Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.14 $; site siemens.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!siemens!steve From: steve@siemens.UUCP Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: A Colorful Magic System (2) Message-ID: <26000007@siemens.UUCP> Date: Tue, 7-May-85 09:07:00 EDT Article-I.D.: siemens.26000007 Posted: Tue May 7 09:07:00 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 8-May-85 04:32:30 EDT Lines: 116 Nf-ID: #N:siemens:26000007:000:5722 Nf-From: siemens!steve May 7 09:07:00 1985 Here is the second part about my "Colorful Magic System". Please, would somebody who is interested send me a note so I can be sure it makes it out to the net (and that there is still interest). This assumes a system of fatigue points and body points which maps onto a D&D modification I have seen many people use. This modification says that you become unconscious when hit points go to zero, but you don't die until you go negative more than your constitution. (But you have to do things like roll system shocks etc.) What D&D calls "hit points" are fatigue points; your body points are equal to your constitution. I won't bother justifying this here. Magic Users The basic philosophy about magic is that it is something that takes a lot of preparation and is not done on the spur of the moment. A magic user does not cast spells at a moment's notice -- instead he enchants devices, brews potions, writes scrolls, and conjures up demons to do his magic. (Clerics are the ones that have their prayers answered immediately.) Of course, a magic user could keep a bag full of all sorts of potions and scrolls and stuff, and use them whenever necessary, but he has to prepare them ahead of time and deal with nasties that detect all that magic. Another main point is that magic users have a very wide range of spells to choose from, but they are forced to specialize in order to get to do any high level magic. To this end, magic spells are divided into 10 classes, or "colors". The categories are as follows: Black gravity, metals, mechanisms Brown animals, characteristics of animals, shape-changing Red fire, weapons Orange illusion, mirrors Yellow time, speed/motion, age, spacial distortions Green plants, characteristics of plants, barriers, containers, armor Blue water, guidance, travel, communication, health, poison, sound Violet electricity, emotion, mind, mind control Grey magic itself, the Astral plane, ESP, good & evil White air, weather, shapes, invisibility, light A magic user has a proficiency level in each color, and when he starts out he picks one color to be his "primary" color. Each time he goes up a level in experience, he increases his proficiency in his primary color by one. His proficiency in any other color may not be greater than his proficiency in his primary color. There are also four different methods or means of carrying out magic spells, and a magic user has proficiencies in the four methods as well as the ten colors. The methods are: Enchanting weapons, armor, amulets, rings, wands Brewing potions, gases, ointments Spell-Storing writing scrolls or storing in a device (e.g. ring) enchanting specifically for storing spells Conjuring Demons elementals and such; they can be bound to symbols (runes) or charged with a task immediately These will be explained in detail later. Each time a magic user goes up one experience level, he increments his proficiency in some colors and/or methods. Before he starts out he has zero proficiency in everything, and he increments some proficiencies as if he went from 0th level to 1st level. The number of proficiencies he increments depends on his level and intelligence: it is either 3 or 2 per level, including his primary color. That is, he increments his proficiency in his primary color and one or two other colors or methods each level of experience. Increment 3 Increment 2 Intelligence Proficiencies Proficiencies 1 - 10 never level 1 & up 11 & 12 level 1 level 2 & up 13 & 14 level 2 level 3 & up 15 & 16 level 3 level 4 & up 17 & 18 level 4 level 5 & up over 18 level 5 level 6 & up Not all spells can be cast in all methods. It might be possible to enchant an amulet with some spell, or brew a potion with it, but not to store it nor to conjure a demon to do it. Casting a spell requires a magic user to use fatigue points; typically more fatigue points than he can expend in one day. He will simply have to spend several days expending his fatigue points on the spell. He can work on several spells at once, but if he stops entirely on a particular spell he has to start it all over again. He may use his body points on a spell, but he will have to heal just as if he received wounds in combat. He can sacrifice himself by going negative: he can use as many fatigue/body points as he wants in one spell, but he dies. Most spells are considered "standard spells". Unless explicitly stated otherwise, everything having to do with any spell is standard. For standard spells, the number of fatigue points required to cast a spell is proportional to the level of the spell and depends upon the intelligence of the magic user. The spell will have a single "spell level" and color which will determine what proficiency the magic user must have in the color of the spell and the method he wishes to use to cast it. The following tables sum up this information. Intelligence 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 n F. P. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 40 - n F.P. is the number of fatigue points required per level of spell. Spell Caster's Proficiency in Fatigue Minimum Fatigue Level Method Method + Color Points* Points per Day 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 3 2 2 3 2 4 3 3 4 2 5 4 4 5 3 6 5 5 6 3 7 6 6 n (n+1)%2 n+1 n n * This number is multiplied by F.P. determined from the magic user's intelligence in the previous table. Also, a magic user must always have a proficiency of at least one in the color of the spell he wishes to cast.