Difference between revisions of "Magic systems"
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; Slot-based | |||
: [[Spell]]s are prepared in advance, and once prepared a spell can be cast at anytime with little or no chance of failure, but once cast the spell is consumed; to cast a spell twice it has to be prepared twice, and so on. | |||
: Typically the maximum number of spells that can be prepared is finite, either with an explicit cap (i.e. 'Slots'), or by requiring a finite resource (i.e. Material components). | |||
: Variations include: more powerful spells require more slots/resources; [[D&D]]-style leveled slots; pre-requisite spells to implicitly consume extra slots for powerful spells. | |||
; [[Mana]]-Based | |||
: [[Spell]]s consume a quantity of spell points (i.e. [[Mana]]) when cast, otherwise spellcasting is unrestricted. | |||
: Variants are: '[[Aspected Mana]]' (Fire mana, water, defensive, aggressive, etc., and other more unusual divisions); [[spell]]s consuming things other things instead of mana ([[hit points]], material components, food, etc.), and spells consume more then one type of thing/aspect of mana (e.g. 3 fire mana and a stick of charcoal)) | |||
; Chance-Based | |||
: [[Spellcasting]] is essentially free, but has a chance of failure, probably a very large chance. | |||
: A variant is to have the chance of failure be affected by some combination [[stat]]s, skill, or environment. | |||
It is quite common to combine more than one of these methods. | |||
A Slot/[[Mana]] system might let you memorize a shortlist of [[spell]]s, which are then cast as a mana system. [[Crawl]] does this. | |||
A Mana/Chance system might allow skill to reduce the mana cost of casting spells. The [[Pen and Paper]] [[GURPS]] does this. | |||
== Related links == | |||
* [http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/05/unangband-magic-system-part-one.html Designing a Magic System] - article on [[Ascii Dreams]] | |||
[[Category:Magic]] | |||
Revision as of 22:18, 27 April 2011
- Slot-based
- Spells are prepared in advance, and once prepared a spell can be cast at anytime with little or no chance of failure, but once cast the spell is consumed; to cast a spell twice it has to be prepared twice, and so on.
- Typically the maximum number of spells that can be prepared is finite, either with an explicit cap (i.e. 'Slots'), or by requiring a finite resource (i.e. Material components).
- Variations include: more powerful spells require more slots/resources; D&D-style leveled slots; pre-requisite spells to implicitly consume extra slots for powerful spells.
- Mana-Based
- Spells consume a quantity of spell points (i.e. Mana) when cast, otherwise spellcasting is unrestricted.
- Variants are: 'Aspected Mana' (Fire mana, water, defensive, aggressive, etc., and other more unusual divisions); spells consuming things other things instead of mana (hit points, material components, food, etc.), and spells consume more then one type of thing/aspect of mana (e.g. 3 fire mana and a stick of charcoal))
- Chance-Based
- Spellcasting is essentially free, but has a chance of failure, probably a very large chance.
- A variant is to have the chance of failure be affected by some combination stats, skill, or environment.
It is quite common to combine more than one of these methods.
A Slot/Mana system might let you memorize a shortlist of spells, which are then cast as a mana system. Crawl does this. A Mana/Chance system might allow skill to reduce the mana cost of casting spells. The Pen and Paper GURPS does this.
Related links
- Designing a Magic System - article on Ascii Dreams