Playing Symbaroum with Cairn, Magic
In the Core Rulebook for Symbaroum there are five archetypes of mystics that players can choose to play: Witch, Sorcerer, Theurg, Wizard and Self-Taught. Much like Cairn, any PC in Symbaroum can learn to cast spells but it is more dangerous if you don't belong to one of the main schools of magic (Wizardry, Theurgy, and Witchcraft).
The Core Rulebook has 25 different spells available to learn, with three levels of each spell (Novice, Adept, Master) that allow the player to upgrade the spell's damage or other effects. The main three schools of magic have access to 10 spells each while Sorcerers have access to 5, and PCs not trained in magic can choose from any of them. Nearly all of the spells are roll-to-cast, with some requiring opposed rolls. Some spells require concentration while others don't but instead require ongoing opposed rolls each round.
There's a lot going on here but there doesn't need to be. Here's how I've decided to convert Symbaroum's magic system to something resembling Cairn's rules.
First of all, Cairn's rules state that anyone with a spellbook can cast spells and that to do so will cause 1 fatigue. What I have chosen to do in my game is to not use spellbooks, though mystics must have both hands free and be able to speak in order to cast. I have also chosen to not use fatigue for casting as corruption already acts as an expendable resource in that regard. I do allow mystics to enhance their spells but at the cost of 1 point of temporary corruption.
I have decided to keep the mechanics surrounding corruption and magic mostly the same as they are in Symbaroum. Sorcerers and Self-Taught mystics will take 1 point of permanent corruption each time they learn a spell, while characters who are trained in a school of magic do not take any corruption. When casting a spell Sorcerers and Self-Taught mystics take 1d4 points of temporary corruption while Witches, Theurgs and Wizards take 1 point of temporary corruption.
As for the spells themselves I've decided that I value Cairn's style of terse spells that are easy to adjudicate and easy to remember over Symbaroum's spells that have great flavor and depth but add a lot of complexity. With that in mind I've done away with spell levels, roll-to-cast, opposed rolls, and concentration checks.
I also knew that I wanted to move away from entirely combat focused spells and provide more utilitarian spells. Looking over all the spells provided by Cairn and it's various hacks for inspiration I came up with this quick list for my Witch player to choose from. I have focused on Witchcraft here because the only mystic in my group is a Witch, but I hope that you can see it would not take much work at all to come up with 10 Wizard spells and 10 Theurg spells, especially as some them could be used by multiple schools of magic (such as Lay on Hands).
d10 Witch Spells
| d10 | Spell Name | Spell Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrow Storm | Flurry of magical arrows, strikes all within 10' for d6 blast damage. |
| 2 | Barkskin | You gain +1 Armor. |
| 3 | Shadow Walk | Teleport to a shadow you can see within 30'. |
| 4 | Darksight | Target can see 60 ft. in total darkness. |
| 5 | Disappear | Fade from normal sight |
| 6 | Entangling Vines | 1d4 creatures are ensnared by vines that grow out of the earth. STR to break free |
| 7 | Lay on Hands | Restore 1d6 STR |
| 8 | Larvae Boil* | You manifest larvae inside the body of a creature, 1d6 damage |
| 9 | Thicket | You summon a thicket wall up to 30ft wide and up to 8ft tall |
| 10 | Witchlight | You summon a marsh light that emits light in a 20' radius |
* ongoing effect: WIL save each round to maintain
Rituals are quick and easy to convert directly from the book. For those rituals that require Resolute tests or opposed rolls in Symbaroum we'll instead require a simple WIL save from the PC in Cairn.
Cairn is a classless system, as is Symbaroum. Symbaroum describes some common archetypes and then presents players with a catalog of abilities and traits they can choose from in order to build those archetypes or some variation thereof. Cairn does not provide any such list so what makes a Witch a Witch and not a Self-Taught Mystic? The answer is backgrounds which I will discuss in my next post.