Wild Spellcraft

By Ryan Nock
Natural 20 Press

A short story by way of introduction:

Shortly after I posted my last Builder Series review (of Masters of the Wild) I was approached by the author of Wild Spellcraft. It seems that this document has been available for sale and review for a short while and while the reviews (on more d20-specific sites) had been positive Ryan expressed some reservations to the praise – was it honestly deserved, or was it just the general “cheers for the lowly independent d20 author/developer” mixed into the euphoria surrounding such d20 products? He asked me to take a look and do a review – judging from my caustic review style and my often stated, almost puritanical (fundamentalist) point of view of “how d20 SHOULD be done” he figured I would be less likely to soft-ball my judgement of the book.

Should there be Wild/Chaos Magic in D&D3/d20?

It seems almost natural – magic is seen in many movies/literature and other games as something that requires a development of control – and sometimes benefits can be reaped if you let loose from those rigid controls. Ars Magica had spontaneous magic to off-set it’s far more formulaic spells, Mage and Shadowrun are two systems that punish magic-users for going too far or playing too fast with their power, several movies and books have spellcasters of all stripes screwing up spells for horrific or hilarious consequences. So why not in d20?

Simply put – because it doesn’t fit. Sorry, but in many ways the d20 system already has plenty of other barriers or “balancing” mechanisms on magic-users – less hit points, bad combat and saving throws, limited spells per day, armor/weapon non-proficiency, etc – all of this is predicated upon the idea that if you want to cast then you can: it happens, the spell goes off. Concentration, the skill, injects a little bit of the more common system – but then it’s just a ruse – the skill presumes that unless a circumstance occurs which requires the skill to be rolled, the spell will always work. Various attempts to inject the common “spell-casting” roll into d20/D&D3e (and earlier incarnations) have never really succeeded because they are an additional penalty levied on top of the others. A rogue can always use their bucketful of skills, the fighter can always swing a sword or fire a bow – but the mage is limited to X many moments of awesome power per day – anything that might adversely affect the result of these spells simply makes the price too costly for their limited benefit. The actual systems used have always required a die roll of some kind, an addition to rules and a slowing down of play (since to properly codify the infinite nature of chaos one needs many, highly detailed, result charts). Now the addition of a spell/magic roll would be a vast improvement, a step towards integrating the spellcasting part of d20 in with the skills/combat/psionics nature of the game such additions, focused as many are with simply the “cool” backlash effect have been poorly executed.

With a backdrop like this you would think this is going to be another one of those “I hate it” type reviews, right?

Wild Spellcraft – what you get.

Order the online pdf and what you receive is a zipped archive containing two files – the large 64 page, illustrated, pdf of the actual book, and a much smaller .txt (ASCII text) ‘crib notes’ version of the material open under the Open Gaming Licence.

The main book – the pdf – is a good, plain book. The artwork is nothing to write home about but it is serviceable, and has a couple of nicer pieces in it. The layout is very basic – single column, no fancy fonts except for chapter headings. Ryan noted that the original thinking was that users would access the book solely from their own computers and not print out a hardcopy. Since this is no longer the case, and to facilitate hard-copy production, all future Natural 20 products (and the hard copy version of Wild Spellcraft) will be changing to the more eye-comfortable 2-column format in the near future. The hard-copy version of this book will have a few extras (sort of like how DVDs differ from VHS Tapes) – a couple of new spells, and a short adventure.

The book opens with a very short credits and acknowledgements page then moves immediately into a sort of introduction to the book (and the rest of the ‘Spellcraft’ series of which this is supposedly the first instalment). Then comes the index and it is from here that I knew this would be more than just the usual (and quite bad) “gee, here are my rules, lookey at me” sort of drek – a chapter focusing on how to integrate the idea of chaotic/wild magic in the game, how Wild Mages fit in high or low magic worlds, the origins of wild magic, and how wild magic interacts with non-wild magic users. This chapter alone made me like the book – the system be damned, I’d buy the book just for this chapter. In many ways it is like the first chapter of The Psionics Toolkit – another product I adored for a real ‘toolkit-y’ approach to its focus material. It tears apart the concept of chaos magic (and, indirectly, the role of magic in general) and goes over it in great detail, examining how it could/should be used in the individual campaign setting.

Wild Spellcraft – the concept.

The concept, boiled down, is that every instance of magic use requires a d20 roll. On a roll of a 1 (one) the magic screws up. Now language like “mishap” is used a lot but many of the tables have very positive aspects to them as well (the spell is not “used up”, no saves allowed, etc). If something happens then you roll d100 to determine the effect, apply the effect to the spell, lather, rince, repeat. That’s right. 64 pages, 2 Prestige classes, all for something that will happen maybe once or twice a night, at best. Not a terribly useful book now is it?

To implement Wild Magic into the game the author has developed the ‘wild magic template’, quite similar to the template system invented for monster creation only this one can be applied to beings, classes, magic items, even regions of space (chaos fields). The template is minimalist (i.e. all it does is include the rule of 1 in magic use – so any spell cast in a chaos field needs to be checked, and every use of a wild magic item requires a check too). This approach is very useful since it can be incorporated into other templates, classes, and other optional rules with minimal fuss (only chaos fields alter the Challenge Rating or Encounter Level). In fact it is just this sort of innovation that I like to see in d20 supplements.

Next comes a toolkit-full of optional rules to further customize wild magic – one creates more of a sliding scale to determine wild ‘mishaps’ (but in this case, using a set DC system, can mean that shortly after level 1 your wild mage may never suffer a mishap again – the DCs are too low, even for level 1 characters, I would suggest fiddling with the equation (5 2(spell level)) to find something a bit more even. The other two optional rules – for variable caster level and for mid-duration wild effects are nice ideas but each has their share of problems (the fluctuating level is a little too wild, at least at the lower levels, and the mid-duration is a bit complicated). Further tweaks (not twinks) make wild magic the norm (i.e. all magic suffers from wild magic, or just an increased flat number), wild magic schools, simpler mishaps, wild magic and the supernatural ability, etc. Overall many of these are very rules minimal and continue in the “here is the basic idea and here is umpteen different ways/degrees in which to implement it”. Needless to say the section is almost 100% Your-Mileage-May-Vary since its entirely up to the DM to choose what fits their game, but the inclusion of these options (and not clogging down page count with useless tables) is a big positive.

The ending of chapter 2 is a sample setting, a fairly generic fantasy world but incorporating wild magic into the setting as a core element. Here wild magic is a taint of the “faerie folk” – elves, gnomes, and fey critters. Nifty idea, and shows off how the wild magic can be used to add depth to a world instead of being just another “add-on” imported after-creation. After Andault the author offers up more possibilities of campaign worlds – again, short, sweet and to the point.

Chapter three holds the feat and prestige class section of the book, finishing off with a trio of sample wild mage characters and some magic items – a human cleric of Law cursed with inexplicable wild magic (much to her embarrassment and shame), and a couple of NPC types each showcasing the two prestige classes from the chapter. The three feats are okay, a bit of a let down (the reckless magic is okay but seems a bit powerful – allowing you to turn a lesser spell into a more powerful one: flaming sphere into a fireball, but the price is rather high). The chaos prestige classes are fairly predictable – the Pandaemonicists (say that three times fast) embrace their chaos, revelling in their mishaps and their side-effects, the Sculptor of Chaos is almost the opposite – seeking to understand and ‘control’ the chaos of wild magic. Both prestige classes embrace the worst traits of previously published prestige classes – they give you everything without any price. Their powers are over-the-top for most campaigns (the Pandaemonicists’ ability to inflict his wild magic on other spellcasters and the “spellbrushing” of the sculptor which effectively makes them sculptor a dynamic caster a la Mongoose’s Chaos Magic or a Mage from White Wolf). Unless you are planning a high-powered, high-magic campaign my suggestion is to either seriously revise these classes, or junk them altogether in favour of something you make up on your own. The items, both of them (a magic dwarf axe and a staff) are nothing outstanding.

The final section is a listing of new wild magic spells. The spells focus more on the idea of chaos in the abstract than interacting with wild mishaps in particular – therefore even if you don’t want to use too many of the rules here (or any of them), they are still easily portable into your campaign (as spells sacred to your local trickster god or the like). The spells run the gamut from funny (polymorph magic items into things which rhyme with their names) to the useful (more powerful versions of entropic shield, and teleportation effects) and even the slightly overpowered (level 4 spell permanently granting the wild spellcraft template).

The first appendix is the wild mishap tables (percentile dice required), the second is the obligatory d20 Licence.

Final Thoughts.

I find myself in a rather contradictory situation – I love the material in the book and yet I hate it. On its own, I hate the dea of adding a mechanic just for a single effect, but if it were incorporated into a larger optional magic system (where all spellcasting is handled by a “skill” roll of some type – perhaps like the Wheel of Time or the Sovereign Stone systems) then I could really enjoy it. I think the author put a lot of effort and thought into many sections of the book – as I said the discussion on magic and campaign styles is worth the price by itself (far and away better than either the discussion in the DMG or Tome and Blood) and yet when it came to systems to implement these theoretical ideas the execution fell quite flat (overpowered prestige classes, d100 tables for players, some weakness in your core mechanic, etc).

To reflect the “cool idea, bad execution” I am using the Substance rating to reflect the core ideas and the non-mechanical elements and the Style rating to measure the execution of those ideas. Do not take the low Style rating as a slam against the artwork or the layout of the book (what Style normally covers), as those elements are pretty average.

Since the author asked me to review and give my advice here it is – your work is great but try to work on the mechanics side of things a bit more. More polish and I think your work could easily rival major third party products and easily give Wizards a run for its money.

Substance: 5
Style: 2

Wild Spellcraft
Wild Spellcraft Playtest Review by Matthew Hickey (Tiama'at) on 29/04/02 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Generic d20 - will Tiama'at like it? Come find out! Product: Wild Spellcraft Author: Ryan Nock Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Natural 20 Press Line: d20 OGC Cost: $6.95 usd Page count: 64 Year published: 2002 ISBN: n/a SKU: n/a Comp copy?: yes Playtest Review by Matthew Hickey (Tiama'at) on 29/04/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	Wild Spellcraft By Ryan Nock Natural 20 Press A short story by way of introduction: Shortly after I posted my last Builder Series review (of Masters of the Wild) I was approached by the author of Wild Spellcraft. It seems that this document has been available for sale and review for a short while and while the reviews (on more d20-specific sites) had been positive Ryan expressed some reservations to the praise – was it honestly deserved, or was it just the general “cheers for the lowly independent d20 author/developer” mixed into the euphoria surrounding such d20 products? He asked me to take a look and do a review – judging from my caustic review style and my often stated, almost puritanical (fundamentalist) point of view of “how d20 SHOULD be done” he figured I would be less likely to soft-ball my judgement of the book. Should there be Wild/Chaos Magic in D&D3/d20? It seems almost natural – magic is seen in many movies/literature and other games as something that requires a development of control – and sometimes benefits can be reaped if you let loose from those rigid controls. Ars Magica had spontaneous magic to off-set it’s far more formulaic spells, Mage and Shadowrun are two systems that punish magic-users for going too far or playing too fast with their power, several movies and books have spellcasters of all stripes screwing up spells for horrific or hilarious consequences. So why not in d20? Simply put – because it doesn’t fit. Sorry, but in many ways the d20 system already has plenty of other barriers or “balancing” mechanisms on magic-users – less hit points, bad combat and saving throws, limited spells per day, armor/weapon non-proficiency, etc – all of this is predicated upon the idea that if you want to cast then you can: it happens, the spell goes off. Concentration, the skill, injects a little bit of the more common system – but then it’s just a ruse – the skill presumes that unless a circumstance occurs which requires the skill to be rolled, the spell will always work. Various attempts to inject the common “spell-casting” roll into d20/D&D3e (and earlier incarnations) have never really succeeded because they are an additional penalty levied on top of the others. A rogue can always use their bucketful of skills, the fighter can always swing a sword or fire a bow – but the mage is limited to X many moments of awesome power per day – anything that might adversely affect the result of these spells simply makes the price too costly for their limited benefit. The actual systems used have always required a die roll of some kind, an addition to rules and a slowing down of play (since to properly codify the infinite nature of chaos one needs many, highly detailed, result charts). Now the addition of a spell/magic roll would be a vast improvement, a step towards integrating the spellcasting part of d20 in with the skills/combat/psionics nature of the game such additions, focused as many are with simply the “cool” backlash effect have been poorly executed. With a backdrop like this you would think this is going to be another one of those “I hate it” type reviews, right? Wild Spellcraft – what you get. Order the online pdf and what you receive is a zipped archive containing two files – the large 64 page, illustrated, pdf of the actual book, and a much smaller .txt (ASCII text) ‘crib notes’ version of the material open under the Open Gaming Licence. The main book – the pdf – is a good, plain book. The artwork is nothing to write home about but it is serviceable, and has a couple of nicer pieces in it. The layout is very basic – single column, no fancy fonts except for chapter headings. Ryan noted that the original thinking was that users would access the book solely from their own computers and not print out a hardcopy. Since this is no longer the case, and to facilitate hard-copy production, all future Natural 20 products (and the hard copy version of Wild Spellcraft) will be changing to the more eye-comfortable 2-column format in the near future. The hard-copy version of this book will have a few extras (sort of like how DVDs differ from VHS Tapes) – a couple of new spells, and a short adventure. The book opens with a very short credits and acknowledgements page then moves immediately into a sort of introduction to the book (and the rest of the ‘Spellcraft’ series of which this is supposedly the first instalment). Then comes the index and it is from here that I knew this would be more than just the usual (and quite bad) “gee, here are my rules, lookey at me” sort of drek – a chapter focusing on how to integrate the idea of chaotic/wild magic in the game, how Wild Mages fit in high or low magic worlds, the origins of wild magic, and how wild magic interacts with non-wild magic users. This chapter alone made me like the book – the system be damned, I’d buy the book just for this chapter. In many ways it is like the first chapter of The Psionics Toolkit – another product I adored for a real ‘toolkit-y’ approach to its focus material. It tears apart the concept of chaos magic (and, indirectly, the role of magic in general) and goes over it in great detail, examining how it could/should be used in the individual campaign setting. Wild Spellcraft – the concept. The concept, boiled down, is that every instance of magic use requires a d20 roll. On a roll of a 1 (one) the magic screws up. Now language like “mishap” is used a lot but many of the tables have very positive aspects to them as well (the spell is not “used up”, no saves allowed, etc). If something happens then you roll d100 to determine the effect, apply the effect to the spell, lather, rince, repeat. That’s right. 64 pages, 2 Prestige classes, all for something that will happen maybe once or twice a night, at best. Not a terribly useful book now is it? To implement Wild Magic into the game the author has developed the ‘wild magic template’, quite similar to the template system invented for monster creation only this one can be applied to beings, classes, magic items, even regions of space (chaos fields). The template is minimalist (i.e. all it does is include the rule of 1 in magic use – so any spell cast in a chaos field needs to be checked, and every use of a wild magic item requires a check too). This approach is very useful since it can be incorporated into other templates, classes, and other optional rules with minimal fuss (only chaos fields alter the Challenge Rating or Encounter Level). In fact it is just this sort of innovation that I like to see in d20 supplements. Next comes a toolkit-full of optional rules to further customize wild magic – one creates more of a sliding scale to determine wild ‘mishaps’ (but in this case, using a set DC system, can mean that shortly after level 1 your wild mage may never suffer a mishap again – the DCs are too low, even for level 1 characters, I would suggest fiddling with the equation (5 2(spell level)) to find something a bit more even. The other two optional rules – for variable caster level and for mid-duration wild effects are nice ideas but each has their share of problems (the fluctuating level is a little too wild, at least at the lower levels, and the mid-duration is a bit complicated). Further tweaks (not twinks) make wild magic the norm (i.e. all magic suffers from wild magic, or just an increased flat number), wild magic schools, simpler mishaps, wild magic and the supernatural ability, etc. Overall many of these are very rules minimal and continue in the “here is the basic idea and here is umpteen different ways/degrees in which to implement it”. Needless to say the section is almost 100% Your-Mileage-May-Vary since its entirely up to the DM to choose what fits their game, but the inclusion of these options (and not clogging down page count with useless tables) is a big positive. The ending of chapter 2 is a sample setting, a fairly generic fantasy world but incorporating wild magic into the setting as a core element. Here wild magic is a taint of the “faerie folk” – elves, gnomes, and fey critters. Nifty idea, and shows off how the wild magic can be used to add depth to a world instead of being just another “add-on” imported after-creation. After Andault the author offers up more possibilities of campaign worlds – again, short, sweet and to the point. Chapter three holds the feat and prestige class section of the book, finishing off with a trio of sample wild mage characters and some magic items – a human cleric of Law cursed with inexplicable wild magic (much to her embarrassment and shame), and a couple of NPC types each showcasing the two prestige classes from the chapter. The three feats are okay, a bit of a let down (the reckless magic is okay but seems a bit powerful – allowing you to turn a lesser spell into a more powerful one: flaming sphere into a fireball, but the price is rather high). The chaos prestige classes are fairly predictable – the Pandaemonicists (say that three times fast) embrace their chaos, revelling in their mishaps and their side-effects, the Sculptor of Chaos is almost the opposite – seeking to understand and ‘control’ the chaos of wild magic. Both prestige classes embrace the worst traits of previously published prestige classes – they give you everything without any price. Their powers are over-the-top for most campaigns (the Pandaemonicists’ ability to inflict his wild magic on other spellcasters and the “spellbrushing” of the sculptor which effectively makes them sculptor a dynamic caster a la Mongoose’s Chaos Magic or a Mage from White Wolf). Unless you are planning a high-powered, high-magic campaign my suggestion is to either seriously revise these classes, or junk them altogether in favour of something you make up on your own. The items, both of them (a magic dwarf axe and a staff) are nothing outstanding. The final section is a listing of new wild magic spells. The spells focus more on the idea of chaos in the abstract than interacting with wild mishaps in particular – therefore even if you don’t want to use too many of the rules here (or any of them), they are still easily portable into your campaign (as spells sacred to your local trickster god or the like). The spells run the gamut from funny (polymorph magic items into things which rhyme with their names) to the useful (more powerful versions of entropic shield, and teleportation effects) and even the slightly overpowered (level 4 spell permanently granting the wild spellcraft template). The first appendix is the wild mishap tables (percentile dice required), the second is the obligatory d20 Licence. Final Thoughts. I find myself in a rather contradictory situation – I love the material in the book and yet I hate it. On its own, I hate the dea of adding a mechanic just for a single effect, but if it were incorporated into a larger optional magic system (where all spellcasting is handled by a “skill” roll of some type – perhaps like the Wheel of Time or the Sovereign Stone systems) then I could really enjoy it. I think the author put a lot of effort and thought into many sections of the book – as I said the discussion on magic and campaign styles is worth the price by itself (far and away better than either the discussion in the DMG or Tome and Blood) and yet when it came to systems to implement these theoretical ideas the execution fell quite flat (overpowered prestige classes, d100 tables for players, some weakness in your core mechanic, etc). To reflect the “cool idea, bad execution” I am using the Substance rating to reflect the core ideas and the non-mechanical elements and the Style rating to measure the execution of those ideas. Do not take the low Style rating as a slam against the artwork or the layout of the book (what Style normally covers), as those elements are pretty average. Since the author asked me to review and give my advice here it is – your work is great but try to work on the mechanics side of things a bit more. More polish and I think your work could easily rival major third party products and easily give Wizards a run for its money. Substance: 5 Style: 2