CREATING A CHARACTER

GENERAL INFORMATION

Spell points are the stored magical energy that a spellcaster contains within his, her, or its own body through practice, meditation, study, and ritual. When the spellcaster invokes a spell, the stored energy is focused and shaped towards the desired effect - whether that effect is to create a conduit to another place (another plane, for example) or for another purpose. A more detailed explanation of ley lines, nodes, heartstones and similar magical effects can be found in the Leylines article by Findley the Great.

Magical devices, such as Rings of Wizardry, Rings of Religion, and Familiars, that increase the number of spell points a caster has available act as extra energy storage. They don't immediately increase the energy available to the caster. The wizard or priest still has to spend the time studying, meditating, praying, and/or undergoing certain rituals in order to absorb (or receive, in the case of priests) the power. If the device which allows the caster to exceed his normal capacity is ever lost or parted from contact with his body, the caster immediately loses all of the extra spell points, and the stored magical energy will disperse - sometimes visibly, most times not.

Recovering Spell Points

Spellcasting is generally divided into two categories: Priest and Wizard. Priests receive their spell points from a god/goddess, or other "higher" Power. Wizards absorb and manipulate the ambient magical energy around them. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. Priests must adhere to a strict set of tenets of their faith, or lose their power. Wizards must spend days in study, practice, and ritual to replenish their energy. A complete and full hour (or whatever time period is specified in the tables below) must be spent recovering spell points. Any interruption will negate the recovery of spell points for that hour, negate any bonus spell points regained for that time period (in the case of a priest in a shrine who gets only 2.5 hours of rest, she regains only 2 spell points as for rest, prayer, meditation, etc.), and may have additional harmful consequences (such as for a wizard tapping a node).

Please note that these are general methods. Individual Guilds of Wizardry and Orders of priesthood may have additional methods for regaining spell points, or even increasing the total available.

Table 14a: Wizard Spell Point Recovery

SP Regained	Method
1/hr	Sleep, study of spellbooks, meditation
varies	Tapping ley lines, special magics/rituals required, risky
varies	Tapping nodes, special magics/rituals required, risky
varies	Tapping heartstones, special magics/rituals/materials required, risky

Table 14b: Priest Spell Point Recovery

SP Regained	Method
1/hr	Sleep, prayer, meditation, ritual ceremonies
2/hr	As above, but conducted inside a consecrated temple
3/2hrs	As above, but conducted inside a consecrated shrine
5/4hrs	As above, but conducted on consecrated ground
x2	As above, but on holy days or celebrations
0	In any area consecrated to a different deity, except in special circumstances

Game Balance

Many different methods for spell points exist. This one does place a lot of power in a spellcaster's hands relatively quickly, plus it has the advantage of being very easy to use for anyone who is familiar with the standarad AD&D system. In actual practice, however, the long recovery time under this system provides a strong counter to the raw power available. A wizard might be able to unleash a storm of fire and lightning, but will spend days recovering the energy expended. Since this campaign has a relatively high level of magic, magical defenses are available against most attack forms. Adventurers will not normally have access to safe ley lines, nodes, heartstones, temples, shrines and so forth. Even if they do, most such resources are already in use for other tasks (powering in-place magics for ley lines, nodes, and heartstones; or in use by other priests in the case of temples, shrines, and consecrated ground) which will certainly limit or even eliminate their availability to the PCs. Remember, regaining spell points requires uninterrupted rest or activity.

Design Note: For your particular campaign, it's pretty easy to plug in your own magic system here. Just be aware of the effects that this will have on ley line and node use in the game.

In cases of protracted combat (warfare), a popular tactic with competent leaders is to set up sporadic harrassment - loud noises, raids, surprise attacks, and so forth - to prevent spellcasters from regaining spell points. A single interruption, such as an attack, disturbing sleep or study, extinguishing the reading light, dousing the priest with very cold water, etc., will ruin the attempt to regain spellpoints for that hour (and quite possibly longer). As the great tactician Garrod selDraco once put it, "A mage can't recover her magic if you set her on fire."

SPELL POINT CHARTS

Below are the charts showing how many base spell points (unmodified for magic items and wisdom bonuses) by level a spellcaster should have, as well as the highest level spell he or she can cast with those points.

Table 14c: Spell Points by Level

	Bard		Mage		Priest
Level	Pnts	Max Lvl	Pnts	Max Lvl	Pnts	Max Lvl
1	0	0	1	1	1	1
2	1	1	2	1	2	1
3	2	1	4	2	4	2
4	4	2	7	2	7	2
5	5	2	11	3	12	3
6	7	2	14	3	15	3
7	10	3	20	4	19	4
8	12	3	27	4	26	4
9	15	3	32	5	34	5
10	19	4	39	5	43	5
11	22	4	51	5	53	6
12	26	4	66	6	65	6
13	31	5	78	6	74	6
14	35	5	85	7	83	7
15	40	5	94	7	99	7
16	47	6	115	8	111	7
17	54	6	130	8	127	7
18	63	6	139	9	148	7
19	67	6	147	9	151	7
20	78	6*	162	9	165	7
21			177	9
22			192	9
23			207	9
24			216	9
25			225	9
26			235	9
27			253	9
28			270	9
29			280	9
30			298	9
* Maximum Spell Ability

Table 15: Wisdom Bonuses to Spell Points

Priests Only!

Wisdom Bonuses
Score	Points	Spell Level	Score	Points	Spell Level
13	1	1	20	24	4
14	2	1	21	32	5
15	4	2	22	41	5
16	6	2	23	51	5
17	9	3	24	63	6
18	13	4	25	76	7
19	18	4

Go to Section 6 - Alignments

Last updated 11/02/00.