Thread 96797290

What’s the coolest magic system in a game you’ve ever come across

>>96797290 (OP)
The one in Genesys

>>96798093
Tell me more

>>96798107
no

>>96798228
y

>>96798107
Magic is both clearly defined and open ended.
It lays out the fundamentals of basic magic like summoning, damaging spells, enhancement, debilitations, etc and how you can modify those spells with each modification increasing the difficulty of the spell check.

In Genesys difficulty levels are incredibly easy to set. Often just add a challenge dice to the dice pool for each difficulty level. Challenge dice, however, have more failure chances than your beneficial trait dice have success, so they are not a 1 to 1 comparison and a single challenge dice is a pretty big deal. The maximum challenge rating is five challenge dice with a possible threat die (challenge dice on steroids) replacing one of them.

The result is a system that lets magic do pretty much anything but it also lets a caster absolutely cut their own throat because the GM is duty bound to make miscasts fail in impactful ways (you summoned a demon fine, but you don't control it. You cast fireball successful but it explodes before you send it flying, etc). If you are casting level appropriate shit? You just take strain. You get slapped hard for over reach.

Also, any time you use magic to accomplish a task that would fall under any other skill or trait's wheelhouse, you increase the difficulty level of the task. Magic CAN do anything but using it to solve shit that the thief or warrior types could handle is more complex than just doing it the old fashioned way.

Also, general magic fuckery (telekinetically moving a book from a shelf to the table, warming your cold tea with your mind, etc) doesn't require a check of any sort. You are a mage, you should be flaunting that shit a little. Flipping an unknown book to the exact page you want or other quasi important stuff needs a check though.

i put mana in and a spell come out

>>96797290 (OP)
The one in Ars Magica

>>96800475
>magic fuckery
I let my players do little magical tricks easily enough without making them take a spell specifically that does this. And rolling is only needed if there's a chance of failing. For the most part, I consider it like opening a door. I've failed to open doors in real life before, but for the most part I've got that shit handled. Every once in a while, I basically tell them something unexpected happens, especially if they are trying to effect something already being touched by magic.
>>96797290 (OP)
The only thing I'll add to this is the best, most impactful magic systems in games I play have some severe limit or major cost. It's not fun otherwise. I'm even debating making cantrips cost a spell slot for my 5e game I run, but haven't committed yet.

The historical RPG Maelstrom
Which recommends letting the players roll to cast magic but not actually have the roll take any effect.
If the game master wants to run a strictly historical game.

>>96801527
>Making a cantrip cost a spell slot

It's much easier to treat missed spells as miscasts and make them suffer backlash.

>>96801685
That almost seems meaner. I'd have to think about that.
I had this Wiz player for the longest time that refused to use spells. She was brand new and liked her bow. W/E personally, I just let it roll, she had decent Dex.

>>96800475
>Challenge dice, however, have more failure chances than your beneficial trait dice have success
The opposite.
Green ability dice have 5 success on 4 sides while purple difficulty dice have 4 failures on 3 sides.
Additionally blue boost dice have 4 advantages while black setback dice have 2 threats.
Only red challenge dice and yellow proficiency dice are symmetrical.
And when you add doodads to your spell, you increase difficulty, not upgrade it, so you add purple dice, not red ones to the pool.

>>96797290 (OP)
my own.
>save vs spells to keep the spell.
>no spell slots.
>regain spells if at correct spot during solar eclipse.

>>96797290 (OP)
I more or less like BoL's 'make it up as you go' approach to spells. Arcane points and spell difficulty act as a brake on OP shit along with Flaws for delving too deep into magic. Not perfect, but quite functional.

>>96797290 (OP)
40k psychic powers and systems that make the 'cost' of magic be it's unpredictability.
But 40k in particular since most powers do things that have basically no overlap with other class abilities while being powerful.

>>96797290 (OP)
Necromancy in Ironclaw. Mostly spells are "mana in, magic out" and you roll some dice to compare successes. Necromancy however rolls a shitton of dice, and those opposing it get to roll huge pools of multiple attributes too. But if anyone has three 6s show up on their results? Success or failure, bad shit happens. Necromacer loses control of a spell or gets possessed by a dark power; priest trying to break a curse gets cursed too; hero fending off a flesh rotting spell instantly becomes an undead slave, etc.

>>96798249
cuz

>>96803416
What you aren't considering is that a single unopposed ability die will just fail to generate a success at all 50% of the time.
Couple that against something with a slightly less than half a chance to negate a single success rolled and you got a statically higher chance of failure when comparing ability to challenge dice.

Here's an autistic breakdown.

>>96801700
Are Aagic Archers a thing in 5e?

>>96812713
>When you go to type Arcane Archer and switch to Magic Archer without realizing it

I didn't know fingers could get tongue tied....

>>96812699
I know of this, but didn't mention because I didn't want to explain the whole system, just to point out the anon's error.

But thanks for the image, I'm preparing a Genesys campaign so I'll save it.

My own
>how does it work
however you want it to

Jokes aside, It's based on Maze Rats. Two keywords and imagination are all the magic I need baby.

>>96797290 (OP)
What are some great systems of rune magic besides The Runed Age?

>>96812713
>>96812716
At any rate, no, Arcane Archer has not made his appearance in 5.5e, but he is in 5e. Don't know if that counts for you.

>>96797290 (OP)
I thought the shadow magic from Tome of Magic was very endearing, flawed as it was

>>96819422
I got that book but never read it.
Part of a collection where a 3e player had a stroke or some shit and his family was selling off all his "Nerd shit he wasted money on" for cheap.
Time of Magic, Magic of Incarnum, full set of "Complete" books, special edition of Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium, five different monster manuals, and heaps of other shit that was a dollar a book. Damn good condition too. Dropped over $50 of his hoard.

Wonder if any of it is worth selling.

>>96797290 (OP)
Ars Magica, 5th Edition
It requires a bit of the 'tism, but if you get into it, an entire world of wizardry unfolds before you. Not just "I memorized Fireball and Lesser Invisibility, and can cast thrice a day" but having a range of spells you can cast quickly, improvise on the fly, or enact through rituals. Not just "I bought this scroll from the magic shop," but performing dangerous magical research and inventing your own spells. And I wish our game had gone longer, because I had a 5-year plan written up for finding and training an apprentice, who could then have served as a secondary PC. There are even supplementary rules for building wizard towers, ruling fiefdoms, engaging in wizard (or mundane) politics, and more.

Deadlands
>Communicate with evil spirits by playing poker with them
>Strength of your spell depends on your pokerhand

>>96820257
I never did get around to checking out the inspiration for the Ars Magica Minecraft mod

>>96797290 (OP)
UA's magic system of needing to act like a goddamned WEIRDO and then avoid acting like a normal person to get and keep your mojo really speak to me.

>Absolute favorite, from a video game:
Tyranny did this great shit with combining sigils, accents, enhancements, and expressions and modifiers that were limited by different lore requirements and recovering the sigils to start with.
Unfortunately it's way too complicated to be in a TTRPG without bogging the game down, and everyone just ended up as a mage, anyway, since they're shared sigils.
They also made a lot of neat puzzles for unlocking magic doors for the main spire towers in the game that I 100% shamelessly stole for puzzles when I was DMing. Pick up pieces of the correct answer while trying to avoid the big boss stomping around the main halls, and leave them wondering if they got them all. They really liked it, but I didn't dare use it more than twice, for two similar types of dungeons.

>As far as tabletop:
Mage: The Ascension/Awakening's whole "it only works if people believe it while you do it" is a real nice way to fluff up your magic and make it limited in a fun roleplaying way.

>>96797290 (OP)
I bought Dungeon Crawl Classics specifically because of it's magic system.
It works like standard Vanceian D&D magic but...
>You don't automatically lose your spell if you blow your roll unless you roll bad enough or fumble.
>The better your roll the better the effect you can perform.
>Fireball goes can go from being equivalent to a bottle rocket all the way to a tactical nuke if you roll high enough.
>Burn your stats to get bonuses on your spell roll.
>The Magic duel system. Takes only one round and ends when one or both wizards are disintegrated or worse.
>Rules for making your own magic items. Permanently burn your stats to get better item stats and bonuses.
>The misfire table if you fumble your spell.
>The Corruption table if you fumble extra hard.

>>96797290 (OP)
>What's the coolest magic system
>>96617229
>How do you prefer your magic system
ya pas problème

>>96797290 (OP)
No but in all seriousness, at least "what's the coolest" is a question that makes sense, so I will answer here.
There's two games that really makes magic like... well... magic.
>Unknown Armies
Magic users have an obsession through which they act supernaturally over reality.
So they gather magical charges by indulging in these obsessions and pushing them to new limits. And the type of effects they can get depends on their obsessions. AND these powers comes with taboos, which also make you vulnerable in different ways, related to your obsession.
For example, a bibliomancer (obsessed with books) can obtain magical charges by buying rare books, will lose all of his charges if he loses or sells one of his book if he doesn't have another, better, edition of it. And his spells influences the knowledge the general population have of things (IIRC).
The game is urban fantasy, so the obsessions available are stuff like: tourism, self-mutilation, porn, drugs, TV series...
>Scales
Much more obscure French game, also urban fantasy.
Draconic magic is all about channeling spells through an art form (which can be very varied, from architecture, to tattoo or even cooking). The types of spells depend on which art form the magic practitioner is familiar with:
With architecture or gardening, you can set magical traps. With tattoos, you can give magical buffs to you or someone else. With poetry or dance, you can cast offensive spells.

>>96797290 (OP)
Runequest is pretty fucking cool.
Unfortunately, my players look at the magic system, go "What do you mean I gotta sacrifice POW to gain spells?" and promptly get blatted, because bladesharp 2, shield, and basic healing spells do a lot of legwork in a system where you can be fatally brained by a stray roofing tile.

>>96797290 (OP)
Tales of Maj'Eyal for being one of the few games to do Chronomancy in a way that's actually fun. Yes I know you meant /tg/, but I'm hoping my reply will prompt someone to subsequently throw me a tabletop game where time magic is done well or at least entertainingly.

>>96820257
This. I've never encountered a system like Ars Magicka before. Absolutely infinite potential in the magic system. You can design a spell to do basically anything you can imagine, and if you can't, then you can probably design a magic item that can. I'm currently playing a campaign in Egypt as a Vizir with a major focus in mystic theurgy. She can do some terrifying stuff with spirits. Her talisman is a staff that can currently force a group to be silent, force a group to kneel, and can levitate people. Pointing a staff at someone and casually tossing them aside never gets old. She also has golden claws enchanted with The Wound That Weeps to a truly stupid level of penetration.

Another in my group is chasing the elixir of life and has magic architecture. Their plans for the covenant are getting REALLY interesting. We're gonna go full xianxia with flying palaces eventually.

>>96820244
How much do you expect, or hope, to get out of it?

>>96822262
All the good band names are already taken. I wonder what their songs would do as spells?

>>96826171
I dunno, $20 or so plus shipping. I bought all that shit for a dollar a book, so anything north of $2 a book plus shipping would be doubling my investment.

>>96797290 (OP)

Many of RPG Pundit's works are based on actual esotericism. Lion & Dragon, Baptism of Fire, Sword & Caravan are all based on actual "magick" used at the time, simplified and adapted to tabletop game. The invisible college is set in the current era and the players would be agents of the invisible college, a secret society for the spiritual evolution of mankind based on the real "order of the quest" behind freemasonry, modern republics, "free thinking" and the NWO.

Rather than casting fireballs, occultists are interested in mysticism; uniting with the divine source of everything, but it is incredibly hard to atain. They're not Gandalf nor Circe, they're more like Buddha or a Yogi. You can choose different schools of magick and divination, from Hermetic Qabbalah to the I-Ching. It's very much detailed, and to be fair it does waste many pages on detailing stuff that players won't find interesting and may very well handwave it (such as lists of actual magical words or squares, gematria combinations, etc.).

RPG Pundit is a Thelemite to some extent, so he's knowledgeable when it comes to esotericism. I'd even consider it introductory material for those who want to learn more about esotericism.

>>96797290 (OP)
Some outliners
>Ars Magica
>Witchcraft
>OVA
>Wushu
>Fate
>Any flavour of GURPS magic that isn't default one
Essentially, anything that isn't just a DnD-style spellbook to pick from is good and interesting.

>>96797290 (OP)
Cute frog

Probably a hot take but I enjoyed the Creative Thaumaturgy aspect of Mage The Awakening.

Not sure what Old Mage did differently, but I enjoyed my time playing Nu Mage.

Does it have to be from a game?

>>96797290 (OP)
Conan 2d20

>>96797290 (OP)
My own

>>96824336
Ah, a wand with Rego Corpus effects. Nice choice, good versatility of effects, and also quite flavorful. Is it her own creation, or something given/acquired?

>>96835359
Made it herself, with significant difficulty. Her focus is mainly in casting Theurgy spells, which take at least two rounds to work so I invested in combat items. She also has a gauntlet that has wards against metal and wood weaponry, and is an expert swordsman.

>>96835373
The claw was made by the perdo specialist of the group though, I should mention. That member chasing the elixir has greater Alchemy so we get free item investments.

Frewg

>>96839605
>Frewg
What the heck?

>>96797290 (OP)
The Runed Age system is pretty cool.

>>96846228
>The Runed Age system is pretty cool.
Has anyone here actually played it?

>>96847822
>>96847896
>>96848050
>>96848256
>>96848667
kill yourself bumpfag

>>96849101
???

>>96849101
Meds.

>>96828943
>Many of RPG Pundit's works are based on actual esotericism. Lion & Dragon, Baptism of Fire, Sword & Caravan are all based on actual "magick" used at the time, simplified and adapted to tabletop game.
You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention
Could you elaborate a bit? What kind of stuff can you do, using magic? How do you get magical energy? Is it roughly the same system, in the other games you mentioned, Lion and Dragon etc..?

>>96849101
I am all of those

>>96798093
Genesys is such a good system. Unfortunately it never came out during the formative years of the hobby so it never had a chance to catch on.

>>96797290 (OP)
Dungeon & Dragons 5e. perhaps Pathfinder.

>>96856303
You’re so gay lol

>>96797290 (OP)
Sorcery in Exalted maybe.

>>96855706
>Genesys is such a good system. Unfortunately it never came out during the formative years of the hobby so it never had a chance to catch on.
What makes it so great, and how would you get more people interested in it?

>>96797290 (OP)
Honestly I really like the incarnum/soulmeld thing D&D 3e did. Pathfinder 1e got an unofficial update via akashic magic.

Basically, you shape a spell, and then you can just use it however many times you want, or alternatly it provides some constant benefit. None of that "fire and forget" bullshit that Vancian casters use. As a drawback of being able to use your powers all day they're generally weaker than a spell that a wizard or cleric of the same level would have access to.

The main reason I like it is because it makes it easier to it allows the warrior classes usint it options besides "I hit/shoot/charge again," and 'casters' can't do everything. They can still do ANYTHING, but they can't do EVERYTHING.

>>96860800
Too bad Exalted is so fucking gay

>>96820913
>I bought Dungeon Crawl Classics specifically because of it's magic system.
>It works like standard Vanceian D&D magic but...
do you use the rest of DCC?

>>96797290 (OP)
frog

>>96868560
No u

rate the magic system for my setting

>Magic comes from a quantifiable amount of Mana in someone's body. however, that mana is also used to power basically every organ in the body and the soul itself. wizards need to watch how much mana they use before they start using the mana that powers their stomach, or the mana that powers their liver, etc.
>Mana itself is fueled by the world. as such it comes from the planet itself. with leylines fueling and powering human beings both passively (the air you breathe) and actively (actual fissures in the land pouring magic)
>Mana itself is the pure crude fuel that powers magic. every wizard/mage/sorcerer has to figure out how to turn that crude mana into actual magic
>Wizatd historians dedicate their entire lives to discover how ancient civilizaations used magic in their own completely unique ways

>Because Mana is dependent on where you are, there are dead zones where mages can't use any magic unless they begin depleting their own vital sources of Mana. a competent adventurer mage knows how to battle without magic

>likewise there are hotspots of mana so large that reality begins warping and molding, becoming so dangerous that Mages might carry too much power to stay alive (think drowning from drinking too much water)

>>96819422
Can you give a quick overview of how it works?

>>96853108

The Invisible College is explicitely based on western esotericism, while the others are less focused on that, being medieval.

The invisible college is about agents of this organization seeking the enlightenment of mankind and uniting with the divine one (kind of like jedis becoming one with the force, inspired by real life mysticism). There are also other organizations such as intelligence agencies and dark brotherhoods.

You can do rune, tarot, and i-ching divination, summon goetic demons and kabbalistic angels, astral travel, create talismans, do gematria, meet your Holy Guardian Angel/Augoeides for further enlightenment, chaos magick, etc.

It's not flashy at all, and magic requires roll checks and complex rituals that may take weeks or months.

>>96871690
Spells are repackaged as Mysteries with 3 or 4 spells in a thematic list and arranged by their approrpiate spell levels. Unfortunately you don't get all the spells in a mystery automatically but that's what made me despise how many one off spells exist. Granted, at least in 5.x you don't have a spell that only exists to give you a +x to whatever.

>>96869589
Yeah, I love running one-shots with it. My group loves going through the peasant funnel. Also the devs are total bros. I met them at a local gaming con and they were pretty cool dudes.

>>96856303
God that art style is just awful

>>96863169
Personally I like:

1) The reliance on dice to represent everything. Levels aren't just "You get +x to skill and stats XYZ", challenges aren't just "add up your static numbers and roll higher than baseline number 123". When you level up and become more skilled at something you get more or better dice to roll to beat challenges, which are represented by opposing dice whose rolls subtract from yours. It's more engaging for everyone and frees up a lot of pointless DM rolling.

2) There's no number bloat. In general, HP is kept very very low (usually 6-20) and armor doesn't cause misses but rather reduces damage, so fights feel gritty and dangerous and are fast. Even chump enemies remain threats throughout the party's life and I find players start to actually think about combat in 3 dimensions, instead of just charging in like they do in super hero simulators like D&D.

3) As a combination of the above 2, it's extremely easy to make up bullshit on the fly as a DM and it'll almost always work out. You don't have to factor in 3+ different static skill numbers, you don't need to math out the barbarian doing 1d12+4+3 x 2 damage but with 18 armor and 34 hit points while the rogue does 1d8+3+3d6 with 16 armor and 22 hit points etc etc etc. The low numbers and reliance on dice means you can rapidly conjure up threats and challenges.

It really is a good system, though I can see why conservative player groups used to D20+static numbers system wouldn't like it.

>>96853108
>>Many of RPG Pundit's works are based on actual esotericism. Lion & Dragon, Baptism of Fire, Sword & Caravan are all based on actual "magick" used at the time, simplified and adapted to tabletop game

I genuinely like RPGPundit for staking out the normal/anti-woke side when 99% of mainstream ttrpg's are far, far more poisoned than even Hollywood or video games. On the other hand, he's a lolcow with a borderline delusional personality disorder who takes, without irony, about his "best-selling games". Meanwhile he lives in a stone-age hovel in Uruguay and has a separate YT channel under another name where he seriously talks about the magic he believes in. Nigga, how about using that magic to raise yourself above the developed world poverty level or talking to a woman just to inject a bit of sanity?

>>96876715
People often complain that characters are hard to kill in Genesys, however, it usually turns out they aren't using critical wounds correctly.

>>96797290 (OP)
Symbaroum I liked

>>96876759
>I genuinely like RPGPundit for staking out the normal/anti-woke side when 99% of mainstream ttrpg's are far, far more poisoned than even Hollywood or video games. On the other hand, he's a lolcow with a borderline delusional personality disorder who takes, without irony, about his "best-selling games". Meanwhile he lives in a stone-age hovel in Uruguay and has a separate YT channel under another name where he seriously talks about the magic he believes in. Nigga, how about using that magic to raise yourself above the developed world poverty level or talking to a woman just to inject a bit of sanity?
lol this is a hilarious qrd on RPGPundit.
Does seem like he scrapes together a developing world living from RPG tism

>>96874891
>Yeah, I love running one-shots with it. My group loves going through the peasant funnel. Also the devs are total bros. I met them at a local gaming con and they were pretty cool dudes.
I think I'm going to dive deep Hot Springs Island with DCC

>>96797290 (OP)
Black Sword Hack

>>96876759
I guess the lolcow tier autism is required to make magic systems fun on tabletop.

>>96798093
>>96878121
>>96882164

These all suck, does the melee combat have terrible negatives too? If I learn to use crossbows will the arrows fly up in my face and take out an eye or something?

>>96876759
He should use his magic to cast "warm room" because in his winter videos, he's always bundled up in coats and a scarf. Just as it's surprising to learn most of Europe doesn't have A/C, it's strange to see a Uruguayan adobe hut with absolutely no form of heating. Didn't these mestizos even figure out how to build like a Russian peasant stove for the winter?

>>96828943
>RPG Pundit is a Thelemite to some extent, so he's knowledgeable when it comes to esotericism. I'd even consider it introductory material for those who want to learn more about esotericism.
>>96853108
>>96876759
I'd like to find my own topic to go deep in life and write a ttrpg for. Anyone have some interesting history or whatever suggestions?

>>96882288
>RPG Pundit is a Thelemite to some extent, so he's knowledgeable when it comes to esotericism. I'd even consider it introductory material for those who want to learn more about esotericism.
Swami, what do the South American indians think of you sex magic? Also, you gave me an unironic belly-laugh in one of your rpg vids where you bragged how "you're the most famous rpg personality in Uruguay and that makes you welcome everywhere".

>>96876759
I can't believe you would talk like this about the respectable Swamiji Nisarj!

Currently smoking: Old Hokey Pure Virginia Copium

>>96797290 (OP)
why, my peenus weanus of course :)

hahah! :D

it's my weeeeeenus peanus! :) hahah

ITT: Magic systems that I like - my answer is, of course, my peanus weenus :D

hahaha!

>>96882394
I can imagine the Swami awkwardly attempting his I Chingery on some 4'10" mestizo woman. "Um, and I don't mean to boast, but how much do you know about Dungeons & Dragons? Cause I'm a silver best seller on DriveThruRPG, that means I've sold 25 copies of my book."

Magic system where it's not actually magic, it's just modern or even archaic technology explained to a medeival peasant


>yeah, so everyone it has a magic mirror in their pocket that's full of lightning runes inscribed on tiles.
>it recieves visions from the heavens, allowing me to scry distant lands, and visions of clawed beats with gnashing teeth that make good familiars and can haz cheezeburgers

>>96882271
What did you not like about Black Sword Hack when you played it?

>>96882394
>>96882845

Uruguayans are mostly White. Why do Americans think anything south of the border has to be an Indian?

>>96883961
It's a whole nation of guys who absconded from vehicular manslaughter cases?

>>96876816
How do you use it incorrectly? The system is pretty straight forward.

I like shadow of the demon lord since you actually have to commit to a build and can't just take the most overpowered shit from each tradition. If you want fire, you have to commit to fire. I just wish they would expand the madness tradition or more unrealistically, make occult philosophy 2.

>>96797290 (OP)
Wildermyth's Interfusion mechanic. You bind your will to that of an object or being spirit and force it to move. a lot of environmental kills. I would like to see something like that in a Dark Messiah style rpg game

>>96884228
If you want the best poo-poo magic you have to commit to the poo-poo magic.

I only have a vidya answer and that would be Noita. I don't think you could ever reach this level of complexity in a tabletop rpg

>>96884673
You merely adopted the poop. I was born in it. Molded by it.

>>96884848
I'm tempted to try this but it seems like there's a steep learning curve. I'm OCD and tend to play new games very rarely because I only like self-imposed permadeath, so it's gotta be something that really appeals to me (mostly FromSoft games which are very doable permadeath if you're willing and able to play methodically)

>>96888713
It's a game that is best played with the understanding that the goal is to discover and learn something new with every playthrough and death, in order to apply it to the next run. Genuinely beautiful game. The wand crafting is so complex that not even the sky is the limit on what kind of crazy spell mixtures you could make.
It would be pretty sick to see a tabletop game with complex spell mechanics that allow for spell/wandcrafting with various components you find on quests

>>96797290 (OP)
idk

>>96797290 (OP)
FATAL .....

>>96797290 (OP)
Someone else mentioned adepts in the unknown Armies, which are cool as hell, but there are also Avatars, which gain powers from following essentially a Jungian archetype super hard. They aren't as versatile as adepts, but they have less hang-ups and are powerful in there hyper-specific field.

It also has a fun system for what amounts to hedge magic, doing shit like curses and hexes and blessings.

>>96813771
>It's based on Maze Rats
Honestly the one thing I disliked about that game, the vagueness and randomness are too much for me.

>>96899909
It's not that vague
>describe what you're trying to do
>GM passes over it, just in case
>roll to try

>>96888794
That's kinda how I developed my system, albeit far less crunchy
>have a bunch of base effects
>have a bunch of modifiers, most of which are applicable to multiple bases
>combine up to three art a time, plotting them on a hexgrid for huge variance

Redpill me on Ars Magica. Is the rule book alone enough or do you need supplements?

>>96904528
The rule book is enough because it's maybe the epitome of "GM bought this, imagined playing, didn't play" games. Easily 98% of people you hear praising it have never run a game in it, to the point wher emost of them can't even explain what a campaign is supposed to be about or what might happen in it. They just sperg over various aspects of the rules.

Lex Occultum

>>96904528
This is one of those games.

That one game

Ribbit

Posting in a Bumpchad thread

>>96895234
>FATAL .....
Why? Just why? That game is literally unplayable.

>>96918578
PISS MAGIC anon ……

>>96904528
>>96905721
Ars Magica is more a game for medieval autism with a side of magic autism than it is for the magic. You play as weird companions and peasants that handle errands for the wizard that stays in his tower to do magic stuff, and only ever comes out when he's really needed. Magic is more a plot device to motivate players to do stuff so they can have cool shit.

>>96797290 (OP)
Frog?

>>96924922
Frog.

>>96884116
Many new GMs (myself included) have DnD brain. We see the HP bar of the players and target that. All that does is knock them out, and wounds are very easy to recover. Critical injuries are what NPCs intending to kill the PCs should be using all the time. After a good fight the PCs should be broken down, full of crits and debuffs

>>96929210
But you don't target the "HP-bar". There are clearly defined triggers for rolling critical injuries and otherwise you're inflicting wounds. Adversaries always "target" the wound threshold and critical injuries just happen along the way.
If anything players and GM just need to understand that getting knocked out is not as big of a deal as it is in other systems.

I really liked the 3rd D&D class Binders. Their versatility was fun, just drop it from a class, and make Binding a skill people can put points into to spread it out to the other classes.

I quite enjoyed Morrowind's spell, enchanting, and alchemy system, to a degree where I tried running an ESDnD game.

In the videogame, if you're not familiar, you can create a positive feedback loop by crafting potions which boost your intelligence.. as this lets you craft better potions. Repeat until you have fortified your intelligence to deific level for the equivalent of your actual natural lifetime. Then, craft potions to boost your other skills, or make enchanted items that are beyond even some Artifacts. (Just dont fortify your speed too much lest you end up on the other side of the continent with a few steps; nor your strength unless you want to break all your weapons with one strike.)

The spells are classic RPG spells. Turn undead, elemental magic, poison.. but I also like the less conventional spells. Silence, to prevent spellcasting. Levitate on target, to immobilize in a funnier way than using Paralysis. Summon daedra and undead.. or my favorite, using the old glitch where Soul Trap (which captures the souls of creatures to power enchanting) could be combined with Summons to make them permanent.

I picked up a toad once and it peed on me

>>96943591
Thats just what they do

Posted to the sister thread, but I will post this here are well.
>Select from hundreds of words
>Use them to make custom spells with unlimited creativity
>System agnostic rule's means you can fit said spells anywhere.

>>96797290 (OP)
I really like this image

>>96797290 (OP)
Not sure I would call it my favorite or even the coolest, but I have always liked how shadowrun did spellcasting. Were one can be a mage either by the standard being intelligent or go down the route of "screw it" and instead just building a guy who can facetank the backlash.

>>96797290 (OP)
ribbit

>>96797290 (OP)
Dark Souls

>>96797290 (OP)
The one in Prowlers, ie. none, which allows any player to invent their own magic system, and it is guaranteed to be balanced.