The Ages of Allu: Elemental Magic Update

[Scott Sharplin]

Hello again! As we are getting ready to launch our Kickstarter Campaign for The Ages of Allu Campaign Setting, I thought I'd revisit a topic that came up early in our planning: new rules for elemental magic. There is already a thread about this, but we have some new ideas so I thought I'd start anew. We're excited about two Big Deals -- paradigm shifts in the way RPG magic functions.

First, Allu's material structure, and all of its magic, derive from an unstable circuit of five elements: water, fire, metal, earth, and aether. Five damage types are tied to those elements, and whenever someone casts a spell, it randomly attunes to one of the five. Spellcasters can "push" their spells along the cycle, starting from whichever element they have a racial affinity with. We've decided to use Concentration checks to accomplish this.

The benefit (besides a dynamic and visual spin to ordinary spells) is a spellcaster's ability to attune their damage to a foe's elemental vulnerability. Which brings me to Big Deal #2...

Most creatures in Allu have elemental vulnerabilities and affinities. A vulnerability works the same as in Pathfinder (you take +50% damage when struck by that element). Affinities are still in the works; here are some options we're considering:

• All creatures (including characters) have resistance 5 against their attuned element. (This might increase with their HD)
  
• All creatures (including characters) are just plain old immune to their attuned element. Or...
  
• In addition to immunity, creatures (and characters) actually receive some healing when exposed to their attuned element. This might be 1 hp of healing up to their own HD; or it could be 1 hp healed per level of the spell. (Note that this would only work with magical energy damage; simply tucking a torch into your shirt doesn't keep you healing every round!)

We recognize that each option presents different challenges to the existing rules, but we're confident that we can develop a rules template -- that is, a simple set of principles that can be easily applied onto PF core rules -- that would make RPG magic fresh, unpredictable, and exciting.

Bearing in mind these are still preliminary plans, we'd love to hear what you think.

[Orthos]

I like the healing option. I think it's an underused option in the game as stands now - creatures have plenty of resistance and immunity going around, but aside from some Golems and a few other odd exceptions there are very few creatures or systems currently in the game where smacking them with the wrong attack type makes them better (either by healing or giving temp HP, or providing a buff of some sort, or something else equally rare like Oozes dividing if you use Slashing or Piercing damage on them).

It adds an interesting new tactical effect to the game that's been present in non-tabletop RPGs - like video games such as Final Fantasy - since the very beginning, but yet is exceedingly rare in D&D/Pathfinder. This would be a nice way to turn that on its head.

One additional note: Don't forget the martial characters! It's nice to see an interesting and fresh new take on the magic system, but as a simple glance over the forum will tell you it's quite expected that new releases will give magic users new tricks, don't leave the Fighters and Barbarians and Rangers and Rogues and Paladins and all the other non-primary casters out in the lurch. With this attuned-element system, you've got the perfect explanation for melee types getting their hands on some brand new powers. Aether-attuned Fighters suddenly rocketing into the air on cloud wings. Fire-attuned Paladins' smites bathing their foes in holy flame. Earth-attuned Barbarians cleaving the very stone beneath their enemies' feet. Metal-attuned Rangers manipulating the course of their arrows through magnetism. Those are just a few off the top of my head, I'm sure you guys could come up with more if you put your minds to it!

[ShadowcatX]

I think it sounds like a lot of work for potentially very little reward. Have you playtested these rules and seen how much time they had to combat? (Including page flipping, chart looking up, referencing monster type vs. vulnerability and all the rest.) And that's to say nothing of potential balance issues and thematic issues.

Also, be aware that the further you drift from Pathfinder normal as part of your basic rules, you will be alienating a certain part of your customer base.

All of which is to say I don't necessarily think this can't work, I just think it needs to be handled very well. It is, however, a risk, be aware of that.

I really like Orthos's idea about letting people get powers based on their affinities. (And not just martials, I'd love to have a wizard who could do something cool besides just spells, but martials are the ones who really need it.) That has lots of potential. Resistances? Not so much.

[Aleron]

Pretty cool! Have been considering some mechanics like this myself and here are my thoughts:

I'd consider setting them up as templates, so they would be easy to add to any given creature.

As for the benefit/drawback, if you are getting a full on vulnerability with it...I'd lean toward something more than 5 resistance. Maybe 10 and increases as you level (to 20, 30, then maybe immunity). I wouldn't start with a full on immunity. I'd also consider looking at the stormborn bloodline as it gives a good example of how you could implement something where they could absorb the energy and heal themselves slightly. Again, I would probably make this limited to once per day (and gain more as you get higher level).

For Casters, I'd let them have an ability that lets them alter the descriptor and damage of a spell to their chosen element. I'd also consider not letting them learn spells of their opposed element (not sure this works with your five or not).

For Martials, letting them wreathe their weapon in their element for so many rounds/level (possibly more) seems fitting. Basically, for an example if they are air...let them grant the shock (upgrades to shocking burst later and possibly others). Could also give them some spell-like abilities so they don't fall behind too much (using air again, shocking grasp for example perhaps).

[Scott Sharplin]

Hello! We've just posted about our elemental magic system on the Ages of Allu website, and we'd love to see what people think!

Here is a link to the overview of elemental magic in Allu. It describes the wheel of five elements and their associated damage types. It also provides rules about elemental healing and vulnerabilities.

And here we have quick-play rules for elemental spellcasting in Allu. We unveiled this system recently at a convention playtest session, and received lots of positive feedback.

Let us know what you think. Does it sound like a system you'd like to try out?

(If you like us, swing by our Kickstarter page too!)

[The Terrible Zodin]

Wow.

My first thought was 'great, another boring elemental "system"'. But, upon reveiwing your quick play I see that you've tied the elements to races which ties to base spellcasting in a way that makes race matter.

[Scott Sharplin]

Thanks, Zodin. Your "wow" means a lot to us!

It's our intention to keep our rules open and flexible, so perhaps you can help us decide something. Should all members of a race always be attuned to the same element?

We've included some options for changing your base element, but they all involve choosing an elemental domain (or bloodline, or mystery, etc.). But what if somebody just wanted to play a vishkanya universalist wizard but didn't like the water/cold affinity? Should we allow for exceptions, or should we stick to our guns?

[Scott Sharplin]

Orthos wrote:

One additional note: Don't forget the martial characters! It's nice to see an interesting and fresh new take on the magic system, but as a simple glance over the forum will tell you it's quite expected that new releases will give magic users new tricks, don't leave the Fighters and Barbarians and Rangers and Rogues and Paladins and all the other non-primary casters out in the lurch.

I also should point out that we haven't forgotten about Orthos's request for martial options. We're working on another Quickplay template that will use elemental magic to fundamentally change the way the heavy hitters fight. As soon as it's up on our website, I'll post the link here!

[Aleron]

I like what you came up with. Nice work. Fairly cleverly done and flexible enough while remaining usable to anyone with working knowledge of the game system. Interested to see what you came up with for martial characters too!

[Orthos]

Scott Sharplin wrote:

Orthos wrote:

One additional note: Don't forget the martial characters! It's nice to see an interesting and fresh new take on the magic system, but as a simple glance over the forum will tell you it's quite expected that new releases will give magic users new tricks, don't leave the Fighters and Barbarians and Rangers and Rogues and Paladins and all the other non-primary casters out in the lurch.

I also should point out that we haven't forgotten about Orthos's request for martial options. We're working on another Quickplay template that will use elemental magic to fundamentally change the way the heavy hitters fight. As soon as it's up on our website, I'll post the link here!

AWESOME. Looking forward to it.

[Scott Sharplin]

Thanks, everyone! Your excitement is contagious (in the good way)!

We hope you won't have to wait much longer for martial content. While you wait, pop over to this thread to see some more exciting news about the project.