In MyD&D the spiritual attributes (Charisma, Willpower, and Intelligence) are mirrors of the physical attributes (Strength, Constitution, and Dexterity). This means that both Charisma and Strength merasure the characters ability to use force in resolving the appropriate situation, Dexterity and Intelligence measuire the use of finess to resolve the situation, and Constitution and Willpower measure the general resilience of the character in each half of the equation. The physical abilities are also eachj associated with a type of physical combat (and a class that excells in that combat), whiolst the spiritual abilities are associated with a tupe of magiic (and a class that uses that type of magic). So Strength is associated wilth melee (Fighters), Constitution is associated with missiles (Rangers), and Dexterity is associated with avoiding combat (Rogues). Similarly Charisma is associated with Antipathic magic [banishing and dismissal] (Clerics}, Willpower is associated with natural magic (Adepts), and Intelligence is associated with sympathetic magic [summoniong and creation] (Mages).
Now each class has a Combat Die which basically represents how good they are at Combat. In normal games of D&D this would be considered their Hit Die. For example Fighters have a base Combat Die of d10, whilst mages (on the opposite side of the circle) have a Combat Die of d4. Other classes (and subclasses) have different Combat Dies. Actually I've long used the Combat Die with monsters as well (well before MyD&D), so that the Hit Die of a monster equals it's base combat ability. So a dedicated martial artist gets a d12 HD, a melee specialist such as aknight gets a d10 HD, a regular warrior or soldier gets a d8 HD, a militiaman or peasant (a peasant life toughens you) gsts a d6, a normal townsman gets a d4 HD, and an academic gets a d2 HD. [The default class for mages are the battle mage who are trained in warfare so get a betetr HD; more academic mages get a worse HD.] Toughness and constitution may ibncrese the HD. For example a blacksmith gets a d9 HD and a draon increasesd it's HD by one rank for it's "class."
Now attributes modify the rank of the die used. So the character's actual Hit Die is their Combat Die modified by their Constitution. A character will get to roll a number of Hit Dice equal to their level to determine their hit points. But it also made sense to determine the character's Damage Die in a similar way; in this case the Damage Die is the Combat Die modified by Constitution. Thios is the amount of damage the character does in combat (and coincidentally defines what weapons the character can effectively use in combat). Note that all hit point damage is class-based.
Now I have always been a fan of mana point systems rather than the traditional Vancian approach of D&D (although I do have a Vancian sub-system that I do quite like for more standard D&D play). My favourite point-based magic system, courtesy of a 3E/d20 splatbook by Guardians of Order, uses the cost of the spell to be equal to (the level of the spell + 1)^2. So a cantrip (a level 0 spell) costa 1 SP, a first level spell costs 4 SP, a second level spell costs 9 SP, a third level spell costs 16 SP, and so on. The question is how to determine how many spell points are available to the spellcaster. This ideally should mirror the chaarcter's hit points (by my MyD&D philosophy), so they should eoll a number of Spell Point dice equal to their level. The Spell Point die is the classes Magic Die modified by their Willpowerr. To mirror the Fighter, this was set to be a d10 for a Mage, which means that a first level Mage with normal Willpowerr has a 70% chance to cast a first level spell each day (and a 30% chance of being able to cast two, which balances the 30% chance of beiong unable to cast a first level spell without hurting themselves). The total number of spell points the character receives is less than the total amount if you converted their spell levels to spell points (even given the increase pf the Maic Die that happens at the heroic and superheroic tiers), but still suffivient to cast the high level magic appropriate to their levek.
A corollary of this idea is that all classes now have a reserve of spell points. Therefore each class should have it's own type of "magic" so that it can use them. But in this sense "magic" is not sorcery or exorcism, but rather the ability to break the rules of the universe in interesting ways. For example the "cantrip" magic of a fighter is the ability to make special attacks that may cause a special combat result. Similarrly they might learn higher level spells, although these are called martial arts. Want to cause your blade (or fists) to burst into flame? Well that's a first level martial art (most martial arts follow an "elemental" school). Similarly want to endure cold (also a "fire" martial art). But all that is a whole other article.
Anyway that was the status of mny game for a long time, but eventually I got to thinkingh that shouldin't the other attributes have their own dice that operate on the same principle?
Now the Charisma dice is simple, since that is the ability to project magical force. So the class Magic Die modified by the character's Charisma is the character's Spell Damage Die. This actually fits in well with how missile spells work in my game (again, a different article). So a magic uer casting magic missile does a base d12 damage with the missile (which is a cheat slightly since by OD&D definition it should just do d10+1 since in my game magical bonuses are added to the roll and don't raise rank, but I like thios way better).
Similarly the Magic Die modified by Intelligence becomes the Magic Effect Die (to borrow the ORE/Wild talents idea between attack dice and use dice). So where spells have a variable effect this is the die that is used to measure it. So a cleric casting banish light wounds would use their magic effect die to determine how many hiot points the taget gets back (in this case it would be a base d8).
And then there is the Combat Die modified by Dexterity. I suspect I shall eventually call this the Maneouvre Die (although I already have a Maneouvre Die in the game that is based on encumbrance and gait). I suspect that this die will be affected by encumberance/armour, and that it should balance out to be the same as the old die. For example the base fighter in battle armour (plate) would modify the base d10 to d6. This implies that battle armour gives a -2 rank penalty, heavy armour gives a -1 rrank penalty, light armour gives no penalty, shiled only gives +1 bonus, and no armour gives a +2 rank bonus. However that pretty much reduces everybody's maneouvre die to a d6 if they wear the heaviest allowable armour. In the oldd version battle armour gave you a d6, heavy armour gave you a d8, light armour gave you a d10, shield only gave a d12, unarmoured gave a d14 (or higher). Which allowed a lot more swashbuckling activity (which I enjoy).
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