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Quick unrelated note: wonderful weekend in Sioux Falls, SD. Makes me want to move there.

    Quick unrelated note: wonderful weekend in Sioux Falls, SD.  Makes me want to move there.

Okay, more on task:Chart based spellcasting. Link points to the original post about it a couple years ago.

The main issue with this chart was that the dice are very rare and there's not a really good way to fudge them. I thought about setting up a d666 table, but that's really clunky looking up a result from a list of 216 entries every time you cast a spell.

Since success for casting a spell is going to rely on looking up a result somehow, I was torn between a d66 table and a simple d20 roll.

In the spirit of get stuff done before the end of November I chose the d20 and changed how the charts work. The closest comparison I can make is that an individual chart acts like a rune, granting you access to various spells. Those spells are listed as Damage, Utility, or Protection spells. Roll a d20 for the spell to see if it is successful.

What is different from a rune-based system, though, is that two or more charts will have the same spell, but some charts grant more success than others for casting the same spell.

Once a spellcaster can make scrolls, though, they can import spells from a specific chart to generate their own chart. Yes, the idea is that they use the best chart available for the spell they desire.

Next post will have an example or two.

Chart Based Spellcasting

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8 Comments

  1. Keith J Davies

    I understood every single word in this post, and yet…

  2. John Payne

    Keith J Davies I need to post examples and work harder to be more clear. I am distracted by RL stuff. I hope to fix this situation today.

  3. Keith J Davies

    No worries, my writing is sometimes the same, where it depends on what’s in my brain to make sense. In this case I’m just not familiar enough with the background that led up to this to grok it.

  4. John Payne

    Keith J Davies The background is convoluted as it involves an obscure football simulation that I loved in the 80s.

    So, I took everything out of using a chart to cast spells that referred to it. Now it is roll d20 and the chart will show you if you are successful for not.

    Still, I’m working on the wording to make it understood.

  5. Keith J Davies

    I remember you telling me the origin, it’s the application that escapes me.

    If you can interest Jay Dugger in your project, he’s given me some great feedback on my writing. At times this has led to my rewriting the entire damn book…

  6. John Payne

    Keith J Davies Happy to invoke Jay Dugger

  7. Jay Dugger

    Happy to help proofread. Email me, and thank you to Keith J Davies? for the kind words.

  8. Keith J Davies

    I wasn’t flattering you, Jay Dugger?. Your comments were the direct cause of my rewriting Polyhedral Pantheons in a way that made it much more readable and approachable. This was invaluable in making it a better book.

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