Sorcery!

 

I made an open ended magic system for my OSE game based on my vague knowledge of the Warhammer magic system. Sorcery is a discoverable power tied to Sorcerous Tomes found in the world. The rules for Sorcery are as follows:

Sorcery Rules: 

Sorcery Dice are d6's and are gained through the acquisition of Sorcerous Tomes. Most tomes grant the sorcerer 3d6.

Sorcery die must be prepared each day by whatever means granted the caster sorcery dice, if the caster loses the source, they will also lose access to the die. These preparations can be made as a part of the caster preparing spells in the morning. Unused sorcery die are lost when the caster sleeps as the knowledge of sorcery evaporates from the folds of their brain.

• You may use sorcery die to attempt to cast any non divine spell
• Each spell has a target number equal to triple the spells level
• You may use any number of die when attempting to cast a spell
• Roll the Sorcery Dice, If the total rolled is greater than or equal to the spells target number the spell is cast successfully. If the total is less than the spells target number the caster, or one creature they are touching takes 2 damage per sorcery die rolled
• A roll of 6 on a sorcery die means that the die is lost for the day
• Rolling doubles, triples, quadruples etc. will result in something drastic happening

Sorcery Consequences:

The more matching die rolled, the more dire the consequences: Some of these results (though rare) will result in the end of the world unless the players act fast and bring considerable power to bear. 

Doubles Table: D20: Affects Immediate Area or the Caster

1: grow a prehensile tail

2: A 3’ diameter hole opens up in the ground, green flames burn within it, the hole is infinitely deep, ghosts are attracted to the fire like moths

3: Open a star pool; Sorcerer dice used within 100ft explode on a roll of 6, reducing the difficulty of spells by 1 while within reach of the star pool.

4: All stone within the area begins to bleed

5: wounds in the area spawn maggots

6: the color purple burns you when touched

7: The sound of children's laughter causes vivid and terrifying hallucinations

8: Fingernails turn to iron

9: Feet become cloven hooves

10: You sweat mucous

11: an immobile death sphere manifests

12: Your shadow makes obscene gestures

13: fire in the area is alive

14: Your feet become hands

15: iron in the area becomes extremely magnetic

16: a 10' X 10' mouth with a prehensile tongue appears in the area

17: You now harmlessly cry blood

18: Grow a Prehensile Mustache 

19: Surfaces in the area begin to sprout hair. 

20: Roll on the Triples Table 

Triples Table: D12: Local Event:

1: All trees within the area grow wailing faces which curse your name, they are made of flesh, and look like trees 

2: A jet black sphere, 2 miles in diameter appears a mile above the caster.

3: Grass in the area turns pink, and glows neon in the dark

4: Plants in the area become carnivorous

5: meteor showers perpetually pepper the area

6: birds flying through the area die

7: Insects in the area grow to the size of dogs

8: dead buried in the area rise as zombies, the soil turns purple

9: rocks and boulders in the area are no longer affected by gravity

10: Clouds passing through the area now rain glass

11: Sleeping in the area allows access to the idea space.

12: Roll on the Quadruples Table

Quadruples Table: D10: Regional Event:

1: Precipitation in the region manifests as blood 

2: Sleeping in the region takes the dreamer to the palace of the Nightmare King where they are hunted by dream things. Save vs Death each night to get a good night's sleep. The Rod of Malevolent Thoughts is locked in a vault somewhere in the palace.

3: Water in the region carries an electric charge proportional to its volume, rivers and lakes become deadly

4: Monsters that lair in the region learn the spells the caster has memorized and gain the ability to cast them

5: Metal brought into the region emits a loud resonant hum that is audible for a mile to humans, and much farther for creatures with better hearing

6: A castle made of shadow appears in a prominent place in the region, the shadow king lays claim to this place, his dark knights ravage and raid the neighboring regions. The Shadow King carries the Sword Galvaxis, which can cut sunbeams

7: Animals in the region all gain the ability to fly, and they do so skillfully 

8: A volcano appears at the heart of the region, it is constantly erupting plumes of white ash full of red volcanic lightning, and bubbling forth golden magma.

9: Sunlight does not touch the region, it is always pitch dark. Creatures of the underworld become bold. 

10: The region is torn up from the ground, becoming a floating island 3 miles above the earth, the flora and fauna of the region change accordingly.    

Quintuples Table: D8: Global Events:

1: Three new moons appear in the sky: one Green, one Red, and one Invisible. Animals gain intelligence as the green moon waxes, and lose it as the green moon wanes; the light of the red moon causes blood lust, the light of the invisible moon collects the souls of those who die in it.

2: Anyone who dies on the planet becomes a ghost, a platinum obelisk rises from the underworld somewhere in the world and attracts these lost souls. When the obelisk attracts 100 million souls, a beam of searing light will fire up into the sky, summoning the Cosmic Lich, a moon sized undead spell caster who come to harvest the soul of the world

3: The seas freeze, ice and snow envelopes the world, reality tears open in old places of power spewing forth fae riders who now hunt the icy planet in massive numbers.

4: The laws of reality soften and the stakes of the world change. Evil becomes villainy, fights become scraps and everyone chills out a little bit (Think cartoons like He-Man or Adventure Time)   

5: Plant life becomes gigantic and the world becomes a globe spanning forest. Spirits awaken within new environments and hold domain over their homes.  

6: The seas rise turning the world into a series of islands, undersea kingdoms take this opportunity to seize control of the planet, waging devastating wars on land and sea.    

7: The sky hardens into miles of stone, and the entire world becomes subterranean. Some places are swallowed by stone, others become caverns and tunnels. Eight hungry wurms awaken in the bowels of the earth and begin exploring the new world.

8: The gates of magic crash open, everybody has access to 2 sorcery dice and the cost of casting spells is 2* the spells level. Everyone has a vague knowledge of this fact.

Sextuple Table: D6: Apocalyptic Event:

1: A God Beast is birthed from the core of the planet, as it claws its way out great chasm open, and massive hunks of earth are hurled into space

2: The Sun Beast devours the world, the world heats as it approaches causing the seas to boil, and lands to burn, the world will be habitable for 3 more days.

3: The moons orbit begins to decay, as it gets closer, lunar demons fall to earth and hunt by moonlight. The moon will impact the world in one month. 

4: Everybody wakes up, it was all an interesting dream. Now it is time to perform the celestial duties expected of burgeoning godlings (Maybe switch to Godbound).

5: Numbers appear in the sky, 3:00:00:00 and begin counting down. That night, everyone has the same dream, revealing to them that the world is ending. When the clock reaches 0, everything goes dark.  

6: Everybody's wishes come true, all of them. As they manifest and collide and contradict one another, reality rends before collapsing into itself. For every wish to save reality, there are a thousand more that rip it to shreds.