d20 Archive¶
Rules system: D&D 3.5-based homebrew (the 2014 archive, written 2013-2016; the Paladin on the D&D Next playtest; one document revised 2022). Legacy design material, not canon for play.
Lore page: Arcane Magic.
The rules drafts of the 2014 archive, written for the Earlier Ages setting of the Age of Magic. They borrow d20 class templates and rework magic from the ground up: the Artificer uses the Rogue template and the Wizard spell tables, the divine classes channel through a deity's Astral Shard, and spellcasting replaces spell schools with Mithis focuses, colleges and meta-colleges whose access is bought with magical feats. Two systems succeed each other: the 2013 Wizard spheres and the April 2014 focus-and-sphere draft, then the October 2014 system of eight focuses, sixteen colleges and twenty-four meta-colleges, on which the later class drafts build.
Pages¶
| Page | Rules system | Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Wizard Spell Spheres | D&D 3.5 homebrew (2013) | the earliest system: five spheres and their fields, wizard spell feats, new soul spells |
| Spellcasting | D&D 3.5-based homebrew (2014) | magical energies, divine and Mithis casting, the focus/college grid, the twenty-four meta-colleges, magical feats; the April 2014 focus draft |
| College Spell Lists | D&D 3.5-based homebrew (2014) | the Ethereal College's spells and cantrip fragments of six others |
| Death Magic | D&D 3.5-based homebrew (2014) | the Death meta-college's soul-consuming spells |
| Divine Classes | D&D Next playtest (2013) and d20 homebrew (2014) | Cleric, Monk and Paladin roles; the Monk's Ki and feat trees; the Paladin's god-specific powers and the Crusader |
| Druid | D&D 3.5-based homebrew (2016) | class features and seven spellcasting paths through the college system |
| Artificer and Magic Item Creation | D&D 3.5-based homebrew (2014) | reagents, mediums and power sources; inscription, spellforging and runemastery; the Alchemist and Arcane Tinker |
| Runecaster | D&D 3.5 homebrew (2014) | Dwarven rune classes and the rune-magic system |
| Mithis Metals Table | 2014-archive homebrew numbers | metal saturations, forge temperatures, smelting checks, the 2016 comparison table |
The college worksheet¶
A scratch list of May 2014 (S413) sets out the college system before the October Spellcasting document. It names sixteen colleges, then the twenty-four meta-colleges under "Meta:", and repeats the whole list a second time.
| Names | |
|---|---|
| Colleges | Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Transformation, Binding, Abjuration, Evocation, Fey, Botanical, Gate, Corporeal, Ethereal, Divination, Psionics, Shadow |
| Meta-colleges | Synthesis, Transjunction, Light, Time, Wood, Animation, Earthpower, Void, Frost, Channel, Revelation, Necromancy, Healing, Blood, Spellforge, Polymorph, Planewalking, Scrying, Death, Counterspell, Contract, Spellbind, Charm, Illusion |
The meta-colleges are the same twenty-four as the October 2014 list. Two colleges differ: the worksheet has Ethereal where the later list has Spirit, and Psionics where it has Mentalism. The Ethereal and Psionic college fragments keep the worksheet names. A few college names on the worksheet are followed by links to SRD cantrips (Acid Splash and Purify Food and Drink under Synthesis, Light, Ray of Frost, Cure Minor Wounds, Ghost Sound); they are not reproduced. The colleges and meta-colleges are defined on Spellcasting.
Earlier and discarded drafts¶
Superseded documents are not reproduced: the older Spellcasting documents marked obsolete (S394, S396), whose focus and feat text survives as the earlier draft on Spellcasting; three reference files of April 2014, Classes, DnD Next Classes and Magic Items (S364, S366, S393), discarded; and nine empty college files.
Later systems¶
The Fifth Age material of the Sancturi campaign replaces this system with its own colleges, runecasting and alchemy: see Sancturi System.