Mercurial Magic

[Sir Bedivere]

UPDATE 8/26/10: Some substantial changes have been made and, if the reader is new to this thread, it would be best to read this original post and then skip to the last post on the first page, which begins with On a positive note ... After that, new mercurial descriptions and rationale have been posted on the second page of this thread.

ORIGINAL POST:

Here are the alternate rules for Magic-users I've been working on. I haven't playtested them yet, but hope to do so soon. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

Since it's a bit long, I'll make three posts: the rules, the mercurials, the rationale.

Here are my current rules for mercurial magic:

Ambient Magic

The world is full of magic. In most places it is a mild, raw energy called ambient magic. There are two ways magical energy can be used by a magician. The first method, which herein is called logomancy, is when a magic-user spends time each day memorizing spells. The power embedded in the magical formulas transfers into the magician's mind as fully formed spells stored for later use. The second method is for the magic-user to directly use the energy available in the environment without storing it as a spell. This second method is mercurial magic. (A third method for campaigns that use the sorcerer class is storing ambient magic as spell points that are later released in pre-formulated spells.)

To illustrate the difference between these two methods, imagine the magic-user (or sorcerer) standing in a shallow pond. Preparing a logomantic spell is similar to the magic-user filling a bucket with water and saving it to throw at someone or something. Using mercurial magic, on the other hand, is similar to the magic-user just skimming a hand along the top of the water to splash someone or something.

Depending on the Game Master’s campaign, there may be places where ambient magic is more or less highly concentrated or places where it is altogether missing. The effect these special places have on magic use, if any, is entirely up to the GM. For some ideas on ways to handle areas with higher or lower than usual amounts of ambient magic, see the Topography of Magic rules (to be posted here later). The GM may also decide to allow certain monsters and other creatures to use mercurial magic.

Mercurial Magic

Apprentice magicians spend years learning to build up and store magic and focus it into specific, powerful spells. Along the way they often informally learn to use ambient magic to produce weak, spontaneous effects without the use of spells. These effects are called mercurials.

Mercurials are not spells. They are spontaneous uses of ambient magic that the magic-user gathers, channels, and releases virtually simultaneously. A master magic-user, or maybe older apprentices, may give a young apprentice a few pointers on how to do it, but there is no formal training for using mercurials; they are learned intuitively. Most magic-users pick them up naturally, figuring out one during apprenticeship and two more at first level. Magic-users then work out an additional mercurial each at third, sixth, and ninth levels. The range and effects of mercurials do not change with the caster’s level because, regardless of the magic-user’s level, there is only a certain amount of ambient magic in the area that can be used this way.

Mercurial use requires at least one free hand and that the caster be able to speak, with one exception, the Send Thought mercurial described below. The target of a mercurial gets a normal saving throw vs. magic where appropriate.

A Note on Optional Classes

At the GM’s discretion, optional magic-user classes such as the illusionist, sorcerer, etc., can use mercurial magic in the same way a magic-user does.

Because mercurial magic is a form of spontaneous magic and so one might think a sorcerer would have more powerful mercurials, a special note on sorcerers is in order. When sorcerers gain their spell points each day it is the result of taking in and storing energy from the ambient magic of the environment. When they cast a spell, they are focusing and releasing this stored energy in pre-arranged ways defined by the spell formula.

Mercurials do not use stored magical energy. Magic-users and sorcerers both shape the ambient magic around them as the mercurial is cast. Consequently, sorcerers have the same limitations as magic-users in using mercurials.

UPDATE 8/26/10: Now would be the time to jump to the last post on page 1. Thanks for reading!

[Sir Bedivere]

Mercurial Descriptions

The hallmark of a mercurial is simplicity. The use of raw, ambient magic, mostly unshaped, means that any given mercurial can only do one simple thing and durations are very short, one round or less. Casting a mercurial takes up the caster's actions for that round. An asterisk by the mercurial's name indicates that it is reversible.

Bite
Range: 30 ft.
Mercurial
Duration: instantaneous

This mercurial strikes a living or undead target in the caster’s line of sight with a thin magical bolt of energy. It causes d3 damage and can affect incorporeal creatures such as specters. Being ‘bitten’ feels like taking a sharp, electrical jolt.

Block
Range: self
Mercurial
Duration: 1 round

Block automatically stops any mercurial from affecting the caster, regardless of how many mercurials the caster may be the target of during the round. It does not affect stored magic or memorized spells in any way.

Distract
Range: 30 ft.
Mercurial
Duration: 1 round

One target in the caster’s line of sight believes he sees or hears something in a different direction and automatically turns to look, causing a -1 to all rolls for one round. This is effective even in combat, when the ‘something’ might be (if it were real) an enemy or some other danger. Regardless of whether the target makes the saving throw, he or she remains unaware of being the target of magic, dismissing the ‘something’ that wasn’t there as one of those tricks the mind plays. However, magic-users and magic-using creatures will know they have been the target of magic.

Heat*
Range: 30 ft.
Mercurial
Duration: 1 round

A target area of a one foot diameter sphere in the caster’s line of sight is heated up. For living creatures, this will cause excessive warmth, sweating, and possibly momentary dizziness in the right circumstances (GM’s discretion). It will make non-living targets hot to the touch, though not enough to cause damage. It would be quite useful for re-heating cold tea, for example. Ice or ice-based creatures will take d3 damage from this mercurial, while creatures suffering from cold damage will be healed d3 HP. This mercurial is reversible as Cool.

Send Thought
Range: 30 ft.
Mercurial
Duration: instantaneous

The caster can send a single word from his mind to a target creature’s mind. This mercurial requires no spoken component and no gesture, so the caster can use it even if bound and gagged. The target creature must either be within the caster’s sight or must be personally known to the caster and the caster must have a good mental image of where the target is. An unseen target must still be in range, of course. A creature who is on guard for such things and wants to block the thought gets a save vs. magic to do so, but otherwise there is no saving throw against this mercurial.

Because the message is carried on a small ripple of ambient magic, any magic-user between the caster and target can make a save vs. magic to pick up the message. If the message is perceived in this way, the unintended recipient will not know either who sent the message or who the intended recipient was, but the fact that the magic-user must be between them may give a clue. Also, neither the caster nor the intended target will know the thought has been perceived by an unintended recipient.

Weaken*
Range: 30 ft.
Mercurial
Duration: 1 round

An inanimate object, or part of an inanimate object, contained in the space of a one-foot sphere is weakened, allowing it to be more easily bent or broken. This gives items a -1 on saving throws against breaking (see p. 53 of the core rules). The spell also reduces the breaking strength of a portion of a load-bearing object by 10%, which might affect a rope someone is climbing or an over-stuffed sack or backpack. The reverse, Strengthen, can also be used.

[Sir Bedivere]

Rationale

The use of mercurial magic in a campaign is intended to both give a more traditional fantasy-like feel to the use of magic and also to make it easier for low-level magic-users to participate and to be useful to the party in adventures. At the same time, I have tried to keep in mind the fact that at high levels magic-users can be too powerful. In designing the mercurials themselves, my primary goal was to give the magic-user more options overall in an adventure, not simply to make them better in combat. The topography of magic rules (to be posted later) are intended to make the campaign world more varied and interesting as well. One might envision powerful sorcerers battling for control of strategic, high-ambient-magic locales, for example, or special prisons for sorcerers in low magic areas.

In terms of flavor, mercurials make the magic-user more like Merlin, Gandalf, and other traditional wizards from literature and fantasy fiction. These are the kinds of magic-users I want to play in a fantasy game, which is why I wrote this supplement. Also, the magic-user fresh out of an apprenticeship isn’t some stooped graybeard. Like cantrips, mercurials make the dashing young magic-user more spontaneous, even playful, while unlike cantrips they make him or her, in the tradition of Merlin and Gandalf, someone the average townsman or farmer will not trifle with. In my imagination, there should be good reasons why the slim young wizard in his dark rune-scribed robes is as imposing a figure to the commoner as the broad-shouldered young warrior in his chainmail. Mercurials give the fresh young magic-user a reason to swagger.

In terms of participation and low-level survivability, mercurials give magic-users a number of abilities that are useful in a low-level adventure without letting them steal the show or meaningfully increasing their power at high levels. Most mercurials give the magic-user a greater support function. For example, Weaken is not terribly useful by itself, but it can be cast on a lock before the fighter tries to kick the door open, or Distract can be used on the guard the thief is trying to sneak past. What I have tried to do is to get the magic-user more involved in the adventure and make him or her a better asset to the party. And, of course, I want to make playing the magic-user more fun.

I specifically gave targets a save vs. magic so that mercurial powers are less and less useful as the magic-user gains levels and faces more powerful foes (i.e., foes more likely to make their saving throws). This is also the rationale for not increasing the range or effects of mercurials with level. For Bite, I chose d3 damage because my concept of mercurial magic is to give magic-users more options, not to replace what they can already do. Bite gives them an effective missile weapon that ignores AC and which can affect incorporeal creatures. The fact that it does less damage than a dagger means the magic-user has to think about when to use which, and that increases the range of reasonable actions in combat. Also, it does not affect inanimate objects for the reason that it is an unlimited power and it should not become a way for a magic-user to tunnel out of prison, etc.

[Sir Bedivere]

One change that needs to be made is to the Heat mercurial. I realized that its ability to heal could be used repeatedly to completely heal major damage.

I'm not sure how to phrase it yet, but its use to heal should be limited to once per level of injury. So, a fighter gets hit with three fireballs and then the MU casts Cool (the reverse of Heat) on him to heal d3 HP. That's all the healing the MU can use on him until he gets injured by fire again.

This could mean that, in the middle of a fight, the MU could heal the fighter each time he gets hit by a fireball, but if he did he couldn't do anything else those three rounds because mercurials take up the MU's combat action.

[hjmartin70]

I like this idea, but I feel there should be more. Maybe making rules for this is unnecessary but I have always felt that MUs should be able to do things like light fires or lamps or pipes without using a spell. Minor magical effects... enough fire to light a candle or wind to snuff one, make a coin disappear or appear. I don't know what the mechanics should be, but things like that would be fun for roleplay.

[Sir Bedivere]

Hm, I wasn't thinking of purely flavor effects, but that's a good idea. I had planned to use mercurial magic w/ the cantrip supplement and thought cantrips would take care of that sort of thing. However, now that you mention it, mercurial magic would be natural for it. Maybe a concentrated Heat could light a candle or pipe, and its reverse, Cool, could put one out ... I'll take a look at the cantrips again and see if maybe I can develop some other effects that use mercurials.

[SmootRK]

I think I am with hjmartin70. Your explanations are wonderful in describing (with analogy) the ways magic is accessed, but I would simply turn these into Cantrips/Orisons rather than making a third sort of magical effect (spells, cantrips, and Mercurials). I too like cantrips, but tend to allow spellcasters to do minor effects at will so long as there is no real game effect (ie no bonus, damage, saves, etc.) The 'official' Cantrips have a tangible effect, however minor, such as damage, affecting saves, minor cure, etc.

That all said, I like the explanations you utilized. I think it would make an ideal supplement for an alternative to Cantrips that were previously put out.

[Sir Bedivere]

EDIT 8/24/10

Reading back through this thread, my original comment strikes me as unnecessarily grumpy. I apologize for that.

My overall point was that not only the capabilities of the magic-user but also the class concept need to be changed for many players. Those who are happy with the Vancian concept of the magic-user can use the class as it is, or with a few house rules, but those of us who don't enjoy that need a new concept. My main goal for mercurial magic is to provide a magic-user who is both more capable and who is also more attuned to the world. The magician I'm trying to create has inherent powers which come at least in part from an understanding of and connection to natural forces in the world around him. That is why I'm proposing a different kind of magic.

Read on if you want to see my original grumpy reply, but other than the thanks for comments at the end, I don't think I wrote anything particularly useful and it will probably irritate you. It irritates me to read it again.

END EDIT

Well, cantrips are 0-level spells (the supplement is even called 0 Level Spells), so I think I'm only introducing a second kind of magic. But, that's a picky argument for me to make.

If these seem like just another set of cantrips, maybe I need to rethink both the mercurials themselves and what my goal is. Maybe they should just be added to the cantrips list. (In fact, I think I will write an alternate version up for those who prefer to just stick with cantrips.)

On the other hand, at first level, even with cantrips, magicians are zero fun to play for me. I've read a lot of stuff on gaming blogs, etc., about how they make great torch holders and dagger-throwing machines, and how much fun people have playing those things, but that has no appeal to me. If I wanted to role-play an English teacher in a dungeon, I'd create Teachers and Trolls, or Classrooms and Creeps, or some similar game. So, the point for me is to remake the magic-user in a way that is fun to play at first level and yet still mostly fits into BF. Cantrips might work if they were unlimited, maybe.

Well, let me rethink this a bit. Thanks for the feedback guys. I really appreciate it.

[Sir Bedivere]

Smoot's comment made me realize another problem. Some of my mercurials just wouldn't be used that much, so there's no need for them to have unlimited usage.

Bite gives the magician a way to participate in combat with magic, so there's a clear reason for it to be unlimited.

Distract could also be used round after round.

After that it gets increasingly iffy.

If we let Heat start and extinguish fires, then it might be useful on a regular basis, but how many times a day would a magician want to use Heat or Cool? Of course, it could be used to set pools of oil on fire up to 30' away, so maybe it would change the party tactics and become more useful. I don't know.

Weaken might be useful if the party doesn't have a thief and has to break down a lot of doors, or if the party needs to escape and go through a wall or something, or to strengthen a door to keep something out, but, again, how many times a day would it be useful?

I really like the idea of Send Thought, but how often would it be needed in a day? Or in an adventure? Sure, it's great for communicating in town when you need to communicate secretly, but otherwise?

I also like the idea of Block, but it would only be useful if the caster is attacked by a higher level magician or ganged up on by two or more magicians, all of whom would have to be using mercurials. It might be useful, depending on where we go with mercurials, but it looks pretty iffy right now.

I really should have thought about frequency of use when I was designing these. I just thought about what wasn't already in the game that could be useful at some point.

[Sir Bedivere]

On a positive note, I've come up with some things that distinguish mercurial magic a little bit more from spells. I would add the following two paragraphs to the mercurial rules:

Mercurials with a duration of one round can be sustained from round to round. Sustaining a mercurial during a round allows the caster to do anything he could normally do while concentrating on something else, like move, but any interruption, including being attacked (even if the attack is unsuccessful), will break the magician's concentration and end the mercurial. The caster cannot attack or cast other other spells or mercurials while sustaining a mercurial, with one partial exception (see Block below). Sustaining a mercurial for more than one round does not increase its effects and, where applicable, targets can save vs. magic each round to end the mercurial.

Some mercurials can be focused either very tightly, on a single point, or broadly, over a one foot diameter sphere. For these mercurials, the caster must decide which effect to use. Areas of effect between a single point and a full area of effect are not possible; the caster must choose one or the other.