Advanced d20 Magic Review

 

Advanced d20 Magic cover

 

Advanced d20 Magic is the best magic system for Dungeons and Dragons, hands down.  A no level approach to magic, it's a system that does require math to work out.  All you are doing is add and subtract for this game system -- simple mathematics, really.  No Calculus is needed for this system.  This system is devised by David and Michelle Lyons for the Slayers d20 game by Guardians of Order (now owned by White Wolf, which is owned by Paradox Interactive).  Now, in this version, David and Michelle Lyons brings the magic system of the Slayers fully to regular D&D.

How the System Works

The system, called Dynamic Spellcasting, works by treating every spell at default like a spell you can cast at a single action as a stilled and silent spell.  As long as you are prepared to resist the drain (this part works like Shadowrun's magic system).  You cast a spell, and then you make a fortitude save to resist drain.  In BESM d20 games, this means you suffer drain of your energy points.  In regular d20, if you aren't using the optional Spell Points system from Unearthed Arcana, you suffer non-lethal damage for casting a spell.  How much damage depends on how powerful the spell is.

By Anthony Cournoyer.

A spell like fireball (Casting DC 31) will have you resisting 1d10 damage, for instance.  While a spell like wish (Casting DC 101) would have you resisting 16d10 damage.  As a result, you'll have more success casting spells with a lower Casting DC than a higher one.  Each spell has a Casting DC.  Which is the Difficulty Class of your fortitude drain.  But don't worry, you have the tools to reduce the punishment.

Forms and Focusing Agents

The system presents a number of forms to increase your chances of casting a spell. These include Invocations, Incantations, and Rituals.  An Invocation is one where your mage casts spell by invoking it's name -- loudly.  Everyone will know what kind of spell your casting when you invoke the spell while gathering it's energies.  That gives you a +5 bonus to your roll.  Another thing you can do is make an incantation.  This means you ritually chant while gathering the spell's energies.  This offers another +5 bonus to your roll. They stack, guys.  Additionally, you can cast it as a ritual, which offers a bonus depending on how long you do the ritual. That also stacks.

Additionally, you can add a focus to the roll.  This can be either basic (like a Divine Focus -- ie. your holy symbol) or an expendable focus (like bat guano for fireball).  These can offer +2 or +1 (or both) to your roll. Finally, you can make an investment of body (sacrificing hit points) and/or an investment of mind (sacrificing a number of experience points to cast your spell).

Metamagic Feats and Dynamic Spellcasting

 Two metamagic feats are included in the Casting DC of each spell -- Still Spell and Silent Spell (see the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook or Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook).  You can cast any spell as one standard action as a still spell and silent spell.  The invocation and incantation forms just makes this easier. Adding any other metamagic feat (or a combination of metamagic feats) to your spell increases it's Casting DC.  Thus it makes the spell harder to cast. But worth it if you can pull it off.  

There are other rules to consider.  There are rules for cooperative casting, multiple spells, what happens if two different spells are cast -- and if they cancel out. There are rules for spell resistance, and controlling the magic if you fail your fortitude saving throw. Learning a new spell takes a number of slots.  A spell like goodberry would take one slot to learn, while wish would take four slots to learn. 

By Shaman's Stock Art (Anthony Cournoyer)

Even learning new spells are easy with this system.  All you need a copy of the spell and/or a teacher.  You learn the spell with a basic Knowledge: Arcana check or a Spellcraft Check with a DC that is -10 the Casting DC.  Thus, learning fireball only takes a DC of 21 to pass.  Easy enough, so far.  Inventing a spell with this system also is easier. You just need to work with your DM/GM and he sets the learning DC, and you have to pass the check to learn the spell.

Magical Characters

This chapter shows how you can use the system with existing rules.  For instance, it balances out the Dynamic Sorcerer class.  And then there is the magic attribute, and that is handled by this system.  Plus, each magic using character class in regular d20 is converted to this system.  For instance Sorcerers have 80 slots to learn spells, but get magical drain resistance.  Wizards can learn any spell they please, and divine spellcasters take one round to cast their spells.

Magic Items

There is a system for handling magic items. Again, you have to roll against DCs to make magic items, but you can add the spell needed and make the required investments of mind to make the magic item.  Easy peasy.

Converting Spells

Finally, there is a chapter on converting spells from other d20 System products (or Pathfinder 1e products!).  It's simple, check the spells base Casting DC, check what priority the spell has -- remember if a Wizard or Sorcerer gets the list, it's first in priority. Second, check see if it requires a focus of some sort, or a ritual form.  Then check if it requires an investment of mind or body.  Then check it's level to see how many slots it can take.  And wholla -- you converted the spell!

As an example, a spell taken from More Magic and Mayhem, the spell corruption!  Corruption is a first level warlock spell that normally takes 1 standard action to cast. This makes the Casting DC 20, since it is a Warlock spell -- it's treated as a sorcerer/wizard spell. Since it is a first level spell, it takes one slot to learn.  Easy enough!

So, since this is a great system -- it's compatible with all editions of D&D and Pathfinder -- why can't you get it from DriveThruRPG?  Well, I don't know what happened, but the only way to get Advanced d20 Magic is second hand.  You have to download it off the internet for free in order to enjoy it. Believe me it's worth it.  It will take your game to the next level, yes.

Eberron: Secrets of Magic

 

EBERRON

THE SECRETS OF MAGIC CAMPAIGN

Some say that the ability to command great armies is power.  Of course, Queen Aurala of Aundair certainly commands armies to do her bidding.  Some say physical strength is power.  Just look at the physical might of any Warforged.  Or anyone that has practiced body building to great extent.  Certainly physical strength is power.  However, the wizards of the Arcane Congress has a better idea of power. Their saying: Scientia est Potentia . . . Knowledge is power.

Welcome to the Secrets of Magic campaign!  A campaign beginning in Aundair, but the travels of the party might take them outside of Aundair in search of power and magic. The heroes (the PCs) start off as magic using classes that have completed their apprenticeship, i.e. level one.  They are about to start their Journeyman stage of their mastery of magic.  Their masters of magic have taught them magic and they are ready to start their journeys.  On their journeys, the PCs must learn new magic and become masters in their own right in order to reach their goals.

Campaign Dynamics

 This is a Pathfinder 1e campaign.  To be frank, it's centered around a group of arcane magic users that have attained their apprenticeship and have graduated to Journeymen.  The player characters are expected to start out as magic users (wizards, sorcerers, summoners, etc.) but may discover other paths as they accomplish their goals.  As time goes on, as they journey, they will come across new magic. 

For this campaign, the following books will be used:

* PATHFINDER Roleplaying Game, Core Rulebook: The bulwark of the campaign.
* Advanced Player's Guide: Summoner class, other class options, and new spells.
* Advanced d20 Magic: Contains the magic system we will be using. It's a simple system of add and subtract.  It's not available on Drivethru, so you will have to download it.
* Unearthed Arcana Specifically, the Spell points optional rule. On page 156. After reading the rules in Advanced d20 Magic on drain, it should be easy to understand why we are using spell points.
* Ultimate Magic: Magus class and new spells.
* Advanced Class Guide: Arcanist class.
* Eberron Campaign Setting: This contains the basics of the world we are using for this campaign.
* Races of Eberron: Talks about the four new races introduced in the ECS.
* Five Nations, especially the chapter on Aundair.

 

Classes Allowed: Wizard, Sorcerer, Arcanist, Summoner, and Magus. Multi-classing into other classes is possible. Just not the Gunslinger. Gunpowder doesn't exist on Eberron. Just remember that the Arcanist, Summoner, and Magi has to be converted to Advanced d20 Magic. Should be easy, after looking at how the other spell using classes work. I'll be willing to work with you. NO CUSTOM CLASSES!

Races: Any race in the Eberron Campaign Setting book and Races of Eberron book works out fine. Kalashtar also work as a choice, just remember this game is centered on spellcasters. Just remember, some Warforged feats work best as Alternate traits.

Character Creation Dynamics

* Purchase method; 20 ability points.
* Two traits.
* Average starting gp.
* 1st Level
* Starting spells from Advanced D20 Magic and the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. You will discover more powerful magic on your journey. Try to choose starting spells with 1 slot to learn.
* You start off knowing each other as friends and/or colleagues. Your friendship between each other should grow as the campaign progresses.
* Alignments: Any of the alignments are possible -- but try to stay away from evil alignments, I'd like to play all the bad guys.
* Character backgrounds: You can use Ultimate Campaign to generate your background. Or, if you are feeling adventurous, you can get a copy of Central Casting: Heroes of Legend by Paul Jacquays and generate your background using that.

Okay, that should cover everything. You start on your journeys as Journeymen. You won't be acknowledged as a Master until you reach 10th or 15th level. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.

Central Casting: Heroes of Legend Review

by Paul Jaquays

 Ah, the Tour de Force of random tables and charts for your fantasy roleplaying game.  Central Casting: Heroes of Legend was written to help you as a gamer figure out the background of your character.  From unusual births (such as, being born exactly at Noon or Midnight), to childhood events and events in your adolescence.  To events in young adulthood, this book has it all. Although it's dated (like how it treats homosexuality, we now know that there is nothing wrong with a homosexual). This book is still useful in creating a 3D character.  Although some roleplayers tend to think up their characters whole cloth for fantasy roleplay, others could use a little bit of help.  As such this book is out of print and buying a copy from Amazon is way expensive: it costs almost a thousand dollars on Amazon.  So it's best to download it from the Internet (as if anyone is willing to spend that amount of cash for this book.)

What's in it?

Paul goes over how characters in most roleplaying games are one dimensional.  Actually, characters are often one dimensional.  Even characters I created do not have the depth to them.  I just go with a character with a small background and then proceed to play them.  The tables and charts in this book proceed to change all that.

The book takes you through some considerations for your character. The book talks about survival skills (something that equals the skill survival in Pathfinder first edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition). Literacy, motivations, and generating NPCs using the tables in this book.  The tables begin with your character's race.  Of course you could choose your race, or randomly generate the race. Races in the book include humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, halflings, beastmen, reptilemen (Dragonborn or lizardfolk), orcs, and half-orcs.  Although your fantasy campaign might have their own races.  

By DomCritelli from Shutterstock.

The book continues with a random table choosing culture (and this goes from neolithic and stone age cultures to decadent cultures). Then you can randomly choose your social status and whether or not your character is legitimate (bastards are possible).  Reasons for being illegitimate (like your character's mother might be a harlot), then your character's family, your character's siblings, then birth order.  The tables are relentless -- birth order, your character's time of birth, place of birth, even exotic birth locations.  Then you see whether or not your character had an unusual birth.  After that, your character's parents and important NPCs can be randomly generated.

After that, you can randomly generate what happened during your character's childhood and adolescence.  First, you figure out how many events happened during your childhood and then you roll.  This table, unlike other tables in other products (Ultimate Campaign, for instance); does not pull any punches.  It is very detailed and controversial.  One of the events that happens in childhood or adolescence (since you are using this table twice) is that the character could have been sexually molested.  There's even one where the character enters a political marriage with another (arranged marriages can happen).

Besides that, certain events require you to go into other tables. And there is a lot of them. But, the book maintains that in childhood and adolesence a personality develops -- so you may get certain traits based off of your character's history that you roll up.

From Shutterstock.

After that there are many tables with which you can generate your character's history and personality.  A lot of them.  From randomly generating personality traits, to love, to others, to non-humans, to time in the military, to being enslaved, to unusual skills, this book has it all.  Even something that is GM only.

Conclusion

If you are looking to go beyond what Ultimate Campaign and other similar character generators offer for generating your character's background.  This book provides that.  Unfortunately, unless you are ready to pay a small fortune for this book, I suggest downloading it off the internet.  It may be illegal, but it's the only way you're going to get it.  The book is worth it to get off the Internet, or to pay for the near one thousand dollars for a copy.  It's an excellent resource for your fantasy campaign; even though it's jaded and dated.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide

 

From Paizo.com

Thought I should do something Paizo related.  Don't worry, I'll be getting to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game in quick order.  Right now, I'm reviewing the Pathfinder Campaign Setting: The Inner Sea World Guide.  Why, because I have a hard copy I can check out and go through it chapter by chapter.  It's an ambitious project -- recounting the Inner Sea region for campaigning using your favorite game system, not just Pathfinder.  Although I suspect my GURPS peers may have a conversion guide up (soon I'll be reviewing GURPS Banestorm and GURPS Fantasy).

The Inner Sea World Guide is quite simply, a guide to a piece of the world of Golarion called the Inner Sea.  It's as ambitious as the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting for 1st edition, 2nd edition, and 3rd edition.  My copy came as new, and I also have a digital copy. I refer to the hard copy I got from Amazon.  It's also the third incarnation of the Pathfinder campaign setting.

Disclaimer

This work is a fantasy world.  Thus it has many gods and the people are usually polytheistic.  Plus, there is nothing tying it to the Electric Universe.  You shouldn't take it as reality, it's a work for a game and therefore not real.  Yet. 

 Overview

Inner Sea World Map

 Lets get into it.  The first part of the book is the Introduction.  It welcomes you to the Inner Sea, a campaign setting that works with Pathfinder and written for Pathfinder.  However, like I said, you can use The Inner Sea with just about any game system you wish.  Including FATE, Rolemaster, and Dungeons and Dragons.  It describes how a god of humanity died and now the world is in need of heroes. It also describes the Inner Sea region as the trading and cultural hub of two mighty continents: Avistan and Garund.  These are based on Europe and Africa, respectively.  The book provides a broad overview of the Inner Sea region, yes.  And already I have an area I'd like to run a campaign in.  Also the introduction goes over the Pathfinder society, which is like the National Geographic Society.  Kind of.

The next part of the book goes over races.  And there are many different races that are recounted in this chapter, mostly human ones.  Then it devotes a page to the common races in Pathfinder.  The first chapter is scant, to tell the truth, but most of the meat of the book is in Chapter 2 -- The Inner Sea.

The Inner Sea region chapter goes over the Inner Sea in detail.  First water ways, including the Eye of Abendego -- which is a perpetual hurricane, like the Red Eye Spot of Jupiter. Then we get history.  And a good part of it. After the timeline, we get into the roll of nations.  Each nation in the Inner Sea region gets four pages detailing it's culture and a map of that nation.  The first nation, Absalom, gets turned into Absalom station in Starfinder (another game I'll get to reviewing).  Each kingdom and nation has a theme going for it.  For instance Andoran is based on the American Revolutionary War, while Cheliax is a kingdom where devils rule. And Jalmeray (an island kingdom) is based on Medieval Hindu India.

After the roll of Nations and Kingdoms, some effort is put forth on what is beyond the Inner Sea. Including Arcadia, Azlant, Casmaron, and Tian Xia (which is based on China and Japan, I'll review the Far East later).  Also what is recorded is the Solar System of Golarion.  Which I'll get into detail with my Starfinder review.  After that the lost empires of the Inner Sea is recounted in a section called Before the Inner Sea.  It's a hefty chapter full of information for you and me.

 

The Religion chapter goes over the Gods of the Inner Sea. There aren't a lot of Core Deities worshiped in the Inner Sea region, this is different from the Forgotten Realms powers -- where there is a a lot of them.  There are two additional domains for Pathfinder in this section and each Core Deity gets an overview of what their area concern and their domains. After that, there are a few other deities and Archdevils and demon lords.  And then other powers that are worshiped as well.  After that there is a whole section of Philosophies that are covered.   Then the great beyond is also covered -- these are the outer planes.  And each is given a section.

After that a chapter is devoted to life in the Inner Sea. This chapter covers trade, weather and climate, languages, coinage, and technology.  Animals and plants are also covered in this chapter. One of the technological wonders it covers is the moveable type printing press. Since it makes printing spell books easier, its also instrumental in publishing books on a far range of topics.

After that, the book covers Factions in the Inner Sea on an entire chapter devoted to them.  Each major faction has two pages devoted to them. After that, the chapter on Adventuring is covered.  Here you find ways on how the classes are worked into the Inner Sea, from alchemists to magi to the wizard.  Then there is a section of Prestige Classes remunerated.  From the Harrower to the Hellknight, to the Red Mantis Assassin.  Then there is a section of new feats, along with new equipment and spells.  Finally there is magic items.

The book's final chapter is on monsters.  And there isn't a lot of them.  However, they are there as suggestions for use or conversion into your favorite roleplaying game systems.  Then there is an index and the Open Game License with it's lengthy Section 15.

Conclusion

At three hundred and eighteen pages, this is a hefty tome.  But one that should be considered if you are adventuring in the Inner Sea region with your favorite game system or Pathfinder.  Conversion from Pathfinder to GURPS should be easy.  Some monsters may need work to do, but beyond those the book can be used as is.  I suggest you purchase the digital version first before getting your hard copy, just to see if the Inner Sea is somewhere you'd like to adventure in.

Welcome!

 

Hi everyone!

Welcome to my blog about Roleplaying Games.  Here I'll provide reviews of products I've purchased, like The Inner Sea World Guide and Werewolf: The Apocalypse (revised!).  I also think about different settings and how they work.  One of these is a page for Rage in Salt Lake, a mused setting for Werewolf.

I'll be adding to my blog as they come. Incidentally, I may write a review for Werewolf: the Apocalypse first.