Just as swordplay has the nine swords, so magic has its own equivalents. Nine 'forms' of power - Arcane, Divine, Shadowcasting, Truenaming, Binding, Music, Weaving, Elementalism, Inner Self. Few have ever mastered all of these paths, and few even become perfect in one... but some have managed. However you look at it, Astra and the Amenta, the source of these powers, are one, and becoming a master in them all is possible through intense study.
[ooc]This project is me, essentially, redoing (and/or creating) all the above systems and melding them together into a form that will fit all high magic (or even low-magic) worlds. This will take time, so be patient. :P[/ooc]
This system includes:
Nine new base classes, the sorceror, priest, shadowmancer, wizard, thaumaturge, bard, shaper, elementalist and weavetwister.
Eight new prestige classes, the Magepriest, Shadowspeaker, Songtaker, Firesinger, Godspeaker, Songdancer, Monk of the Nine and Ninepath Holder.
Lots of new feats for magicky goodness.
A skillbased rebuild of all the magic systems.
New monsters for some of the newer magic types and some for the old, too.
Flavoury goodness for those who want to use my system as built with the flavour (although it is easily removable and doesn't really affect it much if you wish to use the system elsewhere).
New spells, weaves, speeches, spirits, songs, elenents etc galore!
A removal of uber-powerful high level mages/boosting up of slightly weak low-level mages.
An' a load of other stuff too. Hooray.
-Reserved-
Arcane Magic [spoiler=The Sorceror]
Hit Die: 1D6
Skill Points: 4+Int Modifier
Class Skills: The Sorceror's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are as follows: Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Witching (Cha).
[class=Sorceror]
[levels=10]
[bab=wizard]
[fort=poor][ref=poor][will=good]
[special][1]Familiar[/1][/special][/class]
Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: The sorceror gains proficiency with all simple weapons.
Spells: The most important part of the sorceror class is of course spellcasting. Spellcasting comes to a sorceror naturally, each one being a living, breathing conduit to the Amenta. A sorceror automatically gains two new spells every level, and can learn others through watching technique and succeeding on a spellcraft roll (see below). A sorceror can cast continually without stopping, provided she or he keeps rolling well on their witching skill, and has no spell slots. They can also cast completely spontaneously. For more information on Witching and the other functions of spellcasting, see the main spellcasting section.
Level[th][/th] Max. Spell Level[th][/th]
1 | 1 |
2 | 1 |
3 | 2 |
4 | 2 |
5 | 3 |
6 | 3 |
7 | 4 |
8 | 4 |
9 | 5 |
10 | 5 |
Familiar: A familiar in the Nine Paths system works identically to that in normal Dungeons and Dragons.
[/spoiler]
Since you didn't put a discussion link, I'm hoping this is alright. If not, feel free to remove it and smite me.
This sounds awesome as heck. I've often been annoyed that the different magic systems don't seem to mesh really well, and I'm glad to see someone is going to remedy that!
This all sounds very cool. I can't wait to see what you can do.
The only thing it looks like you are missing is Psionics, but i'm guessing you want to stay away from that.
@Golem: I saw in the Tavern that you were asking about ideas for settings that incorporate these mechanics. Since you're establishing nine distinctive approaches to magic, I'd recommend a setting featuring lots of academies of magic. That sort of thing lends itself well to casters with entirely different approaches to their art. Presumably, there would also be lots of fighting schools teaching different combat styles, and lots of bardic colleges, et cetera, et cetera.