magic system sketch

Following the guidelines of previous entries, I'm devising some possibilities to simple and cool magic systems.

I want magic progression to follow a 4-step, exponential structure; from non-magical, to initiate, mage and archmage (and diminishing gains after that if any). 

Magic, then, is cast from a list of spells that increase in number on every "magical grade", but also in power.

What I have for now is this:

Initiates roll 1d6 when casting spells

Mages roll 2d6

Archmages roll 3d6

and spells have three parameters to be measured:

Impact (how many hp you heal, damage you do, effect you cause, etc)

Range (how many people it affects)

Retain (decides if the spell is retained after use or not)

As I want that there are mechanical benefits to casters to disregard armor, I made it so wearing armor or other encumbrances decreases the chance to retain spells: you must roll your movement rate or under to keep the spell.

Sample movement rates:

No armor=2

Light armor=1

Heavy armor=0

Initiates roll 1d6 to cast magic. So when an initiate rolls a heal spell, the result defines all parameters; but one from impact or range is defaulted to 1:

Lets say he rolls a 4: he can choose to heal a target 4 hit points, or heal 1 hit point to up to four targets. As he rolled over its movement rate (no armor=2), the spell is lost.

Mages roll 2d6 to cast magic. They can allocate the results anywhere they see fit from Impact, Range or Retain. A parameter which has no results is defaulted to 1, and if its Retain, its automatically lost.

Mage in no armor rolls a 4 and a 2 when healing: He can choose, for example, to heal 4 points to a target and keep the spell (2 is equal to his movement rate); or maybe he can heal 2 points to 4 targets and lose the spell.

Archmages roll 3d6 to cast magic. They are, of course, benefited from allocating low rolls on Retain and high rolls on effect. 

Archmage in light armor casts heal and rolls 3, 3 and 1. He heals three points to three different targets, and as he keeps the spell, he can attempt it again next turn.

Now the base is established, lets get to the fun spare bits:

* Some spells make no sense in having a numerical score for Impact, but they can be described differently depending on the result assigned to it (from an 1 to 6 score, how much does "Magical Light" shine into the cave?). On others, where the result is a matter of yes or no (charm, sleep, maybe) the Impact roll can measure the number of turns affected, being a threshold that you must reach for the spell having an effect (like in "sleep needs a 3 at least to kick in") or just having the spell work straight, and making it more a matter on "how many people you sleep" (effectivelly putting the weight on the Range score)

* Mages and Archmages revert to 1d6 lower if they are for any reason deprived from their magical wands (I'm a great fan of Earthsea novels)

* Spells can be learned multiple times. This is the way in which a forest nymph (Initiate level) would cast Entangling vines many times before retreating.

* Things that complicate this structure further must be treated on a case by case basis, described on the specific spell description.

* Casters can attempt to cast spells reactivelly: when they are attacked, they can attempt to cast a spell before the attack takes place. This is done by casting normally, and if the Retain is successful, the spell is cast before the attack. If the Retain is lost, the spell takes effect after the attack (if the mage is still alive and any other conditions allow it). In any outcome, this consumes the casters' turn.

*It is weird that mages can only cast spells on groups of 6, no matter their power, huh? To fix that, having a range of 6 means you cast the spell on all the group you select (all foes, all allies, everyone but a single person... its your call)

CLASS AS RACE II: Rangers, Druids and Clerics

 Part of a series on worldbuilding making whole races inspired directly by a class, each one having their own tactics to survive in a harsh world. In this entry we cover tribes which live a step further into the wilds.

3. RANGERS

When you play an elf, you get the ranger class, be it the ones from 5E, the playbook from Dungeon World, your homebrew or any else: adapt to it. These kind of elves are plant-based, and take elements from greek dryads and japanese kodama: just as Adventure Time huntress wizard, they have leaves for hair and their skin can be green and smooth like a stem or barky like a trunk when elves are older (or have leveled up enough).

Elves are greatly autosufficient in their forests and do not need for much outside them: they have a marked biorrhythm in which they are born, they form a family and they teach their kids to protect their sacred groves. Then they slowly become treants and then, one day they "die" and become sacred trees themselves. Normal trees are fond to grow around them, and this way the forest expands. As talk with trees is sometimes a ranger spell (when rangers are allowed spells), this means that elves can usually speak with their deceased elders providing they are still "awake" (When they cannot, they make use of druids: see below). Then the younglings protect their elder's slumber until their spirit finds some eternal rest or who knows when, and the cycle goes on.

from Stevesketches (twitter)

Until that moment, elves live according to their natural principles which consist in hunting and studying the Tao. All the things that Taoism and meditation suggest you are true for elves: they meditate, cultivate their spirits and try to flow with the path as much as they can. If you ever heard the thing about zen arrows, this is the secret of why they are so good shooters and fighters in general. They are contempt to live this way and to assume their place in the food chain. Sometimes young elves hire themselves as bodyguards or even assasins, which suits them perfectly.

4. DRUIDS

When forest people is in need of some religious or magical services, they recur to the Nymphs (Nixes, undines, sirens, etc). These aquatic ladies have magical powers and level up as druids (so depending in the rules you use, probably have a second shape and a good gang of animals to scout for them). They speak with trees when elves need to communicate with their elders; but they charge prices for that.

Nymphs are extremelly covetous and hoard treasure in their aquatic lairs. This treasure might be from gold to the most weird things: Corpses, weapons, mundane tools... etc. As people that don't like to abandon their rivers, lakes and shores, all signs of civilization hold some capacity of wonder. However, for the sake of making them playable, they can spend time outside of water providing they take baths in fresh water from time to time (its their equivalent of a long rest). 

It is mandatory for a good setting with Nymphs to have them play music, and if allowed by your version of class spells, they will try to charm listeners in order to find lovers or slaves. If Rangers and Druids are too similar in the rules you are using, you can always make Nymphs the Illusionist instead.

Level 1 nymphs are usually the males, which have not much magic and, because of that, are more prone to physical combat (AKA their role is cannon fodder for combat encounters). 

Level 6+ nymphs are renowned priestesses that offer spiritual services to all forest dwellers and are greatly respected. Which in that aspect makes them very similar, but not the same as our next guest class.

5. CLERICS

If you want to play a cleric, that is OK, but you have to be this:

That is a kirin, or quilin, a sort of chinese unicorn with divine power. They are not common, but really rare, as Gandalf's kin in LOTR. And as the istari, once they have leveled up a little they are gamechangers to any faction they decide to help. Luckily for you, you can assume human form! It would be hard to roleplay otherwise. In fact, you might have lost the ability to become a horse as part of the natural clerical training and might have to grind a little until you recover it.

Other races might have clerics in the sense that they have their priests and priestesses who carry their ritual endeavors, banish evil and maybe healing some diseases; but kirins are the only ones that progress beyond level 1. In fact, if another cleric does, it will be revealed that he has kirin blood or something, or be granted kirinhood. This manifests by assuming the shape in dreams first. It is the sign to continue developing your devotion (towards level 2 and beyond my friend).

I'm sure that a place in which all Kirins have a "village" of their own exists, which is probably designed for horses more than for people, but maybe its set in a mystic valley so otherwordly that it is in fact other plane of existance. Who knows. Its probably very extense as they love to run from one place to the other. But I do guess that is probably safe from monsters due to high level clerical spells: Blessing the perimeter regularly, a river used as a moat which they cross using Water Walk, or a forest filled with sticks that can turn to snakes if orc invaders set their foot on it.

This bitch is supposed to appear in naruto? I dont remember. I just googled "kirin human form"

Kirin that decide to develop their natural powers are blessed after a long career with powerful magics as reincarnation, raise dead, etc. Whatever your cleric rules allow to. But please no more stupid medieval monks with superpowers.

Part 3 soon.