How many spells do I get?

This is something I've known about for a while, but if I've blogged about it before, I've forgotten. And I didn't tag it with my MU tag if I did. 

So, Magic-Users. How many spells per day can they cast? Apparently, as you level up, there are quite a few discrepancies depending on what book you're using. 

My print version of the Mentzer Expert Set has this table:

However, the PDF version (the really old Paizo.com PDF, back before the Pathfinder schism) has this:

Up to 5th level, they're identical. But at 6th level, you get an extra 1st level spell in my print book than in the PDF version. 

7th and 8th level are the same. So far, slight advantage to the print book.

At 9th level, though, the PDF version gets an extra 3rd level spell compared to the print book. Now the tables have turned!

At 10th level, the print MU gets an extra 1st level spell, but the PDF MU gets an extra 4th level spell! 

But at 11th level, the PDF MU finally gets that fourth 1st level spell, and their first 6th level spell. But the print MU gets extra 2nd and 3rd level spells (fourth for each) and finally gets that third 4th level spell. 

12th level finally sees the two versions the same again. 

But at 13th level, the print MU again gets a 1st level spell that the PDF MU doesn't, which remains the case at 14th level, as well. 

I don't know if the PDF was edited to match the later RC progression, or if there were multiple versions of the Expert Set put out. Here's the RC: 

And for completeness, here's the BX version: 

This is almost the same as what's in the PDF and RC, until 12th level. Then the BX MU gets a boost in their higher level spells per day. Since the BECMI line was planned from the beginning for a level 1 to 36 spread, that's not surprising. 

AD&D, of course, also has a different spread of spells per level: 

Not gonna analyze all the differences between AD&D and Classic, as I'm mainly just interested in the two very different versions of BECMI Expert today. Oh, and just the BECMI MU. The Elf is also different, with a progression matching the MU in the PDF version 100%, but in the print version getting 10th level spells 5/4/3/2/1 in the print version!

Either way, the spell progression of both print and PDF Expert sets match up with the progression in the Companion Set (which matches the RC, at least at 15th level):

The PDF MU is gaining 1st and a 7th level spells at 15th level, while the print MU is only getting that 7th level spell.

The print version gets a bit more versatility over all, with more lower level spells sooner. But the PDF version gets better higher level spells, so more power.

Just for fun, I may go through my spell tables and see what it would look like to give the most generous spell progression for each spell level, mixing the two (three with BX) Expert Sets. Or maybe even bringing in the 1E progression, too! Just to see what it's like.

Using my noggin

Nate, who has been playing Tusken Tumble, the Half-Orc Acrobat in my West Marches game, started a 5E game using the free content WotC has been putting out during the coronavirus lockdown. He started us as 1st level PCs in the Lost Mines of Phandelver module, which is I guess the 5E equivalent of Keep on the Borderlands.

I rolled up a Wizard (Conjurer specialist now that he's 2nd level). And among his spells, only one cantrip does direct hit point damage. It's called infestation, and it summons up fleas, mites, etc. to bite and annoy the target. All of his other cantrips and spells are 'utility' magic.

Out of four sessions Nate has run, I've only played in two (the most recent last Friday night). So I just hit level 2 after this past session while everyone else is level 2 or 3 already. But that didn't really matter. I've been a pretty effective character when I've been there.

Minor Spoilers for Lost Mines of Phandelver below:

In my first session (second of the campaign), we were exploring a goblin cave to rescue some prisoners and stolen goods. The goblins had wolves (dire? worgs? not sure) as guards. Dean's Gnomish Bard and I combined our minor illusion cantrips to get the sound and image of a cat, to lure them out, which worked. We were able to take them on more easily as some were chained and some were not. Later, inside the cavern, my familiar (a Raven, not the most optimal familiar, but stylish!) scouted out a chamber that was up a hill of bones and rubble, and found several goblins, a bugbear, stolen goods, and a prisoner. Some of the party climbed up, but then retreated when they saw how tough the opposition was. I cast my second spell (the first being mage armor) to grease the slope, and the goblins that pursued slid down into our waiting warriors' axes/swords/pummeling fists. Then we all went up the slope, rescued the prisoner (Jeff's character, as he joined the session late), and when reinforcements arrived, I was back to using infestation and minor illusion to distract.

Last night, I felt like I was a bit more creative with my spells. We started out in town, seeking information on the Red Brand bandits who the party had tussled with in the third session which I missed. We ended up impressing a farm boy who knew the secret location into the lair by my mending cantrip and Bumblesnick's minor illusion cantrip. Once we got in the lair, we encountered a creature called a nothic (one-eyed twisted former mage with mental powers) and decided to fight it. The Ranger and Monk did most of the work there.

But after we killed it, we found a room with some red cloaks. They were filthy, maybe diseased, but a prestidigitation cleaned them. But since they wouldn't be much good as disguises shiny clean, more prestidigitation gave them cosmetic soiling.

The final room we investigated had three sarcophagi with armed skeletons leaning on them. With the help of both my and Bumblesnick's unseen servant rituals, we had the servants thread ropes gently through the bones of the skeletons to tie them up. When Denis' Tortle Monk entered the room, they animated of course, but the ropes kept them from mobbing Chell the Monk while we battled them.

Finally, we had a cache of weapons, beaver pelts, and the treasure from the nothic. It was a lot to carry. So I cast Tenser's Floating Disk to carry the loot out.

Dustie, playing a Half Orc Ranger, was wondering why I wasn't blasting away at things. I just laughed and in character wondered why any spell-caster worth his salt would be so crude.

Considering that a very high percentage of spells in 5E are damage dealing spells, I don't think Dustie was overreacting. I just found it amusing that I was getting by without much in the way of direct damage spells, and definitely making things easier for the party.

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Story Two!

In my West Marches game this afternoon, the party was asked by the local king of the Fair Folk to wipe out a lair of river sahuagin (piranha people instead of shark people), in exchange for help transporting their large piles of treasure taken from the fledgling dragons last session. Justin's character, Queeg, is an antiquarian (MU/Thief).

On the way to the dungeon, they met hostile satyrs, but Queeg's phantasmal force spell (or was it the wand of illusion?) of frolicking nymphs distracted most of them.

Queeg has a stone of earth elemental control which he used to summon an elemental to battle the sahuagin (until it was dispelled by the sahuagin priestess of Blibdoolpoolp). That weeded out a fair number of sahuagin guards.

Then the party waded in. The remaining front room guards were reinforced by the priestess and her retinue, plus they had a giant crab. While battling, Queeg made good use of continual light to blind the priestess, his wand of paralyzation, and his mirror image spell to even the odds a bit (very necessary, as the priestess had used hold person and paralyzed Abernathy the Dragonborn Fighter/Magic-User, and Calvin the Half Orc Cavalier) [Yes, home brew Classic D&D!]. He also used a staff of dispelling to remove the paralysis of the hold person spell.

Later, fighting the Sahuagin Baron and his bodyguards, Abernathy finally got to shine, with sleep spells (Queeg also used sleep) and magic missiles.

Two things are clear from this: One, Justin is also using utility magic well to solve problems. Two, Queeg has a lot of magical gear (being the only MU in the party for some time, he got a lot by default).

TSR-East spell expansion

Based on previous discussion, I have expanded the spell lists for Treasures, Serpents, and Ruins East.

Actually, the Mudang and Sohei remained as previously posted. The Wushi, however, gained a lot more spells. There were formerly 12 spells at each level (in line with BX/BECMI). Now, levels 1-3 have 16 spells each, and levels 4-5 have 14 spells each. Level 6 remains as it was with 12.

The Xia still has only six spells per level, but since they're based on the Elf class but can advance to 15th level (my maximum for any class), I decided they need to get some 5th level spells after all. So I added six 5th level spells for them.

For the Wushi, I added the needle and scarf spells from Flying Swordsmen, and a few other attack spells, but mainly tried to add more utility magic for them. I came up with one brand new spell which I'm kicking myself for not having thought of years ago. It's called Thousand Li Horse, based on the famous mounts from the Three Kingdoms. It's a 4th level spell that summons a magical steed (yes like the mount and phantom steed spells) but it can carry you 1000 li (300 miles) in one day.

For the Xia, I had to make up two of the six spells for them, since there weren't enough spells existing in AD&D, OA, Flying Swordsmen, or Chanbara at 5th or 6th level that fit their theme (mystical martial artist). I did give them Finger of Death, the reversed Raise Dead (reverse form only) to simulate the dim mak or five fingers of death or whatever high level "poke your opponent and they die" type technique you like. Touch only, of course, unlike the Cleric/Mudang/Sohei version.

The Xia's new spells are Aura of Courage (reverse to Aura of Fear) which gives bonuses to hit/saves to allies (reverse lowers morale and penalizes saves for enemies), and Cheat Death which resurrects (revives from poisoning/petrification/etc) the Xia at the end of the duration if they die while the spell is in effect.

Of spells and spell lists

Interesting discussion last night during and after our Rad Hack game. Jeremy had wanted to run a standard fantasy type campaign using The Black Hack 2E. Dean had created his character, and was complaining that there were only a few spells on the spell list to choose from. Jeremy and I have also been looking and talking about Ba5ic by Fr. Dave of the Blood of Prokopius blog. It looks pretty fun, we'd like to play it sometime, but we both want to experience it as a player and we need someone to run it for us! But again, in Ba5ic, there are only 6 spells per level. Dean was unimpressed.

We also had a bit of discussion about how spells have generally become less powerful as editions progress. It used to be, magic-users and clerics had few spells they could cast, but the right spell at the right time (and a bit of luck with saving throws) could win an encounter. And without "my precious encounter' syndrome, you'd just rack up the win and move on to more encounters. These days, [again, I know I've said this before] a lot of game design seems to be afraid of that, thinking the only "fair" way to win is by a hit point slog.

And we also had discussion of spell lists in 1E/2E which were expansive, and later editions which are also fairly expansive. So why are most OSR games limiting themselves to small spell lists?

I can only answer for myself, but my thought processes in only having small spell lists in Flying Swordsmen and Chanbara and Treasures, Serpents and Ruins goes as follows:

Partly it's nostalgia. I grew up playing BECMI. It had 8 spells per level for Clerics. 12 spells per level for Magic-Users. Druids in the Companion set added 4 spells per level to the Cleric list (but had a handful of spells that were alignment based taken away). It was enough spells back then. It is enough now. Or so I thought.

Partly it's an artificial conceit among some in the OSR that the only worthy rule-sets fit in 48, 64, or 96 or however many pages. Based on the page counts of the old TSR books. And while I found it a useful constraint for me to keep Chanbara to 68 pages, it's not really a requirement that I need to stick to for everything I do.

Partly it's that a lot of those AD&D spells, especially some Unearthed Arcana additions, just never seemed worth taking, to be honest. Some of them are so specialized that they'd only be used in very limited circumstances, and it's usually better to fill a spell slot with something more generally useful. Granted, if you are packing one of those specialized spells, and the situation comes up, you look like a genius for having it ready. But how often do you really need to cast precipitation or fire water compared to the number of situations where it's useful to cast sleep or cure light wounds?



So, as I look over my spell lists for TSR-East this morning, I'm thinking maybe I should expand the spell lists.

But I want to be careful doing it. I don't want to be like 5E, where there are lots of spells, but a good 1/3 or so are only useful in combat (and most are just variations on how to do damage). I want a variety of interesting spells that can be creatively applied to a variety of solutions.

Time to expand!

Spell Organization and Presentation

I know I've blogged about this before years ago, but I'm blogging about it again.

In the old days, spells were presented and described in lists separated by caster class, and also divided into sections by spell level. More modern versions of the game like to just stick them all on a big old alphabetical list.

The advantage of the latter system is that spells listed that way are in a general reference format. Especially when you have lots of classes that cast spells and there is a lot of overlap between the lists, it makes sense to do this. It saves space because spells don't need to be repeated. It's not hard to find that spell. Just look it up alphabetically.

I find though, that playing a spellcaster is more difficult this way. Presenting spells divided up by level allows me to easily focus on the beginning spells that are or could be available to my character without having to flip around through a bunch of random pages to compare my options. The old school way is a better learning tool. The new school way is more convenient for veteran gamers.

I've tended to stick to the old school method even though the games I've produced have really been targeted at veteran players. And I've noticed some other retro-clones go with the newer method of spell entry.

For TSR (West) at the moment I have the spells divided up the old school way. But if a spell is on another class list (Cleric default, then Magic-User) I don't write it up again. I have a note in the list of spells to look it up under the other class/level. Bards don't have any unique spells. Every Bard spell in TSR is either originally from the Cleric or Magic-User list. So it's probably pretty inconvenient for Bards, actually.

In TSR-East, especially with Mudang and Sohei sharing so many spells, I want to avoid this. So I'm going to be splitting the difference in TSR-East, and when I have time, re-editing my TSR house rules document in this way.

Spells will still be divided up by level, but all spells from every class will be lumped into that section together. All 1st level spells from every class will be presented together alphabetically.

There will be a bit of repetition. Hold Person and Dispel Magic, for example, are different levels for Clerics and Magic-Users (and my TSR-East classes). And I'll either have to include them twice or stick notes to look for them at the lower level spell list. I'll probably go ahead and list them twice, since the point is to be able to see all the spells of a certain level together.

Hopefully this will make the spells easy to learn, but also easy enough to reference when needed.

Evaluating Editions by their Spells

First off, this is not, despite the tag I'm sticking on the post, an "edition war" post. Those are dumb and a waste of time. Liking certain editions is an opinion. A matter of taste. Like whatever edition you like for whatever reasons you like. I'm done edition warring. I still may slag on 4E from time to time, but I won't slag on YOU for liking it, if you do.

A friend who's been running a 1E AD&D game on RPOL for the past many many years and I were chatting. He's spun off an OA game as a separate section of his main game, and I have characters in both. He wanted to attract more players to the OA part of the game, but someone else told him something to the effect that he should just be running 5E since that's where the players are. This person told him that the differences between 5E style games and AD&D 1E style games aren't that big.

My friend then asked someone else about the differences in 1E and 5E. That person gave him a long 5-point list but I'll condense each point rather than cut and paste since I don't know who was writing this originally.

1. 5E rules are streamlined, but feel less organic/streamlined than AD&D
2. 5E has a shallow power curve -- start more powerful, end up less powerful compared to 1E characters
3. Negative consequences are reduced in 5E (see my recent post on energy draining in my 5E converted to Classic post from the other day)
4. Constant choices and new abilities in leveling characters makes "how my PC develops" the story arc of the game in 5E, compared to 1E where most choices are made at char gen and development depends on in-game events
5. 5E's flavor is video game/CGI action movie where 1E's flavor is pulp/Tolkien

My response to my friend when he shared this with me was that the first guy was off base. You CAN play 5E in an old-school style. I was doing it (until I decided to just use an old school rule set after all). It takes some tweaking, but it's possible. But it's not as simple as the first guy seemed to think it was. This will be addressed below and is the "meat" of this post.

The second guy, I think, was overall correct. And he approaches discussion of different editions the right way. Say honestly what the strengths, weaknesses, and differences that are neither better/worse ARE, and leave it at that.

Then I added what I think is a 6th point of departure. By looking at the spells available in 5E, I get the impression that the designers intend for almost every combat in the game to be a hit point attrition slog. Seriously, there are how many spells that deal damage in 5E compared to other editions? Yes, many of them also have some nifty side effects. But the main point is to deal damage. How many save-or-die spells are there in 1E and other old school games? Lots. Very few (if any) in 5E. Instead, as point 3 above says, many effects are save-or-suffer-temporary-inconvenience.

Expanding this idea, I've got an idea that one can get an overall, impressionistic evaluation of how an edition of D&D will play by its spell lists.

OD&D has relatively few spells (LBBs only). The parameters of each spell are loosely defined. Not many do direct damage. Many are for non-combat purposes. Lots of higher level spells are save-or-die. Judging by this, the implication seems to be that Gygax and Arneson intended for spell casters to be creative problem solvers, applying spells in non-standard or unusual ways by using logic and creativity. From this, we can assume that magic is often going to be a trump card that allows a party to easily "defeat" an encounter. Casters don't get many spells per day, but the duration of spells are long enough that many spells will last for more than one encounter.

Classic D&D (Holmes, BX, BECMI, RC) over the course of time adds more details and qualifications to spells. Each spell is more defined. But the basic balance of direct damage, utility, and save-or-die spells is the same. The people making the rules are not letting you be quite as creative with your magic, but spells are still there to bypass the hit point slog or for clever solutions to problems.

OD&D with supplements leads into AD&D 1E, which has even more definition of spell effects and parameters than in Classic. But it also has a lot more spells, period. There are a lot more damage-dealing spells in the lists, but still the expectation of how spells are applied seems to assume that magic will often allow you to "win" or bypass encounters. There may be less creative use of spells, however, as many of the spells now are explicitly worded to disallow abusive tactics.

AD&D 2E has pretty much the same spell lists as AD&D 1E, although some UA spells make it into the basic PHB lists. This means that there are even more spells to choose from. Spell descriptions and parameters are now even more rigidly codified to prevent "abuse" (creative winning of encounters) but it's still possible. There are still save-or-die spells aplenty. And there are still plenty of spells without direct combat use.

3E/3.5E has a list of spells similar to 2E in number. However, spells can now be categorized as combat, utility, or buff spells. There are so many spells in 3E that exist to tweak the numbers on your character sheet. And plenty of direct damage dealers. There are also still save-or-die spells, but most of them have a handy counter-spell easily available. Suddenly, magic not just for winning encounters, it's for the PCs to win encounters. If the monsters/NPCs try that stuff on you, you often have a handy way to negate it. Spells are becoming just another tool to help win encounters, rather than the occasional "get out of jail free" card they had been in previous editions. And the increase in buffs and direct damage spells tell the spell caster that their job is to be an active participant in EVERY combat, not just waiting around to try and win key encounters. The duration of many spells is reduced from being counted in Turns (10 minutes) to being counted in Rounds (10 seconds) so that casters need to keep casting.

4E doesn't even really have spells. Either that, or EVERYTHING is a spell. At-Will/Encounter/Daily powers each class have mimic spell use. And even the ones labeled as "utility" powers are really most useful in combat, not out of combat. In this edition, spells are all about combat. I don't know/remember the edition well enough to say if there were a lot of save-or-die powers at high level, but I'm guessing there are not.

And finally, 5E. As mentioned above, I agree with the anonymous poster that 5E wants to eliminate permanent negative consequences from the game. Death is easy to avoid. What used to be encounter-winning spells now give the victims a saving throw every round to avoid the negatives. There are still a fair number of counter-spells, and in fact many have been condensed into a handful of spells so that players don't need to waste a lot of their spell capacity on a bunch of random heal/counter spells just in case. They've got one-stop shopping. But the biggest change is that (as I mentioned above) there are SO MANY damage dealers on the spell lists. Why get creative when you can just blast a creature or three for more hit point damage? Slog away!

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Obviously, there are plenty of other differences in each edition. Some are deep differences in mechanics and philosophy of how the game should work. Others are fairly minor or cosmetic even. And again I'm not trying to say one is better than another. But the above impressionistic reading of the spells available and how spells are detailed in each edition does seem to give insight into how the designers expect play to go.

Gygax and Arneson were onto something new, so they had an anything goes attitude. Spells were there to win encounters, and often in creative/unexpected ways.

Later, probably after seeing the same exploits (creative uses of spells to 'win' encounters) used ad nauseam, Gary decided to better codify spells. This made it a bit more challenging for players, but it's still possible to find creative new uses for old spells.

When WotC got their hands on D&D, they fundamentally shifted the game. The expectation that all PCs pull equal weight in combat, experience with designing "balanced" play mechanics most likely brought over from Magic: The Gathering, and a mistrust of DM fiat in the game led to a sort of standardization and blandification (did I just coin that word?) of the magic system.

And that's why it's hard to get 5E to play the way old school games do. Or at least one of the reasons why it's hard. You can play 5E in a more old school fashion, but the spell lists are working against you. They demand hit point slogs. They disallow many creative uses of spells before they're even used. Yes, the mechanics are consistent and clear, but I'm not sure that makes up for what's lost in creative spell casting.

Crazy Idea? Or is this basically what DCC does?

I sometimes feel like I'm the only OSR guy that doesn't have Dungeon Crawl Classics. I've gotten some modules for it, but don't have the game itself. I've of course heard about the spell system, where every spell has a random table to go with it.

What I'm proposing is a bit different from my perception of DCC's spell system, but somewhat similar. I'm not sure how well this would work in play, it's just a random idea I had. But enough blather, what was my shower thought last week?*

So, using a TSR version of D&D, or a retroclone of the same, here's an idea for Magic-Users (I probably wouldn't allow it for Clerics, but then again, maybe I might) that might give them a bit more oomph. Once they've cast all of their prepared spells for the day (or if a situation calls for a spell in their spellbook but not prepared), they can cast it, but need to make a roll using the Chainmail spell chances (2d6 rolls) to see if the spell goes off or fizzles.

Probably too powerful if it's just "cast or fail" so (like DCC) it would need some chance of misfire of some sort (Wild Magic tables? Reverse effects or targets? Page in the spellbook is burned and the spell is lost?) to make it a gamble to keep casting spells when you've exhausted your spells per day or are casting something you didn't prepare. Higher level spells would also incur a higher chance of a negative effect besides just not casting the spell.

It might be fun to try this some day.


*Or was it 2 weeks ago? I'm so behind on blogging. We've had two sessions of Dean's game that I haven't posted about. I've also been doing the West Marches for 2 months now, and it's going well. Chanbara is nearly ready for publication. And I've seen a movie or two I could review. No time for any of that recently.

What a horrible night. Have a curse!

Again, multiple influences have congealed in my brain to inspire a blog post! Original content that isn't about Chanbara or Mentzer Basic or my latest game session. What a rarity!

Anyway, I've been reading some pseudo-science crap because it's interesting (but not believable), and reading about sprites and their curses, and not getting to do much for Halloween this year, and then I thought, curses are in the name of my blog. Why don't I blog more often about them? In fact, I don't think I've ever made a post dedicated to curses before. So this is the first of what may (or may not) become a series on interesting curses to inflict on your players.

Since I've been reading pseudo-science stuff, these two are of course based on those wacky, almost make sense ideas.

Curse of Spontaneous Combustion
The target of this curse has a percentage chance of bursting into flames each time they enter combat equal to the character's level (or hit dice, whichever is greater). Upon bursting into flames, the PC must Save vs. Spells or die instantly. If the save is made, the character burns for a number of rounds equal to the difference between the number rolled and the number needed (minimum one), suffering 1d6 fire damage per round, but being treated as an efreeti in its "pillar of fire" form while burning.

[Behind the scenes, I like this because the curse scales with level, becoming more likely to happen as you go up in levels, but less likely to kill you outright, and having some potential benefit, but with a risk of death still involved. Low level characters might feel the chances of it happening are low enough not to feel screwed over. High level characters might feel ballsy enough NOT to remove the curse, due to the potential for cool bonus fire damage, but at risk of draining more party resources to keep the PC alive. And really, the game could use more spontaneous combustion.]

Curse of Xavitna
The target of this curse suffers a loss of 1d6 points of Charisma any time they are the recipient of a cure disease spell, or similar magical effects, to a minimum of Charisma 3. As Charisma drops, the target becomes more withdrawn and easily annoyed, speaks in short, choppy bursts or rarely at all, does not react to others speaking to him or her, or shows other physical or verbal tics. The Charisma loss remains until the curse is removed, at which time lost Charisma returns at a rate of 1 point per day.

[Behind the scenes, your game may be different, but disease doesn't come into play often in games I've run or played in in the past. So, this curse is likely to be ignored as it's not such a common situation in which one gets diseased, unless you're commonly fighting rats and mummies, or the DM likes to keep things "real." And Cha is most players' favored dump stat, and draining it serves as a decent enough approximation of autism.]

5E Wizard of High Sorcery

I just spent a few minutes (didn't take long) comparing the eight magical traditions in 5E with the various spell schools in 1E, and how in Dragonlance, your wizard's robe color determines which spell schools you can know/cast. And it turns out they easily map together, giving five of 5E's eight groups to each robe color. Also, the influence of the three moons seems like it will be pretty simple to apply to 5E's Wizard class.

Class: Wizard of High Sorcery
Except as noted below, identical to the basic Wizard class.

2nd Level: Arcane Tradition
Wizards of High Sorcery have limits on which arcane traditions they can choose from, based on their alignment. Wizards of Good alignment can select from Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, and Evocation. Wizards of Neutral alignment can select from Conjuration, Divination, Evocation, Illusion, and Transmutation. Wizards of Evil alignment can select from Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, and Necromancy. [Note that the Law/Chaos axis does not matter for this choice, only the Good/Evil axis.]

3rd Level: Robes
After achieving 3rd level and before gaining 4th level, the wizard must pass the Test of High Sorcery, which is pass or die. The wizard who passes joins one of three orders, White (good), Red (neutral) or Black (evil) and is issued appropriately colored robes. From this point forward, they may only cast spells of the spell schools allowed as valid choices for their Arcane Tradition. Spells of prohibited schools in their spellbook are unusable, and the wizard may select any one such spell, if any, to be removed and replaced with another spell by the Conclave of Wizards upon completion of the Test.

3rd Level: Moon Influence
After passing the Test of High Sorcery, the wizard's magic is influenced by one of Krynn's three moons: Solinari (White), Lunitari (Red) or Nuitari (Black). When the wizard's influencing moon is in High Sanction (full), the wizard gains a +1 bonus to their Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Bonus. They also gain one additional spell slot that they can cast, of the highest level of which they can cast 2 or more spells. When the influencing moon is in Low Sanction (new), the wizard suffers a -1 penalty to their Spell Save DC and Spell Attack Bonus. They also lose one spell slot of the highest level of which they can cast 2 or more spells.

For example, at 7th level, a Wizard has 1 4th level spell slot and 3 3rd level spell slots. At High Sanction, the Wizard would gain an extra 3rd level spell slot, for a total of 4. During Low Sanction, the Wizard would have only 2 3rd level spell slots. Once the Wizard advances to 8th level and has 2 4th level spell slots, the Wizard would have 3 4th level slots at High Sanction and only 1 4th level slot at Low Sanction.

Renegade Magic Users
A Wizard who continues to advance in level beyond 3rd without having taken the Test of High Sorcery is considered a renegade. The renegade may cast spells of any spell school regardless of alignment, and the moons have no influence on the renegade's spells. Any Wizard of High Sorcery who encounters a renegade is bound by the Conclave of Wizards to attempt to capture or kill the renegade.

Slow progress is better than no progress

I've got spell lists for my three Maho-tsukai sub-classes, Onmyoji, Soryo and Yamabushi done (may switch a name here or there for color, but the list of spells is done), and descriptions of the spells for Onmyoji and Soryo are complete. Just the Yamabushi spells left to go.

I also have listed out Background Skills. Each class/profile gets a skill or two automatically, and then a number to select from a list determined by your character's social status. Kuge (nobility) don't have the same sort of background skills as Noumin (peasant farmers) after all.

Skills will work on a modification of the Turn Undead mechanic, or more or less like any sort of action in Presidents of the Apocalypse. Roll two dice (usually 2d6) and try to beat a 7, 9 or 11 (sometimes 5 for very easy things, sometimes 13 or even 15 for very hard things) depending on how hard the GM thinks it will be.

Shinobi special skills work the same way, although they start out with some skills at only 2d4, some at 2d6, and some at 2d8. The dice they roll also improve with level. And their special bonus dice (a replacement mechanic for Flying Swordsmen stunt dice) can be used to improve these rolls.

I've come to really like the "roll 2dX" mechanic, as it gives a nice weighted spread. Extreme successes are uncommon, but extreme failures are also uncommon. It's less swingy than d% or d20. Characters will hopefully seem fairly competent when it comes to skill use in Chanbara.

Still need to decide what to do about "unskilled" checks. A few background skills, like Astronomy/Geomancy, are the sort of thing you just can't do without training. But Fishing? Sure, anyone can fish, just not like a pro. I figure most of the time, the Background skills will not even need rolling. But when they do, and someone tries to do something that should be covered by a skill they don't have, what's the best way to do it?

Lowering the dice is one way. If Background skills are normally rolled on 2d6, then have the unskilled PCs roll on 2d4. That works, but then does that mean Shinobi with a 2d4 in a special Ninpo skill are untrained at it? Or just with minimal training? I can live with that, but some players might object. We'll see. I definitely don't want skills to be exclusive for the most part.

Also, I'm wondering if I should allow Ability Scores to affect Background Skills. The concern is that it would lead to stat inflation a la 3E/Pathfinder. My gut tells me to just stress the Background Skills are just that, the character's background. Now, you're an adventurer, not a poet or blacksmith or inspector. If someone needs something smithed, and your PC has that background, they can do it. Done, move on to the adventuring! It's only if the Hannya Queen demands an intricate cast iron puzzle be crafted or she will devour the village's children that it might be worth making a check to see if you can make one good enough for the snake-hag. [But even then, the players are still more likely to try and kick her butt rather than appease her, aren't they?]

Prepping for GamMarvel World

Now that my grad school papers are finished, I've got a short break before I need to revise one of them for publication.  That means I've got some time to work on GamMarvel World.  Yesterday I went to snag some nifty maps from Dyson's Dodecahedron blog (go check it out if for some odd reason you haven't).  I like that many of these maps are small, less than a dozen rooms.  Just about right for an evening's entertainment and simple enough to stock as a DM.

I've just about got the character creation document hammered out (some house-rules needed to be worked in/revised a bit) so players can start making characters soon.  With that done, I need to get cracking at fleshing out some of the locations on my map.  The above mentioned maps will help with that.  I've also got a pocket notebook full of ideas for factions, settlements, and ruins.  Just need to add some descriptions, monsters and treasure to the maps and decide where on the world map each location is.

I've also got some ideas on some religions of GamMarvel World.  With the Marvel Age of Heroes as the pre-Fall civilization, and possibly an Age of Apocalypse or Days of Future Past type setting as the Fall itself (mutant vs. non-mutant conflict will play heavily into it either way), there's plenty of ideas for who might be worshipped as a god/goddess or heroic demi-god in this future world.  I doubt there will be a Pope or anything, the world's a semi-Bronze Age world so most religions will be local and not so heavily organized.  But who worships Whom (or What) will play a part and could help the PCs make friends or enemies.

I've also decided how to handle magic.  One of my houserules is that instead of a class, each character can pick a specialty which grants a few minor abilities (like BX/LL demi-human abilities).  One of them allows 1st level spellcasting ability.  I'll allow the player to pick any spell from the MU or Cleric list.  When they gain levels, instead of rolling on the "what improves" table, they will just move up a new level of spellcasting ability following the MU advancement tables.

What's the point of different classes?

Again, thinking about 5E spell casters. 

Classes exist in the game to allow players to do different things.  In OD&D, Fighters fight.  MUs use magic.  Clerics do a little of both.  Yet even here, MU spells and Cleric spells are not the same.  Cleric spells help us.  MU spells hurt them.  OK both have utility spells and some of the other's main type.  But to break it down simply, the analogy works.

In 5E we get Bards, Clerics and Druids whose spells on the whole "help us" and Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards whose spells mostly "hurt them."

Do we really need this?  Would 2 caster classes be enough?

A few annoying things about 5E

While I'm for the most part positive about the new edition, there are a few things in it I'm not sure I like.  I'm withholding judgment until I get more time playing the game.  For now, though, I'd like to point out a few things that annoy me when I read the game.

First is something I picked up on in the Basic Rules .pdf (or maybe it was in the final playtest stuff even), and just read again in the PHB yesterday.  In the section describing spell levels, we get this fluffy text:

Every spell has a level from 0 to 9. A spell’s level is a
general indicator of how powerful it is, with the lowly
(but still impressive) magic missile at 1st level and
the incredible time stop at 9th. Cantrips—simple but
powerful spells that characters can cast almost by rote—
are level 0. The higher a spell’s level, the higher level a
spellcaster must be to use that spell.
 (from Basic Rules pdf page 78, but it's the same in the PHB)

Emphasis added.

Looks like someone has a bit of a problem deciding how to describe spells to new players.  Us old hands know what levels of spells are all about, so this is for the new player.  What does this tell us?  A 1st level spell is both lowly and impressive?  Oxymoron alert.  And 0 level cantrips are simple and powerful.  While linguistically inoffensive unlike the magic missile description, I'm not sure if I like the idea of cantrips being powerful. 

Anyway, whoever wrote that passage must have been thinking something along the lines of: "I need to describe how higher level spells have greater effect than low level ones, but we can't let players of spellcasters feel like they're weak and ineffective at low levels.  It might hurt their feelings."

Another annoyance is how it describes movement as if it's some accounting procedure (or maybe that Common Core Math I keep hearing about?). 

Every foot of movement in difficult terrain costs 1
extra foot. This rule is true even if multiple things in
a space count as difficult terrain.
 (from Basic Rules pdf page 70)

Is it so hard to say that movement through difficult terrain is at half speed?  I just said it.  See, that was easy.  There are a few other lingering "tactical board game" phrases like that in the rules that sort of bug me, especially since this edition is making a determined effort to show that "theater of the mind" play is appropriate and encouraged.

At least it does lead to some interesting effects, like a double penalty reducing speed by 2/3 rather than 3/4. 

So, nothing wrong with the rules per se, more the presentation that I don't like.

Vance in my Pants (March Madness Day 16)

16 Which RPG besides D&D has the best magic system? Give details.

First off, I really do like the Vancian system. It works well. It's simple. It gives the player options and choices that they need to make.

Also, as I've said before, I haven't played any fantasy games that aren't D&D derived. So I don't have a lot of experience with other magic systems, except in passing (or in video games). Lots of CRPGs use a spell point system well, and games like Retro Phaze look like they should work well at translating that to the table top.

This game (free, get it here!) emulates 8-bit CRPGs like the early Final Fantasy/Dragon Warrior/Ultima games.  It has a list of spells that you learn as you go up in level, and you also gain spell points each level.  Pay the cost to cast any spell you know, just like in the console games.  Yet another game I'd love to try out some day.

Also, in Chanbara I'm developing a non-Vancian system that I hope works out well. I don't want to say it's “best” yet, as it really needs to be put through the paces.

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: 1st and 2nd level MU spells

Getting right into it this week, looking at pages 39-42 of the Players Manual, the descriptions of MU spells.  If I skip a spell, it's because I didn't find anything worthwhile to comment on.

Level 1 Spells:

Charm Person - this is actually a long description with fairly succinct directions on what the "charm" effect is.  The charmed creature will defend the caster from any dangers.  Full stop.  If you speak the same language, you can give it other orders, but it may resist depending on its nature.  Charm is not mind-slavery, but it is a free bodyguard at least. 

I like how the description of the spell gives some general ideas about what sorts of creatures can be charmed, then says figure out the specifics by trial and error!  Don't see that at all in modern game design, which is a shame. 

Floating Disc - back in the day we gave this spell a lot more utility than I've seen most people give it.  It depends on how you interpret the line "The floating disc is created at the height of the magic-user’s waist, and will always remain at that height."  Will it always remain at the height it was created at?  If so, you could use it as a floating bridge to cross chasms.  Will it always remain at the height of the magic user's waist, moving up and down when you go up stairs?  Climb on and get a free lift to a high place, or hang over the edge to get a free ride down, as the disc moves up and down trying to get to where your waist is now. 

Hold Portal - a variable duration, 2d6 Turns.  I like that, and think more spells should have variations in duration (other than X turns/rounds + 1 per caster level).  This comes from early exposure to the Wizards, Warriors & You books, I think. 

Light - we're already exposed to the offensive use of the spell, blinding creatures.  I guess it had become SOP for many players by '83.  And the range is 120', that's fairly considerable, since I think most times it's cast it's on the immediate area.  I'm now thinking of uses for signalling or distracting by creating a light far away from the group...

Magic Missile - again, with the debate over duration, 1 Turn or 1 Round?  The spell duration line says 1 round here, but reading the text, it moves with you and can't be touched, implying a longer duration.  But again, at high levels, a 36th level MU could create 15 missiles per spell, and memorize it nine times, casting them all before entering some room and sending them all blasting at once at any creature, auto hit, no save, for damage that could take out anything in the game.  Of course, you do have the pesky problem of actually making it to 36th level...

Protection from Evil - this spell doesn't provide a lot of extra protection numerically, but it can sure be a life-saver.  Enchanted creatures (here defined as those only damaged by magic weapons, nothing about controlled, charmed or summoned creatures) can't touch you until you attack (anything, not only the creatures being hedged out).  This means you can walk right through a room of gargoyles or spectres without damage. 

Shield - shorter duration that Pro. Evil, but a whopping AC 2 vs missile weapons and AC 4, not bad, against hand to hand attacks.  And it gives a saving throw if targeted with magic missile spells. 

Sleep - the powerhouse spell of level 1, and it's also got the random duration.  Of course, as the description suggests, sleeping creatures can be instantly slain, and that never takes more than the minimum 4 Turns... 

In my earliest days, the 4+1 HD limit (that of ogres) made me conflate the restrictions of Sleep and Charm Person, so that only humanoid creatures that could be charmed were affected by this spell, not animals or other monster types.

Level 2 Spells:

Continual Light - as Light, only double the area and brighter...but NOT as bright as daylight, so it won't cause penalties for orcs, etc.

Detect Evil - as with the Clerical version, it detects intent to harm the caster.  It also detects "evil enchantment" which could only mean cursed items, right?  That could take some of the fun out of the game right there.  At least from a DM's perspective.  As a player, I think I'll start using this on new magic items discovered before their use and see what my DM thinks!

Invisibility - wow, a whopping 240' range!  Again, I've usually only seen this spell used short range, on the caster him or her self.  I can think of some useful possibilities for that, and my current MU character actually has this spell, unlike Detect Evil...

ESP - the garbling side effect is underused, IMO.  If there are two or more creatures in range in the direction concentrated on, it takes twice as long to zero in on the mind you wish to spy on. 

Detect Invisible - nothing related to the write-up worth commenting on, really, but just a thought I had the other day while walking on the street and my son was making up super powers for himself.  If someone could see all invisible things, wouldn't they be blinded by air?  Best not to overthink the magic spells.

Knock - I like the note at the end, that if a door is barred and locked, both will be opened.  Basically, cast this and that puppy is coming open. 

Levitate - you can carry an unencumbered companion while levitating.  Cast Floating Disc as well (depending on how you rule it, see above), and two or three more companions can ride that (up to 500 lbs), and a party can slowly ascend or descend some hazard. 

Locate Object - we NEVER used this spell back in the day.  I have no idea why, as I now realize it is one of the most useful spells for dungeon delving period.  As long as you know what you're looking for in the dungeon, anyway...  It does have an unfortunately shot duration, though.

Mirror Image - I don't know why, but this is my favorite 2nd level spell.  Most NPC magic users I create will have this spell. 

Phantasmal Force - a potentially devastating spell, if used creatively, or useless depending on how big of a jerk the DM is.  I tend to encourage creative use of illusions, but my players rarely use the spell.  There's a caveat in the spell that rarely gets enforced IMX, that if the caster has never seen the thing they're making the illusion of, the victims get a bonus to their saving throw.  Of course, I've also had players try to work into their back stories world travel so they can always pull out the "of course I saw it as I traveled through Kreblachistan with the caravan when I was 0-level..."

Web - I just did the math, 48 Turn duration is 8 hours.  Wow.  And I just noticed that burning webs inflict 1d6 damage for two rounds, which I've also always used for flaming oil, although the rules, I believe, say 1d8 per round for oil.  I may have gotten the two mixed up early on.


And there you have it, folks, my thoughts on reading through the MU spells in Mentzer Basic.

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Center Pullout Sheets

In the middle of the Mentzer Basic Players Manual are/were eight pages (two double sided sheets) that could be removed by prying up the staples of the saddle-stitch binding, removing them, and refolding the staples.  Which I did as a kid, and I think all of the pages are around somewhere or other in my files.  But for this post, I'm looking solely at my PDF version of the Basic Set since it has them in the right order and I don't want to waste a lot of time digging through old maps, keys, and character sheets - because that walk down memory lane will take me hours as I pour over all the relics of my earliest gaming days.

Anyway, what do we have here?  Basically, all the useful charts, lists, and tables, plus a slightly less than useful character sheet, and a page of graph paper to be filled with the sample dungeon earlier.

The first page, p. 29, has an abbreviated version of the character creation process on the top half, and the weapons, armor and equipment price lists on the bottom half.  Want to create a Basic Set character?  Everything you need to do it, step by step, is given on this one page.

P. 30 gives us the advancement tables for all classes up to level 3, plus hit dice, Thief Skills, demi-human special abilities, encumbrance movement rate table, container volumes, and mule encumbrance/movement rates.  The oddity is that the prices of mules and saddle-bags (which are on the container chart) aren't given until the Expert Set.  I wish they had been included now, as we never really utilized them.  But then, since there were only about a dozen miscellaneous magic items and bags of holding are on the list, I don't think it was long before we didn't really need mules anyway.  But that's a pondering for another day.

Pages 31-32 give us the Basic character sheet, front and back.  But it's less that ideal, since the ability scores and saving throws of the nameless Fighter have already been filled in.  Also, the "Hit roll needed" chart at the bottom of p. 31 has the low level PC numbers to hit (all Basic characters use the same numbers) filled in already.  This, plus the fact that it's also filled in on the black character sheet on the back cover, led to one of my biggest "failures" to understand the rules early on.  We just used that chart for EVERYTHING.  Yeah, even the top dogs hit die wise like gold dragons needed to roll a 17 or better to hit someone in plate and shield.  Our earliest games were NOT low level slaughter-fests.  Sure, lots of PCs died and many were then forgotten, but a lot made it through when they probably shouldn't have.  It wasn't until I picked up the Companion Set two and a half to three years later that I finally got the "going up in levels/hit dice increases attack probabilities" thing into the game.

Now, I have to say, I really like this character sheet.  It's sparse but thorough.  I like the little shield graphic to record armor class.  I like that there are separate places to record normal gear and magical gear.  I love the "character sketch or symbol" box.  When I get around to making a character sheet for Chanbara (or really, probably paying Lee B. a bit of cash to do it for me) I think I'll try to go for a more slimmed down basic design like this.

Page 33 is a sheet of graph paper.  Thick black lines, looks to be maybe 4 squares per inch (my inch ruler and measuring tape are at my kindergarten right now, since our American math book had a page of measuring in inches, and our Korean kindie sure as heck doesn't have any). 

Page 34 has six sample characters to complement the sample Fighter from the tutorial.  The cleric, magic-user and thief all have the same ability score rolls (wonder if Frank actually rolled a set, or if he just decided which scores to use on his own?), obviously placed in different areas.  Everyone gets one below average score (an 8, for a -1 penalty), two average scores (9 and 11), and three above average (14 for +1, 16 and 17 both for +2).  Demi-humans get a slightly different set, although again all three classes share the same numbers.  They have one low score (7 for -1), three average scores (9, 9, 11), and two high scores (14 for +1 and 16 for +2).  All of the characters have starting equipment, including weapons, armor, and spells.  The Magic-User has Read Magic and Sleep, the Elf has Read Magic and Charm Person.

The next time I run a pick-up game somewhere, I think I'll pull these guys out to give to players.  I also am pretty sure that one of the NPC parties I have in my megadungeon uses these characters along with the names given in each class description describing how to use the level titles [Fleetwood the Warrior, Belrain the Warrior-Medium, etc.].

Page 35 has the spell lists for Clerics and Magic-Users.  All 1st level Cleric spells with name, range, duration, effect.  All 1st and 2nd level M-U spells with the same descriptions.  I remember someone years ago on Dragonsfoot.org going on about one of the typos on this table.  Magic Missile is listed as a duration of "1 Turn" here, where later it's given "1 Round."  Much debate about which was right, and whether a Magic-User at higher levels could cast multiple times before going into a battle to have all these magical arrows floating around him and unleash like 100d6 damage on some poor unsuspecting Elemental Ruler or something.  For this reason, I prefer the one round or instantaneous duration.

Finally, page 36 has combat related charts.  There is the combat round sequence, the hit charts (again, only the ones for Basic level characters), armor and AC chart, variable weapon damage table, missile fire ranges and penalties table, saving throws for all classes (up to level 3) including Normal Man (but not for more powerful monsters), prime requisite bonus/penalty table, ability score modifiers, special intelligence and charisma adjustment tables (two separate ones), and the retainer hiring process sequence. 

Now, for all those people saying that the Mentzer Basic Set is terrible for reference during a game, I'd just direct their attention to these pages.  Minus the graph paper and character sheet, there is really enough information here to run a simple game, assuming you had a module with monsters, maps and treasures (or a home-made adventure) prepared.  Everything a player needs for levels 1-3 is right here in a basic form.

Of course, being removable pages meant they can be easily lost or separated.  Like I said, I'm pretty sure I still have all of them among my various notes (in a plastic file box), but they're not in handy reference form for a game.  I should think about making my own DM screen maybe (of course adding in higher level info, too...).  If you've lost or just can't be bothered to find these pages, yes, the Mentzer Basic Set is not a great reference book.  But with them, it is.

Image from earlier in the book.  I think I forgot to use it, so I'll stick it here.

And folks, we are now more than halfway through the Players Manual!

Progress on Chanbara

I figured out the changes I wanted to make to the game system.

First of all, instead of d6 rolls for most exploration/interaction rolls, which skill dice give too big bonuses for, I've switched them to 2d6 rolls (similar to Classic D&D turn undead rolls).

Second, I figured out how to make the spellcasters non-Vancian but (hopefully) not overpowered.

Spellcasters know X number of spells by their level.  They can cast any spell they know once per day, and may make a 2d6 roll, possibly with a skill die bonus if the skill die they rolled matches the domain of the spell, to be able to recast the spell.  The target numbers for recasting get higher with each casting, up to a maximum of 5 times for 1s through 3rd level spells, 4 times for 4th level spells, and 3 times for 5th level spells.  TNs are also more difficult for higher level spells.

Additionally, in order to allow for "quests" for spells, or spells to be taught as rewards, caster classes get a number of "spell points" each level based on their primary ability score's skill die.  When they encounter a teacher, a spellbook, or something else they might be able to learn a spell from, they can spend 1 spell point per level of the spell, and one devoted day of study, or a bit of study every day for a week for each spell point spent to learn a new spell.

I think this should work the way I want it to, allowing casters a bit more power, but without allowing them to run away with spells.

___
In other news, while searching for the image above in Google, there's a lot of Soviet space race propaganda posters that would make good illustrations in a retro-future sci fi RPG.  Maybe once I get Chanbara done and Flying Swordsmen revised (and maybe do a bit more work on Presidents of the Apocalypse), I'll get to work on "Rockets & Saucers."

Thoughts on Spells Inspired by my Son

My son actually asked to play Dungeons & Dragons with me today.  He's still 4 months shy of his 6th birthday, so of course I had to do a fair amount of simplifying for him, but I ran him through the CYOA dungeon from the Mentzer Basic Players Manual (killing two birds with one stone, as that helps me prepare for the Cover to Cover post).

At first, he wanted to play a "wizard" so we rolled him up a Magic-User.  I briefly explained spells, and gave him Read Magic plus let him choose three more (one more standard, plus one for each point of Int bonus he had).  He chose Hold Portal, Light/Darkness and Ventriloquism.

Rather than explain the intricacies of Vancian spellcasting to him, I figured I'd just let him cast each spell once during the adventure, and let him return to town and rest up if he wanted to refresh them.  Turns out he died before he had a chance to cast a single spell, although he did take out a rust monster with the help of my wife's old Halfling PC from our gaming attempts from before our son was born (her Halfling is level 4 with a displacer cloak, +1 short sword, and a few other nice things).  Anyway, goblins then made short work of our wizard, who had a 6 Constitution so only 2 hit points. 

My son rolled up a Fighter and, with the help of Blossom the Halfling for combats (my wife was reading a book at the time, taking breaks to roll some dice when necessary), went on to trounce the dungeon, getting all the loot, dividing it with Blossom, then getting it all doubled by the magic mouth. 

Back to the idea that hit me.  Since I was going to let him use each of the 4 spells in his spellbook once each, I got to thinking.  What if, instead of preparing spells, a Magic-User, Elf or Cleric (Clerics will need spellbooks or prayer books or something in this version to make it work rather than access to all their spells) can cast each spell in their spellbook a number of times per day equal to their Vancian spell limits?

So a 1st level M-U can cast each spell in his/her book once per day (as above).  At 3rd level, with two 1st level and one 2nd level spells per day, each 1st level spell in the book could be cast twice, while each 2nd level spell could only be cast once.

Of course, 3E style limits of up to 4 per level per day might be a good idea, and my Level 15 cap instead of the BECMI level 36 cap would be necessary to prevent abuse.

What are the benefits?  Well, first of all a lot of the utility spells that rarely see play would see play.  Spell-casters move away from the tactical nuke/heal-bot mentality they engender.  Yes, as they gain lots of levels they can do that, but they would still have lots of utility magic to go around as well.  Gets rid of the "I cast one spell and am then useless" complaints of low level play.  Makes caster characters' main motivation to seek out magical books, libraries, or other casters in order to expand their repertoire. 

Drawbacks?  All those arguments about casters replacing Thieves become more tenable.  If you can cast Knock or Locate Traps several times a day without having to give up other (attack/heal) spells, might as well magic your way through such things than rely on a Thief's percentage chances.  Maybe in an OD&D/S&W game without the Thief this variant would work better. 

This is not an idea I'd want to use all the time, but for certain campaigns (or maybe as a replacement of the caster roll mechanic I'm using in Chanbara?) it could be fun.

More on magic in Chanbara

There are six "schools" of magic in Chanbara.  I still haven't decided what to call them, schools or traditions or domains or ???.  In my draft they're just noted as types at the moment.  Anyway, the six types are:

Divination - knowing is half the battle
Elemental - mostly attack spells
Ki - body and mind effects
Protection - self explanitory
Spirit - grab bag of stuff to deal with spirit creatures
Transformation - again, fairly self explanitory

There are five levels of spells, with each type/school having 3/3/2/2/1 for a total of 18 1st level spells, 18 2nd level spells, 12 3rd level spells, 12 4th level spells, and 6 5th level spells.  A few are new ones I made up, but most are borrowed/adapted from D&D or Flying Swordsmen.

As I mentioned last post, I've transformed the Yokai race-classes into separate racial choices for characters.  This drops the number of classes to nine, with five of them having some access to spells.

Yamabushi - the pure caster, they get no Combat Maneuvers (combat oriented special abilities/feats) or Tricks (thiefy special abilities/feats), just Spells and Secrets (magical special abilities/feats).  They get Elemental, Protection, Spirit and Transformation spells.

Onmyoji - demon/spirit hunters who are primarily spell-casters, they also gain some Tricks on the side at the expense of some Secrets.  They get Divination, Protection and Spirit spells.

Shinsen - enlightened mortals or semi-transformed immortals, they are primarily spell-casters, but have some Combat Maneuvers as well and are a bit more buff.  They get Elemental, Ki and Transformation spells.

Sohei - warrior-monks with mostly combat prowess but some spell access (up to level 3 spells and Secrets).  They get Ki, Protection and Spirit spells. 

Gorotsuki - shinobi who use performance and magic to hide their covert acts, they primarily get Tricks, but have some spell access (again, up to level 3 spells and Secrets).  They get Divination, Ki and Transformation spells.

As for the changes to the Yokai, originally Kappa were Samurai/Ninja cross class, Kitsune were Yamabushi/Ninja cross class, and Tengu were Samurai/Yamabushi cross class.  Now, I've limited each Yokai race to certain classes:

Kappa: Samurai, Ronin, Kagemusha, Ninja (all the non-spellcasting classes).
Kitsune: Yamabushi, Onmyoji, Gorotsuki, Ninja (all the non-combat classes).
Tengu: Samurai, Sohei, Shinsen, Yamabushi (all the non-shinobi classes).

I may open the Yokai classes up, allowing Kappa any Bushi or Shinobi class (so they could cast spells as Sohei or Gorotsuki up to level 3); Kitsune any Shinobi or Maho-tsukai class (so they could get combat maneuvers up to level 3 as Kagemusha and Shinsen); Tengu any Bushi or Maho-tsukai class (so they could get Tricks up to level 3 as Ronin and Onmyoji).  We'll see.

Work continues on Chanbara

Yesterday and today, I decided that I didn't like the way I'd done magic in Chanbara.

Well, that's not 100% accurate.  I've got spell casting with Chainmail style casting rolls to pull off spells, rather than traditional Vancian D&D magic or even the 3E Sorcerer style that I used in Flying Swordsmen.  That stayed.

What I changed was access to spells.  As revisions have gone on, I've reduced the number of special abilities each class gets as they level up.  It just seemed like too much stuff.  But that meant that spell casters had very few spells known.

So, instead, again taking a cue from Chainmail, each spell casting class in Chanbara has a list of spell types (schools if you will) that they have access to.  Well, now they just have blanket access to all of those spells, although they need to be of appropriate level to cast higher level spells.  Jury's still out on a "risking mishaps to cast higher level spells" mechanic.

And to fill the gap, I came up with a list of Secrets, or feat-like special abilities for spell-casters to choose from, similar to the Combat Maneuvers and Tricks. 

The other big change was dropping race-as-class and making the Yokai into racial options, with limited class access.  This adds a small additional choice to character creation, but removes three classes from the game - so down to nine.

Coming up with the Secrets was fairly quick and painless, so I've no doubt there are some problems here and there (less powerful ones high on the level list, or vice versa) but that's what play testing is for, right?