Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sutemi 11-20-07, 09:05 AM	I nominate this feat to be one of the most insane feats ever! How do you feel about making a half-orc wizard who uses STR instead of INT for primary ability of spellcasting? Or any other combination... Dwarf casting sorcerer spells from CON? List is endless... And strange!
ogg205 11-20-07, 11:25 AM	Not to mention, quite a ways off the beaten path. There's a reason for such skills to remain in the mental range for such characters. Allowing str, con, or dex to dominate spell casting would make them too valuable. That, in general, is why wizards put such things into mental stats.
ragoftag 11-21-07, 12:07 PM	An interesting variant I have seen is to split the spell casting stat duty. A game I know of has Kord Clerics who take the PrC gaining their Str for DC only. Wisdom still governs spell levels, bonuses, etc. It seems interesting, but I have not played with it. I know other Split stat classes are weakened, but the RP aspect is there.
celestialkin 11-21-07, 12:44 PM	I nominate this feat to be one of the most insane feats ever! How do you feel about making a half-orc wizard who uses STR instead of INT for primary ability of spellcasting? Or any other combination... Dwarf casting sorcerer spells from CON? List is endless... And strange! Not to mention, quite a ways off the beaten path. There's a reason for such skills to remain in the mental range for such characters. Allowing str, con, or dex to dominate spell casting would make them too valuable. That, in general, is why wizards put such things into mental stats. However, what is stopping you from just picking a race which already has a stat bonus to said ability? I believe it is a pretty good idea, since it allows you to play whatever race you want with whatever class you want, instead of having to metagame your character's birth by choosing a race which will allow you to be more powerful as a wizard/cleric/bard/fighter/rogue/ect.. For example: I have a party member who loves to play wizards, so he ALWAYS plays a sun elf (or gray elf, can't remember right now) because they are one of the few races which have a +2 bonus to Int. So basically, by metagaming and choosing this race he will automatically be a more powerful wizard than almost any other race could be if they rolled the same stats, chose the same class, and bought the same items. The guy doesn't even seem to like elves, or elf fluff. He just likes the Int bonus. So, this would be great if you're an elf fan, since you get the best of both worlds, but for players (like my friend) who couldn't care less about elves one way or the other it just doesn't make sense. Same goes for a fighter lover, who has the best bonus to Str? What I am saying is that this opens up the possibility for players to play the races they love with the classes they love without being punished for it. Remember, adventures are supposed to be way above the "normal" example of their race/culture. So why couldn't there be an elf or human who is as built or gifted in combat as the average orc? Why couldn't there be an orc or goblin as intelligent or gifted in magic as your average elf? They worked for it. Also, why couldn't there be a tribe of "primitive" creatures who found other ways of controlling magic, instead of book learning? Think Native American magic like you see on TV and documentaries, where they pace, dance and chant throughout the night around a fire until they reach a feverish trans like state? That could be a reason why their magic is based on Con instead of Int? Actually, after thinking about this I really like this idea. I will print this thread out in case I actually end up DMing in the near future.
Salla 11-22-07, 09:25 PM	Strength is, amusingly, the only one of the physical stats I can't halfway contrive as being a spellcasting stat. Dexterity would be for a spellcasting technique that is painstakingly precise in motion and preparation, where messing up a flick by so much as a degree can spoil a spell. This only really falls apart when you use Still Spell to painstakingly and accurately ... do nothing. Constitution would be for channeling the energy through the body, instead of tapping into an external source. I don't necessarily agree that a Grey Elf is automatically 'more powerful' than another race ... I'd rather have a +2 to my CON when I'm only packing a d4 hit die, and humans get that remarkably useful bonus feat.
Millenia 11-22-07, 11:38 PM	Using any physical stat for spellcasting is the inherent brokenness in using Polymorph to transform oneself into a being with lots of str/dex/con and just up the save DCs to a ridiculous level.
Salla 11-23-07, 02:14 PM	Using any physical stat for spellcasting is the inherent brokenness in using Polymorph to transform oneself into a being with lots of str/dex/con and just up the save DCs to a ridiculous level. Yeah, that's polymorph for you. :)