On Dungeons: Planar Materials

In my game my world (originally) was a fourth dimensional bleedthrough of the four elemental planes. My history tied into that, where great genasi empires ruled at the formation of the world. Now it looks like a generic fantasy world.

The Four Elements are extremely pure, and so are their respective planes of existence - they react to our bodies like any chemical might.

Water causes instant Oedema. Earh would suck all the water out of your tissue. Elemental fire burns irreparably. Air would explode your lungs. Chaos would instantly force your molecules to their maximum state of entropy. They're vicious

As for the elemental plane of Law, see below...

On Tiroeth: Magic

Traditional Magic

Originally, when making Tiroeth, I decided on going whole hog with the 5e D&D lore, and using the Weave as a basis for magic in my game. I have yet to decide if that particular bit of lore is true, but so far it has served its purposes. I have solidified Weave in the form of mined Elish Cloth. It'll come up for revision at some point or other. The idea is a little weak.

As for magic in general in Tiroeth, here is what I have got. I like the mystery of magic, and the rival schools sorta birthed themselves. 

The Royal University of Tarr

Location: The City of Tarr, in Athanull

This is the primary and oldest magicians university in the known world. It was not actually founded as much as grown organically from a council of hedge wizards and witches, in the county of Tarr, which is still represented in its ruling council. Tarr grew up around this strange educational system, where eventually it was declared as the capital of Athanull by the Sorcerer-King 300 years Pre-Charter.

The system is a set of arbitrary Houses with representatives, and their own faculty. Classicaly they call themselves the "Schools of Magic" but the lines are far too blurred to make any particular distinction between the Houses. University council members are chosen from the heads of each of these Houses.

Académie de Sorcellerie et de Thaumaturgie

Location: The Free City of Arrix

The Royal University of Tarr, and its colleges are by many standard insufferably stuffy and certain about their procedures. This cantrip must be cast this way, this ritual has to have this element because my Magi athro told me.

That was all well and good until Arrix started exploring the Eastern Isles, and the court wizards discovered bizarre and strange magics in the shattered tomb islands. Coming back to Arrix the lessons taught by wizened Magi became backward and filled with trivialities and tradition, and the first Wizard explorers went out to set up their own Academy of magic in the burgeoning trade hub of Arrix. The old Privateer houses were delighted and supported such an endeavour. Spurred purely by the attacks from Akarja, the Academie has grown in leaps and bounds. Even Tarr has had to update some of their methods, much to the consternation of their oldest magi.

Other Magics

Outside of so called 'proper' magics lies the studied, traditional, and unknown. These can be divided into approximately three types. That of purely divine, that of planar, and that of ancient tradition.

The Divine

All the various religions of Tiroeth have tapped into, what the Regency Colleges call, "Divine" magic. It is unexplained, and apparently needs a degree of faith to cast as rituals, or one needs to be 'chosen' (with no regard for any virtue of character) for more instant effects. These religious institutions can be said to be the classical gods of the Regency, and surrounding regions, that of the Hero worship of Uru, and the Orkish belief in the Sower. It is unclear whether Gods or a God exists. Studied extensively, it is noted that the concordence between spiritual and material elements elicits these effects, but the source of power is unknown.

The Planar

Until recently the Planar Magics where considered either glorified hedge-wizardry, mysticism or a subset of divine magics. Due to its relative rarity, it was oft not studied and then only by the truly eccentric. It became a rich field after the discoveries of the complexes in the isles by the Explorers of the Academy, and the magic within. Strange geometries and connections, calls to beings in a "planar" realm and impossible objects that project ones sight and reason beyond your body.

Intense study followed those initial discoveries, and it was found that many spells and cantrips known to any ordinary University acolyte or Academy student were in fact a distant ancestor to these geometries and thaumic objects.

The Druids of Cymer use Planar magics, but have successfully hidden their rituals and spells from the prying eyes of the Schools.

The Ancient Tradition

It is a subject of great debate among all those learned in arcana what exactly the rituals and magics the Naüdroi practice is. Scientifical experiments have found that the grand rituals, and nature magics are something wholly different. The current accepted thinking is that it is a careful mixture of planar and divine magics. Others are certain it is nothing of the sort, and claim absolute divinity, pure arcana, or something else entirely. The debate rages on.

d20 B/X Cantrips

I'm not some naysayer of the other editions, some crusader claiming that they're all horrible and not worth it ever.

I don't like AD&D because seriously it's a total mess, I don't really play Pathfinder/3e because eh, 5e does that for me. I like the simplicity of B/X. For the longest time I didn't even look at 4e because I heard it was a horrible system to play. That being said, my first experience with D&D was 4e, and I have the 4e Red Box Starter Set.

I'm filled with contradictions, aren't we all?

Not really relevant. I like the idea of cantrips, but they should be useful magical tricks. Not nerfed spells. For B/X I think it's fine to have them. You know as many as your Spellcasting mod, and retraining yourself in one requires a month divided by level (a 1st level Wizard would need a month to train in a new cantrip. A 10th level Cleric ~3 days. A 5th Level Elf ~week (6 days))

Here are d20 cantrips

1. Stick

An object now sticks to another object, as if magnetic. The bond is not strong, as for a decent magnet,  and lasts level turns

2. Repel

Two objects are for level turns unable to touch each other, and repel each other as if by magnetism.

3. Mold Face

Lasting level rounds, the caster can mold a part of their body as if it was clay. Stretching their nose, pulling out ears, stretching their fingers etc. After this period, the body goes back to normal, If the molding was anatomically far beyond the caster's appearance, the reset is extremely painful.

4. Summon Pebble

You summon a small pebble adequate for slingshots. The pebble is very pleased to be summoned, and any attempt to use the pebble against the caster will be at disadvantage. As soon as you summon another pebble, the previous one vanishes. Whenever you summon a pebble again, there is a 1% chance somebody already summoned the pebble, in which case it is properly miffed that it was banished and all uses of it will be at a disadvantage. 

5. Banish Pebble

This banishes a pebble. Note that similarly to Summon Pebble, the pebble can be summoned again, and act unfavourably to any use of it if summoned again.

6. Twitch

This is cast at a person, and causes the target to have a single involuntary twitch. The twitch can be in any part of the body, and predicting where the the twitch will be is nigh impossible.

7. Push

You are able to push an object up to the size and weight of a human head using a telekinesis equal to your strength. Lasts level rounds

8. Soliloquy

Forces the target to end their sentence in a rhyme which is supposed to illuminate an audience as to what just happened, according to the target. Inability to rhyme causes awareness of the action, while others note the targets odd behavior. Made for use in theatre school.

9. Blemish

Causes an object the size of a human hand to exhibit an unwashable stain. Lasts until sunrise.

10. Clean

Cleans an object the size of a human hand. Does not purify water or food, but makes it presentable.

11. Copy Action

Link an object the size of a human head to your hand. The object will move in any manner that you may move your hand, but once it is unable to perform an action due to an outside force, the spell ends. 

12. Mend

Mends an object the in a space the size of a human head. Very popular with college wizards who need to make an extra buck.

13. Amplify

Any sound the target now makes is amplified. Never loud enough to make somebody deaf, but enough to call a crowd. Lasts level rounds

14. Quiet

Any sound the target makes is muffled to a whisper. Liberally used by librarians. Lasts level rounds

15. Candle

Causes an object the size of a penny to emit a glow not unlike a candle. Can be used in lamps. Lasts level turns.

16. Warm

Warms an object the size of a hand to an uncomfortable, but not scalding, degree.

17. Cool

Cools an object enough to cause condensation.

18. Ulgat's Coin

Creates a minor illusion, no larger than a coin, which warps and shines in a clearly illusory manner. Lasts level rounds

19. Self Teleport

Causes a coin sized object to be teleported around your person. Commonly used by tricksters and hedge wizards.

20. Colour

Makes an object or surface the size of a human hand a particular colour. Lasts until sunrise.

Don't Be a Sucker: A Post-WWII American Anti-Fascist Educational Film

d10 "Serious Academic" Magic Books and Authors

In my homebrew setting of Tiroeth, I wanted to make magic extra special. Something bizarre requiring many years of study. Also, not entirely coherent. Magic is rare. Wizards are rare. Anyway; the closest I could come to being utterly coherently incoherent are Post-Modern titles to books and papers. Here are 10, 7 of which I dreamed up while prepping.

Books:

1. The Journal of Thaumic Geometry Vol 3. 60 PC
2. A treatise on enochian scribing and planar effects
3. Naudroi rituals and pre-hero oral history
4. A primer on elemental thaumaturgy
5. Ahi, Yemeji, and Faerie: Planar Communication through the ages
6. That is not dead which can eternal lie: post-death magics in a modern world
7. A methodology for the typical unification of ley points and aunic vividines
8. Magi, antiquarian philosophies and inter-relational approaches to aura dense stradvars
9. Phantasms: An argument for the impossible reality
10. A Collegian answer to Theurgy or, Preposterous "Arcanic Divinity"

Authors:

1. Explorer Devoric de Felqui
   
2. Magi Rhifrey Gemelan
   
3. Yseult Wittal 
   
4. Belisama Charles Sulwyn
   
5. Professor Evalienne Shacobe
   
6. Acolyte Brynmor Terharn
   
7. Anselm Pepin
   
8. Collegiate Sixtine Avril
   
9. Professor Gilles Quentin Coline Birraux
   
10. Magi Marged Adwen Dwynwen
    

Might, Mind & Music

What is D&D?

What a question. So here is a game which I figure should just answer it with easily memorized rules using items on hand.

\\MIGHT||MIND||MUSIC//

Character

Three Stats

Might - Your Strength, stamina, and ability to withstand damage.

Mind - Your ability to think, observe and speed on your feet. Used for Magic.

Music - Your ability to speak, manipulate and make yourself understood. Can be used for Magic.

You get 5 points, distribute them among these Stats.

Your health ladder is as follows: Whole, Scratches, Wounds, Bleeding, and Dead. You start at Whole.

Choose 5 Items related to your stats. 2 items for a spell. Armour 2 equals 2 items.

Mechanics

Everything is resolved on a d2 (coin) basis. Any amount of Heads equal success. All Tails equal failure.

The stats show how many coins you can throw when you attempt something. You can sacrifice a point to have an automatic success.

Combat

Resolve the order of actions on a "speaking stone" basis. NPCs go together.

On your turn throw your Might coins to attack. On a success the opponent rolls their Might coins to defend; on a failure they move down their health ladder. On a success they stay where they are.

Unarmed means you take the worst of two coins, Weapons mean you throw normally. Armour has 1-2 points. You can sacrifice any of your stats, or your armour, to succeed on your defense automatically.

You regain your points via magic, or via rest.

Social

Players throw Music, and success or failure of the social encounter is based on the throw.

NPCs

Have 1 stat: Do. Between 1 and three. Can be alive, bleeding or dead. Give them a special ability to make them seem interesting.

Chihuaman: Do 1. Alive or Dead. Gain an extra Do when in a pack.

Kahreyn: Do 3. Alive, Bleeding or Dead. On your turn, remove a coin of the attack roll through overwhelming entitlement.

Cofed: Do 2. Alive or Dead. Causes all players to stay exactly where they are.

Magic

Spells use your action. Throw Mind. On an abject failure the spell goes horribly wrong.

Spells either grant success (1-2), improve or subtract from a Stat (1-2), or another fictional effect.

GMs

Adjudicate as needed. A serious advantage gains a coin to throw, otherwise require loss of a relevant point or item to gain a coin to throw. No advancement.

Example Character

Barrius

Might 2

Mind 2

Music 1

▢ Whole ▢ Scratches ▢ Wounds ▢ Bleeding ▢ Dead

Items: Sword, Chainmail (2), Chain, Leather Jacket.