Elven Spellsingers

The following mechanics were inspired by the rules by Dave Arneson & Daniel Boggs in "Dragons at Dawn and adapted to ACKS. Any arcane caster can substitute spellsinging for conventional arcane casting.

ELVEN SPELLSINGING
Elven spellsinging is a type of arcane magic unique to the elven race. By singing lyrics laced with words of power, the elven spellsinger is able to persuade reality to accord to his will.

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
Points 4 6 8 12 18 24 30 40 48 60
The number of spells that may be sung is limited by the spell points the spellsinger possess. Each level of spell costs one point to cast – thus, for example, a 4th level spell costs 4 points. The number of spell points a spellsinger has to cast is noted on the adjacent table. Add the spellsinger’s WIS modifier to his total number of spell points.

Level SP Sung / Round
1-2 ½
3-4 1
5-6 1 ½
7-9 2
10+ 2 ½
Unlike normal spells, whose effects can be activated more or less instantaneously, spellsongs take time to create. The more powerful the spell, the longer it takes to sing. However, spellsingers of advanced level are able to shorten the length of time it takes them to complete an effective song, according to the adjacent table.
Thus, a 1st or 2nd level spellsinger would needs two rounds to complete a level 1 spell costing 1 spell point. A 6th level spellsinger would require four rounds to complete a level 6 spell costing 6 spell points.
Each time a spell is sung, the elven spellsinger must make a casting throw against the target value listed on the Elven Spellsinging table below. Modify the roll by the spellsinger’s CHA modifier. However, a natural roll of 1 always fails. If they fail the throw, the spellsinger falls exhausted for 1d6 rounds + 1 round per spell level. An entry of “-“ on the table indicates the spellsinger cannot sing spells of that level. An entry of “A” on the table indicates the spellsinger automatically succeeds at singing spells of that level.

Elven Spellsinging
Spellsinger Level
Spell 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10+
1st 10+ 7+ 4+ 2+ 2+ A A A A A
2nd 13+ 10+ 7+ 4+ 2+ 2+ A A A A
3rd 16+ 13+ 10+ 7+ 4+ 2+ 2+ A A A
4th 19+ 16+ 13+ 10+ 7+ 4+ 2+ 2+ A A
5th - 19+ 16+ 13+ 10+ 7+ 4+ 2+ 2+ A
6th - - 19+ 16+ 13+ 10+ 7+ 4+ T 2+

Apart from the requirements of spell points and casting throw, there are no restrictions for spellsingers regarding what levels of spells they can cast. A 1st level spellsinger could cast a 4th level spell provided they had sufficient spell points to do so – although they wouldn’t have much spell casting ability left for the day.
However, spellsingers can only sing spells that they know. A spellsinger may know a total number of spell levels equal to his base spell points, modified by his INT bonus. As they progress in level, spellsingers do not automatically gain new spells. They must learn them from a teacher, from some record such as a magical tome or scroll, or create them from scratch through intense research.

Looks cool! I think this would fit well into my ACKS-Forgotten Realms. Also, this may be useful for me when I get back to working out my psionics rules, as a reference for a possible point-cost system…

“However, spellsingers can only sing spells that they know. A spellsinger may know a total number of spell levels equal to his base spell points, modified by his INT bonus.”

Clarification request - the “base spell points” is the first chart, so a level 1 spellsinger with no INT bonus or malus would know 4 spell levels, while a level 10 spellsinger could know up to 60? In other words, Table 1 + WIS is actual spell levels that can be cast, while Table 1 + INT is spell levels known?

Also, I’d suggest dropping the level 8 spellsinger to 38 points. Right now, the progression chart goes up by 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, 10, 8, 12 at each level. Making it 30, 38, 48, 60 will make the last 4 levels go up by 6, 8, 10, 12 instead, which feels like a better progression.

Hm. OK, I like that SP sung-per-round table. That solves a problem I’m having mangling Beyond The Wall into something more ACKSy (I liked the idea of some spells as rituals of 1st-6th level) but was having a hard time differentiating the idea of casting one of those minor rituals from a regular spell casting.

The Dark - yes, Table 1 + WIS is spell levels that can be cast; Table 1 + INT is spell levels known.

Good point on the advancement scheme.