Project Arcana

One of the initial drivers of Project Arcana – other than the frothing rage caused by Mirage Arcane – was the desire to be able to do more with the magic system. As we finished up Phase 1, we realized that in a lot of ways, casting magic is like martial […]

Project Arcana: Applied Magic – Adding the New Schools to ...

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Ok, so a quick update on Project Arcana Phase I (this week’s focus for me is the 2050 Cybernetics rules, but I need to get this out there). Dad is crunching hard on finalizing the spell lists. We are nearly done with that, hopefully by the end of the week. […]

Weekly Dump: Project Arcana Phase I Update

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For weeks now we’ve been chucking spells into Divinus without providing a solid discussion of the school. It’s time to fix that. Let’s start by stating that Divinus is more than just a school. Divine magic is fundamentally different from arcane magic. Sure, arcane magic is ‘magic’, but it’s magic with […]

Project Arcana: Divinus Spell List

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Okay, let’s start with a quick recap of the school: Divination is all about knowing things that aren’t normally knowable. Most Divination spells reveal knowledge by extending the senses through the use of magic. In theory, this mechanic should allow all senses to be extended (Gene’s Enormous Tongue, anyone?), but in […]

Project Arcana: Divination Spell List

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As we talked about in this initial take-down of Evocation, this school is all about energy: Adding it, subtracting it, flinging it, sucking it, making it tangible. Evocation spells magically manipulate energy to produce a desired effect. Some call up blasts of fire or lightning, others affect the weather, and […]

Project Arcana: Evocation Spell List

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Only three primary schools left! Today, I’ll be hashing out the Transmutation spell list. As a school, transmutation seems like it should be one of the more obvious categories of magical mechanisms. It’s a pretty standard concept, turning one thing into another, yet a lot of complexity and nuance exist […]

Project Arcana: Transmutation Spell List

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When we first took our stab at Vitae for Project Arcana, it was called Necromancy and it was a mess. But that’s okay, because we fixed it. The primary change we made to the school was to rename it to Vitae. This, we feel, made more sense for what the school […]

Project Arcana: Vitae Spell List

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The Enchantment school analysis was one of the cleaner take downs we’ve done for PA. The description of the school’s focus in the 5e Player’s Handbook was concise and surprisingly functional. And, in the end, most of the spells listed as Enchantments are staying in the school, with a few […]

Project Arcana: Enchantment Spells

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In the first discussion of Illusion, I worked hard to show that illusion is a magic that directly affects the mind instead of affecting the environment. In this installment of Project Arcana’s investigation of Illusion, I’m going to be analyzing Illusion’s spells to see how well they conform to that […]

Project Arcana: Illusion Spells

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Matthew 92 views on the site yesterday Shawn Yeah, shit seems to be taking off. People are even reading the chat dumps. They are obviously sad, sad people. Shawn Blade Barrier is clearly Evoc. Matthew You’ve said that before Shawn It’s not a ‘barrier from blades’, it’s a ‘barrier OF […]

Weekly Dump: Chat Dump, Vol. 4.

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