Looking for "mana pool" magic system

[mistergone]

I have this crazy idea I might want to try to run a Warcraft game in the near future, but I hate the "fire and forget" of "Vancian" magic system... it really doesn't fit Warcraft, for one, and well... I just hate it.

So I'm looking for a good ol' mana pool type system, but I can't quite get my head around how I should go about it.

I'm thinking starting with a base pool at 1st level, and adding X amount to it each caster level afterwards. I don't want to change the amount of spells knowable per level or make wizards and sorcerers the same. Also, it has to be really simple, so I can present it in like a paragraph to new players. I'm thinking, wizards still have to have what spells they want to cast chosen, but can cast them however many times their mana pools will allow. Sorcerers wouldn't have to choose what spells they wanted to cast beforehand, but rather could cast from any spell they know. Or something. Casters still would need to rest to regain mana.

Any suggestions? I want to do the same for each spellcasting class. Also, please don't just tell me to go check out Everquest or some other system, or at least re-state the basic theory of their systems here. Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Staffan]

Hmm... how about a system where a caster has roughly the same amount of spells known as a sorcerer, but instead of getting spell slots they get mana points - should probably be less than the equivalent spell slots a sorcerer get to compensate for the flexibility...

Hey, didn't Wizards already do a system like that? Yeah, it's called the Complete Psionics Handbook.

OK, that might have sounded a bit arrogant and stupid, but seriously - the psionics rules work pretty well as just an alternate magic system.

 

[mistergone]

I don't want to use Psionics. Again, if you mean replacing spells with psionic powers and using that system, perhaps you could explain how that might work... but I'm not gonna go out and buy the Psionics book just to do it.

 

[SteelDraco]

I use basically the rules from the PsiHB for my d20 game. They work quite well for it - the rules for metamagic work much better with a point-based system, and you can play around with some stuff that you can't in a Vancian system. Attacks that deal spell point damage, sacrifical daggers that store spell points, and other nifty things.

The gist of the system is that you gain a number of spell points based on your level, modified by your primary spellcasting stat. Spells cost points based on level (level x 2 - 1). Metamagic increases the cost by 2 for each level it would normally increase by, so Quicken Spell increases cost by 8, Empower by 4, and so on.

I find that I prefer a spell point system to the fire-and-forget magic. Next time I run D&D, I'll likely use it instead.

 

[SteelDraco]

I don't want to use Psionics. Again, if you mean replacing spells with psionic powers and using that system, perhaps you could explain how that might work... but I'm not gonna go out and buy the Psionics book just to do it.

Just look at in the SRD. You could slot it in without much trouble at all - wizards and sorcerers would be too similar, so you'd have to combine them. Clerics would automatically get their domain spells as known, so you'd likely want to fiddle with the number of spells they get. I'd introduce bloodline feats to recreate the sorcerer as a descendant of supernatural critters. Most non-spell abilities (Wild Shape, a wizard's metamagic and item creation feats, turning) wouldn't need to change at all. The level system works just the same, so it'd be fairly easy to change things over.

You'd have to fiddle with class balance a bit - refigure some stuff for the partial caster classes (paladin, ranger, etc).

Oh, and the Psionics section in the SRD can be found at the bottom of this page : http://www.wizards.com/D20/article.asp?x=srd35
If you want the whole thing in one zip file, that's at http://www.wizards.com/d20/files/v35/srdpsionics.zip

 

[mistergone]

Thanks, it's beginning to come together. Of course, I am still open to other options.

 

[reapersaurus]

A friend of mine wrote up a 'mana pool' system for 2nd edition.

If you're interested, I could see if I still have it...

 

[steveroe]

I would also look at Ars Magica by Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen. I don't know if it's in print, but you can find a second hand copy at a Game-Con or an online auction. It has a skill based magic system that is very interesting. I think a graft onto d20 would be very interesting to play.

steve

 

[CCamfield]

The 4th edition of Ars Magica is available as a free PDF download at rpgnow.com.

There's also Elements of Magic, a PDF product from EN Publishing. But that's a whole different system, not something you can explain in a paragraph.

 

[Liquid Snake]

You might find this link interesting:
http://userpages.umbc.edu/~pfrack1/ManaSystem.html

It's some guy's draft for a Mana System specifically made for the Warcraft RPG.

You might also want to check out the Warcraft RPG forums.