Spells and Manipulating them...

Since I have not posted allot recently and things have changed, I think I will go into how Manifest Destiny as a RPG handles spells.  This is partly because if any one ever actually visits this blog and reads it, they may be interested.  But also cause I have recently done work on the second part of spells: Spell Manipulation.

The short of it, in MD spells are skills.  As a player gains experience, they can spend that to rank up skills including spells.  This makes them better by adding a bonus to the players focus test (casting test).  This allows spells to grow in power as the player develops their character.

But This did not satisfy my interest in the games spells.  They needed something else, something that made them more versatile so that I did not need to make twenty different spells that all did the same thing...just that little bit different.  A little simplicity can go a long way.

So this is where spell manipulation comes in.  As a spell gains ranks, it gains manipulation points.  The points act like a open pool so the player can alter a spell to do things its base design was not meant to do.  So the better you know a spell, the more you can do with it.

Spell manipulations are simple really, once you have the points you can put what ever manipulation you please on the spell.  Want more power, that is one point.  Want to make an area effect spell only do damage to enemies?  Well then use the Friend or Foe manipulation for two points.  Want to chain fire a lightning bolt spell?  There is the rapid cast manipulation allowing you to fire the same spell for as long as you have mana in your turn.  Oh and that is three points to use.

There are more in the list, but really the list is not the point.  The point is what manipulations do for spells.  They broaden the usefulness of spells so they are not just static things.  They make them worth investing experience in giving the player more control and variety from something that is truly based on imagination.

After all, I am just making the system and the world.  Your making it live.  Giving characters shape and form with in your dreams.  So why shouldn't I facilitate that as much as I can?  Right?