Magic in the Enchanted Isles, Part 1: Introductory Materials

In my initial post on Wizards, I may not have emphasized one of the key appeals to me.  Just like the name says on the box, the game is about playing a wizard.  It really doesn't take much more than that to interest me.  I see a number of posts on rpg.net from people who want "historical" games with no magic.  Not me; I want magic (in it's broadest sense, which includes psychic powers and super-powers and Jedi and whatnot) in every game I play.  Two of my favourite books of all time are A Wizard of Earthsea and The Dark is Rising, both of which are about boys who find themselves to be magical (my other favourite is A Princess of Mars, which would be only that much better if Burroughs hadn't lost interest in the telepathy part of the story early on). And more than just being a wizard, in Wizards you get to choose whether to be a Wizard, a Sorcerer, or a Druid.  That plenitude of magic was just irresistible to young me and remains so to old me (also part of why I loved Stephan Michael Secchi's The Compleat Enchanter and even more loved his Arcanum).

Thus, while I could approach this project in lots of ways, working on the magic is the natural place for me to start.  My jumping off point will be what we learn from the board-game on each Magical Order and then start extrapolating from there.  I'm also going to start playing around with some ideas for mechanics.  I should mention that I'm very undecided on the system I want to use, but two are calling to me at the moment:

1. Some iteration of Ye Auld Game (probably Spellcraft & Swordplay) + the magic of my beloved Arcanum
2. Runequest II/Legend

The appeal of No. 1 should be fairly obvious.  The appeal of No. 2 is two-fold: not only do Combat Maneuvers rock at providing a "warrior alternative" (to quote an old article about an entirely different game), but it has great, distinct magic systems that could really handle differentiating the Orders.  So, for now at least, my thoughts on mechanics will be for both systems.

My biggest goal is to figure out a way to distinguish the various magics from each other in both cause (which the game sort of does) and effect (which it barely does at all).  Regarding the former, the game gives us some information in the Introduction, a tiny bit more in the spell lists, and some implicit suggestions via the advancement mechanic.  Regarding that last one: Wizards uses a simple, level-based advancement, in which you accumulate three different types of experience points: Knowledge, Power, and Perception.  Each of the three Orders prioritizes one of these types of XP and requires that for advancement.  These points have no other effect in the board-game, as expected, but I want them to be more meaningful in this rpg-version.

Post-script: Yeah, I said that the next post was going to be about my previous experience rping in the Enchanted Isles.  I'll probably get back to that later, but it isn't, maybe, as interesting to anyone else as I had initially thought.

Do You Need an Illusionist Spell List?

Every once in a while, someone at rpg.net will post to the long-defunct thread "101 Days of RC D&D".  This was a pretty beloved thread - which is why it is frequently revived - and one that was responsible for more than one person's return to old-school gaming.  I know that I had been making moves in that direction, but participating in that thread really catalyzed a lot of my thoughts on the subject.

Anyway, I was thinking about something I had posted to that conversation regarding elven magic.  I was suggesting some ways to make elves - actually, I think that should be "Elves" - a bit distinct from human wizards - OK, "Magic-Users" - without really mussing with the rules too much.  My two ideas boiled down to making Elves nature magicians and giving them Druid spells OR making them creatures of glamour and giving them Illusionist spells.  Of those two, I was much more intrigued by the second, since the tree-hugger elf has long uninterested me, while scary-fairy-tale things still compel my attention.

I never got around to making that elven illusionist list of spells, but the idea has continued to interest me.  I might have done so for my Onderland Campaign, except nobody has played an elf so it wasn't needed.  But I was also held back by a nagging unhappiness with illusionist spells.  And the problem was basically this: when you come down to it, aren't all illusion spells just different applications of the same spell?  Unlike the MU spells, which involve all sorts of effects - from conjuring balls of flame to Jedi mind tricks to summoning demons - illusionist spells could be pretty much summarized as...well, creating illusions.

Some time later, I began to become intrigued by the second edition era Birthright setting.  Birthright had all sorts of things wrong with it, in my opinion, but it did some things right, and one of those was evoking a medieval sense of Faerie.  And the best book in the line on that topic was Blood Spawn, which was a totally inappropriate name, since it was about creatures of Faerie (called "the Shadow World" in Birthright) rather than creatures of the Blood (which was a whole...eh, let's not get into it).  Anyway, Faerie is presented as place of constantly shifting appearance and every intelligent being in Faerie has an ability called "Seeming" which allows them to manipulate that reality.  At low levels, this is essentially illusion, but at higher levels the line between appearance and reality is lost and one can effectively order around the world to one's desire.

This, to me, is exactly what faerie glamour is supposed to be.  In my mind, the basic implementation in YAG would be that Elves in the mundane world have inherent powers of illusion - making straw seem to be gold, grass seem to be a feast, and goblins seem to be human babies.  As they grow more powerful, these glamours attain more reality.  And in faerie places, they are effectively total reorderings of reality.

But then I look at the various iterations of illusion spells and see that Audible Glamour is different from Phantasmal Force is different from Massmorph and so on.  And I think that maybe this really doesn't model what I'm thinking.  So here's an idea I have been playing with:

Faerie Glamour

Frequency

In the mundane world, an Elf may cast one glamour per day per level, although his ability is unlimited in frequency when in Faerie (if using the standard spell-casting system.  I need to come up with alternate rules for Spellcraft & Swordplay and other games that use a casting roll).

Affect

At 1st level, the Elf can create an illusion that affects one sense.  This need not be the same sense each time; he could make an illusory light at one point (a will-o-the-wisp) and then make wholesome milk smell curdled the next.  The Elf can affect one additional sense for every three additional levels (4th, 7th, etc.)

At 13th level, the Elf can affect all five senses, at which point he is effectively reshaping reality.

Glamours do not disappear if touched or disbelieved.  Someone who touches an illusory snake and feels nothing there is free to draw his own conclusions, but the snake does not go poof.

Duration

At 1st level, the Elf's glamour last for five minutes.  The duration doubles at each additional level, so that they last for almost half-hour at 5th level (80 minutes).  At 13th level, glamours are of indefinite duration and last until the Elf dies or the glamour is dispelled.

Damage

Although the Elf can seem to injure someone with his glamours at quite low levels, these seeming can not do any actual damage.  Anyone subjected to an illusory attack makes the appropriate Save (depending on what system you are using).  If the Save succeeds, the subject believes himself to have avoided the whatever it was; if the Save fails, the subject takes damage as normal depending upon the attack (a sword, a fireball, etc.), but all of this illusory damage is recovered as soon as the glamour is dissolved and the subject has a chance to recover.

However, as the Elf advances in power, his glamour achieve more and more reality.  At 4th level, 20% of all damage done by a glamour (minimum of 1 point) acts like regular damage for purposes of recovery (however that works in your game of choice).  This increases by an additional 20% for every three additional levels (meaning 100% at 16th level if any Elf should be so fortunate as to rise to that height).

Obviously, this needs more work.  As much as I like the more laissez-faire treatment of spells in older D&D, illusions just seem to call for a bit more guidance.  For example, there may be a need to describe area of effect (I don't think a 1st level Elf should be able to make an illusory mountain).  I probably need some method of adjudicating the distraction effects of illusions.  But still, the idea appeals to me more than the standard illusion spells.  Has anyone ever done anything similar?

Back in September, I posted about my dissatisfaction at the asymmetry of the my Psychic Combat Modes.  In play-testing the other day, a thought hit me: most of the physical combat rules assume that you are using deadly force, but all of the psychic combat rules are based on that assumption.  The one really big difference is that there is an option for non-deadly physical fighting i.e. grappling.  So, perhaps a psychic grappling might serve as the solution to my aesthetic dilemma?  Instead of doing direct Ability-damage, like the other Attack Modes, a successful psychic grapple would freeze you into inaction.

What I particularly like about that option is that as normal grappling is STR-based, I can make psychic grappling CHA-based and fill that one missing slot.  Kallos, baby!  The grappled guy has to make a CHA Throw to escape, just as the wrestled guy has to make a STR Throw.

Of course, there are still some details to work out.  In physical grappling, the attacker has the option of squeezing the victim on subsequent rounds to do damage or to throw the victim.  Should mental grappling have the same options?  Although it sounds dangerously asymmetrical, my instinct is to say "no", but I'm not quite sure why.

Another thought is the applicability of the mental grapple.  This touches on a subject that has been bothering me for some while: should there be some kind of Attack Mode that works against the non-psychics?  YAG provided for that possibility (through some ridiculously complicated rules).  I decided against it fairly early on and was working from the idea that having psychic sorcery was, potentially, as much burden as benefit, because it opened you up to the possibility of psychic combat.  And I still like that idea.  

But, something else that came out of play-testing brought this up again.  You will doubtless recall my struggles over Scorpion Man benefits and drawbacks.  One of the ways that I have addressed that is that I have removed psychic potential from the Akrab.  They are now the only playable species that can't have sorcery.  That was a suggestion from Drew and make so much sense I kind of had to wonder why the hell I hadn't thought of it.  The alien bug-men have different brains that the humans?  Shocker.  But, going back to the past paragraph, that isn't as much of a drawback as it might seem because it makes them invulnerable to psychic combat.

So, I'm considering making psychic grappling the one Mode that can affect anybody.  That then brings up another consideration.  The Psionics of YAG had it that every psionic would get the Empty Mind Mode.  So should Mental Grapple be the automatic first Attack Mode that all sorcerer's get?  Or do you just take your chances?

Hmn.

A Thought About Psychic Combat

I'm pretty satisfied with my treatment of psychic sorcery aka psionics in Dying Sun.  I'm especially pleased with making Psychic Combat mirror physical combat, as that keeps a lot of the cool, tactical nature of Ye Auld Game's system, while making it cleaner too.  But one thing bugs me: it's asymmetrical.  What I mean is that with 5 Modes of each type (Attack and Defense) and three relevant Abilities (INT, WIS, and CHA), you can't match things up neatly.

See, only 1 Attack Mode damages CHA, as opposed to 2 each for INT and WIS.  Because of that, only 1 Defense Mode is good at protecting CHA.  Is this a dumb concern?  Probably.  But you know how I love symmetry in design.  If I were to follow that impulse, I would have to change the whole basis of the thing, by adding another Mode in each category.

Which broaches the larger question: is it worthwhile to keep those names from YEG?  Crikey, is it even legal to use those names?  I never even thought about that.  Hmn.

The Magic of Onderland

The bad thing about having multiple irons in the fire is, obviously, that one can get quite distracted and accomplish nothing.  The nice thing about having multiple irons in the fire is that when one needs a break from one project, one can turn to another, rather than, say, watch the E! Channel.  That's what I'm doing now. I have mentioned, in passing, my Onderland Campaign.  Unlike Dying Sun, this a much more traditional fantasy setting, heavily flavoured by Anglo-Saxon England during the Heptarchy.  It's got Elves and Dwarves and Dungeons and Keeps on the Borderland and whatnot.  I think the Anglo-Saxon background adds a lot to all of those common gaming elements, giving a nice grounding to those typical elements such as the fallen empire (the Rome equivalent), religious institutions (the Roman Church equivalent), and where those weird monsters come from (Faerie).

When I set up the campaign, it was my first try at running Spellcraft & Swordplay and wisdom would dictate that I try running the game as written.  So I didn't do that.  I immediately set about house-ruling the thing.  I respect M. Maliszewski's idea of running RAW and then evolving during play, although, as he has noted in re the Raise the Dead spell, that approach has it's drawbacks as well.  But I don't roll that way.  I'm a tinkerer from the get-go.  So, I made some house-rules and ran with them.

That, however, doesn't stop me from continuing to tinker as we play.  My herculean efforts at devising a Weapons vs. Armour Class chart that I liked, though devised for Dying Sun, inevitably leaked into Onderland.  That causes one minor ret-con (the barbaric Tatwulf exchanged his morningstar for a mace), but was otherwise seamless.  Soon thereafter, I introduced another change, this one unconnected to Dying Sun, and I haven't seen how that will play out yet.  But I'm awfully fond of the idea, so I put it in place and we'll see how it goes.

The idea was to redefine magic in Onderland.  I've never been terribly crazy about the traditional Magic-user/Clerical divide (if you think that phrase ought to have been "Arcane/Divine" divide, then you are too young to read this blog. No, no, I kid.)  It's fine.  I don't hate it.  But I don't really like it.  It just feels a bit off to me.  Coupled with my motto of "Kill the Cleric, Keep the Thief", I felt the need to do something new.  That urge was fueled by some discussions around the Net about automatic casting vs. casting rolls and then flavoured by my personal history as a recovering medievalist.

Conceptual divisions of magic are nothing new.  In fact, the real world probably gives us too many divisions for game use.  But one I like is the later medieval distinction between Natural and Demonic Magic, as expounded by philosophers such as Albertus Magnus, the Universal Doctor.  Natural Magic is so-called because it utilizes the occult properties of the world.  It’s on par with magnetism, to choose an good medieval example. Wondrous, but natural (i.e. Lawful).  Demonic Magic is the opposite: it relies upon summoning forces from the Underworld to enact their unnatural powers upon the world (i.e. Chaotic).  This doesn’t make it evil per se; there were many apologists for demonic magic in middle ages who claimed that they were following the example of Christ in using divine power to order demons and that it was actually a punishment for demons to be forced to do good things.  Also, as in the middle ages, Demonic Magic is based upon grimoires and ritual and therefore the only real people able to practice are the literate i.e. priests (the sub-culture of clerical necromancers is a fascinating topic with which I shan’t bore you at the moment).

That’s the fluff. Here’s the mechanical effects:

1. The Priest and Wizard spell lists get rearranged.  Natural Magic largely equates to Priestly magic, such as healing, detection, and abjurations. Those spells that appear on both lists (such as Light) are only Natural magic in this ordering.  The Demonic list is thus pruned a bit, leaving it the offensive and creepy spells--Sleep, Magic Missile, Arcane Eye, etc.

2. Wizards may use spells of either type.  They can, in principle, cast any spell in the game. Champions (Cleric analogs) are restricted to Natural Magic as a gift from the Powers.

3. Natural Magic spells are called virtues.  They are cast using the usual D&D system--no casting roll. They automatically work, as befits their Lawful nature, but the caster also always forgets them. OK--“memorizing” and “forgetting” aren’t really the right terms here, but you know that.

4. Demonic magic uses the Spellcraft & Swordplay system--the casting roll, the chance of success or failure, the chance of retaining or losing the spell.  The randomness befits the Chaotic nature of the practice.  If you read my little article in Fight On! No. 6, I’m using that idea here: memorizing the spell is actually performing the ritual summoning and binding of the demonic power. Casting is the unleashing of that demon.  If you succeed, the demon remains bound to you. If you fail, he is released and scarpers back to Hell.  If you roll snake-eyes, something weird and unpleasant happens.  Doug Easterly’s excellent Savage Swords of Athanor has a nifty little Chaotic Effects table that I might play around with.

One nifty little thing that this scheme opens up: I could actually see having a Witch in this system.   I've traditionally opposed the Witch idea in Ye Auld Game, probably because every iterations just seems more effort than it's worth.  New spell lists; new ways to cast spells, and so on and so on.  Leave me cold.  But with this system, I see a very simple way to do a Witch.  And by Witch, I don't mean an evil wizard, or a Wise Woman, or some sort of Margaret Murray devotee of the Horned God.   I mean the medieval conception of an apostate who gives dulia or latria to the Dark Powers in exchange for occult powers. And it's now easy to do: the Witches of Onderland are granted Demonic Magic spells only by their Underworld Masters.  They cannot learn new spells from grimoires.

That also gives me a flip-side option: the Miraculous Hermit (or Monk or whatever).  The Miraculous Hermit is just a normal guy--not a divine Champion; not a mace-wielding arse-kicker--who is granted the ability to use Natural Magic.

So that's what I'm doing in my off-time right now.  I'll conclude with the spell lists as I have them right now:

Natural Magic Level One
1. Cure Light Wounds
2. Detect Evil
3. Detect Magic
4. Disrupt Undead
5. Light
6. Locate Animal or Plant
7. Predict Weather
8. Protection from Evil
9. Purify Food & Water
10. Read Languages

Demonic Magic Level One
1. Charm Person
2. Deathwatch
3. Hex (Bane)
4. Faerie Fire
5. Hold Portal
6. Inflict Light Wounds
7. Elf-Shot (Magic Missile)
8. Sleep
9. Will-o-Wisp (Dancing Lights)
________________________________________

Natural Magic Level Two
1. Animal Summoning 1
2. Bless
3. Continual Flame
4. Create Water
5. Detect Invisible
6. Find Traps
7. Hold Person
8. Lesser Restoration
9. Locate Object
10. Remove Paralysis
11. Speak with Animals

Demonic Magic Level Two
1. Desecrate
2. ESP
3. Hand-Fire (Produce Fire)
4. Heat Metal
5. Invisibility
6. Knock
7. Levitate
8. Phantasmal Image
9. Wizard Lock
10. Cloak (Obscurement)
11. Warp Wood
______________________________________

Natural Magic Level Three
1. Animal Summoning 2
2. Cure Disease
3. Dispel Magic
4. Hold Animal
5. Neutralize Poison
6. Protection from Evil, 10’ Radius
7. Protection from Fire
8. Protection from Normal Missiles
9. Remove Blindness/Deafness
10. Remove Curse
11. Water Breathing

Demonic Magic Level Three
1. Call Lightning
2. Cause Fear
3. Clairaudience
4. Clairvoyance
5. Contagion
6. Fire Ball
7. Fly
8. Haste
9. Infravision
10. Invisibility, 10’ Radius
11. Lightning Bolt
12. Plant Growth
13. Pyrotechnics
14. Slow
15. Speak with Dead
16. Staves to Snakes
17. Unholy Blight
________________________________________

Natural Magic Level Four
1. Animal Summoning 3
2. Binding Oath*
3. Cure Serious Wounds
4. Daylight
5. Death Ward
6. Dimensional Anchor
7. Hold Undead
8. Plant Door
9. Protection from Lightning
10. Restoration
11. Speak with Plants

Demonic Magic Level Four
1. Arcane Eye
2. Black Tentacles
3. Confusion
4. Control Temperature, 10’ Radius
5. Cone of Cold
6. Charm Monster
7. Dimension Door
8. Enervation
9. Forest Legion
10. Hallucinatory Terrain
11. Inflict Critical Wounds
12. Insect Plague
13. Phantasmal Killer
14. Polymorph Others
15. Polymorph Self
16. Produce Fire
17. Vampiric Touch
18. Wall of Fire
19. Wall of Ice
____________________________________

Natural Magic Level Five
1. Animal Summoning 4
2. Anti-Animal Shell
3. Commune
4. Create Food
5. Dismissal
6. Dispel Evil
7. Heal
8. Hold Monster
9. Planar Binding

Demonic Magic Level Five
1. Animal Growth
2. Animate Dead
3. Blight
4. Cloudkill
5. Conjure Elemental
6. Contact Underworld (Contact Higher Plane)
7. Control Winds
8. Feeblemind
9. Finger of Death
10. Firestorm
11. Geas
12. Harm
13. Insect Plague
14. Possession (Magic Jar)
15. Pass-Wall
16. Telekinesis
17. Teleport
18. Transmute Rock to Mud
19. Wall of Iron
20. Wall of Stone
________________________________________

Natural Magic Level Six
1. Anti-Magic Shell
2. Lower Water
3. Move Earth
4. Part Water
5. Final Rest (Undead to Death)

Demonic Magic Level Six
1. Anti-Life Shell
2. Blasphemy
3. Circle of Death
4. Control Weather
5. Create Undead
6. Disintegrate
7. Enchant Item
8. Freezing Sphere
9. Invisible Stalker
10. Projected Image
11. Reincarnate
12. Slay Living
13. Stone to Flesh

Psychic Road-Block

I've been kind of stuck on Under the Dying Sun lately. I'm so darn close it's maddening. And I realized that I'm basically stuck on psychic Disciplines. Here's what I have right now:


Level One
1. After Images
2. Body Equilibrium
3. Detect Psions
4. Dowsing
5. Empathy
6. Hypnosis
7. Mind over Body
8. Psychic Obfuscation
9. Psychometry
10. Psychokinetic Push
11. Sensory Enhancement
12. Sensual Obscurement


Level Two
1. Alter Self
2. Body Weaponry
3. Cellular Adjustment
4. Domination
5. Empathic Projection
6. Empty Mind
7. Levitation
8. Occultation
9. Psychic Blast
10. Sense Life
11. Suspended Animation
12. Thought Reading


Level Three
1. Body Control (Withstand Extremes)
2. Clairaudience
3. Clairvoyance
4. Emotional Aura
5. Energize
6. Enervation
7. Hallucination
8. Molecular Agitation
9. Molecular Stasis
10. Neural Erasure
11. Spatial Warping


Level Four
1. Aura Alteration (Remove Curse /Dispel Magic)
2. Feeblemind
3. Mass Domination
4. Mind Bar (Resist Possession)
5. Mnemnonic Illusion
6. Molecular Disintegration
7. Telekinesis
8. Telepathy


Level Five
1. Astral Projection
2. Energy Control
3. Etherealness
4. Molecular Rearrangement (Transmute Metals)
5. Omnipresence
6. Shape Alteration
7. Telepathic Projection (Possession)


Level Six
1. Psionic Necromancy


And I have descriptions and effects for the first two levels.

So what's the problem? Well, look at those lists. Levels 1 and 2 have twelve Disciplines apiece. That works great for rolling up Disciplines. But after that, I'm kind of stuck. I've got eleven Disciplines for level 3. I'm dying to get one more into that list. Oh sure, I could swipe one from Level 4, but that a Peter-Paul problem as I only have eight now form that level and seven for the next. And then poor, sad Level 6 has one and I'm not really sure that even ought to be there at all as it's probably more of a villain bit of colour than a real power.

There are lots of other things unfinished, but this is the one that keeps making me put down the pen (metaphorically). I hope I can break through this soon.

Dark Sun: 2nd Level Disciplines

Level Two Disciplines
1. Alter Self
2. Body Weaponry
3. Cellular Adjustment
4. Domination
5. Empathic Projection
6. Empty Mind
7. Levitation
8. Occultation
9. Psychic Blast
10. Sense Life
11. Suspended Animation
12. Thought Reading

Alter Self

Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Line of Sight Save: INT (Special)

The psychic sorcerer may utilize very subtle sensory manipulations to change his own appearance. He may appear as anyone or anything of approximately his own height and shape. Those viewing the altered psychic do not normally get a INT Check to penetrate the mesmerism unless they have some reason to be suspicious or if the psychic attempts to masquerade as some specific person.

Body Weaponry

Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Self

The body weaponry discipline allows the possessor to use his or her body as both weapon and armor by altering the molecules in the body as needed. The table below shows the equivalent armor class and weapon according to the level of mastery.

Psychic Level Armour Class Attack Effect

2 2 +1 to Combat Roll; roll Small Weapon damage

3 2 +2 to Combat Roll; roll Small Weapon damage

4 3 +2 to Combat Roll; roll Medium Weapon damage

5 3 +3 to Combat Roll; roll Medium Weapon damage

6 4 +3 to Combat Roll; roll Medium Weapon damage

7 4 +4 to Combat Roll; roll Medium Weapon damage

8 4 +4 to Combat Roll; roll Large Weapon damage

9 5 +4 to Combat Roll; roll Large Weapon damage

10 5 +5 to Combat Roll; roll Large Weapon damage

[I just don't have the heart to do a proper table here]

Cellular Adjustment

Duration: Instant Range: Touch Save: N/A

The psychic is able to restore (1D per 2 levels) of damage to wounded creatures. This discipline may also be used to treat diseases.

Domination

Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: 1 Target; Line of Sight Save: WIS

An overt, mesmeric exercise in which the psychic sorcerer reaches out an attempts to over-ride the thoughts and impulses of the target. Failing a WIS Save, the target be-comes the mind-slave of the psychic. He will automatically perform any action which the psychic wills him to do, although utterly repugnant acts (a command to kill oneself or hurt a loved one) allow additional Save attempts. This Discipline is not subtle—the target is aware of who and what is occurring and conscious of everything that he is directed to do.

Empathic Projection

Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: 10’/Level Save: CHA (Special)

The psychic projects subtle, emotional manipulations in a sphere about himself. The user must specify which mood he is attempting to enhance at time of use. If a target would have no reason not to go with the mood, no Save is allowed. Trying to spread “Love” to an angry opponent, however, allows a CHA Save. Animals typically receive no Save and this Discipline is very useful in gentling wild animals.

Empty Mind

Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

This Discipline blanks the mind to all attempts at detection and thought-reading (in-cluding Empathy). The psychic would not show up if someone uses Detect Psions or Sense Life and is invulnerable to Telepathy and the like. Note that the immunity to detection ends as soon as any other psychic sorcery is used.

Levitation

Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

The psychic may psychokinetically move himself about at a rate of 10’/Round.

Occultation

Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: Self Save: INT (Special)

This subtle mesmerism allows the psychic to turn himself invisible by literally pre-venting people from seeing him. Because this is a psychic avoidance, targets will not see, hear, smell, or any another way perceive the user. Targets do not normally get a INT Check to penetrate the mesmerism unless they have some reason to be suspi-cious. If the psychic attacks someone, the effect immediately ends for the target, al-though others will remain affected (and will thus see their companion attacking empty air).

Psychic Blast

Duration: Instant/1D Rounds Range: 1 Target; Line of Sight Save: WIS

A blast of unfiltered mental force with effects similar to receiving a sudden, horrible shock. The target must make a WIS Save or slip into shock for 1D rounds, unabke to perform any actions. Making the Save still imparts a -2 penalty to all rolls made dur-ing that period.

Sense Life

Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: 10’/Level Save: None

The basic vital energies of any living being can be sensed with this Discipline. The psychic sorcerer is not only able to detect the presence of life within range, but also location and approximate size. His sensitivity is such that he cannot be surprised and can even engage in combat if otherwise blinded (such as in total darkness), assuming that environmental obstacles are not present (that is, he can “see” his opponents with this Discipline, but he cannot “see” walls, doors, rocks, etc.). Non-living constructs do not register on this Discipline.

Suspended Animation

Duration: 2 Days/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

The psychic sorcerer shuts down all his physical processes—he does not breath or need to eat or drink while in suspended animation. He also regains 2 HP/day while “resting”. The user of this Discipline can either remain suspended for the full time or can set a “trigger” to awaken (3 days; when I’ve healed fully; when someone ap-proaches).

Thought Reading

Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: 1 Target; Line of Sight Save: WIS

The psychic sorcerer can read the thoughts of whomever he stares at and who flails the Save. He may stay with one target throughout the entire duration or read multi-ple targets, but must spend a minimum of 1 round per target to obtain any informa-tion. The target of this Discipline will not be aware it is being used upon him unless he makes the Save; in this case, he feels the probe and locks up his mind.

Only active thoughts may be read with this Discipline. It does not probe into the un-conscious nor can the psychic sorcerer direct it to read specific information. What-ever is running through the target’s mind is what he hears.

Dark Sun: 1st Level Disciplines

Ah, it's good to be back at solid work and leave the theorizing for awhile. Here's is the proposed list and description of the 1st Level Disciplines for Psychic Sorcery in Dark Sun. I'd love to get some feedback on them: whether they seem appropriate to the level; whether I've left out something obvious; whether they feel right for the setting. As I mentioned long ago, I started with the Disciplines from Eldritch Wizardry, came up with a rough ranking from level 1 to level 6, and then began adding, subtracting, and modifying as I saw fit. Anyway, here's the list:


Level One
1. After Images
2. Body Equilibrium
3. Detect Psions
4. Empathy
5. Hypnosis
6. Mind over Body
7. Psychic Obfuscation
8. Psychometry
9. Psychokinetic Push
10. Sensory Enhancement
11. Sensual Obscurement



Discipline Descriptions

Level One

After Images
Duration: 1 Immediate Range: Line of Sight Save: Wisdom

Allows the psychic to briefly and subtly confuse the subject’s senses. The usual effect is to create a brief flash as of an after-image, but the psychic could also make the subject think a shadow has moved at the edge of vision or hear a muffled footstep behind him and so forth. This Discipline can be used to briefly distract someone, gain the drop on them or make them turn their head. Nervous subjects might be made scared depending upon the situation.


Body Equilibrium
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

This discipline allows the user to adjust the weight of his or her body to correspond with the surface upon which he or she is. Thus, the possessor can walk upon water, silt, mud or whatever. With respect to falling, the psychic cannot levitate, but can reduce falling speed so that no harm occurs.


Detect Psions
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: 10’/Level Save: None

Psions are the quanta of psychic energy. All psychics can detect the use of Disciplines or Modes at a range of 10’ per Level/Hit Dice. This Discipline, however, allows one to detect the presence of both passive psychic activity and psychically-powered objects as well. Range in this case is 10 feet per level.


Empathy
Duration: 1 Turn/level Range: Line of Sight Save: None

This discipline allows the basic needs, drives and/or emotions generated by any unshielded sentient mind to be sensed by the possessor of the psionic power. Thus, he or she can sense thirst, hunger, fear, fatigue, pain, rage, hatred, uncertainty, curiosity, hostility, friendliness, love and like emotions. The discipline functions in a directional path determined by the direction in which the possessor is facing.


Hypnosis
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Eye-contact Save: Wisdom

This Discipline allows the psychic to implant simple suggestions upon the target by locking eyes. The suggestion may be a single-word imperative (“Halt” or “”Trip”); it may also be a simple sentence (“These aren’t the nobles you’re looking for”). The subject is allowed a WIS Save to resist. Although there is a duration listed, if the subject has no reason to be suspicious afterward, he will remain unaware that anything unusual has happened. If, however, it is called to his attention after expiration, he will immediately begin to remember the hypnosis.


Mind over Body
Duration: 2 Days/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

This discipline allows the possessor to suppress or mentally satisfy the need for water, food, rest and/or sleep. At some point, however, the possessor must spend an equal number of days of complete rest so as to restore this power. While the individual is not harmed, the discipline cannot be used again until complete rest is taken.


Psychic Obfuscation
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Self Save: None

This Discipline allows the psychic to dampen his own psions rendering himself invisible to Detect Psions. However, the Obfuscation ends if the psychic actively uses his powers.


Psychokinetic Push
Duration: Instant Range: 10’/Level Save: Strength*

The first minor manifestation of telekinetic power, the Psychokinetic Push is just that: an instant shove of force. The Push has a Strength of 10 + psychic’s level for purposes of what can and can’t be moved. The Push can be directed against an opponent who gets a STR Save to resist being knocked over.


Psychometry
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: 10’/Level Save: N/A

Deaths and other highly dramatic events leave a "psychic residue" in the very earth and stones where they occur or upon objects held, which may last for centuries. The possessor of this ability can sense emotions, perhaps see momentary visions, of those who have died or suffered some powerful emotion in a place just by standing in it for a moment.


Sensory Enhancement
Duration: 1 Turn/Level Range: Self Save: N/A

This Discipline allows the psychic to enhance his own senses. The sense effectively doubles in range. Alternately, vision may be attuned to low-light (granting darkvision).


Sensual Obscurement
Duration: 1 Round/Level Range: Line of Sight Save: INT

The psychic may use this Discipline to distort one of the subject’s senses. Vision becomes blurry, sounds become indistinct, etc. A subject with obscured vision is not rendered blind, but cannot recognize faces or read writing; he also attacks at a -2. A subject with obscured hearing is not prevented from hearing someone sneak past him, but will be unable to recognize the sound for what it is.

Spellcraft & Swordplay Spell Saves

Just something I thought of looking at today.

Rather interesting results. I know that Jason basically used the save types from Castles & Crusades, but I'd like to make a little sense out of this.

Well, WIS is obviously the most useful attribute in this area, applying twice of much as the next most useful attribute (CON). And it largely makes sense to me when thinking of WIS as encompassing willpower. I think Faerie Fire doesn't get a save; it's essentially a targeted Light spell, so I could see giving it a DEX Save, but it's effect's are so minor that I think I wouldn't bother. Phantasmal Killer is an illusion and that should go in the INT column. That's the easy ones. The two problem areas are Polymorph and the various Enchantments. Polymorph I can sort of see if I squint a bit: using willpower to keep one's form. But I think CHA might be more obvious here if you understand CHA as encompassing self-image.

The issue of Enchantments is harder because saves of this type are spread out between WIS and CHA. Frankly, either makes sense to me, but I think we need a but more uniformity here. Charm (Person), for example, uses a CHA Save, but Charm Monster uses WIS. Fear uses CHA, but Sleep uses WIS, even though both would seem to be the same sort of magical influence.

Indeed, CHA is the weird one here, rightly reflecting it's troubled history of identity (that is: what the hell does CHA measure anyway?). It shows up relatively frequently (one of the top 3), but the spells it helps against are rather a mixed bag: some enchantments (as discussed above), but also Disintegration, Finger of Death, and (most confusingly) Telekinesis.

I think we can ditch TK right off the bat: that ought to be a STR Save (which is nice because STR only has one Save as it is and that's kind of a weird one). I'm unsure on Disintegrate: I think that should probably be a CON Save if it works materially, but stay a CHA Save if it's work be destroying an object's essential self. I'll leave it as CHA for now.

The only way I can approach CHA Saves is, as I said above, to approach CHA is measuring the strength of one's self-image. In that case, we can (try anyway) to make distinctions between spells that work against one's conscious mind, which could use WIS as a save, and those that affect the unconscious self , which could use CHA. Let's see how that goes:

• Sleep and Hold would stay as WIS Saves. They are on the order of hypnosis.
• Confusion is harder, but I think I'd call that for WIS as written.
  
• I see Fear as going down to the subconscious, so it stays in the CHA list.
• Similarly, Magic Jar deals with identity, so it stays CHA.

Well, those were easy. Here are the harder ones:

• The two Charm spells could go either way. One could view them as a hypnosis or as changing the underlying sense of the target's idea of who is a friend. All things being equal, I think I might call them for CHA just to balance out the lists a little.
  
• Finger of Death is a toughie. I honestly don't know how that spell works except that it is a curse. I think we can distinguish it from Slay Living, which materially attacks the target, by saying that this spell is a cosmic punishment from the Gods (or whatever). Let's say, then, that it is like Disintegrate and attacks a person's identity, not think about it too much, and move on.

That leaves a couple of spells without saves that probably ought to have them:

• Curse would be like Finger of Death, and goes into the CHA column.
• Geas goes into the WIS column.
• Bane is like Cause Fear so it gets a CHA Save.
• Death Knell is suppose to have a Save, but ti isn't listed. I'm thinking CHA as it drains a person's essence.
• Unholy Blight seems analogous to Cloudkill to me, so it goes to CON.
• I'm unsure of Circle of Death. CON would be the choice, but I think maybe I would say that only creatures of HD/Level equal to or greater than caster get a Save. Why? I don't know; it just sounds right to me.
  

As a first stab then, our new list would look like this:

STR Saves (2) - Chill Ray, Telekinesis
INT Saves (4) - Illusions, Feeblemind
WIS Saves (11) - Sleep, ESP, Hold, Confusion, Geas, Abjuration spells, Blasphemy
DEX Saves (5) - Dodging
CON Saves (9) - Slow, Cloudkill, Circle of Death, Blights, Phantasmal Killer, Slay Living, Blind/Deaf
CHA Saves (10) - Charms, Fear, Polymorph, Magic Jar, Disintegrate, Curses (Bane, Finger, of Death, Curse), Death Knell.

I like that. Admittedly, the CHA Save tend toward obscurer spells (3 out of 10 are optional Necromancy spells), but then the WIS Saves tend toward monster-only Abjurations ( 6 out of 11). But still, I think these very few changes give a bit more cohesiveness to the thing.