From: [a--i--l] at [tiac.net] (Admiral) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd Subject: Re: Alternative magic system ... the real McCoy ... Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 17:52:58 -0500 Here, as promised, are the comprehensive examples that show how the alternative magic system is used. I have received a veritable FLOOD of responses. If they go stale and you need a copy let me know! --- Greetings, A few of the online community of this newsgroup e-mailed me about posting some specific examples using my alternate magic system. Ok, no problem. THESE FOLLOWING EXAMPLES ARE VERY LENGTHY. IF YOU AREN'T INTERESTED IN THE ALTERNATIVE MAGIC SYSTEM THE BOREDOM FACTOR WILL BE QUITE HIGH! Nuff said ... I will be using a party containing 5th level spell caster named Cyrus. Cyrus is a general mage. (These rules were made before specialist mages became the norm. I will post other examples using specialists if the consensus is so). Also in this party is Aleela a 6th level priest (pick whatever goody goody deity). Cyrus's statistics are as follows: Str: 11 Dex: 16 Con: 15 Int: 17 Wis: 14 Chr: 10 Hit Points = 23 Aleela's statistics are as follows: Str: 14 Dex: 13 Con: 16 Int: 11 Wis: 18 Chr: 15 Hit Points = 32 Utilizing the alternate magic system will generate another statistic for each character; the power level. Cyrus's Power level is 9/3. The first number the stat is the number in Cyrus's endurance pool. This is taken from that table I put in the alternate magic system rules. This is further modified by Cyrus's con stat of 15. Using the hit points bonus, Cyrus gets to add a 1 to this endurance pool (making the total of 9). Con modifies this pool because mages and priests have to channel mystic energy through them (their body becomes the circuit). Therefore, you need to be in good health to do this. The second number in Cyrus's pool is the highest level spell that Cyrus can cast. This is taken from that table I put in the magic system. Aleela's power level is 11/3. She has a base from the table of 9 for being 6th level plus 2 for the con bonus. She is also limited to 3rd level spells. The other members of this 'party' aren't really important, I'll just pull some fighter or thief in when it is needed in the example. Also, in these examples, I will use all of the optional rules in the magic system to try to show how EVERYTHING fits together. The first few will be quite detailed. As I go the further examples will draw from the previous ones for explanations. Example 1: Our intrepid party is currently making camp for the night on their way to some generic ancient burial ground of immense power (or something like that). Cyrus decides that he wants to cast an alarm spell in case something sneaks past any of the guards on watch. Since this is not a melee situation, no real initiative needs to be rolled. In addition, the optional rule of 'surveying the magic' will be used. Cyrus will get to add half the level of the spell as a bonus to his drain roll (rounded). This would be +1 for his first level spell. In order to do this, the casting time is doubled! He first surveys the surrounding mystical energy. Magic is the chaotic stuff of creation with nothing to bind it. It is caos itself. Being so, it is unpredictable and often violent (the reason for the randomness of the drain roll). Cyrus is trying to draw on some of the more tame stuff. He concentrates and brings the mystical energy to him. Using the complex 'mathematics' of the spell, he shapes the energy using the template the spell provides. The spell goes off normally (casting time of 1 - doubled!). For those Trekies out there, you can think of magic as a kind of 'transporter' energy just waiting for some pattern to shape it and bind it into existance. In fact the astral plane could be thought of as the ultimate energy source for creation itself. The rest of the backwash is just waiting to be tapped and shaped. See the alternate magic system rules for more info on the 'stuff' of magic. Now it's time for the drain roll. Cyrus's drain modifier is 2 (half his level TRUNCATED). The drain mod represents that higher level mages have more experience dealing witht he powerful mystical forces and therefore get a bonus in resisting the effect of channeling the energy through their bodies. The target number for the spell is 11 (just put a '1' before the level of the spell). He needs to roll equal to or higher than 11. He gets to add his drain mod to the roll (2) and the bonus for surveying the magic (1). He rolls a 10 adds 3 and gets a 13. This succeeds the desired roll by 2. The cost for a spell in drain is equal to the spell level. Since Cyrus rolled above the target number, he gets to subtract the difference from the base spell cost of 1. However, a spell MUST cost at least 1 but NO MORE than 10 points of drain. So he takes 1 point off his pool of 9. After about 5 minutes (or 10 minutes of riding or walking) of taking it easy he will get this point of endurance back. Aleela, wanting to conserve precious supplies decides to cast a create food and water spell. As with Cyrus, she decides to meditate and prepare herself for the channeling (basically the same as surveying the magic). With priests, thier energy comes directly from their deities. While this stuff is not nearly as chaotic as raw magic, it is ALIEN in nature (deities don't 'think' like mortals) and mortals were not really meant to use it. The game effect is the same with the mage's drain. In 'surveying the magic' priests meditate and ready themselves for the rapture of divine contact. She prays and readies herself for 1 full turn (equal to the casting time). She then begins the spell. She opens herself to her deities divine, yet alien, power and begins to shape it with her faith. After 1 turn of actual casting, she too must roll for drain. Her target roll is 13. She gets to add a bonus of 3 for her level, and 2 for preparation (half the level of the spell rounded). She rolls a 7. Ouch! This would normally mean a drain of 9 pts (13-7=6 pts added to the base cost of the level of the spell)! That would just about clean her out! However, with the bonuses, its only 4 pts. With some rest (2 turns or 20 minutes) she will get this endurance back. Example 2: During the night, the party is attacked by a band of wandering goblins (bland, but it makes a story). I will assume that everyone in the party is now engaged in some sort of melee, so spells will count. The goblin party has a 5th level cleric of some nasty goblin deity. I will roll spell caster initiative separately from the rest of the party's initiative. A very important aspect of melee combat that becomes even more important using this system is STATEMENT OF INTENT. This MUST be done BEFORE any initiative is rolled. We don't want casters who were originally going to cast deciding not to cast just because they lost initiative, don't we. All the casters decide to cast. Aleela wants to cast a flame blade spell, Cyrus wants to magic missile the goblin cleric, and the goblin cleric is going to cast a heat metal on the paladin that is charging him. Aleela rolls a 2 (on 10 sider, low rolls are good) Cyrus rolls an 8 party rolls a 6. Goblin cleric rolls a 4 Other goblins roll a 9. I will ignore other combat unless it becomes important to include. Aleela's spell has a casting time of 4 so it goes off on segment 6. The goblin cleric's spell has a casting time of 5 so it goes off on segment 9. And finally, Cyrus's spell will go off on 9 with a casting time of 1. Aleela's spell goes off first. Since this is melee, she decides not to meditate and casts normally. Her drain target is 12 (put a '1' in front of the level of the spell). She rolls a 10 + 3 for her drain mod and gets a 13. This exceeds the target number by 1. She gets to SUBTRACT the difference from the cost of the spell. Her spell costs her 1 point off her endurance pool (normal cost of 2 - 1 for the good drain save). Cyrus starts casting. He wants to nail the cleric before he can cast. Since both spells go off in the same segment this won't happen. His spell goes off, he rolls a 7 for drain + 2 for his drain mod giving a 9. This is 2 less than the target number of 11 for a first level spell. So, Cyrus will take 3 points of drain for this spell (he also didn't survey the magic ... after all ... this IS combat). The goblin cleric has a slightly bigger problem; namely 350 pounds of overly-righteous paladin charging him. The paladin will hit first with his long sword before he finishes casting. The paladin rolls to hit and hits! Damage rolled is 2 (what a wimp!). Since the damage wasn't too bad, I will use the optional rule to extend the casting. Normally the spell would be foiled and the goblin would have to roll drain as if he had actually cast the spell. With extending the casting, the cleric will extend the spell an extra segment. Also he will have to make a wisdom check (intelligence for mages) with a penalty equal to the level of the spell (2 in this case). And finally, an extra point of drain MUST be taken (because the energy is being held longer that is normal). He rolls and succeed his wisdom check. The spell will now go off at segment 10. OOPS, now cyrus's spell can make a difference. Cyrus's magic missile causes 14 points of damage. This is too much to be ignored and his spell fails (life just isn't fair). The cleric rolls a 16 which easily succeeds the target roll of 12. Normally this would mean only 1 pt of drain. But he held the spell one extra segment so the min cost of the spell is now 2. Example 3: Whilst poking around the ruins of some ancient burial site or something, or heros come upon a band of brigands led by a half-elf fighter/magic user (level 4/5). Diplomacy soon breaks down and once again our favorite pair of spell casters find themselves in the throes of combat. Lets say that combat has gone on for a few rounds. Cyrus notices that the half-elf is casting high damaging spells at the big fighters of his party. His statement of intent is to hold and try to either disrupt and/or modify his opponent's spells. Clerics cannot do this, their power source comes directly from their deities and is totally alien to understand and control. Their benefits are not having to study as much as the mage and the ability to channel his/her dietie's aura to turn/control undead. Aleela has been casting healing spells on party members, her endurance pool is now dangerously low at 2 pts left. After our paladin has received a lightning bolt spell from the previous round, she decides it would benefit the party if she healed him. The half-elf decides to cast another lightning bolt at the paladin, since he is the big damage engine of the party. Initiative is as follows: Cyrus - 3 Aleela - 6 Half-elf - 4 rest of party is at 7 rest of the bad guys is at 6 Cyrus sees the half-elf start to cast. He rolls a spell craft roll to see if he can recognize the spell. He does and it is a lightning bolt. He knows this spell and decides to try to modify it. He can do this because his initiative is at least half way into his opponents casting (truncated). The max initiative he could have and still perform this feat is 5. In order to 'log on' to the casting, he has to overcome the sheer will of the other caster (with modifying spells, there is only ONE chance to do this). Both casters will need to roll intelligence checks modified by the difference in level between the two casters. In this case, both casters are the same level so the modifier for each is 0. The target roll for Cyrus is 17 (want to roll low). Lets say the intelligence of the half-elf is 16. That would make his target roll 16. Both roll. Cyrus gets a 7 which is 10 less then his target roll. The half-elf rolls a 13 which is 3 under his target roll. Cyrus wins because he succeeded his roll with a higher margin (ties go to the defender!). Now that he has inserted his will into the casting, he must now try to modify the spell. The higher level the spell is , the more complex it is (or the more energy it uses). Cyrus must roll another intelligence check, again modified by the difference in levels and with a penalty equal to the level of the spell being cast. The reason for using the difference in level modifier again is that more experienced casters will can try to confuse, improvise on the style of casting to try to throw off the other mage trying to modify his spell. So Cyrus's roll is 17 - 3 = 14. He rolls a 12 and is successful. He decides to re-direct the spell at the big half- ogre that is creaming the rest of his party's fighters. The half elf is now ready to release the spell. He knows that Cyrus was successful in inserting his will into the casting. What he isn't sure about is whether or not he was successful in modifying the spell. He decides to hold the spell for one segment (no penalties this time!) and do a final check-out before releasing it. His roll uses the same formula that Cyrus's did (Int + or - difference in levels - spell level). The half-elf's target number is 13. He rolls a 14. He doesn't know whether or not Cyrus was successful. The half-elf now has a quandary. He can either cancel the spell and take the drain, or go ahead and release it. Since he is a cocky bastard, he goes ahead and releases it. BAM! The half ogre gets an interesting sensation as a few million volts of electricity tickle his backside. Aleela approaches the paladin and casts her cure light wounds spell. She rolls a 5 on her drain roll ... YOW! The total roll with her mod is 8. That is 3 less than the target of 11 so the spell costs 4 points of drain. She only has 2 left. To normally cast a spell in this system, you need as many points in your pool as the level of the spell to be cast. Since this was a first level spell she has the necessary endurance. However, she has taken 2 more points than she has in her pool. That is ok since she had the minimum amount needed to cast the spell. Once the pool is reduced to 0 all remaining drain is ignored. The next time she decides to cast with 0 pts it, will be a bit more severe. Lets say than combat continues and Aleela must cast another cure light to save the life of a party member. She casts and then rolls drain. Her drain roll is 7 + 3 for her mod which makes a total of 10. Normally she would take 2 pts of drain for that spell. Remember that a spell normally costs between 1 and 10 points of drain. However, she didn't have the required endurance left to cast this spell (she just needed 1 point). With her endurance at 0, she is very fatigued and tired. The energy coursing through her body now takes its toll. The cost for a spell now becomes 10 - 100% of her CURRENT hit points. Lets say she took some damage and is at 20 hit points. With a drain cost of 2 points, this translates to 20% of her current hit points. So, the spell energy coursing through her body caused 4 points of damage. NOTE: If aleela took 10 points of drain this would be 100% of her current hit points. Casters cannot die from doing this. However, at 100 percent of current hit points, they become unconscious and vulnerable. If aleela had some of her pool left; lets say 2 pts. And she wanted to cast a 3rd level spell, the effect is similar. Lets say she rolled and would have to take 4 pts of drain. Since she had some points of endurance left, but not enough to normally cast a 3rd level spell, 2 points of the drain would go to her remaining pool pts, and the remaining 2 pts would translate to 20 percent of current hit points. If she rolled good and only took 2 pts of drain casting that 3rd level spell, her pool would be reduced to 0 and no damage would be taken. Lets take a more severe example. Combat continues and things are going bad for Cyrus. He is at 12 hit points and 2 pts of drain. During his travels, he found a spell book with several higher level spells. He was smart enough to learn them (intelligence is important) but not experienced enough to handle the higher energy levels required to cast them. So far he has been reluctant to try. One of the spells he was able to learn was dimension door. It is a 4th level spell. Right now he is facing 400 pounds of extremely irate half- ogre (the lighting bolt incident). He decides to try to save his bacon. To speed things up, lets say he wins initiative and all that. His spell goes off and he blinks out. Now he must pay the price. Since this is a spell he normally is not able to cast. The drain becomes physical damage as in Aleela's case. However, no matter what he has in his pool, he will take physical damage. Additionally, the physical damage is more severe. It is 10-100% of his TOTAL hit points. Since he is at 12 hit points (total is 23), this could easily kill him if he rolls bad. He rolls 12 + 2 is 14. The target number for a 4th level spell is 14. This would mean 4 pts of drain if he was high enough level to cast. What is means now is 40% of 23 hit points of damage. This becomes 10 points of actual damage. Cyrus materializes with only 2 hit points left. He is NOT happy. If he had rolled worse, the energy could burn him to a crisp. If he rolled really good, he will at least take 10% of his total hit points (2 pts). Last Example: Still in the same combat. Lets say that Cyrus and the half- elf have enough drain left etc... Statement of intent for Cyrus is to cast Lightning bolt at the half-elf and finish him off. The half-elf's intent is to wait and try to disrupt the spell. Initiative: Cyrus - 5 Half-elf - 3 The half-elf has the initiative. He doesn't need to know the actual spell to seize control of it. He inserts his will into Cyrus's casting. Again, each caster must roll an intelligence check modified by the difference in level. For Cyrus, his target is 17, the half-elf's target is 16. Cyrus rolls 18 (ouch). The Half-elf rolls a 2 with a success margin of 14! Cyrus wants his spell back! He can continue with the spell and try to re-assert his will over the spell energy as long as the casting time isn't up. He has 2 attempts to do this. Each attempt means intelligence checks from both casters (like above). Lets say Cyrus looses all of them (poor guy). Cyrus doesn't have to continue to fight for his spell, however if he doesn't, the other caster may use the seized spell energy for his own spell later. The half-elf is now RESPONSIBLE for the spell energy he seized. He can dissipate the energy right there and take drain as if he had cast a 3rd level spell. Or, he could use the energy for a casting of his own. This starts next round. It doesn't have to be a 3rd level spell but he will make the drain roll as if he had cast a 3rd level spell (due to the extra energy he is now responsible for). It cannot be ABOVE a 3rd level spell, however. Since the energy is being held, the rules for delayed casting come into play. The Half-elf must roll an intelligence check modified by the level of the spell to use the energy next round. Also, remember, an additional point of drain MUST be taken (the minimum cost for the spell is now 2). Final Note: These examples had no special items that help out casters, you can create and use many items can reduce drain, give better bonuses for drain saves, protect you from others modifying or seizing your spells (translates to penalties to opponent's control rolls), etc ... The possibilities are endless. Hope this makes things a bit clearer. Let me know if you have any questions! -- * * * * * Admiral ...