4E Forgotten Realms: Arcane Magic

Post-1385DR

Livor Mortis

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Contents

1 The evolution of arcane magic 3

1.1 Pre-1385DR: the Weave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.1 The Weave as a xture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.2 The Weave as an amplier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.1.3 The Weave as a veil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Post-1385DR: the Spellplague . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Mechanical changes 4
2.1 Measurement of power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Power-usage-related encounters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 'Discovery of the arcane source' skill challenge . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Power-plane associations 5

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1 The evolution of arcane magic

Arcane magic has always drawn its power from the dierent planes and its
denizens. However, the Year of Blue Fire (1385 DR) has changed drastically
the way to address such power.

1.1 Pre-1385DR: the Weave

The Weave was a focus for arcane magic, created by the goddess Mystra. Its
purpose was threefold:

1.1.1 The Weave as a xture

The rst purpose of the Weave was to establish an easily accessible xture that
would allow casters to draw from faraway and ancient realms. Planes that would
be beyond a mere mortal's reach were all connected to the Weave.

1.1.2 The Weave as an amplier

The second purpose of the Weave was to amplify the power taken from other
realms, to ensure that the denizens of those would not suer any detrimental
eects from having power drawn from their homes.

1.1.3 The Weave as a veil

The third purpose of the Weave was to shield casters from the entities that
populated the planes they drew upon. This was a safeguard that would stop
the more malicious of those entities to track down and take advantage of the
casters that used their power.

1.2 Post-1385DR: the Spellplague

With Mystra's death, the Weave collapsed and with it, its functionality disap-
peared. This has several eects upon the way arcane magic is now used.
Firstly, the use of a xture has become obsolete. The Spellplague has drawn
the unreachable planes that were connected to the Weave closer, and casters can
now directly draw from them. However, this also means that they are no longer
shielded. Occasionally, denizens of the planes appear in front of arcanists, be it
with either a request from them in return for their continued use of the plane's
resources, or with a more confrontational means of attempting to stop the caster
from doing so in the future. This is also related to the last of consequences, which
is that the power needed from a plane is now substantially bigger than it used
to be. While it is still not enough to inconvenience those who call it home, the
use has become easier to track.
Ironically, the dangerous pockets of Spellplague that still remain on Toril
can change a creature and infuse it with some of its power (typically through
spellscars), and is the only source of arcane magic that does not draw upon

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other planes, and therefore doesn't catch the attention of any higher beings. As
such, it is the only 'safe' source of magic.

2 Mechanical changes

2.1 Measurement of power

Each keyword is associated with one or more planes. Whenever a caster uses a
spell with certain keywords, he draws the power for that spell from one of the
planes associated with each keyword. This power is equally distributed among
each plane drawn from. The power is measured in Arcane Power Units (APU).
The amount of power required for a spell is directly related to the level of the
spell, and its potence (At-Will, Encounter or Daily).
Suggested power usage per spell:
• At-Will spells: 0.1 APU * spell level
• Encounter spells: 0.3 APU * spell level
• Daily spells: 0.7 APU * spell level

2.2 Power-usage-related encounters

Whenever a PC has drawn a certain amount of APU from the same plane,
its denizens will take notice and establish contact with him/her. This should
result in an encounter, be it a combat encounter, a skill challenge or some
kind of quest. The treshold amount of APU might be a xed number (e.g.
100) or a semi-random number (e.g. 80+2d20). The 'pool' is reset whenever
an associated encounter occurs. Each succesfully completed encounter might
provide an automatic success in the 'Discovery of the arcane source' skill quest
(see below).
Warlocks have specic pacts with certain denizens, and therefore draw all
their power related to this pact from a specic plane. They have a special
anity with this plane, and should thus be allowed a larger APU pool from the
specic plane they have established a pact with. Other PCs may have anities
with certain planes as well, depending on race, background, etc.
To avoid the encounters to become too numerous, the size of APU pools
might increase per tier. For example, at the Paragon tier they might increase
from 100 APU to 350 APU, and at the Epic tier, to 1500 APU. Also, completed
encounters might increase a person's anity with a source plane, and enlarge
their pools.

2.3 'Discovery of the arcane source' skill challenge

After a number of encounters have aroused the suspicion of the PCs, or perhaps
out of sheer curiosity, they might want to research the actual source of their
arcane powers. This should be a dicult skill challenge that should be very

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hard to complete succesfully before the Paragon tier. Every skill check might
reect a week of study, among other things, depending on the skill used. More
details later.

3 Power-plane associations

Warlock pacts:
• Dark pact: Shadowfell
• Fey pact: Feywild
• Infernal pact: The Nine Hells (Astral Sea)

• Star pact: Far Realm

Keywords:
• Acid:

• Cold:
• Fire:
• Force:
• Lightning:

• Necrotic:
• Poison:
• Psychic:
• Radiant:

• Thunder:
• Charm:
• Fear:

• Healing:
• Illusion:
• Poison:
• Sleep:

• Teleportation: