Thread by @Shinto_Nephilim

#ttrpg #ttrpgredlist
Culture. Faith. Education.
This, we think, should be what determines what kind of magic a character has access to in games where magic exists. Rather than having magic be an open book where all spells are available to choose from,

where your character is from, where they were trained, and what beliefs exist should determine what's available and what isn't. You follow the Goddess of Peace, you don't get harmful spells. You're from a desert region, you might get a lot of fire, sand, and wind spells.

We had a character from an Arabian-like kingdom, so when we made a magus, we restricted elemental spells to fire and wind. The character had a few other spells to round things out (extra movement, buffs), but we decided that most of the spell list was out-of-bounds.

We had a bramble elf, sorcerer, verdant bloodline. We decided not to use the sorcerer spell list, but instead chose the druid spell list. Then removed all spells that weren't healing or plant-themed. This shut down a lot of spells, but it made sense.

For a third character, all spells were ice/cold based. All spells which did 'type' damage were converted to ice/cold instead. If a spell couldn't take on the motif, it wasn't available. So, magic missile dice cold damage, sleep put a layer of frost on the target.

Spider-Climb left frozen hand and foot prints on the surface touched, and so forth. Fireball? Cold. Acid Arrow? Cold. Meteor Swarm? Cold.

This is one reason we liked 1e AD&D's Illusionist Class. They got illusion spells and pretty much nothing else. It was very thematic. It would have been really nice if more schools were exclusive like that.

Basically, a generalist will not be as good as a specialist. Imagine if you had access to all spells, but were limited to Level 6 at most, but if you specialized in one or two 'fields', you could get to Level 9.

Or, perhaps, when it comes to divine magic, you had a wide range of lower-level spells - basically 'found among almost every temple and shrine', but as you get access to higher level, they're more thematic to your specific deity.

In one campaign we ran, summoning spells were forbidden. Simply because all summons were uncontrolled and hostile to all life, regardless of what you summoned.

(And, if it was an Outsider ... it's point-of-access was any human or half-human, who died explosively... this was an important plot point later in the campaign)

Dark Sun was good for this. In the original Dark Sun, they had rules for thematic mages, and then you had the Preserver / Defiler divide, which made magic *interesting*.

Then you had Al-Qadim, with the Sha'ir, who used gen to fetch spells for them, giving them access to any and all spells regardless of Class, but only one at a time, and with a 'pause' between.

And in the Complete Sha'ir handbook was the Mystics of Nog, who could permanently sacrifice spell slots to augment themselves, similar to Shadowrun's Physical Adepts. Spend a Level 1 Spell Slot, and get a bonus on a specific thing (perhaps AC, maybe an Attribute).

Or in Dragonlance, where magic is tied to the three moons, and which moon you pick determines your spell list and provides benefits or penalties depending on the moon phase. That was pretty inspired and made mages more like clerics in a way.

What this does is provide a distinctive feel for magic in the game. It gives the world greater depth, and makes different regions feel more unique. It makes magic a part of the culture, and it says something about the people and their beliefs there.

In Legend of the Five Rings, different schools focus on different elements, each having one they're good at, one they're bad at. (In D&D terms, the one you're good at, you can learn spells of a level higher, while ones you're bad at, one level less.)

So, for example, a 1st level caster with a focus on 'Air' would be able to cast Level 2 Air spells, and if they had a weakness for Earth, wouldn't be able to cast Earth spells at all until they were 3rd level (and thus had access to Lvl 2 spells).

And then, they'd be able to cast Level 3 Air, Level 2 Water and Fire, and Level 1 Earth. Which makes things interesting. We had a caster in L5R, who then restricted themselves to mostly curses, mind control, shapeshifting, and information gathering.

No combat spells, but a holy terror in court and in the political field. It made for a very specific feel, and the rest of the group was fully aware of what the character was all about, and helped support it.

This is one reason we like thematic restrictions - it helps create a textured world - you build around the limitations, using them to shape who the character is.

However, these restrictions need to make sense beyond 'game balance'. That is, in fact, the opposite of how restrictions should work. The restrictions serve the setting, not 'balance'.

Let's use Legend of the Five Rings as an example for this. One important rule from the main rulebook was: a character can't be a bushi and a shugenja. Yes, you can multiclass (go to more than one school), but this was a hard and fast rule.

It was thematic, and had nothing to do with 'balance'. You're a soldier of war, training in the sword, or you're a priest, training to speak with the spirits.

That being said, there were other schools, and these were open to both sides. Courtier schools? You could learn these techniques if you're a bushi or a shugenja. It wasn't an issue. Magistrate? Same thing. Ninja? If you followed the right 'path', then quite certainly.

In essence, a bushi, with their semi-mystical sword techniques, could put the sword aside and learn the ins and outs of court, or learn how to read people and be effective in enforcing the law.

In a similar vein, so could a shugenja, thus allowing for 'court mage/priest' type characters. It wasn't an easy thing - it required some in-game roleplaying to even get permission to transfer to another school, but it was there.

And because of the limitation (bushi vs shugenja) and the allowance (other schools), you could create some really interesting character concepts. For example, our bushi from one clan learned to duel from another clan.

The shugenja from one clan became a courtier for that clan, and then dipped into ninja shadow arts later, to better serve the clan's interests in court.

These specific, thematic, setting-based restrictions and allowances makes for a unique feel, making characters stand apart more, and become more a part of the setting. This, we feel, is much better than generic 'take what you want' magic.