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GM Notes on
Wizardry
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| A staple of
many Fantasy settings, Wizards are powerful
complements to any adventuring group. One of the most flexible of
Professions,
no two Wizards need be the same. Each Wizard's personal ability set is a
story just waiting to be told; the best Wizard characters have abilities
backed up by a detailed background establishing why a particular Wizard is
more of an expert at subtle Enchantments than at bold Conjurations, or has
much more experience with pyrotechnic displays of force than with form
manipulation Magic and so forth. |
| Casting Model |
| Wizards use the
"Prepared Casting" Model, which is VPP Based. Each Wizard has a list of
Known Spells which are learned via the use of topical Magic School Skills as
described below. |
| SPELL LEVEL TO ACTIVE POINTS |
| Each practitioner has a list of
Known Spells which are learned via the use of topical Magic School Skills as
described below.
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|
*0 |
1-15 |
|
1 |
16-30 |
|
2 |
31-45 |
|
3 |
46-60 |
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4 |
61-75 |
|
5 |
76-90 |
|
6 |
91-105 |
|
7 |
106-120 |
|
8 |
121-135 |
|
9 |
136-150 |
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| Spells are ranked by Spell
Level; some GMs may prefer to refer to this concept in
variant ways, such as Spell Circles, Spell Houses, or Spell
Ranks to avoid confusion stemming from the overloaded use of the
word "Level", or simply to add more flavor. Each Spell Level
starting at Spell Level 0 has 15 Active Points more than the
Spell Level before it.
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| Thus a Level 0
Spell is between 1-15 AP, 1st Level Spells are between 16-30 AP,
2nd Level Spells are between 31-45 AP and so on as indicated on
the adjoining table..
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| *Level 0 Spells are often called a "cantrip". Level
0 Spells count as a -0 for all penalties and a +1 for all bonuses related to
creating or learning Spells. |
| KNOWN SPELLS LIST |
| Each Wizard player must keep a list of all the Spells
that their Wizards know, including Spell write ups. On any given day when a
Wizard prepares Spells to their Wizardry VPP they must choose all of their
Spells from their Known Spell List. Spells on this list can be referred to
as "Spell Slots" out-of-character. |
| As a Wizard makes new discoveries and perhaps even
invents his own Spells his Known Spell List will grow, thus expanding their
options. The number of Known Spells allowed to Wizards is generous, and many
Wizards tend tp know a few esoteric Spells which they rarely use but find
useful in specific circumstances as opposed to most other practitioners of
other Vancian Systems who must be more sparing with their allocation of
Known Spells. |
| Restrictions |
| There are a number of
restrictions which apply to this Magic System, as follows. |
| WIZARDRY VPP |
| The Wizard Variable
Power Pool has a number of mandatory modifiers applied to it as follows. |
|
WIZARD MAGIC VPP CONTROL
COST |
- Only Arcane Magic (-1/2)
- Only Change Spells With Spell Book & Study Time (-1/2)
- All Spells Must Have 1 Charge (-1/4)
- Variable Limitation (-1/2; each Spell must take -1 of Limitations
from Extra Time, Concentration, Incantation, Gesture, Limited Range,
Restrainable By Spell Components Pouch,
or RSR: Magic Skill vs. Spell Resistance in
any combination at a MINIMUM)
|
| Control Cost per Spell Level (15 Pool) =
2.5 Real Points |
| Total Cost per Spell Level (15 Pool) = 17.5 Real Points |
|
EXPANDED REAL COST LIMIT |
| Wizards have an Expanded
Real Cost Limit on their Magic VPP's; a Wizard may prepare Spells with a
Real Cost equal to or less than their Magic Pool times 3 (RC Limit = Pool
x3) each day. The Pool
size is still the upper limit on Active Points however. Also, see
Cast Spells and Real
Cost below. |
| EXAMPLE:
Vardik is a moderately skilled Wizard with a 90 Pool Magic VPP; she may
prepare up to 270 Real Cost worth of Spells each day, all of which must have
90 or less Active Points. |
|
CASTED SPELLS AND VPP REAL COST LIMITS |
| When a Spell is cast from a VPP, it locks out a portion of the VPP equal to its Real Cost. A Wizard cannot prepare a Spell, cast it, and then prepare another Spell using the portion of the Pool previously occupied by the first Spell. |
| EXAMPLE:
Vardik is a moderately skilled Wizard with a 90 Pool Magic VPP; she has
prepared 270 Real Cost worth of Spells. The first Spell she casts in the day has a Real Cost of 30, leaving her with 240 Real Cost worth of prepared Spells. She may not prepare another Spell using the 30 Pool expended in this fashion until the following day. |
| NUMBER OF SPELLS KNOWN |
| There is a finite limit to the number of Spells Wizards
may know. The maximum number of Spells that a Wizard can know per Spell
Level is equal to (INT - (the Spell Level x 2)) by default (individual GM's
may waive this or set a different arbitrary limit). |
| Thus a
Wizard with 20 INT could know 20 0 Level Spells, 18 1st Level Spells,
16 2nd Level Spells, 14 3rd Level Spells, 12 4th Level Spells, etc., up to 2
9th Level Spells. |
Maximum # of Known Spells Per Spell Level:
Practitioner's INT - (the Spell Level x 2) |
| EXAMPLE: Yskos the Wizard
has a 20 INT and 150 Pool in his Magic VPP allowing him to cast up to "Ninth
Level Spells". On his Known Spells list he may have no more than 2 9th Level
Spells, 4 8th Level Spells, 6 7th Level Spells, 8 6th Level Spells, and so
on down to 20 0 Level Spells. If Yskos later raised his INT to 21 he could
know one more Spell of each Spell Level. |
| EXAMPLE: Alanar the Wizard
has a 15 INT and 150 Pool in his Magic VPP allowing him to cast up to "Ninth
Level Spells". However, he is unable to actually learn any 8th or 9th Level
Spells due to his low INT. Until Alanar raises his INT, he will be able to
have more Spells prepared with his extra Pool, but they will all be 7th
Spell Level or lower. |
| SPECIAL EFFECTS (SFX) |
| Magic Spells have very broad Special Effects. In
addition to any specific SFX that a particular Spell might have such
Electricity for a Lightning Bolt Spell or Fire for Flamebolt Spell, all
Magic Spells also automatically have the additional SFX of Magic, plus either Arcane or Divine,
and finally in the case of Wizardry the School of the Spell (Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination,
Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation
as described below). These
mandatory SFX cannot be altered by any means, including Variable Special
Effects. |
| EXAMPLE: An Arcane Magic
Evocation Spell is always Magic, always Arcane, and always in the Evocation
School. |
|
REQUIRED/FORBIDDEN MODIFIERS |
| All Vancian Magic Systems, including
Wizardry, have some common restrictions on Power Modifiers that can be
applied to their Spells. This list is summarized below. |
|
Wizardry Spell Design Restrictions |
- No Spell may have an Endurance Cost
- No Spell may have an Activation
- All Spells must have a single Charge
- Continuous Spells must terminate via
Anti-Magic
- No Spell can Require a Skill Roll to be cast
- A Spell may Require a Skill Roll to take effect
- such as a Spell requiring a
Persuasion skill roll
- such as Spell Resistance
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| NO END COST |
| Vancian Magic Systems don't cost END;
their frequency is controlled by the number of Spells per day a caster can
cast. However, a Spell can use the Fatiguing Long Term Endurance Side Effect
described in the
Magic
Limitations document. |
| NO ACTIVATION |
| Vancian Magic is extremely reliable.
Activation Rolls are not appropriate to this style of Magic. |
| SINGLE
CHARGE |
| The single greatest restriction on this Magic System is
that all Spells must have one Charge. Different Vancian
System manage their Charges in various ways, but this rule is observed in
all of them. |
| CONTINUING EFFECTS |
| Continuing Charges are used for Spells that are not Instant in nature. All Continuing Charges must have a defined method to end
their effect, which for Spells is globally defined as
Anti-Magic, which is any Area of Effect Suppress or
Dispel which would affect the Spell and is of equal or greater Active
Points, regardless of any Effect Rolls.
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| OTHER CHARGE OPTIONS |
| By default Fuel, Recoverable, and Boostable Charges are
not allowed, although in some cases a GM might allow them if appropriate. |
| NO SKILL ROLL TO CAST |
| The Skill impact to Vancian Magic
Users is in learning Magic, not in casting it. Once a Vancian Magic User has
learned a Spell to their Known Spell List, the can cast it effortlessly; the
number of times they can do so is controlled by the number Spells they can
cast per day. |
| SPELL RESISTANCE |
| An exception to this is for Spells
that require a test against Spell Resistance. The
Spell Resistance
concept is applicable to Vancian Magic, and uses the Spell School Skill
appropriate to the Spell being cast. |