Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
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Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
How do you handle magic sense in your game? Can a wizard only sense Magic if they have access to and then successfully cast Detect Magic, or is there something innate in the Wizard that might have a chance at doing this (as long as the player exclaims the intent to 'sense magic', that is) such as the thief who is capable of 'sensing' and finding/disarming traps?
Last edited by Zargon on Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
Fables of the Borderlands - #1 DCC campaign on Obsidian Portal!
Re: Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
I was thinking about this the other day. Quick and dirty idea....mages and clerics get an int check when facing something magical. Maybe add their level into the check. Set a dc for the magic in question. Allows some gleaming of a magical nature in very general terms. To go further detect magic spell must be cast.
Use the basics of detect magic as a guide of what this cannot not tell you.
Use the basics of detect magic as a guide of what this cannot not tell you.
-Stretch
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.
Re: Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
Thanks for your input. Yes I suppose a simple Int check vs a DC works, with the added bonus of a modifier equal to level... But the DC would have to be pretty high, since it allows the Wizard to side step the dangers and added difficulty of casting the spell Detect Magic. (Even if they are only gleaming some limited information).
The fine print on page 127 indicates that since this particular spell is different for Wizards they suffer a -2 to the roll, and if they roll a 1 there is a 50% chance of Major Corruption. I don't understand what this is referring to except that magic is difficult, and dangerous, but why this particular spell for Wizards, and not Clerics?
The fine print on page 127 indicates that since this particular spell is different for Wizards they suffer a -2 to the roll, and if they roll a 1 there is a 50% chance of Major Corruption. I don't understand what this is referring to except that magic is difficult, and dangerous, but why this particular spell for Wizards, and not Clerics?
Fables of the Borderlands - #1 DCC campaign on Obsidian Portal!
Re: Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
Magic in DCC is supposed to be dangerous and mysterious. To get there you have to put aside some basic assumptions that you have picked up from other games. At least this has been my experience when I was introduced to the game.
One of my first assumptions I had to put away was that a wizard, or cleric, should know magic when they see it. But in a world where magic is rare and knowledge is hard fought and earned rather than simply consulted from a book this isn't really the case. Even a wizard who apprenticed under a great wizard is going to have many gaps in their knowledge with wizards being the secretive jealous lot they are.
The quick and dirty idea I suggested is one in which you want to allow certain knowledge without detect magic. It is not one I would use honestly as, again, in a dangerous mysterious world having the ability to detect magic and properties about magic is going to give an edge to those who have it.
Remember Gandalf had to research the ring to understand what it was. His magical ability gave him nothing but a sense of its power. Something that Bilbo "felt" as well. As did Gollum. This is how I might use the proposed idea. To give a person who does study magic an idea that this is something special. But this is a powerful item and as such, for me, breaks the rule of needing detect magic to determine that it is indeed special.
In all other ways I require Detect Magic. And it is not something that everyone has just because they are a wizard. Or a cleric. For a wizard it is earned through questing or hard earned research materials. For a cleric it is a gift from their God.
As to the difference in casting it by a wizard or a cleric I have to make a few assumptions on the design choice here. First, the rule is that if casting a spell, like Detect Magic or binding, which are clerical spells that wizards are able to learn, then the wizard suffers a negative two to the casting. And a one results in corruption with a higher chance of major corruption. I would presume that this is the case as the wizard is casting a spell that has more divine origins so they are playing in a sphere out of their normal influence. So it is more dangerous.
As to why make Detect Magic a clerical spell and not a wizard spell to begin with I can only guess that the Gods being jealous and petty and not wanting competition (see Ire of the Gods) that they wanted their followers to be able to detect threats to be neutralized. Wizards seeking power learned, stole, this from Clerics.
Hope this helps.
One of my first assumptions I had to put away was that a wizard, or cleric, should know magic when they see it. But in a world where magic is rare and knowledge is hard fought and earned rather than simply consulted from a book this isn't really the case. Even a wizard who apprenticed under a great wizard is going to have many gaps in their knowledge with wizards being the secretive jealous lot they are.
The quick and dirty idea I suggested is one in which you want to allow certain knowledge without detect magic. It is not one I would use honestly as, again, in a dangerous mysterious world having the ability to detect magic and properties about magic is going to give an edge to those who have it.
Remember Gandalf had to research the ring to understand what it was. His magical ability gave him nothing but a sense of its power. Something that Bilbo "felt" as well. As did Gollum. This is how I might use the proposed idea. To give a person who does study magic an idea that this is something special. But this is a powerful item and as such, for me, breaks the rule of needing detect magic to determine that it is indeed special.
In all other ways I require Detect Magic. And it is not something that everyone has just because they are a wizard. Or a cleric. For a wizard it is earned through questing or hard earned research materials. For a cleric it is a gift from their God.
As to the difference in casting it by a wizard or a cleric I have to make a few assumptions on the design choice here. First, the rule is that if casting a spell, like Detect Magic or binding, which are clerical spells that wizards are able to learn, then the wizard suffers a negative two to the casting. And a one results in corruption with a higher chance of major corruption. I would presume that this is the case as the wizard is casting a spell that has more divine origins so they are playing in a sphere out of their normal influence. So it is more dangerous.
As to why make Detect Magic a clerical spell and not a wizard spell to begin with I can only guess that the Gods being jealous and petty and not wanting competition (see Ire of the Gods) that they wanted their followers to be able to detect threats to be neutralized. Wizards seeking power learned, stole, this from Clerics.
Hope this helps.
-Stretch
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.
Re: Sense & Sensibility & Wizards
-Stretch
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.
If you survive a crucible you grow the stronger for it. - Arrow.