Player's Option: Spells and Magic

by Richard Baker, David O. Miller, Jeff Easley (Illustrator)

Does your wizard wish to create a powerful magical item or a potent new spell? What other effects does your priest's favorite offensive spell accomplish? Spells & Magic provides players and Dungeon Masters with expanded rules that are compatible with the Player's Handbook, the DUNGEON MASTER Guide, and the rest of the PLAYER'S OPTION line of rulebooks. Within these pages you will find new spells and proficiencies for wizards and priests, plus further rules on spell research and magical item creation, new options for designing spellcasters, an alternate system of gaining and using spells, and much more. Use this book to bring out the full power and potential of any spellcasting character!

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy, Games, Fiction, Reference

192 pages, Hardcover

First published July 4, 1995

About the author

A best-selling author and award-winning game designer, Richard Baker is known for his novels in the Forgotten Realms setting and his work on the Dungeons & Dragons game. His Realms novels include Condemnation (book 3 of the War of the Spider Queen), the Last Mythal trilogy, and the Blades of the Moonsea trilogy. He is currently working on a new military-themed science fiction series centered on the character Sikander North; Valiant Dust, the first book in the new series, debuts in November 2017 from Tor Books.

A native of Ocean City, New Jersey, Rich graduated from Virginia Tech in 1988 and went on to serve as a surface warfare officer in the United States Navy. When he's not writing fantasy or science fiction, he works in game publishing. He's the founder of Sasquatch Game Studio, a small game company based in Auburn, Washington.

Rich currently resides in the Seattle area with his wife, Kim, and their daughters Alex and Hannah. His interests include gaming (naturally), history, hiking, racquetball, and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I appreciate the type of advice and rule changes here: they describe the rules, and also how it will affect the feel of your game. So if you're looking for magic to feel more dangerous, or priestly magic to be more related to pleasing your god, along those lines, there's rules that help you manifest that in the game.

[Derek · Rating 1 out of 5]

While marginally more useful than Combat and Tactics I found it very difficult to incorperate any of the rules in Spell and Magic without seriously derailing the game. While many of the ideas they attempted to impliment here work very well in other systems for some reason d20 always chokes on them when they are introduced.

[Mark Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that has waxed and waned in my estimation as the years have gone by. Initially, I was hugely enthusiastic about the options provided, especially the character creation options. As the years went by, I moved back towards simpler game design, but now I like how it has a robust character creation system that can, with a bit of finesse, move beyond the class system and into more open character creation. As a 2e book, you have to realize that the guiding principle of 2e was that of the toolkit... a mess of options for creating your own game, with a bare framework to hang it on. And in that respect, it does admirably.

[Camilo Navarrete - D-Propósito Humano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una buena base de recursos para el siempre polémico sistema de magia.

[Sean Ballantyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a longtime gaming nerd, I was reluctant to try out the rules offered in the player's option system, being totally happy with 2nd Edition in its original published form.

Ultimately, I'm glad I was talked into trying it. The player's option system (Also including the Skills and Powers, and Combat and Tactics books) combine to essentially make AD&D 2.5 Ed.

The Player point system introduced in Skills and Powers, allows for incredible versatility in character generation. Two players, each making a fighter will end up with two vastly different characters despite being of the same class. The points also offer many options, for example: A player who doesn't quite qualify for that Ranger they wanted can 'approximate' the class by taking various skills and proficiencies to essentially make a Ranger, all without diminishing the uniqueness of the actual Ranger class.

The player points also offer a player in-game mulligans for those nasty save-or-die scenarios. A good system indeed.

The Combat and Tactics books examines not just the role of the fighter, but combat in general. The book offers a streamlined new combat system to replace the clunky combat system from the main books. Combat with the 'Phase' based initiative system is fast, exciting, and grounded. I introduced the system to a group of old-schoolers and they haven't looked back. Various combat options and specialties also give fighters such variety of skills without unbalancing the game, that no player has any more right to claim that fighters are boring old 'hack and slashers.'

Critical hit charts make those nasty hits exciting as a player waits to see if he's lost an arm! (Or taken an enemy's head)

The Spells and Magic book offer Mages and Priests a superior spell point system, which increases versatility immensely. The ability to amp up spells at the cost of using other spells, or vice-versa - to weaken them in order to allow others, gives a player with a wizard something to think about when organizing spells for the day. The 'Free spell' system also allows a wizard to save a spot for anything, but as double the cost of the usual 'fixed' spell option.

Overall I was impressed with the variations in the rules. 2.5 is my ideal of the game, (though I admit there's a lot in 1st Edition that has great appeal).

I've read a lot of criticism about the option systems, but it bears reminding that they are called 'OPTION' systems. You don't have to use it if you don't like it. I don't use all of the options, I use the ones that benefit the overall fun for everyone. Ultimately, you keep your game balanced, take what works, chuck the rest.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great addition it expands on the players handbook with new specialists for wizards and spheres to access for priests. It expands on the skills and powers by introducing more ways of spending character points to customize your casting characters. New Proficiencies for wizards and priests, and rules for building laboratories, libraries, and alters. new information for spell components. The introduction of the spell point system and other spell casting systems. more detailed information on spell research and magic item creation. The introduction of critical hit charts for spells. And more spells. A great book for those who love playing spell casters.

[Cimuchowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of detail.

[Abraham Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read,glad I own it.