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The Pope announces his retirement ... the first in nearly 600 years. Asteroid 2012 DA14 comes within 17.5k miles of Earth -- the closest ever observed by modern astronomers and to top it off, fire rains from the sky over Russia.
Is it coincidence that Super Genius Games has just released their new "Genius Guide to Chaos Magic"?
We report, YOU decide.
And just what is The Genius Guide to Chaos Magic? I'm glad you asked!
Chaos magic is the eldritch force of pure, churning anarchy, outrageous coincidence, and unrelenting entropy. It is more than spells that draw on the chaotic element of the alignments that define the morals of creatures throughout the multiverse, it also is a way to dip into the pure stuff of madness and creation. Chaos magic requires its practitioners to embrace a lack of control, and accept that what they want isn't always going to be what they get. In return, they can create effects far beyond their normal level of power… though that isn't always a good thing.
Chaos magic is often considered evil by society, and while this isn't true, it’s an understandable position. Those who draw on chaos magic are often power-mad and, only slightly less often, just plain insane—and thus are high-profile troublemakers. And even among those who embrace chaos magic for scholarly pursuits, or as the only means to oppose powerful enemies, or because they have no choice, the unpredictable nature of chaos magic often causes them to do as much collateral damage as real, lasting good. No one wants a chaos mage living in the center of town, and while the power she represents isn't malevolent, it’s certainly antithetical to the goals of any organized society.
Even so, rare examples of chaos magic as an heroic power source do exist—mostly in lands suffering under crushing tyranny and merciless laws that protect only the rich and powerful. In such kingdoms, anything that disrupts the status quo may be embraced as a form of heroic independence and liberty. Such praise is generally short lived however—once the tyrant is overturned, the confusion and random mishaps caused by chaos magic is as mistrusted by the new regime (however evenhanded it may be) as it once was by the original oppressors.
Despite its questionable reputation, the power of pure anarchy is often sought after by those who simply desire power, and sometimes thrust on those who would prefer a more orderly kind of magic. Chaos is a natural part of the universe, and chaos magic cannot be contained or eliminated, no matter how many kingdoms would prefer it.
I picked up this product and have glanced over it. I have a question about the Chaos Surge spell line. What benefits do spontaneous casters get from this spell? The spell states that you shape...into a spell you know, why wouldn't a spontaneous caster just cast the spell they know? Does a prepared caster have to have it in their book (I'm assuming yes)? I see this spell as being great for prepared casters, but as written not so good for spontaneous casters with limited spells known, unless there is something I am missing. I suppose they can try for that higher level spell.
Is its only purpose for a spontaneous caster to try to cast a higher level spell they already know? If so doesn't that make the spell much better for prepared casters (except the whole it can blow up in your face thing...)?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Contributor; Developer, Super Genius Games
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So despite the chaos surge spells looking pretty-well identical, the question of how useful they are for spontaneous casters actually varies wildly depending on which spell you are talking about.
For chaos surge I-V and VII-VIII, the only real function is to have a shot at casting higher-level spells with lower-level slots. As a result in most cases a spontaneous caster is only going to know one or two versions of the spell, likely swapping out lower-level versions for higher level as she gain levels.
However, chaos surge VI and chaos surge IX have another option. They let you cast a *lower* level spells from your spell list even if its not a spell known. Bards and sorcerers are very well served to pick up those spells for exactly the reasons the others aren't as good a choice.
And of course the chaos surge spells are only a small part of the Chaos Magic systems -- spontaneous casters can use bedlam spells as well as anyone else, and do just as well with the chaos mage and spellstorm archetypes as anyone else.