ocean. Farther inland spells get weaker, and higher ones can't be cast at all. Or magic comes from the Magic Mountain at the center of the (flat) world. Or only evil outsiders radiate usable magic, so all wizard must have an infernal familiar or bound (and very angry) outsiders nearby. So on and so forth...


I do use a similar approach to OP in my homebrews. It's not DnD, but this part is (probably) adaptable:

There's mana in the air. Wizards use mana to cast spells. They draw mana from their surroundings into their body, change raw mana into a spell and throw it out. When the spell discharges, the mana used becomes tainted and hazardous. If too many and/or too powerful spells are cast in a short time, tainted mana fills the space (like a couple of damn smokers the air in the room). Drawing tainted mana is bad for casters' health. If there's too much tainted mana in the air, anyone trying to cast is risking death. And if an extreme amount of tainted mana accumulates in an area, BOOM!
Tainted mana slowly clears itself with time.

[Rizban]

Wouldn't the reverse be more "logical"? The wizard starts the day with wandering around and collecting rocks that are suitable to be thrown. Whereas a sorcerer will just grab a handful of something nearby and throw it.

No, I think the other analogy is more accurate. Sorcerers store up their energy while they rest and carry it with them but have a limited supply. Wizards prepare their spells before hand and won't deviate from their planned course of actions. In other words, the sorcerers may have already picked up their rocks, but they haven't decided how to throw them yet. Wizards plan ahead and figure out how to throw their rocks, but they've spent so much time planning on how to use their rocks that they didn't spend any time actually picking up rocks to use.

[Lord Tataraus]

No, I think the other analogy is more accurate. Sorcerers store up their energy while they rest and carry it with them but have a limited supply. Wizards prepare their spells before hand and won't deviate from their planned course of actions. In other words, the sorcerers may have already picked up their rocks, but they haven't decided how to throw them yet. Wizards plan ahead and figure out how to throw their rocks, but they've spent so much time planning on how to use their rocks that they didn't spend any time actually picking up rocks to use.

Not only that but it is more balanced. A sorc knows he has X power going into a fight, the wizard is gambling that the area where the fight is has a lot of power and there isn't anyone else sucking it up during the fight.

I really like this, I think I might put this in a game and take it a step further by making different types of mana in addition to generic (a la M:tG). That way you need a little bit of conjuration mana or fire mana or something to cast a spell, or maybe it just powers it up, casting fireball using fire mana instead of just normal mana will cost less or maybe do more damage or have a higher DC.

[Rizban]

If you're going to go that route, you could do it such that the various gods have a physical presence in the world, at least as far as lands under their influence go. Then, where worship of the fire deity is prevalent, fire based magic will work better, because the fire deity has more influence in the region. That, in turn, would give followers of opposing deities a "real" reason to go to war against one another rather than for some abstract "your god is my god's enemy." Yay for plot hooks!