Alternate Wizard: the Book Mage [Archive] - Wizards Community

Alternate Wizard: the Book Mage [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
malisteen
03-13-07, 02:36 PM Here's a little idea I had (nothing amazing, someone else may have thought of this already) for a variation on the wizard spellcasting rules, making spells memorized per encounter rather then per day. This would allow wizards to be balanced in combat regardless of the number of encounters in the day, and would also use much stricter limits on numbers of spells memorized at a time, making the limited uses of spells actually matter into high levels

Hit Dice: d4
Saves: as Wizard
Skill list: as Wizard
Skills/Level: 4 + Int Mod (x4 at first level)
BAB: Poor

Level, Special:
1.....Familiar, scribe scroll
2
3
4
5.....Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat
6
7
8
9
10...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat
11
12
13
14
15...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat
16
17
18
19
20...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat

Class Level, Highest Level Spells the Bookmage can Memorize
1.....1st
2
3.....2nd
4
5.....3rd
6
7.....4th
8
9.....5th
10
11...6th
12
13...7th
14
15...8th
16
17...9th
18
19
20

Spell Level, Memorization Cost
0.....1
1.....2
2.....4
3.....6
4.....8
5.....10
6.....12
7.....14
8.....16
9.....18

A Book Mage casts arcane spells, drawn from the Sorcerer/Wizard list. In order to cast a spell, the Book Mage must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the spell's level. The difficulty class for saves against spells the Book Mage casts is 10 + the spells level + the Book Mage's Intelligence modifier.

A Book Mage prepares spells from a spellbook, not unlike a normal wizard. The rules and costs for creating and maintaining a Book Mage's spellbook are the same as those for a wizard, including the rules for determining how many spells a Book Mage's spellbook starts with, and how many spells he adds when he gains a level. Spellbooks for Book Mage's are the same as Spellbooks for wizards, and a Book Mage can use another book mage's spellbook or a wizards spell book with the same rules as a wizard using another wizards spellbook. Likewise a wizard can use a book mage's spellbook in the same manner.

Unlike a wizard, a book mage is not limited in how many spells he can prepare from his spellbook in a given day. He is limited in how many spells he can have memorized at a given time. Each spell a book mage prepares uses up memory points, as shown on the above chart. A Book Mage's total memory points are equal to his caster level plus his intelligence modifier. Thus a first level Book Mage with a 16 intelligence would have 4 memorization points, allowing him to prepare two first level spells, or one first level spell and two level zero spells, or four level 0 spells. The maximum level of spell a book mage can memorize is shown above.

In order to prepare a spell, a book mage must have relative peace and quiet, and must study the spell from his spellbook. If he is distracted by loud noises or if he is sickened, shaken, fatigued, unconcious, or otherwise disturbed then the study is ruined and he must begin again. Preparing a spell from a spellbook takes 10 minutes per level of the spell to be memorized, minimum 10 minutes.

A Book Mage casts a spell just as a wizard, and when a spell is cast it is expended from his memory, although he may later memorize the spell again. A book mage may memorize the same spell more then once in order to cast it multiple times without studying it again in between. Level 0 spells are an exception to this. Basic cantrips are so easy to memorize that a Book Mage may cast them without expending them from his memory. Thus a Book Mage who memorizes 'Detect Magic' may cast that spell as often as desired until he chooses to forget it. A book mage can choose to forget any spell he has memorized, freeing up the memorization points for another spell.

At level 5 a Book Mage may cast first level spells he has memorized without expending them.

At level 10 a Book Mage may cast second level spells he has memorized without expending them

At level 15 a Book Mage may cast third level spells he has memorized without expending them

At level 20 a book mage may cast fourth level spells he has memorized without expending them.

A special note on the spell contingency: When a book mage casts contingency, it continues to use up memorization points until it is expended. If a book mages chooses to forget the spell in order to memorize something else then the spells effects are lost and it never triggers.

A Book Mage may specialize in a school of magic, like a wizard. Like a wizard, the Book Mage chooses a school to specialize in, and chooses two schools to forbid (or one, if the Book Mage chooses to specialize in Divination). A Book Mage may not choose Divination as a forbidden school. A Book Mage may not learn or cast spells from a forbidden school. However, he gains the following advantages for his specialist school:

-Bonus on spellcraft rolls involving his chosen school, as per specialist wizards

-Spells from his chosen school cost one less memorization point to prepare, to a minimum of one

-The Book Mage may automatically add one spell from the chosen school to his spellbook whenever he gains access to a new spell level. This is in addition to the two spells he may add whenever he gains a level of Book Mage

-Spells from his chosen school take only half the normal amount of time to prepare

-The specialist gains a +1 bonus to effective caster level when casting spells of his chosen school

Feat: Extra Memorization
Req: Book Mage Level 1st
Benefit: The character gains 2 bonus memorization points.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects stack

Feat: Book Mage Countermagic
Req: Book Mage Level 5th
Benefit: When the Book Mage counters a spell, the spell he used for the counter isn't expended

Feat: Book Mage Tenacity
Req: Book Mage Level 5th
Benefit: When a Spell the Book Mage casts is successfully countered, he may make a spellcraft check with a DC = 10 + 2x spell level. If he succeeds, the spell is not expended and he may attempt to cast it again.

It's a rough draft, I don't know if the memorization points are at all right. What do you think of the idea?
SilvercatMoonpaw
03-13-07, 03:31 PM I like the ability to cast more often, but doesn't this make spells like charm person so much better because you can't run out of them often enough? The method of "per-encounter" works for maneuvers because they only really function in battle, but spells have out-of-battle utility that makes them very powerful abilities. How does your system account for that sort of utility?
Bhaal006
03-13-07, 03:47 PM so why exactly are trying to make one of the most powerful classes in the game even more powerful, it doesn't look like you even took anything away, just made the wizard able to cast infinitely, seriously what is your problem.
SilvercatMoonpaw
03-13-07, 04:00 PM ……seriously what is your problem.
That's very rude. Many of us would like to be able to do that just for fun. And not everyone understands the intricacies of spells.

Malisteen, you should check out the warlock if you can. It shows what at-will casting is like, and it's probably a better idea to adapt your book wizard from that direction rather than the current system down.
Bhaal006
03-13-07, 04:18 PM honestly, I think it is a problem, the wizard is pretty much one of the top 4 classes in the game along with druid, sorcerer, and cleric, and the fact that somone would post this, being that it is so paifully obvious that it would break the game nearly beyond repair, this is pure unadulterated munchkinism, and that is the most agitating factor of all.
jaw4ever
03-13-07, 05:16 PM seriously what is your problem.

honestly, I think it is a problem, the wizard is pretty much one of the top 4 classes in the game along with druid, sorcerer, and cleric, and the fact that somone would post this, being that it is so paifully obvious that it would break the game nearly beyond repair, this is pure unadulterated munchkinism, and that is the most agitating factor of all.

I agree with malisteen, that was fricking rude. :mad: It's HIS game. He can create what ever in the 9 hells he wants to make. :rant: Malisteen, I think the class variant is pretty cool, and might be appropiate for high-level campaigns with high levels of danger.

P.S. Bhall006, you :censored: !
BrokenAbility
03-13-07, 05:31 PM I haven't read the whole thing, so I can't comment on it yet, but I agree with the people who think that having normal spells on an encounter-basis would be extremely unbalanced.
Admittedly, it's your campaign (I presume) and your class, but as it is now, it will not fit in with the rest of the system.
However, I have a recommendation for you: adjust it so that it gets some weaker Warlock-like abilities (attacks, defenses, things that would normally be in use for most of the day or as much as possible without being broken) and give them light spell-casting, with spells being the powerful abilities, especially those that affect others or the environment (beyond normal damage).
Monte Cook wrote a great article about this, which I highly recommend: http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?otherd20_Spellcasters

Enjoy and good luck with your class!
malisteen
03-13-07, 06:42 PM Note that I said I might have the points off.

A 17th level wizard can typically cast two ninth level spells per day. This one can cast two per encounter, that's probably too many. However, that same wizard will likely have several 8th level spells, and dozens of seventh and 6th level spells that they'll never run out of on a normal day (and remember, a wizard can arbitrarily decide to rest in an extraplanar space when necessary to recover spells whenever he wants anyway. By comparison, a 17th level book mage who opts for two ninth level spells relies purely on his intelligence bonus to cast any other spells at all. Those two ninth level spells... then nothing.

Now, again, I may have made the points too high, but I still think for combat utility spells per encounter can be balanced, and more restrictive then the current spells per day.

Out of combat spells are more iffy. My thought was that if memorizing takes several minutes, then a book mage who memorized several out of combat spells will find himself without only about half as many spells to use in an actual fight, and I'm already trying to set that limit low (though I may not have gone low enough)

And no, I didn't take anything away, other then trying to significantly limit the uses per encounter, so a book mage runs out of spells each encounter rather then each day, also significantly reducing power when compared to a wizard who nova's his spell use in a single encounter and then plane hops to rest for eight hours in peace before the next one. Also the high level book mage, unlike the high level wizard, actually needs his spellbooks on him to function, which makes them more vulnerable to attack or theft.

Also note that, unlike martial maneuvers, the book mage cannot recover his spells during battle, so once he's out he's actually out.

I think it could work. I could be wrong, but I think it could. I'm not trying to replace wizards in your games, nor am I suggesting this as a replacement for wizards, I'm just wondering if a per encounter limit could be more useful then a per day limit since per day limits simply don't seem to work at mid levels or higher. No, the Book Mage doesn't run out of spells in a day. But my hope is that he'll actually run out of spells each encounter, which will leave him out of spells more often then a wizard is at high levels.

It's a thought experiment, is all.

Edit: I increased memorization times to 10 minutes per spell level (minimum 10 minutes), and cut the memorization points down to caster level + Int Mod.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
malisteen 03-13-07, 02:36 PM	Here's a little idea I had (nothing amazing, someone else may have thought of this already) for a variation on the wizard spellcasting rules, making spells memorized per encounter rather then per day. This would allow wizards to be balanced in combat regardless of the number of encounters in the day, and would also use much stricter limits on numbers of spells memorized at a time, making the limited uses of spells actually matter into high levels Hit Dice: d4 Saves: as Wizard Skill list: as Wizard Skills/Level: 4 + Int Mod (x4 at first level) BAB: Poor Level, Special: 1.....Familiar, scribe scroll 2 3 4 5.....Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat 6 7 8 9 10...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat 11 12 13 14 15...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat 16 17 18 19 20...Bonus Metamagic or Item Creation Feat Class Level, Highest Level Spells the Bookmage can Memorize 1.....1st 2 3.....2nd 4 5.....3rd 6 7.....4th 8 9.....5th 10 11...6th 12 13...7th 14 15...8th 16 17...9th 18 19 20 Spell Level, Memorization Cost 0.....1 1.....2 2.....4 3.....6 4.....8 5.....10 6.....12 7.....14 8.....16 9.....18 A Book Mage casts arcane spells, drawn from the Sorcerer/Wizard list. In order to cast a spell, the Book Mage must have an Intelligence score of 10 + the spell's level. The difficulty class for saves against spells the Book Mage casts is 10 + the spells level + the Book Mage's Intelligence modifier. A Book Mage prepares spells from a spellbook, not unlike a normal wizard. The rules and costs for creating and maintaining a Book Mage's spellbook are the same as those for a wizard, including the rules for determining how many spells a Book Mage's spellbook starts with, and how many spells he adds when he gains a level. Spellbooks for Book Mage's are the same as Spellbooks for wizards, and a Book Mage can use another book mage's spellbook or a wizards spell book with the same rules as a wizard using another wizards spellbook. Likewise a wizard can use a book mage's spellbook in the same manner. Unlike a wizard, a book mage is not limited in how many spells he can prepare from his spellbook in a given day. He is limited in how many spells he can have memorized at a given time. Each spell a book mage prepares uses up memory points, as shown on the above chart. A Book Mage's total memory points are equal to his caster level plus his intelligence modifier. Thus a first level Book Mage with a 16 intelligence would have 4 memorization points, allowing him to prepare two first level spells, or one first level spell and two level zero spells, or four level 0 spells. The maximum level of spell a book mage can memorize is shown above. In order to prepare a spell, a book mage must have relative peace and quiet, and must study the spell from his spellbook. If he is distracted by loud noises or if he is sickened, shaken, fatigued, unconcious, or otherwise disturbed then the study is ruined and he must begin again. Preparing a spell from a spellbook takes 10 minutes per level of the spell to be memorized, minimum 10 minutes. A Book Mage casts a spell just as a wizard, and when a spell is cast it is expended from his memory, although he may later memorize the spell again. A book mage may memorize the same spell more then once in order to cast it multiple times without studying it again in between. Level 0 spells are an exception to this. Basic cantrips are so easy to memorize that a Book Mage may cast them without expending them from his memory. Thus a Book Mage who memorizes 'Detect Magic' may cast that spell as often as desired until he chooses to forget it. A book mage can choose to forget any spell he has memorized, freeing up the memorization points for another spell. At level 5 a Book Mage may cast first level spells he has memorized without expending them. At level 10 a Book Mage may cast second level spells he has memorized without expending them At level 15 a Book Mage may cast third level spells he has memorized without expending them At level 20 a book mage may cast fourth level spells he has memorized without expending them. A special note on the spell contingency: When a book mage casts contingency, it continues to use up memorization points until it is expended. If a book mages chooses to forget the spell in order to memorize something else then the spells effects are lost and it never triggers. A Book Mage may specialize in a school of magic, like a wizard. Like a wizard, the Book Mage chooses a school to specialize in, and chooses two schools to forbid (or one, if the Book Mage chooses to specialize in Divination). A Book Mage may not choose Divination as a forbidden school. A Book Mage may not learn or cast spells from a forbidden school. However, he gains the following advantages for his specialist school: -Bonus on spellcraft rolls involving his chosen school, as per specialist wizards -Spells from his chosen school cost one less memorization point to prepare, to a minimum of one -The Book Mage may automatically add one spell from the chosen school to his spellbook whenever he gains access to a new spell level. This is in addition to the two spells he may add whenever he gains a level of Book Mage -Spells from his chosen school take only half the normal amount of time to prepare -The specialist gains a +1 bonus to effective caster level when casting spells of his chosen school Feat: Extra Memorization Req: Book Mage Level 1st Benefit: The character gains 2 bonus memorization points. Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects stack Feat: Book Mage Countermagic Req: Book Mage Level 5th Benefit: When the Book Mage counters a spell, the spell he used for the counter isn't expended Feat: Book Mage Tenacity Req: Book Mage Level 5th Benefit: When a Spell the Book Mage casts is successfully countered, he may make a spellcraft check with a DC = 10 + 2x spell level. If he succeeds, the spell is not expended and he may attempt to cast it again. It's a rough draft, I don't know if the memorization points are at all right. What do you think of the idea?
SilvercatMoonpaw 03-13-07, 03:31 PM	I like the ability to cast more often, but doesn't this make spells like charm person so much better because you can't run out of them often enough? The method of "per-encounter" works for maneuvers because they only really function in battle, but spells have out-of-battle utility that makes them very powerful abilities. How does your system account for that sort of utility?
Bhaal006 03-13-07, 03:47 PM	so why exactly are trying to make one of the most powerful classes in the game even more powerful, it doesn't look like you even took anything away, just made the wizard able to cast infinitely, seriously what is your problem.
SilvercatMoonpaw 03-13-07, 04:00 PM	……seriously what is your problem. That's very rude. Many of us would like to be able to do that just for fun. And not everyone understands the intricacies of spells. Malisteen, you should check out the warlock if you can. It shows what at-will casting is like, and it's probably a better idea to adapt your book wizard from that direction rather than the current system down.
Bhaal006 03-13-07, 04:18 PM	honestly, I think it is a problem, the wizard is pretty much one of the top 4 classes in the game along with druid, sorcerer, and cleric, and the fact that somone would post this, being that it is so paifully obvious that it would break the game nearly beyond repair, this is pure unadulterated munchkinism, and that is the most agitating factor of all.
jaw4ever 03-13-07, 05:16 PM	seriously what is your problem. honestly, I think it is a problem, the wizard is pretty much one of the top 4 classes in the game along with druid, sorcerer, and cleric, and the fact that somone would post this, being that it is so paifully obvious that it would break the game nearly beyond repair, this is pure unadulterated munchkinism, and that is the most agitating factor of all. I agree with malisteen, that was fricking rude. :mad: It's HIS game. He can create what ever in the 9 hells he wants to make. :rant: Malisteen, I think the class variant is pretty cool, and might be appropiate for high-level campaigns with high levels of danger. P.S. Bhall006, you :censored: !
BrokenAbility 03-13-07, 05:31 PM	I haven't read the whole thing, so I can't comment on it yet, but I agree with the people who think that having normal spells on an encounter-basis would be extremely unbalanced. Admittedly, it's your campaign (I presume) and your class, but as it is now, it will not fit in with the rest of the system. However, I have a recommendation for you: adjust it so that it gets some weaker Warlock-like abilities (attacks, defenses, things that would normally be in use for most of the day or as much as possible without being broken) and give them light spell-casting, with spells being the powerful abilities, especially those that affect others or the environment (beyond normal damage). Monte Cook wrote a great article about this, which I highly recommend: http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?otherd20_Spellcasters Enjoy and good luck with your class!
malisteen 03-13-07, 06:42 PM	Note that I said I might have the points off. A 17th level wizard can typically cast two ninth level spells per day. This one can cast two per encounter, that's probably too many. However, that same wizard will likely have several 8th level spells, and dozens of seventh and 6th level spells that they'll never run out of on a normal day (and remember, a wizard can arbitrarily decide to rest in an extraplanar space when necessary to recover spells whenever he wants anyway. By comparison, a 17th level book mage who opts for two ninth level spells relies purely on his intelligence bonus to cast any other spells at all. Those two ninth level spells... then nothing. Now, again, I may have made the points too high, but I still think for combat utility spells per encounter can be balanced, and more restrictive then the current spells per day. Out of combat spells are more iffy. My thought was that if memorizing takes several minutes, then a book mage who memorized several out of combat spells will find himself without only about half as many spells to use in an actual fight, and I'm already trying to set that limit low (though I may not have gone low enough) And no, I didn't take anything away, other then trying to significantly limit the uses per encounter, so a book mage runs out of spells each encounter rather then each day, also significantly reducing power when compared to a wizard who nova's his spell use in a single encounter and then plane hops to rest for eight hours in peace before the next one. Also the high level book mage, unlike the high level wizard, actually needs his spellbooks on him to function, which makes them more vulnerable to attack or theft. Also note that, unlike martial maneuvers, the book mage cannot recover his spells during battle, so once he's out he's actually out. I think it could work. I could be wrong, but I think it could. I'm not trying to replace wizards in your games, nor am I suggesting this as a replacement for wizards, I'm just wondering if a per encounter limit could be more useful then a per day limit since per day limits simply don't seem to work at mid levels or higher. No, the Book Mage doesn't run out of spells in a day. But my hope is that he'll actually run out of spells each encounter, which will leave him out of spells more often then a wizard is at high levels. It's a thought experiment, is all. Edit: I increased memorization times to 10 minutes per spell level (minimum 10 minutes), and cut the memorization points down to caster level + Int Mod.