From: kinsler@newton.physics.uq.oz.au (Paul Kinsler)
Subject: Spell point system
Organization: Physics Morgue, The University of Queensland
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 23:14:14 GMT

Here is a spell point system I have been working
on for a while. I would appreciate any comments 
that people have on it. It also includes magic 
specialisation rules and a "casting roll".

A Spell Point System for AD&D
(c) Paul Kinsler 1992

This article is an attempt to make spell casting classes in AD&D more 
flexible by removing the rigid "spell memorisation" rules, thus allowing 
characters more freedom to be creative with magic use. No longer will low 
level magic users curse that they felt forced to take the formidable 'sleep' 
spell when what they really need now is 'message' - a spell no low level 
magic user can afford to take down a dungeon. The system is applicable to 
both first and second edition rules.

Instead of memorising a particular subset of their spells, spell casters now 
study the spells in their spell books, in order to be able to cast spells during 
the rest of the day. They draw on their knowledge and experience to cast 
magic, as opposed to storing magical patterns in their head. Clerics still 
mediate and pray in order to receive the power to cast clerical magic - but 
can now cast any of the spells they are allowed to. The other changes are 
the addition of a casting roll to determine if a spell was correctly cast, and 
fatigue costs.

Firstly, I define some terminology to avoid the confusion caused by the 
AD&D rules use of 'level' for many different things. The level of 
experience of the character will still called 'level', but I will refer to spell 
level as 'rank' (thus wish is a rank-9 spell). Spell 'power' is the the level of 
effect at which a spell is cast. This is now variable, as opposed to the 
standard rules which fix spell power at the level of the spell caster. Spells 
can now be cast at a lower power than the level of the character. For 
example a fifth level magic user can cast a magic missile at the same level 
of effect as a first level magic user (doing 1d4+1 damage at 70'). 

SPECIALISATION
Spell casters also specialise in types of spells. Magic users select spell 
schools, clerics have spell spheres. The schools for magic user spells are 
listed just after the title in the spell lists in the players handbook, and the 
second edition has additional tables listing them separately. The clerical 
spheres are listed only in the second edition handbook.

There are five classes of specialisation: Major, Minor, Other, Minor 
Opposition and Major Opposition. A first level magic user selects a major 
school and this choice of major school then fixes their major opposition 
school to that specified in the 2nd edition rules. For example, a choice of 
'alteration' as a major specialisation fixes the characters major opposition 
school as 'abjuration'. Initially, spells in all other schools are classed as 
'other', but upon reaching  second and forth level a magic user can select 
one extra minor school. Choice of a minor school fixes the school in 
opposition to this as a minor opposition school. Opposition schools 
cannot be chosen as minor specialisations.

Clerics have their major and minor spheres fixed by their deity, although 
there may some room for choice in their Minor or Other spheres. 
Opposition spheres should be determined by the DM according to the 
cleric's deity. 

For example, 'Stefania', a new first level magic user selects 'divination' as 
her Major school, thus setting her major opposition schools to be 
'conjuration' and 'summoning'. Upon reaching second level she picks 
'necromancy' as a minor school, causing 'illusion' to become a minor 
opposition. When she reaches fourth level she selects 'abjuration' as her 
second minor, so  'alteration' becomes a minor opposition.

Spell casters get bonuses to their chance to successfully cast, depending on 
its specialisation. A spell cast in a characters Major adds +2 to the casting 
die roll for success, Minor are at +1, Others at +0, Minor oppositions at -1, 
and Major opposition spells are at -2. Spells cast in chosen specialisations 
are also less tiring.

CASTING SPELLS
Spell casters get a number of 'spell points' equal to their level per day, 
subject to being well rested, and spending at least ten minutes of study, 
meditation, or prayer per spell point gained. Unused spell points are not 
lost at the end of the day, but a character cannot accumulate more spell 
points than they have levels. Casting a spell of a certain rank uses up an 
equal number of spell points. For example, casting the rank-3 'web' spell 
costs three spell points. 

The chance of successfully casting a spell depends on several factors. The 
spell works if the spell caster rolls the 'target number' or greater on 1d20. 
This is called the casting roll. The target number to successfully cast a spell 
is:

9 +3x(spell rank) +(spell power) -2x(level) -STAT/2

For magic users, STAT is intelligence, and for clerics it is wisdom. Round 
fractions down when dividing. Spells that have no listed dependence on 
the spell caster's level must be cast with a power at equal or greater to its 
rank. Spells cannot be cast at a power greater than the level of the spell 
caster, or at a power less than one.

Casting spells is a tiring business, costing energy as well as spell points. To 
reflect this, casting a spell costs a number of hit points proportional to the 
spell power. The amount varies according to the type of hit dice used by 
the casters class and the school or sphere of the spell, and the base fatigue 
cost is given by the hit dice factor from the following table multiplied by 
the spell power.

Hit Dice Type	   d4  	 d6  	d8  	d10
Major, Minor	   1  	1.5  	2  	2.5
Other	           2  	 3   	4        5
Opposition	   3  	4.5  	6  	7.5

If the target roll is made by more than five, the hit point cost is half the 
base fatigue cost; if it is made by ten, one quarter; by fifteen, one eighth; 
and so on. Round halves up. Furthermore, failing a casting roll by more 
than five doubles the hit point cost, failing by more than ten multiplies it 
by four, and by fifteen multiplies it by eight, and so on. 

Fatigue costs for spells that restore hit points are treated differently. 
Examples are cure light wounds, cure serious wounds, and heal, but not 
cure disease, raise dead, or resurrect.  When casting these spells, treat the 
specialisation as one class better on the table: Minor and Major 
specialisations cost no hit points, Other are treated as Major/Minor, and 
Opposition as Other.

These hit points are lost regardless of whether the spell succeeds or fails - 
but can be regained after a suitable period of rest - at a rate of one hit point 
per half hour of rest. As a result, a separate total of hit points lost to spell 
fatigue should be kept. Note that the spell caster will still die if their 
remaining number of hit points, including the losses due to spell casting, 
is less than -10. 

ADDITIONAL RULES 

CLERICAL BONUS SPELLS: Under the standard rules, very wise clerics 
gain extra spells. Including these as bonus spell points will give such a first 
level cleric too many spell points, so my solution is to treat these spells 
under the old rules. They are considered to be a gift from the deity or its 
minions to particularly wise clerics, and as such are chosen by the cleric (or 
given by the deity) while meditating, for later use. Casting rolls are still 
made, but fatigue costs are not applied.

DISPELLING MAGIC: When casting dispel magic, use the power the spell 
is cast at rather than the level of the caster to determine success or failure. 
This applies for both the original spell, and the dispel magic.

SCROLLS: Casting spells off scrolls does not cost spell points, and the spell 
should be treated as being cast by the scribe of the scroll, and not by the 
reader. The only exception is that the STAT modifier of the reader should 
be used. Depending on the way the spell was scribed, the power of the spell 
may or may not be able to be varied by the reader.

MAGIC ITEMS: The abilities relevant to spell casting need to be defined 
for the item, and are at best those of the maker. These are: level, spell 
points, specialisations, intelligence or wisdom, and fatigue hit points. 
However some items may use the weilders characteristics instead. For 
example, fatigue casts may be applied to the weilder instead of giving the 
item a 'hit point' total for accounting purposes. The item then casts spells 
as specified by those abilities. 

OPTIONAL RULES

CONVERTING FAILED CASTING ROLLS: a failed casting roll can be 
turned into a success by a reduction in power of the spell. However, it is 
still treated as a failed roll. If Pring the Conjurer attempts to cast a power-9 
fireball, but fails his target roll by two, the result would be a power-7 
fireball. If he had failed by six, a power-3 fireball would result, but his 
fatigue costs are doubled.

OVERCASTING IN RANK: DM's who like to play fast and loose with 
game balance might allow low level magic users to cast high level spells if 
they take several days to cast. It would take a character as many days to cast 
as it takes to get the spell points required, but it should be understood that 
it takes the entire time used to accumulate the spell points as it does to cast 
the spell. For example, Rufus, the first level Cleric could try to cast the 
rank-3 locate object if he took three days to do so. IHowever, his chance of 
success would not be good, even if he could withstand the strain - and the 
consequences of failure should be dire. This kind of overcasting can be a 
lifeline for desperate spell casters.

OVERCASTING IN POWER: similarly, DM's may allow spell casters to 
cast spells at a higher power than their level. However, the casting roll is 
not really designed to cope with this, so if it is used then fatigue costs 
should be at least doubled when power overcasting.

EXAMPLES
Imagine Stefania, the sixth level MU, who has intelligence 11 and 10hp, is 
threatened by a cloud of poison gas and tries to cast a power-4 version of 
the rank-3 alteration spell Gust of Wind, to disperse it. The spell is in her 
Other specialisation. Her spell point total drops by 3 (from 6 to 3) and the 
effort has a base fatigue cost of 2(other) x4(power)  = 8hp. She now has to 
check if she successfully casts the spell - her target number is 9 +3x3(rank) 
+4(power) -2x6(level) -16(INT)/2 = 2, which she easily manages, rolling a 
13. This is a sucess by more than 10, so the fatigue cost is 8(base)/4 = 2hp, so 
her hit point total drops from 10 to 8. The gust of wind generated is 10 
yards wide, and 10*4(power) = 40 yards long. Now safe, she rests for half an 
hour, and regains one of those hit points.

Pring, a 9th level Conjurer with intelligence 18, wisdom of 4, and 20hp is 
in desperate straits. He has managed to steal a copy of the rank-9 wish spell 
from Chasark, Iron God of the Northern Hordes, and risks everything 
attempting to avoid retribution by casting it. It will cost him all of his 
maximum number of spell points. His target number is 9 +3x9(rank) 
+9(power) -2x9(level) -18(INT)/2 = 18. Since he has Conjuration as his 
Major school he gets a +2 to his die roll to give him a 25% chance of 
success. Casting the spell costs him 9hp - or 18hp if he fails by 5, 36hp if he 
fails by 10, 72 if he fails by 15, etc. This may seem too easy, since the 
standard rules do not allow rank-9 spells to be cast until 18th level, but 
Pring has the best possible qualifications, and the consequences of failure 
should be understood to be so horrible that no one would attempt this 
without good reason. In particular, note that the fatigue rules leave him 
with a 25% chance of being killed by the strain.

Note also that if Conjuration was not Prings Major, but was classed as 
Other, then it would have cost him at least 18hp. And in this case, a 
casting roll failed by more than five (65% chance) would kill him on the 
spot.

Senna Flash, a 67th level wizard has two hit points and three spell points 
left. If she can light the oil trap in front of her, she will be spared a horrible 
(and embarrassing) death at the hands of the five Kobolds charging at her. 
She wants to cast the rank-3 lightning bolt spell at power-1 to ignite the oil. 
Her target number is 9 +3x3 +1 -2x67 -16/2 = -123, an automatic success. 
Invocation is an Other spell according to her specialisations, and the base 
fatigue cost is 2hp. However, even if she rolls a one, she has suceeded by 
124, and the hit point cost is 2/224 (since 124 = 5x24+4), which rounds 
down to zero.

Bix, a second level cleric who has wisdom of 16, and worships the deity 
Foop, casts a cure serious wounds spell from a scroll. The scroll was 
inscribed by NeNeHa (wisdom 18, level 20, Major in Healing), the 
renowned cleric of Foop . The target number is 9 +3x6(rank) +6(power) 
-2x20(scribe level) -16(reader's wisdom)/2 = -15, an automatic success. 
Since the spell restores hit points, and Healing was NeNeHa's Major 
sphere, it costs no hit points in fatigue to cast. If the scroll had instead been 
cast by ReReHa, NeNeHa's evil twin, for whom Healing is in opposition, 
it would be treated as other, and cost a base of 2x6 = 12hp. Bix now rolls a 
16 on his casting roll, which is a sucess by 31 ( 16 -(-15) = 16+15 ), so the 
fatigue cost is 12/26 (since 31 = 5x6+1), which rounds to zero anyway.

DISCUSSION
The greatest possibility of unbalancing the relationship between the 
various classes by using this system comes from the greater flexibility that 
spell casters have. They can now cast any spell from their repertoire at any 
time. This is a great advantage, which corrects for the particular weakness 
of magic-users at low level. However, to avoid over compensating, I have 
introduced casting rolls and fatigue costs. In particular, the introduction of 
varying fatigue costs depending on the chosen specialisation of the spell 
caster will add more 'colour' to the class. No longer will all magic users 
seem the same, casting any type of spell with equal facility - they will have 
to consider the costs of casting an unfamiliar spell.

The other major adjustment is that now spell casters can cast spells of 
higher level than they could under the old rules. This is a dangerous thing 
to allow, which is why I introduced a casting roll designed to make this 
difficult to achieve, and increased the fatigue costs for comprehensively 
failed casting rolls. In addition to these mechanics, the DM should be alert 
to twist the intended effect of the spell when a cast fails - especially so for 
spells well out of the caster's league.

Note also that high level spell casters will have to undercast most of their 
spells in power in order to keep their fatigue costs under control - a 
reduction in power by ten reduces fatigue costs on average to a quarter.


-- 
+soluble fish+
"You people, you do not see the grandeur in the wind and stone and stars,
 in the blood and fire and iron - but paint only the flowers."