mjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio) (02/28/85)
Instead of having n dozen different kinds of mage, I prefer a class-based magic system. Spell Law has a system in which mages specialize and learn spells in groups. A person who has a list up to a sufficient level can do anything up to that level; a typical list might be: Illusion: 1. light (small area of effect) 2. sound (small area) 3. stationary object (small) ... n. moving object or object with visual and audible components or ... In the spell system I use in my "D&D" game (it strays farther and farther from D&D each session...), mages may learn any type of spell, but find it easier to learn spells if they already know similar spells. Each spell has a clas, such as illusion, mind, divination, and so on, and (say) the number and level of your illusion spells affects your ability to learn more illusion spells and the degree of success you will have in casting them. (I only discovered Spell Law recently, so my system is still oriented heavily toward individual spells rather then generalized lists). The key point here is that any mage *can* learn any spell he can get taught to him (or that he can interpret from another's books); he will just find it *easier* if he specializes. -Dragon -- UUCP: ...ucbvax!dual!lll-crg!dragon ARPA: monica.cellio@cmu-cs-cad or dragon@lll-crg