So I've been working on a few supplements on what I started with my Earth-7642 (Crossover Earth) campaign setting. One of the new supplements that I've been starting work on is focused on Magic and the Magical world. This sourcebook focuses on merging DC, Marvel, Harry Potter, and other magical worlds/rules into a combined, cohesive set of history and rules.

One of the things I wanted to do in MSH is make magic more...magical. The Realms of Magic, which is a great book, really glosses over specific magic spells. They give a few of the most famous spells Dr. Strange used and then just chalked it up to "you can create any power in the power book with a spell." While that is great, it just doesn't seems very magical. It lacks flair of being a wizard.

So I started focusing on the Harry Potter world and how they have schools and all that jazz. DC universe has long established Homo Magi as a subspecies of humans able to use magic naturally. The ideas behind Homo Magi and Harry Potter world seemed to align very nicely. So now it was a matter of tying in the Marvel world into that. So I focused on the 3 types of magical energy a Marvel wizard can use: Personal, Universal, and Dimensional.

So spells are cast by Homo Magi, or a descendant with the "magic gene," in a world hidden from most normal humans (No-Maj or Muggles). Most wizards in Earth-7642 can cast Personal or Universal energy spells. Dimensional energy spells are only capable by special wizards or lost magical techniques. Wizards that have access to Dimensional energy spells are considered "superheroes" of the wizarding world. The Sorcerer Supreme (a relatively unknown title even in the wizard world) Dr. Strange is viewed as something amazing and a bit of a superhero to "average" wizards.

So with the basics of a common magical foundation for the world established, I started to look at the spells and tools of this world. What I decided to do is take spells, and their descriptions, from the D&D Basic Rules set (the 1980s Red Box classic!) and adjusting the mechanics to MSH. I'm also establishing a way for characters to learn more spells via schooling and how that would work with existing MSH mechanics for advancement. Right now, I've classified spells into spell ranks. So cantrips (0-level spells) are considered POOR rank spells, while 1st Level spells are considered TYPICAL rank, and so on. Access to a casting a rank will be based off of a Character's Psyche rank. So Characters that have a RM Psyche will be able to cast PR (Cantrips), TY (1st lvl), GD (2nd lvl), EX (3rd lvl), and RM (4th lvl) rank spells. Of course a wizard needs to find/acquire the spell in order to learn it and cast it, but that wizard has the magical capacity to do so.

Anyways, the attached file is the early first draft of spells I've converted from D&D to MSH. This is an early work in process, far from finished. Right now I have, on this PDF, cantrips and Typical (1st lvl) spells. Take a look, any and all feedback would be great.

I did something somewhat like this in Foresee Alpha, a 4C version for fantasy roleplaying. Schools of Magic, and creating spells, with D&D type modifiers and names- Fireball, Improved Fireball, So and So's Excellent Fireball and so on.

It worked OK in play, and it made magic more interesting and engaging and less baffling. For some reason Realms of Magic seems to turn people off magic, right at the point where you'd hope it would turn them on.

So this is the creation of a new Origin for MSH that I am presenting in my Earth-7642 Magic sourcebook: The Magic Wielder (Homo Magi).

So rolling Primary stats for Homo Magi is done on Column 2 - Normal Humans. Homo Magi then gets +1CS to Endurance and +3 to Psyche stats.

Homo Magi then roll to see what magical energies (mana) they can control. They roll on the following chart:

01-15 Personal Mana only
16-85 Personal and Universal Mana
86-00 All Mana

The ‘All Mana’ classification (access to Personal, Universal, and Dimensional spells) is what the wizarding world considers ‘the superhero’ class of wizard. But not having access to Dimensional mana does not mean that wizard can not be heroic! If anything, not having access to Dimensional mana means they avoid the mountain of headaches inherent with dealing with dimensional entities (most of them are kinda douchy).

Talent are where things are important for Homo Magi. They start out with 2 Talents: Mystical Background and Sorcery. Sorcery is a new talent that is used to show the level, experience, and skill of a wizard. There are 2 forms that Sorcery can purchased. The initial and ‘free’ form of Sorcery means that character is a student and the rank of Sorcery starts out as POOR. If the player chooses to purchase another Sorcery talent, at the time of character creation, then the player is creating an established/experienced wizard. The Sorcery rank is then -1CS of the wizard’s starting Psyche rank.

After the creation phase, each time you purchase the Sorcery talent (1000 karma as per Advanced MSH rules) you raise your Sorcery skill +1CS. You can NOT exceed your Psyche rank with Sorcery skill. Purchasing Sorcery talents do not count against your total slots of Talents a character can have.

For example, if you have a RM Psyche then your Sorcery will max out at RM level. If/when the character increases their Psyche to IN rank, then the character can purchase the Sorcery talent to raise to IN skill level.

When a character learns a new spell (and the spells given at the time of creation) the spell rank is determined by the current Sorcery level. So, if a character learns a Magic Missile spell, and his Sorcery level is EX, then the Magic Missile spell will be at EX rank (for damage and range). Spells do not automatically increase in strength when the character’s Sorcery level goes up. So the Magic Missile spell will not automatically jump to RM level when the character’s Sorcery goes to RM. Once a spell is learned that spell can only be increased by advancing it like an Power in the Advanced MSH rules (20x current rank in Karma + 500 karma for cresting to a new rank).

Sorcery skill level also determines what spells a character can learn. A wizard of RM Sorcery level can learn Cantrips (Poor lvl spells), Typical (1st lvl), Good (2nd lvl), Excellent (3rd lvl), and Remarkable (4th lvl) ranked spells. Learning a new spell also requires the character to make a Green Reason FEAT to see if they can learn that spell. The Judge can always choose to make a spell harder to learn (making a Yellow FEAT roll or applying a -1CS to the roll, etc) if they determine the spell is more difficult.

A Mana Foci is a quasi-sentient magical instrument through which a Magic Wielder channels her or his magical powers (Mana) to centralize the effects for more complex results. The greatest advantage of a Mana Foci is that it can replace the Material Component of a spell. Some spells, such as Magic Jar or Clone, still require the Material Component, as it is critical to the function of the spell. Other spells, Light for example, the Mana Foci can take it’s Material component’s place. The Judge is the final arbitrator of what components can be replaced with a Mana Foci and which can’t. Casting with a Mana Foci also speeds up the casting time of the spell by 1 segment (+1 to Initiative rolls).

Most spells are done with the aid of a Mana Foci, but spells can be cast without the use of one. Foci-less magic is, however, very difficult and requires much concentration and incredible skill; advanced wizards and some magical creatures are known to perform such magic. Spells cast without a Foci usually receive a +1CS to spell rank when cast.

The most popular form of a Foci are wands, which are manufactured and sold by wandmakers. The most famous of these in Great Britain being Ollivander, and in Eastern Europe Gregorovitch. Each wand consists of a specific type of wood that surrounds a core of magical substance.  Although the wand cores may come from the same creature, or the wood may come from the same tree, no two existing wands are exactly alike. The study of the history and the magical properties of wands is called wandlore.

North America has a larger tradition of using Rods and Amulets for Mana Foci, but wands are still very popular. Eastern Europe (old Yugoslavia and Transylvania area) and Mexico seem to have a strong tradition of using a staff. One of the most powerful Mana Foci artifacts is the Staff of the Magi. This staff, not having been seen in well over a hundred years, not only acts as a powerful Mana Foci (receiving a +1CS to spell rank) but has innate powers of its own. There are many artifacts in the world that can not only act as a Foci, but do other amazing, and sometimes terrifying, things.

Well, I had done a lot of work on this and then....nothing. You would have thought will all that down time during the Pandemic Lockdowns that I would have done more with a lot of the projects I had going on. Well, sadly I didn't do much of anything.

So this is the almost done Earth-7642 Magic Sourcebook that combines the world of Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, D&D, and other magic sources into one cohesive history and world (at least I think it does). The idea was provide a roadmap and examples on how entwine other magic lore into existing magic settings and have it work out. The beginning history section is a blend of Marvel and DC magic history lore with Harry Potter events and lore added into the mix to provide culture to the Homo Magi.

The Earth-7642 Magic Sourcebook provides the rules and creation of the Homo Magi, the sub-race of humans that have innate magic aptitude. Also is more details on Dimensional entities, Dimensional Planes, Schools of Magic, magic specialization, a sample of D&D spells adapted for MSH rules, and many other things.

The spell section is just a sample of the most common beginning 4 levels of spells, all from the D&D rules and adapted to MSH play. Originally the goal was to make another book called the Earth-7642 Magic Grimoire, but I don't see that happening. The spell section is going to have to be a guide and inspiration of how to adapt D&D spells that you want in your campaign.

This book I would consider 90% done. I was going to be doing some Appendix sections, like Magic Artifacts and such. Most likely this won't happen. Since this is almost complete I might muscle up the effort to finish it one day. I figure I should just share what I have so people could possibly enjoy it.

Download: Earth-7642 Magic Sourcbook.pdf

Keep in mind that Realms of Magic was written and released for the Basic set of MSHRPG. They should have made an Advanced rules version, but unfortunately they did not.

But the Advanced Players Book did add to the rules governing the use of Personal, Universal, and Extra-dimensional energy magics, and these do change the game a bit. For example, personal energy spells can only affect the self or willing targets and they actually drain your character's Health (1 point per round of use) and as magic wielding characters tend to be glass cannons, this can really make your personal energy magic user a bit more reluctant and prudent about rolling into battle with stuff that shoots and punches back.

Universal energies are drawn from ambient magic, but that's somewhat turf dependent... How can you create a spell of light generation if she's in the Darkforce Dimension (hint: she can't, or the Game Judge has some negative column shifts to make the difficulty suit the situation). Extra-dimensional energies depend on the fickle favor of the Entity entreated and if their powers can even reach the dimension where your mage is calling to them from, and has a fixed initiative roll of 10.

There also in the APB are rules on how Karma earning and expenditures are different for magic wielders, and of course eldritch attacks can be devastating in their own right, as they drain a target's Karma rather than reduce their Health. You can't heal back Karma loss, it's the ultimate setback to someone hoarding Karma for advancement. At least power stunts are cheaper for magic wielders, but it's not quite gravy, as magic user Karma losses are double.

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…But the Advanced Players Book did add to the rules governing the use of Personal, Universal, and Extra-dimensional energy magics, and these do change the game a bit. For example, personal energy spells can only affect the self or willing targets and they actually drain your character's Health (1 point per round of use) and as magic wielding characters tend to be glass cannons, this can really make your personal energy magic user a bit more reluctant and prudent about rolling into battle with stuff that shoots and punches back.

Page 11 goes through that in the book. I went through and combined the APB and Realms of Magic, as well as some of my own mechanics, for this source book.

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Dead Sidekick
There also in the APB are rules on how Karma earning and expenditures are different for magic wielders, and of course eldritch attacks can be devastating in their own right, as they drain a target's Karma rather than reduce their Health. You can't heal back Karma loss, it's the ultimate setback to someone hoarding Karma for advancement. At least power stunts are cheaper for magic wielders, but it's not quite gravy, as magic user Karma losses are double.

Page 9 formula for learned spell advancement, if you notice, is half cost of power advancement. On Page 10 under Karma Awards I go through the double cost of Karma loss as well as power stunts and such costing less for magic users.