OpenQuest: Domains

“Domains” is an idea I borrowed from Ars Magica, wherein regions within the “Divine Realm” hinder the use of magic.

Introduction

The mass of believers in a specific god or religion create an area that hinders the use of magic not affiliated with that faith. In less populated rural areas the effect is tenuous, but grows stronger in a town or city of believers or around holy sites and consecrated ground.

Domain Strength

The strength of the domain is rated on a scale from 0 to 5, with the following effects on the One Magic, Personal Magic, and Sorcery systems:

0. no effect
1. all unaffiliated spells count as Stressed, i.e. even outside combat one must roll to cast a spell.
2. above plus affiliated targets of Resisted spells get +20% to their skill roll.
3. above plus -20% to all unaffiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks.
4. above but with -50% to all unaffiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks.
5. all unaffiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks automatically fail.

To determine the effect on Divine Magic, subtract the Domain Strength from the Magnitude of the spell. The total is the effective Magnitude of the spell. If the total is zero or less, or the spell has a minimum Magnitude, the spell has no effect. The levels of Magnitude negated are simply lost.

Here are some suggestions for Domain Strength based on population:

Domain Scope

Affiliation with a Domain may be as broad or narrow as the Referee wants. A Domain may restrict all but the believers in a specific god, or all but the followers of any god in a specific pantheon. It may include or exclude Personal Magic or Sorcery. Depending on the metaphysics of a campaign world, perhaps a Domain hinders all magic but Sorcery, or Sorcery from believers in one (supreme?) god.

If a campaign world has opposed “alignments” like Light and Darkness, a domain may cover all magic of one alignment. This may include specific spells related to Light (e.g. healing spells or light-making spells) or Darkness (e.g. creating undead or spells considered “evil” like the Sorcery spell Tap).

Naturally the Referee must first delineate which beliefs, which types of magic, and which spells the Domain explicitly permits. They may also wish to warn players that they’re using Domain rules, and ideally what patterns or rules Domains follow.

Domain Area

Domains usually arise in concentric areas. For example, if the Temple of the Great God Kalos has a Domain Strength of 5, the area around it will have a Strength of 4, and so on until the Domain Strength blends into the ambient Domain Strength. Assume completely unpopulated areas have a Domain Strength of 0.

The Referee must decide the range or area of each domain. As a rule of thumb, the Referee should consider doubling and adding at every increment. For example, if the Domain Strength of the Temple of Kalos is 5 within 100m of the Temple, the Domain Strength might be 4 within 300m (100m + 200m), 3 within 700m of the temple (100m + 200m + 300m), and so on.

The same principle applies to domains formed by the sheer mass of believers, albeit more in line with population density. Inside a city the Domin Strength might be 3, but each farming village outside the walls might form their own sub-domain of Strength 2, and the settlements around each village

Sensing Domains

Members of opposing faiths always sense that an area weakens the power of their god(s).

Spells like Detect Magic, Second Sight, and Mystic Vision will detect the presence of a Domain, as will use of the Shamanism skill.

Variant: Positive Domains

Instead of hindering believers in opposing faiths, a Domain may augment the power of affiliated gods and forms of magic:

0. no effect
1. outside of combat no affiliated spells are Stressed.
2. above plus the unaffiliated targets of Resisted spells get -20% to their skill roll.
3. above plus +20% to all affiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks.
4. above but with +50% to all affiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks.
5. all affiliated Magic Casting / Sorcery checks automatically succeed.

In this variant Divine Magic spells add their Domain Strength to spells with variable Magnitude, as long as the caster expends the minimum Magnitude. Domains have no effect on spells with a fixed Magnitude.

See Variable Thaumic Level for a broadly similar idea.

We recommend that one not implement both Positive and regular Domains in the same region, possibly not even in the same setting. Positive Domains may also make spell casters too powerful, particularly Divine Magic users.

Using Domains

A Domain adds region-based limitations to magic use, which if overused can become tiresome for players. In addition to telegraphing the beginning or strengthening of a Domain, Referees should consider the following guidelines.

Presence of Domains

The Domains of a god on the mortal plane should cluster around their centers of worship or specific landmarks central to their myths. Domain Strength should likewise reach 5 only at the god’s primary temple. Lesser temples should have lesser strengths, down to 1 to a roadside shrine.

Finally, the Referee might want to group Domains by pantheon or religion, not specific gods. Otherwise, a party of mixed Divine Magic users will find their magic fluctuating wildly. I would even go as far to say that each nation or kingdom should lie in only one Domain, reflective of its state religion; places without a state religion should be Domain-free, save maybe for tiny enclaves of fervent believers.

Absence of Domains

In most of my campaign worlds I conceived of the player characters as potentially magicians. To avoid making Domains a source of frustration, I designed certain places where the religion’s Domain did not exist.

• ruins of ancient fallen civilizations
• the wilderness
• sparsely populated areas
• the lands of Faerie
• the temples of other gods
• the sanctums of magicians
• communities of “pagans”, often opposed to the monotheistic god

In other words, the towns and cities are boring places where magic works badly, if at all. Most of a setting’s adventuring area should remain free of Domain restrictions.

Domains Against Anti-Magic Religions

While I presented Domains as regions where differing gods and religions have extraordinary power, my primary use case for domains was in concert with Taluism, an anti-magical monotheistic religion in one of my campaign worlds. In lands where such a religion holds sway, its Domain diminishes all magic.

One can just as easily turn the tables, however. Perhaps a certain region reduces powers granted by the One God. The One God would therefore not be omnipotent …

Here are my suggestions for the effects of hostile Domains on religious powers.

To explain Domain Strength 2, my work-in-progress rules for Taluism allow acolytes and priests to confer their anti-supernatural abilities onto portable altars, permanent buildings, consecrated ground, and assorted tools against monsters. These protections would end: no consecrated ground, no holy water, no blessed blades against the undead. Likewise, any protection conferred upon the less holy would be rendered null and void. Only direct influence by adherents of the religion has any efficacy.

Also, all powers of the religion activate through a simple Test or Opposed Test against either Religion (Taluism) or a Piety score. (I’m still working out the details.) Thus Domains Strength 3 and above significantly weakens the power of the One God.

Naturally, if the powers of one’s new anti-magic system, or any magic system, work on different principles besides skill tests and spell Magnitude, the Referee should adapt this five point scheme to said system. Against my in development Ritual Magic system, for example, maybe a Domain would remove a number of Essence dice proportional to the Domain Strength.