Freeform spells

[Shadowdragon]

I'm interested in finding or creating a magic system where players create spells on the fly rather then have a bunch of fixed spells. I'd like to see how others have handled such a system, so, does anyone know of a rpg or D20 supplement that uses more of a freeform magic system?

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Elements of Magic: Revised and True Sorcery both fit that bill.

Later
silver

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I asked much the same question some months ago.

Michael Silverbane is indeed correct- those are the 2 to look at. However, you'll find that they also change the Core system in certain ways... They didn't fit my campaign- or more accurately, my players- but your opinion may vary.

If you're really a tweeker or open to a slight variant on D20, I have noticed that some people on these boards have described using the supers game, Mutants & Masterminds, to run FRPG campaigns, and their opinion of that has been high (I haven't done so myself). The nature of a good supers RPG like M&M (or HERO, if you're open to other systems) would allow PCs to do just what you describe.

 

[Enchelion Derabdur]

I've allowed characters to use the rules from Anime d20 (by guardians of order, available free on their website) to make their own spells.

 

[papastebu]

Possible System Overhaul?

Ars Magica has an interesting system for this very idea. It lends a strong medieval flavor to roleplaying in that game, and could do so for your's also.

There are 15 categories of magic, some of which are used to affect the others, and the rest of which are affected. The "level" of the spell is determined by how strong the character is in each art, but the levels get really high by the dice-system's very nature.

Adaptation would be fairly simple, because you could determine the power level of a given effect the same way, only toned down to D&D strengths.

From that point a great number of options are open to you. Make the arts themselves represent the power levels of the spells, but make the manipulation of those power sources a slowly-developing skill-check, so that the wizard, mage, or whatever would be able to outstrip the other classes. This is only one example, and I'm sure you could come up with others. Keep us posted, please, because this is something that I've been toying with for years with intermettent effort.

 

[Fieari]

Allow me to endorse Elements of Magic. The only problem my group had with it was that... well... it's too good, and my players went into feature shock, unable to decide what to do at any given moment because they had so many options. Eventually we went back to core, but if you want a freeform magic system, this is the way to go. Really. EoM:Mythic Earth I hear is also good, but is based on the D20 Modern magic system rather than the D&D one.

The neat thing was that some of them used EoM:R to create wuxia style characters instead of mages, using the magic to do cool ninja-like things, many of them inspired by naruto. Others were doing FF-style summons every round, bringing in magical creatures to perform a single task for a round (after which point they left). The flavor text of the spells you create is REALLY open ended, and can do some really awesome things.