CANTRIP CYOA DLC 1
Alt-Rulesets
By LordCirce
The following are several alternate rulesets that can be used to alter your usage of the base Cantrip CYOA (Currently Version 7.0). Not all of these are compatible with each other, or with every aspect of the base CYOA. Such restrictions will be noted alongside each ruleset.
Alt World Select: Isekai World Creator 2
Alt Ruleset: Spellshard Multiplayer 7
Alt Ruleset: Min-Max Slider 13
Alt Ruleset: Favored Schools 14
Disfavored School Penalties 14
The following ruleset is intended to replace the basic scenario selection at the very beginning of the CYOA.
Restriction: Replaces “Scenario Select” in the base ruleset, and all “World Quests”.
Rather than remaining in your world with your new found magic, alongside the shifts caused by your Scenario Selection, you will instead be thrown into a completely different world. The nature of that world will be determined by the selections in the following categories. For each category, you must select one, and only one, option. Then add up the points listed to find your initial starting points.
Generic, Cantrip, and Metamagic Quests can be taken as normal, with their normal listed effects. However, World Quests are instead replaced with Geasa. Unlike normal Quests, these form specific bindings on your actions that last for a specific amount of time or until some specific task is completed. They provide an extra number of points, and potentially other benefits.
Note: As with the Scenario Select, the general conceit is that you, the author, are making the world selection, with no input from your ‘in universe’ self, but that your ‘in universe’ self is picking which quests or geasa they wish to accept.
World Nature: Determines the general danger level, as well as the balance between ‘peace’ or ‘disaster’.
Peaceful | A world without significant threats or large-scale disasters. Matches to the setting of most ‘slice-of-life’ style worlds. | +10 | ||
Noblebright | A world with some danger, but within which good will generally triumph over evil, and where peaceful intentions can have lasting impact. True horrors and disasters are rare, if they exist at all. | +20 | ||
Neutral | A world with no significant inclination for either good or ill. There will be both good and evil in equal measure, and danger will happen at random, just like your home world. | +40 | ||
Grimdark | A world in which suffering and sorrow are the norm. Any significant good will often be connected to some sort of sacrifice or sorrow, and lasting peace will be rare. | +60 | ||
Apocalyptic | A world that is actively undergoing some sort of wide-spread catastrophe. Alien invasion, nuclear war, natural disasters, and the like will be happening nigh-constantly, shattering what little status quo is able to form. | +80 | ||
Civilization / Tech Level: Determines the level of sophistication and technology that is available in this world. Note that with higher levels of magic (selected below), the technologies listed can be potentially based in the supernatural rather than science.
Modern | A world that has a level of technology equivalent to modern-day earth. | +0 | ||
Pre-Industrial | A world with a level of technology just prior to the level of the industrial revolution. Steam engines, cannons, and the like are the general level of technology. | +10 | ||
Near Future | A world with a level of technology equivalent to visions of the near future. Cybernetic implants, holograms, hovercars, or gene-mods are the general level of technology. | +20 | ||
Medieval | A world with a level of technology equivalent to, at most, the era of knights and castles. Swords, sailing ships, and horse riding are the general level of technology. | +30 | ||
Spacefaring | A world with a level of technology that would allow for travel to and colonization of distant planets. Does not strictly require spaceflight to be in use, but technology must be equivalent. Matter teleportation, force fields, nano-printing, and the like are the general level of technology. | +40 | ||
Magic Level: Determines the level of magic or other supernatural phenomena that are available in this world.
None | Magic and the supernatural are considered nothing more than myths. You will be one of, if not the only, source of supernatural power in this world. | +10 | ||
Low | Magic and the supernatural tend to be subtle with fairly minor effects. Rituals to slightly improve blacksmithing, for example. Any significant magical effects are generally ascribed to some distant period of high magic. Your power will be significantly above the norm here. | +20 | ||
Moderate | Magic and the supernatural are fairly commonplace. Levels of personal power will vary, but, as an example, a single well-trained war mage would be the equivalent of several dozen ordinary soldiers. Your power will be above average, but extraordinary examples will exist that outshine you. | +30 | ||
High | Magic and the supernatural are common, with significant powerful effects being widespread. Flying cities, mountain ranges turned into massive walls, conjuring entire armies of magical golems, etc., are examples of fairly common feats. Your power will be average, at best. | +40 | ||
Cosmology: Determines the general shape of the cosmos surrounding the world that you have entered.
Planets and Stars | A proper planet, orbiting around a star, with other planets and stars scattered around throughout space. | +10 | ||
Endless Plain | An endless plain, which somehow possesses a sun that appears and disappears across the sky. | +20 | ||
Side Realms | Either “Planets and Stars” or “Endless Plain”, but with side realms / sub-dimensions added, such as physical afterlives, elemental realms, heaven and hell, or other such realms. | +30 | ||
Microverse | Either “Planets and Stars” or “Endless Plain”, but with an entire micro-multiverse, containing a finite number of alternate timelines or worlds, as well as spaces between them. | +40 | ||
Xianxia Ladder | Either “Planets and Stars” or “Endless Plain”, but contained within a ‘ladder’ of stronger and weaker realms or levels that can be ascended to or descended from. The levels of technology and magical power will reflect in the level you are initially within, but can be outstripped in higher levels or shrink in lower levels. | +60 | ||
Connection: Determines how the cosmos of the world you are sent to is linked to the wider multiverse.
Isolated | Connections from the structure of this cosmos and the wider multiverse are effectively non-existent. If you desire to travel beyond or return to your world, it will require significant effort, development, and exploration on your part. | +10 | ||
Rare | Connections from the structure of this cosmos and the wider multiverse are rare, but existent. Tracking down these connections will allow for you to eventually make your way home. | +0 | ||
Commonplace | Connections from the structure of this cosmos and the wider multiverse are very common, with travellers and other powers from around the greater multiverse often travelling to this realm. | +20 | ||
Arrival: Determines the circumstances of your arrival in this new world.
Reincarnation | You will fuse with a version of yourself that existed in this world prior to your arrival. That version of yourself will have memories and a past within this world, and their actions and choices will have reflected the same values and desires you currently have. | -20 | ||
Subtle | You will arrive in the world as you are, with only the clothes you have and a few items you could gather before making the transition. Your arrival will be unheralded and unnoticed by any who weren’t present to see it. | +0 | ||
Dramatic | You will arrive in the world in an extremely dramatic fashion, such as with a massive pillar of light shooting down from the sky or a tremendous psychic shockwave echoing from your arrival point. Many significant powers will be aware of your arrival and the point where you emerged here. | +20 | ||
Destination: Determines the nature of your specific ‘landing point’ within the world. If reincarnated, it is the area where you ‘woke up’.
Active Hazard | You will arrive / appear within an actively dangerous situation, such as appearing in the middle of a pitched battle or within the lair of a notorious and homicidal villain. | +40 | ||
Near The Action | You will arrive in an area that is relatively close to what could be termed the ‘main characters’ or ‘main plot’ of the world, whether you would recognize it or not. You will be somewhat more likely to run into some main character or another shortly after you arrive. | +20 | ||
On The Outskirts | You will arrive in an area that has people, but which is a fair distance away from anything related to the ‘plot’ of the world. | +10 | ||
Off The Map | You will arrive in some area, far away from people or anything that would be familiar to someone who knew the ‘plot’ of the world. You will need to survive on your own, as while the area you arrive won’t be actively dangerous the moment you arrive there, it could have dangers lurking out of sight. | +30 | ||
Familiarity (Overview):
Familiar | You recognize the ‘plot’ of this world. Make your final choice from the “Familiarity (Specific)” table. | N/A | ||
Unfamiliar | You do not recognize the ‘plot’ of this world. Make your final choice from the “Familiarity (General)” table. | N/A | ||
Familiarity (Specific): Determines what is familiar to you about this world, I.E. what specific work of fiction it resembles. Note that, while details may have changed to match your other selections, the general work would be recognizable and broadly true to its ‘canon’.
Beloved | The world is reflective of a work of fiction that you enjoyed greatly and have a very deep knowledge of. The general structure of the work may have altered to match your other choices here, but enough of the pertinent details will remain the same to give you a fairly significant advantage. | -20 | ||
Comfortable | The world is reflective of a work of fiction that you are passingly familiar with, and don’t mind living in. | +0 | ||
Disliked | The world is reflective of a work of fiction that you are passingly familiar with, and which you feel uncomfortable living in. | +20 | ||
Feared | The world is reflective of a work of fiction that you would be terrified or extremely uncomfortable being a part of. | +40 | ||
Familiarity (General): Determines what is familiar to you about this world in general.
Familiar | The world will have many familiar elements, such as a history close to your own world or a language that matches the one you speak. The structure may also match stories and tropes you are familiar with, even if the actual details do not match any story you know. | +0 | ||
Unfamiliar | The world will be unfamiliar to you in all but the most general aspects, with languages that you can’t speak, customs that may seem strange, or a foreign history. If you have chosen to be reincarnated, there will be a disconnect between you and your new memories, and some of them will be scrambled. | +20 | ||
Alien | The world will be completely foreign to you. At best, the beings inhabiting it may still be humanoid, but even that may not be true. The values, history, and general structure are all completely bizarre to you. Even if you reincarnated, your memories will be extremely jumbled, giving only a small bit of the ‘common sense’ of your new world to you. | +50 | ||
The following geasa replace the World Quests for you. Each of them will restrict your actions for a length of time or until some action is complete. The points listed will be given immediately, while other rewards listed will be given when the geas is complete.
Empty Hands | You are restricted from using any tools or weapons that are not crafted with or generated by your Cantrip abilities. Duration: 1 Year | +10 | ||
Still Tongue | You are restricted from being able to speak, save for words needed to cast cantrips. Alternatively, you can speak, but it causes intense pain in yourself and any others who hear it. Duration: 1 Year | +10 | ||
Rule Binding | You are restricted by a simple code of conduct, consisting of three or four rules such as “Do not attack unless you are first harmed”, “Do not harm the innocent or allow them to come to harm”, or “Do not disobey lawful authority”. Duration: 1 Year | +20 | ||
Grand Task | You are bound to perform some significant task, such as defending a city against a monstrous beast, preventing a civil war, or destroying an ancient evil artifact. Until you do so, you will not be able to leave this world. If you fail in your set task, your cantrips will be dramatically weakened for a time (a few weeks, at most), and you will be assigned another task. Duration: Indefinite Upon Completion: You will gain a permanent sense for dimensional navigation, making travel through the multiverse easier for you. | +40 | ||
Chain of Duty | Requires Grand Task Once you have completed your Grand Task, you will be transported to another world, with a similar danger level to your first world. In this world, you will be given another task you must complete before you can move on from that world. You will pass through at least half-a-dozen worlds in this manner before this geas will be considered complete. Duration: Indefinite Upon Completion: You will gain a power, independent of your cantrips, allowing you to shift to a new dimension once per day. Combined with the Grand Task reward, you will be able to find your home dimension in no more than one week after completion. | +60 | ||
The following ruleset alters the rules of the overall CYOA, allowing for a simplified experience when working with multiple ‘players’.
Restriction: Replaces all mention of points. Incompatible with all Quests, Geasa, Training, Teaching, and Enchanting. Incompatible with Min-Max Slider Alt Ruleset.
Options are provided below to customize the overall experience.
Multiple individuals will all be receiving cantrips at the same time. The number of cantrips gained will be determined by the number of base points offered by a given scenario, at a rate of 1 cantrip gained for each 20 base points (rounded down, minimum 1). Quests and Geasa cannot be selected, and thus cannot provide additional points for this purpose.
The list below summarizes the spells gained per scenario.
Spells are gained at their Tier 1 level across the board.
Points are replaced with the eponymous ‘spellshards’, which are also how improvements occur. One spellshard is required to unlock a cantrip at the Tier 0 level. One spell shard can upgrade two areas of a cantrip to Tier 1. One spell shard can upgrade a Tier 1 area to Tier 2. Two spell shards can upgrade a Tier 2 area to Tier 3.
The cost for Overmagic varies based on the options selected below.
Every cantrip you start with starts with three ‘spellshards’, one to unlock it and two to upgrade its areas to Tier 1.
Spellshards can be freely reassigned, but new cantrips can only be gained under specific circumstances. Removing the ‘base’ spellshard from a cantrip will cause it to be lost. After you reassign spellshards, any ongoing effects that are no longer ‘valid’ with your current build will immediately end.
Spellshards can be traded between individuals, or can be forcibly taken, from other individuals. However, forcibly taking a shard would require the target to be completely helpless, and would require several minutes of uninterrupted focus for just one shard.
Gaining a new cantrip requires gaining a shard from someone who has access to that cantrip, at which point the gained shard can be used to unlock the new cantrip. However, if the shard is not used immediately for this purpose, the new cantrip can not be gained later.
How shards behave upon a holder’s death is determined by the below options.
Select one option in each area.
Number of ‘Players’
Few | Many | Numerous |
Only a dozen or so ‘players’ are involved. Few, if any, will be ‘NPC’s that you face. Increases the number of spells each ‘player’ gets by 50%, rounded up. If ‘Random’ Spell Selection is used, this bonus is combined to double the number of spells instead. | Several hundred ‘players’ are involved, meaning that the majority of them will be ‘NPCs’. All have the base number of spells to start with. | Tens of thousands of ‘players’ are involved. The base number of spells given is an ‘average’, with the actual number varying by +/- 3 spells, minimum 1. Actual ‘players’ have the maximum number possible. ‘Random’ Spell Selection’s boost affects the base number of spells. |
Spell Selection
Chosen | Random |
All spells are directly chosen from those available by the player. | Spells are randomly selected from those available, with no input from the player. The base number of spells given increases by 50%, rounded up. If ‘Few’ Players are selected, this bonus is combined to double the number of spells instead. |
New Players
None | Gifted | Spontaneous |
No new individuals can gain spellshards beyond those initially chosen. | Any individual can be given a spellshard to unlock a cantrip at the most basic level. This is the only method by which new ‘players’ can be called / created. | New ‘players’ will spontaneously appear at regular intervals, in similar amounts to the initial group. For smaller numbers of players, this interval will occur more often (on the order of every few months), while for higher numbers, the interval will be rare (such as once a generation or every several decades). |
Other | ||
You can come up with a custom rule for how players are called, but it must be somewhat balanced with the options given here. | ||
New Spellshards
None | Earned | Gifted | Spontaneous |
No new spellshards will ever appear. The amount that exists at the start is all that will exist. | Spellshards can be earned via significant effort with a cantrip (somewhat equivalent to the time frames involved with normal training). | Beings of power exist, such as gods or demons, which can gift spellshards to those which they deem worthy. Each can only gift shards on fairly long timescales (on the order of one per year or decade). | Spellshards will spontaneously be granted over time to a subselection of all existing players. Those with fewer shards will be prioritized in this granting, but it will be otherwise random. |
Other | |||
You can come up with a custom rule for how spellshards are earned, but it must be somewhat balanced with the options given here. | |||
Death Rules
Vanish | Inheritance | Harvest | Scatter |
Upon death, all spellshards that an individual had vanish completely. | Upon death, all spellshards that an individual had are sent to whoever that are emotionally closest to. Magical effects can’t substitute for this bond. | Upon death, a fraction of the spellshards that an individual had can be taken by their killer. This amount will be roughly ⅓ of their total shards. | Upon death, all spellshards that an individual had will scatter throughout the local area (up to a couple hundred miles from the point of death) as glowing crystals, which can be picked up and absorbed by anyone who has or could gain a cantrip. |
Other | |||
You can come up with a custom rule for how spellshards are handled upon death, but it must be somewhat balanced with the options given here. | |||
Player Generation
First | Young | Old |
Your group is the very first granted cantrips. This option must be selected if no new ‘players’ can be called / created. | There have been a few groups given cantrips before yours, but the phenomenon is still fairly new. | There have been dozens, or even hundreds of generations given cantrips before yours. It is all but certain that some sort of culture or civilization has grown up around the cantrip holders. |
Isekai Sub-Rule (Only select if Isekai World Maker is used)
All Isekai | Mix |
All ‘players’ will be transported from your world, or from extremely similar worlds. | ‘Players’ can either be those that have arrived from another world, or denizens of the isekai world. |
Spellshard Redistribution
Free | Ritual | Sleep |
Spellshards can be freely swapped around at any time. | A special circle must be prepared and meditated within for spellshards to be altered, taking a few minutes to set up properly. | Spellshards can only be swapped around during a natural sleep. |
Other | ||
You can come up with a custom rule for how spellshards are redistributed, but it must be somewhat balanced with the options given here. | ||
Enchanting
None | Link | Gift |
Enchantments cannot be made. | You can create a link between a spell and a number of objects equal to the number of spellshards in the spell. Creates enchanted objects of an appropriate level for your ‘mastery’, given the number of shards you have assigned. | You can inject spellshards into an object to allow those who hold it to use a cantrip. Gifted spellshards are difficult for anyone other than yourself to extract, and the ‘built’ spell in the object follows the same rules as you do with regards to spellshards per tier. |
Other | ||
You can come up with a custom rule for how enchantments are made, but it must be somewhat balanced with the options given here. | ||
Overmagic
None | Basic | Advanced |
Overmagic is ignored, and no such effects can be gained. | Overmagic costs 4 spellshards, and operates the same as in the base CYOA. Only one Overmagic can be gained per cantrip, and if the spellshards are redistributed and then brought back, the same Overmagic will be gained each time. | Overmagic costs 16 spellshards to gain. Overmagic operates as with the basic version, but Overmagic effects can be used at will without exhausting the cantrip. In addition, special spellshards can be created that can grant those given them the most basic level of a cantrip, even if spellshards are not normally able to be created. These special spellshards can be created at a rate of one per month. |
The following ruleset alters the rules of the overall CYOA, altering how your points work.
Restriction: Incompatible with all Metamagic Quests, Training, Teaching, and Enchanting. Incompatible with Spellshard Multiplayer Alt Ruleset.
Rather than simply assigning your points immediately at the start of the CYOA, you instead get a pool of points that you can freely assign to cantrips as you wish, and which you can rearrange at any time. However, the tradeoff is that you are not able to train to gain more points.
When reassigning points, you will enter a trance for 1 second per point being redistributed. You will still be aware of the area around you, but the only action you can take while redistributing the points is to end the trance early, cutting off the reassignment with the points that have already been shifted.
After you exit the reassignment trance, any ongoing effects that are no longer supported by your current distribution of points will immediately end. For example, if the duration of an effect is shortened such that it is less than the effect has already lasted, the effect will immediately end.
Assigning enough points can allow for an Overmagic to be unlocked. The Overmagic will be the same each time that you unlock it, but it can be a custom version, rather than just the default version. When an Overmagic is used and the spell goes into cooldown, 30 of the points are immediately freed up, and can be redistributed without entering a trance. 10 of the points, however, vanish until the spell becomes available again, temporarily reducing your total number of points.
Cantrip Quests grant a cantrip that can be accessed without needing to spend any points, with points only being needed when trying to boost it up to Tier 2 or Tier 3. However, if such quests are failed, the granted cantrip will be lost completely, even preventing points from being used to gain it later.
If you fail a mid-tier World Quest and have half of your cantrips reduced to the lowest level, this means that, when selecting cantrips, half of those selected must be kept to the lowest tier. So, if you have two cantrips you wish to access upgraded versions of, you will have to also spend two points to have two Tier 0 cantrips unlocked as well.
If you fail a high-tier World Quest, and lose all but one cantrip, this reduces your point pool to 1 point, allowing you to unlock a single Tier 0 Cantrip at once.
While you cannot train for more points, it is possible for you to develop access to magic independent of your cantrips. As part of this, it is possible for you to study a cantrip while you have access to it, and then develop a magical ability similar to it. Such abilities will be more draining and difficult than using cantrips, but can be trained and developed overtime.
The following ruleset adds another choice to the overall CYOA, altering costs and granting benefits or penalties.
Restriction: Incompatible with Spellshard Multiplayer Alt Ruleset.
You may choose up to two of the ten ‘schools’ of cantrip (Attack, Sensory, Protection, Healing, Summoning, Interaction, Manipulation, Enchantment, Travel, or Effect) to become a favored school for you. However, for each favored school that you choose, you must also choose a different school to be a disfavored school.
Each of your favored schools will grant you the following benefits to all spells that fall within that school:
Each of your disfavored schools will grant you the following penalties to all spells that fall within that school:
If you wish, you may choose one cantrip from a favored school to be a ‘signature’ cantrip for you. However, if you do so, you must select one cantrip from a disfavored school to be a ‘forbidden’ cantrip. If you have two favored schools, you may pick a signature cantrip from one or both schools. If you choose a cantrip from both schools, you must choose a forbidden cantrip from both disfavored schools, you cannot have both forbidden cantrips come from only one school.
Your signature cantrip will gain the following benefits:
Whichever cantrip you select as your forbidden cantrip, you will be unable to learn it, either now or in the future, or make use of its effects, either via an enchanted item or having a third party cast it on you. In addition, effects from other cantrips that are similar in nature to the forbidden cantrip will be dramatically weakened for you.
As some cantrips belong to two schools instead of one, here is how different scenarios will affect those cantrips:
If you use this rule along with the Min-Max Slider rule above, You will only gain the point bonuses or penalties, and the adjustments to the cantrip quests. The change in point cost will affect how many points you need to assign to a given cantrip to unlock it. Forbidden cantrips will, naturally, be unable to be selected. If you use an Overmagic, causing some amount of points to temporarily vanish while the spell is in cooldown, it will only be the amount of points required to unlock the overmagic.
The following rule allows for you to ‘fix’ one failed quest.
Restriction: Only applies to the following quests in the following ways.
You may apply this rule once, and only once, after you have failed one of the quests listed below:
If you apply this rule, you will immediately gain a new quest that is a copy of the old quest. You will not regain the benefits of the quest, and you will have the same time limit or duration to complete it.
For Defend the Helpless, you will be given a new weak and defenseless creature you must guard.
For Absolute Fealty, you will gain a new complete stranger you must obey.
For Prey For The Hunt, you will be transported to a ‘hunting preserve world’ to be hunted by the interdimensional hunters, and must remain uncaptured for one year.
For The Grand Ritual, you will gain a new list of 1000 items to gather to enact a new ritual.
If you succeed in completing your new quest, the ongoing penalties of the quest will be removed. You will NOT regain lost points or cantrips.
If you fail in completing your new quest, there is no additional penalty, but you cannot try again.