Post by mercaius on Jan 23, 2016 6:20:13 GMT
Hallo hallo. So last week I mentioned some ideas for a Pathfinder / D&D sandbox style game to supplement DB. As I mentioned, the goal with this game (besides the obvious goal of RPin') is to have something that allows for a lot of solo play and player input. So here is the first of three-four parts with the idea, submitted here for your input on what sounds good and what don't.
Firstly, here are my thoughts on encouraging solo-style sandbox play with Pathfinder, which tens to be a very team-oriented game and has a lot of "do or die" moments... The first three points involve character survivability. The last four involve preventing people from having to wait for rolls.
1. Characters start at 3rd level, with appropriate gear (3,000 gp) and 25-point buy. A 3rd level character is roughly worth 2 1st-level characters, and 25 points lets you get away with some pretty high stats, making solo play less of a death sentence.
2. Characters can acquire cohorts from the start, as if they had the Leadership feat. Most PCs should be able to acquire a 1st- or 2nd-level cohort. Cohorts must be found in-game during play (though places like mercenary barracks will exist to help find certain kinds of cohorts). In addition, cohorts are relatively easy to swap in or out, letting you pick a henchman to best supplement you for a specific mission. (Though the cohort you swap out might end up missing, captured by your enemies, or worse--be recruited by another player!)
3. As a default, characters do not die in game. This is a narrative foil: any time a character is defeated, they are not killed for whatever reason fits the situation. A character defeated by bandits is captured for ransom. Someone who loses to a pack of wolves might end up stuck in a tree, or fall into a river and be carried away. Generally, defeat makes things worse in some respect, but does not render the character permanently disabled. This includes spells that are supposed to "kill" the character through other means, such as petrification or soul imprisonment, or environmental hazards that are immediately fatal, like a pool of lava or deadly gas. Even if the explanation ends up being a little goofy, it will generally be enforced. To keep the mood, this effect also applies to all intelligent humanoids (and many intelligent nonhumanoids, on a case-by-case basis); don't bother trying to "finish off" someone who is down, no matter how much sense it makes.
This rule also makes the game a little more goofy and light-hearted, but I think that's fine for what we want to do.
3a. Lethal Mode: As an aside, a "lethal mode" may be initiated by characters who have a serious reason to fight with deadly force against an opponent. You simply state the intention for a fight to be lethal, and to which opponents you want it to apply specifically. The GM arbitrates whether lethal mode is allowed for a fight: lethal mode should only be used sparingly for serious, climatic character moments. In Lethal Mode, you can die, and permanent disabling effects are just that--permanent. These "bad ends" also cannot be recovered from with magic like you could in ordinary games--no resurrection or curse removal, only wish-level magic can restore you. As a bonus, characters who are in lethal mode gain the benefits of the Diehard feat for free, and may roll twice for any save-or-die / save-or-pretty-much-die effect and take the better result.
4. Passive Skills. In general, unless you are actively making a skill check, I will assume you are using your passive skill score. Your passive skill score for any given skill is equal to 10 + your skill modifier (So if you have a +9 in Stealth, your passive Stealth is 19). Essentially, you are always taking 10 unless you choose to do otherwise. If a passive score will not succeed, you will be informed of such before you attempt the skill check; you will not fall off a cliff because you forgot to make a difficult Acrobatics check and your passive Acrobatics was too low.
5. Fortitude, Reflex, and Will attacks. In typical D&D, you make saving throws when subjected to certain effects. For this game, we will instead treat Fortitude, Reflex, and Will as defense scores that the attacker has to beat. Your scores for Fortitude, Reflex and Will are equal to their saving throw modifiers + 11 (So a character that would have a Fortitude bonus of +5 instead has a Fortitude score of 16). When an effect would require a saving throw, the attack instead makes a Fortitude, Reflex, or Will attack, with a bonus equal to the effects original DC - 10. So a fireball that allows a DC 15 Reflex save to dodge instead becomes a Reflex attack with a +5 bonus.
With this change, we can resolve saving throw effects the moment they are invoked, instead of waiting for the target to post their saving throw results.
6. Soft Initiative. Queue initiatives tend to cause troubles in pbp games. Instead, when combat starts, players roll initiative as normal, but all act on the same "turn," in the order they post. The players' highest initiative roll determines what enemies can act before the party, and what enemies are flat-footed, in the first round of combat.
7. Combat Posting Time Limits. In round-by-round events like combat, a time limit on how long a character can wait to post will be enforced--two days at max, maybe shorter. If a player doesn't post, the GM assumes control of their characters for that round of combat.
PLAYER-SUBMITTED CONTENT
This is an idea to let the players have some more input in the world itself and encourage discussion. We can have a forum where players can submit articles for new NPCs, factions, and locations. Articles that are approved can reward the player with small bonuses.
Submitted articles would be primarily fluff--no homebrew content or the like. Once you've finished an article, there will be a minimum 1-week period where the GM and other players can critique and ask questions about the subject of the article. This isn't just for quality purposes--if the GM will be using the article for future adventures, then he needs to make sure he understands the details.
Remember that, when you submit an article to add to the lore of the game, the GM is the one who will have to play and enforce it. That means two things. Firstly, that I will be more strict about articles than I will about characters, since you get to RP your character, but I have to RP articles in-game. Second, don't submit ideas that are so close to you that you wouldn't like somebody playing it "wrong" or differently. That isn't going to end well for anybody.
Accepted articles will provide the author with a bonus of their choice for one character:
You gain Experience Points equal to 10% of the total needed to advance from your current level to the next level. You cannot select this bonus more than three times per level.
You gain any one trait (except for campaign traits). You can have no more than four traits per character. You are still limited to one trait per trait category (faith, magic, social, etc).
You have favorable reputation with one NPC or faction. You can only select this bonus twice per character.
And now for the iffiest part of this idea, and the one I'm considering abandoning. I know the group was talking about wanting a game with more transformational stuff, so I wrote up some house rules for a wild magic system and tested them through a campaign. I had a lot of fun testing these, but they can seriously affect how your character plays and can cause a lot of bookkeeping, so they might take away some player agency.
SPELLWARPS
A spellwarp effect occurs whenever a spell effect loses stability. Typically it is the result of a botched casting, but it can occur for a variety of other reasons. As a result, a random spell effect occurs as the weaves of magic go askew.
The exact effect of a spellwarp is determined off the cuff by the DM, and can vary from the annoying to the crippling to the surprisingly useful.
A spellwarp effect is determined by the DM, and usually based around the failed spell effect. As a general rule, spellwarp effects can emulate any spell of up to 1 level higher than the failed spell effect. Spell effects that allow a saving throw have a DC equal to 10 + the spellwarp effect’s level + the target’s current instability score. Characters without spellcasting abilities always fail their saves against spellwarp effects, and characters who are multiclassed into nonspellcasting classes take a penalty on their saving throws equal to (their character level - their spellcaster level)/2.
Spellwarps come in several varieties.
Minor Spellwarp: A minor spellwarp is an adverse affect that occurs alongside the intended spell effect. Most minor spellwarps are little more than odd curses or temporary vulnerabilities. Minor spellwarps have the same duration as the intended spell effect; if the spell has a permanent or instantaneous duration, the spellwarp lasts for 1 minute per spell level at most.
Major Spellwarp: Major spellwarps replace the intended spell effect, and have more drastic consequences. A major spellwarp can temporarily rewrite a character's statistics, afflict them with a major curse, or transform the landscape. After a number of hours equal to the spellwarp's spell level have passed, a creature affected by a major spellwarp can attempt another save to break the effects. On a failure, the spellwarp refreshes and persists for another interval. Creatures that cannot save against the spellwarp treat it as a permanent effect.
Catastrophic Spellwarp: Catastrophic spellwarps are much like major spellwarps, save that they have a wider area of effect and are permanent. Only wish-level magic can undo the effects of a catastrophic spellwarp, though other magic effects could be used to hide it (such as alter self to disguise a spellwarp that changes your race).
Controlled Spellwarp: Controlled spellwarps are like major spellwarps, save that they can be directed by the character who instigated them, and they automatically end after a number of hours equal to their spell level. Essentially, controlled spellwarps act as minor, temporary wishes that can provide small boons.
Identifying Spellwarps: Spellwarps identify as magical effects. Recognizing that a spell effect is a spellwarp requires a Spellcraft DC equal to the DC to identify the spell effect + 10.
Dispelling Spellwarps
: Spellwarps can be dispelled, the same way normal spells can. However, anyone who attempts to dispel a spellwarp must first make a concentration check (DC = 20 + the spellwarp’s level + the character’s instability score). On a failure, the person attempting to dispel the spellwarp is the target of another spellwarp, and they cannot attempt to dispel the spellwarp again until they have gained another level in a spellcasting class. If the person attempting to dispel the spellwarp is not aware that the spell effect is a spellwarp, the DC to dispel the spellwarp increases by 5.
Concentration checks to dispel a spellwarp have the same effects on a natural 1 as though the dispeller was casting a spell (see Spellcasting).
INSTABILITY SCORE
Whenever a character needs to resist a spellwarp effect, they have to apply their instability score to the DC. A character’s base instability score is equal to the number of permanent spellwarp effects they are under (for new characters, this is 0). Every time a character casts a spell or uses certain magical effects, their instability score goes up by 1. A character’s instability score can be reduced to their base instability score by resting for 8 hours (usually at the same time most spellcasters sleep and prepare their spells).
SPELLCASTING WITH SPELLWARPS
Every time a spellcaster casts a spell, they must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s instability score). On a failure, the spellcaster suffers a minor spellwarp effect. On a success, the spell resolves as normal, and the spellcaster’s instability score is increased by 1.
If the spellcaster fails their concentration check by 5 or more, they trigger a major spellwarp effect, and the spellcaster's instability score is reduced by 1.
Critical Success & Failure
: If the spellcaster rolls a natural 20 on their concentration check to avoid spellwarp, then they may choose inflict a controlled spellwarp effect on the targets of the spell after the spell resolves normally. If they do not apply a spellwarp effect, then their instability score is halved; otherwise, it is reduced by 1.
If the spellcaster rolls a natural 1 on their concentration check to avoid spellwarp, then they trigger a catastrophic spellwarp, and their instability score is halved.
Cantrips
: Spellcasters never have to roll concentration checks to avoid spellwarp when casting cantrips or orisons; these spells are always considered safe.
Taking 10 or 20
: A spellcaster can take 10 on concentration checks to avoid spellwarp whenever they would be able to take 10 on skill checks. A spellcaster can never take 10 when casting a spell on an unwilling target, unless the target is paralyzed, unconscious, or otherwise helpless.
A spellcaster can also choose to take 20 by increasing the cast time by a factor of 10. This otherwise faces the same restrictions as if the spellcaster was trying to take 10 on their concentration check to avoid a spellwarp. This does not count as a natural 20 for determining a critical success. If at any point the spellcaster cannot perform the verbal or somatic components during the casting of the spell, or if the spellcaster’s focus or material components are removed from the casting area, then the spellcaster must make a concentration check (DC = 10 + 2 x (the spell’s level + the caster’s instability score)) or trigger a catastrophic spellwarp as if they had rolled a natural 1 (rolling a 1 on this check imposes no additional penalties). If the spellcaster succeeds on this check, the spell is interrupted, but the caster suffers no additional effect; if the caster rolls a natural 20, then the spell can continue as normal.
Casting Extra Spells
: A spellcaster can attempt to cast a spell when they do not have a spell slot remaining. For prepared spellcasters, this must be a spell they had prepared and cast since their last spell preparation. Spontaneous spellcasters can attempt to cast any spell they know.
If a spellcaster attempts to cast a spell without the required spell slot, a spellwarp effect automatically occurs, as if the spellcaster had failed their concentration check, except that the spellcaster’s instability score increases by 2 after the spell has been resolved. In addition, the spellcaster must make a concentration check to successfully cast the spell (DC = 10 + (2 x the spell’s level) + the spellcaster’s instability score). On a failure, the spell fizzles, and a second spellwarp effect occurs. The effects of rolling a natural 20 or a natural 1 apply to this concentration check as normal.
Spell-Like Abilities
: Spell-like abilities do not risk triggering spellwarp. However, spell-like abilities that are spell level 1 or higher do raise the character's instability score by 1 for each use. Spell-like abilities do not count as spellcasting for determining whether a character can save vs. spellwarp effects.
Magic Items
: Whenever a magic item fails a saving throw, then the next time it is activated its user must make a concentration check to avoid being the target of a spellwarp effect. Items that have no activation do not share this risk.
If a magic item gains the broken condition, it automatically triggers a spellwarp effect on its user (or a random target within 5 feet, if it has no user). Larger and more powerful magic items may have more targets and a wider area of effect.
Whenever someone is targeted with a spellwarp effect due to broken or spellwarp-charged magic items, their instability score is reduced by 1.
When a user imbibes a potion, reads a scroll, or triggers a single-use magic item, their instability score goes up by 1. Wands and similar items that have multiple charges do not raise a characters instability score; instead, these items have their own instability score that raises once for each use. During each 8-hour rest, a character can reduce 1 magic item's instability score to its base score through careful maintenance and repair.
Magic items that do not require activation to use do not generate instability naturally.
EXAMPLES SPELLWARPS
A spellcaster attempts to heal a wounded companion.
Minor Spellwarps
--The target gets drunk off the positive energy and is nauseated.
--The spellcaster accidentally heals the target with her own life force, and takes half the damage healed as temporary nonlethal damage.
--An adjacent enemy receives some of the healing, and gains half the damage healed as temporary hit points.
Major Spellwarps
--The target is "healed" using the spellcaster as a reference, becomes a physical clone of the spellcaster.
--The target is magically youthened by the healing, becoming a small child.
--The target and spellcaster both gain negative energy affinity; positive energy harms them, and negative energy heals them. They both take damage from the intended spell accordingly.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The spellcaster imbues the target's weapons with positive energy, making them more effective against undead.
--The spellcaster fortifies the target's defenses, granting a bonus to all saving throws.
--The spellcaster and target are linked spiritually; they can communicate telepathically, and cast healing spells through each other.
A spellcaster attempts to summon a monster to fight for him.
Minor Spellwarps
--The monster's arrival creates a sonic boom as air is displaced, knocking nearby allies over and deafening them.
--The spellcaster can only see and hear through the monster, and can only target creatures and objects within the monster's line of sight. If the monster leaves the caster's line of sight, the caster is effectively blind to his own surroundings.
--Another monster sneaks in with the one the spellcaster summoned, and spends the duration of the spell harrassing and annoying the spellcaster.
Major Spellwarps
--The monster is summoned into the spellcaster's space, and the two merge into something different.
--The spellcaster and nearby companions are teleported to the monster's home demesne.
--A pack of wild monsters are summoned instead, and the terrain shifts into that of the monsters' home demesnes.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The monster is a superb version of the one the spellcaster was trying to summon.
--The summoner can communicate with the monster telepathically, and can cast spells through the monster as though the monster was the source of the magic.
--Instead of one monster, the summoner conjures a pack of monsters.
A spellcaster attempts to blow her enemies away with a fireball.
Minor Spellwarps
--The spellcaster puts too much of her own body heat into the spell, and takes extra damage from cold effects.
--The targets' weapons gain the burn special quality, dealing extra fire damage.
--The spellcaster is dazed by the intense light her own fireball.
Major Spellwarps
--The targets become part living fire.
--The spellcaster immediately burns away into a pile of ash, only to be reincarnated into a new body, like some phoenix.
--The spellcaster has expended all of her fire. She becomes a frost undine, gains fire vulnerability, and cannot cast spells with the fire descriptor.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The spellcaster is imbued with fire, and adds fire damage to all of her spells and attacks.
--The spellcaster gains the benefits of fire shield, as she is surrounded in flame.
--The spellcaster can fly on jets of flame that spring from her feet, whizzing over the battle.
Please let me know whether you want to use these rules, as they can have a major effect on your characters if you roll badly. Are you okay with a spell changing your characters stats? What about their appearance or personality? If you don't like these rules, just say so. If you want to use them anyway, please let us know what your limits are as far as random magical elements affecting your character.
Firstly, here are my thoughts on encouraging solo-style sandbox play with Pathfinder, which tens to be a very team-oriented game and has a lot of "do or die" moments... The first three points involve character survivability. The last four involve preventing people from having to wait for rolls.
1. Characters start at 3rd level, with appropriate gear (3,000 gp) and 25-point buy. A 3rd level character is roughly worth 2 1st-level characters, and 25 points lets you get away with some pretty high stats, making solo play less of a death sentence.
2. Characters can acquire cohorts from the start, as if they had the Leadership feat. Most PCs should be able to acquire a 1st- or 2nd-level cohort. Cohorts must be found in-game during play (though places like mercenary barracks will exist to help find certain kinds of cohorts). In addition, cohorts are relatively easy to swap in or out, letting you pick a henchman to best supplement you for a specific mission. (Though the cohort you swap out might end up missing, captured by your enemies, or worse--be recruited by another player!)
3. As a default, characters do not die in game. This is a narrative foil: any time a character is defeated, they are not killed for whatever reason fits the situation. A character defeated by bandits is captured for ransom. Someone who loses to a pack of wolves might end up stuck in a tree, or fall into a river and be carried away. Generally, defeat makes things worse in some respect, but does not render the character permanently disabled. This includes spells that are supposed to "kill" the character through other means, such as petrification or soul imprisonment, or environmental hazards that are immediately fatal, like a pool of lava or deadly gas. Even if the explanation ends up being a little goofy, it will generally be enforced. To keep the mood, this effect also applies to all intelligent humanoids (and many intelligent nonhumanoids, on a case-by-case basis); don't bother trying to "finish off" someone who is down, no matter how much sense it makes.
This rule also makes the game a little more goofy and light-hearted, but I think that's fine for what we want to do.
3a. Lethal Mode: As an aside, a "lethal mode" may be initiated by characters who have a serious reason to fight with deadly force against an opponent. You simply state the intention for a fight to be lethal, and to which opponents you want it to apply specifically. The GM arbitrates whether lethal mode is allowed for a fight: lethal mode should only be used sparingly for serious, climatic character moments. In Lethal Mode, you can die, and permanent disabling effects are just that--permanent. These "bad ends" also cannot be recovered from with magic like you could in ordinary games--no resurrection or curse removal, only wish-level magic can restore you. As a bonus, characters who are in lethal mode gain the benefits of the Diehard feat for free, and may roll twice for any save-or-die / save-or-pretty-much-die effect and take the better result.
4. Passive Skills. In general, unless you are actively making a skill check, I will assume you are using your passive skill score. Your passive skill score for any given skill is equal to 10 + your skill modifier (So if you have a +9 in Stealth, your passive Stealth is 19). Essentially, you are always taking 10 unless you choose to do otherwise. If a passive score will not succeed, you will be informed of such before you attempt the skill check; you will not fall off a cliff because you forgot to make a difficult Acrobatics check and your passive Acrobatics was too low.
5. Fortitude, Reflex, and Will attacks. In typical D&D, you make saving throws when subjected to certain effects. For this game, we will instead treat Fortitude, Reflex, and Will as defense scores that the attacker has to beat. Your scores for Fortitude, Reflex and Will are equal to their saving throw modifiers + 11 (So a character that would have a Fortitude bonus of +5 instead has a Fortitude score of 16). When an effect would require a saving throw, the attack instead makes a Fortitude, Reflex, or Will attack, with a bonus equal to the effects original DC - 10. So a fireball that allows a DC 15 Reflex save to dodge instead becomes a Reflex attack with a +5 bonus.
With this change, we can resolve saving throw effects the moment they are invoked, instead of waiting for the target to post their saving throw results.
6. Soft Initiative. Queue initiatives tend to cause troubles in pbp games. Instead, when combat starts, players roll initiative as normal, but all act on the same "turn," in the order they post. The players' highest initiative roll determines what enemies can act before the party, and what enemies are flat-footed, in the first round of combat.
7. Combat Posting Time Limits. In round-by-round events like combat, a time limit on how long a character can wait to post will be enforced--two days at max, maybe shorter. If a player doesn't post, the GM assumes control of their characters for that round of combat.
PLAYER-SUBMITTED CONTENT
This is an idea to let the players have some more input in the world itself and encourage discussion. We can have a forum where players can submit articles for new NPCs, factions, and locations. Articles that are approved can reward the player with small bonuses.
Submitted articles would be primarily fluff--no homebrew content or the like. Once you've finished an article, there will be a minimum 1-week period where the GM and other players can critique and ask questions about the subject of the article. This isn't just for quality purposes--if the GM will be using the article for future adventures, then he needs to make sure he understands the details.
Remember that, when you submit an article to add to the lore of the game, the GM is the one who will have to play and enforce it. That means two things. Firstly, that I will be more strict about articles than I will about characters, since you get to RP your character, but I have to RP articles in-game. Second, don't submit ideas that are so close to you that you wouldn't like somebody playing it "wrong" or differently. That isn't going to end well for anybody.
Accepted articles will provide the author with a bonus of their choice for one character:
You gain Experience Points equal to 10% of the total needed to advance from your current level to the next level. You cannot select this bonus more than three times per level.
You gain any one trait (except for campaign traits). You can have no more than four traits per character. You are still limited to one trait per trait category (faith, magic, social, etc).
You have favorable reputation with one NPC or faction. You can only select this bonus twice per character.
And now for the iffiest part of this idea, and the one I'm considering abandoning. I know the group was talking about wanting a game with more transformational stuff, so I wrote up some house rules for a wild magic system and tested them through a campaign. I had a lot of fun testing these, but they can seriously affect how your character plays and can cause a lot of bookkeeping, so they might take away some player agency.
SPELLWARPS
A spellwarp effect occurs whenever a spell effect loses stability. Typically it is the result of a botched casting, but it can occur for a variety of other reasons. As a result, a random spell effect occurs as the weaves of magic go askew.
The exact effect of a spellwarp is determined off the cuff by the DM, and can vary from the annoying to the crippling to the surprisingly useful.
A spellwarp effect is determined by the DM, and usually based around the failed spell effect. As a general rule, spellwarp effects can emulate any spell of up to 1 level higher than the failed spell effect. Spell effects that allow a saving throw have a DC equal to 10 + the spellwarp effect’s level + the target’s current instability score. Characters without spellcasting abilities always fail their saves against spellwarp effects, and characters who are multiclassed into nonspellcasting classes take a penalty on their saving throws equal to (their character level - their spellcaster level)/2.
Spellwarps come in several varieties.
Minor Spellwarp: A minor spellwarp is an adverse affect that occurs alongside the intended spell effect. Most minor spellwarps are little more than odd curses or temporary vulnerabilities. Minor spellwarps have the same duration as the intended spell effect; if the spell has a permanent or instantaneous duration, the spellwarp lasts for 1 minute per spell level at most.
Major Spellwarp: Major spellwarps replace the intended spell effect, and have more drastic consequences. A major spellwarp can temporarily rewrite a character's statistics, afflict them with a major curse, or transform the landscape. After a number of hours equal to the spellwarp's spell level have passed, a creature affected by a major spellwarp can attempt another save to break the effects. On a failure, the spellwarp refreshes and persists for another interval. Creatures that cannot save against the spellwarp treat it as a permanent effect.
Catastrophic Spellwarp: Catastrophic spellwarps are much like major spellwarps, save that they have a wider area of effect and are permanent. Only wish-level magic can undo the effects of a catastrophic spellwarp, though other magic effects could be used to hide it (such as alter self to disguise a spellwarp that changes your race).
Controlled Spellwarp: Controlled spellwarps are like major spellwarps, save that they can be directed by the character who instigated them, and they automatically end after a number of hours equal to their spell level. Essentially, controlled spellwarps act as minor, temporary wishes that can provide small boons.
Identifying Spellwarps: Spellwarps identify as magical effects. Recognizing that a spell effect is a spellwarp requires a Spellcraft DC equal to the DC to identify the spell effect + 10.
Dispelling Spellwarps
: Spellwarps can be dispelled, the same way normal spells can. However, anyone who attempts to dispel a spellwarp must first make a concentration check (DC = 20 + the spellwarp’s level + the character’s instability score). On a failure, the person attempting to dispel the spellwarp is the target of another spellwarp, and they cannot attempt to dispel the spellwarp again until they have gained another level in a spellcasting class. If the person attempting to dispel the spellwarp is not aware that the spell effect is a spellwarp, the DC to dispel the spellwarp increases by 5.
Concentration checks to dispel a spellwarp have the same effects on a natural 1 as though the dispeller was casting a spell (see Spellcasting).
INSTABILITY SCORE
Whenever a character needs to resist a spellwarp effect, they have to apply their instability score to the DC. A character’s base instability score is equal to the number of permanent spellwarp effects they are under (for new characters, this is 0). Every time a character casts a spell or uses certain magical effects, their instability score goes up by 1. A character’s instability score can be reduced to their base instability score by resting for 8 hours (usually at the same time most spellcasters sleep and prepare their spells).
SPELLCASTING WITH SPELLWARPS
Every time a spellcaster casts a spell, they must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 10 + the spell’s level + the caster’s instability score). On a failure, the spellcaster suffers a minor spellwarp effect. On a success, the spell resolves as normal, and the spellcaster’s instability score is increased by 1.
If the spellcaster fails their concentration check by 5 or more, they trigger a major spellwarp effect, and the spellcaster's instability score is reduced by 1.
Critical Success & Failure
: If the spellcaster rolls a natural 20 on their concentration check to avoid spellwarp, then they may choose inflict a controlled spellwarp effect on the targets of the spell after the spell resolves normally. If they do not apply a spellwarp effect, then their instability score is halved; otherwise, it is reduced by 1.
If the spellcaster rolls a natural 1 on their concentration check to avoid spellwarp, then they trigger a catastrophic spellwarp, and their instability score is halved.
Cantrips
: Spellcasters never have to roll concentration checks to avoid spellwarp when casting cantrips or orisons; these spells are always considered safe.
Taking 10 or 20
: A spellcaster can take 10 on concentration checks to avoid spellwarp whenever they would be able to take 10 on skill checks. A spellcaster can never take 10 when casting a spell on an unwilling target, unless the target is paralyzed, unconscious, or otherwise helpless.
A spellcaster can also choose to take 20 by increasing the cast time by a factor of 10. This otherwise faces the same restrictions as if the spellcaster was trying to take 10 on their concentration check to avoid a spellwarp. This does not count as a natural 20 for determining a critical success. If at any point the spellcaster cannot perform the verbal or somatic components during the casting of the spell, or if the spellcaster’s focus or material components are removed from the casting area, then the spellcaster must make a concentration check (DC = 10 + 2 x (the spell’s level + the caster’s instability score)) or trigger a catastrophic spellwarp as if they had rolled a natural 1 (rolling a 1 on this check imposes no additional penalties). If the spellcaster succeeds on this check, the spell is interrupted, but the caster suffers no additional effect; if the caster rolls a natural 20, then the spell can continue as normal.
Casting Extra Spells
: A spellcaster can attempt to cast a spell when they do not have a spell slot remaining. For prepared spellcasters, this must be a spell they had prepared and cast since their last spell preparation. Spontaneous spellcasters can attempt to cast any spell they know.
If a spellcaster attempts to cast a spell without the required spell slot, a spellwarp effect automatically occurs, as if the spellcaster had failed their concentration check, except that the spellcaster’s instability score increases by 2 after the spell has been resolved. In addition, the spellcaster must make a concentration check to successfully cast the spell (DC = 10 + (2 x the spell’s level) + the spellcaster’s instability score). On a failure, the spell fizzles, and a second spellwarp effect occurs. The effects of rolling a natural 20 or a natural 1 apply to this concentration check as normal.
Spell-Like Abilities
: Spell-like abilities do not risk triggering spellwarp. However, spell-like abilities that are spell level 1 or higher do raise the character's instability score by 1 for each use. Spell-like abilities do not count as spellcasting for determining whether a character can save vs. spellwarp effects.
Magic Items
: Whenever a magic item fails a saving throw, then the next time it is activated its user must make a concentration check to avoid being the target of a spellwarp effect. Items that have no activation do not share this risk.
If a magic item gains the broken condition, it automatically triggers a spellwarp effect on its user (or a random target within 5 feet, if it has no user). Larger and more powerful magic items may have more targets and a wider area of effect.
Whenever someone is targeted with a spellwarp effect due to broken or spellwarp-charged magic items, their instability score is reduced by 1.
When a user imbibes a potion, reads a scroll, or triggers a single-use magic item, their instability score goes up by 1. Wands and similar items that have multiple charges do not raise a characters instability score; instead, these items have their own instability score that raises once for each use. During each 8-hour rest, a character can reduce 1 magic item's instability score to its base score through careful maintenance and repair.
Magic items that do not require activation to use do not generate instability naturally.
EXAMPLES SPELLWARPS
A spellcaster attempts to heal a wounded companion.
Minor Spellwarps
--The target gets drunk off the positive energy and is nauseated.
--The spellcaster accidentally heals the target with her own life force, and takes half the damage healed as temporary nonlethal damage.
--An adjacent enemy receives some of the healing, and gains half the damage healed as temporary hit points.
Major Spellwarps
--The target is "healed" using the spellcaster as a reference, becomes a physical clone of the spellcaster.
--The target is magically youthened by the healing, becoming a small child.
--The target and spellcaster both gain negative energy affinity; positive energy harms them, and negative energy heals them. They both take damage from the intended spell accordingly.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The spellcaster imbues the target's weapons with positive energy, making them more effective against undead.
--The spellcaster fortifies the target's defenses, granting a bonus to all saving throws.
--The spellcaster and target are linked spiritually; they can communicate telepathically, and cast healing spells through each other.
A spellcaster attempts to summon a monster to fight for him.
Minor Spellwarps
--The monster's arrival creates a sonic boom as air is displaced, knocking nearby allies over and deafening them.
--The spellcaster can only see and hear through the monster, and can only target creatures and objects within the monster's line of sight. If the monster leaves the caster's line of sight, the caster is effectively blind to his own surroundings.
--Another monster sneaks in with the one the spellcaster summoned, and spends the duration of the spell harrassing and annoying the spellcaster.
Major Spellwarps
--The monster is summoned into the spellcaster's space, and the two merge into something different.
--The spellcaster and nearby companions are teleported to the monster's home demesne.
--A pack of wild monsters are summoned instead, and the terrain shifts into that of the monsters' home demesnes.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The monster is a superb version of the one the spellcaster was trying to summon.
--The summoner can communicate with the monster telepathically, and can cast spells through the monster as though the monster was the source of the magic.
--Instead of one monster, the summoner conjures a pack of monsters.
A spellcaster attempts to blow her enemies away with a fireball.
Minor Spellwarps
--The spellcaster puts too much of her own body heat into the spell, and takes extra damage from cold effects.
--The targets' weapons gain the burn special quality, dealing extra fire damage.
--The spellcaster is dazed by the intense light her own fireball.
Major Spellwarps
--The targets become part living fire.
--The spellcaster immediately burns away into a pile of ash, only to be reincarnated into a new body, like some phoenix.
--The spellcaster has expended all of her fire. She becomes a frost undine, gains fire vulnerability, and cannot cast spells with the fire descriptor.
Controlled Spellwarps
--The spellcaster is imbued with fire, and adds fire damage to all of her spells and attacks.
--The spellcaster gains the benefits of fire shield, as she is surrounded in flame.
--The spellcaster can fly on jets of flame that spring from her feet, whizzing over the battle.
Please let me know whether you want to use these rules, as they can have a major effect on your characters if you roll badly. Are you okay with a spell changing your characters stats? What about their appearance or personality? If you don't like these rules, just say so. If you want to use them anyway, please let us know what your limits are as far as random magical elements affecting your character.
