Introduction

"To draw power from the universal core through
our auras and channel it into miraculous spells that
support life is the highest expression
of our unity with the divine."

Zoric the Time Wizard
Avatar of the Age of Returning Light

 

Fantasy role-playing is driven by magical quests and heroic adventures.  It is a game of interactive storytelling that engages the full powers of the human imagination.  It is also an exercise of our creativity merged with our love and appreciation of great legends and tales.  Often the rules of magic in such games stifle the imaginations of its participants.  Full color, enchanting stories that delve deep into the mythic resonance of the collective racial memory are sacrificed for ease of game balance and playability.
   As a fantasy novelist, poet, world designer, and DM, I longed to forge a system that duplicated closely what I saw happening in stories, a system unfettered by dry limitations such as the requirement that wizards have to store spells in their minds each day.  When was the last time Gandalf had to cautiously select a limited assortment of magical powers each day?  Why can't a sorceress tap into the rich energy field of life magic to bestow healing on the wounded?  And why must a spherical burst spell always be composed of fire, or a missile spell be limited to magical force?  Where is the spell for a spherical burst of crystal shards or a missile of acid or poison, depending on a wizard's attunement to the pure elemental energies that shaped creation?
   Wizards in books and movies seem to have gained cantrip spells as natural spell-like abilities over time.  Why can't a bard master a simple cantrip like message in time?  This section on Arcanology is the result of asking many questions like these.
 

What is different about magic
in the World of Thandoria?

In this unique system spellcasters are not required to memorize their spells each day.  All magic users gain the sorcerer's ability to cast spontaneously any spell they have mastered.  There's no need to "prepare" them each day by selecting which ones you will store in your character's mind.  Your character is so intimately familiar with his or her magic that he or she can cast any spell they have mastered utilizing the spell power stored within the aura as spell slots.
   These magical spell slots symbolize packets of available quantized magical energy used to "fuel" spells.  This system puts a well-deserved stake in the heart of this old memorization/preparation method of governing spell powers.
   The division between arcane, divine, and psionic magical disciplines has been dissolved as well.  Magic is magic, no matter how you slice it.  All types of magic have been transformed into the Twelve Colleges of Magic.  There's a college of magic for Oracular divine spells as well as one for druidic spells and psionic spells.
   Spells with a material component can be cast using magical substances found and harvested in nature or by utilizing a spell focus, any object ritually designed to channel and transform magical energy.  Actual spell components from a spell pouch doubles the casting time of any spell.  A spell pouch laden with magical substance components costs 10gp.   
   However, a spell crystal avoids this penalty and makes the casting time normal.  Many casters have crafted certain objects or magical devices that incorporate spell crystals into their design such as holy symbols or staves.  A spell crystal costs 100 gp.  If a spell crystal is masterwork quality it costs 500 gp. and adds +1 to the save DC of spells cast through it.  Dragonshard crystals can be found inside the brains of dragons.  They can bestow greater bonuses and metamagic effects on spells cast though them.  They cost between 1000 and 10,000 gp.
   Sorcerers and Mystics (aka. Favored Souls) are the only classes that do not require material or focus components.  These two classes start with the Eschew Materials feat as a bonus feat.  The Mystic's and Sorcerer's chakras crystallize overtime eventually becoming rainbow-colored spell crystals similar to dragonshards.  As such, high level sorcerers and mystics are often hunted by evil wizards for their inner crystals.  Once a Sorcerer (or Mystic) reaches 7th level, his seven crystal chakras can protrude from his skin at will.