Heroquest Magic 

So Heroquest is designed more as a board game than a tabletop game. That said, it is completely compatible as a tabletop game and people have been using it for larger campaigns for years. In Heroquest there are magic cards which are divided into magic schools. Each magic school has 3 spell cards in it. When you cast the spell, you discard the card. This is a super simple system but within it lies a really great piece of game design. So instead of balancing each spell against every other spell, Heroquest balanced each set of 3 spells against every other set of 3 spells. This allows for a range of magical strength within your options. One school may have 3 medium power spells while another may have 1 very powerful spell but paired with 2 weak spells. Once school may have 2 very useful spells but paired with a super niche spell. 

Overall, this is the simplest system which maintains a nice diversity of spell casting. The guy who only casts fireball can take all the offense options, but in this case they still have to pick from between different blasting spells, they can’t just lean on one all the time.  

The issue here is it is designed for a board game, so the range of spell options is more limited and I think bringing in the larger range of niche spells often found in a tabletop game may break the system by clogging it up with too many niche spells. 

I still feel like this is a Vancian system because it is still specific spells and one cast per spell. The balance mechanism between spells is different. It is a subtle solution to balancing different spell levels without having to have spell levels as a mechanic. The spell sets are built around an element with an attached theme. So all fire options increase offense while all earth options help with defense. The spell sets really do give the casters a specific feel, which helps give flavor to the casters. 

Full custom spells on the fly – Soft-ish Magic Systems 

The idea here is fairly simple. The wizard says “I want to do X with Y”. The DM sets a DC and then the wizard rolls. On a success it happens and the DC sets the effect. On a failure the Wizard faces some kind of penalty. This means that a wizard can cast… any spell or magical effect they make up off the top of their head. Yea, that is a big change. It is also a great way for players to add flavor into your world and allow for more co-creation. 

So to simplify adjudicating, let’s say there are four tiers of spells. Each spell has four parts. Two are effects: the kinds of spells it includes – what the spell does. Two are costs: the DC of the spell (here I use a d12 system) – penalties if you fail to get the DC. Generally, the tier level of the spell is aligned with the cost. 

Effect 

1. Conjuring of Cheap Tricks – whimsical/flavorful effect 
2. Evoking  basic magics and subtle casting of tricks – 2.5x non-magical damage/healing, minor utility (would otherwise take a turn or 2 with risk), or no one knows you cast the simple trick  
3. Evoking powerful effects, healing, and bending nature – 5x non-magical damage/healing to one, 2 to many, or powerful utility 
4. Bending reality or extend a powerful evocation – this can be very powerful and very specific, DM’s choice 

Cost

1. DC 5 – can’t use a magic charge for 5 minutes 
2. DC 7 – can’t use a magic charge for 1 hour
3. DC 9 – can’t use 2 magic charges for 1 hour, take 1 damage 
4. DC 11 – can’t uses 3 magic charges for 8 hours, also you might explode

All wizards start with 2 “magic charges” each are used up on failed casting. These are regained on a long rest. Magical power sources like drinking dragon’s blood, a pact with a demon or God, or a magical staff will grant you more charges. Some of these things may have specific limitations. For example a magic ruby ring will grant you a charge but only for fire spells. 

The second is magical specialty. Here the wizard needs to state 2 things they know about or are attuned to magically. Be at least moderately specific. So ancient languages/history of a certain group, fire spells, telekinesis, animals, alchemy, etc. Spells they make up have to connect back to these ideas.

Lowering or Increase Cost

• If something you want to do requires an element or other material and that is not present in abundance, then increase the cost by 1 tier. 
• If something you want to do is outside your specialty, increase the cost by 1 tier.
• If you have a tool specialized in casting a specific spell, lower the cost by 1 tier. For example, a wand of fire bolt
• Casting a spell as a ritual over multiple minutes, lower the cost by 1 tier
• Have another casting support your spell casting with their action, lower the cost by 1 tier
• Have an enemy caster counter your spell with their action, increase the cost by 1 tier

*Things never go to 0 and then never increase or decrease by more than 1 tier.

The unspoken rule here is no “mining for DCs”. Players have to say what they want to do, the DM makes a decision, and then roll. No back and forth or a dozen “what about this, or what about this”. The magic user has to commit to doing something and only afterward do they learn all the details. This is about keeping magic fluid and chaotic, not an optimized set outcome.

Syntactic Magic

This system generates magic by combining a noun and verb keyword to produce whatever effect you want that fits within those bounds. This is one of the options available in GURPS.

1. Nouns: Air, Animal, Body, Death, Earth, Fire, Food, Image, Light, Magic, Mind, Plant, Sound, Water
2. Verbs: Communicate, Heal, Sense, Weaken, Strengthen, Move, Protect, Create, Control, Transform

Things like “control fire” and “transform plant” give you a ton of options with the DM improving the effect along some broad guidelines. As players gain level/knowledge in their game they learn new magic words and thus expand what they can do.

The full-custom-on-the-fly method is hard to adjudicate. Trying to solve the adjudication problem creates complexity. This options adds a few more guardrails to steer players. It also places some limitations on a caster which means they still have a weakness for a DM to exploit. On of the things that Avatar the Last Air Bender did that was great was give their benders (magic users) access to a super flexible system linked to an element. But, if you remove that element then that bender is powerless. This system allows for a similar set of options and thus builds in both flexible thematic power but also exploitable weaknesses.

Magic as debt or a curse or a mutation 

This is another fun mechanic to play with for your casters but it is darker. This is most definitely for more gritty or flat out grim dark worlds. The idea here is you gain mana points from piety from gods, pacts with demon lords, or risking your health to access wild magics. As you cast spells you gain a debt. At some point that debt becomes due. Doing missions or good may lower that debt depending on who you got your powers from. Unpaid debts can result in random misfortunes or mutations. The famous “1d1000 Mutations” PDF is great for this. This can be a simple saving throw between dungeon runs with the DC increasing with each spell used and the DC decreasing with each good deed or appeasement made.

This is a lore and RP heavy option and while I don’t think it is a great system by itself I do think it is a great addition to other systems. 

Magic as exhaustion 

So in 5e D&D there is an exhaustion system. It is a simple 6 level system. 

1. Disadvantage on ability checks 
2. Speed is half 
3. Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws 
4. Health max is half
5. Speed is 0 (or 1 if you are a nicer DM) 
6. You Dead, D-E-D Dead 

While this is a nice flavor centric approach you can also just say “-1 to rolls per exhaustion” or “-1 to movement and max health” or similar ideas. If you want a 10 or 12 step exhaustion system you can just add in more options to the above and get something like: 

1. Disadvantage on either physical or mental abilities, whichever you are weakest in 
2. Health max is at 75%
3. Movement is at 50% 
4. Disadvantage on all ability checks 
5. Health max is at 50%
6. On you turn you can either move or take an action, not both 
7. Disadvantage on spell rolls, attack rolls, and saving throws 
8. Health max is at 25% 
9. Movement is 1 
10. Death

In this system, you get 1 free cast per short rest and after that you start to gain or risk exhaustion. This makes it play like a warlock but with more that can be risked. 1 level of exhaustion is then removed by taking a long rest. You may want to either increase the long rest regain or allow for a saving throw during short rests to remove exhaustion. 

This is not that different from Shadowrun’s Drain system, it is a negative applied to using magics and the more you use magics the more the negative is. 

What if we just did everything? Or at least most things.

Ok, so this is a horrible idea to combine everything into one. I like simple systems, but as a thought exercise let’s try this. 

This system would have the following: 

1. You have 1 free exhaustion charge and start with a few known spells 
2. You can cast spells by either A) mana knowledge or B) mana exhaustion or C) wild knowledge or D) wild exhaustion.
   • On mana knowledge, forget that spell and the spell happens. 
   • On mana exhaustion, gain 1 level of exhaustion and the spell happens. 
   • On wild knowledge, roll to see if either the spell happens or you forget that spell. 
   • On wild exhaustion, roll to see if either the spell happens or you gain 1 level of exhaustion. 
3. You can still have 1 signature spells that used any of the casting methods above 
4. Meta-magics: from the 5e D&D sorcerer. These can be added to spells but only for wild casts and the DC is increased. Also, negative versions of the meta-magics can be applied to each for a lower DC. 
5. Mana spells can’t critically hit. Wild spells can. On critical hits, both double the effect of the spell but also apply the cost to the caster. 
6. On wild magics, if you miss the DC by 1 then use the mis-spell mechanic but only if the DM can think of one off the top of their head that is funny.
7. You can use the “make it up off the top of your head” custom spell option at will, but the “charges” will be larger. Maybe a random known spell and an exhaustion on a fail. It will be just one of those of your choice on a success. Same rules for Syntactic magic.
8. The debt option is still on the table. That is very roleplay and world specific. This needs to be worked out between the DM and magic user early on. 
9. Also the ideas of gaining more magic charges from magic items, pacts with gods, and Dragon’s Blood still fits into this system. 

I really like this set of ideas. I still think it will be too heavy mechanically in play. So how can we pare this down and make it into an organic storytelling set of ideas. 

Evolving your spell list

Start the game with 1 signature spell and then draft 3 wild knowledge spells.

The 1 signature spell is from: 

• Healing Word 
• Healing Touch 
• Counter Spell 
• Mana Burn: guarantee their spell will be a success, but they take damage in the process. 
• Redirect Spell 
• Empower Spell: roll with a friend to help them cast their spell 
• Blink
• … and all the arcane artillerist options from Steam Chaser 

These spells can be cast by either forgetting a wild knowledge spell of your choice or by gaining levels of exhaustion. DMs, change this list to match whatever are the “common spells” of your world.

The 3 wild knowledge spells are drafted from a very large list of secret spells. These spells are a DC check of 7 (in a d12 system). If successful, the effect happens and you still have the spell. If you fail, you forget the spell. Spells are relearned after a rest, the number being set by how good the rest was. This matches whatever your rules are for travel, dungeons crawls, and inns.

There are three ways to gain new spells: Learn Spell, Copy Spell, and Evolve Spell.

1. Learn Spell allows you to take a magic spell scroll found in a dungeon and gain that spell. This takes 6 weeks in real time or whatever your leveling mechanic is.
2. The second option is Craft Spell. Simply pick a spell you like and already know and make a copy of it. This copy gets its own spot on your spell list. This also takes 6 weeks of time. This can also be done in tandem with another magic user with the result being each learns the other ones spell. This allows magic to spread from mage to mage.
3. When you roll a critical hit on a Wild Knowledge spell you gain 1 charge of “evolve” for that specific spell. The Evolve Spell option works just like Copy Spell but this time you can change the spell just a bit as you copy it. This can’t be done in tandem with other magic users. Your options are…
   • Apply a meta magic (D&D 5e) as an upgrade at DC 9 or a negative meta magic at a DC 5. 
   • Mana knowledge: don’t roll. Forget that spell and the spell happens. 
   • Mana exhaustion: don’t roll and keep the spell knowledge, gain 1 level of exhaustion and the spell happens. 
   • Mana drain: keep the spell knowledge, the spell happens and afterward you roll to stop the spell from doing significant damage to yourself.
   • Wild exhaustion: keep the spell knowledge, roll to see if either the spell happens or you gain 1 level of exhaustion. 
   • You see deeper magic behind this spell, syntactic magic, you gain option 7 but it has to tie back to this spell’s original nature somehow. Syntactic magic is a noun + a verb. You can find the “true meaning” behind this spell. Each spell only gives you either a noun or a verb that best fits that spell. You risk two spells when using this power.

This combo of spell drafting and wild knowledge gives magic a chaotic feel while still letting players have a reliable fall back option in their signature spell. Other spells are in the world and can be gained through Learn Spell. Maybe once per 4 – 6 weeks in real world time you can use Learn Spell to gain a new spell you found/bought. 

Overall, what you have here is a system to generate not spells, but variations on spells and instead of focusing on gaining levels the casting is directly investing into either Learn Spell or Craft Spell over time. Yes, you can replace my “4-6 real world weeks” with “you gain a level” if you like. Note that this upgrade is used on either Learn Spell or Craft Spell but not both at the same time. If you are also using the character wide bonus for gaining debt or custom casting then that would be the 3rd option. Either way it takes the complexity of all these variants and boils them down to a more focused spell list and one that is entirely specific to how the character wants to evolve. Their spell variants are directed by them while their new spells and new power options are found in the world. 

To put this a different way, as you play the game each Wizard is generating a custom set of leveling options for that Wizard. Each month (or so) you decide which of those options you want to focus on to gain at the start of next month. New spells, variant copies of your spells, and power sources are the ever changing mix of options being generated. Players have some direct control over variants but the world itself will provide other options as a chaotic jumbled mess. What the player is doing in wrestling with these chaotic and unique options is actually bring order in the form of their character.

What is the role of magic in your world? 

Most tabletop games are really designed to be played in high magic settings. There are plenty of reasons to run a high magic world where common enchanters solve common problems with their overflow of magics. There are plenty of reasons to run a gritty world where magic is rare, never the go to solution, and a spell going off is enough power to cause awe and fear in equal measures. 

This may be the most important question for people engaged in world building or writing RPG mechanics. If you want magic to be rare but powerful and awe inspiring, then having 4 of 5 party members being able to cast unlimited cantrips tells the opposite story of your world. This is not a minor world building issue, but it is the most common mismatch I see in games. 

That said, if magic is widely available, then your world would not be like the European middle ages. Those magics should change the world dramatically and, once again, having those magics available but not recognized by or folded into the world building is story breaking. It is using mechanics to tell one story while the DM’s narration tells an entirely different story. If prestidigitation is everywhere, then you don’t need public baths. If healing potions are in every shop, why do towns have doctors and are people still going to churches to pray for healing? 

This thread is core to your world building. It determines if every town has an enchanter or if only the King can afford a court wizard, and a dubious court wizard at that. Is your world’s magic a larger interconnected system or a mix of odd abilities cobbled together by mad sorcerers playing with powers they don’t understand. The former needs a library or a school and those would have heavy political influence or be controlled by those who do. The latter needs a scattering of odd abilities and nebulous power sources. Each approach requires different histories and areas in your world. 

How powerful do you want it to be in combat? In non-combat challenges? In support? 

Regardless of whether this is an author challenging their main character or a DM challenging their players, part of what you have to determine is what kind of questions does magic contain the answers for. A story without a challenge is a crappy story. So if magic is always available and always solves everything without a cost then there is really no story. Magic can destroy your story… so be careful. Don’t build a system that is so cool that it makes your story or world suck. 

There are two approaches to solve for this: 

• Limit the amount spells that can be used, either by cost or limit charges 
• Limit the power of spells, so they help to solve more that entirely solve the problem 

While this pair of approaches is common, many games end up with both limitations breaking down due to power scaling. While there are many ways to control the amount of spells, the bigger problem is often limiting the power of spells, specifically utility spells. Trying to keep a limit on those spells so they are still useful compared to other spells while also not just entirely solving the problem at hand. 

As an example, older versions of D&D had really detailed and nuanced travel mechanics that forced critical game decisions… unless you got Good Berry, Leomund’s Tiny Hut, and Pass without a Trace at which point travel challenges lost all meaning. Resources no longer mattered and all strategic concerns are removed. As a DM, if you want travel to be an issue in your world then you have to get rid of those three spells. If you think travel is a pain in the butt and a waste of time, then give those spells away as much as you can. 

Now this is also where we run into the “whimsical high magics”. These are worlds like Harry Potter or many old Disney movies. The spells are very specific, very silly, and are generally played for a laugh or a smile. This level of flavor but not power is often really engaging. Let owls deliver the mail or brooms sweep the floors themselves. Let a princess sing so birds fly in and give her a french braid. This gives the world a magical feel without giving players god-like powers. 

Vancian Magic 

This was the original system used in D&D and variations of it are still core to most tabletop RPGs games. It is a highly formal system. The idea is that magic users have a limit on how many spells they can have memorized at a time. This limit is not just the total number of spells, but also takes into account the power of those spells. When they cast a spell, they “forget” that spell. The spell list limited both the quantity and quality of spells available. 

Spells in this system are traditionally discreet and consistent between casts and casting magic is reliable. You are able to take multiple copies of the same spell but this limits your versatility as a caster. 

Vancian Variant 0.1 – the 3rd edition Cleric 

So this was less a system and more a special rule. Clerics used the traditional vancian system but with one exception. Life Clerics could mark off any spell and instead cast Cure Wounds. Death Clerics could do the same thing but it would be Inflict Wounds. In a game without flexible casting, this was seen as very powerful. 

But there is no reason this can’t be done with other classes using a Vancian system. Basically it is just picking a first level spell that can scale with level and making that your “signature spell”. I see no reasons why a specialist wizard should not have the same ability. An illusionist gains silent image. Evocation gains burning hands or magic missile. All of this is super simple to house rule. 

Vancian Variant 1 – Mana 

The first variant method is so common it is actually in the 5e D&D DMG and thus an official variant, that is the spell point system or mana system. This is often written as a conversion option for magic users in the game as it exists today. Spell slots are converted to a pool of mana points. Spells are given a mana point cost. Total number of known spells is generally lower because in the original Vancian system players would often take multiple copies of their favorite spells. So if you have 10 spell slots, maybe learn about 6 spells. 

This system is often seen as a more flexible and less complex version of the original. The problem here is it does often encourage one trick pony casters. The guy who only casts fireball loves this system… but that does get old. If your spell list has any imbalances between spells, then this system often emphasizes that problem. 

Vancian Variant 2 – Spell Save System 

This is a fairly common variant in the OSR world. Instead of spells being guaranteed to be successfully casted each time, you roll for success or fail. On success the spell goes off and you still remember that spell. On a fail, no spell happens and you forget the spell. This changes the risk reward profile of magic, making it far more hit and miss. 

Like variant 1, this system can simply be applied on top of an existing system without the need to change everything around. It does add a level of randomness to your game, so it will be more unbalanced. The good news is it does produce both overpowered and underpowered outcomes naturally for a larger dungeon. The problem is in moment to moment encounters, this kind of casting can make them entirely trivial or the party is basically down a player. 

This goes back to the question “what is magic in your world” because if you want rare but powerful magic, then this does a great job of that as casters chain a series of big spells together. If you want rare magic, then just wait until 2 or 3 spells fizzle in a row. Magic will feel rare and unreliable. 

Vancian Variant 2.1 – Mis-spell System 

Similar to above but the negative consequence is not you forgetting the spell but miscasting it. So this is a tongue-firmly-in-cheek system. So for example, the spell “send message” on a fail would instead turn into “send massage” and the target would get a nice back rub instead of critical information. “Speak to Dead” could become “Speak to Dad” and trying to cover the floor in “Grease” could instead covers it in “Geese” and that flock starts to run around and pull Untitled Goose Game shenanigans for the rest of the session. This takes a bit of extra work from the DM and players but it does add humor to the table. For balance reasons, maybe you lose the original spell for an hour or so, but not the normal length of time.

I actually really like this system, but not for all worlds. This does not fit in a gritty setting, but is great for a one shot in a magic castle. I am also unsure how well the jokes will play out over a long campaign. 

I first saw this idea here: https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/spelling-errors-a-magic-miscast-alternative and I kind of love it. So credit where credit is due. 

Vancian Variant 1.1 or 2.2 – Shadowrun’s Drain 

So in the kitchen sink of a cyberpunk game, Shadowrun uses a drain system. This game basically has two different health pools and some abilities, like magic, damage the second pool. If you are a fighter type, this second health pool is just extra health. If you are a magic or special skills user, this is your mana pool, AKA variant 1.1. Generally you can assign incoming damage from enemies to either health pool so you are always playing a mini risk vs. reward game negating incoming damage vs. having mana to spend on attacks next turn. 

Here the spell always works… but you roll to resist stun damage. So while the power of the spells is far more consistent, here the wildness of the system created by a failed roll is the cost you paid to cast the spell, thus making it a bit like a spell save system, AKA variant 2.2. This magic system fits into the narrative of that extreme setting as spells always work, something spells get a ton of extra damage, and something they render the caster unconscious afterwards because they dealt too much damage. It is all very metal and very Shadowrun. 

Vancian Variant 3 – what the heck is 5e’s system exactly? 

So 5e D&D doesn’t really use any of the 3 previous interchangeable systems. They have kind of a mix of Original Vancian and Variant 1. In effect, they have multiple tiny mana pools which overlap down and multiple tiny spell lists with overlap up. Casters are able to cast any 2nd level spell with any 2nd spell slot. That sounds simple. But the nuance here is that many 2nd level spells can also be cast with higher level spell slots for extra kick and higher level spells slots can be used to cast lower level spells, thus higher quality slots actually give you both more power and more versatility. 

This system gives you some of the flexibility of the Variant 1 with some of the rigidness of the original still in there. When you get into the details, it gets fairly complex very quickly and that gives you some strange decisions at various points in time. This system has a nice mix of spell balance and flexibility, but the strange overlaps do end up feeling a bit less like a flexible design and more like it’s wobbly enough that players can make it fit if they shove on it hard enough. 

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Thank you all for reading, we will pick up next week with part 2 where we talk about alternatives to the Vancian variants and see what happens when we try to combine all the ideas into one system.