Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Elrabin 09-02-06, 08:57 PM	DISCLAIMER: None of this has been playtested at all, except in my own mind. This is just a rough sketch of an idea, and it is quite possible that a few tweaks to the actual numbers involved might help things. Pure spellcasters have a new stat: Spellcasting. It increases by +1 every level. Instead of having Spellpoints or spells per day, they have a pool of 10 Focus. Each spell has a Spellcasting DC: Level 0 spells have a DC of 10 Level 1 - DC 13 Level 2 - DC 16 Level 3 - DC 19 etc. Level 9 - DC 37 You make a spellcasting check each time you cast a spell, rolling 1d20 + Spellcasting + Casting Ability Score Bonus If you make the check, you cast the spell for free. If you fail it by 1-5 it costs 1 focus, 6-10 it costs 2 focus, etc. So I'm a level 17 wizard and i cast meteor swarm. My INT is 22. 1d20 + 17 + 6 I roll a 14, for a total check of 37. I cast meteor swarm and it consumes no focus. My focus pool remains at the maximum of 10. Then I cast Power Word: Kill. This time I roll a 2. That equals to 25, failing by 12. My focus is reduced to 8. You regain your focus when you rest. You prepare spells in advance, but you can cast any of the spells you have prepared at any time, you don't have to prepare a certain number of "copies" of that spell. Sorcerers would have 15 focus and would only be able to cast the spells they know, but could cast any spell they know at any time. One of the advantages to the system is that it greatly increases the power of spellcasters at low levels without so much mucking about with spellpoints and such. One of the disadvantages is that it becomes very easy to cast low level spells infinitely once you reach high levels. This can be countered by adjusting the mechanics of the roll. Make it so that if you make the roll it consumes 1 focus and that you must beat the DC by at least 5 to get the spell for free. Alternatively, you could make it so that the spell consumes 3 focus when you make the roll, and you can reduce the cost by 1 for every 5 over the DC you make. If the standard was to consume 3 focus, however, I would probably increase the maximum focus a wizard gets per day to say, 20, and possibly increase their total as they gain levels. Or you could simply increase the DCs, make them start at 20 for a level 0 spell and increase it by 3 for every level. This way, it would be impossible to make your check casting 9th level spells unless you had at least a +7 INT bonus, so doing so would almost always cost focus. The feel I was trying to capture was the conception of a wizard who fights entirely with magic and doesn't deign to use mundane methods for anything. He can fling magic missiles all day long, but is quickly tired out when attempting his most powerful spells. Imagine the analogy of a long-distance runner. The average person, if forced to walk 8 miles, would be very tired at the end. However, if you join the army and have to run a few miles everyday, walking becomes fairly easy and you can probably walk a few miles without being winded or feeling at all worn out.
Elrabin 09-02-06, 09:00 PM	Oh and if you want to make it so that even a high level wizard will frequently lose focus when casting low level spells, just make it so that their Spellcasting bonus only increases every other level and lower the DCs accordingly.
Jodjod 09-03-06, 03:30 AM	A new abillity seems unnecessary. Just use Spellcraft, with the associated abillity keyed to whatever type of caster the character is (Cha for sorc and bard, Int for wiz, etc.)
Elrabin 09-03-06, 04:08 AM	Not a bad plan, but I wanted it to be a standard progression unaffected by skill points. After rethinking things a bit, I was going to give the standard spellcasters a 0/1/1/2/2/3/3... progression, give bards something to the tune of 0/0/1/1/2/2/2/3/3/4/4/4... and pallies and rangers a 0/0/0/1/1/1/1/2/2/2/2... If i used spellcraft, I couldn't control the numbers to the extent I want to, player's would be forced to place their points in a skill to access a feature of their class, which is counter-intuitive, imo. So updated version, the wizards get a +1 every 2 levels, bards get +2 every 5 levels, and rangers/pallies get +1 every 4 levels. DCs would be 16 for level 0, 18 for level 1, etc.
LordPendragon 09-03-06, 03:27 PM	It's interesting, and I like the premise, but the numbers definitely have to be mathed out. As it stands, a level 9 spell is a DC 34 check. Assuming a +12 ability modifier (16 + 2 racial + 5 inherent + 5 level + 6 enhancement), a level 20 caster can cast for free on a 12 or higher; 45%. Mathing it out... Free - 12+ - 45% Pay 1 - 7+ - 25% Pay 2 - 2+ - 25% Pay 3 - 1+ - 5% So when casting a level 9 spell, this hypothetical Wizard uses 90% (25% + 2x25% + 3x5%) of a focus point. That means a whopping 11 9th level spells, plus a ludicrously large amount of level 4 or lower spells (95% free casting). I see 2 main problems with this system... 1) Rolling. Depending on his rolls, a spellcaster might get screwed with a very low number of spells per day; or conversely, he could get a ridiculously large number per day if he rolls well. 2) Sorcerers. They get screwed... hard. There's currently no reason to use one under this system. I suppose you could give them a bonus to their spellcasting check, since they usually have more spells per day; but that just compounds the volatility of the system by giving them the possibility to string even more 9th level spells. Overall, I really like the concept, but I think it could be executed better by just using the spell-point system, and maybe playing around with the costs for each spell level a little bit. I'm thinking something like giving all casters an extra X% spell points, but making the costs equal (spell level x 5) - 3, instead of (spell level x 2) - 1.
Elrabin 09-03-06, 04:25 PM	Well I was specifically trying to aim for free spellcasting at high levels. To me it seems like any 20th level wizard should be able to fling magic missiles all day long without end. Add in healers having this same sort of casting and you have a lot less pointless rest breaks in a dungeon. Ok, honestly I've never played a game to level 20, so I didn't realize that +12 was a reasonable modifier for their main attribute. I was thinking around +6. But if +12 is reasonable, try: DC 17 for 0, 20 for 1.... 44 for level 9. Make it so every 10 below the DC that you roll, you lose an additional focus point. So an average wizard at level 20, with a +12 modifier: 1d20 + 22. He can't cast level 9 spells for free at all, and have a 50% chance for it to cost 2 focus, and 10% for it to cost 3 points. That has them spending an average of 1.7 focus on each 9th level spell, which gives them 6 casts a day. A lot, but remember that they would then not be able to cast any lower level spells at all. The only spells that would be guaranteed for free would be level 0 and 1 spells, though level 2 spells would only cost focus on a natural 1. From there the cost ramps up. As for sorcerers, give them 15 focus instead of 10 and you've got the same overall level of extra spellcasting as they have in standard. From randomly rolling a few times to see what sort of results I came up with, it seems like over the course of a day, the results of the 1d20 roll will pretty well average up. Yeah some days you might not do as well and get say 75% of your average casts, and some days you'll roll really well and get 125%. But I'm fairly certain it will average out. Anyway the randomness was something I deliberately introduced to go along with the random feel of DnD where you miss a few times, but your hits are very potent rather than the video-game style where you steadily take a creature down with a bunch of smaller damage attacks. Another reason I started working on this system as opposed to spellpoints was my considerable dissatisfaction with all current spellpoint systems I've come across.
demon666fast 09-03-06, 09:13 PM	This system already exists. You can find it in Advanced Player's Guide, from Sowrd and Sorcery.
Elrabin 09-03-06, 11:54 PM	Neat, I'll have to try and find that book. Thanks!