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martedì 7 gennaio 2025

Almost Vancian

One of the typical elements of old school games, especially clones or evolutions of the original D&D, are magic rules where wizards memorize spells and when they cast their magic they unmemorize them, the Cast & Forget magic system.

In this article we will present some magic objects that will allow to experiment  with variations of the magic system without changing the rules of the game, in fact as it seems obvious magic objects can always be destroyed or stolen where deemed unsuitable.

If you want to make the changes more structural, the objects can be transformed into objects that every wizard can create with a certain ease, in this case it is suggested to transform each object presented into an object magically "linked" to the wizard and that can be created by learning a specific first level spell (like the Find Familiar spell).

Such 1st level spell will require the expenditure of at least 1000 gold pieces in magical and precious materials, a casting time of at least a week and the sacrifice of at least one attribute point (strength, constitution or dexterity) that cannot be recovered until the object is destroyed, when the bound object is destroyed the wizard must make a saving throw vs. death or lose that point permanently; in any case upon the destruction of the object the wizard loses consciousness for 1d20 turns.

       
Hat of Memorization With this magic item, the wizard can attempt to memorize spells without having a spellbook. To do so, follow the normal rules for memorization, but make a saving throw vs. spell (modified by your intelligence bonus and with a penalty equal to the spell's level) to see if memorization occurs or if you lose the memorization slot until your next rest period.

 Note: This item is not particularly powerful, and some OSR games, such as the Basic Fantasy Role Playing game, allow memorization without a spellbook as an optional rule.
Note: you can make the memorization automatic.


Librarian's Ring This ring allows the wizard to improvise a spell as long as it is a known spell. In order to activate the ring's power, the wizard must consume a memorized spell of a level equal to or higher than the one he wishes to cast; he will then make a saving throw vs. spell (modified by the intelligence bonus and with a penalty equal to the spell's level); if the saving throw succeeds, the wizard can cast the desired spell; if the saving throw fails, the wizard will cast a random spell from those known of the intended level.

 Note: the need to use a memorized spell and the risk of not controlling one's magic make this possibility a resource that is not particularly abusive.


Staff of Concentration This powerful magical staff allows you to make the most of your magic, when the wizard decides to use the power of the staff he can cast a spell without losing its memorization, the wizard must however make a saving throw vs. spell (modified by the intelligence bonus and with a penalty equal to the level of the spell) or faint for 2d6 turns. Once used, the staff becomes unusable until the wizard meditates on it for at least 3 turns.

 Note: of the objects presented this is probably the most powerful and in fact it is potentially the riskiest as well as not being usable continuously.


Note: this article was presented in Italian on this blog here: https://d20d12.blogspot.com/2013/03/vanciano-ma-non-troppo.html