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Three Different Magic Systems - Need help fleshing out the third

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Mon, 02/01/2016 - 11:45
Momtoast
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Joined: 05/09/2014

So I am working on a game where there are three different systems of magic, each with different game effects.

One is the Wizards/Mages. They are book learned magicians who study the stars and nature and learn magic that way. They do magic by learned spells, alchemical potions, and talismans.

Two is the Guardians. They are religious magicians, who gain their powers from the rulers they worship, and have different talents based on the miracles and powers of their ruler. They do magic trough ceremony and sacrifice.

Three is the Sorcerers. They are intuitive magicians, who were not trained to use their powers, and rather simply discovered that they had abilities.

So my question for you all, if you are willing to help me out, is what kind of magical powers are intuitive like this? What would the sorcerer's abilities be? I know a few of them (related to messing with the time and fate mechanisms in the game) but I need several more.

Thanks!

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Mon, 02/01/2016 - 12:44
#1
polyobsessive
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Joined: 12/11/2015
Sorcery

Hmm, I reckon the main power of a Sorcerer of this type would be getting fairly basic effects but doing it quickly or reactively. I can imagine the powers being linked to emotions... Angry? Lash out with a quick and dirty fireball. Frightened? This small force wall can protect you. You could probably just scrape comparatively low-level abilities (or weaker versions) from the other systems, but make them faster and easier than the more studied versions.

Another possible approach would be to align the Sorcerers with their environments, so maybe they can "borrow" abilities or properties from animals, plants, rocks, natural phenomena, and so forth?

I don't know how you will be fitting magic into your game (or even what sort of game this is) so can't really go to far with this without going into my own personal ideas. Maybe you can share a bit more to help out?

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Mon, 02/01/2016 - 13:24
#2
ElKobold
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Joined: 04/10/2015
I would do it this way:

You can have the power of the sorcerer spells be dependent on the dice roll, but let him pick the amount of dice he wishes to use - that is how much power he tries to draw. The trick is to control it.

If he rolls too low - the spell won't be successful, but if he rolls too high, it gets out of control and miscasts in a spectacular way. Miscast fireball, for example, burns everyone, including the sorcerer.

Wizard spells on the other hand take much more time to prepare, but wizards know what they are doing. They roll specific 'optimal' amount of dice, but have significantly less chance to either fail or misfire.

Guardians would work in the similar way to sorcerers, except whatever spell they choose to cast, they roll incrementally more dice. (one for the first spell/prayer, two for the second etc.). So first they will have a hard time to reach their patron, hence low number of dice and low chance of success, but at the same time almost no chance to anger the divine patron.
With each 'prayer' the amount of dice rolled grows, allowing to attempt a more powerful effects, but increasing the chance that the patron will be annoyed by the priest and won't answer his prayers any more (or outright smack him with the wrath of god, if it's an evil deity).

This way you can have a common pool of spells, which will all work slightly differently, depending on the class of the character.

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Mon, 02/01/2016 - 13:30
#3
Momtoast
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Sorcery

I had thought of tying it to emotions, and I like the idea of the spells being faster and more reactionary.

Sorry, I forgot to add more details! This is a storytelling/RPG style game, where characters can choose their actions, and then will read what the effects are in a story book. I think this would be good as sorcerers could choose their emotional response, which would then have varying effects in the story.

Then, the higher the level they reach, the stronger the effects become.

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Mon, 02/01/2016 - 13:32
#4
Momtoast
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Joined: 05/09/2014
I would do it this way:

A few more details about the game play (sorry, I know I didn't really include much of anything beyond the theme!):

I was not planning on having dice. But I do very much like the concept of Sorcerer's magic going wild much more often than the others. So as their level increases the amount of crazy that is possible could increase, but they would also learn ways (earn something) that they could spend to try and keep things under control. . .

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