110 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
110 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
=============================================================================
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ALTERNATE MAGIC SYSTEM SUPPLEMENT
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Robert Winkel
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willie@werple.apana.org.au
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This is a supplement to the Spellweaving System. It can be used in
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conjunction with the Spellweaving System, or with the standard AD&D magic
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system. The original idea came from a Tortured Souls magazine (Great magazine
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to buy if you can find it). It involves the notion that there are centers of
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magic, magical sources if you will, around the campaign world or playing
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area. Note that this is for spells and not magical items, although the DM
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might rule that these modifiers effect the creation of magical items in some
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way.
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The modifiers should not be told to the players in advance, but should be
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discovered by them during the course of play; this reflects the acquisition
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of similar knowledge by their characters. If the DM thinks that it would be
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common knowledge, for mages and priests, where the centers are, then so be it.
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There are several general categories of spells, these are:
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1. Elemental spells eg. Gust of Wind, Wall of Iron, Fireball, Fog Cloud.
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These will typically have centers as such: Air elemental: some tall
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mountain range, Earth elemental: some rugged mountain range, the sort
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that dwarves love, or a canyon, Fire elemental: some great desert. Water
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elemental: the ocean, or the largest ocean around. These are better to be
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in the four corners of the playing world, but it is not necessary.
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2. Nature spells eg. Charm Plants, Weather Summoning, Warp Wood, etc. These
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are druid type spells that call upon the forces of nature in some way.
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The typical place for the source of nature would be in the middle of a
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huge forest.
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3. Divination spells eg. augury, detect magic, etc. This effects priests and
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not mages, since it depends on where the god or his/her holy city/temple
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etc. is. The source of the magic comes from here in this case.
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Alternatively this can effect mages with regards to the information being
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divined eg. If a mage is doing a detect magic on a Flame Tongue, he would
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receive the same modifier as a Fire elemental spell.
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4. Illusion spells eg. Shadow Magic, Phantasmal Force etc. The center of the
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source of illusionary magic is the place in the playing world where most
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of the intelligence is. This is generally the capital city, or more
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generally the city with greatest population.
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5. Other spell types. With regards to anti-magic, the defence against magic,
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the modifier will change in sign, since it will be easier to dispel or
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defend against against a source of magic which is far away, and harder to
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defend against a source of magic which is near. eg. if the spell Wall of
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Iron is in the area which gives it +3 modifier, there will be a -3
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modifier for anyone trying to dispel it. With regards to spells that are
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related to another spell type eg. Wish, Glyph of Warding, Permanency,
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Nystul's Magical Aura etc. treat them as the appropriate spell type.
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Any others: either no modifier, or use your judgement.
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Remember that these are only suggestions.
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Distance From Modifiers For Modifiers On
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Magic Source Supplement Own
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---------------------------------------------------------
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up to 1000 miles +5 +50%
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1000+ - 2000 +4 +40%
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2000+ - 3000 +3 +30%
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3000+ - 4000 +2 +20%
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4000+ - 5000 +1 +10%
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5000+ - 6000 - -
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6000+ - 7000 -1 -10%
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7000+ - 8000 -2 -20%
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8000+ - 9000 -3 -30%
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9000+ - 10000 -4 -40%
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10000+ -5 -50%
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Distance From Magic Source: This is best done from the map of the playing
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world. An alternative to the distances given above, if your playing world is
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a lot smaller or larger, is to divide the length of the playing area by about
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15 and use this figure instead of the jumps of 1000 miles.
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Another method is to use the above distances informally (eg. within the
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elvin forest the modifiers are +2 for a certain magic type, etc.) This eases
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the use in campaign worlds.
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Modifiers For Supplement: If you are using the Spellweaver System I have
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offered in a seperate article, then these are the modifiers added or
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subtracted when finding out the spell's effect.
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Modifiers On Own: If this system is used on it's own, then these are the
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modifiers used. If there is damage or healing involved, then the modifier is
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applied to this. If it is a divination spell, then this is the chance of it
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not working (if negative), roll this chance again, and get false information.
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If it is a positive modifier to divination spells then you can either get
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that percentage in extra info, or similar.
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Other spells can have, duration, area of effect, or range effected, or even
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the chance of the spell working at all. This is up to the DM.
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Magic Items: These modifiers will affect all spells, whether they come from
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scrolls or come from a magical item that gave the user the spell use. This
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is the only way in which magic items will be affected.
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This system will tend to bog down spell use a bit, but will make a
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campaign more fun and will give a fresh aproach to magic in AD&D. Hope you
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enjoy.
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