Between a system that uses magic points/mana and and a system that uses spells per day, which do you prefer?

Between a system that uses magic points/mana and and a system that uses spells per day, which do you prefer?

Nice trips.

Unless you make some metaphysical reason that the start of a day gives you a refresh, go with mana.

I am fan of mana, spells per day feels gimmicky and forced.

I've never seen a magic points/mana system that wasn't either clunky or overpowered. At the least it makes a mage way more flexible.

>Not reading classic fantasy literature
Do you even Dying Earth, bro?

Personally I prefer magic to just be a skill check, but choosing between Vancian and mana, I have to pick mana.

Why not both, for different types?

That said, MP over vancian, but only if there's no means of getting them back, because that gets old and annoying fast.

You can tweak both to be adequate for what you want.

In fact, depending on how you set it up, they can be nearly identical.

Like, "you have 3 spells /day" and "you have 3 mana a day and 1 spell costs 1 mana" is the same thing.

You need to define the specifics of both systems to judge them.

Mana. Having a reserve of physical/mental stamina is far better than something as arbitrary as spell slots. The main problem with popular versions of spell slots (3.5 D&D Psionics as a prime example) is that they made the cost of damage spells linear with the damage dealt. In reality it should be a curve, with spells cost rising (almost) quadratically as spell damage rises linearly.

For example, a blast that deals 2d6 damage costs 1 Mana, 3d6 costs 2 Mana, 4d6 costs 4 Mana, 5d6 costs 6 Mana, 6d6 costs 9 Mana, 7d6 costs 12 Mana, and so on. That way characters who go all-out with a magical attack are seriously drained, and it encourages them to start out with low-powered shots to (for example) test their elemental vulnerabilities so they can exploit their weaknesses more efficiently.

What other choices exist?

>What other choices exist?

1-Make pact get spells you will be always be able to cast until pact ends
2-you get x spells extra spells points per minutes or seconds, until your mana limit. On some systems you need to rest
3-you need to make some ritual or whatever and sometimes or all times need ingredients that are used but need no mana.
4-Areas have mana not casters, players use from this mana

>it encourages them to start out with low-powered shots to (for example) test their elemental vulnerabilities so they can exploit their weaknesses more efficiently.
And then you are dead, because your opponent didn't waste his time being a useless damage dealer.

That just means you DM wanted you dead for some reason. Also wizards are not damage dealer plebs, they use Save or Suck spells to insta-kill/cripple the enemy.

I like how RQ6 has both, though not "per day" since it is based on setting.

Mana

Vancian magic isn't really consistent with most settings.

I did see a GM have an interesting way to include both though, mages used mana, rune smiths used vancian by binding items with spells that can be used whenever and then slowly draw in ambient mana to recharge the spell.

Spell slots coupled with prepared spells. It grants a large amount of flexibility while still keeping the flow of the game onto effects and off of bookkeeping.

I prefer runic systems that have no inherent limit on the number of spells a day, nor use of mana, as it simply draws ambient magic from reality.

The only limit is how quickly you can prepare runes in various situations.

5-UNLIMITED SPELLS

why not both?

wizards or whatever use mana, and the spells he prepares have 3 charges. you can spam 3 fireballs, but additional casts crank up the mana cost an chance of failure.

the spells recharge 1 charge every 8 hours. this is why its considered you have 3 charges per day with a full days charge.

mana is always clunky as fuck in ttrpgs

Spell points/mana pools, especially for magic users that are more about shaping spells on the spot or having a small pool of general effects to draw from.

Spells per day can work for a more contract and knowledge based caster, but not the way D&D usually does it

Can i choose neither? They both kind of suck, though mp sucks less.

>Spellcasting rolls and fatigue ala shadowrun.
>Mana channeling a la gurps ritual path magic/the witcher.
>Threshold magic, (gurps thaumatology, like fullmetal alchemist).

Mana, this isn't even a choice. Spells/day has always felt like an out-of-place hack together metasystem. It comes way too close to outright pointing at the game mechanics in-character for my liking.

I like each spell has its own refresh condition and once you cast it, you can't cast it again until you meet the condition. Maybe the condition is a few seconds concentration, maybe you need a few hours sleep. Maybe more specific conditions, like a few minutes of prayer at a specific time of day, or having to recapture the spirit you let free casting the spell. Those conditions do make the spells feel more varied, even if their effect is just straight damage.

Having a chance for the spell to go horribly wrong can be fun. But it's more interesting if different spells have different results when they go wrong and/or different chances of going wrong.

Basically, things that give each spell differences beyond what they do when cast.

X per day is just easier to keep track of

Although as soon as I typed that I remembered a game I had where after casting his spells our wizard would always demand we rest then and there

I honestly have to agree with this. Mana was more designed for video games, and while seemingly a better choice, involves more book keeping that should be neccesary for a tabletop game. I especially like rolls+fatigue. No one is going to be incanting everything perfectly every time like they do in D&D, and you should be able to fuck things up, with WHFRPG being a more extreme examples. It should also take something out of you, hence fatigue. No one can channel a giant fireball without burning some of their own calories and having to catch their breath.

Magic is sentient, but lazy. If you annoy it by casting a spell more than X times per day, it will take petty revenge by applying some detrimental effect. Or just by shooting you with lightning. You can keep casting, but every X times per day, it will do something worse.
aka random effects table rolls

Mana. It's easier to manage.

This. Mana/spell points is one of those ideas, like armor and weapons breaking, that sounds cool to a lot of people, until they've spent a year or so playing a system that uses it. Then they find out that it's clunky and obnoxious and doesn't really add the fun you might think it should.

DCC does something like this, and I actually quite like it... DCC actually does a lot of things I quite like.