So for this campaign I'm setting up magic is being drained from the whole world. In places with less magic I wanted the reaction to be wild magic surges, but I thought it would be better to set it up different for different classes. Just wanted some input~
Class
Category
100% Magic
75% Magic
50% Magic
25% Magic
0% Magic
Barbarian
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Bard
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Cleric
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Druid
High
0%
5%
10%
15%
No Magic
Fighter
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Monk
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Paladin
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Ranger
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Rogue
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Sorcerer
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Warlock
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Wizard
High
0%
5%
10%
15%
No Magic
* Must contact patron or the result is simply ‘no magic’.
Side note, for Monks ki is treated like normal spell casting magic. Although I've been struggling with what to do with Monks in general, so any ideas are welcome. Secondary note, cantrips [like with a wild mage] are unaffected unless in a 0% magic area.
Public Mod Note
(Stormknight):
moved from General to Homebrew forum
I like wild magic, but I am not a fan of the idea of taking taking away spellcasting, especially from full casters like druid and wizard.
If there is an area a wizard can't use spells in, a wizard should just not go there. Ever. The princess has been captured and taken to an area of no magic. Wizard: "Well, we tried. I cast modify memory on the king to make him forget he has a daughter."
It might be better for casters that would otherwise have no magic to use their HP to fuel spells. Something like spell level number of hitdice - spellcasting ability modifier worth of damage.
Lastly, bards should be in high outer category. Their magic works similar to wizards except it is as art than as science.
I like wild magic, but I am not a fan of the idea of taking taking away spellcasting, especially from full casters like druid and wizard.
If there is an area a wizard can't use spells in, a wizard should just not go there. Ever. The princess has been captured and taken to an area of no magic. Wizard: "Well, we tried. I cast modify memory on the king to make him forget he has a daughter."
It might be better for casters that would otherwise have no magic to use their HP to fuel spells. Something like spell level number of hitdice - spellcasting ability modifier worth of damage.
Lastly, bards should be in high outer category. Their magic works similar to wizards except it is as art than as science.
I was toying with the idea of giving people exhaustion when they use magic in low magic areas, though HP might work as well. I was also thinking arcane focus' could store energy to help in low magic areas. Yeah perhaps having full casters have no magic is a poor idea, I suppose I justified it because of lack of places that have 0 magic [at least in my world]. Though as an abstract game mechanic, it's not the greatest idea.
I was going back and forth with bards, high outer is probably a better fit. I feel like somewhere I read something along the lines of 'bards exerting their will into the world' and then I reread a few different things for bards and there is nothing like that. I don't know what I'm recalling RN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If there is an area a wizard can't use spells in, a wizard should just not go there. Ever. The princess has been captured and taken to an area of no magic. Wizard: "Well, we tried. I cast modify memory on the king to make him forget he has a daughter."
^^ bahahahaha
More or less accurate though, I like the idea, but I would definitely tweak the numbers.
If there is an area a wizard can't use spells in, a wizard should just not go there. Ever. The princess has been captured and taken to an area of no magic. Wizard: "Well, we tried. I cast modify memory on the king to make him forget he has a daughter."
^^ bahahahaha
More or less accurate though, I like the idea, but I would definitely tweak the numbers.
Tweak the numbers as in make wild magic more or less common? I will be changing all the 'no magic' options, but aside from that. [Unless that's all you think I should change]
At first reading this I was confused as to your implementation, but after spending a couple minutes looking it over I think this is a great idea for your world. I do think that you could simplify your chart to easier determine when a wild surge would happen. DxJxC has already made two points I agree with, but I would add that if you want to have other effects like you suggested, whether adding exhaustion or spending HP to low magic areas, that should be present in your chart as well.
At first reading this I was confused as to your implementation, but after spending a couple minutes looking it over I think this is a great idea for your world. I do think that you could simplify your chart to easier determine when a wild surge would happen. DxJxC has already made two points I agree with, but I would add that if you want to have other effects like you suggested, whether adding exhaustion or spending HP to low magic areas, that should be present in your chart as well.
Oh if I add fatigue or HP I will add it to the chart, I just haven't updated it at all yet. I actually have another copy of this chart with some other info added that's very specific to my world and not game mechanic-y.
I'm kinda shiftying back and forth between picking fatigue or HP which is why I havn't updated the chart.
One thought I had which you may find useful, would maybe incorporate hit dice as part of this mechanic. When casting a spell in those low or drained magic areas would also cost 1 or more of your hit die depending on the level of the spell. Once you've used all of your hit die, then you're taking fatigue or damage to your actual HP. This would still present danger of using magic in those areas, but maybe veiled until they try to recover on short rests by spending hit die but can't due to spell usage.
Just a thought at least, I've found hit die to woefully underused as a mechanic that can be exploited within the game.
Hopefully this is easier to read than the format the website uses.
* As well as a chance of wild magic, in magic free zones if someone attempts a spell they’ll cause themselves fatigue. They will incur a fatigue level equal to the spell level/2 rounded down. Example - level 3 spell/2 = level 1 fatigue. ** With guidance by contacting patron no fatigue penalty is given, if no patron is contacted than fatigue as described by ‘*’ is issued.
External - Magic is gained from the world, can be stored in arcane focus’ to be used in 0 magic zones. Patron - Magic is gained from a greater deity, contact with the patron in question and/or holy items can store magic to be used in 0 magic zones. Internal - Magic is innate and stored within the self, magic can always be utilized.
So for this campaign I'm setting up magic is being drained from the whole world. In places with less magic I wanted the reaction to be wild magic surges, but I thought it would be better to set it up different for different classes. Just wanted some input~
Class
Category
100% Magic
75% Magic
50% Magic
25% Magic
0% Magic
Barbarian
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Bard
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Cleric
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Druid
High
0%
5%
10%
15%
No Magic
Fighter
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Monk
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Paladin
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Ranger
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Rogue
Low
0%
0%
5%
No Magic
No Magic
Sorcerer
Inner
5%
10%
15%
20%
50%
Warlock
Patron
0%
0%
5%
10%
50%*
Wizard
High
0%
5%
10%
15%
No Magic
* Must contact patron or the result is simply ‘no magic’.
Inner - Strong Magic, Source Internal, Highly Unstable, Always Usable
Low Outer - Weak Magic, Source External, Highly Stable, Not Always Usable
High Outer - Strong Magic, Source External, Somewhat Stable, Almost Always Usable
Patron - Strong Magic, Source External, Highly Stable, Almost Always Usable*
Side note, for Monks ki is treated like normal spell casting magic. Although I've been struggling with what to do with Monks in general, so any ideas are welcome.
Secondary note, cantrips [like with a wild mage] are unaffected unless in a 0% magic area.
I like wild magic, but I am not a fan of the idea of taking taking away spellcasting, especially from full casters like druid and wizard.
If there is an area a wizard can't use spells in, a wizard should just not go there. Ever. The princess has been captured and taken to an area of no magic. Wizard: "Well, we tried. I cast modify memory on the king to make him forget he has a daughter."
It might be better for casters that would otherwise have no magic to use their HP to fuel spells. Something like spell level number of hitdice - spellcasting ability modifier worth of damage.
Lastly, bards should be in high outer category. Their magic works similar to wizards except it is as art than as science.
I was toying with the idea of giving people exhaustion when they use magic in low magic areas, though HP might work as well. I was also thinking arcane focus' could store energy to help in low magic areas.
Yeah perhaps having full casters have no magic is a poor idea, I suppose I justified it because of lack of places that have 0 magic [at least in my world]. Though as an abstract game mechanic, it's not the greatest idea.
I was going back and forth with bards, high outer is probably a better fit. I feel like somewhere I read something along the lines of 'bards exerting their will into the world' and then I reread a few different things for bards and there is nothing like that. I don't know what I'm recalling RN. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
^^ bahahahaha
More or less accurate though, I like the idea, but I would definitely tweak the numbers.
Tweak the numbers as in make wild magic more or less common?
I will be changing all the 'no magic' options, but aside from that. [Unless that's all you think I should change]
You could simplify the magic saturation ranges. 100% and 75% can combine to simply >50%.
Similarly source can combine the 2 outers (since low level high outer and high level low outer are litterally the same magic).
At first reading this I was confused as to your implementation, but after spending a couple minutes looking it over I think this is a great idea for your world. I do think that you could simplify your chart to easier determine when a wild surge would happen. DxJxC has already made two points I agree with, but I would add that if you want to have other effects like you suggested, whether adding exhaustion or spending HP to low magic areas, that should be present in your chart as well.
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
Oh if I add fatigue or HP I will add it to the chart, I just haven't updated it at all yet.
I actually have another copy of this chart with some other info added that's very specific to my world and not game mechanic-y.
I'm kinda shiftying back and forth between picking fatigue or HP which is why I havn't updated the chart.
One thought I had which you may find useful, would maybe incorporate hit dice as part of this mechanic. When casting a spell in those low or drained magic areas would also cost 1 or more of your hit die depending on the level of the spell. Once you've used all of your hit die, then you're taking fatigue or damage to your actual HP. This would still present danger of using magic in those areas, but maybe veiled until they try to recover on short rests by spending hit die but can't due to spell usage.
Just a thought at least, I've found hit die to woefully underused as a mechanic that can be exploited within the game.
AdmiralChry's Homebrew Compendium - A collection of all my classes, subclasses, magic items, and etc.
Hopefully this is easier to read than the format the website uses.
* As well as a chance of wild magic, in magic free zones if someone attempts a spell they’ll cause themselves fatigue. They will incur a fatigue level equal to the spell level/2 rounded down. Example - level 3 spell/2 = level 1 fatigue.
** With guidance by contacting patron no fatigue penalty is given, if no patron is contacted than fatigue as described by ‘*’ is issued.
External - Magic is gained from the world, can be stored in arcane focus’ to be used in 0 magic zones.
Patron - Magic is gained from a greater deity, contact with the patron in question and/or holy items can store magic to be used in 0 magic zones.
Internal - Magic is innate and stored within the self, magic can always be utilized.
Is fatigue levels of exhaustion?
Oh yeah, I don't know why I called it fatigue instead. Odd slip of the mind I suppose.