Ideas for Magic

From Towers

Categories: Ideas | Rules | Magic

These are just ideas I have for how magic works in the world. I am very interested in your thoughts and alternatives. This is one area where we can make the world really feel different from the standard fantasy world. The trick is to do it in a way that is still playable with the D&D 3.5E rules with nothing more than minor rule modifications.

Essence

Arcane magic requires magical energy, called essence. This Essence is gathered by the magic user in the process of casting and spells cannot be cast without a certain amount of it. Divine magic is powered by a different process (see Zeal, below).

Magic is ever-present in large cities but rarer in the countryside and the wilds.

Essence can be manufactured by very complicated generators, or beacons. Archmages and engineers create these devices through complex rituals that tear open rifts to other planes and combine elemental energy and convert it to essence. Beacons release essence into the local area, where it is used to power all sorts of magical artifacts within the city. Any mage within a city can draw upon its essence to power her spells.

Essence must be available to prepare a spell but not to release (cast) it, so a mage can prepare her spells in the city, travel far from the safety of the walls and the invisible glow of the beacon, and cast without a problem. Once those spells are cast, however, preparing new spells requires energy and a mage may find herself scampering home to recharge.

Where essence is not pervasive, wizards must carry their own sources of magical power. Magical staves and rods can store a certain amount of essence and mages can prepare their spells from the portable devices. Some areas radiate low levels of essence without a beacon. Drawing essence in this way can take anywhere from a minute to days per spell level.

Rarely, an area contains no essence at all. This occurs in nature in the rarest of circumstances. Usually, an area is devoid of essence due to some supernatural influence or a powerful essence sink, such as an artifact or monster that draws large amounts of energy. A wizard can drain an area of all its essence temporarily using certain powerful spells, too.

Zeal

Every being that practices the rituals of worship generates magical energy of faith that can power spells. Zeal is much like essence, but its source is different. Organized prayer creates a type of divine essence, called zeal, which casters of divine magic can use for their spells. Personal belief is not enough to create zeal. One must apply spiritual beliefs through the careful application of religious rituals. Every religion has well-defined songs and prayers and rituals designed to maximize the zeal created by its practitioners. These rituals generate divine energy that spell casters of that faith can use to prepare spells. The zeal is trapped by inside the sanctified area (usually a temple or shrine) and stays there until used or absorbed by the deity.

Zeal works like essence except that it is "tuned" for a specific faith. Arcane spell casters cannot use zeal to power arcane spells. Divine spell casters cannot use zeal tuned to a different faith than theirs. Certain pantheistic religions share zeal among cooperating deities. In polytheistic religions, some deities may have arrangements that allow their priests to share zeal. Divine energy collects only in sanctified places like temples, churches, monasteries, and shrines. Zeal doesn't emanate far and wide the way essence does. While a wizard can prepare arcane spells anywhere within about a mile of an essence beacon, a priest must be within the sanctified area to prepare his divine spells. In dire circumstances, far from the comfort of the temple, a priest can use his holy symbol to draw power through his own faith. This is a slow process, similar to drawing essence from the surroundings.

A holy symbol serves as a battery for zeal in the same way an arcane staff does, letting him prepare spells outside the sanctity of the temple. Constructing a holy symbol requires rituals and time and not all symbols are made equally. A basic one can hold only a few spells-worth of zeal while the best can power a priest's spells for weeks.