The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote@ CYRMO: Recharge times are easier than recharge mana.
Believe me, I know.
You can just set a dice on the number of remaining rounds to count down. Simple.

Sounds simple enough.
Here is the alternative I thought of.


Damage spells.  Simple enough, you pay for a basic lightning spell and you get dX damage, limited range, one use per round.  Want extra damage, you pay for the upgrade.  Want more range, ditto.
Ditto for any metamagic type effects.

Healing spells.  Either as above, or tied to a character's VP.  Those with healing powers can heal their VP worth of damage per day.  You can buy upgrades.

Other magic can fall into categories like Charms, Incantations, Rituals, etcetera that each have, depending on the individual "spell", a different # of uses per day.

Quote from: beejazzFor example, I can buy NECROMANCY I.
This means I can achieve several "1st-level" necromancy effects, and use them every 1d20-1 rounds.
NECROMANCY II would give me "2nd-level" necromancy effects once every 1d20-2 rounds.
NECROMANCY III would give me "3rd-level" necromancy effects every 1d20-3 rounds.

A character must have I to get to II and II to get to III.
OR he could halve mixed NECRO I with EVOC I with ILLUS I.
Rotation and versatility, yes.
But less focus.

I repeat what my shitty comp failed to post.
POINTS: WHAT'S THE POINT

Recharge magic: Leaving well enough alone.

Quote from: snakefingOn the items thing:
I agree, I prefer a game in which magic items are not bought and sold, and only the weakest of items, like potions or temporary charms, can be regularly made, etc.

I can agree with this.

Quote from: CYMRO

Quote from: snakefingOn the items thing:
I agree, I prefer a game in which magic items are not bought and sold, and only the weakest of items, like potions or temporary charms, can be regularly made, etc.

I can agree with this.

Yuss...
Moneyprog kept to a minimum.
Saves playtest time.
And Ubergear gets to be special, with chargen/roleplay costs.

And... one more time...
WHY use points to cast spells?

Regardless of whether or not any of us want it in our game, I think we should still develop a method of determining magic items' gold values for the sake of it still being a generic system.

I like the idea of magic items being bought with character points.  That means that there is the possibility of increasing their power with character points, so that you're not just trading a sword in each time you want to upgrade but somehow are unlocking its power or maybe even imbuing it with power yourself.  I think we should extend the idea and say that character points can be spent by ordinary fighters and such to turn their mundane (and not necessarily masterwork) items into magic items.  The masterwork component to everything is just ludicrous.  If we want to be able to easily convert between character points and gold value, determine an amount of gold that a character point is worth for buying magic item abilities DMG style.

As to the mana point vs recharge debate:
The difference is that with mana points recharging rather that individual spells one can cast the same spell again in the next round without having to wait for it to recharge for 1d4 rounds or something.  And also higher-level spells can't just sit around until they've recharged to full power, because if you continuously cast low-level spells your points won't recharge to the amount you need to cast the high-level spell.

If you want to know what I can't fathom is why we need a Luck score?

I'd like to avoid building a magic item at charcter creation right into the central creation method, although it might be cool to allow a character to improve their own weapons over time through the use of their points.

I like the recharging magic system, based on the schools, but I have one modification to Bejazz's idea.  Level 1 spells should cost 1d20+1 rounds to recharge, level 2 1d20+2, etc.  This way the more power you use, the longer it takes to recover.

In reation to this last idea, I would like to include an option in the rules somehwehre for casters to use their VP to cast when they are out of Mana, or whatever we're calling it now.  This can be used as a last resort, and I think it would be quite dramatic.

I dunno, take it or leave it.

Also, Luck can be the mana score, be rolled for initiative.  Just some other thoughts.  And besides, we can always cut it later if it proves troublesome, yes?

EDIT: Beejazz, I've just noticed smethign which I'd like to clue you in on.  We are designing this system to make a better RPG, not specifically for Fabulosae Mundi.  FM is a setting designed for the system, not vice-versa.  Leave the flavor out of the system and your suggestions please, at least for now.  I, and I got the impression others did too, want this system to be adaptable to all settings, regardless of their flavor or theme.  Thank you.

Having level 1 spells take that long to recharge is a severe slash on a mage's power.  I mean, 1d20+spell level?  Most combat doesnt last 12 rounds, so level 2 and above spells on average will be used once/combat.  Could you imagine a battle with only one fireball or lightning bolt?

I'd assume that Rituals, Incantations, etc. wouldn't actually have a limit on their uses per day, because they're probably going to take longer to cast and already have a limit based on how often they can be effective and how long the caster can manage to stay up without risking his life.

Regarding the recharge times, we could probably give each 'level' of spell a certain base recharge time and base the actual times off of rolling a 6-sided die. If you got 2-5 recharge is as normal, if you got 1 recharge is 1 turn less, if you got 6 recharge is 1 turn more. In return maybe the d6 could be rolled as the spell is cast and if you got 2-5 the spell was as normal, if you got 1 the spell was a little weaker, and if you got 6 it was a little stronger.

That kind of looks more like an optional rule we could present for people who want to play with universal 'wild magic'.

QuoteI like the recharging magic system, based on the schools, but I have one modification to Bejazz's idea. Level 1 spells should cost 1d20+1 rounds to recharge, level 2 1d20+2, etc. This way the more power you use, the longer it takes to recover.

Though it is not my favorite idea, I can live with the recharge system, just not tied to schools.  I always found the D&D spell school system ridiculous.  

I.
Recharge.
 Level 1 spells should cost 1d20+1 rounds to recharge, level 2 1d20+2, etc. This way the more power you use, the longer it takes to recover.

I feel this is too random.  What is the point of having a spell that you might not be able to depend on in combat?

II.
TYpe dependent casting.
Damage spells. Simple enough, you pay for a basic lightning spell, for example, and you get dX damage, limited range, one use per round. Want extra damage, you pay for the upgrade. Want more range, ditto.
Ditto for any metamagic type effects.

Healing spells. Either as above, or tied to a character's VP. Those with healing powers can heal their VP worth of damage per day. You can buy upgrades.

Other magic can fall into categories like Charms, Incantations, Rituals, etcetera that each have, depending on the individual "spell", a different # of uses per day.

QuoteIf you want to know what I can't fathom is why we need a Luck score?

Luck would seem a better choice for a feat that could be taken multiple times, rather than a stat.  That way it becomes a flavor choice.

Abilities are:

Strength (Str)

Coordination (Co)

Reaction Time (ReT)

Toughness (Tns)

and possibly Luck.

We need a vote. Everyone seems happy with the physical scores, but there's disagreement over luck...

QuoteStrength (Str)

Coordination (Co)

Reaction Time (ReT)

Toughness (Tns)

YES TO THOSE.

QuoteLuck.

NO TO LUCK.  See my above for an alternate luck plan.

Okay. I vote Luck. So, me for, Cym against.

My thoughts on magic items: No! No! Don't make them available for points (at least at char creation)!
Feats would have to be taken to allow the use of points (afterall, we're using points instead of xp, right?) to create magic items. Magic items could only be used (possibly) by those with ranks in UMD, or an equivalent skill.