Magic Mechanics for Novarium

Back to regularly scheduled programming

As discussed previously, I am incorporating ideas from Ars Magica in how magic works. In this post, I am going to describe how Ars Magica works mechanically on the subject of actually casting spells. Then I am going to outline my method which I feel accomplishes the same goals with a lot of the design streamlined for ease of use.

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A spell has a base value determined by the effect. Healing a light wound, for example, has a base of 10, while a the same for a medium wound would take 15. Increases to range, duration, or target size raise that value in 5 point units. For example, casting magic on yourself is free (range 0) while casting on someone else via touch costs 5 extra points and casting on something by sight alone costs even more points. These numbers are added to get a spell level.

When you cast a spell, you are rolling dice, adding modifiers, and trying to roll over the spell level. If you fail by less than 10 points, the spell goes off but you lose fatigue. Less than that, you just fail.

Now on top of that, if you are making a roll in a stressful situation, like combat, the zero on the d10 causes a botch check. Depending on how risky the act was, you roll a number of additional dice and if any of them come up as 0, thing go really wrong. Multiple zeroes, really really wrong.

This system is interesting, but complex and dependent upon knowing a lot of modifiers at the table, so let's see how we can simplify it down.

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Now, the system I described previously is going to be feeding you an attribute-like number.

As with Errant, the dice really determine how difficult the task is, not how good you are. You are static (save via leveling). However, I think the d20 is too wide a range to suit my purposes. The reasons will become evident in a moment. D6 is too predictable for magic as the number of dice rises. So I am moving to a d10 chassis.

So let's go back to the wound example. Healing a light wound might be a 1d10 task. A medium wound might be 2d10. I am not using wounds though, I am just speaking comparatively. An astute observer will note that the more difficult the task, the more risk of things going horribly wrong increases as well. This is the botch effect, only now it is built right into the base mechanic instead of being bolted on.

Also, there will be a standard set of targeting modifiers. These add to the die results. So if you choose the touch attack as previously described, you might get a +2 to die results or something. Everything is modifying the difficulty based on the nature of the task, you are not messing with both sides of the equation.

Unless you tap into magical essence, the rough equivalent of Ars Magica Vis and Mage (white wolf) quintessence. But I am adding some cool new uses for it. Stay tuned for more about that.

Edit: forgot to mention, failing your roll by a small margin still succeeds but drains Willpower. You can choose to lose more willpower to extend this range over which you force the magic to work.