Re: The Wizard's Expanded Spellbook
Posted: July 3rd, 2015, 5:26 am
So, in effect, you use what I call a mana system.
In fantasy games (roleplaying, dungeoncrawling and wargames, Pen & Paper, Live action, board game or computer) there are several solutions to handle magic. The most common are spell based and mana based
In spell based systems, as in D&D and Heroquest, you have a given set of spells you can use up.
In mana based systems you have a given amount ouf magic points and the use each spell has a special cost. These magic points may be called "mana" (Diablo), "astral energy" (Dark Eye) or any other name. I normally call it mana, as this is the most widely known term.
There are other possible rule systems (e. g. you could use the spells as often as you like, but require a test each time to make it work), but spell based and mana based are the most common.
In your case, the mana of a magic user equals his mind points. I would recommend to describe it this way. Choose a term for the magic energy and then state that "A magic user starts a quest with mana (or whatever) equal to his mind points". Each spell has it's given cost in mana. Call it "mana cost", not "power". This would be clearer, at least to my ears, than
As you use separate mana pools for the different spell groups, you could call it "earth energy", "water energy" etc.. This would add to both atmosphere and clarity.
In fantasy games (roleplaying, dungeoncrawling and wargames, Pen & Paper, Live action, board game or computer) there are several solutions to handle magic. The most common are spell based and mana based
In spell based systems, as in D&D and Heroquest, you have a given set of spells you can use up.
In mana based systems you have a given amount ouf magic points and the use each spell has a special cost. These magic points may be called "mana" (Diablo), "astral energy" (Dark Eye) or any other name. I normally call it mana, as this is the most widely known term.
There are other possible rule systems (e. g. you could use the spells as often as you like, but require a test each time to make it work), but spell based and mana based are the most common.
In your case, the mana of a magic user equals his mind points. I would recommend to describe it this way. Choose a term for the magic energy and then state that "A magic user starts a quest with mana (or whatever) equal to his mind points". Each spell has it's given cost in mana. Call it "mana cost", not "power". This would be clearer, at least to my ears, than
"Each Spell has a power rating between 1 and 4. To cast a Spell, the Hero must spend magic power equal to the spell’s power rating. Heroes begin the Quest with magic power equal to their starting Mind Points for each Spell Group they took at the start of the Quest".
As you use separate mana pools for the different spell groups, you could call it "earth energy", "water energy" etc.. This would add to both atmosphere and clarity.