Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Houserule Proposal: Wildcard College Magic

TL;DR I wanted something between Johnny One-Spell and Generalist, so I tweaked the suggested wildcard magic rules as follows: a skill per college, penalties based on Magery requirement rather than number of pre-reqs, one point in a college skill lets you learn one spell in that college, plus a couple miscellaneous changes

Motivation:

Spoiler:

Summary of Variant:

There is a wildcard skill for each magical college, as mentioned on Magic p. 202.
There is a penalty to each spell equal to the level of Magery it has as a pre-req, eg. a -2 for all spells that require Magery 2. (There is no penalty based on number of pre-reqs as suggested on M202.)
A mage learns spells by buying points in the skill for a college. One point in the skill => learning one new spell in the college, if there are any that can be learned. The pre-reqs for that spell must be met as normal (other spells known, etc.)
Recover Energy is no longer a spell. It is an IQ/H skill enhanced by Magery (even single-college). It has a pre-req of learning at least one spell. It can be self-learned (w/o trainer) and self-taught by anyone that casts spells regularly.
Spell Specialization Advantage: Costs 20 points, provides +5 skill to a single spell. Pre-req: that spell at skill level of 15+. Can be taken multiple times for a single spell and/or multiple spells. It is not efficient to take this for more than two spells in one college. Mana-Dependent is a built-in limitation and should not be added. Some other limitations such as gadget limitations may be appropriate. (Specialization would be impossible w/o this advantage.)
No matter what, have a hard limit on Magery except as reward for roleplay, because it's cheaper than improving a wildcard skill.
Suggestion: let Magery go to 4.

Biggest Feature: You learn more spells in a college when you improve your skill in the college and vice versa, encouraging specialization without requiring it.

Subtleties on Spells Known:

Spoiler:

Other Features:

Spoiler:

Lengthy, Detailed Example #1: Single-College Mage, 12 points on spells:

Spoiler:

Lengthy, Detailed Example #2: Single-College Mage, 36 points on spells

Spoiler:

This is my first post, be gentle.

04-03-2016, 02:45 PM	#1
sonofether Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: Seattle	Houserule Proposal: Wildcard College Magic TL;DR I wanted something between Johnny One-Spell and Generalist, so I tweaked the suggested wildcard magic rules as follows: a skill per college, penalties based on Magery requirement rather than number of pre-reqs, one point in a college skill lets you learn one spell in that college, plus a couple miscellaneous changes Motivation: Spoiler: I've read on this forum that the only viable builds for Magic in 4E are Johnny One-Spell and Generalist, and my own math tends to agree. The problem is that both of those are boring in the long run (eg. over the course of one or more campaigns). If you've successfully built a Johnny One-Spell, advancement in magic is either "put more points into your spell" or "become inefficient by doing something else". Super boring. Rigid. If you've successfully built a Generalist, advancement in magic is either "buy another random spell, whatever seems nice" or "increase IQ/Magery". Not as boring, but doesn't line up with any particular kind of character design. Flexible to the point of being flat. What I'd prefer is something that made character advancement an interesting choice. I don't think that's too much to ask from a game system. Summary of Variant: There is a wildcard skill for each magical college, as mentioned on Magic p. 202. There is a penalty to each spell equal to the level of Magery it has as a pre-req, eg. a -2 for all spells that require Magery 2. (There is no penalty based on number of pre-reqs as suggested on M202.) A mage learns spells by buying points in the skill for a college. One point in the skill => learning one new spell in the college, if there are any that can be learned. The pre-reqs for that spell must be met as normal (other spells known, etc.) Recover Energy is no longer a spell. It is an IQ/H skill enhanced by Magery (even single-college). It has a pre-req of learning at least one spell. It can be self-learned (w/o trainer) and self-taught by anyone that casts spells regularly. Spell Specialization Advantage: Costs 20 points, provides +5 skill to a single spell. Pre-req: that spell at skill level of 15+. Can be taken multiple times for a single spell and/or multiple spells. It is not efficient to take this for more than two spells in one college. Mana-Dependent is a built-in limitation and should not be added. Some other limitations such as gadget limitations may be appropriate. (Specialization would be impossible w/o this advantage.) No matter what, have a hard limit on Magery except as reward for roleplay, because it's cheaper than improving a wildcard skill. Suggestion: let Magery go to 4. Biggest Feature: You learn more spells in a college when you improve your skill in the college and vice versa, encouraging specialization without requiring it. Subtleties on Spells Known: Spoiler: Once known, a spell counts as belonging to all of its colleges (as normal) and is cast in whatever college it belongs to that would have the highest skill. Note: wildcard skills can't be used until 3 points are in them, so we'll also say you don't learn the first three spells in a new college until you spend 3 points in it. Suggestion: college skills can be improved by self-teaching, but new colleges require a trainer. Other Features: Spoiler: This is the same cost of learning spells by putting one point in each spell, but adds some features. You have less skills to keep track of, although you still need a spell list. Learning new spells in colleges you already know can clearly be self-taught, while learning new colleges is clearly a new skill and requires a teacher. This provides clearer answers about advancement than the standard rules. Compared to a Generalist, a character will have slightly higher skills in spells w/ no Magery pre-req and slightly lower skills in spells w/ Magery pre-req of 2-3. With Spell Specialization, it's still possible to get that one spell you really like to zero maintenance, or get Enchanting and a single enchantment to 20. Spell Specialization is priced to match improving a single skill by 5 points (once it has at least 4 points in it). Lengthy, Detailed Example #1: Single-College Mage, 12 points on spells: Spoiler: Let's look closer at what the options are for a mage specializing in a single college. We'll compare the variant to the two existing useful options (Generalist and Johnny One-Spell). # w/ variant: 12 points in College Magic! wildcard skill knows 12 spells in that college each spell is cast at IQ-1-(Magery Pre-Req) (eg. IQ-1 for no Magery pre-req, IQ-2 for Magery 1 pre-req, etc.) can also learn Recover Energy as a separate skill goes well w/ single-college Magery, and even without it there's an incentive to spend more points in the same college growth in the college gives new spells at the good skill and improves all spells in the college, whereas other colleges are lower (You don't have to decide between improving one spell, improving all spells, and learning a new spell. Seems fun.) # Generalist 12 points in 12 spells in the college (1 each) knows 12 spells in that college most spells are cast at IQ-2, some at IQ-3 (the IQ/VH spells) can learn Recover Energy as a separate spell, but must also spend on point to learn Lend Energy (unless focusing on Healing) goes okay w/ single-college Magery, but has no reason not to want spells in other colleges growth in the college vs in other colleges doesn't affect skill or provide any other major benefit (Growth isn't focused and there are no spells at IQ-1 yet. Seems not as fun.) # Johnny One-Spell, assume chosen spell has either 4 or 8 pre-reqs 4 or 8 points in pre-req spells, remaining 8 or 4 points in a single spell in the college knows one commonly used spell plus a few other occasionally used spells, most in that college chosen spell is cast at IQ+0, IQ-1, or IQ-2 (drop by 1 for having 8 pre-reqs, drop by one for IQ/VH spell) all other spells are cast at IQ-2 or IQ-3 and will never improve can learn Recover Energy as a separate spell, but must also spend on point to learn Lend Energy (unless focusing on Healing) only buys enough single-college Magery to satisfy pre-reqs for the chosen spell, extra points go into the spell growth is by putting more points into the chosen spell; there is no other growth, not even IQ (Honestly, why do this? Just ask your GM for a single Advantage w/ the Mana-Dependent and Costs FP limitations.) # Implications The variant is a lot more fun and flexible at lower levels. Lengthy, Detailed Example #2: Single-College Mage, 36 points on spells Spoiler: Let's look closer at what the options are for a mage specializing in one college, with lots of spells. We'll compare the variant to the two existing useful options (Generalist and Johnny One-Spell). # w/ variant: 36 points in College Magic! wildcard skill knows up to 36 spells in the college (probably all spells in the college not requiring outside pre-reqs) each spell is cast at IQ+1-(Magery Pre-Req) (eg. IQ+1 for no Magery pre-req, IQ+0 for Magery 1 pre-req, etc.) can also learn Recover Energy as a separate skill goes well w/ single-college Magery, and even without it there's an incentive to spend more points in the same college growth in the college improves all spells in the college faster than IQ (12 points to wildcard skills vs. 20 points for IQ) (However, it costs 12 points, fairly expensive, to get an individual spell's skill higher than IQ-1.) # Generalist 36 points in 36 spells, as many as possible in the college (1 each) knows up to 36 spells in that college (probably all), plus a lot of spells in other colleges most spells are cast at IQ-1, some at IQ-2 (the IQ/VH spells) can learn Recover Energy as a separate spell, but must also spend on point to learn Lend Energy (unless focusing on Healing) goes okay w/ single-college Magery, but would benefit more from general Magery growth in the college is essentially done, all further growth is either IQ+Magery or in other colleges (Still not as many options as in the variant case, but could improve a single spell by +5 for 20 points - impossible in variant.) # Johnny One-Spell, assume chosen spell has either 4 or 8 pre-reqs 4 or 8 points in pre-req spells, remaining 32 or 28 points in a single spell in the college knows one commonly used spell plus a few other occasionally used spells, most in that college chosen spell is cast at IQ+7, IQ+6, or IQ-5 (drop by 1 for having 8 pre-reqs, drop by one for IQ/VH spell) all other spells are cast at IQ-1 or IQ-2 and will never improve can learn Recover Energy as a separate spell, but must also spend on point to learn Lend Energy (unless focusing on Healing) only buys enough single-college Magery to satisfy pre-reqs for the chosen spell growth is by putting more points into the chosen spell; there is no other growth, not even IQ (Still seems better to take a limited Advantage than to bother with this.) # Implications This is the example that led me to create the Spell Specialization advantage. This is my first post, be gentle.