Troll Lord Games

After reading through the CKG for the first time today, I am ditching the Vancian magic rules. I am going with the alternate Mana Points system on Pg. 48.

Vancian magic never did make sense to me. After you spend all that time studying your spellbook, how could the information just vanish out of your head? Using mana points to restrict spellcasting makes a lot more sense to me.

dutch206 wrote: After you spend all that time studying your spellbook, how could the information just vanish out of your head?

I don't know. How can anyone cast spells to begin with? I flirted with mana points ~34 years ago. It has its upside. The current system has a bit more balance when using high level casters.

Another alternatives to Vancian magic is given by my "Magician " class. I created it to employ a more historically grounded approach to magic. The Magician's spells are of 4 kinds: Incantations, Ceremonies, Talismans, and Pacts. Incantations are fast and often useful in combat, but are taxing on the body (causing Subdual damage). Ceremonies are powerful and can be used to summon spirits and cause effects at a distance. They are expensive, and have restrictions on the times and places they can be used. Talismans are minor magic items that confer the continuous protection of a spell, but are also expensive to make, and cannot be created at certain times or in certain places. Pacts cause a spirit to perform an effect for the Magician, but the spirit will demand payment of some form.

Some additional optional rules form Magicians are here.

Cast and forget magic has never really been my cup of tea either. Over time I have used a few different casting systems. Mostly I use a spell slot system. A player can only cast so many spells of each level. But can choose from any spell he knows. But learning new spells is not really easy. And whole games are played just to learn a single spell. And components are a must when doing it.