Best Magic System in a CRPG

[SkeleTony]

Any D&D game.

Even ignoring the fact that the OP stated "CRPGs"(and thus not including D&D), that is absurd.

Assuming you mean pre-4th ed. D&D, the system Gygax and Co. created was based on a few books by Jack Vance which intended to PARODY magic processes in fantasy literature. Apparently Gygax, nor D&D fans in general got the joke(or the memo).
aside from that it was stupid beyond belief. Made as much sense as someone at an open mic poetry reading having exactly '3' memorizations of The Road Not Taken and, if he is asked(because of technical difficulties) to start over more than twice, he has to recite a different poem because he used up all his memorizations.

Freaking dumb.

 

[Serus]

Betrayal at Krondor had a limited selection of spells but the use of a spell in battle was always a real choice, you can kil or weaken the enemy but at a cost.

Dude, the game had around 10 spells for EACH category. It had loads of spells, but you had to actually FIND them.

Rare spells like Bane Of Black Slayers, Unfortunate Flux,.etc could only be found from a magic shop in the wilderness surrounding the ruins of Cavall Keep.

Some spells could only be found in chests. Evil Seek, for example, could only be found in the dungeon of Sar-Sargaroth. Firestorm could only be found on a witch deep inside the forest outside Elvandar and one trapped chest in Sethanon. The said trapped chest would kill the whole party if it did not have a near perfect lockpicking ability.

Sometimes, a spell would only be found through special means. Thy Master's Will can only be taught by an elven ranger in the forest surrounding Elvandar.

I can attest to this after having played the game thoroughly three times over.

Ok, i rephrase: BaK has less spells compared to d&d games (since BG) but those spells are more varied, they are (almost) all usefull and their use in combat is much more interesting. In other words - what makes BaK spell system interesting is not quantity but quality. There are many crpgs with less spells than BaK of curse.

 

[Ebonsword]

Assuming you mean pre-4th ed. D&D, the system Gygax and Co. created was based on a few books by Jack Vance which intended to PARODY magic processes in fantasy literature. Apparently Gygax, nor D&D fans in general got the joke(or the memo).
aside from that it was stupid beyond belief. Made as much sense as someone at an open mic poetry reading having exactly '3' memorizations of The Road Not Taken and, if he is asked(because of technical difficulties) to start over more than twice, he has to recite a different poem because he used up all his memorizations.

Freaking dumb.

That's the first I heard that the magic system in Tales of the Dying Earth was supposed to be a parody.

What is your source for that statement?

 

[Tagaziel]

I'd go with Wizardry 8. It has plenty of spells, six different spell realms, you can choose a power level, plus it's point based, not rest based like D&D. It's nicely balanced as well, at least from what I've seen of it so far.

This.

Wizardry 8's magic system is awesome in no small part due to it's "power level" system - you can cast a tiny spark wth that Fireball... but you can also put some real effort in it and cast a real ball of fire.

One of my most memorable moments was obliterating the Rapax Army at Ascension Peak with Attos "Dervish" Sectus' Deathwish - cast at full power, with nothing to lose. Result? 80% of the Rapaxi perished.

This was my priest's moment of awesome.

No other game I played had that.

 

[ArcturusXIV]

I'd go with Wizardry 8. It has plenty of spells, six different spell realms, you can choose a power level, plus it's point based, not rest based like D&D. It's nicely balanced as well, at least from what I've seen of it so far.

This.

Wizardry 8's magic system is awesome in no small part due to it's "power level" system - you can cast a tiny spark wth that Fireball... but you can also put some real effort in it and cast a real ball of fire.

One of my most memorable moments was obliterating the Rapax Army at Ascension Peak with Attos "Dervish" Sectus' Deathwish - cast at full power, with nothing to lose. Result? 80% of the Rapaxi perished.

This was my priest's moment of awesome.

No other game I played had that.

I barely remember Wizardry 8, other than I enjoyed it until I realized the entire game was going to be just combat, combat, combat. I will probably have to reinstall it and try again. I had a lot of fun the first time, despite the narrowness of the appeal. I miss good, strategic combat.

 

[larpingdude16]

great topic. congrats andhaira!

 

[mondblut]

This was my priest's moment of awesome.

No other game I played had that.

Try Realmz.

 

[Zakhal]

Betrayal At Krondor.

 

[DemonKing]

I always enjoyed the Wizardry system myself (at least from about #6 where you could vary the number of points put into a spell).

I disliked the Arx Fatalis system - relying on someone getting their mouse movements exactly right, even in combat, was pretty dumb (yes I know you could "pre-cast" 3 spells).

 

[Redeye]

... stupid beyond belief. Made as much sense as someone at an open mic poetry reading having exactly '3' memorizations of The Road Not Taken and, if he is asked(because of technical difficulties) to start over more than twice, he has to recite a different poem because he used up all his memorizations.

I thought the idea was that a code-pattern was loaded into the brain in much the way a piece of ordnance would be loaded onto a weapons pylon on fighter/bomber.
The spell would be a cross between a computer program and a capacitor.
When discharged, it would unfold/inflate like an origami balloon, channeling extradimensional energy into a formatted structure.
The "capacitor" charge would just be a primer to punch through to the extradimensional power source and the "program" would be wiped on execution, falling apart like a bomb casing on discharge.

For spellbook reconstruction, parts could be remembered and rewritten, but it would take a while.

Yes it could use some work, but I thought it was a cool system.
I dislike sparkly magic.


P.S.
For another analogy, imagine of weaving a Leyden Jar out of metalanguage and stuffing it inside of your head.

 

[BethesdaLove]

Anything not based on mana.

 

[lordfrikk]

Arx Fatalis. Seriously.