Where is the Magic of Spell Slots?

Avigard as a setting is one that I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and considering. Mechanics in our favorite classic fantasy game is also something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and deliberating over.

My biggest issue with said classic style of fantasy level based roleplaying systems is that of Spell Slots.

I understand the intention of spell slots in terms of their design. Pre-prepared vaguely ‘balanced’ spells of various levels with various rates of availability as our friendly magic user advances. It makes sense regarding the resource oriented gameplay that these games and systems really enjoyed aiming for.

Despite that, I’ve found that I increasingly hate Spell Slots. Of all game mechanics I despise and have come to loathe, it’s spell slots. Why must we rigidly define magic by a system that is ripped from a very specific form of fiction. How does this form of magic actually feel magical?

Spell Slots are not a hard magic system. Yet they have rigid confines that force any world played with their existence to be defined by rigid spell levels, degrees of when someone may gain the ability to fully control someone by a defined number rather than by something more… Magical?

To this end I have made a magical casting system that’s intended to work with Avigard specifically. The simple summation is as follows:

A caster does not gain Spell Slots. All casters instead get a selection of relevant spheres depending on their practice: Noetics, Psionics, or Theurgics.

Noeticists are those who manipulate the core elements of Avigard; Fire, Air, Metal, Water, Earth, Wood. Psions manipulate the greater cosmic elements of Avigard; Order, Space, Form, Chaos, Time, Void. Theurges meanwhile get the domains as relevant to their deities, a cleric of Iskari will gain influence and power over the concepts of Law, Judgement, Protection, Honor, Kinship, Earth.

All spheres are cast using a casting resource, the name varies depending on the specific type but they all mechanically function as the same form of Points. Fatigue for a Noeticist, Strain for a Psion, and Favor for a Theurge. This stat is equal to the respective mental casting modifier you choose when you become a caster, some classes allow options and some force a specific choice.

A Cleric with 14 Wisdom will have 14 Favor Points.

Fatigue restores quickly, the elements are natural for a person to manipulate. Strain takes longer, hours compared to minutes: A psion can manipulate the fabric of reality and it has quite the toll on the body. Theurges are dependent on the good relationship with their deity, doing things befitting their church, sect, and faith to regain favor.

All spheres have ranks. Casting classes gain ranks at either 1 every level or 1 every two levels for half casters. Ranks measure the skill that a caster has with a specific sphere of influence. A rank 5 Fire Noeticist is truly a master of the flame.

When a caster gains access to spheres they may be given starting selections based on their class. A Wizard gains access to a Primary Sphere at rank 2 and a Secondary Sphere at rank 1. Ranks are capped by the level of a caster:

Caster Level	Full Caster Cap	Partial Caster Cap
1–2	1	1
3–4	2	1
5–8	3	2
9–12	4	2
13+	5	3

When a caster wishes to do something they declare the sphere they are wishing to influence. They describe the effect to the GM and the GM provides the appropriate difficulty depending on what the effect is intending to do, this influences the target of the casting roll.

When a player finally casts, they roll:

1d20 + Casting Ability Modifier + Sphere Rank vs. Difficulty Target

Difficulty	Target	Fatigue Cost	Strain Cost	Favor Cost	Base Damage
Trivial	5	0	0	0	1d4
Simple	10	1	1	1	1d6
Moderate	15	2	3	2	2d6
Difficult	20	4	6	3	3d6
Extreme	25	8	12	5	4d10
Legendary	30	16	24	8	5d10

Of course, simply difficulty targets cannot match the complexity that magic may have. If one wishes to have their spells be something more beyond an instantaneous, noisy, brief effect, the difficulties are as follows:

Modifier Category	Option	Target Adjustment
Targets	2	+1
	3–5	+2
	6–10	+3
	11–20	+4
	21+	+5
Area	Small (10 ft radius)	+1
	Medium (20 ft radius)	+2
	Large (30 ft radius)	+3
	Huge (60 ft radius)	+5
Duration	1 hour	+1
	1 day	+2
	1 week	+3
	1 month	+4
	Permanent	+6
Range	120 ft	+1
	Line of sight	+2
	1 mile	+3
	10 miles	+4
	Planar	+6
Spheres Combined	2	+2
	3	+3
	4	+6
Casting Style	Subtle casting	+1
	Invisible effect	+1
Environment	Very favorable	−2
	Favorable	−1
	Hostile	+2
	Very hostile	+4

And finally of course, the results of casting:

Result	Condition	Effect
Enhanced Success	Beat target by 5+	Effect is enhanced; +1 damage die
Success	Meet or beat target	Effect occurs as intended
Fizzle	Miss by 1–4	Effect fails; full resource cost
Backlash	Miss by 5–9	Effect fails; double resource cost
Catastrophe	Miss by 10+	Effect fails; triple cost + roll on catastrophe table

This makes it rather risky to cast big effects if you’re uncertain of the gamble. I have considered the possibility of Overcasting at the cost of HP but I need to see how the core plays at the table before fully using such.

The Catastrophe tables are still being worked on, I have basic ones made for now:

Noetics 1d6

Roll	Effect
1	Take 2d6 elemental damage
2	Effect targets random creature
3	Minor hostile elemental summoned
4	Fatigue costs doubled for 1 hour
5	Collateral destruction in 30’ radius
6	Vulnerability to opposed element for 24 hours

Psionics 1d6

Roll	Effect
1	Spatial anomaly persists 1d6 hours
2	Take 3d6 damage, confused 1d6 rounds
3	−4 to all rolls for 1 hour
4	Object within 10’ erased
5	Sovereign attention attracted
6	Permanent minor mutation

Theurgics 1d6

Roll	Effect
1	Lose 1d6 Favor
2	Effect twisted to patron’s agenda
3	Rival deity takes notice
4	Patron demands immediate service
5	Cannot use Theurgics for 24 hours
6	Visible brand, −2 social rolls and reactions for 1 week

I have more thoroughly written out in my Avigard Compendium document along with multiple classes made with the intention of sphere-casting as I’ve designed it. This is what I want magic to feel like though, attempting wild feats, growing in skill and manipulation, as once you have a high ability score and high ranks you will have a +10 to attempt many things, even higher if you include relics and blessings for one’s mental characteristics.