Battle Magic

There are a total of 92 spells in Master of Magic which are usable in combat. My conversion rule is that all spellcasters use an energy reserve, and that 1 point of fatigue corresponds to 2.5 points of mana. This may look odd, but casters in MoM actually do have spellcasting ability that's measured in intervals of 2.5, and spells have costs that are multiples of five except for a very few spells, at 3, 8, 12, and 18 energy, and the resulting costs are closer to balanced.

There are a number of features of MoM magic that are difficult to apply and balance in an RPG context. Probably most notably, MoM spells target a unit. That's not a particularly sensible concept in an RPG, and if implemented in some way, will inevitably result in PCs attempting to get themselves treated as a single unit for buffing purposes. That's not entirely out of line, but in practice this is a balance issue even within MoM (if you cast Lionheart on a stack of spearmen, they get a total of +16 attack strength and life; if you cast it on a hero he gets +2 attack strength and life), so I've chosen to mostly ignore it, though some offensive spells are written up as Area spells.

All combat spells follow some common rules:

• • Casting Time: 3 seconds

  • Duration: 60 seconds.

  • Range: 100 yards. A wizard's tower allows casting spells at greater ranges, but must cast through the eyes of a linked unit. The cost is $1,000 per point of fatigue at a mile or less, $2,000 out to 10 miles, $3,000 out to 20 miles, $4,000 out to 50 miles, $5,000 out to 100 miles, and $6,000 beyond that.

  • Resistance: as listed for the spell. Armor has no effect, unless the armor provides a resistance bonus.

  • Skill Roll: unless otherwise indicated, none is required; skill is required to learn spells, however.

  • Visibility: all combat spells are obvious, generally a rising pillar of light plus a loud sound. Enchanted units glow visibly.