Post/Author/DateTime	Post
willpower 07-28-06, 03:15 PM	I usually ignore threads that talk about alternate methods to dealing with spells per day, because it normally works fine. Though I have always thought that they could easily design a better way. In fact, just splitting the spells so you can cast 2 1st level spells instead of a 2nd level spells would have been an improvement, but even without it, the system normally works fine. One thing I just thought of though, was how people normally run out of steam when exerting themselves over a period of time, and how this sort of thing, does not show up in D&D. It can for things like running great distances, but based on the rules you could actually be in a combat, swinging swords, casting spells, dodging and weaving, getting hit, and killing bad guys all day without panting hard afterward, where if you run fast for a while, you become winded. This idea, doesn't really help with swords or anything, but it can help to show how spellcasting takes its toll on a caster, and could potentially serve as a different method of limiting spell usage per day. It is not a complete system yet, because I just thought of it while I was at work, and decided to put something on the net with a few minutes to spare. The idea is that mages get a number of levels of spells per day that they can use from any level they can cast. So if they can cast 4th level spells, then they will be able to cast a few 4th level spells in a day, or an increased amount of spells from different spell level combinations. Once this amount has been cast, they can continue casting them for another set, but at a HP cost of 1 per spell level cast. Once this set is used the mage is fatigued. This can continue with a higher HP cost per spell level, and then after that the mage is exhausted. This is the final tier of what they can cast. Does this sound like it could be a workable idea?
Phoenix Knight 07-28-06, 03:26 PM	It's got potential, but I believe there is a low-level cleric spell that removes fatigue. I know there's a spell that removes hp damage ;) . That could screw with your balance a bit.
willpower 07-28-06, 05:39 PM	It's got potential, but I believe there is a low-level cleric spell that removes fatigue. I know there's a spell that removes hp damage ;) . That could screw with your balance a bit. Yeah you are definitely right on that. You could say that this fatigue could not be removed with magic, though that sounds like a false rule put in just to cover a weakness in a rule. You could say though, that if anything removes the fatigure though, it returns after the next spell cast, since the caster has already manipulated more magical energy than he finds comfortable. On the whole even if you didn't use the last suggestion it wouldn't change much though, because I thought of that with the hp damage aspect to, being healed that is. It would be perfectly reasonable to say that the HP damage could not be reduced by magical means, even though it could be healed. In the end though, the caster would still end up taking the damage even if he wasn't fatigued. So the healer would constantly end up healing himself or the other caster, and even if the caster never became fatigued, and healed all the damage taken, after the third tier of the system, when the caster would become exhausted, he still could not cast any more spells. He would have reached his limit. If he had healed himself of the effects, or eas healed from someone else, then that still took part of the effectiveness in order to work. In the case of an outside healer healing the caster, that is teamwork. I think, even though this might have some flaws it could work into a very workable system.
Thiez 07-29-06, 09:28 AM	Hp damage? Hail temporary hitpoints!
willpower 07-29-06, 10:05 AM	Hp damage? Hail temporary hitpoints! The idea is not that the HP damage, and fatigue will be what stops the caster from using aditional spells in a day. The idea is that it will mimic them getting winded more and more, and eventually running out of steam. Maybe the HP damage should be subdual damage to better mimic this. The big thing, is even though the caster may have abilities to counter the effects here, in doing so they are further diminishing their ability to cast in a day, so it becomes a give and take thing. As pointed out, there would still be a final point where they cannot cast any more spells in a day. That point would definitely allow them more spells in a day, but at the cost of hp's and becoming more and more tired. If they can counter that, then it will diminish the final amount of spells they can cast in a day anyway. So I think it is self balancing in that way. And who knows, perhaps the caster in question, cannot counter the effects of the fatigue and HP cost. To me this sounds like a good alternative. I am not even sure how much more work it needs, if any. Even if a caster can fully negate the effects of prolonged casting, they still wouldn't have unlimited spells in a day, and it would more than likely take some of those spells to defeat the effects, and even if it didn't, then you just have a character that has been built really well into casting more spells per day than most other casters, but they still wouldn't have that many more spells per day.
True Cavalier 08-01-06, 10:56 AM	It's in the SRD http://d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/spellPoints.htm#spellPointVariantVitaliz ing However, there are some issues; Healing magic kinda screws it up. A lot. I thought of Constitution Drain, but what about Undead Casters (liches)?