Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Jul 29, 2004 9:41:33	This is an element I've started implementing in my games. Can people tell me what they think of it - concept, mechanics etc. Sorcerers, since their spellcasting is ungodly and a blasphemy and so on, go slightly mad. Their spells are tied to charisma, because it is the sheer force of their will that allows them to cast as they do. As they find that they are in a subjective world, their ties with traditional sanity become weaker and weaker. As they are spontaneous casters, they have a pool of spell points rather than a number of spells per level to spend on casting spells. This means with 50 spell points, a sorcerer could cast 50 1st level spells, or 10 5th level. Spell points are replenished daily. I worked out how many points sorcerers would receive simply by adding up the spells/day for each level, so we get something like... 1 - +2 (2) 2 - +3 (5) 3 - +4 (9) 4 - +5 (14) 5 - +6 (20) 6 - +7 (27) 7 - +8 (35) 8 - +9 (44) 9 - +10 (54) 10 - +12 (66) 11 - +14 (80) 12 - +15 (95) 13 - +17 (112) 14 - +18 (130) 15 - +19 (149) 16 - +20 (169) 17 - +21 (190) 18 - +23 (213) 19 - +24 (237) 20 - +25 (262) I also have it that sorcerers can have infinite cantrips, not costing anything in the way of spell points, but I limit the overuse of them. Most of the time, players will be wanting to cast their higher level spells anyway, except, of course, for prestidigitation. They don't add to madness chances. Every (10 x highest spell level) spell levels cast causes an accumulating 1% chance per spell cast that the caster will start to go mad. The effect will have some relevance to the spell - an illusion of a couple of draconians might mean that the illusions starts to follow the character everywhere they go (but only visible to them), whereas a fireball might mean that they occasionally have hallucinations of everything burning. It might also have something to do with the character themselves - someone mildly paranoid might become moreso, or an 'unsubtle' spellcaster might actually turn psychopathic. My favourite is the addiction idea, where evey time they go madder, they become more obsessed with casting spells for everything - and as such, will send them more insane faster. Sorcerers are also able to overpower spells above maximum spell level known (quickened, enlarged, maximised fireball at level 6 = 11 spell points. Maximum level known = 3) causes a greater chance for insanity. They temporarily gain however many spell points they went over their maximum to be added to the chance for going mad, but these temporary insanity points decrease at the rate of 1 per day of complete bed rest. For example, Marvin, the 6th level sorcerer, has a maximum spell casting level of 3, meaning every 30 spell points he casts increases the chance per spell of madness by 1%. He has 27 spell points because of his level, plus 6 for high charisma. His past adventuring has earned him a 4% chance of madness per spell, and is 7 points too close to gaining another 1% to his madness chances. He also has a nasty facial tic when confronted by members of the opposite sex and the same species. In a lone encounter against a band of orcs who somehow see through his invisibility spell, he had to cast an enlarged, maximised fireball, costing him 7 spell points. This causes him to go up to 5% base madness, and has an additional 4% chance of madness per spell until he gets some rest. 9% chances are just too much for poor Marvin, who decides he needs a lie down – the pounding pressure in his head is getting a little too much. I'm about to start a game with two sorcerers in. One is a pyromancer, who is addicted to casting spells, and occasionally just zones out to just stare at the pretty, pretty flames... She also tries to touch them. As her starting magical item (only letting them have one at start of game, and has to have a story) she has a pair of elbow length red opera gloves that protect her from fire. The other is a summoner, but also new to D&D and DL (although definately not role-play) and I've not got round to explaining he is mad yet. Edit: A 'heal' spell will return a character to complete sanity, but only a 'wish', 'miracle' or epiphany will reset the % chance of madness per spell, although won't necessarily cure existing madnesses.
#2 zombiegleemax Jul 29, 2004 14:02:06	I dont think that there is any indication that a sorcerer would go mad because of the nature of the power they wield. However, on the other side, high sorcery in a way, seems to be very addictive to those who wield the power!