The third book in Mongoose Publishing's Encyclopaedia
Arcane, "Chaos Magic" offers a completely new system of magic. This system
is very flexible; there are no definite spells. The caster decides what he
wants to accomplish, goes through the process of determining the DC for the
casting check, the player throw's the twenty-sided dice, and tha-da! Well,
almost.
The system for creating spells is pretty straightforward. Each element of the spell adds to the DC, such as the range, the duration and any saving throw involved. Four effects can be created by a spell and eventually mixed together in a single spell when the chaos mage is of high enough level. These effects are damage causing, materialisation, movement and transformation. Chaos mages can create magic items, but these don't last forever. They eventually degrade and explode painfully.
Chaos mages don't get spell slots or spells per day. They receive subdual damage every time they cast a spell, depending on it's DC. A caster receives 1 point of subdual damage for every 5 points of a spell's DC, unless the caster fails the casting check, in which case the damage is normal. If the caster rolls a 1 on his casting check, he takes a step on one of the Paths of Chaos.
The Paths of Chaos make for entertaining reading. Once a character takes a step on a Path of Chaos, there is no turning back. One of the Paths slowly turns the character into a vegetable life form, one turns him into a raging maniac, one turns him to stone, one make his skin constantly break open, etc. The 10th step on a Path of Chaos kills the chaos mage. Most Paths are very gruesome. Each time the character rolls a 1 on a casting check, he takes a further step on his Path, becoming less human and more a strange thing of chaos. Once the character becomes a 12th level chaos mage, he can reverse steps and return to a semblance of normality, purging his body of chaos by expending XPs. There is a confusing reference to something called a failed arcane spell failure roll which is also supposed to induce a step on the Paths of Chaos. There is no other reference to it anywhere else and it is probably something that got left behind but should have been deleted as the book evolved.
Two prestige classes offer ways of reducing the strain of chaos magic on the caster. The Bloodcarver powers his spells with his blood by cutting himself. His scar tissue eventually grants him a natural AC bonus. The Doomringer transfers part of the damage she receives by casting a spell to a fresh corpse that has been ritually prepared. Since a corpse will only take so much punishment, the Doomringer will need to replace her corpse with a fresh one once in a while. Needless to say, Doomringers make better villains than heroes.
This is an interesting book on the whole, but really better suited to experienced
DMs who are looking for something new to pit against his or her players of
to experienced players who are ready to learn new rules and roleplay some
very unusual characters.
