Magical Violence
Credits to Newt's Truthtelling and the Black Company Playtest Document v2.
Wizards are only human and get Exhausted like anyone else. This is represented as a number, which, in practice, ranges from 0 to 29.
Wizards can perform any feat they can speak into the world. To cast a spell, state what you would like to do. The smallest viable spell is in the shape of ā(verb) a/the (noun). Count the number of syllables in the statement. Double the total if the spell directly affects a living thing. Triple the total if the spell affects a group of something (this stacks with the doubling). Add this number to your exhaustion and roll on the exhaustion table.
One wizard may counter the spell of another wizard by shouting āStop!ā They both add 1 exhaustion. If the Spellās target is a living thing, they add 2 exhaustion instead. If the Spellās target is a group of anything, they add 3 instead. The wizard who countered rolls on the chart as though they had cast a spell. Wizards slain by the roll still stop the effect.
Some spell examples:
āKill the guardsā = 18
āKill the guardā = 6
āBurn the houseā = 3
āHear this corpseā = 3
āHear the deadā = 9
ālift the rocksā = 9
ācut their windpipeā = 8
ācut their windpipesā = 24
āhide our tracksā = 9
āHeal her armā = 4
Roll 1d20 and add your current Exhaustion after the spell is cast. Refer to the table below:
| 1d20+Exhaustion | Result |
|---|---|
| 1-10 | A minor cosmetic effect in high magic settings. Nothing happens. |
| 11-15 | A noticeable cosmetic effect. Steam roils from the skin, as though the wizard left a sauna |
| 16-20 | A major effect, serious and impactful. The skin glows red and fiery for 1d6 minutes. Any wizard wearing armor takes a wound, thick protection broiling the skin. |
| 21-29 | This effect should be enough to put a wizard out of commission for a fight or otherwise freak a player out. Wracked by heat-induced vertigo, stumble and fall prone. Count this as Down in normal Violence, but there is no chance of dying. |
| 30+ | Death. The brain snaps like a taught clothesline. Blood leaks from the nose. |
Exhaustion decreases at a rate of 1 point per day. Receiving wounds from mundane sources counts as 4 exhaustion that does not deplete until the wound heals.
Be generous with the intent of the statement. If it doesnāt feel like cheating, it isnāt magic. Unless cast otherwise, spells donāt last more than a few minutes, or a single combat round.
Tinkering with the system
This system lets wizards do roughly 1-4 small spells before they get a chance of dying (3-12 exhaustion) and they probably won't push past 5-6 spells total unless its really desperate.
There are a few levers to tweak with this. Maybe you can do something in the world to increase the Death Gate. "Increase the threshold of the death result on the exhaustion table by 1 for every year the Wizard has in age over 70" would work, and then wizards would start playing with aging magic a lot. Maybe it's some herbal tea or powder, wizard coke style.
You can also tweak the rate at which Exhaustion recovers. Having all exhaustion disipate on a night's rest will dramatically increase the potency of a wizard and make them much more valuable. Having it decrease at a rate of 1/hour will have a similar effect, though casters may cast more often throughout the day as their exhaustion depletes beneath safe levels. Having an item or potion to decrease exhaustion would have the same effect.
I'll do another post soon detailing how writing wizards might look with this system.