What do you mean by freeform.
Dragon age like magic setting much?
Also, I think you have your answers already. You stated them yourself.
This sounds like a very ambitious and difficult plan. When I imagine developing a system like what you describe (which, at least, sounds really cool) for my players, I picture them flinging Fireballs and Disintegrations willy-nilly and wonder why anyone would ever play a non-caster. You know your group better than I do, though.
Have you looked at Pact Magic from the 3.5 Tome of Magic. You might be able to draw inspiration from that, though I doubt it's exactly what you are looking for. Also the Warlock from Complete Arcane has a similar thesis behind it. All of their powers come from a usually fiendish source and they are unlimited.
The only other game I've seen where characters could use magic almost unlimitedly to do almost anything was in the Storyteller game Mage: the Ascension, but that's not even D20 and would be very hard to adapt, I think.
Really, the best suggestion I can make is to borrow heavily from the Warlock class, with maybe an expanded Invocation pool and then try and incorporate the Call of Cthulhu D20 insanity system.
Hope that is helpful.
Yeah, I would go with binder and/or warlock for inspiration.
Are there ANY limits in your mind? Like, can a 1st level dude use Meteor Swarm at will? Does everyone know every spell? Is it level based at all?
What do PCs have to do to get a demon to help them use magic?
In binder pact magic, they make a check 1/day, and if they succeed, they can use the magic at will. If they fail, they take on a behavioral aspect of the vestige, such as alwasy crying, unable to concentrate on a task for more than 1 round, always giving alms to dwarves, etc. etc.
Did you want the check to occur every time a spell is cast? Maybe look into Truenamer from the Tome of Magic for inspiration on DCs, etc.
Maybe a restoration period of 1d12 rounds? It reduces to 1d10 at 5th, 1d8 at 10th, 1d6 at 15th, and 1d4 at 20th.
How many spells would they know? Just like wizards? 3 + Int bonus at 1st level and 2 every additional level? More? Less?
Would you require a Will save to cast every spell? Would the DC stay the same, or increase depending on how many times a specific spell was cast?
Sounds like you're insisting on your own magic system and hoping we can provide it :).
Follow your vision.
This work?
http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Mana-Based_Spellcasting_%283.5e_Variant_Rule %29
I followed Eyolf the Wild Commoner's link and it led to an essentially blank page.
I feel like I read something like what you describe in Unearthed Arcana. A system where you need recharge time to cast. Is that what the link was supposed to lead to?
So: 1st level Wizard could cast 0-level spells unlimitedly, but a 1st level spell would knock out spell casting for several rounds. Maybe you could even let the 1st level wizard cast a 2nd level spell, but it knocks out spell casting for an hour or a day or something.
As the Wizard levels, recharge times improve for whatever spells they can cast. Non-casters would just have much more limited abilities.
If you want to make magic freeform you need to cap what can be done each round.
as a base no effect can do more than level x d6 , without feats/abilites etc.
( wether thats a creative use of loose boulders above the battlefield or raw magic fire bolts, just cap the max damage potential)
can only manipulate level x X lb of mass
can only control level x X HD of creature (stuff like sleep charm holds etc)
then have feats that alow them to increase the max per round values you decide on.
What about checks for casting and a fumbles table ?
No limits on spells or spell points per day, but something like a caster level check DC 10 + spell level + number of spell levels used during the last rounds, up to a number equal to the spell level. It's dangerous to cast three spells in a row, if they're appropriate to the caster's level.
In case of failure, roll d20 or use the difference between the DC and the roll :
1 4 spell hit a random target
5 6 spell hit the caster
7 14 nothing happens
15 18 magic burst (1d10 per level of the spell in a 60-foot range, reflex half ?)
19+ magical disaster (a portal to a random plane appears ?)
You might want to look at the various incarnations of the Deadlands magic system.
Hucksters (Mages) draw their spells from duels with demons. These duels take the form of games of chance.
When a Huckster wants to cast a spell he draws five cards from a deck to try and make a poker hand. The more difficult a spell is the better hand needed to have it go off, from ace high all the way up to royal flush.
So if a Huckster wanted to cast a magic missile he would draw five cards needing a pair to have it go off. If he gets the pair the spell goes off and does basic damage, but if he gets a better hand (three of a kind or a straight) the spell does more damage depending on how good of a hand it is.
If he didn't get a pair right off he could draw more cards depending on how high his level is (second level one additional card, third two additional cards), but the more cards he draws the greater risk he will draw a wild card (joker), which can cause the spell to run wild in a good or bad way.
If he goes bust, not getting the minimum hand needed at all, the demon wins and punishes the Huckster. Causing the spell to misfire doing damage to the Huckster, or to an ally, or in the worst case, possessing the Huckster for a time.
That's basically how I remember it going, though it's been quite some time since I played Deadlands.
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I personally recommend that you take a serious look at Monte Cook's World of Darkness. It has the best freeform d20 magic system that I have ever seen. Essentially it is the previously mention magic system from Mage after Monte converted it to d20. A lot of the leg work might already be done for you if you like it and all you would have to do is modify it a little for your desired flavor and power level.
Tam
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For a decent overview of the MC's WOD magic system check out this review on rpg.net. Just scroll down and read the review of Chapter 5 Magic. It gives a really concise but decently thorough overview of how the system works and why I think it might work for what you are looking for.
Tam
Why did the link not work..
Go to google and type this in, should be the first result.
mana-based spellcasting 3.5
Also a re-link, hopefully it works.
http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Mana-Based_Spellcasting_%283.5e_Variant_Rule %29|
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Got a link? The only World of Darkness I know of is the d10 system
Maybe the mana system will work for you. But it seems that you missed my link above. If you want to see the MC's WOD magic system, a good and short overview is right .
Apparently you can't put [bigger] tags around something twice to make it doubly big. Hope this helps.
Tam