Chapter 6: Magic
Magic in the AD&D game is mysterious and wonderful. It gives the player
characters access to superhuman powers of perception, movement, and destruction. With
the right spell or magical item, a character can literally do anything.
Impassable obstacles can be circumvented, secrets divined or unearthed, unbeatable
monsters defeated; even a low-level wizard or priest can accomplish these amazing
feats with ease. And, naturally, magic also empowers the enemies of the player
characters, giving villains dangerous and unpredictable abilities with which
to oppose the heroes.
While the magic system of the AD&D game generally works well, it only models
one style or flavor of magical powers. The basic mechanic of learning spells
through long study and forgetting them as they are cast is a very distinctive
feature of the game system, and players who are seeking a particular fantasy
setting may find it to be too pervasive in the AD&D system. For example, the AD&D
spell system doesn’t allow players to run characters who become fatigued or
exhausted through use of spells but instead retain them in memory, a common element
of fantasy literature. In other settings, magic comes with a moral or spiritual
risk, and characters dare not call upon supernatural powers for fear of their
lives or sanity.
In this chapter of Player’s Option: Spells & Magic, we’ll present an alternate system of acquiring and expending spells based on spell points. At its most basic level, this system simply permits wizards to customize
their normal spell progression, but we’ll also present optional systems to
represent different philosophies or mechanics of magic, including magic systems based
on fatigue, sanity, life energy, and spiritual risk or morality.
While the wizard class enjoys the spotlight in this chapter, we’ll also take a
look at priests and other spellcasters and present versions of the spell point
system appropriate for those classes. Last, but not least, we’ll discuss
incorporating this material into existing campaigns.
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