Decoding Mana Point and Target Number Relationship


I took another try at figuring a formula for spells in Fantasy AGE with the release of the second edition. Recently I came to a new idea (to me) that there might be a linear relationship between TN and MP and not TN times MP equals Value. This allowed me to start from the beginning again with this analysis as the former model requires more advanced math and never scaled the way leveling does.

Calculating TN from MP

The above chart plots all 161 spells in the Fantasy AGE 2nd edition rule book. What is new to me is that I used to plot this with reversed axes and the line of best fit never interpreted favorably. If we flip the axes so MP is the input variable and TN is the output, it works much better for me. So with some round numbers I think a good way to summarize a suggested AGE TN is the following:

  • Target Number = 0.5 * MP + 9

The factor of 0.5 is supported by the stunt point cost of "Skillful Casting" which is 2 points per MP reduction, as well as the 1 stunt point cost per spell power increase which is equivalent to TN. This means you will choose the mana cost first when designing a spell. How much mana a spell costs unfortunately be another blog post. I have some approaches but it feels like more opinion than science in that arena. I mean it could be science but using existing spells as data has also been difficult.

Mana per Spell Tier

 While writing down the spell data I also wrote down the ranks of the spells as numbers (1 = novice, 2 = expert, 3 = master). That showed a pattern of the following: 

The best line could be summarized as 4MP per tier, or a spell should be about 4MP at novice, 8MP at expert, 12MP at master. However the master tier is skewing the slope as rank 1 and 2 are similar and distributed between 0 and 10 MP. I would have like to see a difference with expert such as a range of 5 to 15. That would match the line better.

TN per Spell Tier

This chart does not seem to offer much help. It might suggest a different TN floor than the TN versus MP chart of 7 instead of 9. That would make sense since TN8 exists as the lowest TN spell value. Other than that you might also say that each tier should have +2 more TN than the previous. Also since +2 TN equals +4MP that is better evidence that expert spells should have about a value of 8MP.

Recommendations

  • Use the formula "TN = 0.5*MP + 9" to create very compatible spells to rules as written
  • Round up TN for odd MP inputs, or just use even MP targets. You can actually see that odd MP are consistently skipped in the original data
  • Suggested MP ranges for spell ranks
    • Novice 1 - 4 MP
    • Expert 5 - 8 MP
    • Master 9 - 12 MP
  • Stay tuned to this blog for recommendations for how to figure out MP given spell descriptions

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fantasty AGE 2nd Edition - What's different?

The second edition of Fantasy AGE is now available! I got the pdf as I was a play tester and I was granted access to a preview pdf two weeks before release. I have high expectations with this edition as a chance to revisit old mechanics and add improvements from the other books. In this post I will go through at a very high level pointing out what is new or different to the first edition in each of the book's chapters. https://greenroninstore.com/collections/frontpage/products/fantasy-age-core-rulebook-pdf I hope you enjoy this review and let me know if you have any thoughts on Fantasy AGE subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/FantasyAGE Chapter 0 - Introduction Very similar in topics Summary of change from first to second edition Removed mention of Titansgrave (RIP) Chapter 1 - Character Creation Determining Abilities - a few differences in what is recommended 2nd edition recommends starting with 13 advancements and allocating them as you wish to your ability scores as fits your char...
Read more

Equivalent Dice for AGE

Image
  The test roll for the "Adventure Game Engine" is 3d6. I was experimenting with some math and realized the TN 10,11,12 probability chance lines up perfectly with 1d8 die with TN 3,4,5. Therefore you could realistically switch from 3d6 to 1d8+6 without changes to any system numbers. Yes you lose the opportunity to roll doubles but for this thought experiment we are OK with that. There are few main advantages for 1d8+6 over 3d6. The first is a single die which is easier to do math with and does not have a curved probability distribution (it's a straight line). The second is that it maintains a compact rolling range which won't feel as swingy as d20 does. The plus six makes a firm foundation such that the average of the roll is only 50% of the base. Compared to d20 where a modifier of plus 1 is only 9% of the overall roll value. A plus one here is more like a +7 which is 60% of the roll value. So much less of the overall roll value is random. The third advantage is that...
Read more

Fantasy AGE 2e Classes Overview

Second Edition Changes Classes received probably the most of the changes in second edition. The high level changes are: Envoy class Defense advancements Level 6, 11, 16 you get +1 defense Focus advancements At level 11 every focus the character has is automatically upgraded from +2 to +3 At level 11 you are allowed to spend another focus advancement to improve the bonus to +4 Specialization advancements A level 1 you get a specialization advancement In first edition this was at level 4 You ignore ability and focus requirements, but not class requirements when choosing  Additional advancements are recieved at odd levels This is a total of 10 advancements in 2e 1e only had 6 total advancements at level 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 Common Class Advancements There is a new layout for classes which groups advancements into patterns (like even an...
Read more