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Ozreth
Learned Scribe
188 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 10:18:40
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How many of you use the Wild Magic chart from the 2e or 3e CS? Or one of your own creation? And if so, how often do you decide that those effects will take place?
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Kilvan
Senior Scribe
Canada
894 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 15:16:26
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| In Myth Drannor, thats about it. So I used it twice in 10 years. |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6361 Posts |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 16:20:37
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I use wild magic zones quite a bit more then I use dead magic zones.
Wild magic areas are fun because of the variety of things that can happen. I have the Myth Drannor chart and some custom Wand of Wonder charts that I use to create wild magic effects. Also, I like to give such areas different names and tie them into the environment where they’re located.
For example, in the Stormhorns in northeastern Cormyr the locals call the wild magic “wizard weather” because the variable effects seem to follow in the wake of severe thunderstorms.
Dead magic zones, I’ve learned, are fun for players when it is Beholders making them (because you can kill the Beholder and turn off the effect), not so fun when they’re fixed in place because you shut the spellcasters down and there's not much they can do about it.
However it’s good to force spellcasters once in a while to bust out the melee weapons and stand next to the Fighter.
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Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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MalariaMoon
Learned Scribe
324 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 17:34:36
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| Curious - I'm writing up a new wild magic table for my campaign at this very moment. I'll be certain to post it here when it's complete. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 18:17:56
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quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal
When i first read about wild magic zones i thought they were really cool and used it when two wizards cast fireball and ice storm at each other at exactly the same initiative (this was back in 2nd edition, im now on 3.75).
The resulting interaction caused the death of the entire party and i promptly resolved never to use them again.
As a more experienced DM (how much more in skill im not exactly sure but its 15 years in time) i try not to punish PCs too heavily for things out of their control and since wild magic zones can produce hellish effects that cause tpk's i stopped using them.
Dead Magic zones likewise punish PCs unnecessarily and not due to their actions, any mages in the party will become completely useless and their players probably wont have any fun anymore (lets face it they chose to play a mage probably to cast lots of spells).
So in 15 years i have used wild magic zones once and dead magic zones never, but im sure they have their uses.
I imagine if you use a grid system you could design an encounter a little bit like a world of warcraft boss fight and have the PCs use the small dead magic zone to their advantage to force the enemy into (of course they would have to know about the zone in advance).
One thing to keep in mind is that wild magic and dead magic zones will hinder opposing spellcasters, as well. Saying they just punish PCs is like saying lava punishes PCs -- it's something that affects everyone equally, PC, NPC, or monster. |
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Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 20:08:34
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Right, I'm with Wooly on this one. Also, a great scenario for a dead magic zone would be an encounter where there is a party mix on both sides and a mix of dead, wild, and standard magic zones. Just make sure it does foul up the NPCs, too.
Alternatively, foreknowledge can make the scenarios better, too. I played in a group where there was a lot of inflexibility going on around converting 2E to 3E. As a result, some weird things, occured, like multi-class characters getting up-leveled far beyond the party level. As a result, my fighter 8 /mage 9/cleric 2 got converted to 19th level. However, plotlines were leading us into a place where arcane magic simply did not function. I went into the adventure knowing I was essentially running a fighter 12/cleric 2 with poor feat selection. I wore heavy armor and actually acted as herald most of the time. It was a nice diversion.
I've also run a wizard who did not focus particularly hard on useful magic. It was in a group of about 10 characters, so there was already too many people going for "glory moves." I had some buffing spells and I also dumped points into use magic device so I could use cleric wands and scrolls. I liked to make a big show of the spells and call on the wrong gods just to annoy the clerics.
A dead magic zone can be fun for the plot if you use it right. Really, you're going to need the encounter to have creatures that are half the wizard's level that he can battle against intermixed with the full CR monsters that the fighters are dealing with.
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Ozreth
Learned Scribe
188 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 23:58:31
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Some rad suggestions here. So my campaign is starting right after the Time of Troubles, so I'm thinking these areas should be a bit more prominent. I'm thinking maybe a %5 change per day that they will hit a dead/wild magic area? Is that too harsh?
Also, let's talk about the different charts. The ones I know of are the 2e FRCS, the MD box and the 3e FRCS. The 2e and 3e FRCS charts are almost the exact same, but the 3e one took out a few of the more silly effects like flowers falling from the sky. The MD one seems to have more silliness. That stuff is cool but I think it would become mundane after it happened a few times. The 3e chart seems to have mostly solid effects that reverse spells, throw people around and open holes in the ground.
Thoughts? |
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Ozreth
Learned Scribe
188 Posts |
Posted - 12 Jul 2012 : 23:59:38
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Some rad suggestions here. So my campaign is starting right after the Time of Troubles, so I'm thinking these areas should be a bit more prominent. I'm thinking maybe a %5 change per day that they will hit a dead/wild magic area? Is that too harsh?
Also, let's talk about the different charts. The ones I know of are the 2e FRCS, the MD box and the 3e FRCS. The 2e and 3e FRCS charts are almost the exact same, but the 3e one took out a few of the more silly effects like flowers falling from the sky. The MD one seems to have more silliness. That stuff is cool but I think it would become mundane after it happened a few times. The 3e chart seems to have mostly solid effects that reverse spells, throw people around and open holes in the ground and still has slightly odd stuff like dancing lights and whatnot.
Thoughts? |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36805 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2012 : 00:22:49
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There are also the wild magic surge effects from the 2E Tome of Magic. I believe the 3E Complete Mage may have something similar (though I wasn't as enamoured of the 3E wild mage as I was of the 2E wild mage). I believe Sean K. Reynolds has wild magic tables on his own website. And the 3.x tome Fairies, from Bastion Press, has a magic sand table that can also be used for wild magic surges.
I was a huge fan of the 2E wild mage, so I've kept my eye out for good wild magic surge tables. And those can readily work for a wild magic zone.  |
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Ozreth
Learned Scribe
188 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2012 : 00:28:31
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Crap, I've got a lot of stuff to check out :p
Thoughts on a %5 chance per day of something going awry? |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2012 : 00:36:19
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I wouldn't use wild or dead magic zones randomly, unless they're in a very specific place (Myth Drannor and the Helmlands are pretty much the only ones I can think of, with the possible addition of Undermountain). Zones are major nuisances for all involved, and are often associated with some massive magical upheaval in the past at that spot. So they shouldn't be just some random part of a grassy plain, for instance.
Also if the zone has been around for any length of time, people would have started to notice, and either avoid the area, or exploit it. One of the nastier encounters I've seen in Undermountain dealt with a nest of trolls in a long, narrow cave that was a dead magic area. How do you kill trolls when you can't use any magical fire or acid, and you haven't brought along barrels of lamp oil?
I rarely use the zones, but when I do, I tie them into whatever encounter I already have planned. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Tyranthraxus
Senior Scribe
Netherlands
423 Posts |
Posted - 13 Jul 2012 : 14:58:57
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| I've only used dead magic zones once in Myth Drannor. But I was thinking of running the Avatar trilogy or a homebrew adventure set during the ToT. |
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GRYPHON
Senior Scribe
USA
527 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2012 : 15:06:00
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| I'll use them both on occasion... |
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MalariaMoon
Learned Scribe
324 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2012 : 17:04:16
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| Careful Gryphon, that last post was positively verbose ... :-) |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2012 : 17:26:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Ozreth
Some rad suggestions here. So my campaign is starting right after the Time of Troubles, so I'm thinking these areas should be a bit more prominent. I'm thinking maybe a %5 change per day that they will hit a dead/wild magic area? Is that too harsh?
5% seems about right to me.
I think of dead and wild magic areas during the ToT as impermanent things; something that comes and goes and is unpredictable, though the chance of such forming around big spell battles is likely. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
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althen artren
Senior Scribe
USA
780 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2012 : 22:41:13
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You know, one of our visiting authors have remade
the Wild Mage in 3.x, I have a hard copy, but I
don't remember who it was that wrote it. I love
the wild magic table in Tome of Magic 2.x.
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MalariaMoon
Learned Scribe
324 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jul 2012 : 05:37:45
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| The Avatar trilogy of adventures also made use of wild magic heavily. I think the table was identical to that printed in the 2nd edition Campaign Setting, but also included a d12 special effects table to add extra wildness. |
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WalkerNinja
Senior Scribe
USA
575 Posts |
Posted - 16 Jul 2012 : 11:19:32
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the DM that I learned from said that adventures should be designed in such a way that one player has the opportunity to shine each time we play. When you get into higher level campaigns the Wizard shines all the time regardless of what you plan, and the fighters and thieves tend to pale by comparison (more true in 1e/2e, a bit less true in 3e/4e).
Properly used, wild and dead magic zones can give other players a place to stand out from the shadow of an overwhelming mage.
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*** A Forgotten Realms Addict since 1990 ***
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How often do you use dead or wild magic areas?
