Please note that I am actively soliciting comments and game-design questions here on this post, so if you're feeling like you've got something that'll work, or even work "better," please chime in!
edited to add:comments now work [sigh]
So we completely reworked the way we had been doing magic, as a skill roll combination that didn't really fit the comic's view or the system very well. Number of successes and effect weren't really rolled together.
I don't think it's necessarily munchkinism that has some of our players taking advantage of the fact that several "standard actions" in the system rely on a couple combinations of rolls, and putting all their points in those combinations, but it's close enough to give me a frown. Does that count?
So our new methodology is based off a couple of things. First, the number of "magic points" you're willing to devote to an action. Every point spent means there's an effect (we never see a scene in the books where there's a "fizzle"), but the dice rolled in the skill roll can affect the overall success of the event.
The GM was quick to say that built-in story trumps point cost. I don't have any problem with that: maybe it'll work to push people to write their background stories.
The overall scale for the points is a 1-to-10 scale. Ten was told to me to be "world changing events." I got to create the rest:
- Minor Uses
- Common Uses
- Common Uses with "Oomph"
- Uncommon Use
- Difficult Use
- Life Changing Event
- Rare - Community Changing Event
- Environmental Changing Event (Permanent)
- Large Scale Historical Event
- World Changing Event
All fine and dandy, so far. They're fairly differentiated and levels three-to-four feel "magical" whereas one and two are good, basic uses of power.
So what does it actually mean?
We have three "shapers" in the crowd. (So much for, "Not a very magical society." Well, it's what people wanted to play so we suck it up.) One flesh, one rock, one fire. (Which sounds like a funny variant of rock-paper-scissors, doesn't it?)
So here's what I have, and what I want more input on, particularly.
Fleshshaping/Healing
- Aches, sprains, bruises, minor wounds, remove scars.
- Moderate wounds ("need stitches"), and basic breaking of bones, basic decorative scarring.
- Punctured lungs, organ failures, minor plastic surgery.
- Loss of limbs, cure medium poisons, major plastic surgery.
- Change type of organ (skin to fur, etc.), cure major poison.
- Moderate mind-healing, knowledge of the elf-spirit and its relationship to body, hold spirit in flesh.
- Large-scale shaping, such as limbs to wings, heal the mind/spirit.
- Heal the land, bring back from death.
- [...at a loss. Heal all elves? Heal continent?]
- Heal the world? Settle soul in another body?
Fireshaping
- Match, spark, flicker. Low heat.
- Lighter - longer time, torches. Low-medium heat.
- Hearth/cooking fire. Medium heat.
- Burning flame, medium-high heat, can set wet things aflame.
- Flamethrower effect, burn people.
- Conflagration, high heat.
- Firestorm, direct pure flame.
- Maelstrom and lightning.
- Draw magma from the Earth
- Envelop world in flames.
Rockshaping
- Draw pebbles from ambient earth.
- Draw rocks, make basic tools, or basic designs in existing rock.
- Ornamental tools, detailed designs in existing rock.
- Obelisks, fine tools, draw from bedrock.
- Draw metal from the earth.
- Large-scale building with rock, or draw rock away (to build tunnels, etc.)
- Call boulders from distance.
- Shift bedrock.
- Earthquake, tectonic plates.
- Bring mountains from the Earth.
We also have a person with a "Hypnotic Stare" that I'm working on, but it's more a matter of story than points at this stage.
Oh, and finally, any ideas on how to "restore" magic points?