While thinking about Athanor, I found myself looking at the old Chainmail magic rules and thinking about using the Chainmail magic difficulty rules in Athanor in combination with modified spell lists. Using the Chainmail rules as a basis, I came up with the following table:
To use a spell, roll a d20 against the target number listed below:
Spell Spell Caster Level
Level Effect 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11+
----- ------ --- --- --- --- ---- ---
1 I 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+ 8+ 6+
D 12+ 10+ 8+ 6+ 4+ 2+
N 11- 9- 7- 5- 3- 1
2 I 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+ 8+
D 14+ 12+ 10+ 8+ 6+ 4+
N 13- 11- 9- 7- 5- 3-
3 I 20 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+
D 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+ 8+ 6+
N 15- 13- 11- 9- 7- 5-
4 I n/a 20+ 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+
D 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+ 8+
N 17- 15- 13- 11- 9- 7-
5 I n/a n/a 20+ 18+ 16+ 14+
D 20 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+ 10+
N 19- 17- 15- 13- 11- 9-
6 I n/a n/a n/a 20+ 18+ 16+
D n/a 20 18+ 16+ 14+ 12+
N n/a 19- 17- 15- 13- 11-
Spell Effect:
I = Immediate -- spell takes immediate effect.
D = Delayed -- spell delayed to next turn
N = Negated -- spell does not work.
My thoughts on making this work:
- I think there needs to be some risk to failure, and thus some penalty for N results.
- I need to rethink spell lists and what level each spell is, since the removal of Vancian casting may change the balance of spells at each level.
- I also need to rethink the mountebank/rogue spell casting rules (or eliminate them and live with just fighters and magic-users, which is fine, too.)
Am I reading this right? A level 1 caster has a 25% chance to cast a 3rd level spell (albeit with a delayed onset time), and a 1-in-20 chance of pulling it off immediately.
ReplyDeleteThat's really pulpy, and really cool.
Agree with you on the spell backfire chance though. Maybe 10 lower than the Negated TN as a threshold?
Now I need to make sure I reconsider the spell selection to match. I need to look at Matt Finch's Eldritch Weirdness again and let my brain stew upon this....
ReplyDeleteYou might want to check out Spellcraft & Swordplay, which uses this.
ReplyDelete