Forgotten Fable™: Brief Spellcasting Overview

by Tim Wallace

Retooling the magic system takes a long time. So, as the title of this post states, this is just a brief overview of how magic is going to work in Forgotten Fable™.

To begin, we are only going to have two schools of magic: white and black, cast by argent magi and sable magi, respectively. Vermilion magi can cast from both schools, but their maximum spell level will cap at spell level 6 or 7. In addition, we are going to use a mana-per-day instead of spells-per-day system. We are also considering vitalizing (a term we may rename) mana. What this would mean at a very basic level is a spellcaster whose mana has dropped to half of his maximum or less becomes fatigued, and a spellcaster whose mana has dropped to one-quarter his maximum level or less becomes exhausted.

Mana per a level per day will look something like this.

Table: Mana per Day

Level	Argent or Sable Magus	Vermilion Magus
1st	2	1
2nd	6	2
3rd	11	4
4th	17	9
5th	25	8
6th	35	12
7th	46	16
8th	58	20
9th	72	24
10th	88	28
11th	106	36
12th	126	44
13th	147	52
14th	170	60
15th	195	68
16th	221	80
17th	250	92
18th	280	104
19th	311	116
20th	343	128

And extra mana gained from a high spellcasting ability score will look something like this.

Table: Ability Scores and Bonus Mana

Ability Score	——————————————————Bonus Mana (by Class Level)——————————————————————
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	11th	12th	13th	14th	15th	16th	17th	18th	19th	20th
10-11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12-13	0	1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	7	7	8	8	9	9	10
14-15	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
16-17	1	3	4	6	7	9	10	12	13	15	16	18	19	21	22	24	25	27	28	30
18-19	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20	22	24	26	28	30	32	34	36	38	40
20-21	2	5	7	10	12	15	17	20	22	25	27	30	32	35	37	40	42	45	47	50
22-23	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30	33	36	39	42	45	48	51	54	57	60
24-25	3	7	10	14	17	21	24	28	31	35	38	42	45	49	52	56	59	63	66	70
26-27	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80
28-29	4	9	13	18	22	27	31	36	40	45	49	54	58	63	67	72	76	81	85	90
30-31	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60	65	70	75	80	85	90	95	100
32-33	5	11	16	22	27	33	38	44	49	55	60	66	71	77	82	88	93	99	104	110
34-35	6	12	18	24	30	36	42	48	54	60	66	72	78	84	90	96	102	108	114	120
36-37	6	13	19	26	32	39	45	52	58	65	71	78	84	91	97	104	110	117	123	130
38-39	7	14	21	28	35	42	49	56	63	70	77	84	91	98	105	112	119	126	133	140
40-41	7	15	22	30	37	45	52	60	67	75	82	90	97	105	112	120	127	135	142	150

Here what the mana cost per final spell level will most likely look like this.

Table: Mana Cost per Spell Level

Spell Level	Mana Cost
1	1
2	3
3	5
4	7
5	9
6	11
7	13
8	15
9	17

Our goals when designing spells are as follows.

• All spells have a casting time of 1 standard action.
• All spells ignore components.
• All spell have a range of personal (when beneficial) or touch (when offensive) for the lowest version.
• All spells have a target of self (when beneficial) or a single creature (when offensive) for the lowest version.

Here is an example of the difference of a spell in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and its analog in Forgotten Fable™.

CURE LIGHT WOUNDS (Pathfinder Roleplaying Game)

School conjuration (healing); Level bard 1, cleric 1, druid 1, paladin 1, ranger 2

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S

Range touch

Target creature touched

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Will half (harmless); see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless); see text

When laying your hand upon a living creature, you channel positive energy that cures 1d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +5). Since undead are powered by negative energy, this spell deals damage to them instead of curing their wounds. An undead creature can apply spell resistance, and can attempt a Will save to take half damage.

CURE (Forgotten Fable™)

School white magic (healing); Level argent magus 1, vermilion magus 1; Mana Cost 1

Casting Time 1 standard action

Range personal

Target self

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw Will half (harmless); see text; Spell Resistance yes (harmless); see text

When laying your hand upon a living creature, you channel positive energy that heals 1d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +5). Since undead are powered by negative energy, this spell deals damage to them instead of curing their wounds. An undead creature can apply spell resistance, and can attempt a Will save to take half damage.

Augmentations

+1 spell level—heal an additional 1d8 points of damage.

+1 spell level—increase range to touch and change target to creature touched. When cast offensively, you must succeed at a melee touch attack to hit your target.

+2 spell levels—increase range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) and target to one creature. When cast offensively, you must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit your target.

+2 spell levels—change effect to 10-foot-radius burst centered on you. +1 additional spell level to increase the burst radius to 20 feet.

+5 spell levels—increase range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) and target to one creature per caster level, no two of which can be more than 30 feet apart. When cast offensively, you must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit each specific target.

Bonus—for every level the spell is increased by augmentations, the maximum points of damage healed per caster level is increased by +5.

For example, if you want to cure one ally 30 feet away of 2d8 damage, the base level of the cure spell is 1 + 1 spell level to heal an additional 1d8 points of damage + 2 spell levels to increase the range to close and the target to one creature. The result is effectively a 4th-level spell that heals 2d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +20) with a mana cost of 7.

Alternatively, if you were surrounded by living allies and enemy undead, you might want to cast the spell as a 10-foot-radius burst. For this scenario, the base level of the cure spell is 1 + 2 spell levels to change effect to 10-foot-radius burst centered on you. The result is effectively a 3rd-level spell that heals you and your living allies within the burst radius for 1d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +15), deals the same amount damage to all undead within the burst radius (they may make Will saves for half damage), and has a mana cost of 5.

And here is an example of one of the offensive spells for Forgotten Fable™.

BURN

School black magic [fire]; Level sable magus 1, vermillion magus 1; Mana Cost 1

Casting Time 1 standard action

Range touch

Target one creature

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

Your hand is wreathed in fire. You must succeed on a melee touch attack to hit your target. The orb deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 5d4).

Augmentations

+1 spell level—increase maximum fire damage by 5d6.

+1 spell level—increase range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels). You must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit your target.

+2 spell levels—increase range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) and change effect to a 10-foot-radius burst centered on the target. All creatures inside the burst radius may make a Reflex save for half damage. +1 additional spell level to increase the burst radius to 20 feet.

+2 spell levels—change effect to a 15-foot cone. All creatures inside the cone area may make a Reflex save for half damage. +1 additional spell level to increase the effect to a 30-foot cone.

+2 spell levels—change effect to a 60-foot line originating from you. All creatures inside the line area may make a Reflex save for half damage. +1 additional spell level to increase the effect to a 120-foot line.

+5 spell levels—increase range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) and target to one creature per caster level, no two of which can be more than 30 feet apart. You must succeed at a ranged touch attack to hit each specific target.

Bonus—for every two levels the spell is increased by augmentations, the maximum fire damage increases by 5d6.

For example, if you want to mimic fireball, the base level of the burn spell is 1 + 2 spell levels to increase the range to close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) and change effect to a 10-foot-radius burst centered on the target + 1 spell level to increase the burst radius to 20 feet. The result is effectively a 4th-level spell that deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) in a 20-foot radius burst and has a mana cost of 7.

And to mimic burning hands, the base level of the burn spell is 1 + 2 spell levels to change the effect to a 15-foot cone. The result is effectively a 3rd-level spell that deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) in a 15-foot cone and has a mana cost of 5.

Furthermore, you will be able to combine spells based on the chart below.

Table: Combining Spells

Spell Level	One Spell	Two Spells	Three Spells
1st	1	—	—
2nd	2	—	—
3rd	3	1/1	—
4th	4	2/2 or 3/1	1/1/1
5th	5	3/3 or 4/2	2/2/2 or 3/1/1
6th	6	4/4 or 5/3	3/3/3 or 4/2/2
7th	7	5/5 or 6/4	4/4/4 or 5/3/3
8th	8	6/6 or 7/5	5/5/5 or 6/4/4
9th	9	7/7 or 8/5	6/6/6 or 7/5/5

For example, a vermilion magus who knows both cure and burn could combine them as follows: base cure spell level 1 + 1 spell level to make it a touch spell + 1 spell level to heal an additional 1d8 points of damage = effective 3rd-level cure spell; this could then combined with a 1st-level burn spell to create a 4th-level spell which deals 2d8 points of damage + 1 point per caster level (maximum +15) PLUS 1d6 points of fire damage per level (maximum 5d6) to undead and has a mana cost of 7.