House Rules - Casting Times & Spell Components for Clerics, Druids & Shamans

Magic-users and Elves aren't the only characters in the game who cast spells, of course, Clerics get important spell abilities when they reach 2nd level of experience. Somewhat unlike the former casters, the Cleric's spells are critical to the success of the entire party, healing and protecting the Cleric's allies when things get tough.

Since the rules are not totally clear, many players interpret them to suggest that Clerics get to choose their spells on the fly, not needing to memorize them daily like MUs do. I personally don't like this. Like the Elf, the Cleric gets spells and pretty respectable combat prowess, so why further punish the player who picks a MU by only applying the "Vancian" rule to them? Given that thought, I require Clerics to pick their spells daily just like their MU compatriots, with the caveat that, as in later versions of d20 D&D, they can swap out a prepared spell for a healing spell of equal or lesser level on the fly, provided they succeed on a wisdom check (equal or less than their WIS on a d20 roll) at the time of casting.

But, you might point out, these posts are all about getting around Vancian spellcasting! Right, and Clerics get similar options.

Clerics* who cast their spells on the fly without daily prayer and preparation suffer the same penalties to their initiative as MUs do; -1 to individual initiative per spell level of the desired spell.

Like MUs, the player may choose to use material components to remove the initiative penalty, in the exact same way as MUs. The only real difference is that in addition to the optional spell component, the Cleric must always have their holy symbol during spellcasting, or the spell fails. Of course, a lenient DM may take mercy on the Cleric whose symbol is lost or destroyed through no fault of their own, allowing them to perform a WIS check, with a +2 penalty to the roll, to cast spells without their symbol, as long as an effort is being made to replace it ASAP.


The power of Gygax compels you!
The required components for each spell are similar in nature to their MU spell counterparts, but the Cleric player who wants to swap out for non-standard components should take their particular deities dogma into account. While a god of nature and peace would be fine with a bundle of fresh herbs being used to invoke a Cure Light Wounds spell, for example, a savage god of war might prefer the heart of a freshly killed enemy. DM discretion rules the day, as usual, in regard to work works and what does not.

Here are my suggested components for the official Basic Rules 1st level cleric spells, to get your creative juices flowing:

SPELL - COMPONENT (Symbolism)
1a Cure Light Wounds - 1 vial of holy water (considered to contain the divine essence of the patron god)
1b Cause Light Wounds - small chunk of metal, wood or stone from a broken weapon (to invoke the now inert damaging potential or bloodlust of that weapon)
2a Detect Evil - the preserved eye of an animal considered in the Cleric's culture to be friendly or "good", like a domestic breed of dog, songbird, sheep, etc (most cultures acknowledge the enhanced senses of animals)
2b Detect Good - as for Detect Evil, but from a bad or evil animal, like a snake, rat or pirahna (same as Detect Evil)
3 Detect Magic - the preserved eye of a cat, raven or crow (these animals have a strong symbolic connection to wizards and witches)
4a Light - a live or preserved firefly (a creature thought to be sent by the gods to guide their faithful in the darkness)
4b Darkness - a preserved wing (or freshly harvested one) of a bat (bats are known to "see" and fly straight in the darkness, after all)
5 Protection from Evil - 1 vial of holy water (to invoke the essence of the god for divine protection)
6 Purify Food and Water - A handful of salt (often used to preserve food, salt is thought by Clerics to have divine properties that drive off rot and decay)
7a Remove Fear - a small children's doll (to recapture soothing memories of home and security)
7b Cause Fear - the preserved head of a snake or other nasty small animal (the fact that most sane folk fear and avoid snakes leads Clerics to believe the gods mark those creatures with a fearsome aura to warn us of their danger)
8 Resist Cold - a chunk of coal or sulphur, unburnt (to invoke the latent flame spirits thought to live within)

I suggest giving Cleric players a lot of flexibility in choosing alternate materials to substitute, as long as the player is making some creative effort to play out the faith of her PC. While some MU types, though not so much Elves, consider magic to be a rather exact science, Clerics view divine magic as the malleable will of their patron god, infinitely adaptable to intent and circumstance.

With these notes and the guidelines from the MU article before them, you should be able to freely add these options to all the spellcasters in your game without too much difficulty or bogging down of play, all that is really required is a bit of creativity and some minor bookkeeping by the players.

*Clerics, in the context of this article, include Druids and Shamans, and any other variant classes (such as an OD&D paladin, perhaps) with similar divine or spiritual magical abilities.

The Known World Setting - Spellcasting in the Five Faceted Faith

I was thinking over some general ideas about how the different magic using classes approach their spellcraft, and how it fits into the Five Faceted Faith. None of this has any real impact on game play, it's just a little in character flavor to make the characters something more than a checklist of available spells.

The only optional "rule" I'd consider in regard to all of this is maybe requiring an INT/WIS check (whichever is applicable) for one type of arcane or divine caster to learn spells from a caster of a different type. Arcane casters cannot learn Divine spells at all, and vice versa, but making the subtle differences in how magic users, elves and wiccas approach magic, for example, come into play with a fairly easy ability check once in a while might make the setting a little more interesting.

Arcane Caster Types
Magic Users - Whether they actively participate in the "religion" of the sphere or not, most magic users relate to the sphere of thought closely. Their approach to magic is an esoteric mix of math, science, allegory and symbolism, and obscure knowledge that allows them to start to understand how the multiverse operates. By subtly manipulating aspects of all five of the spheres, they begin to be able to cause real changes in reality that manifest as spells. Though some of their rituals may resemble religious ceremony or dogma, there is really nothing spiritual or divine about how a magic user invokes her magic.

Elves (and creatures like dragons with innate spell casting talents) - Some creatures are literally born magical, the balance of the five spheres that results in mundane life is slightly tweaked in one way or another in these creatures, sometimes giving them the ability to use spell like powers without having to learn, memorize, or cast them in a normal fashion. Elves are a special case, existing on a figurative border between the real, balanced realm of the Known World and the mysterious and magical world of Faerie. While elves are blessed with an innate magic that aids them in quickly understanding how to use spells, they still have to learn those magics like humans do. Elven magical lore is not quite as technical or mathematical as that of humans, and borrows some concepts that seem to derive from druids or shamans.

Wiccas - Wiccas tend to hail from cultures and societies that are a little more primitive, relatively speaking, than the human standard. Rather than science and mathematics forming a strong part of their approach to magic, they focus much more on the symbolism, allegory and simple practical application of magic. Proper magic users claim that this simple, undisciplined approach is why wiccas are incapable of mastering the advanced, high powered magic that high level wizards can, but most wiccas would respond that such magics are frivilous and not worth the effort anyway.

One quick note about the use of the term Wicca. For whatever reason, this is the term the Classic D&D designers of the 1980s chose to assign to hedge mages, tribal wizards and other "minor" users of arcane magic. In the context of the D&D rules and the Mystara setting, absolutely no connection to the religion philosophy of the same name in the real world is implied or intended.

Divine Caster Types
Clerics - While most clerics have at least a rudimentary understanding and acceptance of the Five Faceted Faith, they choose a unique way of invoking magic from it. Rather than learn to influence things themselves, clerics form a pact of sorts with a being or beings of Immortal existence, in which their devotion and service to the agenda of those beings is rewarded with the ability to channel a small portion of the divine power of their patrons. Some clerics are narrowly focused and only directly serve one Immortal, or a small selection of allied Immortals, while others serve the will of all the Immortals of one sphere, or those of all spheres equally, but there is no difference in the manifestation of clerical powers which of these paths they choose.

Druids - Druids view nature and reality as a delicate balance of all five spheres, and through this understanding, they learn to subtly tweak that balance in order to invoke their magic. Most druids are careful never to push things too far and upset the natural order, and will often spend time in meditation and contemplation before acting to avoid any unwanted side effects.

Shamans - Shamanic magic is similar to that of clerics, in that their power derives from other entities. Rather than distant Immortals, however, shamans look to the natural spirits around them; dead ancestors, the essence of living and non-living natural things, and so on. Also, rather than channel the power of these spirits directly, as clerics do, the shaman's service to the spirits is rewarded by the spirits basically creating magical effects for them. Clerics claim that the inferiority of these spirits to true Immortals is the reason for the somewhat weaker nature of shamanic magic, but most shamans and the spirits they serve find this attitude pretty insulting.

House Rules - Some Basic Skills Every Spellcaster Should Have, Without Needing to Waste a Spell

The Classic D&D game grants a lot of abilities to magic users through their spells, including a few I think should be learned skills, not requiring the casting of a spell to perform. Among these are the abilities to read magic, detect magic and identify magic items.

Hold up though, I'm not just going to give every 1st level magic user, elf or wicca the power to perform these activities any time they wish with a 100% success rate! Like the class skills of the thief, these skills start out weak and undependable, and increase in reliability as the magic user progresses in levels.

At the DM's option, clerics, druids and shamans may gain similar abilities, restricted to the magical writings, spell effects and items accessible by their class. 

Magic User's Level	Read Magic %	Detect Magic %	Identify Item %
1	35	20	3
2	50	30	7
3	65	40	10
4	80	50	15
5	95	60	20
6	99	70	25
7	99	80	30
8	99	90	35
9	99	99	40
10	99	99	45
11	99	99	50
12	99	99	55
13	99	99	60
14	99	99	65
15	99	99	70
16	99	99	75
17	99	99	80
18	99	99	85
19	99	99	90
20	99	99	95
21	99	99	99

Some notes on the table:

Read Magic: All magic users are taught to write in magical code, so it makes no sense to me that interpreting the magical code of other spellcasters would be so difficult as to require using a spell. There is one important factor to keep in mind, however, since this skill is just a learned ability, not a spell or imbued magical power, it's not without flaw. The magic user must be conversant in the base language used to write the magical code. For example, William is a scottish magic user who drafts his scrolls in Gaelic. For Pierre, a french magic user, to be able to decipher William's scrolls using this skill, he must also have some skill in the Gaelic language. If not, the read magic spell, as presented in the Basic rules, is still available, and without the chance of failure. A result of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure and may provide flawed translations, while a roll of 01 is a decisive success and may grant additional information, DM's fiat.

Detect Magic: Another skill that is so innate to being a magic user that it seems illogical to have to 'waste' a spell performing. Almost all fantasy fiction I've read includes some reference, minor or otherwise, to aura-reading by practitioners of magic. Granted though, from the point of view of a spellcaster, all creatures (and perhaps all living things, including plants, depending on the mythos) are inherently magical, so the chance of failure here reflects the magic user's improving ability to accurately interpret the difference between 'ambient' magic and items or creatures that are actually enchanted. A result of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure and may provide false readings, while a roll of 01 is a decisive success and may grant additional information, such as a hint at the nature of the enchantment, DM's fiat. Once again, if a magic user needs a 100% accurate reading, the Detect Magic Spell is still available.

Identify Magic: Through his studies to become a magic user, and further training to advance in level, the magic user surely picks up a vast array of trivial knowledge related to the craft. These seemingly useless (at the time one learns them) bits of lore can later come in handy when trying to determine the nature, history and powers of a magical item. However, this should not be treated as a 100% accurate, "read the item's entry in the rule book" style identification of the item. Instead, we take a little inspiration from the AD&D 2nd edition Complete Bard's Handbook. Upon acquiring a new magical item, the magic user may spend 1d2 hours studying it, checking his notes, jogging his memory, etc. Then a skill check is made, and each successful use of this skill should reveal one of the following bits of information:
Whether item is intelligent, Whether items is cursed/evil, Item's name, Famous past owners, Age of item, Where it was made, Who crafted it, Who can use it (Class, Race or Alignment restrictions), General effects (described as 'creates a blazing inferno' or 'shoots deadly bolts of magical force' instead of 'fireball' or 'magic missile', for example), How to activate it (Command Words, etc)

Each bit of information gleaned provides a +5% bonus to subsequent rolls, but once a check is failed, no further attempts to identify that item may be made until the Magic User or Elf has Gained a level of experience.

A roll of (1)00 on the skill check is an abject failure, and may provide false information. Likewise, a roll of 01 on the check is considered a decisive success and may provide additional information, lower the time required to study the item, etc.

As always, if the magic user needs a fast or 100% accurate identification of an item, the use of the Analyze or Lore spells or a Slate of Identification, or hiring of an NPC sage with access to either one, is available as normal.

A note on the use of these abilities by Elf class PCs:
Whenever fiddling with the rules related to magic users, I'm forced to weigh the impact of the changes on the elf class as well. In general, I either deny the tweaks to the elves, or limit them in some way to keep the magic user a viable class in light of the elf's added martial prowess.
In this case, I allow elves access to these skills, but they are treated as being two levels lower in experience when consulting the chart, which also means that they have an actual rating of 0% success on the charts until attaining 3rd level. However, since each skill notes that a roll of 01 is always a success, 1st and 2nd level elves have a base 1% chance of success with all three skills.