HârnWorld + house ruled C&C

[Ancalagon]

Had the thought start rolling around in my noodle a couple of days ago about using the HârnWorld Kingdom of Kanday for a one-shot or maybe a mini-campaign at some point down the road. I'd like to try it using my C&C house rules which, IMO, would work well with a more medieval type of setting like HârnWorld.

The biggest thing to work around if using a system other than HârnMaster, IMO, is magic. HârnWorld is more of a magic rare setting, especially compared to the old AD&D standards like Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms.

On Hârn, sorcery is practiced by members of a loosely knit group of secret societies. These bodies refer to themselves as the Ancient and Esoteric Orders of the Shek-Pvar. Their magic is based on a set of philosophical teachings known as Pvarism.

Pvarism holds that the material universe is made up of six elements: earth, metal, fire, air, spirit, and water. It also maintains that the metaphysical universe comprises six basic principles (abstract forces and concepts) that are fundamentally interconnected to the six material elements.

The connection between element and principle is a critical feature of Pvaric philosophy. When a Shek-Pvar mage speaks of ‘earth,’ he/she is referring not only to the material substance (the element), but also the abstract principles with which earth is associated— most notably the cyclical processes of life and death, growth and decay.

Shek-Pvar mages refer to their areas of magical practice using Pvaric philosophical terminology. This magical jargon conveys the complex interconnection between elements and principles in a way that everyday language does not. Pvarists use the formal terms Fyvria, Jmorvi, Peleahn, Lyahvi, Savorya, and Odivshe which convey the complex associations between the elements and their principles. A Shek-Pvar mage, for example, is likely to refer to water, cold, dark, and stillness all as various manifestations of the Odivshe principle.

The mages of the Shek-Pvar are organized into six distinct orders, or convocations. The mages of each convocation devote themselves to the mastery of sorcery involving just one of the six Pvaric elements/principles. Apprentices are taught to work the magic of one convocation only. More experienced mages may learn something of the others. Very few wizards ever come to master all six convocations.

This got me thinking that if I were to use my house ruled C&C for the system in a Kingdom of Kanday scenario, I could take the Chromatic Mage from the C&C Adventurer's Spellbook and Players Archive then house rule it into a new version of the Shek Pvar. The spells in the Chromatic Mage spell list are grouped by color which just so happen to conveniently correspond to the AD&D 2e wizard's schools of magic (abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, and transmutation). I could easily substitute the eight schools of magic for the six elements used in Hârnic Pvarism.

The first thing I'd do is ditch the standard Vancian method and utilize the mana point system from the CKG 2nd printing. Per the CKG, a spell's cost in mana points = level +1. E.g. Comprehend Languages costs 2 mana points.

Each school of magic would become a convocation. Members of a convocation learn spells normally and cast spells from the corresponding list at the normal mana cost.

Each convocation has another with which it is incompatible. This means that members of a convocation can never cast spells from the "opposition school" to borrow a term from AD&D 2e specialist wizards.

Spells from all other schools may be learned but, to adhere / reinforce the Hârnic concept of devotion to the mastery of sorcery involving just one of the Pvaric elements/principles, those spells are more difficult to cast by way of the mana cost. Casting a spell from a non-preferred school would be (standard cost *2) +1. E.g. A Conjurer wants to cast Comprehend Languages, a 1st level divination spell. The standard mana cost for a 1st level spell is spell level (1) +1 = 2 mana. For the conjurer, the cost would be ((2*2)+1) = 5 points.

Getting late and I have to work tomorrow. More to come!

[Ancalagon]

<snip>
Each convocation has another with which it is incompatible. This means that members of a convocation can never cast spells from the "opposition school" to borrow a term from AD&D 2e specialist wizards.
<snip>

I'm thinking of handling "opposition schools" differently than AD&D 2e.

Per the 2e PHB, p.31, seven schools have two others in opposition. One school has three opposing. One school has one opposing. Looking at the number of spells in each school on p.238-9, three schools are quite small, four are decent sized, and one has a huge number of spells.

The threads (aka schools) in the Chromatic Mage's spell list are a little more evenly distributed WRT the number of spells per thread/school. I'm thinking of having each school have only one other in opposition and mixing it up by not having two schools oppose each other (E.g. Illusion opposed by Necromancy and vice versa) as much as possible. Here is what I have in mind at the moment:

Abjuration opposed by Conjuration
Abjuration spells generally seek to provide defense, protection, resistance, and remedy from the effects of many other spells. Many of those spells come from the Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation schools. Divination isn't a good choice to oppose since knowledge and defense is a good combo (like master Yoda encourages). So I'm going with Conjuration.

Conjuration opposed by Transmutation
Conjuration spells bring forth / create things (creatures, effects, objects, etc.) which has commonality with most of the other schools. Transmutation spells typically don't create things but opts for changing the nature of existing things. With that in mind, I figured Transmutation would be an appropriate opposition for Conjuration.

Divination opposed by Illusion
Divination spells typically seek to reveal the nature of things and provide info / knowledge. Illusion, by its very nature, seeks to confuse, misdirect, and obfuscate. Illusion seems like a natural opposition for Divination.

Enchantment opposed by Necromancy
Enchantment spells generally affect the minds and wills of others while Necromancy spells generally affect the bodies, life force, and souls of others. Given these two clear distinctions, it seems reasonable to have these two schools oppose each other.

Evocation opposed by Divination
Evocation spells are generally the blasting type magics that solve problems directly by inflicting lots of damage and destruction. The more patient, peaceful, and subtle pursuit of knowledge espoused via Divination seems like a reasonable justification for having it oppose Evocation.

Illusion opposed by Evocation
Illusions spells generally seek to confuse, misdirect, and obfuscate as opposed to blasting with power like spells from the Evocation school. With that in mind, and recalling the AD&D 1e and 2e Illusionist class which had no blasting type spells until high level where specific spells could simulate those types of effects, Evocation seemed like a good choice to oppose Illusion.

Necromancy opposed by Enchantment
Necromancy spells generally affect the bodies, life force, and souls of others while Enchantment spells generally affect the minds and wills of others. Given these two clear distinctions, it seems reasonable to have these two schools oppose each other.

Transmutation opposed by Abjuration
Transmutation spells generally change the nature of existing things (creatures, effects, objects, etc.). Since few of these spells deal direct damage to the body and mind, the requirement of protection from those effects seems a reasonable basis for selecting Abjuration as an opposite to Transmutation.