Incantations in Theory and Practice brings incantations—the alternate system of ritual magic from 3.5E—to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. This exciting twist on magic brings great power to the fingertips of any player, even non-spellcasters, but power like this never comes without a price.
In this book, you’ll discover…
Everything you need to start using incantations in your game right now.
Guidelines to build your own balanced incantations and incorporate them into your game.
New ideas on what incantations can be. (Here’s a hint, they’re more than just ritual magic.)
New options, including opposed checks and lesser incantations.
And 3 new incantations!
Every incantation is a story, complete with built-in hooks for more adventure. This is an unpredictable, living, breathing magic.
Incantations in Theory and Practice is a perfect resource for players wanting to add a little danger to their characters or for game masters needing that extra something for their game world. This 9-page, high-quality, web-optimized pdf is compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and contains guidelines for building and using incantations and presents 3 new sample incantations.
Written by Scott Gable and Troy Taylor; Illustrated by James Keegan
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This pdf is 9 pages, 1 page front cover /including a piece of b/w artwork and text, 1/3 page SRD and 1/3 page editorial, leaving approximately 7 and 1/3 pages of content.
Everybody who knows me from the boards I attend and the posts that I post, knows one thing: While I love the modularity of D&D's 3rd edition and its children like Pathfinder, I hate the way they usually treat magic items and I'm somewhat baffled by all the rules-crunching people do to build killer spell-casters. While I don't judge any of you, I was always wondering: Where is the MAGIC, where has the wonder of magic abilities and with it, the reason for the in-game perceived arrogance of the mighty wizards gone? Has magic, one of the most significant, defining factors of any given campaign, deteriorated into a predictable, boring force that just makes it easier for casters to dominate non-casters at higher levels?
Nope. This is where this pdf comes in. Ever wondered how non-castes use those nifty little curses, rituals and other tools to utterly screw the lives of other people? How and why their rituals entail a sacrifice they are loathe to pay and try to avoid? What the potential consequences of their failure might be?
For an almost ridiculously low price, you can have all these questions answered, at least crunch-wise, for you campaign. I'm not kidding. If you, as a D_M, EVER wanted to bring the sheer aspect of wonder of magic back to your campaign this is the way to do it.
On a crunch note: What are Incantations? They are essentially skill-based, potentially co-operate rituals, complete with backlash, guidelines to use minor rituals and duplicate major magical effects. They ROCK! Your expert-mayor wants to curse the lvl 14 Wizard? There you go!
You'll get all the DCs, modifier and the rest to make your own incantations. You even get 3 samples, previously unreleased incantations to both be examples of what could be done with the mechanics and help you design more.
Conclusion:
I love the concept. I love the execution. I love the price. Zombie Sky Press has done it. This file has the potential to change your approach to PFRPG, hell it has the potential to change your approach to roleplaying and the aspect of magic in d20-based systems. Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any mistakes. The one piece of b/w-artwork is kind of cool. How do you rate a file that brought ritualistic magic, complex curses and all-out-non-spell-casting-class adventure seeds as well as an as of yet unperceived variety of hooks to your campaign?
Simple: With the best possible score: 5 out of 5 and the Endzeitgeist-seal of approval. These mechanics should be standard rules, are made of (*internet slang*) awesome and win (/*internet slang*) and quite frankly should be part of just about any DM's campaign if (s)he wishes to give either his/her players an extra edge or the possibility to marvel at the potential usages of magic.
Incantations in Theory and Practice is a very dense product for one weighing in at a modest nine pages-- laid out in a landscape format great for onscreen reading. Two of the nine are filled with a cover image, the necessary legalese, and the OGL. The lone piece of artwork is James Keegan's handiwork, a cool image of an aborigine-like elf and some spirits. Enjoy it, because once you flip that first page and start digging in, this PDF is solid.
The authors do a great job of creating a document that covers all the details you'd need to craft incantations of your own, discussing the mechanics, the modifiers, the checks and the all important backlash. Sidebars discuss creation considerations and the fact that you can use incantations to simulate a number of different effects-- from alchemical or mechanical devices, holistic practices, to inspirational speeches or songs. The flexibility allows for easy incorporation into high or low fantasy or magic campaigns, increasing the incantations' utility.
This document is everything you'll need to make incantations a part of your game, and that's its greatest strength. While the previous offering from Zombie Sky Press gave you a generous helping of incantations-- and don't be fooled, there are three more full incantations in this PDF-- this file is your proverbial blueprint. It shows you how to build incantations with baseline skill DCs for creating effects equivalent to spells from different schools of magic. And while most incantations are meant to emulate high level spells, the authors also provide you the considerations for lesser effects, and effects that might target hostile or summoned creatures, requiring opposed skill checks.
Think of this product as the nine pages of mechanics and examples that should have made it into your core rulebook in order to really do incantations right. While ZSP might have given you a really big fish with Incantations from the Other Side: Spirit Magic, Theory & Practice is the only lesson you'll need to go fishing all by yourself.
First, I love the formatting. I prefer PDFs be in a horizontal format to take advantage of my screen space. I rarely print PDFs, and when I do, it really makes no difference to me if it is vertical or horizontal, the text still reads the same!
Next, art... One image (which for a 9 page product is just fine). This one image does a fantastic job of eliciting the concept of Incantations. Very well chosen.
The author uses "Design Corners" boxed text that explain some of the concepts behind the mechanics. An excellent way to fill in the behind the scenes reasons and methods that went into the product.
The rules themselves are easy to understand at a glance. Which is always important. They work well in the existing rules system, and make sense as well. Also important.
These rules expand upon the Incantations from 3.5 and really make them available to all classes and all levels. This opens up a HUGE variety of plots, and flavor for GMs and Players alike.
There are only three Incantations, but for 9 pages, there just isn't room for more. There are rules for creating your own.
I EXPECT to see many many more Incantation products as the months pass. I WILL be seriously disappointed if these excellent rules are not supported.
I would recommend Incantations in Theory and Practice (PFRPG) PDF to everyone. In fact I DO recommend you buy it!
I'm intrigued. Would you mind explaining how it works generally? Is it something an existing character can learn, so they need to take levels in a class, or is it more feat/skill based? I'm all for picking up these things just to read, but if I can slip it into my STAP campaign (currently approaching 12th level) then I'm sold instantly!
These require no character modification at all-- presuming standard incantations, which the other ZSP book had in spades. Really, incantations require a number of skill checks and a few foci to invoke a spirit and create a sort of spell effect.
This is the starter, presenting fully operational incantations for Pathfinder. If you liked it, definitely check out Incantations from the Other Side, which uses the same rules (although, since it came first, it doesn't take full advantage of the new options presented in Incantations in Theory and Practice).
Krome, I would love to offer more incantations and have material tentatively planned for a another 4 or 5 products of incantations. But the reality is that it depends on sales. If enough people like it and want more, there will absolutely be more! ;D
Carborundum, Terraleon beat me to a brief explanation and helpful link. It just takes checks in various skills and the odd component or focus. Some characters will naturally be better equipped than other characters for some incantations while not for others. Mechanically, they fit right into the game, no modifications required. Thematically, you and your players will have to decide what works for the setting and personal taste. While some are potent, they are all designed with some expense and time commitment, not to mention risk, and everyone--from fighter to mage, whether PC, NPC, or BBEG--can potentially use them, so ways to maintain game balance are built in.
I've just started playing around with these for some character concepts.
One question though, having run into a snag in making permanent polymorphing incantations(to emulate 6th level spells like flesh to stone for example) using the 3.x rules that has carried over into the PFRPG incarnation:
Would a Polymorph sub-school incantation possibly have a longer duration than Transmutation, or is this courting all sorts of balance issues?
As to your question, you shouldn't have to worry about subschools (like polymorph). Just use the starting stats for the school in question (in this case transmutation), and modify those. Many such modifications are listed in the document (see Table 1), and one such modification is duration. Transmutation starts at DC 32 and you can alter duration from rounds to permanent with a whopping +22 adjustment.
That's a steep penalty but you're likely to bring that down with limitations and backlash and such.
Huh. This may be useful for my E6 campaign. How well does the system hold up if trying to emulate 4th level and higher spells?
It should work fine. There are actually notes on emulating less-than-6th level spells in this product, unlike in the original 3.5 incantation rules.
You'll probably still have to make adjustments to have it workable for your campaign, but they make note that these are guidelines rather than hardcoded rules.
It's a really nice take on magic, and honestly makes magic feel more like magic. It should fit perfectly into an E6-style campaign.
Huh. This may be useful for my E6 campaign. How well does the system hold up if trying to emulate 4th level and higher spells?
It should work fine. There are actually notes on emulating less-than-6th level spells in this product, unlike in the original 3.5 incantation rules.
You'll probably still have to make adjustments to have it workable for your campaign, but they make note that these are guidelines rather than hardcoded rules.
It's a really nice take on magic, and honestly makes magic feel more like magic. It should fit perfectly into an E6-style campaign.
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