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Friday, January 23, 2009

Tékumel Style Magic For Savage Worlds?

As I stated in my last post, I'm working on my own SW conversion for Tékumel: Empire Of The Petal Throne and I've hit a bit of a snag: the magic system. Now, I realize that I should just be able to plug in the various SW spells into but I'm not satisfied with the result, it just doesn't "feel" right for the setting.

This is how magic and magic use tends to work in the EPT setting:

  1. Magic use is tightly controlled by the various temples. Magicians are taught a few spells and they eventually specialize one the one or two spells they master.
  2. Magic comes in two separate varieties: Psychic, where the mage casts the spell with the power of their thoughts, and Ritual where special rites and incantation are necessary. Magicians can use BOTH kinds of spell.
  3. Certain spells are universally known to all temples (like Healing for instance), others are specific to particular temples, and some spells are such closely guarded by their respective temples they are only taught to those with the proper skills and the right social standing in the Temple.
  4. Magic is VERY powerful with many combat spells will kill a target outright.
  5. Magicians can't have a lot of metal on their person when casting. Anything more than 60 grams will cause a backlash that will kill the caster.
  6. Magic use expends "Pedhétl" (Mana, Magic Points, etc).

With all this in mind, does anyone have any suggestions, or am I making this more difficult than it has to be? Feel free to comment below.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I believe someone at the Pinnacle Forums has already suggested using the Superpowers AB from the Core Book (NOT the NE version). I would also suggest that magic versions of a power get a linked attribute for their skills while psychic versions do not. For magic you might want to use some sort of casting time mechanic like what's in Solomon Kane.

Mark A. Siefert said...

That was me. Thanks.