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2009-09-23, 10:12 PM
Hey, a friend of mine is putting together a SteamPunk(airships) game based off of d20 modern and d20 past. I say based off of cause there is alot of home brewing going on in the game to get the feel that the dm wants
One of the bigger changes is how magic is going to work, in fact, he asked me to put up a new system just for this game. Its still a work in progress, but I feel as if I have gotten most of the theory and mechanics done and all I really have left is the spell list and balance. With that said I has hoping that I could post what I have done so far and see what you guys thought of it. Its kinda long, so be warned. Thanks!


Each type of magic has a base or, there are 7 types:air, water, fire, spirit, earth, lightning, and force.Each orb can be "shaped" into a specific spell, once shaped the orbs can not be returned into there original form, nor can they be shaped into a different spell.
Orbs appear a a marble shaped hollow glass sphere filled with the
essence of what ever element they contain, these elements move in a
continuous circular motion which can be felt when the orb is held. The
spirit orb is green in colour, the fire orb is a red/orange, the water
is dark blue, lightning is white with a blueish hue glowing from it,
earth is brown, air is white, force is dark smoky purple.
Magical attacks are divided into two categories: physical, and mind
altering. For physical attacks the caster rolls 1d20+int mod which
goes against the targets AC. For mind altering spells it's 1d20+into
mod(or cha mod for some spells) against the targets will save. For the
sake of game play positive spells, such as heal, are consider
unopposed and therefore no roll is required to see if the target is hit.
Once it has been determined that a spell has hit dmg is rolled
normally based on the spells description.

There are two feats associated with magic, first is the caster feat
which allows the player to use orbs that have already been formed into
spells, and allows the player to accumulate mana. The second feat is
the shaper feat, this allows the player(provided that they know how)
to take an elemental orb and shape it into a specific spell. The
shaper feat can not be taken unless the player already posses the
caster feat. Orbs are equipped to items worn or used by the player(such as a weapon or a pendant) thus enabling the player to use that orb.
Mana is treated as a skill with on skill point equaling one point of
mana, the players int mod is the mod for the mana skill. Machines
that use orb to power them selves do not require the user of the
machine to have the caster feat to use the machine. It is assumed
that the machine has all the appropriate connections to draw the
necessary power required from the orb automatically. At the same time,
weapons and items that have orb slots that can be used on to the items
standard effect due require the caster feat to make use of any orbs
attached to the item.
Example: John has the long arm proficiency feat but not the caster
feat, he also has an imperial rifle equipped with a fire orb. John can
use his rifle for it's standard range attack but he can not apply the
fire element to his attacks. To do that he would have to take the
caster feat and spend one point of mana for every shot that he wish
the fire element to be attached to.
Latter, John decides to take a car to the next city, the car is
powered by a lightning orb. John still does not have the caster feat,
but because he car was designed to allow use by non casters he does
not need. John can still start and drive the car despite having no
mana and la king the caster feat.

Each elemental passes along a secondary ability to all spells produced from it's type. The are as follows:
Fire--there is a 1d10 chance that the target of a fire spell will
catch fire. This fire does 1d4 dmg per round until extinguished and
extinguishing the fire is a full round action.
Water--there is a 1d10 chance that the target of a water spell is
slowed for 1d4 rounds
Air--the target of offensive air spells has a 1d10 chance of being
knocked prone
Force--the target of a force spell has a 1d12 chance of being pushed
back 1d3 spaces.
Lightning--causes a 1d20 of stuning the target for 1d3 rounds
Spirit--on casting a spirit spell there is a 1d10 chance that the
caster will be healed for 2d6
Earth--1d10 chance of doing an extra 2d6 physical dmg.

There are roughly 8 spells for each element, these spells will all have low base mana cast(1 to 2 points), but by using more mana to cast the spells the spells effectiveness will increase(such as more dmg or wider effect)

Air--breeze, blast, gale, far sight, sense current, feather fall,
float, clairvoyance

Earth--shake, armor, wall, dig, missile, bend, brace, pillar

Fire--burning weapon, burning fingers, consume, flame daggers, arrow,
fire ball, ward

Force--push, lift, crush, choke, throw, spear, walk, shield

Spirit--heal, charm, dominate, harm, revive, sleep, suggest,
invisibility

Water--freeze, produce water, impromptu weapon, fog, wave, disguise,
illusion, steam

Lightning--Bolt, chain, defibrillator, shock, shocking weapon, power, second sight, flash



Off course, this system allows pretty much any one to use magic, all you have to do is take the feat, which is one of the big things that my dm wanted. I'll have the spell descriptions up as soon as I'm done, I know what I want each spell to do but the numbers are getting to me.
I had 8 types of orbs(generic being the 8th), but I decided that 7 was better(or more lucky) and moved the generic spells around.
I did off course borrow alot of this from the FF series(one and seven mainly) and some of the spells I simply ripped from 3.5; but hey, when was the last time you had to think up a brand new system of magic on the fly? :smalltongue: