From: "Roberson, Anthony W." Subject: Dungeon Fantasy - Alternate Magic System (long!) Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 11:04:44 -0500 Here is a ROUGH outline of the alternate magic system that I am putting in Dungeon Fantasy. It is a mish mash of the Improvised Casting System from Magic, as well as the Elemental rules of S. John Ross. Please take a look and e-mail me feedback outside this list. Cheers, Tony R. Dungeon Magic: Only mages may cast spells. A character must have at least one level of the Magery advantage to cast spells. Spells require mana to cast. All mages have a starting "mana pool" equal to their IQ + Magery level. This pool is used to pay the cost of the spells the character casts. Mana regenerates in this pool at a rate equal to the normal fatigue recovery rate of 1 point every 10 minutes. Optional Rule: A mage may spend ST points to fuel spells if his mana pool has been exhausted. This counts as fatigue with all the normal effects. A mage may NOT reduce his ST to below zero by spending points to fuel a spell. Spells are composed of one or more Colleges and Realms. A mage must have a skill level in all of a spell's required Colleges and Realms to learn that spell. Most spells will have only one required College and Realm. Colleges and Realms are learned as skills with most learned as (M/H) skills and a few as (M/VH) skills. A mage may not gain a skill level in a College or Realm higher than the sum of his IQ + Magery level. Following is a list of the most well known Colleges and Realms: Colleges: Breaking Healing Communication Knowledge Control Movement Creation Protection Enhancement Transformation Realms: Air Magic Animal Mind Body Plant Earth Sound Fire Spirit Illusion Time Light & Darkness Water To cast a spell, a mage takes the lowest skill level he has in a spell's required Colleges and Realms and makes a skill roll against that number including the difficulty level of the spell. If he succeeds, the spell is successfully cast. Spells must be learned/bought from other mages or found in scrolls or tomes. Each spell has its own unique gestures and incantations, as well as any material components the spell requires. Each spell has a difficulty level. The difficulty level of the spell determines its base mana cost, as well as the base casting time and base duration. The base numbers are only a guide and may vary from spell to spell depending on the GM's discretion. Following is a list of difficulty levels and their attributes: Trivial (+10): Base Casting Cost: 0, Base Casting Time: 1 Sec, Base Duration: 1 Sec. Trivial spells can accomplish tasks that the mage could normally complete without magic. A trivial spell could tie a shoe lace, swat a fly, light a candle or any other similar task. Simple (+5): Base Casting Cost: 1, Base Casting Time ½ D Secs, Base Duration: 3 Secs. Simple spells can accomplish fairly ordinary tasks that the mage could probably complete with some effort. A simple spell could light wet wood for a campfire, sweep a small room, dazzle an opponent with a flash of light or warm a pot of stew. Ordinary (+0): Base Casting Cost: ½ D, Base Casting Time: 1 D Secs, Base Duration: 1 Min. An ordinary spell can complete tasks that the mage would normally have some trouble completing without magic. An ordinary spell could harm or disable a single foe or inconvenience a small group, change the weather in the immediate vicinity, unlock a locked door or teleport the mage a short distance. Complex (-5): Base Casting Cost: 1 D, Base Casting Time: 2 D Secs, Base Duration: 10 Min. A complex spell can complete tasks that the mage would find very difficult to complete without magic. A complex spell could kill a single foe with a good roll or injure a small group, teleport the mage a long distance or a small group a short distance, create a large amount of food or manipulate the emotions of a small group. Difficult (-10): Base Casting Cost: 2 D, Base Casting Time: 1 D Mins., Base Duration: 1 Hour. A difficult spell can complete tasks that the mage would find almost impossible without the use of magic. A difficult spell could kill a small group, teleport the mage vast distances, create/summon a large creature or raise from the dead a recently killed creature. Dangerous (-15): Base Casting Cost: 4 D, Base Casting Time: 2 D Mins, Base Duration: 1 Day. A dangerous spell can complete tasks the mage would find completely impossible without the use of magic. A difficult spell could drastically change the weather over a large area, teleport a large group across an entire country, summon a skilled and dangerous guardian or gain forbidden knowledge. Example Spell: Fireball This Spell creates a ball of fire that streaks from the caster's hand and strikes one foe, exploding and doing damage. Cost: ½ D plus 1 point for each die of damage up to a maximum of 3 dice. Time to cast: 1 D seconds. Prerequisites: College (Creation) and Realm (Fire). Difficulty: Ordinary (+0). Example of Spell Casting: Devon the mage wishes to cast a fireball at an enraged goblin. The spell has Creation as its College and Fire as its Realm. Devon has a skill of 13 in Creation and 14 in Fire and so his base skill level is 13. The spell has a difficulty of Ordinary and so Devon must roll 13 or lower to successfully cast the spell. The spell has a casting time of 1 D seconds and Devon rolls and determines he must concentrate for 3 rounds to cast the spell. Devon concentrates for the 3 rounds and then makes a skill roll. He rolls a 10 and so the spell is successfully cast. The spell requires ½ D mana points to cast plus 1 for every die of damage the fireball does up to a maximum of 3 dice. Devon rolls and the spell costs him 2 points plus he decides to spend 2 more points for 2 dice of damage for a total of 4 points. The spell strikes the goblin and Devon rolls 2 dice for damage. [Archivist's note: the sequence appearing as \xbd is apparently a non-ascii code for 1/2 - MAL]