Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Molot 09-22-06, 06:54 AM	My friend is new to D&D. He wants to play Mage (concept, not class). He does not like the spell cells idea, so he probably will play psion (using power points as mana points ;) ), but this isn't decided yet. His character in other system was able to cast (manifest) burning his life energy (HP equivalent) if he was out of mana, and could not only use fireball'like things but aslo some basic healing. Human, starting at level 7, cares mostly about the money, but not entirely evil. Any ideas how to recreate him in D&D mechanics?
dvlsadvct 09-22-06, 11:57 AM	So he wants to sacrafice HP for spells. You could just take the level of the spell, add a number to it and have it deal that much damage per casting of a level of spells. As for how much to add to it, I would say in the 3-5 range. Doing magic in this way leads to a definitive roleplay fault and overall game breaking tendencies. He could potentially cast limitless spells per day with the right idea. Just grab Arcane Disciple and continually cast cure spells. Not to mention the metamagic effects. I suppose the best way to go about it would be to create a 'mana' pool. Perhaps one he rolls just like HP.
Molot 09-22-06, 03:39 PM	In the original system spell that heals up to (for example) 8 hit points would do no less than 12 damage, so no risk of heal-cast-heal-cast-... routine. Roleplaying, it would be the case when you just have to cast that damn spell, but you don't have power, so you're risking your health and life to achieve your goal. Anyway, if there is any legal way to allow, for example, Psion to buy 1 power point for 2 hit points or sth like that, I'll be glad to do it. Re-inventing spell points is not needed, it can be found at d20srd (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm), for example.
dvlsadvct 09-22-06, 03:44 PM	Interesting game mechanic. I had never seen that before. Thanks for the link.