Hey everyone,
I am currently Kickstarting the second adventure in my world - The Dead Gulch Adventure - Kickstarter
Along with the adventure comes our magic system variant. It is a mana based system, which tweak the classes, spells, and abilities of spellcasters.
What I have a question about is the class system. We are having a hard time in house deciding what to do about magic classes in a low magic world without having a very limited mage class.
The basics:
- There are no divine or arcane spells, all spells are available to each spellcasting class.
- We have two Mage classes - Wylder (untrained magic user) and a Luminar (trained).
- Old magic classes are turned into skill sets and abilities based on those who trained you.
- We are set up as a E8 system, so leveling up to 8, then just hitpoints beyond that. So you have limited level progression.
Most spellcasters start out as Wylders, though some who are found early can be a Luminar from level 1.
Since magic is rare (it is just reemerging), we thought that when you start to train as a Luminar, you get access to more spells, but none of your class abilities until you hit level four as a Luminar.
Example - Magic User who studies under the Church
Devout Luminari:
A luminar who studies within the church receives the following class abilities immediately at 4th level: Religious Relic and Channel Energy 2d6 (Su). Religious Relic works the same as Arcane Bond, but is an object given by the church to the luminar. This object is a relic of the church, and is as important to the luminar as their spellbook.
A Devout Luminar uses his religious relic as his focus for channeling energy. Upon reaching 5th level, Channel Energy improves to 3d6, and at 6th level improves to 4d6. The relic must be held and lifted to the sky in order to channel energy.
At 6th level, a Devout Luminar gains the ability Heightened Healing. This grants a bonus to all cure spells to heal an additional amount of damage equal to the Mana cost of the spell.
So our debate is if waiting until fourth level is too long to receive “class” bonuses? I am really torn myself. On one hand, it makes being a magic user feel a little more difficult, which it is in Uteria. When you become a Master of your path, you get the extra bonuses. The class abilities are bonuses really, your real power is your spells right?
My other thought is that the other classes, fighter for example, have all of their special abilities from the start.
I do like holding off on special skills because it makes it feel like a low magic world, but do you guys think it is too under powering?
Thanks,
Mike