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Alphatian Magic

by Jeff Daly

It's been in my head that Glantrian magic and Alphatian magic should be radically different. Problem is, Bruce took all the good ideas and stuck them in Glantri(Just kidding, sort of). So I asked myself, what is the biggest difference between Glantri magic and Alphatia? The obvious answer, and the simplest/cleanest answer, is that Alphatia is enormously older than Glantri. Their magic is alien, and ancient.

The second biggest difference is one that causes the speaker to wince a bit as he says it. The fact that Glantri tends to be more geared toward fire and Alphatia more geared toward air. Of course, since both Flaemish and Atlantean societies have moved far from their roots since the time of Alphaks, there is much argument to be had. But I am going to ignore all that...

Anyway, that was just a flimsy basis for this system which I am going to toss to you...

Forget spell memorisation as you know it. While Alphatians memorise spells, the same 1spell=1cast rule does not apply for them. They have an ancient magic which draws directly from the power inside the caster.

Caster's power points = Int x Int
Power points regained/day=3

Now, this system is similar to the one for Immortals. However, mortal spellcasters have two limitations that are crucial. The first is the fact that they cannot create spell effects that are not memorised. The second is another new stat called fatigue. Fatigue is representative of the incredible energy it takes to produce magic. Fatigue points are assigned by the following chart...

Con	Fatigue points
4	50
6	60
8	70
10	80
12	90
14	100
16	110
18	120

While power points are more numerous, they are regained slowly over days. Fatigue points are regained by rest. One may get back 10% of fatigue for each 10 minutes of rest. Of course, rest means absolutely no activity besides laying down or leaning against a wall.

Spell points...this is a toughie. We could take a straight spell level x 2 to equal the cost in power and fatigue (same amount for both). But this does not take into account the varying effectiveness of spells of the same level. For instance, Magic missile should not have the same cost as read magic. Then again, with this system an Alphatian mage doesn't really need read magic at all...

One solution could be to come up with an entirely new spell list, but that seems like a rather drastic change. Another might be to rate spells according to what they do...damaging spells = spell level x 2...that sort of thing.

(Intelligence + Dexterity)x2 is the base % chance of casting each spell effectively. Every time a caster learns a new spell, he gets to add the spell level to the overall chance.

Failing to cast effectively can produce a variety of results...

Roll d20
1-10	No result
11-12	Double power cost/double fatigue cost
12-13	Wrong thing produced/unrecognisable from intended results (variable effects up to the imagination of the DM. Generally I roll a d6, 1 to 2 its bad, 3 to 4 its neutral, and 5 to 6 its good)
14-15	Explosion, strength up to DM but should take into account spell level.
16-17	Roll on infant fumble table from Glantri gazette
18-20	Spell works, but with twice the effect, range, and duration (with area effect spells this can be very damaging to the caster)