Your favourite magic system?

[roguebfl]

I normally use the Standard Magic sysem for Magi, and Modular abilities for Priests (with a mix of spells and powers)

Though some time I use Rune Magic (Symbol Magic)

[evileeyore]

No favorites. It depends on the genre I'm running.


Right now I'm cobbling a Path/Book/Threshold/Spirit Mediated setup for a fantasy post-apocalypse campaign.


But flavor wise I'd have to say Spirit Mediated and Threshold speak to me the most. What can I say, I'm a Mythos kinda guy.

[DAT]

I normally end up using standard (GURPS Magic) and Clerical (e.g., DF series) magic.

I've been wanting to try a mixed magic system with different cultures using different system(s). Foir example:

Symbol (rune) Magic for the main Dwarven culture.

Syntactic (song) Magic for the main Wood/Green Elven culture.

Wildcard Magic (song) for the High Elven culture.

Wild Talent Magic for Farie.

Standard Magic for an 'European' Human culture

Path/Book Magic for a 'Middle Eastern' Human culture

Powers/Advantage for Ogres/Giants.

Spirt Mediated/Blood Magic for the Orcs.

I also have a fondness for threshold magic, which could be done with just about any of the above...
-Dan

[Whitey Fats]

In my next campaign, a homebrew world, I'm planning on using Realm magic :)

[The Bearded One]

For my upcoming dark fantasy game, I'm using two systems:
1) GURPS Magic with Magical Styles using speed/range ranges but x2 FP costs;
2) GURPS Magic Clerical spells as standard (limited spell lists, but no prerequisites).

I'm still playing around with the different systems and options from Thaumatology. For example, I want to try out the Spirit Mediated system, the Realm magic system, and see how the Injurious Magic limitation (p25) affects standard spellcasters.

-- The Bearded One

[SolemnGolem]

Some of the Ritual Magic spells should be tweaked for cost by the GM. It's a good guideline, to base spell penalty on the prereqs, but it can lead to strangely imbalanced spells, such as Teleport taking -4 and Knot tying taking -10.

Still, there's nothing wrong with a GM going in and rebalancing the penalties.

[Mgellis]

I don't have a favorite system per se, but what I really like about the way GURPS handles magic is that there are three well-developed systems with different feels (fantasy-style standard spellcasting and creepy-style book/path magic and Alchemy/Herb Lore) and a huge range of options for designing your own specialized systems. There really is not very much you cannot do with all the options provided in Powers, Magical Styles and Thaumatology.

Oh, and if you want a powers-based spell system, just take some (or most) of the abilities from Psionic Powers and change the power modifier from Psionic, -10% to Magical, -10%.

[simply Nathan]

Standard spell-based magic with the No Spell Prerequisites, +30%, modifier applied to Magery (including Magery 0). Considering tweaking the spell system to give time/energy reduction based on relative skill rather than absolute skill.

[copeab]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

Standard spell-based magic with the No Spell Prerequisites, +30%, modifier applied to Magery (including Magery 0). Considering tweaking the spell system to give time/energy reduction based on relative skill rather than absolute skill.

In 3e, there was an optional rule in Magic where there was no automatic cost or time reduction for high skill. If you wanted a lower cost or faster time you had to take a penalty to time or skill. I don't remember the exact trade-offs since it's been a few years since I used spell-based magic, but IMHO getting rid of the automatic reductions and using the optional reductions is a good thing.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by copeab

In 3e, there was an optional rule in Magic where there was no automatic cost or time reduction for high skill. If you wanted a lower cost or faster time you had to take a penalty to time or skill. I don't remember the exact trade-offs since it's been a few years since I used spell-based magic, but IMHO getting rid of the automatic reductions and using the optional reductions is a good thing.

that's in 4e as an option (Magic p.9)