As a designer, magic in Arcana Unearthed posed a huge challenge. I knew that I wanted to ditch the Vancian system (and by that, I mean the idea inspired by Jack Vance's books from the sixties, in which one prepares or "memorizes" a spell ahead of time, then loses the ability to cast it once it is cast). I didn't want to get rid of it because it was bad -- in fact, I fought for it to stay in 3rd Edition when some people wanted to get rid of it -- but because it was only one way to handle spells. Certainly not the only way. And Arcana Unearthed exists to show that there are alternative ways of doing things.

However, at the same time, I wanted the spells in this book to be as compatible as possible with existing D&D and d20 spells and spellcasting classes. That meant there still needed to be nine spell levels, pretty much balanced the same way (although we'll get to balance issues in a second).

So what I came up with is a single spell list. No division between arcane and divine (those concepts are not used in Arcana Unearthed), and no separate spell lists for the different classes. A spell is a spell is a spell. Of course, that approach has its own drawbacks. If everyone casts the same spells, that's not as interesting. What did I do to deal with that?

Well, let me digress and talk about balance among spells for a minute. It all ties together, trust me.

Here's a little secret: Some spells in D&D are unbalanced. I bet you never knew.

Of course you knew that. Every wizard prepares mage armor. Everyone knows that magic missiles are better than every other 1st-level attack spell. They're better than most 2nd level spells. Invisibility is the king of 2nd-level spells. Haste rules over 3rd-level. Harm is just broken. You know the drill. You've read it on message boards and you've talked about it with your friends.

So why didn't we fix all that? Three reasons:

1. We just plain old made some goofs and oversights. Harm probably falls into that category.

2. It's impossible to make every 1st-level spell exactly the same in power, when you're dealing with such diverse topics as attack spells, summoning spells, spells that make the floor slippery, etc. I once proposed, in a wacky train of thought, that there be 20 levels of spells, just like there were 20 character levels. That way, not only does spell level match up with character level, but it would be easier to balance the spells if they were in smaller, more precise groups. The most powerful 1st-level spells would become 2nd-level spells. The low-end 2nd-level spells would be 3rd level, while the better ones would be 4th. And so on. But I digress...

3. The big reason, however, is that to change the spells so drastically would be to change D&D itself in too drastic a way. Every wizard casting magic missile is just so... D&D.

But with Arcana Unearthed, I was free of all the baggage associated with this third point. That freedom allowed me to create virtually all new spells and ditch all the problematic ones (harm and haste on the overpowered end, for example, and not-so-great legacy spells like hypnotic pattern and animate rope on the other). And if you're saying, "but I love those spells!" -- well, remember that I've kept things similar enough so there's nothing to stop you from giving your Arcana Unearthed mageblade a hypnotic pattern spell if you really want.

But what about reasons #1 and #2? Well, regarding #1, I'm trying my best and we're doing a lot of playtesting. From what I understand (I could be wrong), but Arcana Unearthed will be the most playtested player's handbook to come out this year.

As far as #2 goes, I created a new concept that classifies every spell as a simple spell, a complex spell, or an exotic spell. All casters have access to simple spells, but only certain casters have access to complex spells. Exotic spell access is gained only through special feats. This allowed me to inject another level of balance -- the top-end spells of a given level are complex or exotic, and at the lower end are simple spells. This goes back to what I was saying before about variety as well. Now, all characters aren't casting the same spells. In fact, it introduces a new level of campaign flavor. There are spells that one sees commonly -- the simple spells. Even one who dabbles in magic knows how to cast simple spells. More rare and strange are the complex spells. You have to be a real devotee of magic to know the secrets of casting complex spells. Exotic spells are far fewer in number and much more rare. A caster who knows a given exotic spell might be the only mage in the kingdom with that particular spell. It might be his "signature spell," so to speak.

But how does spellcasting actually work? I'll get into that next time -- and reveal some other big changes to magic and spells as well. Including a really nice means of pricing magic items.

 

DESIGN DIARY PAST ENTRIES

* Design Decisions, Part Two -- December 24, 2002
"Here's a bit more discussion of some of the general issues I faced as I began designing Arcana Unearthed...."

* Design Decisions, Part One -- December 19, 2002
"Before jumping into another big area of Arcana Unearthed's design, like classes or the magic system, I thought I'd discuss some of the general issues I faced as a designer starting the book...."

* Arcana Unearthed Races -- December 5, 2002
"I started with the races. While I knew that the game needed humans as a basis, I wanted all the other races to be new. I didn't want to just create dwarf and elf analogs with different names...."