Arcana Unearthed Magic System?

[Geron Raveneye]

Well, I've ported the magic system and two or three of the classes into my Iron Kingdoms game. I've kept the AU spells out, though, with the option of players who ask for specific spells getting them instead of a D&D spell.

The reason is simply that I like the different flavour those classes give. The runethane for the dwarves of Rhul, an arcane caster who uses runes heavily, but leaves 8th and 9th level spells respectfully to his divine colleagues, and the magister (spellweaver in my game) for the elves as the elvish attempt to codify and formularize sorcery. I've taken a bonus feat or two out of the magister, though, to keep him a bit in line with the wizard. AU magic system is for elves and dwarves only, wizardry for humans only, and everybody has sorcerers. Works damn fine. As for the spells - the player of the elven spellweaver/ranger asked for the Glowglobe spells instead of the Light/Continual Flame spells, and he got them, because it carries more elvish flair. To me, at least.

So I see no problem in porting the magic system and the classes over to D&D...as long as you know what you want to do with them.

 

[Michael Tree]

I prefer it to D&D magic to such an extent that I'm not sure I could play a standard D&D spellcaster anymore.

I dislike vancian magic, and prefer the flexibility of AU magic. My favorite aspect of that flexibility is that it encourages characters to ready a few spells that are cool but only occasionally useful, the sort of spells that no sane D&D wizard would every prepare.

I'm not sure you could easily port the magic system into D&D on its own without the AU spellcasting classes. It's simple to bring AU character classes into a D&D game. The consensus on these boards has been that they're well balanced as long as AU characters use only AU spells and feats, and D&D characters use only D&D spells and feats. But it would be fairly difficult to, say, convert the cleric to use AU magic.

 

[drnuncheon]

One thing nobody's mentioned yet are the changes to specific spells, like Teleport - in AU, you can increase your chances of arriving in the right place by taking an increased preparation time as well as familiarity with the destination, which seemed very cool to me.

There are two kinds of healing spells - some (transfer wounds) that transfer damage to the caster (as subdual damage) but heal more damage, and others (battle healing) that heal less damage but do it without harming the caster (and leave scars).

There's a lot of little changes like that sprinkled through the books that keep the power of the spells, add lots of flavor, and remove some of the worst abuses.

J

 

[ender_wiggin]

I love the system, but I detest the classes. The magister has access to virtually all spells, and at high levels can ready an obcene amount of them at a time. He's like a wizard that casts like a sorceror with sorceror spells per day. Except he has even more spells per day. And even more spells known than a wizard.

That being said, I'm the process of importing the system (basically by cutting spells readied in three), and leaving laden/heightened/diminished capabilities as a sorceror ability only.

 

[Khorod]

The tag-line of AU magic is flexibility. The power curve on spells starts higher and ends weaker. Broad spell selection is the special advantage and focus of the Magister class.

 

[Desdichado]

The tag-line of AU magic is flexibility. The power curve on spells starts higher and ends weaker. Broad spell selection is the special advantage and focus of the Magister class.

That's our experience as well. Personally, I think using AU magic in an otherwise D&D campaign would work fine, but it may be a bit silly that there are so many variants of spells and spellcasters that it may stretch believability. I'd be more inclined to simply replace the D&D magic using classes with the AU magic-using classes. Or heck, even swap out the entire class line-ups. I think Eberron, but with AU classes would be pretty interesting.

 

[Staffan]

I love the system, but I detest the classes. The magister has access to virtually all spells, and at high levels can ready an obcene amount of them at a time.

Note that the spells in AE are generally a little less powerful and/or less accessible than the equivalent D&D spells. For example, eldritch armor (the equivalent of mage armor requires a feat to use (since it's Exotic), flight lets you fly at 30 ft per round or your normal speed, whichever is less (as opposed to D&D fly which gives you a speed of 60 ft per round, 40 if encumbered), and invisibility is moved to 3rd level.

He's like a wizard that casts like a sorceror with sorceror spells per day. Except he has even more spells per day.

The magister spellcasting table is the same as a wizard's, except it doesn't cap at 4 spells per level. To be more specific, the wizard's casting table of each level if read from top to bottom reads: "1 2 2 3 3 3 4" followed by a lot of 4s - in other words, one 1, two 2, three 3, and the rest 4. The magister continues the progression with four 4s, five 5s, six 6s, one 7, followed by "infinite". I don't know about you, but I don't consider five first-level spells per day at 11th level to be game-breaking or anything, nor do I consider infinite first-level spells per day at 21st level to be.

 

[scholz]

The magister does seem more powerful (and of course more flexible), but there are some factors in the game that balance that.
1. All spellcasters can heal (magisters better than some) so, typically a good portion of the magister's spell slots get used for that. While that might seem to make one more powerful it really limits what they will do with their spells in combat.
2. Buff spells are much weaker in AU/AE. You won't find bull strength or greater magical weapon there. No haste.
Our magister definitely feels powerful and useful, but he isn't more powerful than any other character in our group.
The general feel of characters in AE is that they are better at doing what they are specially designed for than PHB characters, but none is really more powerful than another.